A little more than a week ago, Linden Lab featured on Second Life Destinations a build inspired by one of the Seven Wonders of The Ancient World, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
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Creator Patch Thibaud
is actually an architect in the physical world as well, and his years
of experience inform every detail of this majestic locale. After
observing some work on Patch’s Flickr, Resident Crista
reached out to him to build a region for her. Of the request, Patch
says, “I agreed to participate as long as I got to do The Hanging
Gardens of Babylon, which was an ideal subject; an evocative and
romantic concept, monumental in scale - and nobody has any idea what the
original looked like, if in fact it existed at all.”
Patch’s affinity for building in the metaverse is strengthened by the
fact that “there is no one in between me and the final result; I don't
have to deal with contractors, estimators, building codes, etc.,” and
yet there are limitless possibilities. Furthermore, Patch feels that “in
all 3D modeling software I am familiar with, you are working in an
abstract, gridded space. In SL I am used to working outdoors, with a
beautiful sky and perhaps with beautiful water, and the context of an
entire world.”
The concept of storytelling has been incorporated into many visual art
forms, and as a trained designer, Patch adopted an episodic approach to
the immense project. Patch created an extensive history for the estate:
“This build imagines a structure originally built in mud brick by the
Assyrians; later seized and rebuilt in stone by the Romans; {eventually}
acquired by a cardinal during the military struggles of Renaissance
Italy, who rebuilt the temple complex at the summit to include a villa
for him and pleasure gardens and pavilions; subsequent alterations and
additions by the cardinal’s family, including the ballroom and the
Moroccan Garden; and finally the current owner, who restored the whole
structure and its gardens, and inserted a gallery for art, built in the
modern style.”
Crista is also a longtime Resident, having started her inworld
adventures 14 years ago. For Crista, Second Life is “a part of myself…
part of my life and {it has} taught me many things that made me what I
am now, in RL and SL. I am one person living in two different worlds. A
wonderful SL can make a better RL. The Gardens were my SL dream for
years… A ton of thanks to Patch Thibaud, I am not sure if we have a
better builder. Sharing the beauty he makes, {as well as the} sensations
and feelings deriving from it, is the biggest pleasure and satisfaction
in this world.”
Of the thousands of sims in Second Life, Da Boom was the first one. It came online in Second Life's beta days in November 2002 months before the Grid officially went online. After the virtual world's first few years, not a great deal has happened to this old area. But recently something did happen. There's a new infohub and pod station in the sim. Klaus Bereznyak dropped by, and took a look at what the new location had to offer.
The number of historic sims in Second Life is about to get slightly smaller. According to an article in Jo Yardley's blog, the "Pfaffenthal" sims, which are a reproduction of the central city of Luxembourg, will soon be closing down while their counterpart in the Sansar grid opens.
The moment has finally arrived, for the 1867 project to move on to
SANSAR, were land is free, where we can have better graphics,VR headsets
and real physical interactivity. Note that sansar works very well on a
normal PC,for desktop mode you do NOT need a gamer PC. IMPORTANT!
All the 1867 sims in second life will be shut down next monday, on the 26th of november. Please pack all your stuff by then.
Jo Jardley was disappointed by the news, "As a history addict I’m sad to see one of the few historically accurate sim in SL vanish. Personally I’m not sure Sansar is ready for a historical roleplaying community. Are there enough Victorian clothes, is there a rental system yet, could
you buy enough period furniture to decorate the homes, can you even open
doors in Sansar?"
Ryan Schultz called this development a first as he'd never before heard of a "wholesale move of virtual land directly from Second Life to Sansar." Will this be the first of a number of moves? While it might be the first, there may be few others, at least for now, as Sansar's numbers have been low. But for the people of Second Life, they'll soon only have screenshots, and this youtube, to remember the place.
Klaus is back from another of his explorations across Second Life. In his article today, he tells about Second Life's replica of The Formosa. If the same sounds familiar, it was a popular restaurant in Hollywood for many decades with a number of movie stars and others in the film industry eating there through the years until it's closure in 2016 (may reopen). Recreated by Gardenia Malheur high above the Scheveningen sim, Klaus took a look around and had a few words with the owner
More good news. For the second time in less than two weeks, another admired lost sim has returned to the Second Life Grid. This time it's "The Lost Gardens of Apollo," built in 2005 by Dane Zander, it had been a well designed and picturesque build, with a number of spots where couples could relax, and a platform they could dance or watch the sunrise or sunset. It closed in June 2011 when Zander could no longer support it. In May of this year, a tribute sim was made by Delphi Bernard. While it wasn't Zander's creation, it was an excellent and well-done build based on his style. But now, the sim really is back.
Anne Brightstar had informed me that the sim was back, referencing an article by Shin Klaar. The sim was listed as being under Mogura Linden, the same Linden who is listed as the owner of Mont Saint Michel, the picturesque build of a real life historic structure that vanished in September and was brought back by the Lab a little more than a week ago. The name of the place has changed a little. It is now called "The Lost Gardens of Apollo Historic Build."
This is different from the previous times Linden Lab has brought back a vanished area. The most obvious difference, they've done so a lot faster since the previous time. With Svarga, the sim was brought back months after it's closing. With the SS Galaxy and Mont Saint Michael, the places returned weeks after their vanishing. More than five years have passed since the passing of the Gardens.
Did Linden Lab decide maybe it was time to bring back some of Second Life's popular lost sims under a kind of preservation program, which has been suggested in the recent past by the Newser? If so, could we soon expect to see even more lost treasures to appear? Or perhaps a fan of the Lost Gardens spoke or did the right thing at the right time and got things finally rolling?
In any event, this beautiful sim is back, and once again people can come again and enjoy it.
A little more than a year ago in September 2015, Moeka Kohime announced that for "economic" reasons the place would soon be closing. But when October arrived, the sim remained. As the weeks and months went by, the sim remained up. I would continue to drop by every month or two, the last time in August.
Why didn't Linden Lab just up and let the place fade away? At the time Linden Lab was still smarting over the closing of the SS Galaxy. So maybe the location was left up to ease the worries of residents. While it would have made sense for Linden Lab to acquire the location like it eventually did the SS Galaxy, it never did.
And so, once again Second Life says goodbye to a noted, well-designed location. In this case, residents had a little more time to say their farewells.
Addition: Daniel Voyager later stated the sim went offline in early September.
Readers may have noticed that Club Fur, on the record as the oldest furry-themed clubs, is no longer on the Newser's SL Clubbin' schedule. The reason is, not only is it inactive, it is no longer part of the Sunweaver Estates, which provides the land for the paper's office, or anywhere else in Second Life. Club Fur has been removed and back in the inventory of Alynna Vixen (Alynna O'onthrera Trypnotk). And Alynna hasn't been inworld since May.
Club Fur has had an interesting history, going back to 2004 according to Alynna. At one point it was described as being removed from an old location less than two minutes before the place was "flattened." It was in Furnation for a time before it ended up in Alynna's hands in 2009, whom eventually took it to Kitsuhana sim where it was reopened in November 2010. In June 2013, the club moved back to Furnation following the reopening of the sim. But in November 2014, Alynna brought the club to the Sunweaver sim of Sunweaver Bay, soon moving to to Sunny Beach where it would remain for a little while until Alynna's items were packed away earlier this year.
The club was known for it's bright neon colors, it's symbol was a neon tube shaped into a cat's head. During it's time in Kitsuhana, there was an effort to make the club active by the "Furry Club Alliance," but the stepping down of a few personnel made regular events just too difficult. It did take part in some events such as when the world failed to end on December 21, 2012. The club was also duplicated in InWorldz for a time.
While there is of course the possibility the club will come back, when something vanishes in Second Life, more often than not it's for good. While it's sad when any club vanishes, it's especially so in this case as this one had lasted so long, and for a time was part of the community yours truly calls home.
Recently a reader requested the Newser to write up on a unique location in Second Life: the Rumsey Map Islands. The four sim area is an extension of a collection of maps by David Rumsey, the resident of the Cartography Associates company in real life. Rumsey began his "David Rumsey Collection" on the Internet two decades ago as a database and blog that today has thousands of maps, mostly from the 18th and 19th Centuries. Deaflegacy went to check out the location and there was quite a lot to see in this spot on the Second Life map.
From Draxtor Despress on October 30, 2015, "'Of course every museum should have something like this' says Pit
Vinandy, referring to the virtual reality component at Fort Thüngen
Museum and the City Museum of Luxembourg.
"There, his team has
implemented an immersive way to connect to local history, a method to
time travel and experience culture and society as it was hundreds of
years ago.
"With the help of two Oculus Rift VR headsets and 10
computers, visitors can role-play 1867, a crucial year not only for tiny
Luxembourg: sandwiched between rivals Germany and France, the little
country became known due to the "Luxembourg crises", itself a turning
point for the whole of Europe at the time and the burning question at
the time resonates today: will people of this multi-cultural continent
grow closer together and overcome their differences or will the leaders
of countries perpetually in conflict continue to let armed response
rein supreme?
"Pit Vinandy and team have created a digital
simulation of the Fort Thüngen and the Pfaffenthal region of Luxembourg
City inside the virtual world of Second Life.
"Accessible from
all over the world, at all hours of the day, it quickly became home to a
passionate international role-playing community, making the digital
structures come alive and truly vibrant.
"Will it replace
traditional teaching of history? It certainly won't says Pit. The goal,
he explains, is to enable learning history in a playful way, connecting
to the inner child that with wide eyed curiosity and free of
intellectual restraint simply revels in the joy of exploring the world,
no matter if physically real or simply emotionally resonating."
Going about the place, it was very well detailed. Much like the real-life Mont Saint Michael, which has served as an abbey, fortress, and prison, it has been a popular attraction with residents frequently dropping by. Many have left some of their screenshots on the location's Flickr page where various residents have posted over a hundred pictures of the location.
From "Planet Video" August 2007, "The recreation of the ancient world of Chichén Itzá in Second Life. Part
of the (successful) bid to become one of the Seven Wonder The
recreation of the ancient world of Chichén Itzá in Second Life. Part of
the (successful) bid to become one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern
World."
Fritter Enzyme is back from exploring an American city from an earlier time. In the 1920's Chicago roleplay area, visitors are welcome to drop in and look around. You can get yourself some outfits that fit the era, drop in at the local movie theater, the local speakeasy, an art exhibit, or even a burlesque show. One can also take part in the gang wars if one desires. Though take note, the morgue and undertaker are around for a reason.
Last weekend, Alynna Trypnotk (Alynna Vixen) moved back to the Sunweaver Estates from the Furnation region, bringing Club Fur with her, "I an' my family moved to Sunweaver Bay." So why move the club, "Theres pretty much no way to explain what happened to Club Fur without drama-raking, but I'll summarize it as 'Furnation didn't want it anymore.' " She also mentioned some of the DJs disliked all the neon and color in the club.
To those who don't know, Club Fur is Second Life's oldest furry club, built in 2004. It very well could be Second Life's oldest club of any genre. It's wiki page describes an interesting history, supposedly escaping deletion by two minutes once. Alynna was handed the club in 2009, and wanted to make the historic build active again. It was reopened for events in 2010, In 2013, it was moved back to Furnation Prime following the sim's reopening, where it remained until last weekend.
Alynna has yet to schedule events at the club, but there are a few arcade games visitors can play. One can get to the club from the Newser office by walking the road going west and then south, or taking the tram.
From Linden Lab, "For many years, the Cornfield was a region of mythological status. A region where naughty avatars were sent to think about what they had done.Rumor had it that the Cornfield was a vast starlit field, cut off from the rest of the world. It was thought to be a harmless tale told around moonlit campfires. Until now... The Cornfield is exclusively available in Second Life. To learn more about the technology 'Experience Keys' that is used in The Cornfield, visit the Second Life blog at:http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Featured-News/Check-Out-Experience-Keys-in-The-Cornfield/ba-p/2776400 "
10am - Bellonalia Ritual
Our festivals begin with a ritual for Bellona, the Roman Goddess of War - sister of Mars, and Spiritual Mother of ROMA's Amazons. After the ritual, we will have chariot races in Bellona's honour, with prizes for the victors!
ROMA Subura Street, ROMA Subura (52, 112, 23)
12pm - The Bellona & Vesta Grand Feast
Our Festivals culminate with the Bellona & Vesta Grand Feast - our wind-down party from the hectic Bellonalia Chariot Races! Come dance with us to some wonderful tunes by the wonderful Lyndon Heart and pleasant conversation!
Transtiberim Path, ROMA Transtiberim (177, 105, 21
1pm - Legion Relay Race
In honour of this month's festivals, the Legio has decided to conclude them with a relay race through Transtiberim! Racers will be organised into 3 man teams - which will gather items needed to bake bread for Vesta, prepare them, and present the baked bread at the finish line. This is a timed race, and the 3 best times will recieve cash prizes!
Gemma Cleanslate was recently invited to the Tombstone Wild West RP sim for a special event. The town was hosting a traveling circus, which did quite a performance. With all the sights, Gemma was busy with her camera, and took lots of screenshots.
