Second Life doesn’t have an equivalent of the wayback machine, however the Second Life Origins section of the destination guide allows us to step back in time and experience Second Life in its former glory in parts. The section has replicas of old experiences as well as having the old places that are still really there!
Let’s start by going back to 2002, before Second Life was officially even born. This is the pre-release world and a visit to the first Second Life region, we’re going to Da Boom!
Alas I did not find the disco that I’ve seen pictured in Governor Linden’s mansion. However I did find a part of mainland that has a special area, the Linden playground! This is protected land, it sits near the middle of the sim and it has an arch built by Alberto Linden, whose age is quite eye catching.
This isn’t a replica, this is a real sim, there are stores here owned by existing residents, there’s the amusingly titled Primternet cafe too. This is where it all began and it’s quite a nice location, people aren’t arguing about access here because of that special piece of protected land giving everyone a pleasant experience.
Da Boom
Visit Da Boom, the very first region in Second Life, founded in 2002. It’s named after the real-life “De Boom” street in San Francisco, and Residents have speculated it’s also a reference to the “Big Bang” of our virtual world’s conception.
Visit in Second Life
However the section of the destination guide isn’t just about pointing us in the direction of old sims, it also points us in the direction of Linden Lab giving thanks to their old residents.
The Beta contributors wall is an unassuming plot, it’s merely, as it’s title suggests, a wall, but it’s a wall with over 1500 names of beta residents on it. Now unfortunately you’re certainly not going to be able to read these names on this blog post, they don’t read that well on the larger picture either.
This is something you will have to really visit yourself if you’re interested. Some of the names you will recognise, some of the names are still active in Second Life, others have unfortunately moved on to other worlds, planes, hobbies and more. Some of the names on this wall even used to excite Lindens. I can remember being at an office hour when the Linden holding the meeting suddenly realised that the person who had just left was a lifetime account and got quite excited about it.
The wall itself is, as I said earlier, intended to thank those early beta pioneers.
The inscription pretty much reads :
The 1500+ names listed here recognise the most active residents who made the Second Life Beta a tremendous success. Whether you are still part of the journey or someone we hope will one day return, you are all part of this community. A big thank you from all the Lindens and a promise of much more excitement to come.
Second Life has changed a lot since those heady days.
Beta Contributor Wall
Second Life continues to grow thanks to its Residents, and this monument recognizes the early “beta pioneers” who helped make the baby steps possible and pushed SL into the public eye (in hand — get it?). Head north to find a public sandbox that’s still used to create content, and farther north to check out what an old Welcome Area used to look like.
Visit in Second Life
The final place that I visited during this investigation in to Second Life history is actually a replica, rather than an original location. However the Old Orientation Stations at Dore are important to visit if you’ve ever wondered about ways to improve the new user experience because they are a replica of the orientation experience of 2003. The oriental theme probably wasn’t the best joke ever told in Second Life! However these huts do make for fascinating viewing.
The huts contain instructions on how to perform some of the basic features of Second Life, changing appearance, moving objects, flying, chatting etc. There are some fun tasks to engage with, such as talking to a parrot to learn to chat. Bear in mind here that as this is a replica, the information in some cases is most definitely out of date. The viewer has changed a lot since then. However as piece of a history and an example of how things used to be done, it’s a good place to visit. Some of the concepts really weren’t that bad at all and could be polished for use in today’s new user experience.
Old Orientation Stations at Dore
How did early Second Life Residents learn the basics? These Japanese-styled orientation stations are an essentially unchanged replica of lessons from 2003, so the information is outdated, but the nostalgia lives on.
Visit in Second Life
There are more locations in the Second Life origins section of the destination guide and they all appeal to me. Some of the places I’ve never heard of, others, such as Governor Linden’s mansion, I’m quite familiar with and there are some really good bits of history inside the mansion including old photos galore.
If you’re a fan of Second Life history, you probably should check out this section of the destination guide.
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