No "Plan B" For Mieville, Fate of Community's Estate Uncertain Following Passing of Founder

 

 Last week, the founder and leader of the Mieville community, Perryn Peterson, was declared missing and presumed dead following a long absence with his last known location having been the hospital for a few months. While this was a sad development in itself, it leaves the future of the sims where Mieville makes it's home an unknown one as there were no plans set on how to pay for them if Perryn was unable to.

Talking to the community's assistant mayor, Wyvvy (Wyvern Dryke), he did say there was an effort to make backup plans, "The original Plan B was to combine our money and buy some sims." But there was a not so small problem, "But Plan B poofed when I realized that Mieville does not make enough rent to support even one sim for one month. And Perryn never gave me any RL contact info, despite my asking over and over."

 

And how long do the sims have left? "No one knows," Wyvvy told me, "The Lindens refuse to speak with us." He has talked to others in the community, but nobody seems to have much of an idea what to do.

Wyvvy has decided to do at least something, creating a Gofundme to save a small part of the estate.

For the last year, I have been working on a huge, virtual art build called "Haunted Nawlins." I have been building it in a meta-grid called Second Life. The project had a benefactor, who contributed the virtual real estate necessary to hold it. Unfortunately, shortly after giving me permission to use his rented "region" of real estate, my benefactor became seriously ill. He went to the hospital in March 2022, and by mid-October, his Second Life account had become deactivated. This means that he cannot pay his virtual "rent." Therefore, the region on which "Haunted Nawlins" sits will soon disappear.

My build is a representation of New Orleans, circa 1901. It is spooky and Halloween-esque. It juxtaposes beauty with decay, rich glory with poverty and despair. There are gorgeous, rotting mansions of the Garden District; muddy cobblestone streets of the haunted French Quarter; rustling, secret branches of the Bayou; and the echoing columns of the silent Lafayette Cemetery.

I have also made interactive vehicles, people, and creatures for the build. I am currently working on a simple AI system for them to tell the stories of their lives and the history of New Orleans. This is a Work in Progress; it is not finished. I have so much planned, and I do not know if I will get to complete it....

Furthermore, New Orleans has always been very special to me, so this project means a great deal. Its loss would affect me on a deep level, not just because of the work and energy I've put in, but also because the region on which it sits is central to a large community to which I've become attached. When that region disappears, I can't shake the feeling that the associated community will also disappear. I don't want to lose those friends any more than I want to lose the art.

To see the message in it's entirety, click here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/haunted-nawlins .

The situation is in some ways comparable to the Steelhead community several years ago, an active Steampunk community in which the sims were all owned by one man. In the case of Steelhead in Sept 2015, it's landowner had a number of difficult RL situations before him, and then the Lab locked his main account. That was the final straw, and he announced he could no longer maintain the community sims, all but one which would shut down less than three months later. Although one of the community would eventually get a sim for a new home, it was still pretty small compered to the old Steelhead.

In the meantime, the people of Mieville continue to go about their way, continuing to have events, such as an upcoming Thanksgiving-themed hunt. Exactly what the future truly has to hold for Mieville, hopefully it will be brighter than it currently seems.

Bixyl Shuftan