Vintage Internet Joke

During yesterday's Tech News Today (TNT) podcast (Web) I was excited when it was suggested that folks skip the Nintendo Wii hack that allows one to take a virtual tour of various places such as Venice, Italy via Google Maps (Web) and simply go to Second Life to do it.

Then the other shoe dropped.

Natali Morris: "Does anyone use Second Life any more? It is such a vintage Internet Joke."

((sigh))

So I thought I'd zip into SL and take some magnificent pix of Venice's Grand Canal then send them off to Natali and the hosts of TNT to show how wonderful Our World can be for visiting historic and scenic places. After visiting three places, I changed my mind.

There is no water at Venice Grand Canal (SLurl) at all. Just a bleak, gray sky and lots of asphalt and a diner.

Venice Island appears to be Private Access Only as teleport attempts consistently failed. There is water, however.

Venice Isola (SLurl) has a river and tries to capture the romance one might find in Venice, Italy, but falls rather short with blinding Glow and Full Bright on most prims.

Venice Passion (SLurl) looks like Venice, Italy! There's the canal, the fabulous bridges, tons of buildings right on the water, and shopping, but no romance for me. That guy is my brother. I coaxed him to coming with me and in this pic I'm trying to get money out of him so I can buy things ... threatening to push him into the river if he doesn't cough up the $Lira.

The latter place is as close as I was able to find in-world, though if you visit The Particle Laboratory in Teal (SLurl) there is a bit of a Venice feel and you can ride a gondola. Maybe Venice does exist, but using the Map or Search fails to find it. As I've recommended before, La Perla II (SLurl) is probably the best place to experience the feel of old Italy, but you can do a lot worse than Venice Passion.

So I have to say "No, Natali, you can't really visit Venice in Second Life, but there are quite a few other spots that are absolutely fabulous in their own right, so don't think of Our World as an Internet Joke." Then I'd refer her to my "Official Recommendations" posts on this blog or just looking at the Second Life Destination Guide (Web) for great places to visit.