About VD

Virtual Dose (formerly MODE d’IMVU) started out as an online magazine about fashion, relationships, and content creation for the immediate IMVU community. It failed at the most important aspect of a group project – focus. Everyone had joined the project for varied reasons, however there was no unified sense of accomplishment much less form of existence (confusion with whether this was roleplaying in a pretend magazine or were we really trying to get something done here). As a result we didn’t go far.

VirtualDose is now the product of a lot of self reflection at what was between my hands. Things first started to click while listening to Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal, in which she explained the phenomena “Playing Alone Together”. My mind instantly recalled how, in IMVU’s developing community, many of us “park our pixels” in a virtual chat room and proceed to work on our products for the IMVU catalog in almost pin drop silence. Further reflecting on this topic I’ve come to understand McGonigal’s mission with video games, but here IMVU is a 3D social platform, not quite yet a virtual world, yet much more significant than a game with a pre-programmed route where accomplishments can be quantified. Many people who do not utilize virtual worlds, much less evolved chatting agent, do not realize what it is we do in here. I have come to even further include, that we don’t even really know what it is we do in them.

To some people, what we do there is the equivalent of an illegal immigrant working under the table, with no protections or rights to speak of, constantly exploited by thieves, whom the companies that host our metaverses do next to nothing about, and yet to others, are indulged in a parallel existence where they are fashion gods and goddesses with paparazzi and glamorous models and their agencies.

So that led me to ask…is that all there is to virtual worlds, to repeat and rehash our broken realities? Or is there something more?

Welcome to Virtual Dose, where I plan on answering that question to myself, and everyone involved.

- Fatima Mekkaoui

Virtual Dose Staff

Fatima Mekkaoui - Co-Owner, Editor in Chief
Gavin Dade- Co-Owner
Gabriela Rodriguez – Co-founder, Editor

A Heaping Dose of Inspiration

For more information on Jane McGonigal’s work, please visit: http://realityisbroken.org.