Sunday, August 28, 2011

Dark Steampunk Roleplay Encourages Machinima in Second Life

NeoVictoria (adult)

OK so Steampunk is cool and it's certainly one of the favourite "themes" in Second Life.  Steampunk Roleplay  is readily available and "Dark Steampunk Roleplay" isn't unknown, but what makes NeoVictoria different is that the idea of capturing the "stories" with machinima is actively encouraged and is one of the reasons for the two sim build's presence on the grid.

NeoVictoria (adult)

Described as "an experiment in machinima and free form roleplay"  this location uses the Community Combat System developed by Suzanna Soyinka in her City of  Lost Angels - and it's free.  You can visit as an out of character observer but do read the rule notecard and wear the tag.

NeoVictoria (adult)

The rule notecard gives the expectations/guidelines for machinima.  You can use the sim as a backdrop for your video without being involved in the roleplay but you must ask permission first - luckily it stated that I didn't need to contact them before taking photographs. :)

NeoVictoria (adult)

I admit that being the wuss I am I was a little hesitant to go look at any of the videos.  I mean they do spell out how "dark" the roleplay might be and that type of machinima is not my thing.  However, my fears were misplaced and if you go to their website you'll find lots more information and sample videos.  You do have to register to access most of the site pages but it's not a difficult process.

I like the idea of anything that encourages machinima and experimentation and more people doing both.  Giving people a reason to try the art form and a venue for doing it is a great idea.  If you're interested in steampunk, dark roleplay, making videos or just taking pictures I suggest you go visit NeoVictoria.  Here's a sample machinima.


1 comment:

Asil said...

I'm the owner of NeoVictoria. Thanks for the thoughtful article and the lovey pictures. One of my favorite things is seeing the project through the eyes of others. I loved what you did with the windlight settings to create such movement in the sky. Its a great contrast to the stillness of the builds.
Thanks also for stressing the machinima-aspect of the project. So far, eight machinima have been produced from the roleplay (they are all streamed on parcels in-world on the skylevel of NeoVictoria). The skylevel is out-of-character, so its easy to get a handle on the place before confronting the roleplay environment. We also have a Machinima Tools Building in the skymall on Machinima SIM were we host a self-paced tutorial for the BijoCam.