Chouchou, Masterpiece Second Life Sim by Japanese Indie Musicians, Scheduled To Close Any Day Now

Click here to directly teleport to Chouchou, for now (Photo by Amunet)

Since its creation in 2008, the Second Life sim called Chouchou has been among the greatest works of metaverse art online -- a dreamy, surreal, immersive space created by Chouchou, a Japanese music duo of the same name, designed to complement and promote their ambient, equally dreamlike songs. But it's scheduled to close very soon:

"Yes, we’re going to officially announce about the closing in a week or so," the band confirmed to me on Twitter last Friday, but haven't offered more details since then.

In their heyday (as above), Chouchou would perform live in Second Life in different parts of the world -- the singer "juliet Herbele" in New York, and on keyboards, "arabesque Choche" from Tokyo. They did this without having met each other in real life, but that eventually changed -- they are now married in real life, and last year, had a child.

The duo has been moving away from SL performances in recent years, focusing on their outreach across the Internet in general. For instance, here's the trailer for their latest album on YouTube, where they have 20,000 subscribers:

Fittingly enough, it's called "Lost Utopia". Chouchou's Second Life fans have been clamoring for Linden Lab or some other benefactor to take over Chouchou, so it doesn't disappear from the virtual world, but no word if that's happened as yet. For now, here's some images and video from Chouchou taken by fans and the band in a sim that still exists in the virtual world, but not for long:

Thanks to Kira Balestra for the tip, who sees Chouchou's imminent disappearance as emblematic of a larger problem:

"Second Life is becoming extremely materialistic and fashionable. I understand that it really is a business, but within SL, we are many people who have lived there for many years and sometimes we need more artistic and beautiful symbols that make us feel that we are a community."

Comments

[Soda Sullivan]

The is really sad news. It has been a breathtaking totally immersive experience. With the Linden Endowment in ashes, LL really need to put something back together to help support artists like ChouChoue that just want to create something that does not involve a yard sale.

[Pulsar]

Their "Memento mori" cathedral, there, is one of the most amazing creations in Second Life. You can also climb the secondary stairs, many stairs in a dreamy atmosphere, and almost reach the big bell. "Islamey" is beautiful too.
It would be a pity if Chouchou couldn't be preserved.
I hope it could be saved as LL did with the SS Galaxy cruise ship (the giant one that takes 3 regions).

[Amanda]

It would be great if this can be preserved. That said, nothing in SL is permanent. Art in SL is most comparable to live stage productions. Beautiful but temporary. When it's over it's a memory. A favorite can be re-staged but it's always different from the original.

[Natalia]

The problem is Linden Lab Sim / Land prices 300 dollars a month to have access to 1 server is a lot of money when there are a many people in the world that don't make 300 dollars per month of minimum wage i actually don't know any other Video Game that charges so much per month . when you can rent a high specs VPS for about 200 dollars a month with 16 cores , that's 16 Sims basically so you do your math ! unfortunately and as usual the problem is called Greed :)

[rikutojam resident]

Thank you for taking up this topic.
I read a forum about Chouchou,
Love to Chouchou which people wrote in.
That BBS showed importance of ChouChou for people of Secondlife.

ChouChou isn't just a SIM.
A building in ChouChou is not Just a building.
It is a great work of art.
It is the "virtual historical heritage"
ChouChou continued giving much inspiration to the resident who loved art.and
Chouchou gave quiet peace and music for the person who seeks healing
The pain that people have.
Bereavement with the beloved person whom they met in SL .
when someone was hurt in reality society and Second life.
When tired. When despaired. When want to sleep calmly.
When want to observe one's inside
They go to ChouChou to heal a wound in stillness.

If demolish it. It is a big loss of Second Life.

Nowadays when much Metaverse and social games are closed down.
The point that Second life makes a clear distinction from other games.
It's a " player living in the world that players created".
it's imply high flexibility and the possibility that the imagination is realized.
So please don't cut off our Utopia...

[Gregg Joseph Wanciak]

This is heartbreaking news. I loved taking new people to ChouChou as a striking example of what SL could be all about.

I'm in agreement that Linden Labs charges too much for land. They have no vision whatsoever. A bunch of game developers who can't seem to perceive that SL has never been a game. If it can't be monetized, it's tossed aside. If it costs too much, it's ignored.

Disgusting.

[Chic Aeon]

For those interested, Patch Linden recent wrote on the forums that the sims can be added to the Preservation Society. Source here: https://community.secondlife.com/forums/topic/437291-we-want-chouchou-sim-in-sl/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-1903931

[[email protected]]

Linden Lab never understood artists and their impact because they are comprised of mental incompetents.

nuff said

[rikutojam resident]

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Since additions to the Preservation Association must be made by the SIM owner, let us wait a the SIM owner's decision .
The contact to the SIM owner Already was done .
Let us calm down and just wait.　

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