By Becky "Sha" Shamen
During our time as a Newser Reporter, we have explored many areas of the Second Life Grid. Our writing style was strongly influenced by a movie seen in childhood. Bambi's friend, Thumper, was told, by his mom, "If you can't find anything nice to say about somebody, don't say anything at all." When we hear of a possible location to write about, our first trip there is a short visit, to get an intuitive feeling of the land and it's residents. Intuition is hard to put into words, but within a half hour one of two thoughts will enter our mind. It's either, "I can't wait to tell readers about this adventure," or "there's no story here."
If you were to put all of the sims in the grid together, it would
form a square of 610 square miles. By comparison, a single sim is only
about .39 sq.mi. and there are currently 24229 active sims on the grid.
So, how does this reporter find these small areas that are fun
adventures, in such a big world? Newser staff meets once a month and the
Editor, Bixyl Shuften, usually provides leads to potential sims.
Another source is the Destination Guide, but this can be hit or miss
when looking for a fun place, and Sha has frequently wondered how much
the sim owner had to pay to get a mention in the guide. One of our
favorite search techniques is to open the World Map and pan and zoom
around the grid. We look for sim clusters which suggest community minded
residents. The layout of the terrain, streets and buildings will give
us an idea of the level of the ideal and practical skills that have
developed in these communities.Studying the map, we found a 13 sim cluster. Each of the sim names began with "Antiquity" and there were massive buildings on many of them. We knew, before ever setting foot there, this would be a Great Adventure.
We select an open field on the North Western sim. The landing puts us at
the foot of Mount St. Bruno, so we climb to the top for a better view
of the country to be explored. There is a gathering spot on the top of
the mountain; a clue that the natives might be friendly. From up here,
it is clear that it will require several visits just to get a look at
everything, so we start walking South, with plans of zig-zagging through
all 13 sims.
As our exploration began, we notice there is another
person about 2000 meters up, showing up on radar. Minutes later, this
same individual sent an instant-message, which was very unusual. She said that she
had seen our name on her radar and it seemed to be a name that she was
familiar with. After thinking a bit, she recalled that it was the name
of her favorite Newser Reporter, who had inspired her to go on many new
adventures of her own. We continued chatting, while taking notes in the
buildings that Sha was inspecting. Then the message sender informed us
that she was a local resident, named Cosette Rouages, who's job was to
write scripts, used in the builds. She was very excited that her
favorite reporter was there to do an article about Antiquity. After a
bit more chat, she invited us for a look at "the other half" of
Antiquity.
It turns out, at the 2000m altitude, the sky platforms cover
the entire 13 sims. A TP up and we spent hours talking and becoming
friends. She also wanted to arrange for a private tour, with the owner
of all the sims, Jacon Cortes de Bexar. Both of us live in the same real-life
time zone and as 4:30 am rolled around, we agreed to meet again, soon.
It would be necessary to return several more times, to take in all there
is to see and do.
There hadn't been many notes or pictures taken, on the first visit,
but that is par for the course. The plan now was to attend an event at
Cutlass and head back to Antiquity after. As we came on line to prepare
for the evening's events, there was already an IM waiting to be read.
This time, it was from the owner, Jacon Bexar. Cosette had told him all
about our meeting and he wanted me to come for a private tour. As soon
as my event was over, we headed back to our original LM in Antiquity.
After landing, Cosette appeared on radar, at ground level, standing in a
small group. The welcome committee was made up of Jacon, Cosette and
two other Ladies.
After introductions and other pleasantries, Jacon
would TP the group to his latest master build, a scale replica of
Buckingham Palace. To date, this build has taken three and a half years
and even every texture is from the real palace. Through out the tour,
there are easels set up, with photos of the original. Jacon says, be
sure to look up at the ceilings in each room. Each is a unique work of
art. We told Jacon that the most difficult part about writing an article
on Antiquity would be to avoid starting every sentence with OMG or WOW.
When our readers visit Antiquity for themselves, they can wear out
their own list of expletives.
The Antiquity Cathedral made me a bit nervous, because there is an autobot (the sim's name for bots that respond to you, not the cartoon robots)
cardinal at the altar and he kept turning in her direction. I eventually got
the courage to stand in front of him and explain, to the empty pews, her theory that god is a cyclops.
In the Royal Antiquity Theater, I took a seat in the balcony. I wonder if it
would be giving my age away, if I said, as kids we went to movies in
theaters as fancy as this one.
One shop sold a collection of "autobots," in period clothing. Many have a
menu. I was tempted to go back and buy a maid that offers a glass of
wine and a list of other services.
A harbor in the Argyle sim could be your next SL job, if ye be Pirate Friendly. Arrrrr!
Standing under the dome of the Texas State capital building, I recalled
seeing a movie with Burt Reynolds standing in the same spot.
I paused in a Texas one room school house, brushing up on Texas history and spitball making.
There are groups to join, like for Export Import Co., a pirate group and an Equine group. On the Marie Galante sim, there is even a large area for Merfolk.
I rode my own horse on the trails that cover several of the Eastern sims. I have
an AKK horse and now have a great place to take him on walks.
They have monthly horse events, like cross-country, fox hunt and chariot racing.
Having made videos in Second Life, I couldn't help but notice, everywhere I
went, the beautiful scenery all looked like perfect backgrounds for new
SL videos. I loved the various music streams that are encountered. They
were soothing and energizing. The few highlight given above are less
than half of the list of noteworthy places. By all means, Antiquity goes
on my list of "Must See" locations.
We bid ye to have a Great Adventure in Antiquity,
Sha
