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Developer Focus

Second Life: Sitting High on Capitol Hill

When the 110th United States Congress was sworn in, and the first female Speaker of the House took the gavel, Clear Ink was there to capture the historical moment. A Berkeley, California-based marketing agency whose political savvy rivals that of Beltway insiders, Clear Ink re-created Capitol Hill in Second Life and then video-streamed the live ceremony. The company even scored the only in-world interview with Martinez Congressman George Miller, whose avatar flew in for a chat. "In the spirit of Second Life, where it never rains and you can fly, the Congressional chamber had no roof," says Steve Nelson, Clear Ink's Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer.

Re-creating Capitol Hill

"We decided we'd stream in video of the ceremony and of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's speech. We put a couple of screens in the House chamber so we could show the videos, and we had the whole rostrum where the speaker would be; the little podia where the house speakers get up to speak; the benches representing where the Congress would sit; and the galleries. When we first started doing models of a Congressional chamber where we could have an event, it was a little tricky because there aren't a lot of photos of what the in-chambers area looks like," Steve says. "We were even looking at old View-Masters."

To create the surrounding environment, Clear Ink studied Google maps. "We took the Google earth map and used that to terra-form the area," Steve explains. "We created a raised area to represent Capitol Hill, and that's where we placed the building. Then, we looked at the radiating sidewalks that go from the Capitol to the reflecting pool. To make it more iconically D.C., we gave it a Lincoln Memorial. We also looked at other features such as landscaping and the original plans of famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Based on those, we began doing the accents: we put in the green, we added the waterways, and we hinted at the Potomac. And of course we captured the wildlife," Steve jokes, "with elephant and donkey topiary."

Clock-Watching: The First 100 Hours

"When the new Congress opened under Democratic control, they had specific issues they focused on in the first 100 legislative hours. So we built a clock that counted up the time, and we even had an official, legislative clock stream."

"We also built a series of pavilions, and each represented one of the six agenda items that would be considered during the first Congress. At each of those pavilions, we had links to Democratic and Republican web sites where people could discuss the issues, and we linked to The Library of Congress, which contained the actual legislation being considered. People could hear the event and then go look at the legislation immediately."

"Currently we're using the pavilions for an in-world film festival. We're showing public domain movies from 1930s through 1960s: Invention of polio vaccine and the beginning of the Eisenhower and Johnson eras, for example."

We originally thought this project would be a one-day event. Then we said: 'You know, this is a pretty nice build. Let's just keep it open for the duration, for the foreseeable future.' So here we are, and now Capitol Hill Island is open to public."

"I'd like to say that this was done with the assistance and blessing of U.S. Congress. But they didn't pay for it. This is not the official presence of U.S. House. Although it started out with a democratic process, this is not the Democrats' official place. To the degree that we can make it possible, it's non-partisan, open place."

Clear Ink's Advice to Others

Architecturally speaking, "when you are way too literal, you confine. If you are building based upon a real place, there's a lot you can do by hinting and giving the sense of the place. There are echoes, in other words; there are hints. For example, we have the Washington Monument. We have the dome over the Capitol building. But it's Second Life, so the dome is transparent, and you can fly through it."

"Have a Plan A, B, …C, D, E, AND F," jokes Steve. "When we were preparing the ceremonies, in certain places we were explicit. And then, there were certain things where we said: 'Let's wait until we know if we're going to do something for sure before we announce it.' Make sure that you have a number of contingency plans and rehearse pretty deeply into those plans. For example: Look closely at the audio and video switchover. Get a number of avatars into the build simultaneously to test for lag. What are the security expectations and plans? Have you tested those?"

"You know," Steve says, "This is a virtual world where lots of stuff can happen."

And "happening" it is …over in Second Life's new Capitol Hill Island.