is now in the library "Eudeamon", a book whose publication is Part of the responsibility - to the point that the publisher asked me some time ago a sort of afterword. Here it is, with the permission of Zero91, which of course thank you.
"Everyone here are from Rick," said Captain Renault to Major Strasser in one of the opening scenes of Casablanca , and he was right: between smugglers and spies, pickpockets , Nazis, spacciatori di lettere di transito, partigiani, nobili decaduti, al Rick's Café Americain si poteva incontrare un campionario umano estremamente variegato che rappresentava trasversalmente la maggior parte delle nazioni del mondo sconvolto dalla Seconda Guerra Mondiale. E sebbene il film sia del 1943, la tradizione continua: il libro che avete appena finito di leggere non esisterebbe, probabilmente, se non fosse per un incontro fortuito, avvenuto al Casablanca Café - un night club ispirato al film che, per un po' di tempo, ha costituito un ritrovo ideale per i cinefili del metaverso.
Coniato dal romanziere Neal Stephenson nel suo fondamentale Snow Crash (1992), il termine metaverso indica un ambiente virtuale tridimensionale nel quale gli esseri umani possono entrare in qualità di avatar (rappresentazioni grafiche di se stessi) interagendo fra di loro ma anche con semplici software più o meno evoluti. È quel mondo che qualcuno ancora chiama realtà virtuale, che sempre più si delinea come uno degli sviluppi più interessanti dell'interazione a distanza, e di cui Second Life è, a tutt'oggi, la modalità che fin qui ha suscitato più eco attraverso i media - prima grazie un hype forse esagerato, in seguito a causa del prevedibile contraccolpo. Il destino di qualsiasi moda, si sa, è sempre il passare di moda and this is also the case for the metaverse created by Linden Lab, which has slowed its exponential growth but which continues to thrive and, for years now, the virtual world is far richer, more complete, diverse and stable that has been achieved . The Casablanca Café, like many companies in the real world, have recently experienced some vicissitudes related to the recession, but in 2008 I happened to like to spend several evenings, mainly to earn a few dollars by participating in the virtual cinema quiz organized by the owner, Daedalus Lemuria. And it was one of those evenings that I happened to meet Winthorpe Foghorn Zinnemann. There and then nothing Win distinguished from many other avatars that I had not crossed during my frequent explorations on Second Life (the metaverse are almost all young and attractive), but I realized very early on that film knew enough to be a formidable competitor: when she was there, my earnings are halved. Perhaps less known titles than me, but type a lot faster and ended when both knew the answer almost always beat for a few seconds. When I discovered that, despite its name, was Italian, we began to chat about this and that. It was precisely at the tables of Casablanca after one of those races, Win began to talk about Eudeamon .
The premise was not the most convincing. He had heard of the book, I said, Blog Marine Kelley - a name that meant nothing to me but I have found to be a kind of myth to a certain category of visitors to Second Life . A couple of years ago, Marine Kelley began producing and selling a line of objects in the metaverse Real Restraints baptized and whose functionality is very special: it's handcuffs, ropes, belts and gags designed to simulate all ' Internal Second Life, the feeling of being prisoners of someone. The avatar who buys them and wears them becomes, from that moment, vulnerable the activities of other avatar who can steal the keys and handcuff him, or tie or otherwise make prisoner without the victim can no longer rid itself. These objects run in a particularly effective with a specially modified version, the same Kelley, the client of Second Life (ie the launching program which you can enter the metaverse) and there is a vast community of people who make point of honor to use only one. Boasting that, if they are captured by someone in those conditions, have no way to free yourself up to when their captor not deign to give them freedom. Win I discovered at that time, was one of those fans virtual bondage. Not only intensely lived his second life , going looking for trouble and adventure in areas filled with cages, chains and traps, but told in detail in a blog illustrated by photographs, that she snapped, as she put it, in-world. A blog, however, rather than followed by several loyal readers that, as I have seen often Win attended the metaverse, and sometimes they themselves came to be part of the game - and I say game in the absence of a better expression, because I had the feeling that many (and Win it) sometimes take it very sul serio. Andai a leggere la pagina del blog, in cui Win si entusiasmava su Eudeamon paragonandolo a grandi autori di SF come Philip K. Dick e Robert Sheckley, poi andai a leggere quello della Kelley trovando anche lì lodi sperticate. E scoprendo, come se non bastasse, che la creatrice di manette aveva messo a punto, all'interno di Second Life , un suo personale Progetto Banishment che consentiva a chiunque lo desiderasse di provare direttamente (o meglio, per interposto avatar) un'esperienza analoga a quella della protagonista, Katrina Nichols. Win stessa, scoprii, era stata in passato un Bane e, da qualche tempo, era entrata a lavorare alla Kelley Technologies come Bane Operator .
