On the Lam: Paca Hannibal does hard time in Second

By ROSE KARUNA
SecondLIFE Magazine

Meet Paca Hannibal, on the run in Second Life. The fact that he does much of his running wearing an orange prison uniform and handcuffs has set him apart from other Second Lifers.

Paca first came to my attention after having been spotted by vigilant Second Lifer Aaron Levy who posted his sighting in a thread on the Second Life Forum. Aaron wrote "I fly along the road, pretty high up, and see this little orange dot... still running along the road... For some reason, I still didn't think much of it. I fly 3-4 sims away and decided to fly back home and log off. I'm lower to the ground this time, so here, 4-5 minutes later, I pass this guy STILL RUNNING along the road...




And now I'm closer so I see that ... he's an escape convict wearing prison orange and still in his handcuffs!"

After seeing the picture, I decided I had to meet the man behind the orange suit. I relentlessly hunted him down, which was not any small task, because the man is a master at disguise. Worn down by my repeated IM attacks and baited by my promise of a useful gift – a hacksaw - he finally agreed to grant me an interview.

Q: I thought that your idea was so creative, how did you think of it?
A: There was a law enforcement/jail theme at Phantasie Isle, I DJ there and I wanted something no one else would have but I took it further than other people. This is my Headhunter AV. I’m trying to go for the Shaman look.

Q: How long have you been in SL?
A: About 2 months

Q: It looks like you are really enjoying Second Life?
A: It’s fun, just about the only thing I do on the net now… I never watched much TV anyhow and when I did it was either the History or the Learning Channel. I can't stand not to be interactive or learn something. You think that'd be different for a guy rough around the edges like me.

Q: So how did you come to be running from the law in Second Life?
A: I was playing around trying to liven things up. I did that two nights in a row.

Q: Perhaps next time you should hook up with "Clarice"?
A: Well I didn't want to copy Hannibal Lector too much, I like to do my own thing.

Q: You have to admit, he was a cool character though.
A: and he showed that even cannibalistic and dangerous people can have a soft/good side … I was even iffy about going through PG sims with my inmate AV, so I hurried through those and tried to stick to the mature sims. That’s where that guy got pics of me, at an old friend's house in Lie near where I used to live.

Q: So what do you do in SL when you aren’t running from the law?
A: I DJ for Phantasie Isle Radio. I also used to work as a bouncer, but I got tired of it, it was too much like babysitting. I used to be a SLB boxer too. I might get back into that, the owner talks about a comeback.

Q: Interesting... did you use poser for the moves?
A: No, the owner used scripted gloves.

When I teleport into Paca’s house, I’m presented with a great build and a very refined living room where a piano sits at the center. Paca said he doesn’t play piano in real life, but he knows some fingering from lessons taken as a child.

"I took lessons as a kid and my grandmother always played," he said. "I love music, I'm a mature lyricist and vocalist actually."

So here it is, a softer side to the prisoner in orange. In fact, I couldn’t imagine this bright, creative Second Lifer every really wearing prison orange in his lifetime.

If you want to learn more about Paca, he has a website at: http://www.thepaca.com.