RL Replica Regions

[Luna Bliss]

57 minutes ago, archangel969 said:

It can be difficult because you have to hit that special feeling you get from that land in RL and take it to SL.

Yes, the more we love what we're creating the more beautiful it becomes.  Love is such an overused word though, so perhaps appreciation and gratitude for the beauty of whatever elements one is working with, would be better.   
When creating art it often requires intense focus to really see something, to minimize filters we humans tend to put on reality as we observe it. Maybe that's what love is to a degree -- attempting to bypass our ego/preconceptions to arrive at something new.  Seems a contradiction though, but rings true for me.

Interestingly, I've discovered that even if creating a fantasy environment I must know well the real elements of nature my imagination spins off from.

Edited April 8, 2022 by Luna Bliss

[archangel969]

31 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I think that there are some dangers in assuming that a recreation of an RL place -- including, often, something of its culture -- needs to be too obviously "representative." The problem is that it would be very easy to reduce complicated locales to cliches. For instance, I am Canadian -- would recreating my home city, Toronto, necessitate cramming in a hockey rink, a poutine take-out, a smiling red-coated Mountie, and a moose or two?

I've no doubt that there are parts of Norway that look very much Second Norway. Isn't it maybe pandering a bit to stereotypes to cavil, as non-Norwegians, about how people from that country represent themselves?

No, not representative, then you get the cliché thing. But, if I must stick in your opinion to my own homeland, I take the feeling I get when thinking of my homeland The Netherlands and then a specific part of it, and take that to SL. Of course you can get clichés like the windmill, but it's all about the feeling you must get when you are at that sim, that must be right.

[Luna Bliss]

1 hour ago, archangel969 said:

Those fjords in Norway, I haven't seen anything like them yet.

But I think that the overwhelming character of nature, especially in the fjords, should be an important theme in the creation of Second Norway.

I agree totally, those fjords of Norway are so beautiful.

And while (to Scylla's point) any Norwegian should be free to represent Norway as they choose,  if you choose to represent fjords in SL, please attempt to do it right!!!

[Silent Mistwalker]

37 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

a smiling red-coated Mountie

As long as he looks like Brendan Fraser, I'm fine with that. 🤭

Edited April 8, 2022 by Silent Mistwalker

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Just now, archangel969 said:

No, not representative, then you get the cliché thing. But, if I must stick in your opinion to my own homeland, I take the feeling I get when thinking of my homeland The Netherlands and then a specific part of it, and take that to SL. Of course you can get clichés like the windmill, but it's all about the feeling you must get when you are at that sim, that must be right.

Oh, I get it. But you're Dutch, and what you think of as especially representative of the Netherlands is likely to be different from what I, as a foreigner and/or tourist, thinks.

[Luna Bliss]

What is this pesky line on the map those in Norway chose to draw around those fjords anyway!??   The earth belongs to nobody, as a great Native chief proclaimed long ago.  😁

[Silent Mistwalker]

2 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Oh, I get it. But you're Dutch, and what you think of as especially representative of the Netherlands is likely to be different from what I, as a foreigner and/or tourist, thinks.

Or, as someone who lives in another part of the Netherlands that is different from where he lives.

[archangel969]

1 minute ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Oh, I get it. But you're Dutch, and what you think of as especially representative of the Netherlands is likely to be different from what I, as a foreigner and/or tourist, thinks.

Oh yes, it is! But it also varies between dutchies themselves. I love the sims with a Dutch theme in SL, but I guess I have seen enough Red Light District-kind of representations of The Netherlands, so I didn't want to go down that road ;-).

[Madelaine McMasters]

23 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I think that there are some dangers in assuming that a recreation of an RL place -- including, often, something of its culture -- needs to be too obviously "representative." The problem is that it would be very easy to reduce complicated locales to cliches. For instance, I am Canadian -- would recreating my home city, Toronto, necessitate cramming in a hockey rink, a poutine take-out, a smiling red-coated Mountie, and a moose or two?

I've no doubt that there are parts of Norway that look very much Second Norway. Isn't it maybe pandering a bit to stereotypes to cavil, as non-Norwegians, about how people from that country represent themselves?

Toronto is the chaotic creation of millions of people, with thousands of standouts (city planners, architects, businesses, philanthropists, etc). A recreation of Toronto in SL would be the handiwork of at most a few dozen creators who's objects are orchestrated by possibly one person. As such, I don't think of the SL places I visit as representative of anything so much as the singular vision of a human mind.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Just now, archangel969 said:

Red Light District-kind of representations of The Netherlands

Right! That's actually a good case in point.

I don't have an "answer" to this. An actual Parisian or Roman or Londoner would be likely to think of what is most representative of their cities as things quite different from my experiences. And honestly, I'd be disappointed if I went to "Paris" and there wasn't a nice boulangerie there, or shopping arcades, or vendors along the banks of the Seine.

[archangel969]

2 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

Or, as someone who lives in another part of the Netherlands that is different from where he lives.

Haha I was just typing something along the same lines ;-).

[Scylla Rhiadra]

3 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

A recreation of Toronto in SL would be the handiwork of at most a few dozen creators who's objects are orchestrated by possibly one person.

There was, at one time, an SL sim for Toronto. Its focus was the Eaton Centre, a giant shopping mall . . .

(Although, in fairness, it did include Dundas Square, which is a legitimately "Toronto" people place, and the subway system.)

Edited April 8, 2022 by Scylla Rhiadra

[Luna Bliss]

2 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

the banks of the Seine

Thanks for including a nature element.

[Madelaine McMasters]

4 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Right! That's actually a good case in point.

I don't have an "answer" to this. An actual Parisian or Roman or Londoner would be likely to think of what is most representative of their cities as things quite different from my experiences. And honestly, I'd be disappointed if I went to "Paris" and there wasn't a nice boulangerie there, or shopping arcades, or vendors along the banks of the Seine.

I haven't wandered Mainland in ages, but I was amused by the familiarity of the chaos there. I think some bits of mainland could represent bits of any RL big city I've ever visited, entirely because of that chaos.

Edited April 8, 2022 by Madelaine McMasters

[Luna Bliss]

6 minutes ago, archangel969 said:

Dutch theme in SL

I must tell you a story about a kitchen..lol  I was visiting a friend and was gobsmacked by the beauty, of all things, a kitchen!  I was so shocked that I lost track of the people I was chatting with and they were like "LUNNAAA, LUNAAA COME BACK!!"   I do believe it was created by Dutchie, and it was like nothing I'd ever seen.  And I realized that even a kitchen could be art!  I often wonder...just what is art exactly?  It's hard to define, but we know it when we see it.

[archangel969]

16 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

Or, as someone who lives in another part of the Netherlands that is different from where he lives.

For instance, this is Zuid-Limburg (South- Limburg). No ditches, canals and flat land but hills. I don't think many people think of this when they think of The Netherlands, but It's also a part of that country.

Edited April 8, 2022 by archangel969

[archangel969]

2 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

I must tell you a story about a kitchen..lol  I was visiting a friend and was gobsmacked by the beauty, of all things, a kitchen!  I was so shocked that I lost track of the people I was chatting with and they were like "LUNNAAA, LUNAAA COME BACK!!"   I do believe it was created by Dutchie, and it was like nothing I'd ever seen.  And I realized that even a kitchen could be art!  I often wonder...just what is art exactly?  It's hard to define, but we know it when we see it.

Oh yes, I know excactly what you mean. And the kitchens of Dutchie ARE simply gorgeous 🙂

Edited April 8, 2022 by archangel969

[Silent Mistwalker]

13 minutes ago, archangel969 said:

For instance, this is Zuid-Limburg (South- Limburg). No ditches, canals and flat land but hills. I don't think many people think of this when they think of The Netherlands, but It's also a part of that country.

@Sid Nagy probably does. I think he lives in that general vicinity.

The image you posted is how I see the Netherlands, not all the images of all the waterways and windmills. 

It looks like home.

