Some of the most profound moments in Second Life are actually bugs. There's the transcendant beauty of system failure, for example, or the eerie "ghosting" effect which makes avatars and objects visible to some users, but not others. Then there's the bug called "Ruth", the community's name for what looks like a small female in a skin tight tuxedo, who sometimes appears when a Resident's avatar appearance settings fail to properly load. Becoming Ruth for the first time is usually a disconcerting experience, especially for anyone with a strong association with their avatar-- most especially for men.
That shock demonstrates just how much self-identity we attach to our avatars. The thing, as Kit Meredith notes, Ruth will soon be no more.
She'll be replaced in a future update of Second Life, and when avatars fail to load, Residents will only see a numinous cloud where Ruth has usually been. Kit offers a charming requiem to her passing, and notes that a designer has turned Ruth into an ironic fashion statement. (Pictured above.) Running with the theme, Gwyneth Llewelyn notes that low resolution avatars were first mentioned (as were many things) in Snowcrash.
I think that it has already started, when i was out clubbing on Wednesday one of the people at the club saw me as a ball of light.
Adia
Posted by: Adia Clary | Friday, May 23, 2008 at 02:38 PM
Yes soon ruthed avatars will be relegated to an amorphous cloud of gas. Ruth has been demoted to the passing of gas by LL. I, for one, did not fail to see the unique form of LL humor with this one lol.
Posted by: Ann Otoole | Friday, May 23, 2008 at 07:10 PM
oh that was funny ann...i already experienced meeting misty clouds at a party. it was a great thing in a way. photos from parties no longer look weird...avatars that fail to load properly will just be part of the party's effects, lol.
i've always found it disconcerting to see ruthed avatars in snapshots, so for me mists or clouds are a welcome feature. it will look weird talking to a cloud at first, but as all things in SL, i'll get used to it...:)
Posted by: Isadora Fiddlesticks | Saturday, May 24, 2008 at 10:42 PM
Aww... I don't like this idea... Ruth and being Ruthed is a part of SL culture! Another one of the little quirks that set this world apart from others!
Posted by: Fenix Eldritch | Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 07:52 AM