In late 2019, I became a vagrant artist in Somnium Space VR. This is an amazing 5K world with beautiful changing light. At the time, creators had to own or rent parcels in order to build. (You can now build a world there for free). This was peak NFT and metaverse time, and most parcels were $3000-30,000. I was completely fascinated by the entire market dynamics. I understood the investment motives at an intellectual level, but just couldn’t square that with what I experienced on the ground, nor with my gut instincts about value. I couldn’t stop thinking about this disparity.

For the most part, this huge world was very quiet and void of people. Many very expensive parcels sat empty, while other areas had been lovingly built up and developed. Social activities centered around events, and as I later discovered, Somnium Space did have a highly engaged group of regular users. But I initially was there for the isolation. Who knew mandatory Covid isolation was just around the corner?

I really wanted to build. Any player can upload custom avatars, and I developed a hack for building in Somnium Space without purchasing a parcel by customizing host avatars with my own 3D installations. At the time there really was no limit in size or sound for these hosted objects. I used a separate account for my host avatar, which appeared invisible except for his glowing name tag: Jason Brockette. I used offsets to hide Jason’s name, or simply placed a rock or other object over it.

This went on for several months, and I was sure I would be banned once discovered. Instead I was embraced. I received rent-free parcels to build on, and was awarded 6 months worth of Creators Fund grants. My motives changed from subversion to cooperation and comradery, and while I felt incorporated and missed my vagrant days, working within the system had beneficial challenges and rewards.