Category: Reviews

COBKOBO – click any image for full size

COBKOBO, a Full region in Second Life designed by Света Денискина (Seller Xenno), has been gaining a lot of attention of late for its presentation of a Russian provincial town. It’s a place Caitlyn and I were first alerted to (within a brief period to one another) by Annie Brightstar and Shakespeare.

In truth, it is a scenic setting – although apparently still under construction in places, given the fact there are footpaths being placed, rezzing boxes still visible. It is surrounded by tall, green hills coated by fir trees and wrinkled by fast-flowing streams that help to give the impression this is a town sitting on a small lake, a river meandering away through the hills.

COBKOBO – click any image for full size

There is a certain Soviet / historical feel to the town, dominated as it is by large theatre-come-music hall, outside of which stands a statue of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov – better known by the alias Lenin – holding the hammer and sickle in outstretched arms. Other suggestions of the past lie scattered around the region in the form of military vehicles parked or abandoned, the badge of the Soviet army displayed above a garage / barn, and so on. But whether the setting is meant to be representative of a bygone era, or a modern setting where echoes of the past linger on, is for visitors to perhaps decide. 

Certainly there is enough going on in the region for it to be set in modern times: the theatre is available for showing videos, and there are areas given over to live entertainment, both outdoors and indoors. And there are obvious Western touches – such as “Roady’s” bar, and a motel sign.

COBKOBO – click any image for full size

This is a place that appears to be newcomer friendly for SL’s Russian community. The block-like schoolhouse offers information boards on using the viewer and may also provide viewer lessons (I’m not entirely sure on this), with the events spaces offering a reason for people to come to the region.

The town is an interesting mix: large, solidly built structures on paved roads, their plain bulk suggestive (again) of the kind of structures we in the West regard as being from the Soviet era. But the roads quickly give way to tracks, the solid structures to wooden houses.

COBKOBO – click any image for full size

Around the edges of the region are open, rugged spaces, including a beach and a pair of islands. One of these is topped by camp sites, one of which can be used as a music venue.  There are also private places to be found scattered around the edges of the region, where it is possible to to get away from the bustle of visitors. All of this is watched over from a corner by a lighthouse sitting atop a drum-like base.

As noted earlier, elements of the region still appear to be under construction, but this doesn’t make it any the less photographic in its current state. However, it will be interesting to see what else is planned for COBKOBO, and how it will appear once completed.

COBKOBO – click any image for full size

In the meantime, the region makes for an interesting and somewhat different visit; a glimpse of a bygone era sitting within modern times.

SLurl Details

• COBKOBO (Russia, rated: Adult)

Update: 2019-XS has closed and Zee9 has relocated her Drune build – see Drune: a further visit in Second Life. SLurls have therefore been removed from this article.

On the advice of a number of people – starting with Annie Brightstar – we recently visited 2019-XS, defined as “a sci-fi sim in Second Life with a cyberpunk feel, inspired by films like Blade Runner, The Fifth Element, and Neuromancer.”

Designed by Hera (zee9), the region has an adult edge to the role-play, and is intended as an extension to her previous (and now departed) build Drune. I’ve not seen that design, but will say that while compact, 2019-XS has a certain ambience that is hard to define, but has seen me make three visits to it in order to fully appreciate the ambience and setting.

While the region is described as being inspired by the likes of The Fifth Element and Blade Runner, the setting feels more potentially “sci-fi / dystopian generic” than these films would suggest. This is not to demean the region in any way; rather it’s an acknowledgement that it has a broader feel to it than a narrow focus on a specific film or films.

For example, while the design has a vertical feel to it, with a street level and upper walkways, all with plenty of neon on display, the overall feel is perhaps too Asian, too industrial / metallic too clean to perhaps fit it fully into the streets of the 2019 Los Angeles witnessed in Blade Runner. Then the narrowness of the streets, the cluttering of their canyon-like forms and lack of aerial traffic doesn’t entirely sit with a Fifth Element vibe.

Nevertheless, there are motifs from both films. There are buildings that have an older, stone-built look that echoes places like the Bradbury building as imagined in Blade Runner, for example. There are also the spinner-like vehicles (both commissioned and decommissioned), while the elevated walkways between the buildings offer a suggestion of a crowded city, again a-la Blade Runner and the TV Series Total Recall 2070 that took many of its visual cues from the film.

That said, were I to point to a particular film influence on the setting, I would sway towards Neuromancer. Whilst never made (the film is still characterised as In Development by IMDB), the concept art from that production offers takes that do reflect the setting within 2019-XS. But even then, I’d suggest that the region be allowed to stand on its own, free from any frame of reference that could lead to specific preconceptions.

The main streets are laid out simply enough – but in doing so, they hide the complexity of the setting. There are back alleys to be found; stairs and elevators to the upper levels, while private clubs lie behind heavy doors or at the bottom of outdoors steps leading down to a basement level. On the upper levels can be found more eateries, small apartments and hallways.

Role-play is, I believe, of a free-form nature; but again, be aware that there is a lean towards more sexual play, so the setting might not please everyone. For photographers, there are numerous opportunities to take photos – both avatar studies or cityscapes. There is also a Flickr group where images can be displayed, and which also includes pictures from the earlier Drune.