Category: Reviews

I’m always of a mixed mind when it comes to amusement park themes in Second Life, never sure as to how well they really work in transmitting a sense of thrill / fun. This is not to critique the creators of such venues and the rides that go into them, but rather a reflection that for all its marvels, Second Life is still bounded by certain limitations that can impact the sense of immersion.

That said, there have been various roller coaster rides and theme parks I have visited in-world, and had fun doing so. This being the case, when Miro Collas suggested a visit to the Master’s Amusement Park, designed by Brick Masters (GeniusMike), I added it to my list of Exploring Second Life destinations, and on a sunny Tuesday morning (both SL and in the physical world!), hopped over to take a look.

Occupying a sky build, the Master’s Amusement Park is a place of two halves. The “old” landing point can be found on the mainland, forming a “ticket office” and entrance. This informs visitors that the park is now “all new” (as of 2017 at least), and offering a “lifetime season pass” by joining the park’s group – although group membership is *not* a requirement to take to the rides. This landing point eventually directs visitors to a teleport that deposits them at the amusement park proper, a location I’ve used as the main SLurl in this article. I assume the split is due to the park having relocated from the Mainland to a private region in 2017.

A tram service from the latter landing point carries visitors up to the park itself, but I found this to be painfully slow, and on my return to the park after an initial scouting, simply used a double-click TP to hop up to the “surface” level. This is home to around 11 outdoor roller coaster rides, together with a log flume, indoor rides (some stacked one atop another, which I personally found visually distracting) and various other fun fair style rides.

A local set of teleport disks link the major rides one to another, although reaching the majority can be achieved by wandering around the footpaths in the park. The emphasis is very much on the rides, so landscaping is fairly minimal, outside of the sim surround. The rides themselves appear to span all eras – prim, sculpt and mesh, some of which does give parts of the park a rather “old school” look.

The rides themselves run as smoothly as one might expect from SL, but whether they “work” for you is a personal choice; this kind of ride is one of the times when it’s hard not to feel that full visual immersion, were it possible, could only add to the feeling of being there – even in Mouselook, you’re still effectively looking at a flat screen depicting a ride, and while the sense of motion is there, it still lacks a little something to get the heart beating just a little faster.

The big advantage with Second Life is that the realities of gravity, inertia and simple physics and the like aren’t a major constraint on rides, and thus some of those offered at the park can go that extra step: a truly vertical drops, exceptionally tight turns and track arcs allowing a lot to be packed into relatively small spaces, a log plume with turntables for reversing your direction of travel without the worry of water slopping everywhere, etc.   Whether it was actually a placebo effect or not is open to debate in my head, but it did feel as if the mesh rides – notably Olympia Looping – felt a lot smoother and more engaging than some of the other rides; but that could simply be because of a subconscious reaction to its more modern, sleeker looks.

As noted above, whether amusement park rides work for you in SL or not is matter of personal choice. I admit to that were it my choice, I’d perhaps opt for fewer rides in favour of a little more landscaping and avoiding the “double stacked nature of some of the rides; but for those who are curious about roller coasters and amusement rides in SL, Master’s Amusement Park certainly offers a lot to be tried out in a single location.

SLurl Details

• Master’s Amusement Park mainland “ticket office” (Snowshoe, rated: Moderate)
• Master’s Amusement Park direct (Riveria Drive, rated: Moderate)

Soul2Soul Highlands – click any image for full size

Shakespeare and Max alerted me to the opening of the latest in the Soul2Soul series of Homestead region designed by Minnie Blanco (Minnie Atlass). As with Soul2Soul Bay and Soul2Soul River (see here for more), Soul2Soul Med (read more here) and Soul2Soul Falls, Minnie’s latest – Soul2Soul Highlands – is primarily a rental / residential region, but providing visitors keep to the public areas, there is a still a lot to be seen and appreciated as part of a casual visit.

As its name implies, Soul2Soul Highlands takes it lead from the Scottish highlands – or more particularly, as becomes apparent on arrival, the Scotland’s rugged northern coast, where the wind can blow cold, and islands look at one another across the chilling waters of the Atlantic and the North Sea.

Soul2Soul Highlands

With a series of off-sim islands scattered around it, the region immediately put me in mind of the Orkneys, although there is absolutely no reason why it shouldn’t be representative of the Hebrides or the Shetlands (in fact Minnie states her inspiration for the region came from Skye and the Inner Hebrides). There is a wonderful wildness about the setting that fits the Scottish isles perfectly, not matter which of the major groups comes to mind.

The landing point is set well to the east of the region, where bicycles can be rezzed by those not wishing to walk. From here, the semi-paved, single-track road winds around the island’s central hill, curling up and over a low shoulder to the west, then following the contour of the land to sweep south and then back east to where a fortified manor house with distinctly Scottish looks about it stands on a small islet, reached by a single bridge – an ideal defensive point in times past.

Soul2Soul Highlands

Rental properties are set back from the island’s main road along tracks there are marked as private, making them easy to identify from the roadside. However, as the waterfront areas are also open to the public, some care should be taken to avoid trespassing when wandering the sands at the water’s edge.

