A Sim For the Cultured

Why not, thats exactly what I'M doing.

We are actually doing this in Eclipse... go visit it sometime... it has a long ways to go but it's getting there

Sensual, you are a sim-building machine! I'll have to check out Eclipse, too.

~Ulrika~

lol if only I knew how to build... I'd have a rather large continent.

The lindens can't hand over control of the market...it's owned by players.

Not a whole sim, just 1/8th, but come see Eucalyptus Grove in Gallinas. I'd love to have a whole sim to turn into a park, some day.

-Ghoti

I used to have something similar to this ages ago. However, it was more of a different 'taste'.

Don't forget Seacliff.

Well, this is what we did to Ravenglass to some extent, although not as precisely as you may like, because everyone has a different vision in their mind's eye of what a beautiful small town looks like. For me, Penn Yan, NY might be the ideal small town with a typical Main Street with storefronts, old Victorian houses, and suburban ranches and farms -- it could be my Oblomov-like fantasy (the Russian novel named for a peasant who endlessly dreamed of his native estate while he lay in his bed in his city apartment). But for others, that would be hell. And in fact, I didn't try to make this with Ravenglass because I pretty much put it on the open market. The top of it bordering Furness has small businesses alongside the road and it has a real-life look that is pleasing to some. It has trees, although not all the re-planting is done. It has green strips and a commons to make a park-like atmosphere with waterfalls. Mountains...well...that's a tall order literally, and requires terraforming, and I'm just not good at terraforming and seldom leave a plot better-looking when I'm at the terraforming helm LOL.

I could tell you that ALL of those things you want just can't fit into one sim, as I understand a sim in my limited experience of working extensively on 3 of them. Depends on how much water and waterfront you got. Really, you'd need about 3-4 sims to get that look you want -- one sim looking like the downtown Main Street, another with the suburban houses, etc.

What is planned housing? I'm aware that there are a number of sims that people have made planned communities on: Abacus is one good example. We're now seeing Boardman being reclaimed to some extent -- but the Linden-built market turned over to players is a wildcard that mars the look. I've seen a small-town look in other planned sims like Slate, Phobos, etc. Planned housing requires EXTENSIVE collaboration and consultation among trusted officers in a group long before you go to buy a sim. BUT...

When people think "planned housing" they can have a wild variety of images in their mind. For some, it's Victorian. For others, it's Goth; for still others it is a suburban ranch; and more often than not, in SL, it's a Dr. Seuss-kind of whimsical build for the avian creatures of SL -- me and you and our need for fly-ins. So, call something "planned residential community" and issue an open invitatoin to it, and your look will be very eclectic -- and avoiding that would involve Nazi-like boards or commissions and I personally didn't want to go that route.

So...I have come to realize the obvious, that in order to have a planned residential community you need:
-- a plan
-- residents
-- a community

All of the existing planned communities are planned and executed by one-two people who pay all the tier -- it's not a self-identified community all paying tier, who then collectively pick a sim and a style.

But in my case, I sold it on the open market without an awful lot of planning, just tried to steer it to residential, so I have residents and a vague plan but it's outcome is uncertain. Will the result of open market forces and the vicissitudes of the game itself (server outages, teleporters not working, economic changes, etc.) result in a "community" that as a collective voice, will fight collectively to keep green zones and fight lag? I don't know...

Er, parrot island?

</shameless plug>

yes, I think that's what it means.

Darkwood. I haven't been there for a while. Does it still exist?

Eugene-

Check out Cape Destiny. Might be close to what you're talking about here. Also cayman, & utopia.

I am sure there are more as well. Keep looking

Well, I see two problems here.

First of all, one person's culture is another person's nightmare.

I mean, to me, culture might be a study with rich leather sofas, books, a crackling fireplace, and brandy.

However, to someone else (or me on a different day) culture might be a strange surrealist room, surrounded by works of the prominent 20th century dadaists and surrealists, with perhaps a little modern orientation from Andy Warhol.

Ultimately the thing that is beautiful about SL is its ugliness. It is everyone's self expression.

If you want to have a place that corresponds to your personal ideas of what is "cultured" then I think you need to buy enough land to do that well - and that could mean a private island. I maintain a large estate with a waterfront and so forth. I have a big club next door, and sometimes it lags out my house. But you know, those folks are paying their bills too, and they have as much right to do what they think is fun as I do.

I've considered opening a club that is very different from others I've seen so far in SL. Something along the lines of a 19th century gentleman's club - lots of morocco and burled wood, with card playing and sherry and conversation about important events. But I really wonder if there are enough other people that share that vision to make such a thing viable?

And if I want it, I have to invest the money and *make* it....

Ummm......Luo, Tharu, Dacia and Kafiri sims together.

everything's culture even if it's culture you don't like. don't get in the habit of thinking your ideal of culture is the right one or that there is a right one or you'll wake up and realize you've turned into a bigot.

there's nothing wrong with clubs, there's just alot wrong with every club that ever existed in sl so far.

i'm still hoping for the day when people realize that velvet drapes, paintings on the wall, classical music and cigars aren't the magic spell to save you from becoming a shallow boring uncultured prick. in other words the upper middle class WASP suburbs aren't the pinnacle of civilization just cause you grew up there.

it's all about diversity. find the good 5% in a culture and ignore the shitty 95%. that means yours too. so if you want a cultured sim there are plenty out there. they just aren't all the same kind of cultured.

this has been a "if the shoe fits" post. it's not aimed at anyone in this thread, it's just my opinions on the whole cultured sim thing. don't get upset unless you really want to.

Yes, thanks for that, Zuzi.

Like, I think it'd be cool to have some sims with strictly enforced zoning of various types. And even a classical music snob sim so I could reconfront some of the horrid aspects of my youth. But ah... just as long as these are SOME and not ALL. That spectrum has gotta be there!

YAYZERAMA!!!