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So as regular readers remember, last month I did a review and photo essay regarding a commercial eight-sim area known as Second Life New England, using the opportunity to also opine a little on the two main types of SL players that currently exist ("Immersionalists" and "Augmentalists" -- and please leave a note in the comments, by the way, if you know who originally coined these terms, because I'm curious). That in turn prompted an in-grid IM last week from Barb Carson, co-owner (with RL husband Montecore Babcock) of the venture; and while she enjoyed the article, she was mentioning to me, she felt compelled to point out some of the inaccuracies I originally reported:

1) That Bear of Bear's Marinas (in this case the Nantucket Inn at SL New England) is not officially affiliated with their organization, although they do have a good relationship (he's actually a resident there, in fact);

and 2), that as much as they wanted to claim credit for being wealthy land barons and the owners of eight full-permission sims, the truth is that there is actually a second kind of large-land purchase within Second Life that I didn't know about, much less expensive than full sims but with a lot of fine-print attachments. Known officially as a 'void,' this option gives you four full sims' worth of land for the price of one normal sim; but you still only retain the same amount of prim permissions as one normal sim would give you, basically making three of those sims not good for anything else but simple nature builds. Add to this that you must already be the owner of a full-permission sim, in order to be eligible for 'void' purchases; and you can see that this option mainly exists for professional commercial developers, to encourage them to build more waterways and other natural elements surrounding their main retail and housing areas.

While I had her, I asked Barb if we could perhaps conduct a short interview as well; she happily obliged, as well as Babcock in a few interjections, found scattered throughout the transcript below. I thank them both for enjoying the original article, despite the inaccuracies; and remember, if you ever find anything inaccurate in the entries published here, please do let me know by comment or email so that I can correct it. Hey, you try running a daily publication without some eager fact-checking intern!

In The Grid: So tell me just a bit at first about how the concept of SL New England came about, before you yet owned any land.

Barb Carson: I grew up on Long Island, boating and deep-sea fishing. My summers were spent on month-long trips up and down the coast of New England. And when I came here [and started] buying and selling [SL estates], my dream emerged to develop property here. I got very quickly into real estate, and naturally the vision was to make here the memories I had from RL.

ITG: Oh, so land deals were something you got involved with right away here? Did you have RL experience with that subject?

BC: I'm a physician in RL, but I've always had a dream of real-estate development. My brother-in-law mentioned SL after seeing an article about Anshe [Chung, a former unemployed housewife who now owns 10 percent of Second Life's total land mass], and I came in and checked it out. And before I knew it, I owned 160,000 square meters of mainland, mostly waterfront.

Montecore Babcock: And I followed shortly thereafter.

BC: Montecore is my RL husband.

ITG: Ah, I see.

BC: As I was busting my butt to find mainland deals, I realized my passion was to build an immersive experience. I no longer live near the coast -- but here, I could make it what I remembered.

ITG: It's cool that your desires for real estate and this science-ficiony idea of creating a whole little New England have come toether like this.

BC: So one day I bought [my first] sim. 'The East End,' I named it, postion B1 on the map [seen in the photo above --Ed.], after eastern Long Island. [Plus], we're on the eastern end of the [overall] SL grid. You can't go more east [than us].

MB: Right along the most eastern edge of the SL map too.

BC: Eastern Long Island was a big whaling port and during the war was exciting to hear the stories about the german subs off the coast

ITG: And so was I accurate in saying that your revenue comes from a combination of land sales, rentals, commercial space and events?

BC: [Actually], our revenue comes almost entirely from land sales and the casino. I have been extremely blessed with hooking up with RJ Kikuchiyo. He's a fellow New Yorker, and he and I share the same [vision] for what SL New England should be. He's helped give Nantucket a commercial viability, and we plan to have that as a major source of income as well.

ITG: Because of the goals you mentioned, you have a pretty strict covenant here on what can be built. How did you go about picking the guidelines you did? Historical research or childhood memories?

BC: The covenant's been a learning experience. It has not been entirely successful, having our builds restricted simply to "in-theme," and [as a result] have changed the covenant for the new sims we have coming. At first we had people come on, buy land, and a couple [of them] put up very appropriate houses; but for the most part the build theme has been a tricky proposition. When RJ came on, he was instrumental in changing that; because he built like a busy bee, and put his houses on empty plots.

ITG: So originally, you didn't do it like the RL Celebration Florida, for example, where you gave new land owners something like six, ten different house styles to choose from?

BC: No. We have a website link in the covenant [to guidelines on proper building]; but we found that while the shapes [of customer creations] may be roughly right, texturing makes the difference. So our covenant has actually gotten even more strict where that's concerned [because of now offering prefabricated houses], and it's hurt us and helped us too.

ITG: Was it that residents just needed some help? Or was there not enough interest in realistic New England style building, and all the extra time that comes with the details?

BC: My experience has been that people came in and bought because they liked the [landscape], the quiet...[but] then when faced with the need to [build or] buy a house, they were lost. And given that we have a restriction on the size of home, it made it even harder for them to find in-theme builds. RJ has been key in helping that along, and we hope his business in SL thrives [since] he fills a niche not occupied

ITG: That sounds almost like a blessing in disguise; that as you're helping landowners build model homes, you could turn around and sell them again through a commercial or retail venture.

BC: We've had people move out because of the theme requirements. RJ [only] provides prefab [and customization], but it's a major help to have someone we can send our owners to. RJ builds a lot of real-life replicas.

ITG: And what have been the best ways to get the word out about SL New England? What kind of marketing and promotion does a larger real-estate concern like yours turn to?

BC: We've formed a wonderful team here, a team connected in the SL sailing community; Tasha Kostolany, Izabella Bentham and others. And that's our main customer base. Word of mouth with sailors. I post in forums; but mostly [it's about] just providing immersion, and being a tiger at protecting it.

ITG: How many tenants do you need to maintain to keep from going broke? Or is part of [SL New England's] budget merely your family's entertainment budget? Do you treat this like, say, having cable television or TiVo?

BC: Good question. Montecore is the financial brains; I'm the impulsive dreamer, so I don't have strict numbers. But honey [turning to Babcock], didn't we figure 40-percent occupancy was break-even? It's not a simple equation.

MB: As we've said in the past to others, this has been done [mostly] as a labor of love, not money so much.

BC: And then I went and bought six more sims [laughter]. There always seems to be a need for more room, to totally realize the dream.

ITG: Given your stated goal, of bringing a bit of New England back into your life, it must be just a real pleasure to simply walk around here and exist.

BC: Mostly a pleasure, often a headache, always fun. Especially with the team we have now. There's no way one or two can do this alone.

ITG: And do you find it mostly RL New Englanders moving in, or people around the world?

BC: We have very few New Englanders, actually. We have a Scot...

MB: We have some from England.

BC: A couple of Brits.

MB: A German...

BC: A Long Islander. One from New England. One from the midwest who has visited Nantucket.

MB: Some from California.

BC: I've talked to a lot of people, though, who want to live on a particular sim just because of what it's named. Gloucester, Martha's Vineyard. It really speaks to the power of SL, to bring it all back to something almost tangible.

ITG: That's interesting. They like having those specific names for their SLurls, do they?

MB: It's like a brand name.

BC: I swear I can taste the saltwater sometimes.

ITG: Well, it is a freakily immersive environment here. You can definitely see the power here of having one central group in charge of all development.

BC: This project would have fallen on its face long ago, if it wasnt for RJ and Tasha, Izabella, many others. I can barely keep up with the busy work, and I don't build, texture or photoshop [either]. We've been blessed with many dedicated workers.

MB: We have. Workers who share the same vision.

BC: Not to mention that I'm a doctor in RL, and have an [busy] career [already].

ITG: So let's talk a little about your future plans, which you said are going to be a little different.

BC: The future looks really bright and amazingly exciting. [Turning to map] If you look on the map again -- Mystic and Jamestown, A3 and B3, are full sims that are ordered and set to arrive in a week. Mystic will be residential and a little commercial. We're experimenting with some innovative residential ideas; ground-level apartment buildings connected to sky apartments. [It's a way] to spread prim usage and maximize land.

ITG: And will they be in a New England style too? Floating Victorians?

BC: The ground-level builds will, yes, but the sky builds will not need to be in-theme. [We'll also] have townhomes. Jamestown will be all large residential plots. [So] in addition to that, we're adding another void too, in positions A4, B4, C3 and D3. [Plus] we've agreed to allow one of our residents who has bought [their own full] island to connect to us. So our sailing area will be the best in SL, which I think we may be already; but [in this case] we have a great collaborative team, and we're really thinking out land placement with that in mind.

ITG: Sounds like maintaining lots of open water is still a high priority.

BC: Yes. The channels we cut through sims are designed with racing sailboats in mind. It strikes me when looking at the map, how much we have learned [about terraforming]; the small channel through the vineyard, for example. You can truly mark when the sailors joined the [terraforming] team, by how our landscape has evolved. I think that's an important point to make here; that while the original vision was mine, it's gone far beyond that with the right people. People whom have stimulated the evolution of my dream even further than I could imagine. And it's no longer my dream; it's everyone's [laughter]. I chuckle, because recently I tried my hand at DJing; and it was apparent to me one night, while I watched residents from my sims dancing and chatting with one another, that we're becoming like a small town here. We've [already] had one Nantucket town meeting, and will have more. I have live-stream updates on what is happening, field questions and comments. We really do get to know each other.

ITG: In fact, that's what I was going to end with -- that for anyone still confused, there's actually lots of things to do here for both the casual visitor and serious/repeat one, just like a real-life small tourist town. Clubbing, a casino, hanging out with like-minded people, shopping, sailing, and the opportunity to own your own estate.

BC: Yes; we encourage tourists, just like RL New England. It's the full package all in one place, and Monte and I are very visible here.

ITG: So all in all, sounds like it's been a pretty successful experiment for you.

BC: Yes. One that's very overwhelming at times, but always fulfilling. And the people we've met...the friends...it's very rewarding. I don't go to the mainland anymore [laughter]. How do they survive over there?