Recently born to the world, Veritas Raymaker went searching for an ideal home, and having found it in a tropical paradise near a Malay museum and a Star Trek themepark, began creating an expansive educational space (he teaches geography in real life.) "I know I am not the most objective judge in this issue," he tells me,
"but I can honestly say I have not found a more scenic, beautiful, and
painstakingly rendered/designed/built sim based on a tropical island
theme.
"The residency covenant rules here are very strict," he adds grinning, "and that goes a long way to accounting for that."
His last three weeks are spent expanding the land and building the learning environment, "away from the usual bustle and glass/concrete prefabs where I can bring my students-- I teach at the National Institute of Education in Singapore, my students are pre-service and in-service teachers and teacher-trainees, and I do research with serious games among high school students-- to try to take advantage of some of the unique affordances for collaboration, creativity and construction that SL facilitates.
"So, for example, my skybox not only has a tutorial space/presentation area, but also a holodeck and a sandbox. At sea-level, I have a small booth where visitors can browse some of the academic and research papers I've written (as e-books) and take away free copies. I would encourage anyone who has an interest in cognitive psychology, orienteering and wayfinding, as well as the use of handhelds in education, to drop by and browse. I also have a geographically-realistic shallow bay/reef area, for discussions on marine environments.
"As for Imzadi itself, it's immediately south-adjacent to Tovadok II, which is the home of the Star Trek Museums of Science and Culture. Those need to be seen to be believed, in terms of the level of detail and depth of research that have gone into making them. Tovadok II also is home to George and Gracie, which are a pair of humpback whales rescued from the late twentieth century in Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home... [It's] also home to Fort Malaya, which is a Malay history museum based on colonial Batavia (now known as Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.)
Direct teleport to Imzadi at this link.
And where in the world do you call home? Take a look at the entire Window series for inspiration, read the details for submitting to NWN's World From My Window series, then send me a screenshot or video link of your SL home or favorite haunt.
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