The First Sims: Da Boom

By DrFran Babcock

I just bought a small plot of land on Varney, one of the first of the sixteen sims that made up Second Life™ when it first came on line in 2002. I had been hoping for land like this that was wildly terra-formable (plus or minus 40 meters), and the original San Francisco sims have this added benefit. There are a few other sims like this on the mainland, but they are rare. I am happy to be a part of old Second Life™ history.

Second Life™ is about to celebrate its 10^th anniversary! With that thought in mind, and because I am a history buff here, I thought it might be nice to do some exploring of the earliest portions of this vast virtual world. This article will be about the first sim: Da Boom.

With each installment of the First Sims, I will cover what remains of the original sim (not much in most places), what there is to see and do, shopping, sites, and points of interest. I hope you will read and learn with me. If you have any additional information, I welcome it.

It would be naive of me to think that I am the first one to write about the early sims. Both Lalo Telling (http://lalotelling.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/seconderth-a-deep-map-da-boom/ ) and Alex Hayden (http://walkingwithavatars.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/a-deep-map-revisited-da-boom/) have recently visited and written blog posts about Da Boom. I will try to point out some of the things not covered by these two wonderful fans of Second Life™.

Welcome to Da Boom

If you search for Da Boom on the World Map, and take the teleport offered, you will land in the Linden Playground, an amusement park. This must be  a more recent build, because it was created by Sunny Mole. The Moles, who work under the supervision of Michael Linden, came into being to be the Linden Department of Public Works. They create infrastructure and other builds throughout the mainland. The playground has many rides and activities on it, and it is fun to explore. What is interesting to older avatars, is that the vast majority of textures come from the Second Life™ library, which makes them easy to rez, because they are often cached by many avatars. Take your choice, and swing on a pirate ship or an octopus’ tentacle. There’s lots of innocent fun to be had in the playground.

I am not so sure about the next parcel I encountered. The Christian Church of Da Boom, is a lovely Fatima Ur built church that sits on an almost void 3456 meter parcel. It was acquired March 16^th of this year, and provides audio and video about Christianity around the clock. In front of the church is a teleport that takes you up to a huge ballroom in the sky. The only thing in the ballroom is links to watch media on a prim, and these prims link to videos about religion. The one I watched explained the necessity of tithing to the church. The land is owned by Erwin Solo, who is seen preaching in some of the videos. Go, and look for yourself, and let me know what you think.

One of my favorite places on Da Boom is Seifert Surface’s sculpture shop. Seifert uses math for all of his constructions, and I had to teleport my friend Lomgren Smalls over to explain some of the things to me. However, you don’t have to be a mathematician to appreciate the beauty of the forms.

One thing that is sad to me is that Linden Lab and the early residents really didn’t have any idea of what they were creating, and thus, did not take pains to preserve some of the early builds. The Alt-Zoom Disco, built by Philip Linden is nowhere to be found. It would really be nice to have that preserved. There is the Governor’s mansion on Clementina, but it’s a later build.

Transportation

Although none of these rides are original Da Boom builds, they are great fun. There are many ways to get around on Da Boom. At the base of the Da Boom Building, which is a more recent build, is a Whirly-Putter rezzer. (http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Da%20Boom/164/249/40 ). When touched you can fly a two person vehicle, which crosses sims so well, I flew it all the way back to my land on Varney. In addition, there are water tubes to rez, and a riverboat that gives tours. All of the rides worked really well when I tried them, and the lag was low. 

Even if you don’t like or appreciate history, Da Boom is worth a teleport from anywhere. Lots to see, and fun to be had. I recommend it highly, which I am not sure will be the case with some of the other original sims. Stay tuned, dear readers.

DrFran Babcock