Category: Exploring Second Life

Woods Club – click any image for full size

Woods Club is a picturesque quarter region designed by Secoia Harley Vita (Secoia Vita) and Viktor Galli, and which Shakespeare pointed us towards in late May. Ostensibly the home of a small club going by the name of the parcel, it offers a lot more to see and appreciate.

Established in 2008, the club offers music every weekend between 08:00 and 14:00 SLT, with a mix of deep tech, tech house, deep house, funky, tribal, indie dance, progressive, techno and more. It’s located on a plateau courtyard sitting with its back towards the centre of the region, with two rocky arms reaching out to the western and southern coastlines – the parcel occupying the south-western corner of the region.

Woods Club

Dancing can be enjoyed both indoors and outdoors – there’s an outdoors stage to one side of the plateau, and there is also plenty of seating to be found as well. Take care when out on the cobbled terrace area, or you might trip over Clarice or Chuck Norris (a cockerel who presumably brooks no nonsense…). Steps under an ivy-wrapped arbour provide a way down off the plateau to where a colourful, if a little overgrown garden sits. This looks out over a ribbon-like pond to the sea to the west, and eastwards over a small stream running out from the pond.

Pointing the way between stream and pond is a tree-lined track, reached via a rocky incline, and which ends in the hump back of a stone bridge spanning the water. This offers the way to where a barn sits alongside a little vineyard guarded by tall cypress trees standing between it and the sea. The barn has been converted into a little wine bar, and faces a garden kitchen across tall grass growing around an old well.

Woods Club

The track meanwhile, branches from the little bridge, one arm turned past the wine bar and kitchen to lead to a little fresh produce market beyond which visitors might find a little shaded picnic spot, a second facing it across the narrowing stream.  A rocky arch spans the neck of the stream, a shale beach of a little inlet, it’s mouth almost completely blocked by the rectangular forms of low boulders.

The other arm of the track runs northwards, pointing the way to another garden-like area sitting among the rocks and rugged grass, the talk finger of a windmill market its presence. Puppies and goslings share a common interest in steel tubs of water here, while old milk churns have been converted into planters. Beyond these, a swing bench under an awning of corrugated metals awaits visitors, a second, smaller pond sitting just above it. With a little care, the intrepid can make their way around the side of this pond, then over the grass and rocks, then past a painter’s little outlook to arrive back at the garden below the club.Woods Club

Throughout all of this, there is a wealth of detail to find and enjoy – be it the little field of sunflowers sitting up on a headland, a wheelbarrow converted into a snug little outdoor bed next to them, or the deck chairs on the gravel beach, the rowing boat on the narrow pond, or simply appreciating just how naturally the garden areas have been brought to life. For the active, dancing can also be had down at the wine bar – but do keep an eye out for John Travolta strutting his stuff in the grass!

Woods Club is a genuine pleasure to visit, even if the weekend music selections aren’t to your taste. There are plenty of opportunities for photography, or simply to chill out and relax. Should you enjoy your visit, do please consider making a donation towards the parcel and club’s continued presence,  via the bongo drums alongside the outdoor stage.

Woods Club

SLurl Details

• Woods Club (Highup, rated: Adult)

MindPillars, a Scottish themed Sim – click any image for full size

When first encountering its name, MindPillars, a Scottish Themed Sim would appear to give itself away from this title: a region with a Scottish lean in its design. However, this still leaves a number of questions open  – where in Scotland? Highlands? Lowlands? islands? When in Scotland? Modern times? Times past? These, and questions like them, demand people pay the region a visit to find out; and the truth is MindPillars has touch of Brigadoon about it, as well as a twist of Scottish legend and myth.

The landing point, while set, is not enforced. However after Caitlyn and I spent an hour exploring, I do recommend you use it, as per the SLurl above, as it will deliver you to Geata Fhoingail (Fingal’s Gate) towards the western side of the region. An arch cut through living rock, the landing point features a map of the region ( and sharing the same west-east orientation), highlighting the 30 points of interest located across the region. In this, Fingal’s Gate is appropriately named: geata fhoingail might also be translated as “foyer gate”.

MindPillars, a Scottish themed Sim

It worth noting that the 30 points of interest draw on a broad range of locations from physical world, myth, history and legend – and not all of them are necessarily Scottish in nature. Penn an Wlas, for example, translates as “Land’s End” – a location in England’s Cornwall.  Touching the map will present you with a series of options, including a note card, Storyteller’s HUD,  and a copy of the map of the region. Available in English and German, the HUD will attach to the top left of your screen, where it will initially remain passive.

