Yesterday a post about an ancient Viking outpost, and today I hear that the tech-savvy descendants of those same Vikings are colonizing the virtual world. The Swedish Institute (SI), an organization charged with promoting Swedish culture in all forms, has announced that they’ll be creating an “embassy” within the online multi-user world of Second Life. Second life claims over 3 million “inhabitants”, who construct avatars and environments for themselves, interact with other users and conduct business in the site’s “Linden dollars.” The Second Life embassy wouldn’t provide visas or passports for traveling in the offline world, but would offer information about how to obtain them, and generally act as an information portal for Sweden. “Second Life allows us to inform people about Sweden and broaden the opportunity for contact with Sweden easily and cheaply,” said SI director Olle Waestberg. Of course, if anyone’s avatar can go to “Sweden” without having to cross a border or get on a plane, is it really worth the trouble and expense of paying for a stamp on your fusty ol’ paper passport? (via Boing Boing)
– “Sweden to set up embassy in Second Life” (The Local)
Previously:
– “Stockholm: The Musical“