Favorite types of environment in Second Life?

[Gopi Passiflora]

I'm tempted to say modern or futuristic urban environments myself, but there's only so much you can pack into a 256 X 256 meter region (that's barely a fraction of a real city! And not to mention the limited draw distance affects you enjoyment of an urban atmosphere.) I still do like "artificial" areas myself, so I'll say pavilions like the various welcome hubs on the mainland - I hang out at those places a lot.

I also like "natural" areas like beaches and forests, too.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

3 hours ago, Gopi Passiflora said:

I'm tempted to say modern or futuristic urban environments myself, but there's only so much you can pack into a 256 X 256 meter region (that's barely a fraction of a real city! And not to mention the limited draw distance affects you enjoyment of an urban atmosphere.) I still do like "artificial" areas myself, so I'll say pavilions like the various welcome hubs on the mainland - I hang out at those places a lot.

I also like "natural" areas like beaches and forests, too.

Hmmm. Generally urban environments. I'm not really a scifi or dystopian kinda girl, so I like them contemporary-ish and realistically a little grotty and lived-in, but not actually gross.

Sims that replicate real places I'd like to visit or that are cool -- not necessarily accurate reconstructions, but ones that capture the flavour of the place. There are a couple of nice Paris sims that do this, there's Kowloon (old but still cool), Venice . . . Ciampi, a largish group of Italian-themed sims (think Umbria or Tuscany) doesn't represent an identifiable real place, but it does capture the "feel" of a favourite part of Italy.

I'm oddly enough not ALL that into historically-themed sims, but the Time Portal has some really excellent ones that I've certainly used for pics.

I like natural environments too, but I find that these are too often kind of samey. Fairy forests, grassland farms ripped from an Andrew Wyeth painting, that sort of thing abounds, small artist cottages with a bike propped against a fence by the door . . . they can be a bit cookie-cutter. Some of my favourite nature sims are a bit different. Bungenas (Binemust) is a lovely wind-swept Swedish sim with a beautiful pine forest and pebbly beaches, for instance, and I LOVE Walsh County, which is slightly rolling hills and generally flat and almost featureless farmland. The latter doesn't sound very interesting, but there's something rather breathtaking about its expanse. (Its owner very kindly let me put out some Russian tanks for this pic; they aren't actually a normal part of the landscape)

 

[Sid Nagy]

I like tropical themed sims. Mainly because it is so different from where I live, I guess.
At the moment I live (in SL) on a forest patch with a coastline. I Like that too.  It looks as if it will start to snow there any time soon now.

In RL I live in the outskirts of a city cluster.

Edited November 21, 2023 by Sid Nagy

[JeromFranzic]

I like cyberpunk cities at night. Castles. Caves. And of course, Adult rated areas where I can dress as my best self lol (usually forests or small towns). 

 

 

[Ina Fairport]

I love jungle sims with surfbeaches

And mainland cobble roads with Eric Linden trees 🤪
 

[Rolig Loon]

I don't care for cities much and I don't spend much time on beaches. I find deep, forested places fascinating, though. There's something mysterious and inviting about a well-done wooded region, especially as the sun is going down.

 

[Katherine Heartsong]

Anything well done captures my interest and imagination. North west Pacific coast rocky shoreline. Urban. Cyberpunk. Smokey small club with good jazz. Desolate isolation. Thematic environments and well done sim residential areas. Even if I don't like a specific type of decoration or overall theme, I can still admire and praise it for the effort, beauty, and overall effectiveness.

[SlammedSam]

I tend to gravitate towards small town/city environs. My own builds are usually a mish-mash of mid century retro, as well as sci-fi futuristic. I also have a space station. Otherwise, I'm always on the look out for cute, cozy cafes, as well as seasonal builds to take pics at, as well as nice, romantic places for a date.

@Scylla Rhiadra Time Portal is awesome sauce! Definitely a good place to get one's retro on. ^^

And yes, 256 x 256 is incredibly small for a city, as well as airfields for aviation buffs - don't get me started on that! Even so, we somehow manage to make it work.

[Island Granville]

Long stretches of empty undeveloped beach with tropical or Pacific coastal rain forest. Think Pacific Rim Nat'l Park near Tofino. Most beautiful place there is in RL, and here too.

I had an SL home like that until recently, but sold it when I found somewhere even better. Cliffs, waterfalls, Tibetan theme with gongs & chanting bears + great ambient wind sounds, all mashed in with a dock, surf hut, tiny jazz club and a few hidden doors to secret places! 

So yeah, I don't really know what my favourite environment is anymore

[Rat Luv]

I like grungy urban, with graffiti and steam coming up from the sewers  And bags of rubbish everywhere...if anyone remembers the old Black Maria/BC322 Rockers sims...that kind of thing. I used to also make some grungy skyboxes with motorbikes in the bathroom and a palm tree growing out of a KFC bucket, and the walls all cracked and peeling and pizza box sofas, with swirly Torley texture carpets and bright green, pink and orange animal print walls  Though I can't really live in a mess like that IRL 

I also really like sea-facing regions on mainland, with jetties and shops and cafes (and especially ferris wheels ). But I can say all this and then suddenly discover something completely different, and be fascinated by how great it looks...

