Steampunk city in Second Life: New Babbage
New Babbage is Second Life's magnificent steampunk city, "bringing together the combined interests of Steampunks from around the world to a place they can roleplay and be creative." Link to video, Link to New Babbage homepage (Thanks, Josh!)
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Fscntng. Bt 'd chng th hdln. Smthng lk "Wst-f-tmst wst-f-tm sprngs p n hg cllctn f wsts-f-tm"
Ths hdln s mnt t nspr shck. Mn bts dg, nd ll tht.
Therefore I assume our BoingBoing users are automatically replicated into the Second Life servers.
Pretty nice.
Though I'd be much more impressed if they'd revealed that the server hosting it was computing via mechanical means rather than the standard electronic processes so overused in this day and age.
That is an impressive build. I haven't been in-world in probably 6 months, but I'm going to have to check that out.
'm sr th Bngrs mst knw -- thr s stmpnk bcklsh. lv y gys, rlly, bt t's strtng rk m tht ny rndm wnkr cn slp sm brss fttngs nt prtty mch nythng nd rt pst n Bng Bng.
Good gravy... I was assuming the venture capitalists MUST have pulled the plugs on Second Life by now.
Guess not. Just a thought... given that actual beauty - ok, interpreted in a number of ways, but still - has always been something of a hallmark of steampunk-ism for me, it doesn't reproduce very well in the Playstation 2 graphic world of SL.
New Caledon, New Caledon.
Chaircrusher, I promise you that if you slap some brass fittings onto anything, I won't mention it here.
Happy now?
I mean, gosh, there's a backlash? You mean, random sourpusses on the Internet have decided that something I like isn't good?
Well, I'll be sure to stop enjoying it now.
Thanks for clueing me in.
Pretty dang cool.
Can somebody please ID the music for me? It sounds like Philip Glass, but I can't put my finger on it. Thanks!
Wow, that's really something. I'd love to check it out but I'm kind of intimidated by Second Life's avatar system. I haven't taken the time to learn the modeling tools and I can't make anything even half-decent with the default models. I wouldn't want to show up looking like ass and pollute everyone else's view. :/
New Caledon is an amazing place. It's even more amazing to realize that it's not made by graphic artists or software professionals, but SL users.
#11, Lobster:
There are people who sell (and some that give away) shapes and skins. Don't be afraid to (politely) approach someone at an InfoHub who looks like they've got their avatar together.
I occasionally play Second Life just to see the sights. I like using the search function to find locales related to a random word. I tried "steampunk" a short while ago but couldn't find anything by that description since "Steampunk" seems to be the name of one of the geographic regions, not necessarily hosting architecture by that description. Thanks for the link, BB!
I like the permasmog :)
Would someone mind clueing in a hopeless Second Life noob, but how would one find this town in Second Life? Is there a giant map of sorts you can just teleport to different places?
@#10
The music is Phillip Glass, it's a piece titled "Heroes" from his Heroes Symphony, which is a reinterpretation of the classic David Bowie album Heroes. I highly recommend both albums.
Ack, JETFX, you just beat me to it. -)
Impressive. But is it all just architectural modeling as a beautiful place-space, or are there actual interactive elements and locations for SL-denizens to set up shop? Perhaps thematic clothing and accessory stores are there? It would be great if regular visitors could create original literature and leave it behind in the form of a book on a library shelf, or contribute some other way than simply by wandering around.
@ 10: Doc Tourneau
That is indeed Philip Glass. Took me ages to find the track, but it's Heroes from his Heroes Symphony (Symphony No. 4).
After spending half an hour tracking that down, I fully expect someone else to have got there first....
I knew it!
#5-
I am made entirely of brass fittings, and I have never been posted on BB.
So, you know, have at you and all that.
Banjology @16: Yes, indeed. There's a Map button on the bottom of the viewer. Punch that and type "Babbage Square" into the location box, then hit teleport. (New Babbage doesn't show up here.)
Alternatively, you can browse through the Places tab on the Search... on the Edit menu.
To number 19:
New Babbage is a living breathing place with shops and residences. Though I don't personally give out free space to just anyone I have been known to donate an office or workspace for those truly contributing to the community. Though if you really want a free shop, you should talk to Kaylee Frye, that's exactly what her project in new babbage called "loner lane" is all about.
To people calling us New Caledon:
you guys are funny, you should really speak to Desmond :)
New Caledon is an amazing place, but like everywhere else in Second Life, nobody is ever there and there's not much to do except buy things.
I wish there was some sort of story-crafting aspect to Second Life, maybe user-made programmable NPCs. I think it would really make the world complete. And a lot more fun.
to # 25:
our population is from 4pm to 10pm SL time mon-fri, with traffic throughout the weekend if you're interested in meeting people. Sadly we have real life jobs and can't live at the computer like some people who play WoW.
Been there, spent a great deal of time looking around... there's some engaging creativity at work. Sadly, the sluggish performance of the entire area even during the lowest activity periods makes it an exercise in patience. It's tempting to assume this is because of an abundance of needlessly resource-hungry scripts, though it may simply be due to an overabundance of garden-variety scripts combined with other factors.
The certain facts are that you will see neat things, and you will be either distracted, annoyed, or frustrated by poor simulator performance depending on your individual luck and patience.
Wow. This looks really cool. I haven't been in SL in months (Distracted by other certain very popular multilayer game.:) ) I've been toying though with steam-punk style builds (a pair of goggles, some different pieces of machinery, even that book chair that was posted here.) I definitely want to check this out.
I love the music, though I'm not too familiar with Glass. I'm going to check it out now though.
To #27:
As a point of interest, that is not simulator lag, that is viewer lag. In other words, your computer. Second Life is very resource demanding on your video card and CPU, but as long as you have a halfway decent video card it is not 'an exercise in patience.' The simulators, especially in New Babbage, are rarely lagged down.
Well, I just visited Babbage, and it's great!
..and the folks are extremely friendly :)
How come SL never looks that good on my computer!!?!? Care to reccommend the BEST video card?
#17 and #20 --
JETFX and ROSYATRANDOM, thanks very much for your replies.
I knew it sounded familiar -- I have the album! I haven't listened to it in some years, but will put it on posthaste.
Thanks again!
#29,
I know how to tell the difference between client-side performance issues and those on the other end of the service, and trust me, it wasn't the viewer that was chugging when I was there. I keep the viewer settings set to a reasonable level and tend to keep an eye on performance (I know that SL can put even resource hogs like Crysis to shame in terms of humiliating an otherwise high-end system's performance), and primarily what I experienced was a combination of the simulator being a little sluggish, and the Lindens' outdated network getting choked up from time to time.
Things might have changed by now I guess, but at least one other commenter might have been talking about the same kind of performance issue.
Yes, lots of people can't always tell the difference between the two and might be quick to pin the blame on the other end of the connection, but not me :p
I know that this is more about style than anything, but that balloon at the beginning makes me want to yell "Wrong, Wrong, WRONG!"
(A real vehicle like that would just turn in circles.)
As a longtrm resident of New Babbage i would recommend all you steampunks to get in world and try it out. The first few steps (the orientation island) can be difficult but with a little patience its nothing you digital gurus can't handle.
Babbage is very welcoming so come and say hi, or come to Beat Island (find us in search) and I'll try and help you out and get you up to speed.