The First Sims: Minna

by DrFran Babcock

I couldn’t wait to visit Minna, because if you look at it on the map, it is the most colorful of the original sims. I was not disappointed. Minna is one of the first sims that has an active population, and lots to see and enjoy.

History of Minna

Minna began as a mostly commercial sim back in 2002. It was dominated by Divivity, a store that sold gifts, food, and nursery items. Divivity still has a presence on the sim, but it is dotted throughout the sim. What I loved about Minna is that is seems to be populated by old members and new members who have a love for and appreciation of the rich history of Second Life™.

Who Lives Here?

Paula Dix owns the land that has all the colorful trees on it. I knew immediately that they were the work of Second Life™ artist and queen of wild trees: soror Nishi. Paula’s land—she calls her parcel Paula’s Ploting (sic) Plan—is covered with the trees and particles, and is just a delight to visit. From Paula’s profile comes this statement with which I have always agreed: “There is no Second Life as opposed to First Life. SL is as real as FL We may be just pixels, but we  are  as real as anything. So live fully and be sure to assure that all can also live.” Nice.

Kennylex Luckless is someone I know, because he seems to be always around the Ivory Tower of Primitives on Natoma, building and giving away freebies, or at Linden Office Hours. He has a darling castle on Minna, that he told me he wanted to remove, but ANSI Soderstrom told him he could not. I was able to ask him a very, very few questions before his Natoma fan club distracted him:

SL Newser: Kenny, how did you find out about Second Life™?

KennyLex: Oh, newspaper, it was a article about Second House of Sweden. (Kenny is from Sweden) The sim closed because there were complaints. 

When I did log in, I found Natoma and the Ivory tower, and fell in love with building things. So, I stayed. I am mostly here (Ivory Tower), Luskwood, Bay City and at Torley’s Place. Although, Torley’s old place here was much funnier.

Kennylex gave me a vehicle made out of old barrels that he made, we rode around Natoma for a while. I returned to my explorations.

ANSI Soderstrom has a lot of land on Minna, and a sense of humor. Her cel-shaded ANSI-wood build, a play on the Hollywood Hills, is like an anime hobbit village. However, she is also the creator of Port Ansi, a complex-looking brick building that holds tons of freebies built by Kennylex Luckless. Kennylex’s freebies are fun, and often he includes the textures he used in them so that you can mod what you take.

Blogging acquaintance and SL Universe forum member Elysium Hynes owns 736 square meters of land, and purple trunked trees. It hugs a water edge, and is filled with pretty chairs and tables for hanging out. I wonder if she ever spends time there?

These three residents hail from 2007 or later, but there are also members who are much older with parcels on Minna. Dave Zeeman has a not very pretty build, of which he seems very proud:  “This is Dave Zeeman's original home!  He's had it ever since Beta v0.3.2!  Check out the classic "Matrix Box" and world renowned Plinko game!  Also the site of any "Match Game SL" shows!” So, Dave is one of the original members, but from the look of his parcel he has not been around for some time.

Emmaly Baxton (2008) has the Minna Sky Complex, a poured concrete series of elevated lookouts that provide a place to view the original sims. Her land seems to be part of Dave Zeeman’s, and is a somewhat modern and grungy structure. Although I didn’t speak with her, I did see her on the sim during one of my research visits.

Another oldbie is Div Epoch, a Charter Member, who will become 10 years old around the time that Second Life™ does. Has an old-school house, very minimally furnished on northwest corner of Minna.

And, then there’s Vivianne OFlynn, who is almost ten years old, and owns Divivity’s food and celebrations supplies. I suppose she is still around, because there were prims from 2013 with Mother’s day items. According to the Second Life™ Wiki, Divivity was most of the sim of Minna at one time. Now, there was only the celebration shop, and another parcel with garden items.

Of interest to me, from a historical standpoint was the Sacred Ground Druid Circle that Simon Metalhead, a Beta Member established in  September 2003 I imagine it was meant to hold larger crowds as it spans the corners of Minna, Ritch, Zoe, and Natoma. Again, I have to wonder if people still use it. I hope it remains, because it is from the earliest days of Second Life™.

A very new addition to the sim is from four year old Carol Pixelmaid. Virtually Gorgeous is a tiny shop with some pretty old-school lingerie and dresses for ladies. It has a nice grass covered lookout on the property with free binoculars and pose balls for viewing the beauty of Minna.

For Sale
Would you like to live on Minna? There is one tiny landlocked plot, L-shaped and narrow that is for sale for 35,998 Lindens. Sounds a bit steep for me, but you may be a lover of history.

Visit Minna: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Minna/127/127/79

DrFran Babcock