[Germany] With only days away from the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, how best to mark the occasion? Rebuild it or at least a virtual two kilometer stretch. That’s the approach being taken by Metaversum, the Berlin-based company behind virtual world Twinity, who have constructed a replica section of the wall in-world.
Visitors to Twinity’s virtual Berlin will be able to travel back to 1989 to explore a two km-long, true-to-scale section of the Berlin Wall, from the Reichstag, past the Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz, ending with a realistic replica of Checkpoint Charlie. Along with the wall itself, visitors can also access various multimedia content, including video and audio guides at seven key points describing the building of the wall, important dates in its history, witness accounts and, of course, the climatic events of 1989. The exhibition is a collaboration between Metaversum, the Berlin Senate and media partner Berlin.de.
Twinity tries to distinguish itself from the likes of Second Life by building exact replicas of well known cities – Berlin, Singapore, with London to follow – and encouraging members to use real names and create realistic-looking avatars. However, despite forging closer ties to the real world, Twinity won’t be immune to the common complaint levied at most virtual worlds, especially by first time visitors, that there seems little to do. Timely exhibitions like the virtual Berlin Wall could help remedy this.
Although the Berlin Wall didn’t fall until the 9th of November, the in-world exhibition opens its doors today.
