Second Life Photograph Courtesy SLCVC
It has often been said that there are two St. Louises. Usually people are talking about, say, a rich and a poor St. Louis or a concrete-Jesus-on-the-lawn and a concrete-footman-on-the-lawn St. Louis. Turns out there’s another divide: real St. Louis versus virtual St. Louis.
The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission and its adventurous president, Kitty Ratcliffe, in a bid to lure young video-gamers to make a real-life pleasure trip to the Lou, have staked a claim within the virtual universe of Second Life. The cost to develop St. Louis’ Second Life real estate? A cool $6,000. The online game debuted in 2003 as a “multiverse,” where avatars representing players wander freely through a range of landscapes, socializing and trading virtual goods. It’s a surrogate video life where people fly through the air, touching down to network, explore and occasionally even hook up with each other’s predictably attractive virtual stand-ins.
To visit “St. Louis Island,” as it’s called, I first had to join Second Life. After entering the game and immediately being approached by a naked-man avatar, I zapped myself to the virtual St. Louis riverfront, in the shadow of the Gateway Arch. You can walk down the ramps leading to the Museum of Westward Expansion beneath the Arch, but instead of the museum you find a sort of “Hey! Why not visit St. Louis?” tourism hard-sell. Clicking on signs found there opens new windows on your screen, which offer info on our burg’s attractions.
I clicked another button to instantly teleport me to the top of the Arch (saving me the claustrophobic ride in one of those Mork & Mindy–style eggs). I wish I could say the view of the St. Louis skyline was picturesque, but all I could see was an endless blue expanse of nothingness. In fact, the whole experience could rightfully be called minimal—there just isn’t a whole lot to do or see here. CVC Chief Marketing Officer Brian Hall later explained that serious Second Lifers use state-of-the-art graphics cards, whereas my computer probably came with a more standard variety. The more fortunate supposedly get a beautiful view of downtown St. Louis, as well as the virtual Eads Bridge, while riding the virtual Tom Sawyer riverboat.
And where are the virtual Ted Drewes, Busch Stadium, Dog Museum and Way Out Club? “We built the Arch, our most representative, symbolic icon first,” says Hall. “We’ll probably geographically expand, as well as create some new attractions eventually.” He says those might include Washington Avenue, America’s Center, the Central West End and Union Station.
As long as there’s no virtual recession or floundering football squad, it sounds like a nice place to visit.
