Caledonia: Latest Step in Storied Community

// January 5th, 2010 // Cities

A Great Place to Live and Visit

White sand beaches, a boardwalk, a village square, quiet country cottages; all these and more are what one would expect from a lazy beach town in which to vacation in. The cozy village setting is just perfect for mid-afternoon strolls and curling up in a window seat to read that novel everyone’s been talking about. Seagulls caw in the distance, and the majestic mountains make an impressive backdrop to this idyllic locale. Where do you book you next flight to, you ask? Nowhere of course, because all this is contained in Caledonia, one of the latest cities to spring up in Blue Mars.

Caledonia is an idyllic, quiet country village, and while it is new, it already has a rich history. If the village square and charming postcard neighborhoods get old, there are plenty of pathways to explore that snake all over the continent; there’s even a small desert for those of you who get sick of all the greenery.

Welcome to Caledonia!

Even though Caledonia is new to Blue Mars, it isn’t entirely new per se. Caledonia springs from the prolific and established community of Caledon in Second Life. Headed up by Desmond Shang, this community is more like a small nation, with it’s own history, traditions and government. The land mass of Caledon in Second Life is impressive, being around 40 sims that are all devoted to the same vision. What’s even more impressive is that Caledonia’s land mass is about a third larger than Caledon. With around 800 regular members of this fascinating community, there’s a very real presence and passion attached to this project which was started around four years ago. The citizenry of Caledon has been noted for being a rather creative lot, and they have spent countless hours creating, expanding and cultivating the Independent State of Caledon.

Mr. Shang, being the leader of this impressive group of people, has been creating a new continent in Blue Mars for the citizens of Caledon and newcomers alike to colonize since last April. Many of the people of Caledon are more than excited of the prospect of helping form this new colony, and the amount of talent and energy that will go into making it a living, breathing space is sure to be impressive.

Of course, creating things in Blue Mars is different from the creative process of Second Life, so citizens migrating from there (or those coming to set up their summer homes) will have a bit of a learning curve, though it will be important and meaningful in the development of both Caledonia and Blue Mars. A community of this size that isn’t a corporation is going to help a great deal of others in the future, because they are likely to create wikis, tutorials and set up workshops to further along the creative power of the greater community.

View of Bridge from Pathway

Another important aspect of the Independent State of Caledon staking a claim in Blue Mars is that it creates a much needed bridge between Blue Mars and Second Life. True, Blue Mars and Second Life are different beasts, and they each have their high and low points, but they still share some things in common. Right now, the amount of people using Second Life compared to Blue Mars is vastly larger, and many of the people from Second Life who show an interest in checking out Blue Mars are generally a bit put off. The big thing that the Second Life users crave is content, which is slowly but surely coming to Blue Mars.

Birdseye View of Village

With the people of Caledonia creating their homes, shops and other goods for other people to fill their homes and shops in the near future, it will serve as a proving point that it is possible for those familiar with Second Life to lead an alternate/supplemental life in Blue Mars. The other thing that Second Life users rather enjoy is a strong sense of community, and there are many groups in Second Life that testify to this fact. While it’s always great to cultivate a broader community throughout Blue Mars, it’s exciting and interesting to see other well established communities stepping in to strengthen and add to the depth of our new world.