Category: Exploring Second Life

Asphyxiation Point – Upper Town

Asphyxiation Point wasn’t always the town that you see today. In fact, there was a time when it was nothing more than a small rocky outcrop jutting out of the ocean. The only way to get to it was past straits so narrow that sailors would hold their breaths as they made the perilous trip. And so the rock was named Asphyxiation Point and largely shunned for centuries.

All that changed when two fishermen – Jeremiah Newton and Fredrick Perry – happened to venture past the straits in search of new lobster hunting grounds.

So opens the back story to what is probably one of Second Life’s most immersive urban role-play environments to be opened in recent years. It is an elaborate story, rich in content, which steers the reader through a history which is both palpable and entirely believable; a story sharing the same depth and detail as the region itself.

Caitlyn and I were invited to visit Asphyxiation Point by one of region’s Admins and a prime mover in Asphyxiation Point’s development, Charles Newton Kuluk (kuluk).

Prior to his invitation, I’d only faintly heard of the region, knowing little more than it offered urban role-play. Charles was quick to offer more information, including the link to the region’s excellent website, which offers a wealth of detail for the interested visitor to the town.

“Asphyxiation Point was founded exactly one year back on February 22nd, 2015,” Charles said to me as we discussed a visit. “We’ve since grown to over 3000 members and enjoy a high level of both role-play activity and events, and my motivation for inviting you is  primarily to get more people interested in the idea of free-form role-play, and also hopefully break down  some misconceptions as to why a lot of such regions are labelled as Adult.”

As a free-form role-play environment, Asphyxiation Point doesn’t have a set structure on what it is necessarily about. There are no paragraph-heavy rules; common sense in the order of the day. Nor are there any pre-defined factions, political affiliations or anything else which might be found in more rigidly defined role-play environments. Players are free to establish their own factions and affiliations according to their in-game wants and needs; even the combat is role-played, rather than employing any metered system. Instead, the approach to role-play is perhaps best described by borrowing from the website:

A small fishing village turned tourist town, Asphyxiation Point is both beautiful and dangerous. [A place] ​where characters live, laugh and love while crime, despair and conflict brew just under the surface. Will you succumb to the darkness or will you rise above it all? Where will your adventure take you? Who will you be? 

In other words, those joining the role-play here are free to read-up on the back story of the town, develop their character accordingly, immerse themselves in its environments and gain familiarity with ongoing story lines and existing RP, and to naturally engage and role-play with one another. Hence why there is no insistence that visitors employ any observer or out-of-character (OOC) tags.

Asphyxiation Point – Lower Town

“We believe in negotiation here,” Charles said of the latter. “So don’t worry about it. Stick to IMs once you leave the landing point. If you are approached in RP, just IM them and let them know you are observing / photographing or whatever.”

One way of keeping up with all that’s going on is to peruse the community’s local newspaper. In it you’ll find reports on the latest happenings in town, reviews on popular places and news on public events, such as the recent Mardi Gras festival. Again, the emphasis here is on community immersion and involvement: helping to make visitors and player feel fully a part of the local community.

Asphyxiation Point – the beach and Upper Town to the right, Lower Town and the Red Light District in the distance

Players can further invest themselves within the community through the businesses established as a part of the role-play environment, or by starting their own business (again focused on role-play). A section of the website again provides a comprehensive guide to both, including an overview of the sim-owned businesses (which players can apply to run) located through the four districts of the town.

“Our objective is to promote diversity in RP opportunities and see what happens,” Charles told Caitlyn and I during our visit. “The build is cleaner in looks than a lot of urban RP environments, because we didn’t necessarily want crime on the surface – well, maybe except for some places like the Red Light District. But we did want to give opportunities to the more criminal elements too. The sewers are spread all under town and give folks an alternative path to stay out of the cops eyes.”

Continue reading “Free-form role-play in Second Life” →

Update, February 29th: Sommer contacted me to let me know the Casablanca build will remain open for the foreseeable future – as long as visitors continue to behave themselves! – so if you’ve not already done so, done miss the opportunity of a visit!

Update, February 27th: TracyLynne dropped by to read this post, and afterwards IM’d me in-world to let me know she had, and that the chess table mention in the piece as missing, and which featured in Rick’s exchange with Peter Lorre’s Signor Ugarte where he is given the Letters of Transit for safe-keeping, has now been added. Thank you, TracyLynne!