[Luna Bliss]

 

[ChinRey]

1 hour ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I've no doubt that there are parts of Norway that look very much Second Norway.

No, there isn't. Well, on a very generic level it is of course and there are, as I already said, some unique "tourist trap" features based on buildings in RL Norway.

The two questions are:

1. Does Second Norway resemble any location in RL Norway more than it resembles some location in any other Northern European or Northern American country?
2. Does Second Norway resemble some location in RL Norway more than the average RL inspired sim in SL does?

The answer to both questions is no.

Look at the Hidden Lake District. It's northeastern part of Sansara, it includes all of the Linden Village and the East River community and contains fairly well known sims like Ravenglass, Waterhead, Pooley and Hawkshead. Nearly all the regions in that area are named after places in Northern England but I've yet to hear of anybody calling it an English themed area even though it's at least as close to RL England as Second Norway is to RL Norway.

---

Edit: On second thought, we may be talking about two different things here. The sim named Second Norway does have a slight Norwegian flavour, thats where those "landmark buildings" are located after all. But I was talking ... ummm, I mean writing ... about the Second Norway estate as a whole and apart from the fact that palms are not allowed there it's not different from other archipelago estates like FairChang, Fruit Islands etc.

Edited April 8, 2022 by ChinRey

[Madelaine McMasters]

11 minutes ago, ChinRey said:

1 hour ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I've no doubt that there are parts of Norway that look very much Second Norway.

No, there isn't. Well, on a very generic level it is of course and there are, as I already said, some unique "tourist trap" features based on buildings in RL Norway.

The two questions are:

1. Does Second Norway resemble any location in RL Norway more than it resembles some location in any other Northern European or Northern American country?
2. Does Second Norway resemble some location in RL Norway more than the average RL inspired sim in SL does?

The answer to both questions is no.

Look at the Hidden Lake District. It's northeastern part of Sansara, it includes all of the Linden Village and the East River community and contains fairly well known sims like Ravenglass, Waterhead, Pooley and Hawkshead. Nearly all the regions in that area are named after places in Northern England but I've yet to hear of anybody calling it an English themed area even though it's at least as close to RL England as Second Norway is to RL Norway.

All SL representations of RL places are incredibly superficial. I've an old ex-neighbor who's a beetle collector. No SL reconstruction would be complete for him if it didn't contain the correct kinds of beetles.

On the flip side, my understanding of Paris, based on the few days I spent there in 1993, is also incredibly superficial. Hell, even my understanding of Port Washington, WI must be superficial, as the local news constantly makes me wonder what the hell is going on there.

It can be difficult to differentiate my superficial understanding of something from someone else's superficial representation of it. Thankfully, I can still find plenty of pleasure in all this superficiality.

[Luna Bliss]

Being out of touch with nature is what made man so superficial.

[Luna Bliss]

34 minutes ago, ChinRey said:

The answer to both questions is no.

It's interesting how, when googling photos of various European countries, buildings are much less present in photos of Norway.  Nature is the focus, and of course I like that!

[Sid Nagy]

1 hour ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

@Sid Nagy probably does. I think he lives in that general vicinity.

The image you posted is how I see the Netherlands, not all the images of all the waterways and windmills. 

It looks like home.

It sure looks like home to me, but only that little bubble in the south east underneath the rest of the country is like this. And hills is a big word, it is more like molehills

The rest of our tiny state is almost as flat as a billiards table surface.
But there is still an awful lot to see landscape wise and with lots of old city centers.

These days around the town of Lisse:

Most likely the most photographed windmill in the Netherlands at the moment.

Edited April 8, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[ChinRey]

42 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

It's interesting how, when googling photos of various European countries, buildings are much less present in photos of Norway.

As I mentioned earlier, unlike the bits of earth where God intended humans to live, Norwegian land tends to be vertical rather than horizontal. From an agricultural point of view there are both pros and cons to this; it means you can farm the fields on both sides but the cows tend to drop off and pile up at the bottom, making it hard to milk them.

When it comes to houses, however, there are only disadvantages. A house built on vertical ground just looks ridiculous:

So we don't have that many of them.