Getting Natural

by Alphaville Herald on 01/02/05 at 7:56 pm

by Brody MacDonald

For those who think of Montmartre as only a fascinating island of paths and sculptures and all sorts of things to see and experience, a recent visit revealed even more to the place than at first meets the eye. After a tour of the island, your correspondent and his companion happened to encounter a monkey roaming the area who introduced himself as Higbee Protagonist, Master Ranger of the SL Parks and Recreation Service.

Having already visited many places of natural beauty in SL, it had never occurred to me that the grid might need a service for the preservation of these environments, just as in RL. With all the building and commercial activity going on in SL, many residents forget that there are people looking after the green spaces too.

Higbee and the SL Parks and Recreation Service have taken on the task, and are dedicated to preserving the natural spaces within SL. To make things convenient and informative, Higbee’s service also maintains the Second Life Parks & Recreation Service Registry (SLPRSR) on Kumori island. To be placed in their registry of natural spaces, the SLPRSR requires a site to have no clubs and to offer at least two recreational activities on the land, among other things.

The SLPRSR registry

Kumori Island is part of a chain of islands, including Montmartre, that forms Oceania, one of the continents of the SL grid. A map of the sites in the SLPRSR registry can be found here, with touchable prims that contain landmarks and images of the places within the registry. The registry so far contains more than 100 places and is updated regularly. (See Higbee’s recent forum posts on the matter at http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=33151.)

Kumori island

Kumori makes an incredible jumping off point for the natural side of SL. From islands to city sims and a huge alphabetical list of places on the mainland, the map is an invaluable service. For more information, dial up the Second Life Parks and Recreation Service web site at http://www.gabrielguyer.com/slparksandrec/.

Higbee piloting a tour of Kumori island