Grim Babies

Grim Babies are a type of virtual prim baby sold inside the Second Life metaverse. They were created as a novelty toy and as a parody of traditional prim babies. Grim Babies were not created to simulate real life babies and in no way intend to encourage the concept of child abuse.

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History

A prim baby is a virtual simulation of a baby that is made from Second Life building blocks, often referred to as prims. Prim babies are often used to role play child birth and parenthood. [cite web |first=Chris |last=Dahlen |url= http://www.sfweekly.com/2006-04-19/news/i-was-an-online-mother-part-2/ |title=I Was an Online Mother |publisher=SFweekly.com |accessdate = 2008-02-04] [cite web |first=Chris |last=Dahlen |url=http://www.sfweekly.com/2006-04-12/news/i-was-an-online-mother/ |title=I Was an Online Mother, part2 |publisher=SFweekly.com |accessdate = 2008-02-04] [cite web |first=Chris |last=Dahlen |url=http://www.sfweekly.com/2006-04-26/news/i-was-an-online-mother-part-3/ |title=I Was an Online Mother, Part 3 |publisher=SFweekly.com |accessdate = 2008-02-04] [ cite web |url=http://secondlife-newspaper.blogspot.com/2007/05/times-of-your-second-life-pregnancy.html |title=Times of Your (Second) Life: Pregnancy |publisher=sl-newspaper.com |accessdate=2008-02-04]

Prim babies are designed to interact with their virtual parents in the form of crying, expressing hunger, needing their diaper changed and various other role play activities. Prim baby needs are often expressed publicly through chat that appears at the bottom of the computer screen. While popular with a significant number of residents, some Second Life residents find prim babies to be unwanted distractions or, in more severe cases, disturbing and inappropriate role play props.

Grim Babies were a direct response to this distaste, and serve as a parody version of the traditional prim babies. The Grim Babies concept attempts to point out the absurdity of assigning real world emotions to a group of specifically placed virtual building blocks. They also serve as a counter-measure to the audible crying and streaming text created by traditional prim babies, as Grim Babies will also cry and stream text.

The first series of Grim Babies were released to the Second Life community on May 5, 2006 by the design team of Second Life residents Grim Misfit and BoBo Boxer, both of which continue to serve as the driving force behind Grim Babies. Misfit is credited with designing and building the Babies, while Boxer does all scripting/programming of the Babies which allow them to interact with their owner and environment.

Fans of the Babies choose to see them how they were intended: an irreverent parody. Various members of Linden Lab, developer of Second Life, support Grim Misfit and his Grim Babie product. Linden Lab employee Torley Linden was overjoyed to find a Babie created in his honor. Linden wrote: “I'm honored to be part of [the Grim Babies family…” [ cite web |url=http://torley.com/grim-babies-rock-bigtime |title=Grim Babies Rock Bigtime…|publisher=Torley.com |accessdate=2008-02-04]

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