Edited November 21, 2023 by Rat Luv

[gwynchisholm]

Very open or very dense, nothing Inbetween. And I’m really not a fan of urban spaces because they just lag too much imo.

Either a nice wooded coastline or low beach, or a tightly packed room of any theme, those are the best types of spaces imo.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

I mostly like places that can't exist in the real world and are generally only found in the imagination - or SL. I'm a huge fan of surrealist sims or anything that looks like you're wandering around inside of a painting or stuck inside a fantasy novel. At the moment, the Shui Mo Gallery is my absolute favorite place on the entire grid. If you cornered me years and years ago, I would've said it's Greenies. Being tiny inside of massive spaces is such a fun feeling and I always find myself playing games with a similar setting (like Tinykin, though Grounded was a bit too much for me with all of those massive bugs and spiders AHHHH).

For my own spaces, I attempted to set up a business location once that was entirely black and white and styled as hand drawn sketches (the office had working doors that looked like they were scribbled onto the wall, "sketched" furniture, etc.). Don't ask how, but I managed to find some cute cartoony accents for it. It turns out I didn't need a physical location after all, but the idea stuck with me, so one of these days, I do plan to bust that build out again and do something fun with it.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

37 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

If you cornered me years and years ago, I would've said it's Greenies. Being tiny inside of massive spaces is such a fun feeling and I always find myself playing games with a similar setting (like Tinykin, though Grounded was a bit too much for me with all of those massive bugs and spiders AHHHH).

Have you been to Once Upon a Time? It's essentially Greenies Redux, in many respects.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

28 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Have you been to Once Upon a Time? It's essentially Greenies Redux, in many respects.

I....have no idea, actually! I'm going to look for it the next time I log in and see. I found the listing in the destination guide, woohoo! Thanks!

[Scylla Rhiadra]

35 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

I....have no idea, actually! I'm going to look for it the next time I log in and see. I found the listing in the destination guide, woohoo! Thanks!

Actually. It may have changed! I dropped in and it was Jurassic Park!

[Ayashe Ninetails]

Just now, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Actually. It may have changed! I dropped in and it was Jurassic Park!

Nuuuuuuuuuu!

I have no desire to be tiny around dinos, so count me out. 😂

[MoiraKathleen]

I'm not much of a fan of sci-fi or dystopian urban areas.  I'm also not crazy about endless sandy beaches, though a small beach, or a clearing on the edge of a lake or stream, can be nice.  

I do like most nature regions.  Also, small villages or towns where I can walk around and really get a feel for the area.  I like historical or fantasy regions as long as I can get a feel for the time/place being portrayed.

I found Kowloon on my first SL birthday and have gone back there from time to time.  I like it because it's so different from anything I'm familiar with, and also a bit mysterious.  I do like Tableau, even though I suppose it could be seen as slightly dystopian, but it's not a dark feeling region.  I haven't been out to Walsh County for awhile either, but I also like it out there - it makes me feel (whether rightly or wrongly) that I'm out in the mid-west somewhere.  I like the Mother Road because of the feeling of lonliness and hard scrabble times I get from there.  

[Scylla Rhiadra]

6 minutes ago, MoiraKathleen said:

a small beach, or a clearing on the edge of a lake or stream, can be nice.

Yes. I'm rather bored of tropical beach: they're almost the norm on rental estates.

If you haven't, check out @Suki Blossom's Black Atoll (also in the Destination Guide): it's the kind of rural beach that reminds me of western Ontario on Lake Huron or Georgian Bay: small beaches, coniferous forests, rocks, lighthouses . . . it's really lovely! And for me, very nostalgic of childhood summer vacations!

Edited November 22, 2023 by Scylla Rhiadra

[MoiraKathleen]

21 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

If you haven't, check out @Suki Blossom's Black Atoll (also in the Destination Guide): it's the kind of rural beach that reminds me of western Ontario on Lake Huron or Georgian Bay: small beaches, coniferous forests, rocks, lighthouses . . . it's really lovely! And for me, very nostalgic of childhood summer vacations!

I'll have to check that out - your description sounds like the type of beach place that I would like. 

[Maitimo]

I like natural and rural places; well-done forests, beaches, farms, little country villages etc. I'd like realistic mountains too, if there were such a thing that weren't just sim-surrounds.

[Lewis Luminos]

5 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

If you haven't, check out @Suki Blossom's Black Atoll (also in the Destination Guide): it's the kind of rural beach that reminds me of western Ontario on Lake Huron or Georgian Bay: small beaches, coniferous forests, rocks, lighthouses . . . it's really lovely! And for me, very nostalgic of childhood summer vacations!

 

OOH I need to check that out. I went on a "once-in-a-lifetime" vacation to that area in the late 90s and it was gorgeous. We were at Woods Bay, near Mac Tier.  The boating and fishing was the best part. We had a week at the lake, then a week in Toronto, and a side-visit to Niagara Falls. 

[Sabrina Nebula]

I love wilderness, forests, jungles, such stuff. If I could I would stay every day at one of the Amazon River sims, but I'm a huge blue Alien and you have to be in theme.

I go there as either a Puma or Lynx sometimes 😉 People avoid me almost all the time 😂