Authentic historical sims, time travelers unite!

The best bit about second life to me is the possibility to do what I've always wanted to do but never could; travel back in time.
But as someone who is obsessed with history, I am not looking for romantic, fantasy versions of the past.
I want to feel like I am really there, the real past, the gritty not always pretty past.
I understand that many others prefer the nice lovely version of history, but its not for me.

So perhaps in this thread we can share tips on historical sims that are really authentic.
Have you been to one that was realistic?
Share the LM!

One sim I really liked was Deadwood, unfortunately the Wild West 'isn't my cup of tea', but it felt real and looked authentic.

What I would like to see is a realisitic Victorian sim, so far I've only found some with lovely lanes, big houses and lots of ladies and gentlemen in fine clothing.
I'd love to wander the dark streets of Whitechapel!
Any tips?

I'd love to build a sim based on the dark streets of Whitechapel, unfortunately time and money aren't my friends right now.

You just want to play at being Jack the Ripper, don't you

Yes I can't get that idea out of my head either.
Perhaps after my 1920s sim is ready and once I've finished the two historical sims that are now just part of my imagination I shall try Whitechapel one day

Haha I'd want to be Holmes.....which kinda blows Jo's historically accurate synopsis out of the water. Hmm.

What?!
You mean Holmes wasn't real?!
You could always be one of the Victorian detectives Holmes was based on

These are just the type of sims that I would want to visit. (Or build if I had the money/knowledge).

That was exactly the idea I had for a sim in Zindra.

Unfortunately I thought of it the day the land trade deals expired.

I also have not been spending much time in SL and do not want to increase it.

Someone could really murder a Jack the Ripper sim in SL, though.

I hope you are being facetious?

Punny, yes.

Facetious, no.

What is Zindra for?

The Whitechapel I'd build would not be adult themed.

I'm fascinated by that era too.

What would you build?

I hope Zindra is not for role playing mass murderers.

How would we feel about a Jeffrey Dahmer-themed sim?

Zindra is for adult themes and depictions of violence.

There are already 'Dahmer themes' if you count dolcett.

Would that be historically accurate?


Milwaukee?

Depends on the definition of Adult.
I meant that LL would not make the sim move to Zindra.
So it could have sex but only behind closed doors and in private tenants houses, it could have a few fights, but no rape, murder, etc.
Of course that would all be fine in IM roleplay, but I wouldn't add poseballs for that sort of thing.

I'd also love to see a Historically accurate Medieval themed sim. One without elves and magic and all that.

I wouldn't have, either.



This would also be nice.

Sounds like some of us are looking for grottier sims in SL.

Whether it would be "fine" in IM role play is largely irrelevant: it would be inevitable.

I think it is entirely possible to represent the violence without providing graphic opportunities to role play it. Frankly, were a coherent means of RPing the slaughter of prostitutes set up, it would overwhelm the historical theme entirely, and (to put it mildly) muddy the message. Those RPing Jack the Ripper wouldn't be doing so because they want to get a sense of the horrors and deprivations visited upon the Victorian poor; they would be doing so because they get off on pretending to rape and murder women.

I think, too, that too much focus on the Whitechapel murders misses the point: the violence there was endemic and all-pervasive, and it is THAT fact that I think you want to communicate. The real horror of places like Whitechapel is too easily obscured by the lurid fascination with the exploits of one mass murderer.

Yes a real medieval sim, without fantasy but also without everyone being a knight or lady.

I couldn't agree more.
And how sickening and horrible Jack the Ripper's crimes were, they pale in comparison to many other crims and what most people went trough there day after day.

I've given thought to these sorts of things over the years.

Single sentence conclusion: not a wise thing to do; likely would violate a broad spectrum of service terms.


Two main reasons.

One, unless you actually hire people to stick to a particular vision and pay them to behave in a specific manner, their visions will be divergent.

Clearest example of this is the number of lordly castles all over the place, and so very few wanting to be the oppressed serf next to the pigsty.

Top this off with modern females and their ideas and behaviour regarding equality and suchlike, and a truly historic representation of the past is going to be a difficult thing to come by. I just don't see a Victorian city scene where women are washing and drying the linens for hours a day, as even remotely possible.


Second ~ the inherent difference in value systems. Overt racism was more than just common, it was downright fashionable in some places, 100 to 200 years ago. Kids in their early teens were regularly put to death for petty theft.

I think it's important to recognise these things, and while historic accuracy has its place, it might not nearly be so enjoyable.

* * * * *

It wouldn't take much at all for me to open up a region with the constraint "historically authentic" on it ~ just one fact~checking historian (of which there are many in Caledon) and some used regions would do the trick nicely.

But I wouldn't want to be responsible for say, what historically accurate Victorians might get up to, even presuming we used bots to simulate all the dirty jobs that were given to women and children of the era.

I think that a first goal of such a project is to get people to at least not all be lords and ladies.
Make the houses and apartments people can rent small and poor, make the freebie clothing common or lowerclass, etc.
So far its working okay in our 1920s Berlin where probably half the people live like the lowerclasses.
This way you can at least get a more authentic looking sim, but yes you can't force people to portray something they don't like, you can just encourage it.
Also these kinds of sims will attract people interested in this sort of thing.
Personally I couldn't care less about portraying a lady and am much more interested in portraying a common person, even lowerclass.

As for jobs, yes they were horrendous for many women, children and men too.
I'd recreate them but let people decide themselves if they want to use the poseballs in the workhouse and how long.
Perhaps I'd indeed add a few bots.

This is another reason why role play is not the way to go with this sort of sim.

Years ago, the vogue in historical sites in the West was for so-called "living history": interpreters and docents in costumes "role playing" historic figures of various sorts. It sounded good in theory, but a) the quality of role play was generally execrable, b) you couldn't possibly role play all elements of a character, so the RP was actually distorting impressions, and c) the lack of mediation between RPers and visitors meant that the RP was often misunderstood.

No one outside of a trained historian is going to be capable of RPing properly in this kind of sim. And, invariably, those who do RP are going to have their own take on what they are doing that probably has nothing to do with the historical facts.

So, an imaginative, engaging, and informative new way of communicating history, while still providing an immersive experience, needs to be found. But then, of course, we really are moving away from an open immersive experience, and towards a virtual museum.

It's worth checking out Oxford U's First World War Poets sim. There are problems with it, but it's not a bad stab in the right direction.

I'm very much involved with Living history in RL

What we have done with 1920s Berlin is just try and create a historically accurate location to visit and allow people to RP anyway they like.
So if people desire to do so, they can step out of character and discuss historical or post 1920s subjects.
In the end that is the best way to learn and educate after all.

How a sim works or not will differ from theme to theme, but right now I'd be happy just to find more sims that at least look authentic.