Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad Compound Recreated in Second Life from Google Earth Data to Simulate SEAL Raid

bin Laden's compound in real life and Second Life. [Direct teleport at this link]

In under a week, the metaverse development team Avatrian has built in Second Life a scale replica of Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottobad, Pakistan, drawing data from Google Earth and other sources. "We've seen pictures on TV and online but it does not really give you a good sense of the place unless you're actually there," as Avatrian's Chenin Anabuki put it, after giving me a sneak preview a couple days ago. The whole spread has improved since my visit, and become pretty photorealistic -- see below:

Photo by Avatrian -- see more here on their Flickr stream

A temporary installation, Avatarian intends to shoot machinima on the site, and simulate the SEAL raid that ended bin Laden’s life. Another reason to document it: There’s rumors the Pakistani government may raze the original compound, making it all the more incumbent to create a working simulation for posterity and public access. (There’s a Counterstrike version of the compound, which looks pretty impressive, but since it requires a retail copy of the game and the ability to run a modified level, is even less broadly accessible than this SL version.)

One hint before you visit: Because the simulation is done to scale, make sure your avatar is adjusted to a normal height (SL avatars often clock in around 6’7-7’2), or you’ll end up plowing into ceilings. Then again, standing at 6’4”, bin Laden probably had that problem to contend with too. Among other things.

[Click here to visit Abbottobad in Second Life]

Update, 11:20PM: Bumped up.

Comments

[rikomatic]

well that didn't take long. Where's the Minecraft version?

[Salvatore Otoro]

Amazing how quickly they recreated it. Can't wait to see the machinima recreation.

[Nahasa Singh]

Excellent recreation ! There's some texture clash, a bit annoying when you pan around the camera, so I hope they fix that before attempting to shoot machinima. But all in all it's a wonderful project made in a really short span... congratulations to the Avatrian team !

Linked here, with more pictures.

[Hitomi Tiponi]

Maybe it came out so fast because it was used to train the Navy Seals beforehand :).

[Chance Abattoir]

Impossible unless they thought there was a possibility Osama might be ruthed.

[Jeremy O. Turner]

The compound is also reproduced in KumaWar http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2011/05/09/kuma-games-recreates-bin-laden-mission-in-kumawar-ii/

I created an art-performance in there a couple of days ago ;-)

[Pyewacket]

For christs sake..some people are obsessed with death , violence and war. Cant get enough of it.have to bring it from the banal boring mindless 'real' world to the virtual. Teenage gaming mentality
GET OVER IT!

[Pyewacket]

how about virtual Guantanamo bay eh? OR is that too close to realitys best avoided. (therll be enough siko SL B&D roleplayers to play both capture and captured!)

[foneco zuzu]

In a virtual World where the majority of its users are from countries that does not share a lot of Usa ideals or way of Life, the topics that can be important to the company (Usa 1) as the ones on this blog, can seem irrelevant for the most!
But on this topic, Bin Laden's death, its not one that matters only to A country, it matters to All who share a common ideal, one that is made of freedom of choices and speach!
Bin Laden was not only a terrorist, he was the visible face of the worst any can be, one that thinks he has the reason and his side and nobody else matters.
So his death is not a matter to rejoice to only a few or to only a Country.
Its a matter of joy for all who cheer freedom above All!

[Scylla Rhiadra]

God knows, I didn't shed any tears over the death of bin Laden: he was an obsessed and murderous fanatic of the worst kind, responsible for the death of thousands. And his impact certainly extended well beyond the borders of the US.

That said, there is something deeply, deeply disturbing about the compulsion to re-enact his assassination; it speaks of a culture that still sees violence and killing as the ultimately most satisfying solution to any intractable problem.

No doubt many would find it wonderfully cathartic to pump a simulated bin Laden full of virtual bullets; it would be nice if they would also pause to reflect for a moment on *why* pretending to kill another human being -- even one who was a mass murder -- feels "good."

Once again we see SL being used, not as a means of exploring humanity's positive potential, but as a way of fetishizing our more brutal and atavistic impulses.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Catharsis is the cleansing or purging of emotions through various forms of art. It was described in ancient Greek theatre, in which brutal and horrific acts were simulated on the stage. Aristotle used it to defend poetry against Plato's charge that it caused people to be overly emotional and out-of-control.

We can find ways to release our hatred, anger and fear and cope with them openly, or we can bottle them up under layers of shame and guilt and let them fester.

