Kiwi: One of the first places I found when I started to build in AW, was a place called Lara's Object Yard. This blew me away being able to take things from there to make my build more realistic. I had heard a lot about Lara from others, but never really got to know her then. Recently I met her at AWMix07. Now I know how much fun she is too. lol.
Thank you Lara for taking time to do this Interview.
Kiwi: Hi there Lara ;-) Hope you had a great Christmas.
Lara: Hiya, Kiwi! Yes, I did. Hope you did, too! A few days later, I had a wonderful birthday party too, thanks to the great people in AWMix07. :-)
Kiwi: Where from?
Lara: I live in Tennessee, USA.
Kiwi: Apart from being a great builder and yard maker and great dancer at Mix lol What else do you like to do?
Lara: Oh, I love to read, watch movies, and play duplicate bridge. Travel, too. I always take a vacation in the winter -- usually to someplace warm. Hmmm, now that I think about it, New Zealand is warm right now! ;-) Oh, one thing, since you mentioned "Yard" maker. I
was happy, when I came back after so many years, to see that Tart Sugar, whom I knew and liked from the old days, has continued the grand tradition of maintaining an AlphaWorld Object Yard. That started back before me, with Dataman. I love how Tart Sugar has arranged hers. If I were building now, her OY would be my "make this my home" landing spot!
Kiwi: How long in Active Worlds?
Lara: I joined in April 1996, back when it didn't cost a penny to be a "registered cit." Of course, back then we didn't have all the cool stuff there is now in Active Worlds. But there were enough pieces of lumber laying around on the ground to build with! So... continuously a registered cit for (I'm awful with math!) 18 years, come the New Year. Take out the 4 years that I was not really hanging around, and that's still about 14 years of using AW almost every day. Whew!! :-D
Kiwi: I know you left for a little while. What made you come back?
Lara: After I retired from showing dogs, I got extra busy with dog boarding and grooming. I stopped spending time in Active Worlds for the past several years, but oddly, just couldn't shake the habit of renewing my citizenship each year. I'd drop back in for about five minutes just to renew, then was gone again for another year. :-D
Recently, making my annual 5 minute pilgrimage (lol!), I took a glance at the number of users in the worlds. Saw there were several in a world called AWMix07. Decided to take a look-see. Several "old names" I remembered were in there, so I stuck around. Chatting, catching up with old friends, "dancing", playing with CAV clothes... well, as you saw, I got happily hooked again!!
Kiwi: What changes did you see that stood out for you when you came back?
Lara: Wow, so many new things... hard to know where to start. I think "movers" and PEs had been added about the time I went on hiatus, but seeing what people are doing with those features now is amazing. Also, the CAV stuff is fun to play with.
Kiwi: Did you have a world in AW?
Lara: No, I didn't. I think there was a world someone else had that was named "Lara", and maybe another world named "Laura" (my real name) but I never was interested in having a world. Good old AlphaWorld, which was the main building world I got started in, was where I spent my time. Building, building, building. I won a small world or two in contests through the years, but gave them away.
Kiwi: What kind of work do you do in real life?
Lara: I have a dog boarding/grooming kennel. All my life, I've always worked with animals... training and showing American Saddlebred horses for almost 20 years with my first husband, and then as a professional show dog handler with my second husband. When I retired from dog showing (and from husbands! :-D ) I started boarding pets. I thoroughly enjoyed the many years of showing horses and dogs (Rottweilers mostly) but after years and years of traveling to shows, it's nice to work at home doing something I've always enjoyed.
Kiwi: I know there has been a lot of talk about drop in citizens in AW. Tell me one thing you would add to bring in more people to AW?
Lara: I think first of all I would take something away. I'd lower the price for "citizenship." When it was free (back in the mid-nineties) there were tons of people coming in to see what this 3D building/chat program was about. Becoming a "citizen" was free, so many kept coming back again and again (more about that later.) If a person wanted to create his/her own world, there was a charge for that. But to be a registered citizen and build in several public worlds just like now, there was no cost at all. I've always thought that seeing sheer numbers of people walking around, chatting, are what make Active Worlds attractive to most new people who come in for the very first time. They get a "Wow, there is a lot of activity here!" impression while they're standing there trying to get their bearings. I'm not saying go back to totally free citizenship, although that would be the best thing to do, imho. But at least drop the cost of full citizenship down to, say, twenty dollars a year. That magic $19.95 figure that people in the U.S. are used to seeing!
Let's face it... we're used to doing stuff in here. It takes time for a new person to get hooked. If the place looks like a ghost town with perhaps 4 or 5 people here and there, why would someone new who has probably downloaded the program to see what VR chat and building is about even hang around much? A place that is hopping with people and chat might hold their attention long enough to get familiar with the program. Charge for worlds and universes. But make citizenship with all its perks free.
Then comes the hard part. Getting the word out. Millions of internet users and only 70 people in the whole wide world using Active Worlds at a given time? Geeze. So, why don't more internet savvy people know this program even exists? That's always been a problem, of course. Advertising costs big money, so I always understood why AWI can't go that route. But there can always be a concerted, continuous effort on the part of management to get "Active Worlds" out front (not just barely mentioned, if mentioned at all) for free in places where articles are likely to be written about "Virtual Reality." I'm sure they (management) does try to do that, but when something like Second Life keeps getting the spotlight... oh well. Maybe a change of name is needed. Instead of Active Worlds, rename it "Create Yourself Again." Well, maybe not that. "CYA" for short might offend a CAV walking around in her default bikini underwear. :-D
Kiwi: How important do you think the CAVs are to AW? And what would you like to see added to them?
