in Second Life there are many cultures, one very popular culture is that of Fictional Steampunk, a genre that originated in the 1980s based around an alternative time line where our Victorian time was more advance with the help of steam power and clock work. For those of you who don’t know what Steampunk actually is, it is normally associated with a dystopian future, where the advancement of steam power is used as the new technology, creating airships, analog computers and so on. This kind of culture became popular through books that featured Steampunk such as, Jules Verne novels, like ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ (1870), ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ (1873), and ‘A Journey to The Centre of The Earth’ (1864). It is said that Jules, also known as the Father of Science Fiction, single handed inspired this new culture, much like William Gibson, Frank Herbert and Bruce Bethke did for cyberpunk, but we’ll get onto that part of second life culture later.
The Community
Steampunk has become a part of our virtual world, almost all virtual worlds, in InWorldz there is a small Steampunk community but nothing compared to Second Life’s, (Although inWorldz is still growing rapidly everyday). The biggest Steampunk community in Second Life at the moment, has to be Caledon. Caledon is…well…just click here to read about Caledon its too much to cover again and we already wrote about it.
The Fashion
What we haven’t written about is Steampunk fashion. There are ton of it in Second Life, Victorian and Steampunk wear is one of the most popular kind of fashion out there at the moment, measuring up to Urban Wear, Vintage wear and Cyber wear. There are a lot of merchants who have dedicated their Second Life’s to making clothes that would immerse you in any steampunk or Victorian themed sim.
To name the most memorable Merchant right off the bat would be easy, BlakOpal, both have been around for ever (forever in Second Life time is around 2007- 2008). BlakOpal Designs was created by TriloByte Zanzibar who joined Second Life in 2008, since then he has been creating Victorian themed products for not only women but men. Not only does he offer Steampunk and Victorian pieces he also creates classic gothic and pirate attire. BlakOpal can be expensive flogging outfits for around 600 Linden (L$) top but, as any good merchant would do, he has a few freebies. All can be found on the Marketplace, as well as in world.
As I said before there are tons upon tons of merchants who create Steampunk and Victorian Themed content.
The Second Life Media
The Primgraph is the first magazine in Second Life that is dedicated to all things steampunk and vintage replayed. Apart of the Prim Perfect Publications family, the magazine offers it readers an insight into Second Life’s Victorian and Steampunk culture.
If you have an interest in Steampunk culture it is worth looking if you have any questions, the best place to start is Caledon.
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