I take this moment in history as an opportunity for catharsis.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Well, I did in fact suggest that it probably WAS cathartic, at least in some sense. However, if you are going to wheel out old Aristotle to make the case that RPing the assassination of bin Laden might actually be psychologically healthy, let me point out that:

1) The ancient Greek theatre did not stage explicit scenes of violence on stage, but employed an ekkyklêma or cart to reveal the results of violent action presumed to take place offstage.

2) I don't think that the audience's emotional engagement with the dramatic action extended to jumping up on stage, seizing the axe from Clytemnestra, and taking a few cheerful hacks at Agamemnon oneself.

Catharsis as described by Aristotle is a rather more complicated affair than the simple releasing of anger through the interactive and personal simulation of murder that more truly describes roleplaying in SL. We can only speculate, I suppose, but my guess is that, were one able to ask the old Stagirite himself, he'd suggest that this kind of RP was at least as brutalizing as it was cathartic.

As for the emotional impact of the RL death of bin Laden, I'd like to think that we are capable of something better than unreflective flag-waving and air-punching over what is, in effect, little more than a revenge killing.

[Emerald Wynn]

WOW!

I have mixed emotions about this installation, but I can say with certainty that SL never ceases to amaze me - in a good way.

[Chenin Anabuki]

We have many reasons for making the Abbottabad compound in SL. First is to show that there are better tools that can be used to quickly and inexpensively recreate an event in RL. The raid of Abbottabad compound is the most important news item at the moment. But, it is not the only event that we have done or plan on recreating in SL. It bothers us that CNN and major news channels still show re-enactments of the Seal mission in Abbottabad using grayscale figures and untextured models. It is not necessary to settle for that anymore with Second Life and Opensim. And, I do not think it is the most effective medium anymore. As noted in Hamlet's blog, this whole model in SL was done in only 5 days total. Rapid development in SL or Opensim makes it possible for time sensitive news items to be recreated in a short amount of time.

Secondly, we did have a desire to "pretend" to be SEAL operatives using our avatars. Apart from any feelings you might have with military operations, Osama Bin Laden, or US policies towards terrorism, there is something undeniable unique about their job. It's probably not a stretch to say that most of us would not be able to match in our lifetime the level of adventure and danger that they have to go through. This is where a convincing simulation comes in handy as proxy. But to be honest, we didn't enjoy using our virtual guns on opposition forces as much as using our watermelon launchers on each other.

The third point is that we built it mainly for us. But now that it is here, we made it available to the SL community. We definitely understand if some people might find it in bad taste. But the choice not to TP there is yours still.

[Emperor Norton]

Pyewacket @ "how about virtual Guantanamo bay eh? OR is that too close to realitys best avoided."

http://world.secondlife.com/place/390dddad-3966-0650-a45d-662f929fb9e5?lang=en

Pyewacket @ "(therll be enough siko SL B&D roleplayers to play both capture and captured!)"

Taking a wide stance there Senator Craig.

[Nahasa Singh]

From what i've seen in my exploration of the compound, the Avatrian team has missed a key element on the SL recreation.

Should they decide to rectify the omission, I guess the compound would have to be moved to an Adult sim.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

I think it's admirably idealistic to express the wish that humanity would lose its appetite for violence, as long as one remembers that it's a wish, not the reality.

And censoring virtual reality would probably increase real violence, not decrease it. Call it catharsis, call it blowing off steam, it's a useful societal safety valve, and perfectly normal and healthy.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Who here has said anything about "censoring virtual reality," Arcadia?

[Anubis Maximus]

I cry no tears for bin Laden's death; he was no friend to the ancient gods. Howsoever, neither do I celebrate it. Assassinating him will not end terrorism. An eye for an eye leads to blind endless war. If ye want to live in peace, ye must try to understand thy enemy's view. Bush said, "They hate us for our freedom." Wrong. They envy your freedom. They hate ye for denying them theirs. Look at Egypt: Mubarak ruled as dictator for decades. His power came from his army, but it was the hundreds of millions in US military aid paying for that army that made his dictatorship possible. Similarly the US supports many undemocratic regimes, and the evil that they do, in the name of "strategic interests." If ye want terrorists to stop doing evil unto ye, stop doing evil unto them. Thus may ye restore Maat, the ancient peace of the universe, on Earth.

[Stone Semyorka]

The Abbottabad Compound re-creation is very well done and well worth a visit. I must say I had an eerie feeling while walking around there.

I blogged about it:
http://secondedition.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/osama-bin-ladens-abbottabad-compound/

[Links of Charms]

If you wish to be the best man, you must suffer the bitterest of the bitter.