Where you go from here is up to you – there are trails and paths winding throughout the region – although you might want to keep an eye on your location via the region co-ordinates displayed at the top of the viewer: the region joins “seamlessly” with the outlying surround – complete with paths appearing to wind off into the distance – so you can end up walking into a region boundary if you’re not careful! The effect, however, is to make the region look and feel a lot bigger – as well as give it a feeling of being in the middle of Scotland.

MindPillars, a Scottish themed Sim

As you explore, you’ll come across signs (and sometimes rocks) highlighting each of the 30 points of interest around the region. If you’re wearing the HUD, proximity to these signs will trigger a text chat invitation to tell you a story about the location. However, with or without the HUD, you can touch them to display a menu offering you the map, the HUD and a note card with the location’s story. Some of the signs also include a lamp labelled Public Transport Available. Touching these will either rez a donkey and cart you can ride in, or offer a choice of routes before rezzing the transport.

Setting out along the paths will reveal the setting is broadly medieval in tone – as seen in the clothing of the “locals”. As well as the village, there are a number of other buildings to explore, such as Gorm Coinneach Maineir to the south-east, or Crow’s Court in the mist, or the ruins of a castle. There are also hidden places to be found – such as in the graveyard – for those willing to follow the suggestion given in About Land to click on things. I’m just not sure that accepting a tankard of whiskey is a good idea; not if you’re planning to keep walking or want to avoid the charge of being drunk in charge of a donkey cart … or flying dragon… 🙂 .

MindPillars, a Scottish themed Sim

Designed by Gaelle Ravenheart (Gaelle Joubert) and Carsten Ravenheart, MindPillars is ideal for those seeking something a little different by way of region design, and a hat tip to Shakespeare for dropping me a landmark.

SLurl Details

• MindPillars, a Scottish themed Sim (Chihuahua, rated: Moderate)

Italian Village of Ciampi, Italy – click any image for full size

The Mainland tends to have a reputation for either being “cluttered” or “empty” – nothing but ugly builds and masses of abandoned land.

While it is true the lack of zoning on Mainland can lead to confusing jumbles of parcels and buildings running one against the next, and that it may well have tracts of abandoned land (although the latter would appear to be getting eaten into with the Mainland pricing restructure), it is also true that there are many treasures to be found across the different Mainland continents. Some of them I’ve covered in these pages, others I’m still – despite 11 years in Second Life  –  discovering.

Italian Village of Ciampi, Italy

One such place Caitlyn and I found a few months ago, and which has been waiting a blog post in the Italian Village of Ciampi, Italy. Located within the western extent of Heterocera, this is a combination of public spaces and private rental residences operated by Viggen Petofi (MasterViggen).

As the name suggests, this is a location themed after a countryside Italian village. If you want to reach it by road, it sits just off the western end of the continent’s road system shortly before it reaches the coast and turns north. For those teleporting into the village, the landing point is located in the main public area of the village, near the foot of the steps leading up to the local church on the south side of the region in which the village sits.

Italian Village of Ciampi, Italy

From here visitors can wander among the little stores and cafés, pay a visit to the church or spend time alongside the village pond or exploring the village farm. Dirt tracks lead away from this public area in several directions. Along these can be found the private rental properties of the estate – so please do regard resident’s privacy when exploring.  These house come in a number of different sizes, and those interested in renting one might be able to do so via the village office. This is located across the continent’s cobbled road to the south, within a riverside group of shops.

Devoid of visible skyboxes overhead, with plenty of opens spaces which help to give the setting a rural feel, the Italian Village of Ciampi, Italy, offers a relaxing, pleasing visit for those looking for something a little different on the Mainland. It also offers assorted opportunities for photographs, and for Mainland explorers a pleasure stop along the road.

Italian Village of Ciampi, Italy

SLurl Details

• Italian Village of Ciampi, Italy (Bhima, rated: Moderate)

Butterfly Beach – click any image for full size

Updated May 23rd: to include information on the donation box for the region.

Miro Collas dropped me a tweet suggesting Caitlyn and I take a look at Butterfly Beach,  a Homestead region that recently opened to the public. The region has been designed by (the always delightfully named) Funky Banana (FunkyBananas) working with Lien Lowe. Funky was also responsible for Banana Bay, which we enjoyed visiting in the summer of 2017.

Butterfly Beach shares something of a common heritage with Banana Bay: both offer sunny, sandy beaches, a feeling of getting away from it all and an opportunity to relax and simply spend time in thought or with someone. From the air (or the Map) it’s clear how the island came by its name, and a visit starts on what might be considered the butterfly’s upper right wing (actually down towards the south-east corner of the region in terms of Map orientation).

