Wednesday 24 March 2010

Victoriana closes its Doors

It is with great sadness that I discovered that LittleBlackDuck Lindsay, the Mayor of Victoriana, will be closing down the sims very soon. After a glitch left his account without the ability to edit objects belonging to him (which is 90% of the infrastructure of Victoriana) and LL being unwilling or unable to fix the problem, LBD has decided to stop banging his head against the wall and pack up shop.

While I've only officially had a shop there for some three weeks, I've watched the sims grow and have stood in awe of the texturing finesse LBD displayed on his buildings. From his Caledopoly creation to his Golden Harp Pub the details were always done so that they looked like real buildings.


The main station at Victoriana Square.


Victoriana Town Hall


The Golden Acorn Pub - recreated from the Golden Harp.


The Interior of one of the Victoriana Trains. Each platform had a train announcement in English, German and French. And they run on time!


Victoriana Pavilion. Modelled after the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney the same as my own considerably prim-starved version in Babbage Square.


Mountain rail cars for the unfinished Victoriana Alpine sim


Pavilion Station


Based on Fort Denison in Sydney Harbour


The Pearl - possibly the longest running bawdyhouse on the grid.


The waterfront on Victoriana Harbour.


Victoriana Carnivale


The Salty Squirrel in Victoriana Lakeside.

I know several friends who have homes in Victoriana who will be much disappointed by this turn of events. Apart from being one of the best builds in SL, a community had developed that included tinies (the slightly less manic ones), and lovers of Victorian style. Victoriana was unusual in that it was probably one of the few 19th century sims that did not have steampunk or vampires wandering the streets. Floating castles were strictly forbidden and the sims were much nicer for it.

I wish LBD all the best on whatever future endeavours he attempts and hope that he may find a way to recreate this idea in some other form.

You'll be missed sir.

3 comments:

Rhianon Jameson said...

No floating castles? Nicer? Surely you jest, sir. You'll probably tell me that there were no gothic monstrosities, ghost-laden graveyards, or airship mooring posts, either! Well, to each his own.

Seriously, it was a beautiful Victorian spot, and I regret not spending more time there. I very much liked the RL inspirations for many of the builds.

Astolat Dufaux said...

I also regret not spending more time there --- I had actually been walking around over the weekend looking for storefronts to open a satellite location. *sighs*

I am seriously beginning to wonder about my own place in SL -- LL seems to go out of its way to alienate the very people who pay their salaries.

From my own experience in the RL business world, it never ends well when visionaries are replaced by beancounters.

Cathy said...

Your photos certainly capture some of the lost glory of Victoriana. A great loss.