Virtual Balticon

VIRTUAL BALTICON

Normally at this time of year, Baltimore is host to a science-fiction convention known as ‘Balticon’. Sadly, this year was an exception thanks to Covid-19 preventing us from gathering together.

However, some people had the bright idea of putting on a virtual Balticon in Second Life. This included “panels, presentations and readings hosted as webinars; music concerts streamed live” and “online tabletop RPGs and board games”.

A sim was constructed specifically for the virtual Balticon. Attendees could dance in a nightclub, teleport to space stations and other locations, explore an underwater facility, and visit an art gallery.

No virtual Sci-fi conference would be complete without spaceships to fly around in, and the creators of Balticon made sure to include UFOs and other futuristic craft for visitors to fly around in.

Hopefully next year some sense of normality will have returned and the real-life Balticon will return. But thanks to the efforts of all those who built and hosted Balticon in Second Life, the Coronavirus did not succeed in spoiling the yearly science fiction convention.

Thanks to the architects of the virtual Balticon for the images.