Marc Blazel

world ends here

Described by Gibson as a "space that wasn't space," a "nonplace," and a space in which "there are no shadows" the virtual world continues to al- lude and fascinate weary travellers. Throughout my life I have engaged in, founded and abandoned countless digital spaces. Communities of users and their creations that have now been lost to time. While I continue to mourn these losses I have found solace in traveling to online spaces that we can still explore. Focusing on the utopian online virtual worlds of the late 90s, we can view relics of an internet much less cynical than it is now. How is it that places like ‘Active Worlds’ and ‘Second Life’ can still feel like the future even in their mostly empty states?


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