Before the modern concept of “The Metaverse” became a buzzword, there were online worlds like Second Life, Habbo Hotel and Virtual Laguna Beach. In 2006, MTV and Vice worked together to re-create a virtual Lower East Side of Manhattan, allowing people to participate in pre-recorded and live music events as a member of the online community known as vLES.
Community management, concepts, design, development assistance.
Looking back, perhaps this idea was ahead of it’s time; or perhaps it was just too weird of an idea for most people. Whichever it may have been, Greg Ipp of NGNM helped build community management and engagement tools, and worked with Vice and their development partners to implement the vLES web interface. The project - while innovative - was terminated about a year into development.
Big thanks to Annie OK who did the machinima work for vLES, and kindly uploaded it all to YouTube.
