Seeing the Elephant

A few times each year, Karl Rosenzweig, a baker from upstate New York, wakes up in the middle of the 19th century. “Reveille” is sounded at 6 AM, and he eats a soldier’s breakfast cooked over a campfire. In the afternoon, Rosenzweig takes position a short distance from dozens, and sometimes hundreds of men, loads his Enfield 1853 rifle-musket, takes aim, and pulls the trigger. The clouds of black powder smoke that fill the air are real, but the battle is virtual. There are no actual bullets flying through the air, and at the end of the event, Rosenzweig and all the other soldiers, Union and Confederate, will get back in their cars and go home, no ground either gained or lost. They will hang up their uniforms, and prepare for the next reenactment, the next virtual skirmish.

A live-action virtual world may sound like an exotic thing, but if you’ve visited a historical site with actors engaged in period demonstrations or made a trip to Disney World, you’ve already been to one. Most of these worlds are created as performances to be viewed for entertainment or educational purposes, and while they might even offer opportunities for some form of audience participation, there’s almost always a clear line between the performer and the spectator.