Nadya Tolokonnikova, the lead singer of activist band Pussy Riot, has launched her own metaverse in collaboration with Together Labs and its subsidiary IMVU.
According to the Pussy Riot Twitter account, her metaverse – dubbed Utopia – offers a “diverse, feminist and inclusive community.” As MetaNews discovered, some of its diverse community of users also offer opportunities for adult-only interactions.
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PUSSY RIOT’S FIRST METAVERSE COMMUNITY
Join Utopia, our diverse, feminist and inclusive community, on @IMVU 🕯️
Exclusive NFT drops designed by Pussy Riot + in-app quest experiences are coming 🔪🖤🥷💒https://t.co/a3qSQIAuYq to join the community for free
@IMVU +… pic.twitter.com/5aJMgFsWre
— 𝖕𝖚𝖘𝖘𝖞 𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖙💦 (@pussyrrriot) April 12, 2023
The Pink Church of Feminism
Nadya Tolokonnikova, the feminist leader of Pussy Riot, is no stranger to exploiting tech trends for self-promotion or for activism. Tolokonnikova was previously involved in the crypto project UkraineDAO to raise money for Ukraine following the Russian invasion. She has also worked on or lent her name to various NFT projects including Bowie on the Blockchain.
Now the pop provocateur is bringing her brand of anarchic feminist punk to the metaverse in collaboration with IMVU.
IMVU is a virtual world and social platform that invites users to create personalized avatars and interact with others in 3D chat rooms. As advertised, the metaverse created by Tolokonnikova is called Utopia – but it is, more accurately, a chat room within IMVU labeled ‘The Pink Church of Feminism.’
“It has always been a dream of mine to create a Pink Church of Feminism,” Tolokonnikova said in a widely-reported statement last week. “Eventually, I’ll find a way to build it in real life. But the first step is to launch this vision in the metaverse.”
“It’s very thrilling to launch Utopia in IMVU and make it feminist, queer, diverse and radical,” Tolokonnikova stated.
Seeking to learn more, MetaNews decided to visit the ‘Pink Church of Feminism’ and find out what it was all about.
Signing up for IMVU
One of the things that is a little deceptive about IMVU is the process by which a user chooses and customizes their avatar. During the customization process, all the work is done in-browser.
It is only after the customization is complete and the user has tinkered with their avatar until they are happy, that IMVU asks you to download their app to your system. The app says it is in “beta” release, which is surprising given the company was founded in 2004.
After successfully downloading and installing the IMVU client (146MB), the first page to greet me was the menu page. This is less than intuitive and I found myself guessing, clicking on things randomly, and hoping for the best.
Clicking on ‘Feed,’ I discovered an area of the IMVU metaverse that is essentially a clone of Instagram – but in place of real photos, I saw screen captures of various users’ avatars.
Eventually, I learned that the ‘Chat’ button at the top on the right-hand side is what I needed to click. On the chat page I was presented with a number of thumbnails, each representing a different chatroom. Due to the small size of the thumbnails however, it still wasn’t clear what I was supposed to click on.
I opt for the first thumbnail, which looks pink and also happens to be the Pink Church of Feminism, the very room I was looking for.
Church is in session
Upon entering the church of feminism I swiftly came to realize that this was unlike any church experience I had ever had before. Before me were two female avatars, and neither was dressed as your typical church-goer. On the dance floor, another female jumped and writhed around while a male avatar stood motionless at the edge of the dancefloor. (I guess some things in the metaverse are just like the real world.)
I wandered around the church and looked around, but in truth, there was very little to explore. There was a seating area and a stage. For a time, my reckless curiosity got me stuck behind the pink drum kit.
In the main chat feature which rolled down the right-hand side of the screen, one of the females referred to her male friend as “daddy” while another attempted to argue that feminism had accomplished nothing. Another participant expressed their hatred of incels.
Clicking on a few of the chat participants I found interesting details inside their bios. One user promised “to be your goddess” and was “up for discord.” Another offered nudes. One claimed to be a modeling scout.
“For me or for my avatar?” I wondered.
As time went on and the interactions became more surreal, I began to consider that I might be in the wrong place. Then I discovered the words “Pussy Riot” etched on the floor of the church. I wasn’t lost after all, just confused. Was this really it? Yes, it was.
Shopping and goodbye
As I left the Pink Church of Feminism, I decided to take a quick look around the IMVU store. Inside I discovered a long list of Pussy Riot products including t-shirts, hoodies, scarves, balaclavas, and more. All could be purchased with VCoins, a type of cryptocurrency native to IMVU.
As I was scrolling down in-house clothing items in the IMVU store, I received a surprise when a push notification came through. A user by the name of Steven, whose avatar was as metrosexual as my own, had sent a friend request.
Sadly, I had already decided it was time to bring my adventure in the Pussy Riot Utopia to a close. Sorry, Steven.
and then