Second Life the Beautiful: Sam Lowry's Latest Machinima is Patriotic Paen to the Meaning of the Metaverse

Can you feel a sense of patriotism for a place that doesn't actually exist? Maybe if it represented some of the best ideals of the people who made it possible, and those who kept it thriving, and you could see their striving in a tangible form. Watch this stirring video by a Resident named Sam Lowry, best described as a patriotic tribute to the meaning of Second Life in machinima form, and decide for yourself:

It's the work of Denis Chevalier, a French sales manager who discovered Second Life in 2004. "It was not a game," he recalls to me now, "there were no goals and no things to kill. Just things to experience and appreciate." He named his avatar, Sam Lowry, after the hero of Brazil, who dreams a better life into reality. After the tutorial period, Sam began exploring, and "I discovered how high the human mind could go."

This is the feeling he wanted to capture in this machinima, a sense that he believes is often lost in Second Life, eclipsed by Residents' pursuit of money or sex, or social drama. "[T]he defaults of real life catch up," as he puts it, "and it's sad."

With that in mind, it's fitting perhaps that Sam Lowry ends this machinima with the words "Your World, Your Imagination", which was once Second Life's official slogan, but has apparently been de-emphasized, if not eliminated altogether (perhaps due to legal concerns.) Here, however, Sam Lowry makes those words an unofficial anthem.

Here are the places featured in this machinima, with direct teleport links. If you feel any stirring watching this video, you should explore them firsthand:

• Creamshop: [SLurl]
• Le Cabaret: [SLurl]
• Bed and breakfast experience: [SLurl]
• LPP Steampunk & Cyberdoll: [SLurl]
• Deshima: [SLurl]
• Lost World: [SLurl]
• San Francesco Assisi: [SLurl]
• Lunamaruna: [SLurl]
• Delicatessen: [SLurl]
• Omega Point: [SLurl]
• Second China: [SLurl]
• Nemo: [SLurl]

As you may have guessed from the title, "Breath 2" is actually a sequel of sorts. I blogged about the first "Breathe" here, and it's a montage of many more SL locations to visit.

Comments

[Frans Charming]

It is a well produced and very motivating video if you are of the creator kind. I wonder how the general consumer user feels about it.

[Dhughan Froobert]

It's inspiring. Well done, Sam.

[Okaaaaay...]

Yeah, stop worrying about money and get back into Second Life - Your world, your imagination.

...all for just $295 per month.

Terms and conditions apply

[Csteph Submariner]

Disappointed not to have made the cut. I've really got to get to grips with this marketing stuff.

[Valentina Kendal]

nice piece Hamlet!
and thanks for pointing out the downplaying of 'Imagination'.. /me sighs

[Jura Shepherd]

I loved the machinima and it does create a cool sense of pride.

Can the people pursuing money, sex, and drama not also be along for the ride though? Some of those cats are pretty imaginative too.

[brinda allen]

A couple of comments:

@Frans Charming..."It is a well produced and very motivating video if you are of the creator kind. I wonder how the general consumer user feels about it."

I feel I'm a *general consumer user*... I've watched this Machinama several times, done a group notice referencing it, and posted it on my blog because it does speak to what Secondlife has come to mean to me.
***

Terms and conditions apply to everything in any life. My tier is four hundred eighty five USD... today almost all of that is shared by around twenty of us that comprise our community.
It wasn't always that way...there were times my share of that was most of it.
I still believe in the premise of the machinama referenced.
Any life is only worth what I'm willing to invest in it.

[Flo2]

All the places featured in this machinima - except of course San Francesco Assissi - are shops. Yes. They are undoubtedly magical builds, fascinating, wonderful places, but almost all of them are commercial places, yes, even Nemo is a shop, even Omega Point is a shop!
So - what are we talking about? They are basically not different from "those in pursuit of money" (though we all admit they do it with the highest quality).

[Adeon Writer]

@Flo2 I believe the difference, at least perhaps in the machinimist's eyes, was that making a place worth visiting, the ability to walk around in the head of someone else's imagination, is what SL was originally about. The presence of a shop wouldn't change that. So there's a difference in having a discrete shop to for visitors to buy some souvenirs and making your whole sim a giant box lined with vendors.

One of my favorite sims, Blue Galaxy, has a shop - but you could hardly say the point of the sim is to sell things. :)

[Adeon Writer]

Just to append, in his example, the pursuit of money was juxtaposed with a land sale sign - the buying and selling of land by people who most likely never even log in the world.

[Harper Ganesvoort]

The gentleman has a certain amount of point; but I would point out that I would gladly participate in some of that creativity for the sake of creativity if I could afford the cost of tier for a region -- somewhat out of my reach. Without land of my own to work with, my creativity is limited to the commercial and photographic sector.

Speaking of which, those shots of Creamshop look like me a week or so ago, when I was taking pictures for my tribute article to Lena Horne. I wonder if I should contact Sam for a split of the royalties on the machinima.... (grin)

[Melissa Yeuxdoux]

Thank you, Hamlet, and thank you Sam. We need to get our sense of wonder nudged periodically, and this does it and then some.

(And I'm definitely a consumer, not a creator, in SL.)

[Maya Paris]

Great video, but a correction is needed. Lunamaruna was made by Scottius Polke and is hosted by Zachh Cale at Project Z Gallery.

[paypabak writer]

The choices did seem to represent creatives who have a way of paying tier with other aspects of their creativity. It's a shame some of the beautifully done roleplaying sims, which have a harder time making tier sometimes, weren't represented. All in all, though, it's inspiring.

[Extropia DaSilva]

Yes it makes SL look amazing. Let us hope this inspires many people to login and visit the places showcased. Of course, many people logged-in would cause a great deal more lag than was aparrent in that machinima, and how many people know how to setup their system so SL looks anywhere near as good as that? I swear, when I watch these SL machinimas with graphics that would make James Cameron jealous, I wonder if I am logging into the same SL. Oh well, those who have the skills get the thrills I guess:)

[Harper Ganesvoort]

A little update to my earlier comment: Sam is reading these, caught mine, and graciously stopped by my blog article to thank me in the comments for being there while he was filming. It was complete serendipity, as I noted to him; I was doing a tribute photoshoot for the late Lena Horne, who had died just a few days before. I'm happy it worked out for both of us!

[Stacia Villota]

A beautiful tribute all around... not only to wonderful builds and higher aspirations in SL, but to the very real heart of the man who created it. Thank you, sweet Sam!

[Harrie Skjellerup]

When you see a piece of art like this, showing so beautifully the wonder that is SL, it just doesn't matter why we are all in SL, or even what we do there, because we all get to enjoy and share in these incredible creations!
This is yet another wonderful example of the exceptional talent and creativity that is to be found within SL... Simply Beautiful!

[Mabalot Tatham]

Thank you for posting the links to each of these sites. I am an avid SL Explorer and I appreciate being able to know where to find these places. :)

[samlowry hawks]

Thank you all for your kind comments:) Hope to do better the next time...Enjoy your stay in our preferate virtual world , that is what is the most important:) If i participated to that, i am the most happy man in the world:)
Yours
Sam

[CoyoteAngel Dimsum]

Wow. I miss SecondLife so much.