The Alphaville Herald

Wizard Alley Opens on Time – More Magic in SL

by Pixeleen Mistral on 03/03/07 at 11:19 am

Residents pleased with magic wands, school uniforms

by Curious Rousselot, Magical Affairs Department

Wizard Alley now open

Excited students and teachers of the Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry were celebrating Friday as the recently closed Magic Alley re-opened in Oahu as the new Wizard’s Alley. Students, staff, and vendors crowd the new Alley chatting excitedly about the return of their beloved Harry Potter themed sim – and hints about a party today – March 3rd from 4 to 7 PM SL time.

As reported in the Herald, the Harry Potter fan sim Magic Alley was shut down on February 1, 2007 after the stress and effort of maintaining the sim became too much for the owner, Petra Carpenter. Although this came as a shock to many of the students who frequented Magic Alley, the inner circle of developers, builders, and others who helped Petra build the sim were well aware and supportive of her decision. The general consensus was that Petra should not suffer to maintain the sim and all felt she made the right decision despite their personal disappointment at the loss.

Almost immediately a team, lead by Harry Prefect and others who helped with Petra’s Magic Alley, began planning a replacement. With the generous donation of a private island, by Darcy Rutledge, the build began shortly after Magic Alley had closed. Some of the buildings from the original sim had been transplanted along with some new building. The effort and attention to detail to build so much in so short a time shows their dedication and skill.

the Leaky Cauldron

During the down time, there have been a number of concerned students and faculty worrying about what would become of them. Some questioned where, or indeed if, they could still get school uniforms and magic wands. The merchants of Magic Alley had, of course, stores and stalls in other magic/fantasy related sims and RP areas so indeed, the products were available, though a little more difficult to find if you didn’t know where to look. Most, if not all of merchants of Magic Alley are already set-up in the new Wizard’s Alley as they were permitted early entrance to the sim to set-up their shops and wares. Lily Lewellen, one of the merchants said, “I was up all night working on new items and I haven’t gone to sleep yet”.

Excited staff and students were informed that the new sim would open on-time at 8:30 AM Linden time on March 1 – along with some teasers about a bigger Alley and “castle still under construction and a party to celebrate the event Saturday March 3rd from 4 to 7 PM Linden time.

This reporter was unable to attend the initial opening, but Lily Lewellen informed me that, “[there was a] a mad rush of people”.

Cricket Bailey, one of the displaced students said about the new sim, “It’s great, I love it! I can’t wait till the school term starts”.

When I spoke with Lucius Zhukovsky, another of the students said about the new sim, “It is an amazing place” and about The Leaky Cauldron, where we spoke, “this place is rather cosy”.

Hogwarts Express

The joy of the first day was marred a bit at around 5:00 PM when a housekeeping accident resulted in most of the buildings in the Wizard’s Alley part of the sim getting returned to their respective owners. Darcy Ruttledge was quick to react by politely asking everyone to vacate the sim and to call Linden Labs and request a rollback of the island.

The RP sim for Harry Potter fans uses the group “* Hogwarts Reborn *” as the basis to get new entrants started and another group, called “* Houses of Hogwarts Reborn*” to place students into their respective houses. The sim and groups are about role play in the world of Harry Potter as explained by the introduction to the group, “This is the official group for the role play based on the world invented by J.K. Rowling”.

We are told to expect more in this new sim. Efforts were already well under-way for a new castle/school reminiscent of the Hogwarts school from the books by J.K. Rowling and the movies spawned by that series. The plans include a town similar to Hogsmeade, where Hogwarts was located. Who knows what excitement awaits the eager students and teachers of this lovingly crafted sim. Only time will tell how fantastic it will be but the early indicators are very promising.