The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, July 11, 1995, SUMMER ISSUE, Page 7, Image 7
Web site foe
First, we had MTVs "The Real World."
Then, we had the World Wide Web. Finally,
as if life were some kind of sick Bud Light
commercial, someone said, "Why not have
both?" And so my friends, the first Internet
soap opera has been born: "The Real World"
has met the World Wide Web.
Is having the virtual equivalent of "Melmoa
Plor>o" rvnJina a annH fl-iintr? CVnito firm.
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estly, I can't decide. But like it or not, a "Melrose"-like
creation is now on the Net, and ifs
proving to be every bit as popular as its television
counterpart.
Ifs called The Spot, and ifs viewed by people
worldwide more than 35,000 times a day.
Billing itself as "an episodic Web site," it allows
the user to become a voyeur, peering into
the lives of five hip and oh-so-beautiful
twentysomethings as they live their lives in
a glamorous California beach house called
The Spot.
Yes, you too can read the daily diaries of:
Lon, the sexist and woman-chasing actor;
Tara, the cute and intellectual director wanna-be;
Jeff, an unfriendly, mean guy; Michelle,
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a beautiful model who spends most of her
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tive girl who just might be a lesbian. To top
it all off, you even get to peruse the diary of
their dog, the furry and lovable Spotnik.
From a design point of view, The Spot is
one of the most gorgeous Web sites ever created.
All of its pages have custom graphic
backgrounds. Full-color pictures and detailed
icons abound. You can download sounds and
movies of The Spofs inhabitants. If you send
e-mail to them, you will receive customized
replies.
Despite all of this, The Spot hasn't been
without its share of detractors. You see, The
Spot masquerades as reality, and this angers
a lot of people. Nowhere in its pages are you
told you are reading fiction.
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The Gamecock
1th real life
In the site's first days of operation
many of the thousands of visitors be
lieved that Tara and company wen
real people living in a real beach house
This prompted articles from the likes
of Variety and The Washington Post
revealing that The Spot is actually
owned by a company and that the peo
pie in The Spof s pictures don't even live to
gether, much less go by names like Tara anc
Lon. It is, in fact, entertainment only.
The Spot seems to provoke very differenl
reactions in people. It has had the unique dis
tinction of making both the Best of the Wei
and the Worst of the Web lists. You eithei
love it, or you hate it.
Naysayers point to the fact that commerria
advertising will soon be coming to The Spot
(Well, The Spofs owners claim to have spen
$250,000 setting it up. It follows that the]
will want a little something for themselves.
However, the PR agency that handles Th<
Spot tells me all advertising will be "nonin
trusive." Basically, this means you will b<
able to view all of the site's content withou
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'S UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE UNI
Tuesday, July 11, 1995
melodrama
, seeing any of the ads, if that is what you wis!
At first, I was somewhat concerned aboi
i this new example of naked commercialisi
on the Internet. But in the end, I have b<
3 come hooked. I have become a dedicated Spo
. watcher, logging on just about every day 1
1 see what has happened in this virtual worl<
Considering that I know of at least or
" daytime soap opera that features a woma
1 possessed by the devil, I think we should t
willing to go a little easy on The Spot. Th
site's creators are doing something new an
different with the Internet, and I for one a\
) % '
interested to see where it will lead.
p
Those interested in visiting The Spot shoul
j point their WWW browsers to http://www.the
pot.com. To really er\joy The Spot, you mm
[ have the Netscape 1.1 browser, f you don
T a. T j l. .e.
f nave it, 1 recommend you graD it ior iree c
) FTP at ftp.mcom.com. Netscape is aVailab]
; in Macintosh, Windows and Unix format
j Marc LaFountain is a journalisi
t senior. He can be e-mailed at lafountair
marc@sc.edu.
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8. KIM TRUETT The Gamecock rc
Darius Rucker of Columbia's own Hootio and the ^
n Blowflsh was named one of the top tan sexiest rockj.
ers In Playglrl's July Issue which Is on the stands
now. The band Is busy touring this summer.
16
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ercival Road 782-7854
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