As well as offering rental properties, the region is also bought somewhat to life by the presence of static “tourists” and “locals”. These can be found on the shoulder of the hill where the road turns and dips to the south: a couple wrapped against the wind as they walk through local sheep, two teenagers exploring the banks of a tumbling stream nearby.

Soul2Soul Highlands

Further along the road, a couple have stopped their SUV and are showing their little child the view out over the sea. More such characters can be found at and near the fortified manor house, all combining to give the feeling Soul2Soul Highlands is a place (while also piquing my curiosity to hop back to Soul2Soul River et al and see if their have gained some local characters as well).

One of the joys is visiting Minnie’s region designs is the care with which she establishes a location, and Soul2Soul Highlands is no exception. The blending of elements and kits from a variety of sources to create a ruggedly beautiful setting exceptionally mindful of the islands that inspired it. The houses are precisely the kind of properly one might reasonably expect to find along a stretch of Sottish coats: solidly built stone cottages, walls thick to keep in the heat of the fire, the aforementioned manor house with its crenelated roof, through to more modern wooden-framed homes that speak of wealth moving out from the towns and able to take advantage of modern building materials to keep interiors warm, and the inevitable barn conversions that are so often a feature of the countryside in the British Isles.

Soul2Soul Highlands

Public paths are not restricted to just to winding road or the coastal areas, either. Walk far enough along the former and a set of old stone steps will invited you to walk up over the humped back of the island’s spine to where a fell-like shoulder of rock offers a place for deer to roam and a view out towards the manor house to the east. A paths slopes gently down to from here to rejoin the road and it curls about the eastern end of the hill and so arrives at the bridge leading to the manor.

Another truly delightful design from Minnie, set beneath the perfect windlight sky and with an ideal sound scape to finish it. Whether you are seeking a new place to live (rental information available from a sign board near the landing point), or are simply looking for a new place to explore, Soul2Soul Highlands is an ideal destination.

Soul2Soul Highlands

SLurl Details

• Soul2Soul Highlands (Sanctuary Isle, rated: Moderate)

No parent should have to bury a child … No mother should have to bury a son. Mothers are not meant to bury sons. It is not in the natural order of things.

– Stephen Adly Guirgis

Thee words came to mind as I visited The Broken Dreams Project in Second Life, as a result of a suggestion by friend Miro Collas. Created and managed by Jared Palianta, The Broken Dream Project is a memorial to those who have taken or lost their lives in recent times as a result of the intolerance of their peers or the through the hatred  / violence of others.

Set as a simple park occupying one-quarter of a Homestead region The Broken Dreams Project is a place of quiet contemplation and reflection. A place where  – in a world where bigotry, hatred, political violence, zealotry (both religious and political) seem to be once again on the rise (although the question must be asked, did they ever really go away?) – pause can be taken to reflect on the level of senseless violence and hatred can be visited upon others.

This project is dedicated to the memory of
those who have lost their battle from Hatred
and Bullying. Your memories live on in this
sombre marbled garden dedicated to
everyone who has endured Hatred and Bullying
because of their sexual orientation, race,
creed, and religious backgrounds. Free from
persecution, your memory lives on inside
These walls.

– From The Broken Dreams Project dedication stone, by Evan Greymyst.

Flanking the landing point are memorials to young people who have taken their lives as a result of bullying and hatred, together with the park’s dedication stones. Around these are several more memorial areas dedicated to those who have lost their lives or been injured through schools shootings, victims of religious extremism (9/11 and the May 2017 Manchester arena bombing); hate crimes and violent act on the basis of their sexuality (such as the 1978 Louisiana Gay Pride Day fire-bombing and the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shootings), acts of US domestic terrorism (the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma and the 2015 San Bernadino shootings) and mass shootings in the United States, such as the 2017 Las Vagas shooting that left 58 people dead and over 400 (of 851 total injuries) injured by gunfire.

These are simple, plain speaking memorials, some of which can be especially hard-hitting, such as the section listing the  young people who have lost their lives as a result of shootings in US schools in the 17 years 2 months to February 2018 (and which has yet to be updated with the victims of the Parkland attack of February 2018), as well as all those inured as a result of such shootings. This is a particularly sobering corner of the memorial as it indicates that the first 17 years of this century have already seen the number of US school shooting related deaths exceed the number seen in the last 40 years of the 20th century.

As well as the memorials, The Broken Dreams Project also offers information on a range of support groups both without and within Second Life, including rape support, assistance for those experiencing bullying and hatred on the grounds of their sexuality, or who are experiencing suicidal thoughts or suffering mental anguish. This information includes note cards, telephone help line numbers, website addresses, and  (where relevant) landmarks to in-world groups – all of which makes The Broken Dreams Project something of a valuable resource. I would perhaps suggest making the website links given on of the information walls clickable so that people can be taken directly to the pages, but this is really a very minor point.

With an understandable US bias, The Broken Dreams Project is a place for quiet reflection for anyone who has lost a friend or loved one as a result of senseless violence or the result of suicide, no matter what their age. Donations are welcome from those wishing to support the project, and can be made via the donation boxes located around the park’s footpaths.

SLurl Details

• The Broken Dreams Project (Reckless, rated: Moderate)