Butterfly Beach

First impressions on arriving is that this could be a small vacation island just off the coast of Italy or perhaps in the Aegean, available to those who want to escape the every day demands of life. A lone, single-story house sits towards the centre of the island, looking to the west and east. Tuscan in style, it shares the low-lying island with a scattering of outhouses: a small stone-built barn, a wooden boathouse and a small beach house, also built from wood.

A wooden deck extends eastward out over the sea a short distance from the house. The fencing around the house seems to lay claim to the deck such that it is easy to imagine wandering across the sand from the house to enjoy breakfast on the deck as the Sun eases its way higher over the eastern horizon.

Butterfly Beach

As might be gathered from the name of the region, beaches are very much the feature of the island. However, rather than offering a single contiguous stretch of coastal sands running around the island, Funky and lien have carefully used small outcrops of rocks and runs of rough grass dotted with bushes to break the island’s sands into a number of discrete – and entirely natural looking – sandy headlands and small, curving coves.

Each of these little beaches has its own attraction, be it a simple blanket laid out on the sand or deck chairs under a parasol, through to a tent or makeshift shelter, all the way to the simply but cosily furnished beach house. Rowing boats and kayaks are drawn up on the sand or undergoing a repaint in the boat shed, swings hang from trees and wooden benches can be found amidst the grass. All of this gives the island an additional attraction and encourages time spent just wandering and appreciating, as well as in sitting and enjoying the setting.

Butterfly Beach

Restful, set beneath an early morning’s summer sky and very photogenic, Butterfly Island is well worth a visit. If you do take photos, there is an open invitation to share them through the region’s Flickr group. A donations “box” in the form of a butterfly can be found near the landing point – so if you enjoy your visit,, do please consider making a donation towards the region’s continued upkeep.

Thanks again to Miro for the pointer, and to chericolette (see her comment below) for the pointer to the donation box, which I’d missed during my two visits to the region!

SLurl Details

• Butterfly Beach (Free Love, rated: Moderate)

ONI Zen – click any image for full size

ONI Zen is a new adult / BDSM-oriented region within Second Life aimed at offering those with an interest / genuine curiosity about the BDSM lifestyle. It’s a subject that may not be to everyone’s interest or liking, so if this is the case, you might want to skip this article; but keep in mind specific adult activities are confined to specific areas of the region – such as the dungeon area and skyboxes – rather than being on public display.

However, before we get into the region itself, a few words on a couple of things.

There is a tendency in Second life – and the world as a whole – for the uninitiated to view BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism) and D/s (Dominance and submission) as being one in the same – and that both are closely linked with sex. The truth is, they are not; although they can be intertwined. In terms  of D/s and BDSM, for example, D/s is about the psychological exchange of power – a control dynamic, if you will – within a relationship. This may – or equally may not – involve practices such as bondage and / or s/m play. It also may, or may not, extended into the bedroom.

ONI Zen

BDSM is, as the initials suggest, about whips, and chains, and bondage, and pain – although it doesn’t have to encompass all of these elements. Speaking broadly, it is much more about the practice; the kinky stuff, if you will. As such, it is possible to practice BDSM without necessarily being in a D/s relationship: couples can simply take on different roles without identifying with a deeper power dynamic. Nor need BDSM necessarily involve sex.

ONI Zen, according to its introductory note card, exists to encourage those engaging in BDSM to do so from more of a “lifestyle” perspective. In this, I would suggest the philosophy behind the region might also encompass D/s – particularly as the introduction note card seeks to emphasise the idea of the control dynamic, differentiating it from the view that BDSM = kinky sex play.

ONI Zen

To this end, ONI Zen offers, among its many facilities, a Lifestyle Academy, where those interested in understanding more about BDSM as it might be seen within a broader context than “kinky sex” can do so. Also on offer is an events area, a games centre, and entrainment space, a subterranean dungeon, a general discussion area, a ceremonial area, all joined together by open spaces and paths to wander and explore.

Given the nature of the region, care should be taken in visiting, as it is possible to come across adult activities. Any causal visitor should certainly read the region’s introduction and rules prior to proceeding from the landing point (as an aside, the introductory note card also explains how the region came by its name).

