SL12B, the annual community celebration, opened on June 21st. This year’s theme is “What Dreams May Come”. According to the SL12B website this theme was chosen because everything that appears in SL is born from someone’s dream and I can’t think of anything more appropriate than that. The SL12B website can be found here and is a great resource for those who want to visit SL12B. You can find SLurls to all the exhibits I mention in this post on their website as well as schedules of performances and other general information.
Builders Brewery
So far I have only visited a small part of the “Astound” region, but even so there have been many varied sites that exemplify the diversity of experiences to be found throughout SL. Fittingly, I think, the very first place I visited belongs to the Builders Brewery, which has helped so many avatars try to build their own dreams and really exemplifies the theme of this year’s celebration. You can read about Builders Brewery here.
University of Washington Avalumni exhibit
Nearby is the University of Washington Avalumni exhibit, where they declare “Aspirations Are Dreams You Work On Together”. Students in rl use both rl and sl collaboratively to learn and try to make their dreams realities. More information on the UW VW Avalumni group can be found here.
Entrance to Avatar Dreams
The next plot I visited was “Avatar Dreams”. In this case the avatar dream was broken down into 4 phases: Familiar, Nesting, Bonding, Living. On entering the building you started in the “Familiar” room, depicting the struggle we all have to become familiar with living in the new environment of Second Life. The next three rooms depicted the continuing journey of the avatar, finishing with “Living”.
Confederation of Democratic Simulators
Following this I went on to the exhibit owned by the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS). This group was originally formed in 2004. It is now a five region community operated by its citizens. They have their own constitution, code of laws and representative assembly, and from what I understand, they developed as a way to ensure that sims remained even though avatars come and go for various reasons, which can result in the loss of community. A overview of the history of the CDS can be found here.
Matter and Memory
One exhibit I particularly enjoyed was “Matter and Memory” , where photographs taken by Ziki Questi between 2011 and 2015 were on display.
Some of the photographs were a trip down memory lane for me, including a few of sims that no longer exist, while some I was not familiar with but still enjoyed because of their beauty.
Relaxing
Next door is a lovely little garden area named “Perfect Paradise” where you could sit and relax for a little while.
enjoying the scenery
However, nature can be surprising, I went to sit on a log near the entrance and was quickly swallowed up!
Disappearing!
I will leave the last word to the “No Dreams are Alike” display. Here you will find a bedroom with a large bed and interactive sheep (be careful!) leaping across.
Interactive sheep
After summarizing the exhibits I visited one can easily see how many different types of dreams individuals, and groups, have and realize that truly no dreams are alike and they are always under construction.
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Hibiscus in SL 