http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6632-5965
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ABSTRACT
The virtual world Second Life invites residents to plan, build and maintain their own social geographies. In this article, I draw on data gathered during a multi-year ethnographic study to explore the intersection between memory, nostalgia, place and belonging in Second Life. The article focuses on two packages of land, or ‘sims’, owned and designed by a single Second Life resident who is one of the most dedicated heritage creators. The 1920s Berlin Project and Time Portal are both popular sims in which physical, historical, locations are recreated and opened to the public to visit, rent commercial or domestic property and engage in the 1920s role play. These sims demand different types of historical engagement. Together, they offer a complex and nuanced portrait of the way Second Life recreates cities of the past.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
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Notes on contributors
Clarissa Carden
Dr Clarissa Carden is an interdisciplinary researcher whose work explores the intersection of morality and social change, with a particular focus on the lives of young people. Her broad body of research includes scholarship on the history and present of education in Queensland, memory and grief in virtual worlds, and historical juvenile justice.