Contributed by Paypabak Writer
This past week I learned that Svarga,Svarga is gone. One of the earlier “imagination park” type builds, it was a lovely place to take someone new to Second Life to show them what was possible. Beautiful waterfalls, soaring mountains, exquisite towers and walkways . . . now there are only memories. If you go to Flickr and do a search on Svarga, you will find incredible pictures of this wonderful sim. SL has become a little poorer for this loss.
I’ve been going through my landmarks and found another place gone. After landing 85 meters from the original LM, I found only a small part of the Ratopolis Speedway still visible under The “Bubbly” something club on the “Isle of Romance” sim. Again, I have found memories of me and Ali racing on a small track they had before they bought the Ratopolis sim. When we wandered around the new sim’s huge track, one of the owners loaned us a Maserati, I believe, to burn down the course. I’m wearing my Rat Racer jacket and pants in honor of the Rats. I do hope they’ve found somewhere else to race!
Worse news came from the following blogs: New Worlds News and Massively. In short, the Splintered Rock Dune roleplaying sim I wrote about last February got busted by the estate of Frank Herbert and was ordered to change everything that used references to the books (e.g., Bene Gesserit, Sarduakar, Fremen, Arrakis, Dune, etc.) to something else. In reading the various comments, I must confess Iggy O (in the NWN blog comments) makes a telling point: contacting the estate licensing group could have made a difference and saved everyone some heartache. Granted, that could have ended the whole affair from the start since the Trident Media Group apparently has no idea about marketing in virtual worlds and has now completely alienated a dedicated fanbase that extends far beyond the mere 140-odd people associated at one time or another with various Dune RP sims. It’s a social network that includes many European people as well as Yanks. Will I attend the next Dune movie? Not likely. Any plan I had of reading the books by son Brian Herbert have most definitely been abandoned.
On a happier note, I include a photo of me sitting in my favorite seat, watching particles dance at the Cloud Chateau, which is still in business. It’s part of The Particle Laboratory and a great place to take friends/dates to watch particle effects, relax, and chat. You really have to see it to appreciate it; pix don’t do it justice. I am just so glad it’s still hanging in there when so much change is going on!
Visit Inworld: Cloud Chateau and Particle Laboratory
I remember Svarga, along with Apollo Garden or something, with the magic carpet ride. These were some of the first things I saw in Second Life. Same with the Particle Laboratory! Well, a shame to see any of the old places go, but I guess like in real life business ends, new buildings are built, etc. Ah well!