Mixed Reality Profile: Delaney Whippet, the Girl Who Played With Fire (and Textured Prims)

Recently I saw my friend Gillian dancing with a ring of fire in a New York park, and while that's all very impressive, I asked her if she could do the same thing with her avatar. Because you know what some people claim: Gorgeous lithe brunettes only juggle fire in the real world because they can't do it in Second Life.

However, that stereotype turned out to be wrong, because quick as you please, she whipped up her avatar, Delaney Whippet, like so:

As Delaney, Gillian's been a Second Life content creator for many years. She's been juggling fire for slightly longer, revamping her high school twirling skills after graduating from college and moving to New York, performing in burlesque and cabaret shows, and occasionally whirling the blazing baton from the rooftop of the place where she lived in Brooklyn, to entertain at parties. And while these skillsets may seem unrelated (tweaking prims on the one hand, twirling fire on the other), she insists they're very much on the same spectrum:

"Creative inspiration in the real and virtual worlds are basically the same," she argues, "because there is so much crossover between the two. My major motivation comes from a strong desire to experiment, problem-solve and self-teach." Consequently, she learned both twirling and SL content creation from reading and watching tutorials, and practicing them herself.

As for Second Life, she discovered it during the 2006 hype wave, "and knew in a second it was exactly what I was looking for." She learned how to create textures and animations, market a brand, run a store, and more -- skills she also applied as an interactive web developer. Her next SL-related project merges both Second Life content creation and the web, something called Mirrorlabs, which I'll write about more relatively soon. Until then, think of her as the girl who played with fire (in two realities.)

Comments

[Nightflower]

Amazing...but how in the hell did she not catch her hair on fire? Is it a cleverly disguised asbestos helmet? Hope she avoids hairspray...

[Harper Ganesvoort]

You realize, of course, that someone's gotta say it, so I'll get it out of the way:

Smokin'!