Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

Back in the early years of Second Life, the platform attracted many businesses and organisations to its shores. One of these was UK-based Rezzable Productions, who at their peak in early 2009, operated around 40 regions in-world. Founded by Jonathan Himoff (Rightasrain Rimbaud in-world), Rezzable quickly established a reputation for building some of the most engaging content available in-world at the time. Perhaps the most famous of their creations – and one of the first they created  – was the world of the Greenies.

These were a horde of (literally) Little Green Men who, whether from a tiny world or the result of a Douglas Adams-esque miscalculation of scale, had arrived on Earth to find themselves dwarfed by everything around them. Undeterred, they set out to explore this strange realm, which was offered as a gigantic, region-wide house, where they ended up getting involved in all sorts of mischief. Such was the scale of the house, SL avatars were not too much bigger than the Greenies, and so were able to witness their escapades first-hand.

Presented as a series of vignettes throughout the house, some one them semi-interactive, the Greenies and their adventures captured people’s imaginations. So popular did they become that the house was a must-see destination for incoming Second Life users (helped by the fact that Rezzable were also a part of the Lab’s original SL Gateway programme, and so could direct their own incoming traffic to their regions, including the Greenies). Interest was further maintained by Rezzable periodically adding assorted games to the environment, alongside of new Greenie vignettes.

Sadly, all this came to an end in June 2010. The previous year, Rezzable had announced their withdrawal from SL in favour of their own dedicated, open simulator based grid, Heritage Key. They allowed the Greenies to remain in Second Life for almost a year after the announcement, but in that June of 2010, the little green folk loaded up their flying saucers for the last time and departed Second Life.

Since then, the legend of the Greenies has been celebrated in Second Life in many small ways – Greenie-like characters have on occasion popped-up in rides at things like SLB celebrations, for example. And now there is a new opportunity to recall their time here. It comes in the form of Once Upon A Time, an installation built by Justice Vought, owner of the excellent :Oxygen: (see: Getting some :oxygen: in Second Life) and admitted Greenies fan.

Having opened on April 29th, Once Upon A Time offers visitors the chance to enter Justice’s take on the giant house where the Greenies could once be found (you even do so through a mouse hole, just like the original – just follow the teleport prompts and arrows from the landing point, and keep an eye out for the cheese in the alley). Sadly, there are no original Greenies to be found inside – they are subject to copyright, after all; instead, the rooms offer visitors the chance to explore Greenie-style, and recreate some of the (mis)adventures the little green folk had.

This is a place to be explored carefully, because there are many interactive elements – balls can be rolled, Dominos knocked down, poses to be found (so very much in the style of the Greenies (although again sadly, no sugar “baths” or playing on frying pans – but you can jump into the kitchen sink and float around on a sponge, Greenie style or find yourself paddling in the loo … among other things; I’m not going to spoil it all!).  As such, the secret really is to mouse-over everything.

And don’t confine yourself to a floor-level exploration. Be prepared to jump / fly onto the tables, bed and other furniture.

Throughout, there are many touches that offer reminders of the the original Greenies build. Food is spilt in places, electrical wiring offers opportunities for some shocking times, an iron (sans quished Greenie sitson the ironing board, an Atari games console sits waiting to be wrestled with, and so on. For those wishing to recall the Greenies directly, the TV above the bedroom games console presents a host of original Greenie photos Justice pulled together from his own archives and from friends.

Anyone who can remember the Greenies in Second Life is liable to find Once Upon A Time a memory-filling visit. Whilst it is something of a unique build, it contains all that is required to bring back happy memories of spending time in Rezzable’s original and watching the Greenies at play. And while the little aliens themselves may not be present, anyone who has a Greenie avatar really should consider digging it out and wearing it during a visit!

SLurl Details

• Once Upon A Time (River, rated Moderate)

Vintage Lace is the Homestead region designed and held by Delinda Dench and Second Life photographer Skip Staheli, which we recently had occasion to visit.

This is a peaceful, easy setting, largely designed by Delinda and representing an open, rural location nestled between surrounding islands and offering a rolling, slightly rugged landscape. The landing point sits on a bridge spanning an inland body of water, itself connected to those around the island by two narrow channels.

Pointing east-to-west, the bridge offers two route for commencing exploration. Which you take is a matter of choice, but given there are few properly defined paths, which way you go is up to you: the natural lie of the land means that all routes through and around the region all eventually meet up.

Westwards, the bridge points towards a deck built over a corner of the lake, and a short wooden walk that leads to the local beach as it sits between high rocky shoulders. Eastwards, and after passing under a little avenue of trees, the bridge points the way to the island’s windmill and land split by one of the two channels connecting the lake with the surrounding waters. A small summer house sits just above the stream, the remnants of a a garden area on the low sloped behind it, just a few mossy flagstones and an old fountain being all that remain.

Across the arching curve of the stream, a small chapel sits part-way up another hill. The gabled gates, flagstoned bank below it, and the ruin of an old gate suggest that there once may have been a bridge or other crossing linking the chapel with the old garden, but now a fallen tree trunk a little further around the curve of the stream provides the single ground-level crossing point. This provides, in equal measure, access to the chapel, a picturesque waterfall that tumbles into a deep pond and a cottage atop another hill.

The latter is one of two homes on the region, the second being diagonally across the island to the north-west. The route between the offers a fair walk across the region, passing by way of the central windmill. This route also leads past a wood and rope bridge that connects the main island with a massive block of rock that rises from the east side bay. This offshore tower is cut on one side by a path that switch backs up to its almost flat top and the camp site retreat it offers – although a stay there might be dampened by a highly localised downpour.

All of the properties on the island, the two houses and the windmill, are fully furnished. Like the landscape around them, they offer plenty of scope for photography – but I would point out that the windmill and house to the north-west sit within their own parcels may actually be private homes (given the region itself is generally private), so please be respectful.

Photography is very much the secret behind the design of Vintage Lace. While it flows together as a complete landscape, so too can it been seen as a series of individual locations designed with and eye for photography – be it in the overgrown garden or alongside the horses wandering close to the windmill or on the decks or in the summer house or up on the high ridge and its rocky crossing over the second of the lake’s two outflow streams. Thus, the details throughout are many-fold, and opportunities for both avatar and landscape photography rich.

I believe I’m right in saying Vintage lace will remain open through until May 4th – although I now cannot find the note where I think I read it. So, if you’re an SL traveller and have yet to see it, I recommend finding the time to do so before the region is closed once more.

SLurl Details

• Vintage Lace (Vintage Lace, rated Moderate)