It is a notification that anyone on Second Life who has dedicated hours of crafting their picturesque parcel dreads to receive… their landlord will be shutting down the sim for good. Following what was a good hour of panicking, reading up on how to salvage some of the more beautiful parts of my recent work which were intended to make part of the Take That (In-Game) Snap Daily Photo series, I took a few moments to really admire parts of my parcel before demolishing it. While I mostly use Second Life for photographic purposes, this little beach is one area I have fond memories about – sitting around a virtual fire with friends, talking about crazy, creative ideas for hours on end.
Alas, this will not be the only slice of virtual environment which is lost to the nether, so be sure to appreciate that picturesque environment with a picture or three while you still can.
This photo was taken in Second Life. Second Life does have a reputation for more adult content (there is no shortage of that if you explicitly look for it). However, those interested in using it to build custom avatars and take great photographs will find a lot on offer from the user-created worlds, purchasable content for your avatars, a high level of customisation and clients dedicated to taking fantastic photos. Just beware that with high-quality content comes a potentially high real-world cost for digital assets.
Take That (In-Game) Snap Daily Photo is an off-shoot of the Take That (In-Game) Snap article series, in which the first article focusing on Final Fantasy XIV was recently published. This looks at, celebrates and critiques how video game developers have implemented professional photography-like systems into their games. It will cover how the systems handle, just how accessible they are and, where applicable, how a modding community might be making these tools even better. With this Daily Photo spin-off series, I will be sharing individual photos from the games either covered or soon-to-be-covered in the series.
