New Democratic Continent!

I'd like to let you all in on something incredible!

There is a huge continent of over 500 sims faaaaar to the south on the grid, all named "Democristan" this and "Democristan" that - mostly names like 'Democristan Franklin', 'Democristan Jefferson', and so forth. The shape is vaguely like that of France though.

There were other casual explorers there, and I flew over to a cluster of them. Seems they were having a bit of an argument.

After a few short minutes I soon discovered why. There are new government tools enabled on these sims!

The way it works, is that on this continent there are both regional and continent-level controls. Members of a region can 'elect' a provincial governor of a sort, through complex formulae I couldn't quite fathom. I think it was Borda-style vote counting.

Furthermore, it seems the regions could 'meta-elect' a leader, and not only that, a form of government! There were a fixed number of choices, but with enough clicky-boxes that just about any sort of population-based government, even ridiculous ones, could be created.

Now let me get to why there was an argument.

Apparently, to define a region on this new territory, all you had to do was 'walk the border' of it. So you could have a tiny, parcel-sized region or a whopping big one. The caveat, however, was that you had only one Second Life 'day' to do it.

Apparently, a number of people tried to delineate regions in this manner, but just try to stay logged in for one whole Second Life day!

Harder than it sounds, and furthermore, people were being pushed away using weapons and whatnot upon near-completion of their region-boundary. If your feet come off the terrain, all the effort is wasted and you must start again.

The Company personnel seem to be hands-offish, wanting to let this area develop 100% on its own, and possibly didn't expect this area to be found (or the greed with regard to defining regions) to occur so quickly.

People did find it, however, and are rushing in to buy plots for $L 1 per meter. Nobody's stopping them. Cheap, though of course, your neighbours may be able to 'vote' and change the limitations/abilities of what you may do on your land.

I'm now the self-elected Provincial Governor of a sim called Democristan Cromwell (I went way off and defined my own region to one sim before I was seen by others, and got all the land in it). I suppose I could get even *more* regions but one full sim was brazen enough.

These sims don't seem to be in search yet, but I'm sure that by 2 April SL time the location of the area should be clear to everyone.

Be sure to scan the map at highest zoom and look waaay south, well over 1000 sims south. Happy hunting!

There's also a bunch of Communist sims WAAY to the north! You have to join a group called 'The Party', and nobody owns anything they create... ALL objects are copy/mod/transfer (the checkboxes are greyed out, you can't change permissions). It's cool 'cause if you see something of your neighbors that you like, just copy it. (This includes anything they are wearning) No more "where did you get that hair?" It belongs to The Party, so it's already yours.

There are some rules, though- everyone is expected to contribute 10 fully textured, sculpted, *attractive* prims a day to building something. You can do more if you like, but it must be at least 10 every day. Plywood boxes are forbidden.

See you there!

Where's the one where I can elect myself EMPEROR and absolute MONARCH of all I survey? That's the one I want.

Kam

Are these sims subject to tier as well? anyone?

Hmmm Atheistic Communists? they are probably next on the family values hit list...

Is this one of those April's Fool silly jokes?

hehe

Like 90% of people on the internets know the difference between democracy and mob rule.

Well, likely more know the difference than know that there is one Internet.

haha - I was using the plural to make a point.

I'm not going to bother to look for these places as I think they are April Fool jokes but there is an area of desert, with many empty sims, in the sea between the Old Continent and the Southern Continent.

I have taken the liberty of placing my 'World's Largest Paintbrush' exhibit, in its purpose-built visitor centre, in this desert until such time as the landowner wishes to return it!

Do you shop at the WalMarts too?

the mob rules!(tm) peoples do

I couldn't find that island. I did, however, find a massive continent (three, actually) that are dedicated to capitalism in all its unrestricted glory. What do I win?

Leaving aside April Fool jokes, are there actually any large, hidden landmasses away from the main map area? I am aware of lots of islands, some consisting of many sims, in the area surrounding the 3 continents, but is there anything bigger in the outer reaches of SL? If so, can anyone name a sim in such a place so I can go and look.

Warda, you win teh forums today.



The following is a very true story; I'll say what friend of mine this happened to in-world but not here (I don't think he will care for the attention).

About a year ago, before 'hidden' islands were all revealed on the map, a friend of mine tried to teleport from the southern mainland to the Korean-named sims.

The teleport failed, and as often happens, he landed in the nearest sim.

Which happened to be a 'secret' sim for Company development or something.

This sim was a barren sand island devoid of all life, and what was worse - my friend couldn't teleport off! No idea why; I still don't know because I hadn't heard of such a thing before or since - maybe it's like the Cornfield sim.

But before he asked for Company assistance to get free of that sim, he built his own skeleton, and an 'if anyone ever finds this' note clutched in the skeleton's hand, replete with his characteristic hat and a few other items his avatar normally has (glasses &c) scattered nearby in the sand... and left it there. As far as I know, it's there still.

As for other lands far beyond the map... *X-files theme*... the Truth is Out There.

grins