A virtual "Burning Man" Concept

[Stonergoth187]

With people, groups, and artists making a living online nowadays entertaining via tic tok, youtube, podcasts, etc. This takes a lot of time and effort before it finally takes off. If they do. Has there ever been a virtual "burning man" concept? 

Here's my thought. Basically a large group of people pulling together and using their talents and resources to create content, branding, and marketing something on multiple platforms, gaining a following in a very short amount of time and then deleting everything.

Has this happened before?

 

[discolé monade]

i don't know, but i like the way you think. 

[Stonergoth187]

I think it could be done. It may seem like a shower thought. But why not?

[Ginguy]

There have been plenty of individuals and even small groups of content creators who have gone momentarily viral and then faded to obscurity.

Belle Delphine, Ethan Klein, Ice Poseidon, Leafyishere, and Indiefoxx are all creators who have seen significant drops or setbacks.

One could say that Tim Pool is trying to build an alternative content creator space with his Timcast venture, and Tim has commented numerous times that his goal is to establish and alternative media company for cultural content as well as news.

It is an interesting idea, but likely to run into a legal quagmire relatively quickly, even if the group were to establish a shell company to hold the rights.

[Chapinator_X]

Virtual film festivals from the past year or so have had that kind of format. 

SXSW 2021 is the only example I have at the moment, but they’re moving back to an in-person venue this year. 

[scoobdog]

1 hour ago, Ginguy said:

There have been plenty of individuals and even small groups of content creators who have gone momentarily viral and then faded to obscurity.

Belle Delphine, Ethan Klein, Ice Poseidon, Leafyishere, and Indiefoxx are all creators who have seen significant drops or setbacks.

One could say that Tim Pool is trying to build an alternative content creator space with his Timcast venture, and Tim has commented numerous times that his goal is to establish and alternative media company for cultural content as well as news.

It is an interesting idea, but likely to run into a legal quagmire relatively quickly, even if the group were to establish a shell company to hold the rights.

I don't think that's what she's talking about.

4 hours ago, Stonergoth187 said:

With people, groups, and artists making a living online nowadays entertaining via tic tok, youtube, podcasts, etc. This takes a lot of time and effort before it finally takes off. If they do. Has there ever been a virtual "burning man" concept? 

Here's my thought. Basically a large group of people pulling together and using their talents and resources to create content, branding, and marketing something on multiple platforms, gaining a following in a very short amount of time and then deleting everything.

Has this happened before?

 

I don't think it's possible simply because there is a fundamental flaw to the medium.  Theoretically, events such as Burning Man are perpetuated through a lens - as in the performances are transitory but the representation of these performances persist through the perspective of the attendees either through a photographic or videographic lens.  There is separation between those lenses and the performers that is typically filled by other attendees, the natural setting, or even other performances in the periphery.  In a virtual space, the lens is explicitly the domain of the performer instead of the audience and there is, consequently no separation.  Furthermore, there is the issue of the inherent permanence of everything that exists on the internet; even assuming a recording of the event is saved by the virtual attendee, thus becoming the property (not in the legal sense) of his or her perspective, and promptly deleted from the performers space, the recoding continues to exist in near perpetuity in some form devoid of any additional lens space.

[katt_goddess]

Short semi-sarcastic answer - it's already been done. See ' [ asmb ] '.

Longer answer, it's been done in small form the past couple of years hosted by very specific entities with large audiences but a limited live existence. Dragon Con went fully virtual in 2020 with panels airing online according to a very specific schedule. Many other Cons did similar things both in 2020 and 2021 with varying degrees of success. [ adult swim ] had their virtual con that included links to merch. But an attempt at an actual Burning Man type of internet experience isn't very practical despite sounding like fun. The live Burning Man consists of things physically happening in the transitory now by a mass collective of different people from different places and merch [ or lack of it ] is entirely in the hands of the visitor right at that moment. Trying to get a bunch of people to contribute to something like that in the virtual world without a specific sponsor involved to hold things together would lend itself to bad actors fast.  

[Mix]

Quibi

[Seight]

Wait...

Wouldn't a "virtual Burning Man" just be "drinking Absinthe?" 

