Friday, October 24, 2008

Cosen: Zen Master of Appearance

Photo: No photo. Cosen was gone when I got there to take the snapshot. :(

Written 22 October, 2008

Cosen: Zen Master of Appearance

For several weeks now an avatar named Cosen has been in Appearance mode at the Hanja Welcome Area.

Two weeks in appearance, and his hair still looks like shit! It’s worse than Philip Lindens’!

Cosen’s extraordinary time spent immobile in world hasn’t escaped the attention of the hangers-out at Hanja, who have been keeping an eye on him. He’s a frequent topic of discussion, and someone has even formed a Cosen fan club group.

The general opinion is whatever is going on with Cosen is far more than puzzlement and ineptitude with the sliders in Appearance. Somehow, most people will say, he has become ghosted in-world and will remain at Hanja until the sim is re-booted.

Perhaps that’s so, but I prefer to think of Cosen as more than a ghost. Perhaps he’s a human—or rather, avatarian—artistic statement. Perhaps Cosen’s human typist sees him as everyavatar. Perhaps he or she has placed him at Hanja to comment upon avatars’ inhumanity (inavatarity?) to avatarkind. Perhaps Cosen is an avatarian mime, holding a pose with consummate skill. Perhaps Cosen has sworn to remain in place until Barrack Obama is sworn in as the President of the United States or until the last Russian troop has left Georgia. Perhaps he’s out to set some sort of in-world Guinness world record. Perhaps he’s angry and holding his virtual breath until he turns blue. Or perhaps he’s working out hypercomplex equations of relativity or curing cancer or solving the problems of world hunger and world peace.

Whatever is going on with Cosen, I’ll be disappointed on the day I go to Hanja and find him no longer there.

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