Sunday, April 18, 2010

SL RP - The making of a persocom. <(^_^)>

So... What's this funny stuff on my head? What's all this talk about recharging, CPU, and interfaces? What is a persocom? (^_^)

The simple answer is that a Persocom is a "Personal Computer" in Japanese-ish. Okay, end of story. Bye now. =^-^=



But... That didn't look like a desktop of any kind. (O.o)

It's Chii, of the story Chobits. A Japanese lolicon Manga turned Anime published and broadcast around 2001 and 2002. The story revolves around a parallel of today's modern times with one caveat, computers are now constructed in humanoid form... And, they're bloody expensive! DX

Having computers in humanoid form, the story was able to weave a tale of criticism about people's addiction and "love" for technology without making the story too heavy. At the same time, the key players in the story were able to be presented in a love tale that parallels taboo relationships and learning to accept people for who they are. (^_^)

You can read more about Chobits by following the Manga or checking out the Wikipedia site. (^_^)

Uhm... Where does Second Life come in? (O.o)

In Second Life, it's become quite obvious that we can make our avatars into anything. As I've been exploring, I've turned from kid AV, to adult AV, to mermaid, and I've recently settled on Persocom. I spend a lot of my time on a dollification sim named The Doll Works and many of my friends have taken on some sort of doll, gynoid, or Persocom form. (^_^)

So, in SL, when you hear "Human" you expect to see a regular flesh&bones being. When you hear "Furry" you expect some sort of fuzzy anthro. What should you expect to see when you hear "Persocom"? ... (O.o)

That gets difficult. (^_^)

See... In the story of Chobits, Persocoms were shown to take on many forms. From a perfectly natural 16 year old girl, to an 8 year old boy, to a lingerie clad housemaid, to a palm-sized genie. What, what can a Persocom be? Anything! (^o^)

And, that's the best part. While some people think they have to limit themselves to a certain type or ear-pod or eye pattern, the truth is Persocoms have taken on designs of any form an type. Even the ear pods can be dynamic. There were a few Persocoms in the Chobits story that didn't appear to have pods at all. So, it's not all about what you bulk up on your head. =^-^=

At the same time, there is an attractive "Cyber" aspect to Persocoms. The idea of having USB cables flailing around, needing charging cycles to remain mobile, or even including blatantly obvious sensory systems are all possibilities. (^_^)

In addition, being a Persocom pretty much makes for no-limits roleplay. In the story, plenty of hints were laid out to indicate that Persocoms in general were constructed to be anatomically correct. So, stripping your Persocom of its clothing would reveal... *ahem!*... hardware (software?). =^-^=

So, hey! That's what I've been doing for a while. I haven't taken on the "Chii" image Persocom much as I've tended to prefer a more retro appearance using some customized items I got from LPP. So... Look for the ear pods to be on top of my head, coolant pipes to litter my back, and hollowed out eyes revealing a roster of vacuum tubes and a pair of web-cams to fill out my optical needs. (^_^)

Most of the time, I often describe myself as a "cyberdoll" simply because it's a more broadly grasped term. But, none the less, I'm reenacting one of my favorite characterizations to ever fill my Manga shelf. (^_^)y

6 comments:

Ghosty said...

And to think people think me odd for my mechaneko alt. ^.^

Lalo Telling said...

Another example of a persocom is Ping, a main character in my favorite webcomic, MegaTokyo.

Unfortunately, the Character page at the site is under re-construction, so there's no easy way to see her without paging through the comic itself... but you won't be disappointed by doing that.

I found this in the FAQ:

"Where did the idea for Ping come from?

Ping is an amalgamation of robot girls archetypes from anime and dating sim games. Some main inspirational sources are All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, Multi from To Heart, and Mari from Boku no Mari. Fred [MegaTokyo's creator] didn’t see Chobits until after Ping was developed."

Imnotgoing Sideways said...

I remember the Megatokyo forum drama over Ping being a "copy". That whole mess left Fred going "LOL WUT?" big time. (^_^)

Of course... I'm sure you can guess where my SL-brand/blog name came from. =^-^=

http://www.megatokyo.com/strip/99

=^-^=

Lalo Telling said...

Indeed I did -- my comment was for the benefit of your other readers.

"f34r teh cut3 1z"

~.^

Wol said...

Sweet.

Are the gloves from Graves?

Imnotgoing Sideways said...

Yeah, Graves. I can't recall what outfit, though.