New World Notes

The Life & Death of NPR's Science Friday in Second Life Ends on a Mystery

This is a really good new segment of Science Friday on the life and death of Science Friday's own Second Life islands over a decade ago, where the much-loved NPR show hosted an audience of avatar fans during the live broadcast, with host Ira Flatow even occasionally taking questions sent in-world via group message. Produced and hosted by Daniel Peterschmid, it expands from that story to talk about the value of virtual communities and virtual world play, especially now in the COVID age, and ends on a nice rebirth and reunion segment that I won't spoil here.  (Also, a couple nitpicks: Suggesting Second Life's graphics "haven't changed" since 2009 only seems true if you're running it on a low-end PC, and Jim from The Office doesn't actually say Second Life is only for "losers", but that's a whole other post.)

For longtime SLers, it does introduce a mystery: Why exactly did the Science Friday sims disappear, especially when the in-world group had grown to over 2000 members? The segment's answer (around 20:13 in) only raises more questions:

University Of Western Australia's Second Life Art Sims Closing This Year -- But Artists Can Feature Their Work There in a Grand Finale Festival

The University Of Western Australia's virtual campus in Second Life has been among the most active and longest lasting educational presences, hosting regular art festivals like this one featuring cinema great Peter Greenaway But after years of hanging on, I'm told the UWA regions are finally being closed at the end of this year.

That's disappointing news. The good news is UWA is going out with a digital bang, hosting a huge final art festival on a massive platform above the campus. Curated by longtime virtual art advocate Chuck Clip (above) and Mariposa Upshaw, with the blessing of UWA's Jay Jay Zifanwe, this is meant to be, as Clip calls it, "one last thank you to the men and women of the institution that touched all of our lives." 

If you're a 2D or 3D artist who wants to feature your work in this space, the submission details from Mr. Clip are below. And I do mean "massive", take a lot at its scale:

Crowdfunder Saves Second Life's Hangars Liquides from Imminent Extinction -- But Cyberpunk City's Long-Term Survival Still Not Assured

From left to right: Indiegogo donors Softparade Bing (China), Hangars creator Djehan Kidd, 5Sasha (Russia), Ruby Beta Sabaea (UK), Silverhaze Koenkamp (Japan), and Bixyl Shuftan (USA)

Good news: With just days left to go, Hangars Liquides, Second Life's masterpiece cyberpunk city -- scheduled to be dematerialized at the end of this month -- has been saved. An Indiegogo crowdfunder launched by its lead creator has raised over 50% of its target goal, enough to cover its immediate land tier expenses.

"I can send a wire transfer to Linden Lab on August 1st," Djehan Kidd tells me. "I'll keep fundraising until the final goal... It is a 'by the day' approach now, but this gives me more time to think about future funding methods in the medium term future."

Donors from around the world rallied to save Hangars Liquides, from across the European Union, Finland, Russia, China, Japan, Singapore, the United States, Costa Rica, and beyond. (Some of those donors depicted above.) "It is amazing," Djehan says. "They are amazing, I feel so grateful..."

However, this initial round will only keep Hangars Liquides operational for awhile:

Watch: Machinima Tribute to Hangars Liquides, the Masterpiece Cyberpunk City Still Set to Disappear from Second Life at the End of This Month

Recently created by "Inworld Films", this is one of the better machinima tributes to Second Life's legendary cyberpunk city Hangars Liquides, which is still set for dematerialization at the end of this month, capturing the scope and detail of this metropolis that was more or less hand-painted and hand-sculpted by artist Djehan Kidd. More than many other machinimas featuring Hangars, this one conveys not just the vast scope but also the self-consistent logic of an operating city. And also, Djehan's artistry -- not satisfied with just assembling a bunch of futuristic buildings together, she also brings to them a sense of dark irony and mordant wit. For example, look for the most famous line from the diary of Anne Frank, flickering outside a nightclub, giving those words a new, horrible context.

Speaking of Hangars Liquides' death date, an update:

Last Chance to Save Hangars Liquides: 15 Days Before Deletion, Creator of Second Life's Legendary Cyberpunk City Launches Indiegogo Crowdfunder

Djehan Kidd outside a Hangars Liquides apartment - available for a year with a $112 donation

Click here to consider helping save Hangars Liquides, Second Life's legendary cyberpunk city which is set to disappear at the end of this month. In a last gasp effort to preserve the metropolis, lead creator Djehan Kidd launched this Indiegogo campaign, which would cover the costs of the underlying sims for a year. Fittingly, the perks for donating are parts of Hangars Liquides to call your virtual home -- for a $112 donation (above), you get a Hangars Liquides apartment for a year; for $1,121 USD donation, you get a premium rooftop loft (below) which Ms. Kidd can customize for you by request.

