Babbage Square: A day in the life of steampunk

Babbage Square: Master explorer and schmexy
sidekick about to be attacked by a giant robot

Originally uploaded by gavingarfield

 

First off, I do need to admit that no, I’m not at all a steampunk, though the style does very much intrigue me. For those unaware of what steampunk is, it’s a sub-genre of fantasy that pretty much came about in the 80’s and 90’s. It could be described as a cool mixture of 19th century Victorian mechanics mashed up with analog technology and sprinkled with a killer wardrobe. A diverse community of role players has surfaced around this phenomenon and in this blog post we’ll stop by a 7 sim Second Life build that is total steampunk…and the perfect place to go and satisfy your explorer cravings.

To get us in the mood, we went shopping for some steampunk clothing and accessories. Devin and I like to fully immerse ourselves in the explore…you’ll notice that in most posts we dress the part 🙂 So, we headed to the ultimate steampunk shopping mall, Industrial Steampunk Megaplex at  http://slurl.com/secondlife/FairChang%20Ampere%20Main/124/121/24. If this place doesn’t have what you need, then it probably doesn’t exist, and the vehicles they carry are pretty damn awesome…affordable too. One thing I didn’t realize until I visited this store was that there are various flavors of steampunk: badlands, classic, rogue, nocturnal, Victorian, etc. This shop has everything neatly arranged by category so you get easily find your exact style.

After we were spiffied up in our rogue-style steampunk garb (yeah I probably most relate to a rogue…chuckling), we headed for Babbage Square. We landed directly in front of Blak Opal Clothing which carries some very well designed Victorian style suits and accessories. The SLurl I’m providing, however, will put you in front of The Amazing Steam Powered Tree House, directly behind that shop. This is the one place on the build that I felt a little let down by…a name like that should be reserved for the “tree house of all tree houses”, not this small little build. It was a good  starting point for your exploring though – http://slurl.com/secondlife/Babbage%20Square/147/232/106. From here, you can go anywhere. This place is huge, so you may want to take to the air until you see something that catches your eye. Be sure to explore the insides of all buildings. I noticed that most private residences provide you with a notecard at the door welcoming you to explore if no one is at home. So the sim is very explorer friendly.

The most amazing thing is how the builders were able to maintain a common feel across 7 sims, but still offer enough diversity to really keep you interested. You’ll discover parks, waterways, churches, ice cream shops, venues, tea rooms, museums, factories, shops galore, a working railcar and so so much more here. The detailed 19th century architecture mixed with lasers, electricity, steam and amazing lighting is so well thought out and amazingly implemented. You’ll find Babbage Square is a great place for pics. Devin gave me the perfect environmental settings for photography in SL, which I’ve been using for several posts now. Maybe she’ll post and share with everyone 😉

As I flew over the sim, I came across a re-creation of Piermont Landing. I’m including a slight paraphrase from the notecard I received. This was a very cool little treasure to find:

“Welcome to Piermont Landing…located on the Hudson River in New York just across the river from Lyndhurst Castle, http://www.lyndhurst.org/…before being incorporated as a village in 1850, it was called “Tappan Landing”, “Tappan Slote”, and “Taulman Landing”. The pier at the landing was a major demarcation point for World War II troops. Today, it is a mecca of shops, galleries, restaurants and more.”

In the meantime, Devin was exploring on her own and came across the Phun Phactory…a park full of whimsicle little jumping contraptions and a giant lightning generator that she got caught in…lol…she had a bit of a static problem for the rest of the night. The direct SLurl to the Phun Phactory area is http://slurl.com/secondlife/Babbage%20Square/128/128/109.

So if you think you’d like to try out a little steampunk, then check this place out. It’s huge and will take you several hours to completely explore. We were there for at least 2 hours and barely skimmed the surface. For those of you who really feel up to the task, the sim is hosting a Steamfitters Industrial Gold Themed Ball on March 28th from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. SLT. I’m thinking about stopping by and truly hope to see some of you there.

To view the full set of photos from this explore, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/gavingarfield/sets/72157615818797228/. Also, be sure to drop us a comment and let us know what you think about our posts, or what you’d like to see in the future. We’d love to hear from you 😉

Later! -G