[StarPanda]

And we drink responsibly from our houses 

sold on the idea 

[Raptorpat]

let's try it here

and then we delete the site

[scoobdog]

9 hours ago, Raptorpat said:

let's try it here

and then we delete the site

You already got one predictable vote.

Edited January 22, 2022 by scoobdog

[Lasty]

It wouldn't be the same without the drugs, or fires.

[Stonergoth187]

On 1/21/2022 at 5:57 PM, scoobdog said:

I don't think that's what she's talking about.

I don't think it's possible simply because there is a fundamental flaw to the medium.  Theoretically, events such as Burning Man are perpetuated through a lens - as in the performances are transitory but the representation of these performances persist through the perspective of the attendees either through a photographic or videographic lens.  There is separation between those lenses and the performers that is typically filled by other attendees, the natural setting, or even other performances in the periphery.  In a virtual space, the lens is explicitly the domain of the performer instead of the audience and there is, consequently no separation.  Furthermore, there is the issue of the inherent permanence of everything that exists on the internet; even assuming a recording of the event is saved by the virtual attendee, thus becoming the property (not in the legal sense) of his or her perspective, and promptly deleted from the performers space, the recoding continues to exist in near perpetuity in some form devoid of any additional lens space.

There's nothing wrong with screenshots or evidence of a viral movement existing past deletion. But once it's deleted noone could contribute. Just my vague idea 

[Stonergoth187]

On 1/21/2022 at 6:16 PM, katt_goddess said:

Short semi-sarcastic answer - it's already been done. See ' [ asmb ] '.

Longer answer, it's been done in small form the past couple of years hosted by very specific entities with large audiences but a limited live existence. Dragon Con went fully virtual in 2020 with panels airing online according to a very specific schedule. Many other Cons did similar things both in 2020 and 2021 with varying degrees of success. [ adult swim ] had their virtual con that included links to merch. But an attempt at an actual Burning Man type of internet experience isn't very practical despite sounding like fun. The live Burning Man consists of things physically happening in the transitory now by a mass collective of different people from different places and merch [ or lack of it ] is entirely in the hands of the visitor right at that moment. Trying to get a bunch of people to contribute to something like that in the virtual world without a specific sponsor involved to hold things together would lend itself to bad actors fast.  

Let me clarify. The aspect of burning man that I would want to replicate is something big being created then destroyed. It's not to replicate burning man beyond that

[Stonergoth187]

Just now, Stonergoth187 said:

Let me clarify. The aspect of burning man that I would want to replicate is something big being created then destroyed. It's not to replicate burning man beyond that

And yes, the asmb is a great example.

[scoobdog]

4 hours ago, Stonergoth187 said:

There's nothing wrong with screenshots or evidence of a viral movement existing past deletion. But once it's deleted noone could contribute. Just my vague idea 

Of course not.  What I’m getting at is that Burning Man performances aren’t intended to exist without audience participation, and that’s difficult when the performance starts out as a recording.  That’s one of the specific conditions of your OP.

[Stonergoth187]

20 hours ago, scoobdog said:

Of course not.  What I’m getting at is that Burning Man performances aren’t intended to exist without audience participation, and that’s difficult when the performance starts out as a recording.  That’s one of the specific conditions of your OP.

Specific conditions of a recording? Basically I had a shower thought that it would be cool to create something and gain a following. Then delete it. The following part would be the audience. This is a very very loose idea. But, I'm assuming you mean recordings as in youtube etc.. in my mind, I'd like to have very ambiguous shit that leaves the audience with a lot of questions. But with a large group collaboration, it would create a media bombardment... so much so that people on the interwebs would be aware of it's existence. And this isn't limited to recordings. It would have branches across multiple platforms.

 

This idea of mine exists in a perfect world.

[Stonergoth187]

5 minutes ago, Stonergoth187 said:

Specific conditions of a recording? Basically I had a shower thought that it would be cool to create something and gain a following. Then delete it. The following part would be the audience. This is a very very loose idea. But, I'm assuming you mean recordings as in youtube etc.. in my mind, I'd like to have very ambiguous shit that leaves the audience with a lot of questions. But with a large group collaboration, it would create a media bombardment... so much so that people on the interwebs would be aware of it's existence. And this isn't limited to recordings. It would have branches across multiple platforms.

