I stumbled across St John Parish in Second Life via someone’s Flickr stream when I saw some nice photos of the land. St John Parish is owned by Gabrielle Riel, Prim Minister, The Duchess of Carntaigham and makes up a group of sims that extend to Lake St John, Bayou St John and St John Woods.
St John Parish itself is a bustling urban sim with a theme set in historic New Orleans, Louisiana in the early part of the 20th century.
Rolpelay is positively encouraged but is not at all required. Indeed the rules will allow you to visit the sims without even being in period attire. However if you do want to get into theme then you should be looking at anything from Medieval to Victorian, to Edwardian to the early 1920’s, so quite a lot of scope.
This means you can generally stroll around, take photos and not get chased off the lawn for not being dressed in the right attire. However you may want to try and ensure you don’t get ran over by the tram that traverses St John Parish.
In terms of entertainment St John Parish offers ragtime and early Jazz.
However a fictional New Orleans wouldn’t be complete without a nod towards magic and voodoo. The sim welcomes Gothic and the supernatural, although the magic in these lands leans toward a Pagan direction. However in line with the flexible policies at play here all kinds of magic and faiths are welcome and that includes those who want to practice voodoo.
Many of the builds on show are the work of Mr. Eclectric Breitman and those renting on the sim are encouraged to utilise his buildings, which look to be included with the rental cost for no extra fee.
Further afield Lake St John and Bayou St John offer a water living environment for those brave enough and even more further afield is St John Woods, which had snow on my visit. Well the fine print does say the woods are magical!
However being in a virtual New Orleans isn’t enough to protect everyone from the elements. A video from Kara Trapdoor demonstrates the precarious weather conditions that can even hit a virtual world.
The St John sims are pleasing on the eye and have a relaxed feeling, but be aware of the voodoo that may lurk just around any corner!
SLURL To ST John Parish : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/St%20John%20Parish/148/146/23