ONI Zen

Leaving aside the adult nature and intent behind ONI Zen, I can say it is one of the most skilfully executed region designs I’ve come across – kudos to Buggie (Cricket Ceawlin) for this. Surrounded by mountains and split into two areas – a rugged upland area which makes up the majority of region, and a smaller, low-lying island covering the south-east portion of the region. Richly wooded, and making full use of the 30K land capacity available to Full regions, both parts of Oni Zen make extensive and skilled use of paths and trails to make them feel far larger in size than one might expect.

These paths, winding over grass, around hills, through rocks and up cliffs, can actually be a little confusing – which adds greatly to the mystery of the region when exploring. To make things easier, maps highlighting the major destinations together with teleport discs, can be found at those locations as well as the landing point. However, I really do recommend taking the time to explore on foot; the visual richness of the region is equally matched by its depth of sound scape.

ONI Zen

Exploring on foot also means the opportunity to discover the more secret parts of the region – such as the swimming pool sitting behind a waterfall – or the opportunities for playing games like My Virtual Lifestyle out in the open (there are more games in the Game Hall) or to play bumper boats – or even take a swimming in the waters at the edge of the region.

Officially opening on Monday, May 21st, 2018, ONI Zen is already hosting discussions and music events – details of events can be found on the board at the landing point. When visit, and at the risk of repeating myself,  do keep in mind it is intended as a lifestyle region, rather than a place for casual SL tourism.

ONI Zen – click any image for full size

SLurl Details

• ONI Zen (Aina Kealoha, rated: Adult)

Disclosure: Will Burns (Aeonix Aeon), one of the leaders of ONI Zen is a friend.

Village of Ahiru – click any image for full size

Village of Ahiru is a full region themed along Japanese  / Edo period lines (although the time frame for the region isn’t specifically the Edo period, as evidenced by things like the bicycles to be found scattered along the extensive paths and walks within the region).

The main landing point, located in the sky above the region offers an introduction to the setting, noting it is a mixed public / private location with a number of rental properties to be found within it. However, providing the privacy of those renting is respected, visitors and photography are both welcome, and for those wanting to get a little more in character, two vendors at the landing point offer free female and male kimonos.

Village of Ahiru

Ground level is reached via a map teleport board. This lists all of the public areas, and denotes the rental properties – the majority of which are located to the east of the region, with a few more located on the southern coastline. The large rentals are surrounded by walls guarding their inner gardens / courtyards, and smaller properties can be identified by the “mailbox” rent boxes on their walls.

At ground level, the region is split into two land masses by a narrow river. Public areas straddle both of these islands, so decided on where to start a visit is open to choice. However, having spent time wandering through the village, I’d recommend the shrine on the south island or the Onsen or theatre on the north island as being good starting points; they are all public places, and offer good map reference points when making your way around the region.

Village of Ahiru

Richly wooded, Village of Ahiru also has a veritable web of paths and trails running around and through it.  Climbing and descending over stairs and steps, winding around hills, passing under the arched canopies of trees, some of these paths are paved, some form grass tracks and others are marked by stepping-stones or look like cinder tracks. The thing that the have most in common is that they form a complete network which, as you follow it as paths cross and divide, serves to make Village of Ahiru feel a lot larger than the usual 256 metres on a side region.

From the grand bulk of the Theatre, visitors can head south along an arrow-straight avenue to one of the bridges spanning the river. Branching from this to the right (west) and east (left) are paths leading to other points of interest: a wild garden with standing stones, a more formal garden area with pavilions, a little waterfall spanned by another little bridge and opportunities to relax.

Village of Ahiru

To the left from the theatre avenue, stone steps offers a way to the ochaya (tea house) located on one of the region’s two high points. Or if you prefer, you can follow the path around the hill on which the tea house sits and find your way to the impressive Osen, with heated and cold water pools for bathing. With waters following past its entrance from water falls, this is perhaps the centrepiece of the region, and another point at which a teleport map board can be found for those wishing to hop between locations. The second high point for the region is located on the southern island. It is home to the region’s shrine and overlooks the rental properties to the east and south, the base of the hill again surrounded by paths.

Other highlights within the region include a small commercial shopping area, a children’s playground nestled under the trees, and several lookout points such as the waterside hangout – and perhaps one or more places to discover. “As usual, my areas have a couple places hidden away,” principal designer Hatsumomo (Yasyn Azemus) informed me during our visit. I’m not going to give these all away, but I did enjoy discovering the Café Grotto.

Village of Ahiru

Surrounded by mountains, rich in flora and trees, and laid out in such a way to give the impression of far more space than the region might otherwise suggest, Village of Ahiru makes for an engaging visit with plenty to see and discover while exploring.

SLurl Details

• Village of Ahiru (Ahiru, rated: Moderate)