Virtual Worlds Pioneer Brings Fiancée Back From The Dead In Virtual Reality
Hollywood, CA – December 21, 2010 – Virtual worlds pioneer, Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs, has revealed that he has brought his fiancé back from the dead as an avatar, and part of the launch of his latest virtual destination, the new Club NEVERDIE. The controversial entrepreneur believes that virtual reality will be the means by which humanity transcends death itself, and has taken the first step towards this with the inclusion of the avatar representing his late fiancée, Tina Leiu, who passed away suddenly in 2005. Two weeks ago Jacobs made worldwide headlines with the sale of the first Club NEVERDIE, based on a virtual asteroid, for a new world record $635,000 USD.
One of the stunning central locations found at the new Club NEVERDIE is the exotic Tiki beach resort with private houses and ‘The Island Girl Spa’ dedicated to Tina Leiu, who was known in the online gaming world as the avatar, ‘Island Girl’. Jacobs explains how he has kept Tina’s spirit alive in his new virtual destination. “Tina was a beautiful Samoan Princess and, in addition to her career as a singer and actress, was also a licensed therapist and healer. One of her unfulfilled dreams was to open a Spa in American Samoa where her family was from. By creating ‘The Island Girl Spa" at Club NEVERDIE, I'm able to in some way fulfil her last ambition. We've also created an Avatar in her likeness and she automatically revives anyone who dies gaming on the island, bringing another level of meaning to the name Club NEVERDIE. For me the return of Island Girl at the new Polynesian Club NEVERDIE brings everything full circle and represents an important statement to the online community and the world; that virtual reality is the place where we can transcend death, perhaps not on a literal level right now, but very possibly in the future. I plan to continue to lay the foundation for that future with the virtual worlds developed by NEVERDIE Studios.”
Tina Leiu was a popular singer, actress and gamer in her own right. In 2004 she narrowly survived a sudden attack of myacarditis brought on by the flu. During her convalescence she spent many hours as Island Girl inside the virtual Entropia Universe. When she passed away suddenly in February 2005 as a result of complications stemming from the myacarditis, MindArk, the developers of the Entropia Universe built a virtual memorial inside the world to allow the gaming community to pay their respects. In a touching effort to keep Tina's memory alive, Jacobs would occasionally allow their son, Taliesin, to log the Island Girl avatar online to play inside the virtual world. However, the developers finally requested the avatar be retired, so reluctantly Jacobs logged Island Girl out for the final time at Club NEVERDIE in 2007. He comments, “I was very disheartened to shut her avatar down in the first place. I feel like virtual reality is ultimately a place where we can live forever. It really went against my hopes and beliefs for its future to have to retire Tina's avatar and face the incredibly painful death process for a second time. Now both I and our son Taliesin can feel close to Tina once again, knowing her avatar is there waiting for us every time we go online and visit Club NEVERDIE. It’s actually a beautiful tribute to her that she would have loved.” Taliesin agrees, stating, “I think it’s awesome. It feels really good to see the avatar because it feels like my Mom is still there playing the game.”
The new and improved Club NEVERDIE gaming destination cost over a million dollars to develop and is this time located on NEXT Island, a free to play, virtual tropical island paradise where time travel is the main attraction and the focal point of a real cash economy where players can buy, sell and profit from the trade of virtual goods for real cash, with an exchange rate fixed to the US Dollar. Users can visit a range of incredible virtual environments and can of course, visit the Island Girl Spa, safe in the knowledge that should they die in the game, Island Girl herself will always be there to revive them.
ENDS
15 comments:
Is this the plot to a William Gibson novel?
I find myself wondering what makes this any different than keeping a facebook page open after someone's death. Sure, the player's actions are more closely tied with an avatar, but when the source of those actions is gone, what does the avatar represent anymore? Memories and love (coming from two different angles), sure. And that's very noble and touching. But does it keep her alive? I wonder if that sentiment is more or less attributed to the creator in question.
Yeah, I swear I've seen this in an anime, as well.
Joking aside, I think it's an interesting memorial, but I'd hardly say it's transcending death any more than any other memorial.
I've often thought about how when you're close to someone, you develop a version of them in your head that you carry around with you. The can influence your thoughts and decisions - whether it's thinking "would my dad be proud of me doing this?" to "She always said I looked good in this color."
But those internalized versions are only reflections of your interpretation of the people. Everyone has different interpretations of them. Often they conflict with the original person, themselves (not to mention the original person's interpretation of themselves). And while that image may change if new discoveries are brought to light, they'll never grow on their own in the same way that a person does.
Those internalized people can stay with you long after the real ones leave your life, but they're never as real or as deep as the original person. Any memorial to them, from a treasured photograph to the most complicated interactive program, is still just a reflection of the original.
I think that yes it's hard to cope when someone who means the world to us suddenly dies, especially when there was so much more we wanted to live with them, but I feel that he is pushing away the fact that she IS dead. He can't seem to cope with it.
Hell, the mystery of death is the reason man tries to make sense of everything and invented religion and science.
Move on, that's what she would want him to do, not to obssess about the past.
-end rant.
I thought Caprica was cancelled?
I'd be interested if this didn't just reek of publicity for Project Entropia.
I sort of expected to find this creepy, but the actual press release just leaves me thinking it's tasteless. He's created a virtual memorial for his fiancee, which is cool, and now he's overhyping it in a press release in order to monetize it, which is crass.
Maybe I'm being too judgmental, and he's sincere. I don't know.
I agree with StephenIs. As an online memorial it's interesting, but to make money from it makes me uncomfortable with the idea. Then again, Graceland exists as an Elvis memorial and a for-profit venture.
It makes me uncomfortable, but I don't see anything wrong with it.
First off, this whole thing sounds unreal, like some ARG piece to launch a William Gibson game like Tom Noir said. It is almost too tasteless for me to believe it is real.
Second, it just seems like this guy can't deal with the inevitability of death. He is simply fooling and prolonging his suffering by believing that virtual reality will allow us to transcend death. It won't. Nothing ever will. Not many people accept it, so you see them acting out in bizarre ways, such as this.
This guy was featured in a Discovery Channel documentary on gamers - can't recall the title - which I think was filmed prior to his fiancee's death. If I remember right, he came across as maybe a little jerky in that way self-made entrepreneurs can be, but fairly sincere and earnest - and very much in love.
I tend to cut people some slack when the death of a spouse is involved. A certain amount of self-delusion is, if not necessary, at least understandable for a time. And it's not like the act of memorializing a lost partner with a grand gesture is anything new. Not all of us have the resources to build the Taj Mahal, but we do what we can to cope.
My head hurts. I think I would prefer if this was just some ARG stunt? But it has a manipulative, pathetic sincerity too it that is distasteful in a way that an advertising campaign would never want associated with its product. Which is why it is so weird to have a press release based on the premise "I made a virtual Las Vegas for my dead girlfriend."
Because this is a press release, he's looking for attention of some kind. If it was like an art installation, that would be one thing, but if he's using his dead girlfriend to sell some kind of MMO nightclub (which is what it looks like), that hovers somewhere between crass and delusional. I just wonder, what sort of news stories does he or his PR people expect to be written from a press release like that?
I should clarify what I meant by "creator," I was overvague (commenting while on a cell phone can do that...). I wonder if this is more or less a show of respect from the guy running this and is getting hugely overblown by whoever stands to profit. I think the constant references t money make it feel like a promotion for capital more than a press release...
@Esc: Nothing can let us beat death? Really? Because I can think of a few things that might at least give us a fighting chance...
It annoys me that people criticize the guy.
You may think he's not dealing with her death properly, or that he can't keep her alive this way, but that depends on how you mean.
A lot of people live their lives wanting to leave something, a piece of themselves, an impression for others, behind. This achieves this just fine. It's the same as that statue of some historical douche that's in your town somewhere- just in a different format.
Giving it coverage as a press release achieves the same thing.
The guy may still be a douche though- but I not based of this imo.
Gosh, I don't even know what to begin to think.
I guess a memorial in a virtual world is interesting, specialy if said word was meaningful to the deceased and those that were close to them. But those statements seem to indicate that the husband and son are unable to cope with her death, and are in a form of denial that I've never seen before. Plus, the wa that the release ends with the comment about cash transactions just make the whole thing tasteless.
But in a way, I don't think we've yet undestood how to deal with our virtual lives when dealing with death. People talk how relationships are weird now because of Facebook, Twitter, Orkut and such, but the way these social medias relate to death is much more complicated.
I love the final fantasy series, I could play them all night long, I always sit back in my chair relax and drink a cup of coffee from my keurig b77 coffee maker. It helps me stay wide awake.
Penny
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