There was a bit 'of fanaticism in all this? How was it possible that if the novel really was so nice to unleash the phenomena of religion, had not yet found a publisher, and was freely downloadable from the author? Yet all this excitement I felt at least necessitate a review: I went to visit Erika (a site that is itself a world, and sometimes disturbing, to be explored: http://www.evil-dolly . com / ), I pulled down the Word file and I began to read. Will soon realize that those pages, which I expected, at best, a form of fan fiction more or less were acceptable, however, quite different: an articulate and compelling story to begin with, but above all able to move from fantasy fetishist who undoubtedly had inspired the idea central to the upper level of a text full of metaphorical meanings ... a book about loneliness and love - indeed, of Love with A, and maybe all the other letters, upper case ... an all-encompassing love, total acceptance of others and the fact that, for this very reason, perhaps the only religion or insanity, or narcissism led to the disease, they can promise in this world. A love that is then turned down by the author in ways that lead far from trivial, to quote the same Win, a "moving developments, full of joy, even exciting ... but also of mourning, desire for revenge, and, ultimately, solidarity, love for others, desire to share the most extraordinary gift of life - at least those who have the courage to openly address their most secret desires. " 
But there was something else: even if it is set in a metaverse, Eudeamon has to do with virtual worlds, today fewer and fewer products from drugs and more driven by technology - worlds together new forms of communication are changing very rapidly and deeply the very way we perceive and decode the world around us. Seizing perfectly what it means, in this era of globalized communication, instant and ubiquitous, the denial of the communication. 
arrived last page I agreed with Win and the Kelley: Eudeamon was left for too long a jewel reserved for the worship of a few fans, and absolutely necessary to find a publisher. Win had already obtained an approval in principle by Erika Moak, but had made contact with a couple of small publishing houses that had not shown particular interest - perhaps because it is difficult for a publisher to take seriously proposals from an avatar of Second Life that refuses to reveal the slightest details of his real life. My one small matter, throughout this story, was to act as an intermediary between the virtual and Win Two concretissimi, founders of Zero91 (whom I knew as my father's last novel publishers, L 'Invasion of Ultragay ) and suggest that they would read, evaluate and, where appropriate, published. The outcome of these negotiations is in your hands: this Italian translation is still the only printed edition of Eudeamon is from here that beyond the metaverse. And we only weekly quiz at the Casablanca Café, and my encounter with the charming girl of pixels I spoiled the square. 
That girl, however, later proved far less innocuous than it seems when en passant, I was informed of the initiative I mentioned above - that of the virtual banishment organized by Marine Kelley. If, as was obvious, the book I liked so much, why should not I try to live a similar experience in Second Life? After all, Win now worked for Kelley as Bane Technologies Operator, and I have reserved a special treatment, and, indeed, in my case, she was prepared to anticipate the security that I had to pay, and I would pay her his skin And it was a unique opportunity, and then I could tell it around, and after all I might have understood how the experience could be intense. E, e, e. .. at the end, I must admit, I was convinced. I downloaded the modified client (essential and indispensable), I logged my avatar to the metaverse and I introduced myself to Zhora, home of the Kelley Tech, where Win had given me an appointment. To become a Bane.
omit the details of the "procedure" to which I, or rather my avatar unfortunate, was the subject: those who have read the novel know that the experience was very similar to that of Nichols, and simply report that the cordial Win friendly and I had met at Casablanca has dissolved completely, becoming a professional in the banishment cold, relentless and ruthless. It transformed me into yet another faceless Bane, for wandering around Second Life without being able to communicate with anyone. The slightest breach of an impressive list of rules is punished by sentence extensions for hours. I had opted for a sentence, which seemed to me an interim of 24 hours per game, but the violations that I almost immediately started to accumulate rapidly brought me over a hundred hours to be served. At this point, I doubt that the commitments of my real life will allow me to connect to Second Life for long enough to allow me never to leave my banishment virtual: the rare times that I still can not connect are reduced to wandering aimlessly, looking at other avatars from far away, unable to communicate with not many people that I happened to attend. And sometimes I hear inside my helmet, the mocking voice of Win, my relentless Operator, which occasionally allows me to communicate with her through the Vox , the tool that makes it, temporarily, the voice of the Bane.
I could reconnect with the client normal, and get rid of the infernal Custodian , but it would be like cheating - and on Second Life, Win only repeats with a lovely smile and even affectionate way, cheating is considered a capital offense. In those circumstances, frankly, I begin to lose hope of seeing my avatar back, one day, his (second) normal life. I still do not know if Win decided to wait until I find my personal Eudeamon or if you simply likes to keep me prisoner. Certainly, the restrictions imposed by Banesuit prevent me to investigate about the merits of a terrible suspicion that, recently, came to my mind - that took advantage of Win Banishment to back off of that, to the film quiz Casablanca Café was a competitor for her a bit 'too annoying. The only person you can ask and Win but in the rare cases in which I will return the word is she lead the conversation. The few times I try to make them the question, smiling enigmatically. It disables the Vox. Help
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