Lara: I think CAVs are extremely important to AW. Especially for new people. I truly think one of the biggest draws for any VR program is letting people create an avatar -- how they want to present themselves. I think adding complete choice of color for every CAV item offered is important. Don't give me 5 "striped" sweaters in set colors. Give me 5 styles of striped sweaters that allow me to CHOOSE the color I want the stripes to be. Don't give me 7 white shirts. Offer me 7 styles of "white" shirts that allow me to CHOOSE the color I want the shirt to be. The more choices there are, the more new people will enjoy playing around with Active Worlds. I came into Active Worlds, and stuck around, because of building. But I've got a hunch that many new people download Active Worlds mostly because they are interested in seeing what it's like to "create an avatar." Make that as interesting as possible. Color choices make it interesting. And accessories, of course! Hey, Sidris needs her gold earrings back. :-D
Kiwi: Is there anything you would like to see changed in AW?
Lara: So much has changed in the four or five years I was "away," I'm still taking in the changes.
Kiwi: Do you explore worlds in AW much?
Lara: Not much. In the past I was on dialup, so didn't do much exploring at all. I pretty much just stuck with AlphaWorld for building, AWSchool for teaching, and one hour a week as a GK at the Gate. Old habits die hard, so even though I have DSL now, I guess I'm accustomed to sticking with just a few worlds. Mainly AWMix07 and Yellow nowadays. I've enjoyed seeing the creative things Vera and doc1 have done in Yellow. When I do venture out farther, like recently seeing Veg's fabulous builds on Mars, I'm pleasantly surprised at how quickly things load compared to my old days on dialup. I expect I'll start visiting other worlds more now, since I can actually see things soon after landing. And can walk. How cool is that!? :-D
Kiwi: What would be your world favorite to visit?
Lara: It used to be AW but right now, AWMix07 and Yellow are my favorites. And of course I still like to check out AWSchool occasionally. Dreamer2 and tunablues have done a wonderful job with AWSchool. It's fun for me to wander around there, where I used to spend soooo much time teaching building. If I had a dollar for every time I said "Left click, press the Insert key one time, then... " LOL!! I'd renew EVERYone's cit. Well, for a month, anyway. ;-)
Kiwi: You like to hang out at the Mix a lot. What's your favourite music genre?
Lara: My absolute favorite is Trance. I also like Rock and Classical. My taste in music is rather eclectic. The Mix is a fun place. There are such good people in there who have made me feel very welcome. I've seen them doing the same for tourists, too -- encouraging them to have fun.
Kiwi: You would have made a lot of friends in your time in AW. Does any one citizen stand out to you, that added to your virtual experience?
Lara: So many. So many. Some still here, some long gone. So, I'll pick one from VERY long ago. Protagonist. He stuck out in my mind because, back when I first came into this program and was not yet able to put a wall and a floor together, I "sat and listened" quite a bit at AlphaWorld's GZ. That was the default landing place at the time. There was no "Gate" back then. It amazed me, once I learned who Protagonist was, that the creator of this program would actually spend time IN here, interacting with the hundreds of people who hung out there. Having impromptu trivia contests, playing midi songs for all to hear (yeah...midi's... hey, I said it was a long time ago! :-D ) I thought that was pretty cool.
Kiwi: Do you still build?
Lara: Haven't taken up hammer and nails since I've been back. And most likely won't. I used to love doing that. Now, I enjoy just looking at what others have done, and are in the process of doing. I know the pleasure they have during the construction... the eureka moments of "hmm...wonder if THIS would work"... and the satisfaction of seeing their finished build. Been there, done that, and now like to just sit back and relax, so to speak. I like to fool around with the CAV stuff the way I used to like to play with "create texture." :-)
Kiwi: For others to get to know you better, describe yourself.
Lara: Well... standard human female, eyelids +39, nose bridge -127, nose up +67... oh wait, did you mean "Lara 60392" or the real me named Laura? :-) The real me roughly resembles my CAV (but a lot older... I'm 67 now) and is exactly the same personality in or out of Active Worlds. I guess I don't have any "role playing" in me. I've always been the same person in AW as I am in real life. Laid back, easy going, with a "to each their own as long as they don't hurt other people or animals" outlook on life. Appreciates a quirky sense of humor. Calm, happy with my life; can be serious or silly depending on what's happening.
Kiwi: Is there anything you would like to add here Lara?
Lara: Only... glad to be back and cya in Mix. :-)
Kiwi: Glad you're back, too. Lara it's been a lot of fun getting to know you. Keep partying lol. Thank you for letting us get to know you better.
Happy New Year everyone!
Wishing you all a great 2012.
If you would like to have an Interview done please contact Kiwichicknz by telegram or maki through the AWNewsletter feedback tab.
Know someone who would make a great Meet Our Citizens guest? (Including you!)
E-mail newsletter@activeworlds.com with your suggestion!
