The recent Designing Worlds 250th edition grabbed headlines for Designing Worlds reaching such an impressive milestone and for an interview with Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg. However the carefully selected location of Matanzas has been somewhat overlooked, so I decided to visit the sim to see just why this impressive location was considered the ideal venue for the landmark edition of Designing Worlds.
The sim was chosen not just because of its undoubted beauty but also because in a very early edition of Designing Worlds they visited Skate Foss’ parcel on the sim and gave it a makeover. Skate Foss was so impressed with the location that over the years she became not just a parcel owner, but the owner of the whole island and it’s a very impressive sim indeed that exemplifies not only what can be achieved within Second Life but also how much you can pack into a sim without leaving visitors with the impression that they are treading in treacle.
Part of the challenge of most Second Life sims is to engage visitors and strengthen community. Matanzas manages to do both with a mixture of public and private areas. The private areas are for tenants of the sim and visitors are respectfully requested to avoid these areas but that’s not a problem because of the impressive amount of public areas on the sim and the impressive design that makes navigating the public areas such a pleasure. Amongst the early public areas are a public beach, Island dance floor and Cafe.
Then of course there’s public pool where visitors can lounge around and top up their virtual tans.
However this sim isn’t all sun, sea and beach parties. A lookout point with a canon at the ready to ward off rampaging pirate hordes offers shade and greenery.
Then there are the waterfalls, three in total with one main one and two smaller waterfalls.
Exploring further afield you will find a greenhouse, which is actually spookier than it may appear in my image. Not only are there cobwebs but inside is a spirit of sorts, possibly someone who was late paying tier!
For those who seek some solace there’s the chapel. I’m reliably informed that the chapel is a remnant from when the Spanish held the Island as a colonial sugar plantation. Using the islands protected bay and deep water lagoon for commercial use. The Chapel is the only structure that has survived since Colonial times and is a historic Island treasure. The Chapel is non denominational and available for rent for Non Island Residents. The Chapel can be used for weddings and such like as well of course as a place of prayer and meditation.
Now if you squint you may notice that in the above image there’s a sign saying “PRIVATE” this is of course to indicate that certain parts of the sim are not open to all and as I said earlier, this is not at all problematic as the design of the island encourages you to explore the public areas of the island with clear pathways that avoid the private areas.
However if the sun really isn’t for you then the sim offers a public forest. There are benches, an old shed, grapes, greenery, trees and even flies here.
This is a very impressive sim and well worth a visit because it really does exemplify how you can create a lot of content on a sim without infringing on the wishes of private tenants. The scenery isn’t just a pretty face, it’s part of what makes the sim special. Skate Foss should be proud of what has been achieved here.
SLURL to the Matanzas dock : maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Matanzas/241/129/22
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