By Francisco Delatorre
The two companion sites to www.onlinecaroline.com are worth noting
in and of themselves. These are www.xpt.co.uk and www.it3c.co.uk.
XPT is the parent site responsible for Online Caroline. It is the
company not only in charge of hosting it, but also for writing the
story and creating the interactive architecture. XPT pops up here
and there within the story, in a relatively unflattering light; Caroline's
boyfriend, David, works for XPT and travels the world doing only god
knows what. A major part of the story is a set of parcels from XPT
that are stolen. David turns out to be a shady character, due in large
part to XPT's influence. Why do such a thing? Because this way the
name XPT stays in the viewer's mind, and the viewer is more likely
to visit the site.
However, the XPT site is nothing if not ultimately baffling. The splash
page spouts propaganda about you going out and getting what you want,
and assuring total fulfillment, then provides a registration form
and quite literally nothing else. I have yet to see any correspondence
from XPT about my total fulfillment. Presumably they are working on
another story like that of Caroline, perhaps a sequel, but it remains
unclear.
The other service provided by XPT (and featured on Online Caroline
in the "send me things" section) is it3c, a virtual gift-giving
service that offers items like a gloomy day, a picnic, or an underwater
headquarters in various colorful packages. I, for example, pretending
to be Michel Foucault pretending to be Jean Baudrillard sent a deadly
virus in purple packaging to the fourth of the three French poststructuralist
theorists, Etienne Pouklowns. The message on the package said: "Semiotics!
Socialism! Simulation! Simulacra!" In return, my friend, as Etienne
Pouklowns, sent me, as Marshall MacLuhan, the love of the American
people in plain wrapping.
Clearly, this site is devoted entirely to absurdity. The personal
statements about the site include such gems as "Montmorency Q."
claiming to have sent the city of Reykjavik through it3c, and a clown
claiming that until it3c, no one took him seriously (you see, it's
funny because he's a clown). For the next three days, the site sends
daily updates to both parties (receiving and sending) tracking the
unusual parcel's progress through the world as it approaches its target.
Inevitably, however, the package is lost, but they retain the message
contained on the package tag and send that to the recipient. Thus,
in the end, this is little more than a prolonged virtual greeting
card service, but it's far more entertaining. It was an absolute delight
to read in email "something that should never happen to the love
of the American people has happened in Los Angeles."
Indeed, the only time it3c has ever worked is when I send gifts to
Caroline, and imaginary person.
XPT seems to be on the cutting edge of building unique virtual spaces,
from writing interactive stories to rethinking existing forms of communication.
The only problem I see is that the novelty appears to wear off quickly.
Online Caroline is an interesting site, but it is so odd in how aggressively
emotional it is that it can turn the user off. Granted, it's this
oddity that is strangely appealing; I find myself addicted to find
out just how much stranger it can get, but I can already find this
novelty wearing off as well. As with it3c, the daily updates that
are sent to the sender are almost always the same, so that while it
may be a new experience for the recipient, it quickly grows old for
the other party.
In the end, XPT thrives on absurdity, and doesn't try to survive
by charging money for their services. As such, I won't be reporting
them to fuckedcompany.com any time soon.