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Thank you, Moles of the Linden Department of Public Works and other builders

Rufferta

By Rufferta,
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Rufferta

Rufferta

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SpaceshipIcarusonMareSecundus_001.jpgAlthough it has been stated that "Second Life will not be abandoned" I've been doing a bit of preemptive mourning for Second Life by re-visiting old favorite sites and exploring many of the builds and places created by the moles of the Linden Department of Public Works. I've also visited sites that were originally created independently by residents but which were kept going by Linden Labs after the original creators left Second Life.

I admit that I have spent some time in virtual worlds That Were Not Second Life, but nothing I've seen compares with the wonder and variety of what is here now.

I think it was a genius idea for Linden Lab to hire resident engineers, artists, and builders to construct public areas for everyone to enjoy. So far, I haven't seen anything in the "New Worlds" to compare with Second Life's Transport System, with its roads and railways, and its waterways. Granted, there are flaws, but I love the idea that someone planned roads, waterways, and rail systems that would connect the mainland sims and continents, and included so many special touches along the way, like the Mole Fruit Stand by the side of the old Pixel Highway, or the hidden trapdoors in some public buildings.  

I've been travelling some of the routes listed in the Second Life Wiki, and I keep finding places that are new to me, like Molexandria, or the rocket ship that takes you to another planet, or the lovely path to the Temple of the Prim. (Will anyone build a "Temple of the Voxel"? in the "New World"). 

I hope that this new platform has similar shared content, and isn't just a bunch of "sims on sticks" with no feeling of being a world.

In the meantime, I think I am enjoying some of the things I find more, knowing that they probably won't be here forever.

 

 

 

 

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Magnus Brody

Magnus Brody

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Thanks Rufferta., particularly

Having a rl friend who is a mole, I know they have great pride in the public works in sl particularly the railways, roadways and waterways, like for example the seas.

Years ago I rented about half of Purple, one of the oldest sims in sl, with access to the end of the SLRR and the sea.

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Aethelwine

Aethelwine

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I too love exploring. I recently bought a place here:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kirkby/179/93/27

wall_002.jpg

 

Opposite is a sort of Acropolis structure with a Linden Village Landing Point motif motif on the side. Rather than being built by moles it seems to have been built by Michael and Governor Linden,

There is also a wall with notecard givers on .... Second Life 2-Year Anniversary Celebration - The Wall of History. Built by Pathfinder Lester.

wall_001.jpg

Each notecard gives a little bit of history, a photo perhaps and a hyperlink to a dead historysecondserver website.

Varney Boardwalk, Varney Montain, Skyline Graveyard, Hiro Pendragon, Tower of Primitives, Abbotts Aerodrome. All from before I joined SL.

The latest references I can find are from 2005. The whole area is endlessly fascinating, like a grand discarded relic to a bygone age.

Is this from a time before Moles?

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Aethelwine

Aethelwine

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Ina Fairport wrote:

The oldest build as far as I know is the Governor Linden's mansion build by the very first SL resident Stellar Sunshine

 

This is what the notecard giver says about it:

This lovely mansion was originaly built by Steller Sunshine way back during the Alpha (early, early testing) days of Second Life (at that time known as LindenWorld). All other builds created during Alpha were deleted except for the Mansion and another build by Steller which was a cabin, her first home, after being carried over to the main grid the cabin was used by Robin Linden in Taber as her home for awhile. The mansion which resides in Clementina, was givin by Steller to the Linden's to preserve it for the cross over from Alpha to Beta testing.

 

The mansion was home to Steller through-out the Alpha testing phases, and was the location for many of the first parties in Second Life and other memorable events.

 

Now the mansion is home to Governor Linden and over time has gained and lost some objects. The gained objects were plaques and namestones from Linden Lab and the users of Second Life proclaiming thanks and grattitude, these objects could have been seen in the grassy overlook. Also a time capsule was added and just recently was opened, between 06/17/2003 and 06/25/2004 anyone was able to drop items into the time capsule if they wished to add to it, the time capsule could have been found in the ground near the guest house. The lost objects are objects that were deleted due to when Second Life switched to the new "Prim Allotment Via Land Amount" system in 1.2. Thankfully land was purchased before all of the mansion was auto-deleted by the server, the main loss being the basement which is accessible through a hole in the pool and a door with a drop down inside the house.

 

Since the original typing of this Notecard some changes have happened. The plaques and namestones had been deleted. The time capsule also has of course been opened and deleted (see; Second Life First Year Anniversary Gala for more information about the Time Capsule opening). Also some objects have been restored and others had been deleted.

 

With its beautifull view, great architecture, fantastic use of prims, and friendly enviornment, this mansion still stands as one of the greater builds in Second Life.

 

And it will continue to do so, as of recently a group was put together (in large part by the efforts of Jake Cellardoor) to restore the Governor's Mansion to its former original glory. The team under Linden backing has so far done a great job of replacing lost objects, even replacing some objects that have been missing since 1.2 or earlier.

 

It includes a landmark, some pictures and an update history that shows the notecard was last updated in 2005.

Looking at these old places it does seem strange that there was interest in preserving and recording Sl history up until 2005 and then nothing.... just tier paid on the old builds to preserve them. The Governors mansion has some sort of tour thing in the basement that no longer works. It does seem a little sad and curious about what happened in 2005 to change the way history was recorded and preserved.

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Rufferta

Rufferta

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http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kirkby/179/93/27 - Thank you - another place to explore!

 

Here's a place I recently found in Nautilus. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Nautilus%20-%20Anath/199/184/55 - the notecard on the landmark giver has a long list of places. One of the most interesting to me was called "I wonder why she made this landmark?" You'll have to go there to find out...

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Nautilus%20-%20Mlachthi/214/36/10

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Aethelwine

Aethelwine

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Ina Fairport wrote:

The oldest build as far as I know is the Governor Linden's mansion build by the very first SL resident Stellar Sunshine

 

The Oldest build from what I can gather is the Man Statue:

The Man Statue

It is rather elegant with a pleasing aesthetic simplicity, it is good to see it preserved.

This is what the notecard giver says about it:

It all started back in the Alpha stage of Second Life (then Linden World) when Linden Lab wanted to test a new rendering engine, how feasible a city scape would be, and other general content testing. This city was built in Natoma before any non-employee users had logged into SL and was not named but often referred to as "Linden Town" or "Linden City". The town/city contained many buildings (mostly unfurnished and low texture usage), a small park-like town square with a fountain, and roads all through it. The city also had a statue in its town square behind a "City Hall". The statue turned out of course to be "The Man" built by a content developer (oldjohn Linden) hired at the time by LL (in 2002).

 

The city was later deleted before Beta to make way for the new Welcome Area which got the nickname of the 'Newbie Corral' and also the various other new-resident oriented things (Avatar Central among them). However one thing survived the deletion of the city to become the only proof of its existence (besides pictures), and that thing was "The Man" statue. At this point The Man was moved slightly to the corner of Natoma and placed on a small grassy hill. The Man stood and greeted new residents from its perch off in the distance as they entered.

 

Natoma remained this way until the Welcome Area, along with other content, was deleted and moved. Being the crafty build it was, The Man once again escaped deletion and still stood tall above the land.

 

Natoma has since gone through many changes, some Linden builds disappeared and only two old builds were left from its past. These surviving builds are the Arch'D Linden Grande (from the Newbie Corral era) and The Man statue. Thus The Man stands today as the oldest original still-standing build within Second Life. Presently it is owned by Philip Linden (this happened sometime ago, perhaps during its moving) and has had a few objects left around it over time by residents as "offerings" to The Man, giving it a kind of realistic feeling of a mysterious symbolic statue.

 

(Thanks to Andrew and Philip Linden for providing additional information.)

Landmark:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Natoma/61/208/54

I can't find anything else out about the Arch'D Linden Grande I assume that must be lost now, but the statue is still there.

 

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