I haven’t seen many food-oriented islands in Second Life, and the ones I have seen are focused on the sweet stuff, like Pocky. There are definite differences in approach, however. Where Pocky Island is a masterpiece of surreal food-based construction, Ben & Jerry’s Island is a triumphant balance of content and style.
On the style side, Ben & Jerry’s is a bright and cartoony world. It’s as if you’ve stepped into one of their ice cream labels. Giant ice cream cones and contented cartoon cows decorate the landscape. In the factory tour cartoony machines squirt out cartoony pints of ice cream. Even the factory itself looks like a smiling, cartoony face on one side.
On the content side, they emphasize their commitment to the environment at every turn, in ways that are subtle and less so. The factory tour shows how they use their recycled waste water to grow plants for use in their products. Windmills abound outside. The building has solar panels. And so on.
There’s also fun to be had. Outside you can grab a HUD and play Methaniac, a game where you collect as many “meadow muffins” as possible before the timer runs out. A meadow muffin is cow poo (though in this case, shaped like a muffin — those are some amazing cows!). When you deposit your muffins your score will go on the leader board and (here’s the content again) you’ll learn how the methane trapped in the muffins can be used for energy. Yes, we’re talking poo power.
Next door, Ben & Jerry’s has their own Orientation Island. There you can find some freebie avatars. While you can toss the skins (one step up from newbie skins) the t-shirts are really quite nice. Finally, someone is listening to me.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ben%20and%20Jerrys/109/160/27/
http://slurl.com/secondlife/BenandJerrys%20Orientation/101/152/26
[...] island is done in that kind of fantasy-land cartoon style we’ve seen in Ben & Jerry’s and the much-missed Pocky. That look can be a lot of fun, and there’s a redeeming hugeness to [...]