A place where cats took over

Nekomachi Street is a sky platform in Tonarino region, in Second Life, that depicts a Japanese town inhabited by anthropomorphized cats. In the (almost fully) still scene composed there, they behave like humans: they go to restaurants, work as waiters at bars, ride bikes, deliver pizza, go to the movies and so on. They are […]

Reformed town in mainland

Right after I visited Hiraya Township, in Heterocera (mainland), and wrote about it, the place underwent a major reform. Though some parts remained the same, the central area around the train station has been completely redesigned, which makes a big difference for the whole complex. I noticed some changes, too, in the village of Amakura, […]

An urban jewel connecting roads, railways and diverse areas in mainland

NEW UPDATE: I visited Hiraya again after it underwent a major reform, here’s my blog post about it. UPDATE: It seems that I decided to write about Hiraya right before a total reform would start there. This post remains, then, as a record of what the place was. I hope it will soon be back. […]

A Favela challenges stereotypes where otherness is at stake

When I first visited A Favela, a parcel in Second Life decorated by Lotus Mastroianni and Fred Hamilton in a way that represents a typical Brazilian slum (actually, a typical slum in Rio de Janeiro), I thought it looked accurate enough to go well beyond one of those simple displays of stereotypes. Indeed, it offered […]

On the 50th celebration of the Stonewall Riots, Pride takes a major step forward in SL

On the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the biggest LGBTQ+ pride celebration in Second Life, which is about to start, is announcing some important and exciting changes aimed at reinforcing the gay community bonds in SL. Second Pride will run from June 14th to June 23rd (and you can check their full schedule on […]

Celebrated cyberpunk city 2019-XS reborn as Drune

Back in December and January, different blogs featured a futuristic, cyberpunk region in Second Life called 2019-XS. It was, some will have figured already, a tribute to Blade Runner, the movie by Ridley Scott which is set in a dystopian Los Angeles of… 2019. After a few posts on that great sim, though, the place […]

From a Victorian house to futuristic projects: 2018’s architecture in SL, part 2

For the second part of my retrospective of interesting buildings found in Second Life in 2018 (part 1 can be seen here), I will go from a Victorian house to some futuristic designs and include a couple skyboxes. As I underlined before, I don’t intend to write the ultimate article about the virtual architectural production […]

A highly detailed virtual city shows how realistic SL can be today

These days, when many are rightly praising the stunning visuals in Sansar, Linden Lab’s newest virtual world, it’s particularly exciting to stumble on some graphically spectacular sims that definitely demonstrate how powerful Second Life can still be, almost 15 years after its public release. This is the case of SSOC, Mopire City and Mitsumi-Town in […]

Experiencing the Roaring ’20s in a recreated New York

UPDATE: The 1920’s New York Project has already moved to a full sim. This is its new location in SL. The SLURLs on the post have been updated. Historical reconstruction and role-playing has found a breeding ground in Second Life, and one of the most impressive examples of such an endeavor that I’ve stumbled upon […]

The forgotten land of automata

The Forgotten City in Second Life is a “light” steampunk sim, largely based on the romanticism evoked by automata. Its presentation says: “A once-great, clockpunk-ish city where the prosperous residents were served by the miraculous mechanical automatons. The people have long since disappeared, but the automatons remained – and still take care of the crumbling […]

Visiting a post-industrial dystopia

“There was nothing left in them except sorrow for what they had done, and love of Big Brother. It was touching to see how they loved him. They begged to be shot quickly, so that they could die while their minds were still clean.” ORWELL, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Science Innovation Company, S.I.C., is a classic […]