Iris Wants to Know: What Was the First Second Life Sim You Remember Visiting?

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

A couple nights ago I was living my glamorous adult life, watching documentaries and playing Pokemon Rumble World, when the crotchety narrator murmured a name that caught my attention: Tortuga. He was of course talking about the famous hub of Atlantic piracy, but that's not what piqued me. The mention of then name brought back a flood of memories about one of the first places I ever went in Second Life, an island based around the oft-romanticized real world Tortuga.

I'd gone there for one of those "How to be a Second Life model" classes that were as pervasive then as they are now. This one had turned up while I was browsing the event listings for something to do that evening. It was not a particularly impressive experience, and it may explain why I have such a low opinion of these kinds of courses now. It was an hour or so spent standing and watching someone walk their avatar back and forth, then walking our own avatars back and forth, then a Q&A that I recall being quite uneventful because we'd learned too little to even begin to have questions about it. This doesn't sound like a fond memory, I'm sure, but Tortuga (the sim's exact name still escapes me, just that 'Tortuga' was in there somewhere) was also one of the first sims I stuck around on, loitering and checking things out. I bought some accessories from a nearby store after the class was over, and took in the sights since themed sims still seemed very novel and unique to me at the time. Later I'd stumble into the world of virtual mermaid tails and Tortuga would be my first stop, lurking in the water with my shiny new fins and matching animation override and greeting anyone who passed by.

It's a wealth of (admittedly awkward) nostalgia, and I'd completely forgotten about all of it. That's why I want to know: What's the absolute earliest Second Life location (not including Infohubs or Welcome Areas or any of that nonsense) that you remember visiting? As always, share your stories in the comments below!

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Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart on Twitter, Iris Ophelia in Second Life) has been writing about virtual worlds and video games for nearly a decade, and has had her work featured on Paste, Kotaku, Jezebel and The Mary Sue.

Comments

[Nivaya Barbosa]

Aside from various freebies sims, the first place I really remember stumbling onto was Curious Kitties. I remember the listing said "Newcomer Friendly" and so I was hoping for things I could buy with my 20 or so L$ from all the camping and money trees I took advantage of.
It was not to be, everything there was ludicrously priced, like, 150L$ or something impossible. I vowed that one day I'd have enough money to buy something from there. Years later, when my interest in that place had worn off and I had learned 150LS wasn't actually much at all, I discovered that the starter avatar I had chosen at the time, was actually designed by Ameshin Yossarian, owner of Curious Kitties, and that I had owned stuff from there since the moment I was "born".

[Arwyn Quandry]

I'm going to consider Welcome Area both the welcome areas themselves and the nearby LL-made attractions for this. By those standards, the first sim I remember visiting was the then-Teen Grid Eutopia, owned by Fi Folland. It was the biggest gathering place for teens and had the most popular club. That's where I learned a ton in the early days. I rode my first water slide there, found out about SL voice, danced all night, saw shops, attended anti-copybot protests, and eventually had my goodbye party. It was so 2009, but so fun.

On the main grid, the first sim I really remember is Rouge. There are still a ton of pictures on my Flickr of the birthday party at that place. I wound up renting a skybox there until it recently (and sadly) closed.

[Whimsy Winx]

I wandered around after starting, going to The Free Dove and other places listed on blogs with free items. I made it to a couple of hubs/sandboxes where my questions were answered. Exploring wise I think it was called Wales, lots of people brought dates etc. Another was a forest that touted having the tallest tree in Second Life, I would go there quite often. I spend a lot of time at casinos, and clubs, for the camping. It was great to people watch and earn some $L. I saw quite a lot of the grid searching for new campsites and free or low cost clothing in the beginning, and groups like Lucky Kitty Crew, various camping groups, etc.

[Simms]

Long not my first but was special: Midsomer Isle :
what a great fun place for everyone :RIP
People should be grateful others would pay $300 dollars a month(new car payment) so they could have a nice classy place to visit:

[Bixyl Shuftan]

After Welcome Island, I forget where I wandered to until the lady who talked me into signing up TPed me to her home in Caledon.

[Adeon Writer]

Dreams

[Roblem VR]

Darkside (eye roll) Nuff said.

[Raz]

Together Island

[Fuzzball Ortega]

Steelhead City. Never left.

