Brian Kerr

This weekend was the beginning of the fall season in Animal Crossing. The grass and trees are beginning to turn; the weather is cool and rainy, good for fishing and bug hunting, or talking with friends.

I have this pattern of visiting with people, most frequently Nathan, in Animal Crossing while talking with them on the phone. This is not so different from other channel combinations — basically, take one of [phone, Skype. voice chat] and one of [Second Life, Animal Crossing, irc, Urban Dead, etc. persistent world] for a conversation that engages you fully and provides the right amount of shared situation or context. That conversational element is behind a bunch of our slouching towards Multiverse media, and I’m eager for the technosocial smoke-n-mirrors which will further obscure the seams between these channels.