It’s one of the all-time classic romance films of the 20th century, the tale of American Rick Blaine in Casablanca during 1941, trying to run his own bar and ostensibly stay out of the war. However, he is drawn into matters when his former lover, Ilsa Lund, now married to a fugitive Czech Resistance leader Victor Laszlo, walks into his bar, trying to find a way to reach the still neutral United States – and he happens to have the means by which they might do so.

At the time it was made,  no-one involved in it expected Casablanca to become the iconic film we know it as today. But in the years and decades following its initial release in 1942, it has become adored for its leading pair of Bogart and Bergman, its many quotes, its memorable theme song and its atmospheric sets. And, until around the end of the month, Second Life users can immerse themselves in this cinematic legend thanks to TracyLynne Carpenter and Sommer Shepherd.

Sitting above Sommer’s full region of Nantucket Island, lies a beautiful recreation of some of the key locations from the film. It started life as the setting for an in-world party, but Sommer has opened it up for public visits, and it is a place any lover of the film or great and photogenic Second Life builds is not going to want to miss.

Teleporting to the build brings you to the location of the film’s iconic finale: the concrete of Casablanca Aerogare, where an Electra aeroplane bound for neutral Lisbon awaits its passengers. It is here, on a foggy night that Rick persuades Ilsa to board the flight with her husband rather than staying with him, warning her that  if she doesn’t, she will regret staying. “Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.” Then, as the plane departs, Rick walks off into the fog with his new comrade-in-arms, Captain Louis Renault. Regarded as one of the finest endings to a movie (and one in places ad-libbed by Bogart), it is the perfect opening to your visit.

From the airport, you can walk down one of the winding streets of Casablanca, past the headquarters of the Vichy police, to Rick’s Café Américain, the central set of the movie, fabulously reproduced (perhaps only missing the chess board – see the comment at the top of this piece – over which Rick first learns of the means by which he will eventually be able to help Ilsa and Laszlo), when Signor Ugarte persuades him to look after two “letters of transit”  he has acquired, guaranteeing the holders free passage throughout German-controlled Europe.

But this is more than just set pieces from Casablanca, it is an imaginary glimpse into the making of the film. Cam along some of the buildings on the street leading to Rick’s bar, and you’ll find them to be wooden façades, propped into place from behind, indicating this is in fact one of the sound stages on which the film was made – albeit one lovingly blended into a suitable desert environment through the magic of Second Life.

Take a walk around the back of the set, and you’ll find film supplies, spare cameras, tented catering and make-up facilities, and the caravans which might have been used by Bogart and Bergman had they really been on location, offering them places to rest between takes or rehearse lines. Other hints that this is a film set can be found elsewhere, such as the camera and director’s chairs sitting alongside the arrival point, or the camera set up in Rick’s bar.

This really is the most marvellous build; one which shouldn’t be missed while there is the opportunity to visit. if you haven;t yet dropped into Rick’s Café Américain, neither Caitlyn nor I can urge you strongly enough to make sure you do. You may not encounter Bogart of Bergman when visiting, but if you love the movie, I can guarantee you’ll hear their lines echoing around you.

SLurl Details

• Casablanca Sets (Rated: Moderate)

Imesha (click any image for full size)

Arriving in Imesha, Shaman Nitely’s and Ime Poplin’s multi-level cityscape, one might be forgiven for thinking they’ arrived in a corner of a city made famous on the big screen though the likes of Blade Runner or on television via Total Recall 2070. Buildings rise on all sides,  elevated roads and sidewalks passing along the deep gorges formed between the gaudily lit towers, ramps and stairways providing links between the different levels, allowing passage between them. Each level is perhaps just a little darker than the one above, until at the lowest, the visitor eventually comes to  brick buildings of a much earlier era, graffiti strewn façades tired, old original roads, where visible, cobbled and aged.

But Imesha is no direct homage to either Ridley Scott’s film (or those which copied its approach to a dystopian view of future cities), nor is it an echo of the Los Angeles of Total Recall 2070. While it may contain similar fusion of occidental-Sino-Japanese influences, it is very much its own place, and a quite spectacular one at that.

