[UA] Internets Otherspace

[David Tormsen]

On 9/1/07, Tim Groth <tim.groth at gmail.com> wrote:
> Obligatory Apologetic UA: Mac Attack is dumping charges into the mass of
> America, someone must have figured out how to dump charges into the mass of
> social networks.  Think of the map of the Internet communities (
> http://xkcd.com/256/), think of it becoming real.  That's why they recruit
> so aggressively, because they need citizens.
>

Could run it as a growing Otherspace perhaps, which is inhabited
largely by the avatars of internet users. Events online are echoed by
events in the online universe.

On the Sea of Youtube popular videos are visible far beneath the
waters (or the videos are the water), observed and documented by
passing trade ships. The alternate realities of Second Life and WoW
exist and have their own bizarre rules, but can be entered by the
brave. The vast  growing networks of Wikipedia exist as temples and
libraries, where the constantly changing edits are carved in stone and
vandalism is met with a speedy execution. And all live in fear of the
attention of the vast Anonymous, the faceless multi-headed monster
that lurks on the Chans. The inhabitants of this world are varied and
heterogenous, with avatars, online meme's and even intangibale
internet phenomena manifesting physically.

Entering this otherspace can be achieved in various ways, mostly
rituals. The most effective rituals are old-school, developed by a
now-defunct cult of phreakers in the late 1980's now said to be long
gone from this world and only contactable on the IRC isles. These
mostly involve the caster temporarily possessing one of his online
avatars and using that to move around in the otherspace. Certain
practitioners of Web 2.0 have learned how to combine their avatars but
this is an unproven science.

 An avatar can be killed or deleted both in the Otherspace and on our
worlds internet. An avatar can even become a Capital-A Avatar within
the Otherspace, which means that they can be an Avatar of an Archetype
that the user isn't, with powers only usable online and only subject
to taboo online. There's a cult that seeks online Ascensions as a way
of making sure that the next universe resembles the internets
Otherspace. Of the canonical cults active here it is likely that Mak
Attax is the most prolific, while TNI hackers are increasing their
understanding. The Sleepers are really caught on the back foot with
this one, though a group of Othernauts has formed dedicated to
understanding this new world.

It is believed that certain public displays of suicide on the internet
can lead to a person's demon being trapped in the Otherspace, which
might be an unforeseen side effect or a deliberate objective.

I'm getting a vision of something akin to Lovecraft's Dreamlands
combined with ReBoot combined with Encyclopaedia Dramatica. Would be a
fearful world indeed.