- That is, of course, the mythos of Virtual Djibouti...or one of them-
you may make up your own. Now to the reality, as far as I can understand it.
- It started in Ridiculist, the trivia game on Talk City; if you haven't
been there you cannot know. The first to make something of the "Djibouti"
name was, to my best knowledge, TXRaider who got the name stuck in his head.
Djibouti is a small country on the Red Sea coast of Africa, a former part of French
Somalia, which serves as a port for the much larger, but landlocked, Ethiopia.
- Djibouti is also a correct answer in a seemingly endless series of Categories in
the game- which is what led it to capture the minds of people addicted to the game,
strung out, addicted, sleepless people whose spouses were divorcing them in droves, LOL.
- If the cat is "Countries with a coastline", "Countries where French is spoken", "African
Countries", "Countries with a coastline", "Countries with one star on their flags" or
anything like that- quick, answer Djibouti. This was true often enough that the teams in
Ridic began to be named things like Djiboutian Green-Card Holders, Djiboutian Terrorists, and
even "Djiboutian Rat-on-a-stick", LOL....and the LOL's kept on coming.
- Shortly thereafter Polar, who was always offering a Molson's or other libation,
began to say he was going to open a bar in Djibouti and retire. This was, perhaps, the original
impetus for Virtual Djibouti. The idea was posted on the Ridiculist Hall of Fame message board
one morning at 3 AM by Arystina (and isn't it amazing how many ideas float to the surface
in those hours?) and immediately siezed upon by the people of Ridiculist. Post followed post in
that topic until I, Ski-Dude, founder of the Hall of Fame webpage was forced to heed
the call....give the people what they want- The people wanted Virtual Djibouti!.
- With the graphic expertise of Polar, VD's chief architect I began laying the groundwork immediately...we decided to put Virtual Djibouti up page by page as we built it, and build as we got applicants. As I write this the virtual borders are closed for construction of the homes and businesses of the 1st 100 applicants....when this work is done we will again take applications and begin pahase 2 construction, if there is an interest.
- The Virtual Djibouti concept that formed in my mind was an outgrowth of Arystina's idea plus the
myriad ideas of the players who posted in Arystina's topic on the message board- an interactive community
of people playing roles in a mythical place which we would construct of our own dreams and fantasies.
The posts were imaginative, funny and fun to read and respond to. As I toyed with the idea it occurred to me that there IS a real Djibouti out there, which very few of us know very much about....but which shares nothing with Virtual Djibouti but a name... a name to us at once exotic and funny-sounding. This is the loose framework on which we hang our community...and build our mythos.
- The idea is to have fun....that is my ideal VD... a place where every page will have the humanity of it's inhabitants and in which humor is a chief element. We mean no disrespect to the real Djiboutians, of whom we know but little. Oddly, the formation of VD has led some of our number to learn something about the actual place....Virtual Djiboutians are an inquisitive lot with a seemingly endless supply of time and energy to give such research.
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In planning VD, I thought we should have a city map, with the buildings being clickable links to the various
establishments set up by her citizens and this is, in fact, the way we are proceeding. The first VD page Polar
and I made was the "teaser" page, and the application for citizenship, featuring the "under construction" sign
that Polar designed. We were unable to contain ourselves once we began, however, and within days had hyped each
other to the point that Polar made the graphics used on this page and I was writing a "Myth of the Bot"
before the first applications began to come in....and we have continued at that pace. We decided to keep putting
pages up as we completed them, rather than put the whole thing up at once at some future date- Virtual Djibouti
is very much a "work in progress" growing before our eyes.
- We now have 3 pages up, besides this intro, and are working frantically to keep up with the ideas of the
Citizens and our "Cabinet", named below. The map is underway, the applicants will shortly receive questionnaires
regarding their needs and the services and goods they offer so we might construct the pages for them. It is an
exciting time to be a Djiboutian!
- This is the team working on building Virtual Djibouti, as of this writing:
- Galactic Overlord: Ski-Dude; author, page layout & construction.
- Chief Architect & Engineer: Polar; original graphics
- Chancelloresse of the Exchequer: Ugogirl104; staff coordinator
- Foreign Minister: Dagny; responsible for keeping VD in touch with the real world
- Minister of the Interior: Ridaddict; Citizen Liaison, E-mail ridaddict@yahoo.com
- Minister of Planning: Dina; Shop & Building Layout
- Design Assistants: Blitzen, Mikset, Summoner, Vi711
- Production Assistants: Aqualibra, Jenever, Molly5, Tiacynnick
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In the dark, cold winter of 1997-98....
a small band of people...restless, driven, dissatisfied with their lot& lead by a charismatic guru went seeking a new home.....
No......wait......
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Virtual Djibouti: The Concept
What comes next?
Djiboutians!!!
Keep abreast of the progress of your new home...Polar has put up a page showing the construction schedule of Virtual Djibouti's buildings and shops...it is moving along, but I know the impatience of my people... they seek instant gratification with the single-mindedness of musk oxen in full rut. So there is this to assuage you a bit- click on the Business logo to go see where we are......
The Cabinet of Virtual Djibouti
Come along for a tour of.......
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Djibouti! |
Hall of Fame |
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Page Updated on 26 May, 1998
by Ski-Dude & Polar
All rights reserved
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