Dear Future Virtuals,
We all have concerns when it comes to making that all important decision on where we spend the next phase of existence. Besides setting the standard in safety, sim quality and sensory detail, VEI offers a variety of destinations and packages. Which one is right for you? We at VEI invite your questions.
Sincerely
Destiny Webb,
VEI Representative and Future VEI Virtual
On Bio to Virtual Communications:
A loved one’s transition from bio to a virtual destination, especially if it is unexpected, can cause a great deal of anxiety and confusion for those left behind in the physical world. We often get tearful pleas to contact the new virtual and as much as we sympathize, we are unable to make exceptions. Depending on how quickly their loved one adjusts to his or her new existence, contact by way of voice communication is usually available within six weeks, followed by a specialized image enhancement holo-communicator within another three months. Although most virtuals are able to stabilize their visual manifestation much sooner, some take longer.
Because the technology isn’t currently sold to the public, VEI has set up a number of satellite offices with holo-virtual communicators and for a small monthly fee, loved ones can stay in regular contact. Although many have called for individual ownership of these bio-virtual image communicators, we in the virtual environments industry feel too early communication puts the new virtual at risk for failure to adjust and communication must be regulated for this reason.
A positive new development, announced by the communications giant TWC (Two Worlds Connect) is a joint bio-virtual network–BVN (Bio/Virtual Network) with programming developed by a team composed of bios and virtuals, including our own Bali Hai virtual Betsy Salan of “Cooking from Scratch” fame. We can look forward to “Cooking Betsy” once again!
On Avatars:
After selecting the post bio program, your first decision will be to design your post-transition avatar. Any virtual will tell you that the success of your orientation can be helped or hindered by the design of your avatar. VEI offers a comprehensive selection of avatar features. Of course the avatars are tailored to the program. For example, The Heartlands USA destination currently offers over forty male and female avatars, all patterned on preferred body types and faces, several custom mix and match facial characteristics and a wide palette of skin tones. Because of the nature of this environment and the charter agreement, all avatars must meet certain human appearance requirements. Our Bali Hai program avatars, on the other hand, can have some animal characteristics, however, most virtuals opt for a human or humanoid appearance. Although it is the custom to shed one’s avatar identity when one has stabilized, feels comfortable and age shifting skills are perfected, some virtuals do assume their avatars for social events. Regardless, ask about avatar options (every virtual is entitled to at least one) What avatar is waiting to be you?
Several months ago, a man asked if he decided to have his mind uploaded, could he take his dog with him. This was my answer to his question:
Dear Mr. Buck,
After numerous studies and trials–scanning and uploading a variety of animals, including several breeds of dogs (Chows, Labradors, terriers, poodles, chihuahuas and St. Bernards) we have reluctantly concluded that our beloved pets fail to adjust to their new reality. When confronted with the shifting images of virtual citizens and the sudden comings and goings, dog files in particular become unstable–some becoming hostile, others chasing their tails or howling. All self-deleted within a three bio month period. Is your dog a chihuahua? They seemed to last the longest, nestling in a piece of clothing, or part of the owner, where they remained immobile. VEI is now offering a complimentary pet sim as part of our American Heartlands package. Just bring Rex or Fido in at your convenience and a scan of your pet’s memories of you will be filed and ready to greet when you make that transition from bio to virtual.
Best regards
Destiny Webb
marjorie kaye's Babylon Dreams 
Can you settle an argument? I say you are still married here because you are not really dead and he claims you are no longer married because marriage is primarily a sexual union and you cannot have real sex if you are just a computer virtual person. I say he is a digital dunce and dumbwad. H calls me a binary bitch. Who is right?
Dear Caddie-
In virtual existence, sex can go on as long and as frequently and in as many ways as you wish. Most virtuals who transition together as a couple, do so because they wish to continue their union as perfected editions of themselves. On occasion, something does interfere. For example, Ned and Terry, a devoted couple who transitioned in their eighties were torn apart by a failure of adjustment–in this case “age-shifting.” In a virtual state, people can manifest at any age they wish. Ned was happy being twenty-four, but Terry was unable to make a similar adjustment, continuing to be in her eighties. This caused an unfortunate rupture in their marriage, and a distressing scene at an orientation hot tub party. Although many couples become and remain devoted to one another, forever is a long time and most end their relationship in favor of another, or become polygamous. Your “digital dunce” might be more interested in a religious program, where prayer and meditation are stressed and those who indulge in virtual sex keep the term”missionary” in mind. You, “binary babe,” might prefer more options on the menu.
