Entering

As stated previously, Virtual Forbidden City is a cultural repository. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the world feels more than a little like what it is: a museum.

When you first enter, you arrive in an enormous courtyard, the imposing gateway to the forbidden city. Behind you stretches a long, wide street leading back into Beijing. You can follow that street a little ways, looking at the architecture on either side, passing between lines of unmoving trees until you reach another mighty gate at the other end. This is the world?s southern end, and is non-functional.

It is a recurring theme of this recreation of the forbidden city that any door you can walk through, is already open for you. Moving, opening doors simply do not exist. Moreover, some open doors you cannot walk through, as an invisible wall of force blocks your way. You are not meant to leave the forbidden city, and the simulation actively constrains you to just that area.

In the entrance courtyard itself, at random locations are scattered other visitors like yourself. Names printed above their avatars state who they are, displayed in English, Mandarin or Cantonese characters depending on that individual user's specified language choice.


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Images: China's Palace Museum,
Text: Virtual Worldlets Network, all rights reserved.