1000 avs project: complete video

In 2007, I wondered: How unique are Second Life avatars, really? While the slider combinations alone offer hundreds upon thousands of possibilities, the sheer amount of content available in SL (some several dozen terabytes and counting) must make the total number damn near infinite.

So, I set myself upon a project: Take 1000 pictures of 1000 different avatars across the entire grid. Over the next three years, I took well over 1000 pictures of avatars "in the wild" - without planning, posing, or really even any destinations in mind save for piles of green dots on SL's map.

In the process I've visited country clubs, piano concerts, crashed a philosopher's club, watched a wrestling match, stumbled into various fetish dungeons, and plowed into exclusive establishments like some sort of insane paparazzi. Nearly all of the avatars are anonymous; the filenames are randomized to break up the monotony of the backgrounds.

I've come away from the project with the feeling that, indeed, Second Life avatars are insanely unique. We're all snowflakes, this time around.

Music: "Additive Piano" by Lordfly Digeridoo (mp3 available upon request)

Special thanks to Luth Brodie, Moo Money, Cristiano Diaz, my patient wife, and everyone else who puts up with me.

More information:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/josheikenberry/sets/72157623240888222/

Coming soon: Hosted on Snapzilla.com, for a better interface rather than Flickr. Also, an in-world gallery using the new web tools in the 2.0 viewer.

I'm just happy I have the video finished, finally.