When I first landed on Memoris I was astounded. Of all people, I never would have expected the Japanese to build a Second Life cemetery. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t have imagined such a thing at all.
Half of my brain thinks it makes sense. Horrible as it sounds, someone you know in Second Life may die in real life, or they may leave (and for all intents and purposes be dead in the metaverse). Memoris offers a way to erect a memorial in a peaceful setting free of sex clubs and low flying skyboxes.
The other half of my brain thinks it’s just freaky.
The land rental rates seem to me to be fairly reasonable, but the memorials are sparse. That is to say, really sparse. I mean, really, really sparse. Most of the land is covered in unattractive (if at least subtly shaded) floating rental boxes. If only the management had made them stone tablets set in the ground, it would have salvaged the atmosphere somewhat. As it is, you sometimes feel like you’re in the place where rental boxes go when they die.
At the landing point you’ll find inexpensive funeral clothes and praying animations for sale if you don’t already own something appropriate. Most of the region is no-fly which makes walking the pathways something of a chore. If there were more to see besides the row upon row of rental boxes it would be more interesting. As it is, the region is still a good place for a quiet, contemplative walk… if you like rental boxes.
Did I mention that there were a lot of rental boxes?
Many of the memorials are not Japanese and the rental instructions are also in English, so if you want to erect a memorial don’t worry if you aren’t from that part of the world. It seems to be open to all.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Memoris/6/215/22/
