Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life, recently held a "Resident Choice Awards" contest to solicit nominations and votes for residents' "favorite" places in-world. When results were announced it was very predictably a popularity contest of who could get the most friends to vote on their behalf; with only 6000 people even bothering to participate (which is a pitifully small percentage of the total active population) it didn't take much to game the awards.

That's not to say that all winners were undeserving, even though it looks like the majority of those picked won in categories that were totally out of place; for example, a dance club that holds no concert events somehow got pegged as the best place in SL for live music.

Given that my own interests in Second Life involve creating miniature robotic avatars, I was naturally curious as to what "Insilico" was when it was awarded the best place for robots. While it wasn't a place I'd heard of before, I was quite happy to discover that it fell into the former category of "people who deserved the award."

Insilico is a sprawling four sim complex set in a very cyberpunk future; primarily it appears to be the handiwork of Skills Hak– at least a good chunk of the prims I inspected were created by her, and the group that controls the land was founded by her as well. While the sim appears to cater to roleplaying, it also has many robotic themed vendors, from full avatars to weaponry and clothing. I was really impressed with the build as well as its size. The complex really gives the feeling of a vast and intricately detailed city of the future. Flashing neon signs are everywhere, as well as machinery and piping and blinking lights. There's a definite Asian aesthetic as well, with many of the in-world advertisements and billboards (as well as some of the buildings) depicting this style.

It reminded me in many ways of my own sim, Sector 7, but taken to a much further extreme than I was able to do with limited resources and building skills. Overall it was an exceptionally impressive collection of sims and I really got lost exploring it. Every corner I turned it felt like there were more details to discover. I don't know if Insilico was put together as a solo effort by Skills, but I really boggle at the time and complexity necessary for even a small group of people to produce something as intricate as this.

If you haven't seen it, you definitely should check it out. This URL will teleport you there directly if you're already registered with SL: secondlife:insilico/217/148/3497/

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ZATZAi
19 Apr 2009 · 7:01 PM   (Quote)
Wow, definitely checking that out.