Chouchou Sims To Be Preserved By Linden Lab

Good news for fans of the Chouchou sims. In May, the owners Juliet Heberle and Arabesque Choche had announced they would soon be closing down. Fans protested in the forums, and Patch Linden responded by asking the owners to contact him about preserving the sims in cooperation with Linden Lab. Recently in the sims' fan group, and their Facebook page, there was a post announcing that the sims would be preserved through the Second Life Region Preservation Society, joining already preserved areas such as Svarga and the SS Galaxy. A third sim of theirs, Chouchou XVI, also known as "The Babel," which was closed in 2013 would also be brought back.

Regarding the closure of the region Chouchou (Chouchou sim, Chouchou V sim) in Second Life, we'd like to report some progress. As a result of our discussion with Linden Lab, we made a decision to maintain our region by joining The Second Life Region Preservation Society provided by Linden Lab. And it is also decided that one of our sims, Chouchou XVI - The Babel - which was closed in 2013 will be back in Second Life thanks to Linden Lab's kind arrangements. 10223 Resident (Tofu), the staff of our team will continue to take charge of the management of all our sims. Please enjoy our region that will remain unchanged including the music and video effects.

Right now, we’re in the middle of exchanging contracts with Linden Lab, and it's taking time for the contract procedures. We’re very sorry for the late announcement.

At first, we were not going to change our plan for the closure of the region Chouchou because of a variety of issues that the region is encountering, but as we received many messages hoping for the survival of our sims, we came to a decision to maintain our region as it is and to continue to work to resolve these issues. However, there is a limit to what we can do. Please respect others with morals and help us to make the place better and comfortable for many people visiting there.



For a video of The Babel, Click Here.


That the owners would still be among those managing the sims would be something new for areas preserved under Linden Lab's preservation program. Areas such as the SS Galaxy essentially became static museum areas in which change had stopped. Talking to Hamlet Au, the owners stated

"We will manage our sims just like before we participated in [Linden Lab's preservation program] ... We will stream music and videos to the sims, do the maintenance if needed and handle troubles if there's a griefer or harassment. ... "[w]e always add new music some time after its release, but only if the songs match the atmosphere of the sims."

In real life, the two owners are a musical duo, vocalist Juliet Heberle and composer Arabesque Choche, who had met in Second Life, performed a number of events there, eventually met in real life, and got married. While they continued to expand their audience over the Internet, their performances in the virtual world declined. That led to their original decision to close the sim. But thankfully both they and Linden Lab listened to their fans, and these artistically well done sims will be preserved.

Source: New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

Chouchou Sim May Be Saved

The news about Chouchou about to close down drew quite a reaction among a number of residents. This included an appeal by Kira Balestra on the Second Life forums for Linden Lab to save the place. As it turned out, they were listening. Yesterday on May 22, Patch Linden posted the following on the forum thread:

Your calls have been heard! 
 
I need the region owner to contact me directly (via email or through support) to start the process of entering the region into the Second Life Region Preservation Society.  I have not seen contact from them so far.
So it seems the sim can be saved, but it will mean owners Juliet Heberle and Arabesque Choche contacting Linden Lab to do so. While the Lab had brought back the Lost Gardens of Apollo apparently without contacting it's owner, it took five years. Hopefully Linden Lab can get in touch with the musicians for a smooth handover.

Stay tuned for further details

Bixyl Shuftan

Chouchou Sim Reportedly To Close

Some sad news. According to New World Notes, the Chouchou sim will reportedly be closing soon. Made by two Japanese musicians who named it after their band, they stated the sim would close this Friday or any day afterwards. The two musicians, vocalist Juliet Heberle and composer Arabesque Choche, had met in Second Life, and performed there in numerous events without having met each other in real life. But eventually the couple did meet for real, married, and have a child. While they have been expanding their audience over the Internet, they cut back on their performances in the virtual world.

The scenery of Chouchou, and it's sister sim Chouchou V, was artistically beautiful. When I arrived, all was night and everyone around were black silhouettes. The soft ambient music added to the atmosphere. Visiting later, night had turned to day, first a cloudy white sky, then a clearer blue one. Besides the ground area with a few features such as a piano in the water, a half-sunken birdcage, and ladder leading up to nowhere, clicking on the last one led to two places in the sky. These were Islamey, a Japanese temple with cherry blossom trees, and Mememto, a large cathedral. There was a cinematic hud one could touch and receive, which made the screen look like a movie theater projection.

It was Kira Balestra, a fan of the sim, whom had told Hamlet Au that the sim was set to close. She appealed in the Second Life forums for the sim to be saved, which received numerous fan pictures.

By all means, visit the place before it's gone.

Flickr page

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chouchou/187/129/23

Source: New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan