What's the Oldest Existing Virtual Object in Second Life?
One day Green Beebe noticed a brightly colored beach ball floating above Smoky, and flew up to see. "Now it might not seem very interesting, a beach ball," Green acknowledges. "Except this beach ball was made by Philip Linden in April 2002 before SL was even launched." I went to Smoky myself to double-check, sitting on a prim so I could hover to the appropriate height, and confirmed it was, indeed, Philip's handiwork, made in the days before the world was even Beta. Since it was owned by a Resident, my guess is it's actually just a copy gotten from some forgotten free content dispenser; still, to find it up there floating so forlornly, a memory of Second Life's more innocent times, it felt like finding Charles Foster Kane's sled. (Were Rosebud round, virtual, and bouncy.)
In any case, it made me think of all the objects that have survived so many years of upgrades and server crashes, like fossils that tell the story of different eras. What do you suppose is the oldest artifact that's still in daily use?
The protocol.
Posted by: Gigs | Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 08:41 PM
I guess this is Philip's beach ball that is in every avatar's inventory Library folder.
Posted by: Corwin Carillon | Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 10:12 PM
I'm pretty sure I still have some freebie packs from my Rez Day back in late '03. I don't really use them, though. Probably one object that still gets used is the ol' Starax Wand, for those fortunate enough to have got their hands on one before he left (and eventually came back as Lightwaves).
I have a Starax Wand and it's been my prize possession pretty much since I got in '05. :)
Posted by: Persig Phaeton | Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 11:25 PM
Persig - tell me about it. i've been trying to get Lightwaves to sell me a wand for over a year now. if anyone knows how to "persuade" him, lemme know.
Posted by: qarl | Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 11:38 PM
I had one of those wands in my Hamlet Linden account, and when I switched over to Hamlet Au, but couldn't transfer it over, which was like the most frustrating thing.
Posted by: Hamlet Au | Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 11:46 PM
My guess would be the old linden freebies.
Lots of newbs still use the same leopard-spot couches and tiki torches we had in beta.
An insane amount of objects have been made with the flame prims from the tiki torch.
Posted by: Eggy Lippmann | Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 12:20 AM
If you're a real movie buff you'd know that Rosebud WAS kinda round and bouncy...
Orson Welles named the sled using William Randolph Hearst's (the 'real' Charles Foster Kane) pet-name for his wife's clitoris...
Posted by: Hal | Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 03:49 AM
The oldest artifact? I'd say The Man statue in Natoma. Well, the beach ball is a few months older but The Man stands there ever since SL alpha stage.
By the way, does anyone know why the monument has a bottle of sake plugged on the back? I wrote about it a while ago but noone has had any ideas so far. Also, for some reason The Man doesn't hold the SL3B Time Vault anymore (he used to, ever since 2006). Changes, changes :)
Posted by: Ayumi Cassini | Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 05:56 AM
The oldest in use object I have found is this piece dated 12-16-2002 by newbie_template Linden
Here are a few snapshots:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeanricardbroek/
Posted by: JeanRicard Broek | Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 12:17 PM
@qarl - Lots of luck on that. I think the wand is a part of history.
The beach ball and Philip Linden's party hat (both are in your library) are very old. Also out there from 2002 is The Governor's Mansion in Clementina and The Man statue in, I believe, Noyo.
Posted by: Marianne McCann | Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 12:19 PM
"Rosebud WAS kinda round and bouncy"
OMFG dude I can't believe you went there!
Posted by: Hamlet Au | Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 02:15 PM
Surely that would be Philip himself?
Although having said that, taking a quick peek at Philip and a few other Lindens' UUID keys reveals the first handful appear to have been issued sequentially, and Philip is only number 3 behind Doug and Cory :D
Posted by: Aimee Trescothick | Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 07:00 PM
@Hal:
Okay, that is so gross. I think I need a bottle or two of brain bleach for that one....
@Ham:
Who was the actual owner of the ball, OOC?
Posted by: Harper Ganesvoort | Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 07:57 PM
BTW, I forgot to mention that I was linking to this story. It seems that the trackback function of wordpress.com isn't working well, at least with this blog, so I'm being shamelessly gauche here.
Posted by: Harper Ganesvoort | Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 08:21 PM