Should you choose to continue your marriage in virtual existence, I recommend VEI’s “American Heritage.” This destination features an excellent array of historical environments ranging from homesteads and towns in the Thirteen Colonies, all the way to American cities and the time line extends through the end of the 20th Century. You’ll find several types of counseling programs including prayer meetings, encounter groups stressing Mars and Venus, mate swapping, consciousness raising, etc.
Best of luck,
Destiny Webb
In a virtual existence do you still feel hunger? I struggle with my weight and if I was free from the worldly need to eat I would live out eternity in a virtual world.
Dear Linda-
You only feel hunger when you choose to be hungry, for the experience and pleasure of a meal. Many virtuals create social activities around a party or festival and as humans we value the ritual of “breaking bread” together. Just as you can manifest at any age you choose, you can alter your virtual appearance in any way that you choose. When you make the initial transfer from bio to virtual, you’ll present as you were when bio functions ceased, however, each virtual can also present as the special avatar they chose before transition until they feel comfortable with age-shifting patterns and have made desired alterations in their appearance.
Some virtual communities have “avatar” celebrations where many manifest as their transition avatars. Depending on the package you choose, you can also opt for a custom avatar for fantasy role playing. In one instance, a virtual citizen whose harassment claim was settled through arbitration, was rewarded an avatar based on a mythical creature, a centaur. The centaur’s enormous phallus and the citizen’s promise that any further harassment would result in his addressing the situation where he promised to personally meet with the offender until they saw “eye to eye” was enough to resolve the conflict.
So, Linda, as you see, when comes to your virtual appearance, anything you desire is possible.
Best of luck,
Destiny Webb.
Could two lovers produce a virtual child, a purely digital being and would these children have the same legal rights as biological children?
Dear Woodsey,
Great question!
In a post biological environment,assuming there was enough available, lovers can pool whatever sim-specific-memory(ssm) included in the individual packages they purchased and use it to create a sim child, or choose to purchase additional memory for that purpose.
Virtual Child programs are becoming popular. Simulated “life’ events begin by scanning the couples’ (hetero or homosexual) collective memories for traits they observed in each other and/or family members with emphasis on preferred outcomes (looks, personality,etc.). If this project was planned before their bio-shutdowns, or bio family members agreed to contribute, DNA analysis could be used for greater accuracy.
At birth, the sim child appears to have traits of both parents and is programmed to respond to their nurturing. Sim-child programs include physical and emotional maturation and contain a few variables to simulate the challenge of child rearing.
Unfortunately, this “child” would not be legally a virtual human and therefore would not be entitled to legal rights. On occasion couples request the pregnancy/childbirth fantasy and experience the pleasure without the discomfort, sleepless nights or dirty diapers. When these sims develop past the “cute” stage, the couples lose interest and wish to delete them and utilize the “ssm” in other ways.
Many couples who have “raised” their virtual children to be sim-adults are convinced that these sims are self-aware and have begun to lobby Congress on this issue. Their proposal is to grant these “progeny” sims limited rights in terms of involuntary deletion. Alternatives include acknowledging them as “special/semi-aware” and assigning them to environments where their more detailed interpersonal skills might be useful and requiring the rejecting “parents” to forfeit the memory.
When bio children transition to virtual reality, progress in maturing transitioned children into virtual adults has been slow. Virtual reality is a predictable environment. Adulthood requires adaptation and dealing with unforeseen events, something the child virtual rarely encounters.
I hope this answers your question.
Destiny Webb
What is the difference between a virtual and a sim? Seems like they are both computer files, bits and bytes.
First–let’s distinguish between “Program” sims and “Personal” sims. Program sims help create the virtual environment and are the product of extensive research conducted by VEI teams, specializing in human/sim interaction. Based on relevant memories of locals who are compensated, VEI’s award-winning sim-environment teams are why VEI is the post-bio environment standard.
Personal sims fall into two categories:
The most common type of personal sim is a part of “Scripted Program Fantasies.” “Star Turn”is an example of a Fantasy program, where you become a celebrity–usually of the holo-film or old style movie variety and sims play a variety of roles including lovers and fans. When the program completes, the sim memory is recovered.
Custom personal sims can be temporary or permanent. An example of a temporary is a woman with access to considerable memory. She created sims of her lovers–mostly fellow virtuals. I don’t recommend this as charter violations can trigger if the virtual is offended by the sim model. This same woman had a sim made of her mother and modified her sim’s behavior so that the “mother” sim bore little resemblance to the actual mother but served as a receptor for the accumulated hostility of the daughter.
I recommend you decide how much you wish to allot for sims in your budget and double it. Sims are crucial to the virtual experience.
Best wishes,
Destiny Webb
If you’re not happy with your post bio environment after you die and transition, can you change and go someplace else? If so, under what circumstances?
Dear Don–This situation rarely involves a virtual resident of a VEI community; however, we frequently are asked to facilitate the transfer of folks from other post-bio environments and do offer our services to help in the relocation to a VEI program. When your bio-functions cease (a more current term than “die”)the transition ranges from peaceful to relatively traumatic and so there is a necessary waiting period before this is possible.
Part of every contract is a maintenance fee–usually a flat yearly rate. When you sign your contract, most companies offer two rates. One rate is lower, however you must agree to a substantial penalty plus one to five bio years maintenance with fees based on projected COM (cost of memory) before you can affect a transfer. The other rate has a higher maintenance and initial cost, and most programs offering this also require a “first and last” which is your first year’s maintenance plus one additional year.
Evergreen,is a company that markets to parents with young children. It has several “pod” communities based on the life style preferences of the parents and upon signing, Evergreen acquires the child’s bio DNA and personality profile and habits. This company structures their contracts with the assumption that their clients will most likely want to transfer. Evergreen incorporates a program,Barlow’s Maturation of the Child Virtual, and should a child transition due to accident or illness, a virtual physical, cognitive and social maturation process begins. Usually children under the age of four are not accepted. Personality preferences of the parents and the needs of the child determine which pod hosts the transition. Provided the parents do not have other children they can terminate their bio functions and transition to join their virtual offspring. When the maturation is completed, arrangements are made to transition the family to another programmed environment, either an Evergreen, or for a higher fee, a program part of another virtual environment company.
Recently, Evergreen was in the news when the United States Supreme Court ruled in Santiago versus Evergreen in a case involving the identity rights of Isabel Santiago,the bio nanny of Jeremy Salan, a child who drowned at the age of nine. Isabel Santiago claimed her identity was used without her permission to create a sim that greeted Jeremy in the virtual Salan kitchen upon his transition. The Court said that the sim Isabel was created from Jeremy’s memories and therefore his property. Unfortunately when the parents, Otis and Betty Salan, decided to transition to Evergreen Falconcrest the virtual community where Jeremy began his maturation program, they were unable to adjust. When Jeremy completed the process and was declared a “Citizen of Evergreen”, he announced he was marrying the Isable sim, a decision that led to more litigation when the Salans decided to sue Evergreen. It settled out of court and Otis and Betty Salan were transferred to Bali Hai, the most prominent program in our VEI family. Jeremy, alas, opted to remain as an Evergreen resident and claims to have married the sim Isabel, though of course human virtual/sim marriages are not recognized by our current laws.
Thank you for your question. I’m sure that many future virtuals consider this possibility.
Destiny Webb
If these virtual humans are software, then there must be software code bugs sometimes; which mean these software people can get sick, right? So how then are they treated, fixed or corrected? And do you need to buy health insurance as part of this afterlife life?
Dear Lance–
Yes–there are bugs. One bug in particular destroyed an entire virtual population by way of new Avatar software. As in any industry, competitors employ spies to acquire any new technology funded and developed by their competitors. One of our competitors, Joy Forever, obtained the Avatar Options software we were testing and had not yet approved. The bug was difficult to detect, however, we did discover it before installation and made adjustments. Joy Forever did not, they renamed it Avatars Unlimited, then installed it. Two million virtuals were erased in an afternoon. The Anti-Virtual Society was involved and this led to stricter laws both for Virtual Environment Companies and mandated prison time for anyone convicted of Deliberate Erasure or the intent to erase. Negligence is harder to prove, however, the VPA (Virtual Protection) is developing new tougher standards.
As for the health of our citizens, we scan them as they “sleep” and make necessary adjustments. Each virtual sets up a schedule–usually one third of their customary bio sleep time. During this time, the virtual “retires” to his or her “bedroom” or favored sleeping arrangement and awakes feeling “refreshed” a sensation that is a bi-product of any adjustments made to their files.
There is no guarantee, however, whatever steps we can take to ensure the safety and well-being of our citizens are taken. As a result of the Joy Forever tragedy, pressure was put on Congress to roll back the duplicate-file tax enacted during the days when multiple copies of the same person clogged our courts with identity rights suits. It hasn’t been repealed yet unfortunately.
Best wishes
Destiny Webb