New World Notes

Why Second Life's Most Famous Cyberpunk City Now Has a Homeless Camp

A descendant of migrants and anti-fascist resistors brings their memory to the metaverse

You can have a virtual home in Hangars Liquides, the massive and awesome cyberpunk city in Second Life which boasts a skyline of skyscrapers before which Oprah Winfrey once gave a speech, and William Gibson himself once praised. But why pay to live in a well-appointed penthouse of a dystopian future, when you can live in a tent from our near-dystopian present?

Click here to visit, and if you like, find a free place for your avatar to squat, in Hangars Liquides’ new homeless encampment.

“I know there are quite a few wanderers in SL that like to go around, so they could have a little spot in a place that is community-oriented to get together and talk and just have simple good times,” Hangars creator Djehan Kidd tells me.  “And of course I hope people will reflect on the subjects of current homelessness and migration crisis.”

Djehan spent many days creating the camp, not only making sure it worked as an immersive space, but that it evoked the homeless camps that have sprouted up across the real world in recent years:

This Week's Featured Banner: SL's Forbidden Retro Sci-Fi Planet Idun

Thanks to Caitlin Tobias for submitting this week's banner, featuring a breathtaking image she created of the retro sci-fi Planet Idun in Second Life. She reports that it's currently "open only to certain groups" (you know, like a forbidden planet!), but you can attempt to teleport to the private region by clicking here. Failing that, Caitlin has many more equally impressive images of Idun here on her blog.

Submit your own favorite virtual world locations here or in Comments below!

Virtual World Location Of The Week: Hiraya Village in Second Life

Via Nodoka Hanamura, this week's virtual world location gracing New World Notes' banner is Hiraya Village in Second Life, a community based around a highly-detailed recreation of modern urban cityscapes of Japan.

"It's run by Rydia Lacombe and a few others as a federated community (much like East River), it spans multiple regions and recently started expanding to cover all of Bedstraw and parts of Datana, as well as existing as a larger community that extends to Cisthene, Amella, Tersa and Gibbosa."

Click here to start exploring.

Know about another great virtual world location? Click here to submit an image, background info, and a link for readers to visit.

Virtual World Location Of The Week: Golgothica In Second Life

Courtesy Caitlin Tobias, this week's virtual world location gracing New World Notes' banner is Golgothica in Second Life, a roleplay storytelling region inspired by Game of Thrones and other fantasy classics. As Caitlin writes on her blog:

Golgothica is for role-play and upon arrival you are supposed to dress to theme. A broad theme, as described above, and since I am an Elf I didn’t find it to hard to find an appropriate outfit for exploring... [Lead creator] Golgothica is a cool place, you should go and have a look! And I suggest you don’t wait too long, Hera’s regions usually do not have a long lifespan.

Know about another great virtual world location? Click here to submit an image, background info, and a link for readers to visit.

Virtual World Location Of The Week: Tonarino In Second Life

Courtesy Blip Mumfuzz, this week's virtual world location gracing New World Notes' banner is Tonarino, an impressively detailed sim in Second Life blending traditional and modern elements of Japanese life and (to judge by a recent video, view below) acrobatic cats. Click here to visit.

Know about another great virtual world location? Click here to submit an image, background info, and a link for readers to visit.

Virtual World Location of the Week: Lavender Lake in Second Life

Thanks to Caitlin Tobias for this week's virtual world location of the week submission: Lavender Lake in Second Life: "Currently hosting a Air Balloon Festival (with balloon rezzers free to use)". Click here to visit.

Know about another great virtual world location? Click here to submit an image, background info, and a link for readers to visit.

Watch: A Christmas Postcard from Japan in Second Life & Japan in Real Life

This is a lovely machinima tribute to Christmas-time in Rieri, a Japanese town in Second Life painstakingly modeled from Google Maps and real photos of Tokyo neighborhoods. (Click here to visit.) Lead developed by Eripom Moonwall, Tokyo-based master creator of realistic cityscapes and military hardware, Rieri in SL currently boasts snowfall and Christmas lights that evoke the holiday season in Japan.

And yes, the Japanese celebrate Christmas in their own unique way -- and it also includes insanely hot sex. As Eripom explains:

Explore in SL This Weekend: Spooky New Orleans With Adventure Game

Click here to directly teleport to Bloodbath New Orleans, a perfect place to explore as October creeps up on Halloween. Star SL YouTuber Naria Panther (with a delicious, mood fitting Eastern European accent) and friends explore the place with a working streetcar, an eerie fair ground, and many gorgeously detailed Gothic edifices to creep through. 

Someone Made the Bates Motel & Mansion of Hitchcock's Psycho in Second Life and Hosts Karaoke Parties There

Click here to visit, but maybe take a shower beforehand.  SL artist Kaiden Tray made this faithful recreation of the classic cinema location, complete with four free motel rooms (date night, anyone?), and the Bates mansion on the hill. Impressively, he made it from scratch, mainly using the recent TV show spinoff of Psycho for reference.  

I know you're wondering if Mother is in the basement, or what happens if you step into the shower, or walk like a stupidly curious detective up the mansion stairs. Kaiden declines to answer any of that, but tells me that he plans to turn this into a full Psycho experience on its own sim.

As for now, there's some social activities. 

"We have karaoke sometimes," says Kaiden, "or anyone can have their own events they just need to let me know." Because one thing you don't ever want to do is do something on the Bates estate without the owner's permission.

More pics below, including Kaiden Tray himself doing a halfway decent Anthony Hopkins impression:

Tech Worker Quarantined at Home Builds Co-Working Space in Second Life

"I built an office for those of us working from home during the pandemic," Annabelle Chimpton recently announced on Reddit, "complete with music, coffee, and a TV for breaks." Replete with a fire pit, garden, and koi pond, it's very much the kind of cool and casual co-working space that tech workers in Santa Monica and other hubs are missing nowadays -- except that this one only exists in Second Life: CliChimptonck here to teleport.

Working from home herself, Annabelle  wanted a place that recaptured her pre-pandemic office environment. "I think the big thing I've missed is the random moments of 'watercooler' talk throughout the day so hopefully this can help replicate that," as she explains.

Unveiled just a few days ago, people also working from home have been showing up to work in her virtual space from all over, she tells me: