Like most of the class, I wasn't overly impressed with Caroline and Jemma. However, it occurs to me that most of our critiques of the sites have centered around the somewhat frivolous content of the stories rather than around the genre/medium itself. McLuhan would be displeased with us. It seems to me that it would be possible to create a very interesting story with this kind of format. There's no reason I can think of why these stories need to center around boys and clothes and alcohol. Alas, it seems that new literary and artistic forms often begin as either cliched, melodramatic entertainment or insufferably self-concious exercises in being different.

My reaction to Caroline and Jemma doesn’t stand out from the rest of the class who has blogged on them: they weren’t my favorite. I’ll admit, it was fun to hear British accents and relive some of the British abbreviations from my study abroad days, but the content of the both of the sites was less than interesting. The intense sexual and/or alcohol themes of both simulations annoyed me and made me believe that these are designed for teenagers who want a peek at either uni life (however realistic it may be) or the life of a young working woman. Emails from Jemma’s coffee date reading “Fancy something stronger tonight?” and Caroline’s drunkenness with Simon in her first video turned me off.

Poking about Caroline & Jemma, I realized they were both put up by XPT. Which explains some of the similarities in format etc. It was rather intriguing, though, Google search yeilded this home page for the company (which does include some spoiler-type info on Caroline). It only had info on her, though, not a single other project. The XPT link directly fom Jemma, on the other hand, leads you here, a far less sinister and far more informative site than the preceding.

It also links to their other similar project, Mount Kristos, a virtual holiday, which I am finding FAR more entertaining.