Following the submersible implosion of the Titan, Oceangate revealed they used Second Life to teach students how to pilot it. In the game, it shows what the player may experience as they dive down piloting the Oceangate Titan. During the demonstration video, it shows movement of the Titan, changing the color of the lights, and the horn/panic function before meeting with a shipwreck that’s likely supposed to resemble the Titanic. The Oceangate Titan costs L$350 in Second Life, a little over $1.
The Oceangate Titan started hitting the news waves over a month ago, about mid-June. After the submersible began diving the morning of June 18, within the first two hours, all communication with the Oceangate Titan stopped. This situation started to quickly take over the news cycle as everyone was on the edge of their seat to find out if the Oceangate Titan was still out there.
The voyage down to the Titanic cost $250,000 per person. The late CEO of Oceangate, Stockton Rush, described the Titanic trip as “a new type of travel.” Rush passed on board the Oceangate Titan alongside four other passengers after the submersible lost pressure and imploded on itself. The debris of the Oceangate Titan was found days later after the June 18 departure where they were able to confirm their findings.
Why use Second Life for Oceangate Titan Tour?
Second Life is an online multiplayer virtual reality world where anyone can be who they want and have a “second life” if you will. Players can spend real life money to receive in-game items like clothing, animations, vehicles, buildings, and more. The USD converts into Linden Dollar (L$) with a conversion rate of $1 = L$320.
With the Oceangate Titan only costing L$350, it cost $1.09 to try out the vehicle in Second Life. A spokesperson for Oceangate said:
“We chose Second Life as our medium for this tour because it allows us to design high fidelity interactions between our audience, the submersible and the underwater environment. Our virtual environment gives our audience a strong sense of social and spacial presence through their interactions with the environment and their ability to communicate with one another in parallel.”
After the news of a Logitech wireless video game controller being utilized on the Oceangate Titan, it’s not far off for Oceangate to also use an online virtual reality world to teach others how to pilot it.
What do you make of this? Surely such a dangerous trip should require specialised training equipment? Let us know in the comments!
Follow us for more entertainment coverage on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