Djehan Kidd is doing this crowdfunder because Linden Lab does not allow non-profit organizations like hers to rent out land -- which is what led to Hangars' imminent demise in the first place -- while donations are permitted. And there's no other way for her to save it in its existing form. As her crowdfunder explains:

William Gibson & Others Note, Celebrate, Mourn SL's Hangars Liquides

Here's the correct teleport link to visit and explore Hangars Liquides, Second Life's legendary cyberpunk city that's still set to close at the end of this month. Thanks to a retweet of my story by William Gibson, this viral Reddit thread, and massive social media shares by Second Life users past and present, the city has been inundated by visitors. However, my post originally included a teleport to a store in Hangars, and not the official landing spot. (Shopkeeper Beev Fallen helpfully added the proper teleport to his showroom.) 

The original post also includes some lovely tributes to Hangars and its lead creator,  Djehan Kidd:

Chouchou Update from Owners: Beloved Second Life Sim Still Set to Close End of June -- Largely Due to Unchecked User Harassment

Chouchou photo by Shiva

Since news broke that Chouchou, the beloved Second Life owned and created by Chouchou, a Japanese music duo of the same name, would soon close, the dream-like place has been inundated by SLers taking farewell photos. I finally heard back from the duo's manager with the help of Sanny Yoshikawa, who translated their responses into English.

First off, as Sanny confirms from them: "The closing date of the sim is end of June (not in a few days )." So it's not closing as soon as originally reported.

After I first reached out to them a couple weeks ago, they've been inundated by messages from Second Life users: "[W]e received tons of messages through email, IM and Twitter. Most of them were very emotional. We became too busy to answer his questions."

And unlike most other beloved Second Life sims which have closed due to the high cost of monthly sim tier maintenance fees, Chouchou's owners say their main motivation for shutting down is unchecked trolling on their property:

Linden Lab Trying to Save Chouchou - If Its Owners Can Be Reached In Time!

Chouchou photo by Loverdag

Potential good news for Chouchou, the beloved, dream-like Second Life sim that is scheduled to be closed down within the next few days. After an impassioned protest by many SL community members, Linden Lab staffer "Patch Linden" posted an appeal in the community:

Your calls have been heard! I need the region owner to contact me directly (via email or through support) to start the process of entering the region into the Second Life Region Preservation Society. I have not seen contact from them so far.

I have also not received word from Chouchou's owners juliet Herbele and arabesque Choche, the Japanese music duo who created and own the sim, since they or their manager told me last week that they planned to take Chouchou down. I've reached out to them again, and I'm also in touch with Patch, so I can connect them directly. However, we may need more help from the community:

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:

SL Sim Deathwatch: The Hive & Raccoon City, Jaw-Droppingly Vivid Resident Evil-Inspired Sims, for Sale or Closing Soon

Highlighting the slowing but continued attrition of great Second Life sims, this sad announcement and classified ad from Andy Harper (andy2.spore in SL):

Perfect starter home for the family, sociopaths or the handyman. Property includes large vaulted ceilings, countless corridors and hallways, laser death trap and original hardwood floors! Bonus: Entire greater downtown area of Raccoon City and dilapidated shopping mall with killer arcade!

Open House: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Pollux/232/12/901

"After a surprisingly many years of being financial independent off the sales from my store and the unbelievably kind support from the community that has rallied behind the sim, I can no longer afford to keep it all going," he explains. "At the current rate things are going, we have a solid 4 weeks left, but rather than close the sim outright, I'll be looking into options to transfer ownership of the sim in it's entirety to someone who can financially afford it."

As you might guess by the one image above and the many below, these two sims were inspired by a famed survival horror franchise:

Allegory Malaprop: "The Hive is a Resident Evil inspired sim, divided into 2 pieces: The Hive and Raccoon City. It's all meticulously built, roleplay optional, great for exploring and photography. Advanced lighting strongly recommended- the lighting and materials add quite a bit to the environment."

Hopefully another SL groups can step in -- maybe one of the many roleplay game communities? -- but unless and until then, here's some more images of what's about to leave the grid: