Sooooo..I was out sim hopping the other day, looking for new stories to share with our SL Enquirer readers. It was getting late, and I was just about to call it a night, when I noticed a glow on the horizon. I was intrigued and thought I would give a look before heading home. The closer I got, the brighter the glow, until I realized this was no mere hovel I had stumbled upon in the vast expanses of the SL Grid, but was instead a fully functioning CITY of massive proportions!
At the side of the road stood a sign, noting that I had entered the great and fabled RP build – Magnolia City. I located the Municipal Center and located the office of Mr. Vic Mornington, Director of Marketing. He was busy approving some newly printed posters announcing the upcoming FLICKR Photo contest they are running, and he graciously agreed to chat with me about this marvelous build.
Josh (Thomas1 Bellic) (JB): Hi Vic...for the benefit of our readers...just what is this place called Magnolia City all about?
Vic Mornington (VM):
Hi! So, to break it down to its
basics...Magnolia City is a family roleplay town which, as the name suggests,
is set up for town style roleplay. We
have the foundation elements already in place, police, fire dept, hospital etc. It's based in Florida, somewhere south of
Miami. Its currently at 7 regions, with the 7th region, the marina, currently
under development. There are plans for
future expansions of the city.
JB: But aren't there several
"RP Cities" in SL? What would
you say is the "Magnolia City" difference"?
VM: At the last
count, at least in the Destination Guide ran by Linden Lab, there are about 16
RP towns and cities. Some of them are in
the past (Victorian Age) some of them are sci-fi and set in the future. Magnolia City is set in the contemporary
current times. Practically all of the
large RP town and city communities are set either on the west coast, or the
north east coast. Magnolia is unusual in
that its set on the south east coast...Florida, where we can do some things a
bit differently than a lot of other communities have done, especially with the
landscaping of the regions
JB: OK. Share with us some of the history of Magnolia
City? Is there anyone still around from
those early days?
VM: It officially
opened on June 1st of 2024, so it’s still a relatively new community. At the start, it was a group of people who
were already all friends due to being in another RP town which was having
difficulties, later on that RP town basically shut down.
At the beginning of May of this year the original Magnolia
website was launched with a 30-day countdown to the regions opening up. Most of the people who moved in to the then
two region sized city are still around to this day,
JB: Who are
some of the key Movers and Shakers here?
VM: Well, you have
Niko as the owner, then Jenna as the City Admin and Roxy as the moderator. The landscaping is down to Dacio and Violet,
with Dacio being the design director for all 7 regions. The main departments, including my own
(marketing) is listed on the site here https://www.magnolia-sl.com/officials/
there are a lot of people who are running the roleplay side of things, the Fire
Dept and Police Departments for instance.
When it comes to the IT side of things, the Magnolia City
website is run by Niko and includes some things not seen before in websites
that cover Second Life RP towns.
Character sheets, job applications, a direct chat tie in to discord – it’s
all available on the Magnolia website!
Events are very important for any community in Second Life
as well. Well-run and regular events
ties a community closer together.
Electra runs the events department, and she going to get busy with the
Christmas season just around the corner.
JB: What types of activities can folks get involved with here?
VM: Events and RP
are the mainstays of Magnolia. Every week there are regular events on like
Bingo. Murphys Old Ale House has live
singers on as well and Loose Change has semi regular parties. My own bar will hopefully soon be starting up
mid-week events. Trivia night has
recently become a regular event in the city too and we also have games nights
ran by the Dept of Public Works.
The events aren’t just dictated by the staff either. Anyone living in Magnolia City can submit an
event idea in the Discord channel and the events team will work with them to
see if it can be done in Magnolia, the team will help organize it and even
provide a DJ if the person with the event idea doesn't know any DJ's.
On top of that, there is the roleplay. The police dept, fire dept, department of
public works, hospital, criminal group (yes, we have a criminal group), and the
DMV all roleplay around the town, currently the Dept of Public works is
replacing all the fire hydrants in the town, and medical dept is in the process
of giving residents flu vaccinations. Whatever your flavor of RP, there’s
something to do in Magnolia.
JB: I notice
several distinct areas here. can you
break it down for our readers?
VM: The original
two regions, Magnolia City and Paradise Palms laid down the foundation of what
is the eastern end of the city. A more
contemporary themed Floridian city with the beach and boardwalk taking up the
far eastern edge. Those two region
themes move north into the Coconut Terrance and Sunshine Keys regions which are
an extension of that city feel. The
western side of the city though slowly transforms into something you would
expect to see in the south of Florida.
Swamplands.
Bramble Brook, Mango Grove and then Mandarin Marina is the
first stage of the westward expansion of the city, with Bramble Brook and Mango
Grove being the first section of what will be a large swampland area in
Magnolia. The way it was landscaped is a
"Partial Drained" swampland, so yes, there are houses actually in the
swamplands that are only accessible by boat, there are off branch roads leading
in to more contemporary streets which are surrounded by swamps.
The entire northern edge of the town is the
"Downtown" area of Magnolia.
High rise condo apartments and hotels and a concentration of businesses
surrounding them (including the gym).
The main events park, which is a 100m x 60m open land area is, as the
name suggests, set aside for large events, like the Christmas event which is
currently being set up by the events team.
The area surrounding the events park is still currently under
construction but eventually will have the docklands and the new city hall.
JB: So,
Vic. Tell me about this FLICKR
contest? There must have been a typo on
the poster I saw because it said there are 40 THOUSAND lindens in prize money
up for grabs. Really? 40K?
VM: Nope it's not
a typo! The Flickr contest runs until
November 30th and the prize money is from the sponsors of the event, those
three women you seen in the video with the Scottish accents. They go by the name Charlie's Angels in
Second Life. So, they are putting up the
money for 1st place (25,000), 2nd place (10,000) and 3rd place (5,000). Judged by the angels and two of their blogger
friends if a tie-break should happen. If
you want more info, have a look at the post in the Flickr group here https://www.flickr.com/groups/magnoliacity
JB: Just where
might someone go to learn more about Magnolia City? Social Media sites, SURL, etc?
VM: All of the
major info on Magnolia can be found on our awesome website, to gain access to
it all you’ll need to make an account but once you do, you’ll have access to
job listings, character sheets and more!
https://www.magnolia-sl.com
I run the social media side of things, the two to keep an
eye on would be:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/magnoliacitysl/
and
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@magnoliacitysl
However, the Discord is the central place for chatter and
news.
The Discord main channels (Chat and RP Chat) have got relays
into the same group channels within Second Life. So, if you are in the RP and chat groups for
Magnolia City inworld, you can chat to those groups via Discord and vice
versa! You can find the Discord link on
the social media bar at the very top of the site page.
JB: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
VM: If you do
decide to visit Magnolia, I hope you have an awesome visit! Also, we have been running a Thanksgiving
month special rental offer for current and new renters. If you rent three weeks, you get one week
added free! That offer, like the Flickr
contest, ends on November 30th! If you
have any other questions, pop into the discord or just pop a message off to me
inworld! :D
So, there you have it, Folks. Whether you are a noob RPer, a more
experienced person interested in the field, or one with years under your belt
as a seasoned RPer…or just interested in visiting this amazing build…Magnolia
City is DEFINITELY worth checking out.
So, head on over to Magnolia City. Tell ‘em Josh sent ya.
You’ll be glad ya did
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Magnolia%20City/208/41/22
Be there! Aloha
JB
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