Epic structures/wonders in SL: theories, possibilities, feasibilities?

...are we looking at a call for a society for SL Achitectural Preservation? The Lindens taking on some select sites (voted upon by the community) for eternal preservation? Strangely, the acronym SLAP goes quite appealingly with the SL icon

Yes, you are the virtual Methuselas.

I've thought of something else for the mix. Our local society has been able to preserve and restore an old grist mill and associated dam. Raising money for both efforts was aided heavily by the fact that the area around the structures could be advertised as useable. It seems as though an art show, bbq, reunion or such is scheduled out there every other weekend all year long.

The same is true for our hundred-year-old library building which currently houses our development and tourism offices, a hundred-fifty-year-old school building which houses two attorney offices and one real estate agent, a two-hundred-year-old hospital building which houses a county museum and reception facility, the list goes on and on. The point is that everything we manage to save serves a modern purpose. It's impossible to raise money for a log cabin in the woods that noone will ever use or a deco department store front that's only value is being propped up as a piece of art preventing anyone from building something useful on the lot. They very often contribute to their own regular expenses.

So many things in SL have no use because there are, at present, so few uses of SL. It's impossible, for example, to claim that either Governor's mansion has any functional use. In fact that's true for most of the builds we would call "historical." In the real world, that would make raising foundational money extremely difficult.

Yes! I am also glad that others have heard about the Long Now project, that clock is amazing! Fascinating stuff, basically a digital (binary) clock with analog parts (gears n stuff) The specs of it are overwhelming (especially the cost so far) and it isn't even really close to being finished, just a few prototypes of which one was donated to a science museum.

I also agree on more in world perma builds that would stand the test of grid maintenance, updates and prim drift. The delapitation of some of those earlier builds are almost suiting as they fit into what we see everyday, some historic RL locations are falling to shambles due to environmental/budget changes but that just adds to the appeal and value of them. One of the USA's biggest attractions, the Grand Canyon is constantly changing as the river snakes it's way through, eroding more and more land away in the process. Perhaps the process of change can be good to allow more significance to something. Prim drift could add to the appeal of an older in-world structure, if only the drifting were pickier about the parts that drifted and the directions they drifted in... It doesn't make much sense for a "stone" prim to drift out and up a tad....

But To state an old cliche, change is the only thing that is constant anywhere.

Agreed Mike, the question resolves to what we will eventually consider historically valid in a virtual world. How old does the build have to be? Must it exist in it's original location? How recently can alterations have been made and how extensive may those changes have been? Must it be unique, non-inventoried, not "backed up?"

Currently those answers seem to lean toward at least one year; yes; it doesn't really matter as long as it's still recognizable; and no.

Am I the only person who never visited the Governor's Mansion, believing that it was someone's home?

Garnet, I'm surprised at you! This is SL...our motto is "barge right in!"

Coming at it from a different angle:
What makes a build in Second Life indispensable?

Check this out:

$$$$$$$$$$

Khamon for the love of god, I did not report your post. Either Jeska moved it of her own free will or someone else reported it. I thought I had made that clear back then.

You did now stop being so sensitive; I'm just joshin ya.

I'm not sure I follow. What builds are indispensable due to their economic value?

Builds are only valuable for their social blah blah blah blah blah for the community blah blah blah in a geographically contiguous world blah. That's what it's all about.

Well, if a structure is supporting someone's tier, and more... by whatever means it generates income - it is more likely to survive.

I dread to use the term, but it's almost a kind of economic Darwinism.

Yes. Second Life is all about the people. Not the builds. This is what we grossly misunderstood in Beta... and why 1.2 had to come along. We just wanted to build, build, build, own a little piece of land in every god damn sim. Give a man enough time and he will plaster his ego over 1000 sims.

That's what I was talking about earlier by pointing out that we only work to preserve historical sites in the real world when they can still serve a useful purpose. I guess the problem in SL is that we don't need builds to socialize. At best, a build is scripted to inform or entertain people. Most of them though are just eye candy. And when it comes right down to it, very few residents are going shell out monthly bucks to support a bit of eye candy just because it's been around a few months.

Give a man enough time...do you mean land barons, merchants that open shops all over the place, or 16sm griefers? These things didn't end with 1.2 though I agree that the changes were necessary. Please expound on what was grossly misunderstood in Beta. I'm not understanding.

Not sure. But my point was the only build that becomes indispensible is one that generates income and that someone is thus loathe to live without. Everything else? Well, it's costing money and sometimes you need that fix your rusted break lines.

first of all, Lordfly, i agree that having permanent builds are attractive in a historical sense within the world of Second Life. thanks for posting this thread with the lucidity you've applied.

(by the way, how about "non-builds"? like, does it count that my land in Miramare has been almost consistantly bare since i first purchased it? lol..)

i, too, would like to encourage the idea of Linden supported "static" builds in void sims.. low prim counts and no scripts would be a good idea though. we don't want to nullify the effectiveness of those sims.

Khamon, you've brought up some good points as well. what to consider when declaring something as historically significant in this digital plane of existance is, as you've noted, markedly different than that which is considered in our physical world. i think your answers to your own questions were well made.

and what about the Luna Oaks shops? that's where i made my first purchase in SL, shortly after entering the WA. (trivia: my purchase was that of my particle wings.. something i still consider as part of my "full" appearance to this day)

SL is about people, but memories are attached to places. I get sad when I look through my saved landmarks and decide to visit somewhere I haven't seen in a while--and when I arrive, I find that the place I remember is now a tringo palace and lingerie store.

I think it's great that at least of few of the fun, quirky places are still around--like Joan & Harald's place in Kissling, or even the monolith Lordfly created in Europa before the auctions opened up. By the way, Lordfly, if you ever need those m2 back, let me know and I'll buy them off you just to keep the monolith up. Not many people get the joke, but it's stood the test of time by SL standards. Besides, it's a great conversation spot .

I do agree... and people built these places, so when you see a monument or a memorial, you may very well be thinking of the maker. Those are special memories.

I'm glad you brought this up LF. I have been thinking of taking down my towers in Miramare and doing something different with all of my plots there. But, now I will leave the towers up. For a while longer anyways. After all, Marcos built them.

I was also a bit worried when Antagonist was leaving Tan to a friend, hoping that the clock tower would stay up.

The clock tower is actually out of Taggy's control; it's owned by a dormant player who gets a perpetually free 1024 (from the 1.2 changeover), I think.