[Szandor Capalini]

Fusion Beach

[CB Axel]

My curiosity about Second Life was escalated by the NPR radio program Science Friday, so that show is what led me into Second Life. After the welcome island I started in, the region Sci Fri owned was my first stop. It's a shame they don't have a physical presence in SL any more.

[Hazelee Haller]

A friend had just bought a parcel in Pryeri and talked me into joining SL and making my home in Pryeri.

After seven years of owning parcels all over the grid, I have come full circle and am now living in Pryeri once again.

[Willowdale Farms]

Willowdale Farms; It's still there, but entirely different now (the SLURL I have saved TPs you in mid-air.) My first day I was super frustrated at how difficult it was to figure everything out. Finally, some girl from France spent an hour with me to teach me the basics. I have thanked her many times over for that.

[Kitty Revolver]

oh god, on my first av (the only thing I remember about that av's name was Terry) I remember tping from welcome island to some type of desert themed sim (I now think it may have been Goren). Two women were talking about some type of contest or lottery that LL was putting on (November 2006). I remember then tping out to go to a club and not knowing how to tp out.

My real first av went to this club that had just opened and I was the only one. I was wearing something I made out of flexi prims and freebie Torley textures and freebie hair by a gown maker. I remember the photos I took of that event marked one of the only happy moments in at least 5 months prior.

[Ravik Defiant]

Misty Vale. It was a medieval fantasy sim. I'd actually made one of my first purchases in SL (a suit of armor) so that I would fit in there.

I was walking along a path near some woods, when I encountered a lovely lady. She told a story of how she was being hunted, and was so afraid and I offered to protect her, as any gentleman/knight should do and thus began my foray into SL style roleplaying.

[Amanda Dallin]

First places I can remember are the Shelter in Isabel and the Shelter in Exile in Swinside. These were some of the best places for newbie's to learn about SL. About the same time I visited YadNi's Junkyard and stocked up on freebies of all kinds. This was in late November and December 2006

[Orca Flotta]

First day in SL, 18.01.2007, I went straight to Amsterdam coz I read about it in the newspaper that introduced me to SL. Perved around on the publicly available poseballs until I was bored 5 minutes later. So I tried out the search function and looked for likeminded ladies and landed on Island of Lesbos. Kinda never left until I had worked up a solid reputation as beach slut.
Oh my, fond memories ;)

[Nils Apfelbaum]

"Broken Glass" ... the Neko-Postapocalyptic-Shanty-Town-thing.

And of course "Apollo" Home of the lost Garden of Apollo great build, have not found anything like it till now.

Both are gone since a long time. Seeing them disappear from the map were two of saddest days of my secondlife

[Pim Pecccable]

I remember being first orbited near Ambat. That was the sim I first rezzed at and is still my home point.
The first sim to make a mark on my memory is the one that convinced me to stay; Dreams
The Sojourner founded it with the help of Pathfinder to help those with Neurological issues. It's one of the most charitable place in SL (In every sense of the word)

[Sepp]

Svarga, Laukosargas Svarog's experimental virtual ecosystem. In mythology, Svarga is the heavenly abode of the Slavic god Svarog, the supreme god of the Slavic pantheon and the god of fire and blacksmithing. In Second Life, Svarga was a sim with not only a castle, hidden caves but rain clouds, flowers puffing spores and insects buzzing around. There was a wasp ride to give you a tour around the sim, magical places and a fantastic echo sound experiment area.

I remember spending days and days there, there was a thriving vampire community, lots of friendly people, waterfalls and mushrooms to sit on. There was a dream dancing event and contless photo sessions.

Svarga has been around since 2006. Amazingly it's still featured in the destination guide, although I dont think Laukosargas is involved any longer.

I have some wonderful memories from Svarga. I met the most wonderfuil person there.

[molly Maidstone]

I wandered around various freebie sims and the clubs on them til I found The Lost Gardens of Apollo. WOW! I explored every inch of the place and loved lying on the side of one of the floating pools.

[zz bottom]

My LL home:)

[phantom republic]

Periwinkle! It used to be one of those post-welcome island hubs, and it was where I landed when I was "birthed." It seemed magical to me at the time - although I couldn't seem to find my way off of it for several hours ... if I hadn't landed there, I don't know if i would have come back.

I still go back there sometimes to remember.