Additional Notes

Olando7 Decosta doesn’t remember what first brought him into Second Life in the spring of 2007, but at first he wasn’t very impressed.  Then a few months later, he happened to be on vacation at a time when the weather wasn’t cooperative and he decided to explore Second Life more closely – and then spent the rest of the week in-world!  Some of the first very positive things he experienced were the Metanomics shows and part of a course through Harvard’s Berkman Center, where he was invited to read Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash.  “I must say,” he remaked, “that really helped me develop a better feeling for Second Life.”

Over time he attempted to develop a “practical philosophy” group, and though that eventually fell by the wayside, he began writing about and reporting on his experiences in world, culminating in what is now a very popular blog called Mixed Realities, where he writes about the intersection of philosophy, business, and virtual worlds.  “I considered the blog to be just a way to write down personal musings, with the advantage that maybe someone would react and give interesting feedback,” he said, “In fact, many people contacted me, among them real virtual worlds experts and entrepreneurs, famous bloggers. That was so amazing.”  He now also blogs for Metanomics and soon also for Media Shift, and also writes about virtual worlds and business for his real life newspaper.  “So these days my life in Second Life is not that much different from my life in the ‘real world’ – in both cases I am a journalist,” he said.

Olando7 moved to Chilbo in the spring of 2008 after some mixed experiences as a landowner elsewhere in Second Life.  “I had a house on a private island, for months, and also on mainland. I think it is important to have land and a house, because that means you also have neighbors. But of course, you also have ad farms, on mainland anyway, and griefers, or the feeling that there is not a real community because people move away every few months,” he explains, ” So I decided to look for a place with a non-profit profile, made by people who want to engage in debate and intellectual, educational and artistic exploration of virtual worlds.  For me Chilbo is such a place.”

In real life, Olando7 lives in Antwerp, Belgium with his wife, and he works in Brussels as a journalist for the newspapers De Tijd and L’Echo.   “I am so glad my wife supports me in my virtual activities, because as we all know, virtual life is time-consuming,” he said.  He also enjoys contemporary art and tries to find some time to practice karate and ju-jitsu.  “I am fascinated by Japanese culture.”