Imesha

From the upper levels s setting sun can be seen, limning the tallest buildings, its glow competing with their own brightly lit surfaces and myriad lights. Flashing billboards stare down at visitors from side sides of some of the buildings, the oriental faces on them flickering and smiling, the ambient sound scape shifting and changing to suit the environment as one explores.

And there is plenty to be found when exploring! “We added as much detail as we could for a homestead,” Shaman informed me when I bumped into him and Ime re-working a part of the landing area. “That’s why we are constantly replacing stuff with lower prim alternatives!”

Imesha

As we chatted, a Chinese paper lantern drifted by, doubtless riding on the air currents winding around the buildings. Watching it pass, I commented on the nods to Blade Runner etc. “Yes we wanted that Sci fi look,” Shaman replied, “but we also wanted to make it a bit more homely; not cold.”

A teleport system is available at the landing point, providing the means to hop directly to the various local destinations – the club, the diner, the art garden, etc. However, I’d strongly advise anyone making a visit to eschew this and strike out of foot. The best way is through the doors leading to the club space, or up the stairs alongside them. Both will lead you to routes connecting the platform to other parts of the region.

Imesha (click any image for full size)

Finding your way between all the levels may take a little time, but this will also allow you to hopefully see all of the detail and care put into this build. Do make sure you have ALM enabled as well (you don’t have to enable Shadows, which are the big performance hit); excellent use of materials is made in much of the region, so having ALM on increases the visual appeal of the Imesha.

All told, this is a fabulous deign and build, and one that should be enjoyed by all who visit. Should you do so, please consider supporting Ime’s and Shaman’s efforts to offer it to Second Life, by making a donation at one of the tip jars found throughout the region.

SLurl Details

• Imesha (Rated: Moderate)

The Yorkshire Moors (click any image for full size)

It’s no secret I’m from the UK. In fact, while I now reside in the southern half of the country, my family has its roots in the north, and I have an abiding love of Northumberland and a deep affection for North Yorkshire.  So it was with interest that I heard PinkRayne had modelled the region on which her store is located after The Yorkshire Moors.

Now, I’ll be honest here. The Yorkshire moors have always been set in my mind as the rugged, rolling countryside with short, tough grass and oceans of summer heather one passes through en route to Pickering or Whitby in the summer months. A landscape split by meandering streams and dry stone walls and over which stone built farms outhouses are scattered. As such, I was a little surprised by the overall flatness of the region; I had expected to see something perhaps a little more undulating.

The Yorkshire Moors

Which is not to say the region does reflect the open countryside of Yorkshire; as you enter the region, Pink’s store behind you, there is no mistaking the parallels. The grass here is tough and tufted, many of the trees bend their backs to the wind, while the landscape is cut by dry stone walls behind which sheep and horses graze.

Towards the south-east corner of the region stands a single lighthouse, it’s Cyclopean light roving over land then sea, back to land again, reminiscent of the Flamborough Head lighthouse. Between it and the store, a meandering stream opens into an area of flooded land which offer a nod towards the North Cave Wetlands.

The Yorkshire Moors

A single path winds through the landscape from the store in the north-east, looping southwards and then back to the north before eventually arriving at a little rocky cove on the west side of the region.  A rowing boat sits on the water here, offering a place to sit for individuals or couples; one of several places people can sit and enjoy one another’s company or look out across the beautifully bleak and windswept landscape, the view uninterrupted by hill or rise, bringing the flatness of the region into its own.

With the ambient sounds matched to the landscape, the windlight suggesting a late autumnal evening, The Yorkshire Moors makes for an atmospheric visit, offering excellent opportunities for photography. And for those looking to add to their wardrobe, there’s also Pink’s store for a little after-visit shopping.

The Yorkshire Moors

SLurl Details

• The Yorkshire Moors (Rated: Moderate)

Sorrow (click any image for full size)

I last visited Sorrow, the atmospheric designed by Voshie Paine and the Lollipop Kids on the homestead region of Paper Dinosaurs, in October 2015. At that time, the region was in the grip of a substantial downpour, which framed a tragic back story concerning a once happy family estate, built on money and handed down through the generations until tragedy came upon the last of the family line.

Those days – and the sad estate – have now long past, the region since having been made over for winter by Voshie and Dizzy Sparrow. The two islands and their houses have passed into the mists of time, as have the rains. In their stead – for the time being, at least – sits a single, snow-covered island, which rises from a sea frozen mirror-smooth under a darkening sky.

Sorrow

This is a place of ethereal beauty, the island rising tall and craggy, lines softened by its snowy mantle, and upon which a single stone sits, reached by stone steps winding up a narrow cleft. Greyhounds stand outside of the tower, whether on guard, or keeping vigil, or for some other reason, is for the visitor to decide.

The dogs suggest the tower is a home for someone, and the blazing fire warming the ground floor further testifies to this, as does the bedroom above. However, where they may have wandered to, is for your imagination to decide.

Sorrow (click any image for full size)

Vegetation is spare here; the only greenery resides inside the tower, while outside, trees raise their hoar frosted branches towards the sky as they rise from the frozen waters, as – here and there – do tall lotus blossoms, also seemingly frozen in time. Also out on the water sits aki69’s Stairs for moonlight, a gacha item which has been appearing in regions across the grid of late, making as it does an eye-catching piece. Here, it adds a further touch to the ethereal look and feel to the region.

In October, Sorrow presented a place reflective of its name: a setting filled with melancholy. With this design, the region offers something very different: a place suggestive of enchantment  frozen in time; a place of quiet beauty and solitude. Yet there does also seem to be a faint echo, within its beauty,  of the region’s name; almost as if whoever liver within that single tower has come here to leave their sorrows behind.

Sorrow

SLurl Details

• Sorrow (Rated:  Moderate)

With thanks to Caledonia Skytower for the poke about going back to see Sorrow. 

The Village & BarDeco

Pearl Grey drew me towards The Village & BarDeco after she blogged about it in January.  A quarter region in size, it is described as, “a small village on the water where you can stroll beside the sea in a Zen atmosphere and relaxed – a drink and listen to the music of the best DJs in SL at BarDeco.”

The club sits at the far end of the The Village relative to the SLurl I’ve given above; those available through Search may well drop visitors a lot closer, but I’ve opted for this approach so that you can wander the length of The Village and take in the full atmosphere, which right now is one of a mist-shrouded evening or morning, mindful of late autumn / early winter.

The Village & BarDeco

The road leading into The Village is a foretaste of things to come. Unpaved, it is rutted and perhaps not in the bast of condition. It also splits at the SLurl I’ve given above, to provide two parallel routes into the hamlet, which run wither side of a large rocky outcrop.

Follow one arm of the road and you’ll travel past an old farm, while taking the other will take you alongside an old railway spur line which presumably once served The Village. Those days are now long gone; the tracks are overgrown, and nature is slowly laying claim to the carcases of two old boxcars which appear to have been derailed in some past accident. A mist is drifting in from the sea the other side of the old railway tracks, making this second route into The Village somewhat more atmospheric (and, if you’re on a lower-end system, perhaps a little challenging as well).

The Village & BarDeco

Like the roads leading to it, The Village looks to be past its prime; all of the building look tired, paint fading in the salty air, tin roofs rusting, wood panels in need of repair. Even the vehicles here have seen better days, although the single trawler moored and the little docks looks to be in better condition than the nearby road vehicles, suggesting it is cared for and still plying the seas.

BarDeco sits within what might have once been a warehouse, a place as careworn and suffering from the passing of the years as the rest of The Village. Sans roof, canvas awnings strung from the rafters provide a measure of protection for those on the dance floor when inclement weather comes visiting. Nevertheless, going on the numbers there when Caitlyn and I visited, BarDeco clearly offers a worm welcome together with good music.

The Village & BarDeco

Nor is the music restricted to the club; there is a live performance stage facing the church, and one of the largest stores is a record shop. Other artists have settled here as well, as peek through the brightly lit windows of an old factory outbuilding will reveal.

All told, this is an atmospheric place (make sure you have local sounds on to catch the ambient sound scape as well), one which again demonstrates you don’t have to have an entire region just to build something special to share with others. For the SL traveller, it offers an interesting destination to explore, with plenty of photographic opportunities. Add to that BarDeco and the music, and The Village makes for an interesting visit. It even has what could be thought of as an indirect hat-tip to a certain other Village of television history sitting in the town square!

SLurl Details

• The Village & BarDeco (Rated: Adult)