“AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa– *SPLAT*!” That’s the sound of someone raising money for the American Cancer Society.
Saturday and Sunday, for the second year, Jade Lily and her team bring the the Relay for Life back to Second Life. Just like its real-world equivalent, the SL Relay for Life raises money by making people — uh… avatars, I mean — walk enormous distances for a good cause.
This year, Jade’s team has booked 12 regions just for the event, and have terraformed it to look at least somewhat not unlike a world map. The relay route winds through each of the continents, in which residents have replicated the sights and sounds of some representative countries.
Walk through the Americas and see the rainforests of Brazil, a pyramid in Mexico, a New York streetcorner in the United States, and assorted trees, rocks, water, and a CN Tower in Canada. If you’ve ever been to Canada, you’ll know that there isn’t much else there.
The European continent starts in Ireland, with a replica of a street, complete with an Irish pub. In the UK, the southern portion of the island is dominated by Big Ben and the Millennium Wheel, while — just like in real life — everything else is sheep, stone huts, and henges.
From there, you can meander through the Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Germany, and Italy, before winding up at a stunning vision of the Taj Mahal, which, as everyone knows, is right next to a major Chinese city. It’s a short jaunt from China over to the islands of Japan, from whose green hills you can virtually leap off and land in South Africa.
Ok, so the scale, proportion, and occasionally location are maybe imprecise, but it’s a remarkable build, and one that’s well worth visiting.
For my small contribution, I build an airship terminal in Germany, from which you can take an automated airship sight-seeing tour around 11 of the 12 regions. As well, I set up BASE jumping from Kyra’s recreation of the Eiffel Tower.
That’s right. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to jump off the Eiffel Tower, now is your chance to find out. Strap on a parachute, teleport to the top, and throw yourself into the wind. Oh, don’t forget the part where you turn on your auto-deploy altimeter, or the last thing you’ll hear is “SPLAT!”
