Originally published on my Patreon
I started writing this post as a fun casual guide for exploring Second Life sims I’ve admired and written about in recent years. But as I quickly discovered, many of my favorite, popular places featured in my long-running New World SLurl series have since changed hands. A surfing spot had been converted into castles; a seaside cyberpunk city had been turned into an island vacation home, and so on.
But Second Life goes on. After a furious round of teleporting in August to make sure these places were still in-world, here’s seven sims to see, explore, and photograph now -- while you still can!
Forks [above]: Click SLurl to teleport here
A rolling rural scene with hills and meadows that could evoke paintings like Wyeth’s “Christina’s World”, a note on the sim info window notes that it might be going away soon!
Six more below:
Hall of Centaurs: Click SLurl to teleport here
A fantastically imposing city in the sky created by Havit Neox, I wrote about it back in 2015 and am happy to say it still looms large in the virtual world.
Mitsumi Town: Click SLurl to teleport here
Lead developed by Eripom Moonwall, an SLer who actually lives in Japan and has built up a successful SL weapons business in her spare time as a Tokyo-based financial consultant. Painstakingly built using Google Maps and RL photos, Mitsumi-Town reflects recent history of Tokyo from its post-World World II rebuilding period and how it became what it is today:
"In the 1960's, a period of high economic growth, almost all Japanese in Tokyo had worked for building Tokyo Olympic Games facilities," as she puts it. "Trains, monorails, and highways were built first to resemble what a developed nation looks like. This took priority over all procedures. As a result, many citizens were forced to live beneath underpasses or near the highway, co-existent with transportation facilities."
REN: Click SLurl to teleport here
Created by Noa Cloud and featured in the official Destination Guide, REN is a self-contained ecosystem where the flowers bloom when they’re in season. Credit to Cajsa for first telling me about this peaceful, photogenic space, where seemingly every angle and area in the sim is image worthy.
Tempura Island: Click SLurl to teleport here
I just visited Tempura Island expecting the worst, since it was originally launched in 2008, and was relieved to see that the lush, palatial garden still stands. (Thanks to a last-minute save by Linden Lab in 2022.) Created before the mesh era of SL, it may seem dated, but its longevity is a testament to classic prim-based glory.
Umi: Click SLurl to teleport here
Created by acclaimed sim designer Paradox Ivy and launched last month, Umi was inspired by some of Ms. Ivy’s favorite anime from Japan, a visit to South Korea. Movingly, its creation was a kind of healing process for herself in real life, as it also evokes a visit with family to Nova Scotia:
"I spent a Summer there with my Aunt and Uncle in my adulthood," she told me recently. "I lost both of them this past year. So it was a bit therapeutic to recreate it."
I especially love Umi's immersive ambient audio -- the crash of ocean waves and other evocative elements -- an aspect that often gets overlooked in SL sims.
Walsh County (on the Campton sim): Click SLurl to teleport here
A serene, evocative wheat field alive with mooing cows, vividly rendered bales of hay…and occasional unearthly visitors in search of bovines to probe. And there's a whole Flickr community devoted to photographing Walsh County and its hay bales!
What others sims should readers be sure to check out? Please post SLurls in Comments!
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