Sim Deathwatch: Master Steampunk Builder Sextan Shepherd Leaves SL for Another Platform

Rafael Fabre of The Steampunk Triubne has an important if suck-flavored scoop: Sextan Shepherd, the master steampunk builder in Second Life whose great underwater tribute to Jules Verne was featured on Boing Boing, has evidently left SL for another platform, and took all or most of his creations with him. That's one of his builds above, Liberty Cove, as it appeared last June, and as it does now. (Photos by Dr. Fabre.) His SL profile now says he's "a content creator, on another platform." What's more, "Marketplace shop closed, sim slicked, and he's been off SL since mid-August," Dr. Fabre tells me. Apparently he's taken a real life hiatus, which is understandable, especially with the high costs Linden Lab charges to own a Second Life sim, though it's sad he's also apparently taken his wondrous contributions to SL's thriving steampunk community with him. (I've e-mailed Mr. Shepherd, and will post an update if I get one.)

There is some small good news to this: At least Sextan's YouTube videos and my blog posts about his creations still exist. Here they are:

• Nemo Rises: Awe-Inspiring Underwater Steampunk City Inspired By Jules Verne
• Beauty Still Arises in Second Life: Sextan Shepherd's Nemo Emerges From the Waves, Spawning a City
• Sextan Shepherd Makes a Mirror in Second Life!
• The Celestial Clock of Sextan Shepherd
• Second Life the Beautiful: Sam Lowry's Latest Machinima is Patriotic Paen to the Meaning of the Metaverse (feat Sextan cameo)

Watch Sextan's machinima travelogue of his Nemo sim below. Which also raises an important point: SL builders, if you're planning to close your sim for whatever reason, please for the love of FSM first shoot some great machinima of it for posterity's sake!

Comments

[bongo]

For all those not listening:
WHY LINDEN is A SUCK.

They take 10x the value they "consider" your work at.

I wonder if he'd keep the sims up/selling at 30.00 a month ...not 300.00

New sucker born every...oh wait, that was 2007 when they HAD new user spending growth....

Slow meshy mess they keep making.

[Valentina Kendal]

Sextan Shepherd was a very talented and imaginative builder. His builds brought immense joy to those of us who still travel the world to see what 'Your IMagination' can come up with (and take pictures or videos of it).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/valentinakendal/4908159057
http://www.flickr.com/photos/valentinakendal/4690753978
http://www.flickr.com/photos/valentinakendal/5752745450

Your article doesn't say why he left, but I doubt mesh or being able to access SL on his iPad would have solved the issues that caused him to leave.

Sadly bongo, LL can't cut land pricing, or they'd have to turn out the lights.

[Eddi Haskell]

I still wish Linden would consider my proposal of three years ago, to let ONE great sim picked once a month get free rent for a year or two as a great content contribution.

The problem with Second Life-- I have said it before and I will say it again-- is all about poor content. Most of SL looks like haphazard junk and is boring. Since users are creating great content for free that benefits Linden Labs as a whole, it is incredible that nothing can be done by Linden to reward those builders who can't earn revenue to pay for their magnificent creations.

Ah Hamlet--- Back to New Venice on the stalled Blue Mars virtual world to see what great content might look like in Second Life!

[Tinsel Silvera]

According to comments by Sextan at http://www.steampunktribune.com/2011/09/steampunk-builders-sextan-shepherd-has.html he has not left Second Life but instead working on other projects. This is good to hear and hopefully we can see some of those projects soon.

[Nahasa Singh]

The Flash video at the top of secondlife.com home page, featuring some of the wonderful places you can visit in SL, includes a section filmed in Sextan's defunct Nemo sim. They never bothered to change it after Nemo was gone.

The Lindens should be ashamed of featuring a place that is no more in their home page, moreso when their policies and chargin models were probably the cause of Sextan's departure.

This sucks badly.

[Ehrman Digfoot]

Has this post been edited since it was originally published? I've read it twice and I still can't find anything indicating that he switched to "another platform." I also seem to remember a very similar article last year when the Verne sim originally closed down. I'm sure he'll be back.

[Hamlet Au]

You mean besides, "His SL profile now says he's 'a content creator, on another platform'"?

If the comment Tinsel points to is his (thanks!), it looks like he's doing stuff on a small private OpenSim grid.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

For the same monthly price as a single SL region, I could pay for a T1 line and a bank of servers.

That's a problem.

[Ziki Questi]

Hello. I stay in touch with Sextan via email. He's doing some commercial work on another grid--not of the same kind, just work for hire.

I'm not sure how much of a "scoop" The Steampunk Tribune has there, since Liberty Cove has been empty for about a month. Sextan inadvertently deleted his SL Marketplace box when he emptied the sim, and so his Marketplace store is empty, but he does plan to relist items.

[Ziki Questi]

Also, I should add that I created several pieces of machinima of Sextan's Nemo build, the last one of which is a curious piece on the destruction of Nemo, made after the sim closed:
http://vimeo.com/user5050923/videos

ZQ

[Valentina Kendal]

Oh Ziki, that's very cool - I hadn't seen that, thanks for sharing! It looks amazing even in its physical state lying in pieces on the ground.

[Arnold]

This blog post is wrong. Sextan has NOT left SL:

http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/64361-ll-preparations-integrate-marketplace-selling-2.html#post1379890

[Stacia Villota]

I did a blog post on it too... so sad to hear this news! http://virtualneko.com/sl-steampunk-nemo-shepherd-tesla/