 

This idea of mine exists in a perfect world.

But, an audience participating must be limited. Audiences don't always participate. But online, views and likes do pull weight. And unless you actually go to burning man you can't participate, but people are aware of it through photo, video, and verbal documentation. Many people want to go to be part of it, and spurring up that excitement, I think, would be cool

Edited January 24, 2022 by Stonergoth187

[scoobdog]

1 minute ago, Stonergoth187 said:

Specific conditions of a recording? Basically I had a shower thought that it would be cool to create something and gain a following. Then delete it. The following part would be the audience. This is a very very loose idea. But, I'm assuming you mean recordings as in youtube etc.. in my mind, I'd like to have very ambiguous shit that leaves the audience with a lot of questions. But with a large group collaboration, it would create a media bombardment... so much so that people on the interwebs would be aware of it's existence. And this isn't limited to recordings. It would have branches across multiple platforms.

 

This idea of mine exists in a perfect world.

I'm just focused on the delete part.  There wouldn't be a point of creating something just to delete it... unless the point was to create a lasting impression of that creation in those who viewed it:  an impression that outlasts and, perhaps, eventually replaces the original creation.

[Stonergoth187]

2 minutes ago, scoobdog said:

I'm just focused on the delete part.  There wouldn't be a point of creating something just to delete it... unless the point was to create a lasting impression of that creation in those who viewed it:  an impression that outlasts and, perhaps, eventually replaces the original creation.

Yes! It's a nostalgia creation project

[scoobdog]

Just now, Stonergoth187 said:

Yes! It's a nostalgia creation project

Right.  Extending that thought, what makes such a project really special is that the original performance or piece is completely lost to time.  The only way anyone can vicariously experience it is by piecing it together through multiple recountings by those people that witnessed it first hand.

[Stonergoth187]

5 minutes ago, scoobdog said:

Right.  Extending that thought, what makes such a project really special is that the original performance or piece is completely lost to time.  The only way anyone can vicariously experience it is by piecing it together through multiple recountings by those people that witnessed it first hand.

Yes. It's just done online. The beauty of burning man, to me, is that people create an entire town and then destroy it. Nothing should look the same each time. It's an ambiguous event.

 

on a different note: I  think translating that to online would really be a kick in the face to influencers, icons, etc. Just like how a group of thousands of people making their own civilization is a kick in the face for traditional government. 

Edited January 24, 2022 by Stonergoth187

[scoobdog]

Just now, Stonergoth187 said:

Yes. It's just done online. The beauty of burning man, to me, is that people creat an entire town and then destroy it. Nothing should look the same each time. It's an ambiguous event.

I think it's an ambitious idea that could be extremely rewarding.  The problem I see is that trying to present this creation over the internet means that it's impossible to delete the source material itself completely.

[Stonergoth187]

2 minutes ago, scoobdog said:

I think it's an ambitious idea that could be extremely rewarding.  The problem I see is that trying to present this creation over the internet means that it's impossible to delete the source material itself completely.

Yes. You're right. I'm not sure how it would work but there must be a failsafe implemented. 

[Stonergoth187]

Not to mention the media outlets wanting to hold on to the content. It would be on their servers, and subject to their terms of use

Edited January 24, 2022 by Stonergoth187

[scoobdog]

1 minute ago, Stonergoth187 said:

Yes. You're right. I'm not sure how it would work but there must be a failsafe implemented. 

To start, you probably have to create a closed circuit environment (such as, say, a virtual private network ) that exists solely as a virtual venue.

[scoobdog]

2 hours ago, Stonergoth187 said:

Not to mention the media outlets wanting to hold on to the content. It would be on their servers, and subject to their terms of use

The other part is that you can more easily host a server on a local network than on internet platform.  That includes even creating a browser site that is entirely contained on that server and can't be linked once the VPN is shut down.

It will cost quite a bit in IT equipment, but, if you're thinking on Burning Man scales, it's certainly not that costly.