Just after sitting down to begin this interview, Carricre Wind stands up and produces a shotgun. “Ah, hell,” she says and goes across the patio to dispatch a zombie that has just rounded the corner of the café. She receives some appreciative comments from the folks sitting around and having coffee (“Nice shotgun!” “Quick draw!”) as she makes her way back to the table.
Carricre Wind—known as Mama Cree among the residents of New Toulouse—made that gun herself. A nicely detailed and scripted double-barreled model, she gave it away to the locals for Valentine’s Day. Someone nearby asks about her trademark white snake, Basil, whom she usually wears as a sort of living shawl. Mama Cree tells him that Basil is the reincarnation of her dear, departed real-life pet, Thorn.
Asked how New Toulouse got its start, she says, “I believe you could call its start the old half sim I used to rent in Endless Destruction. I had built a little swamp next to the big hill that I had there. The whole place was sort of a beat-up Romanesque thing, and my friend Void Singer suggested I build a mansion in the swamp, so I built the building that is Rottoway and sort of just kept tinkering with the theme. A few terraforms and several more buildings later, people started to ask if I rented. Well, didn’t want to rent there, so … I started booking,” she says, grinning. “Void’s version of egging was along the lines of ‘Bet you a dollar you can’t do it’—which is, of course, the best way to get me to do something.”
Adding residents with ideas of their own created a whole new mix, and the evolution of New Toulouse surprised her. “I’m shocked that it stayed as close to my original idea as it has. Quite pleased about that too. I built two sims for Desmond Shang of Caledon, and seriously, within a week they were completely transformed into, well, um … crap.”
To Mama Cree, New Toulouse is “comfortable.” She didn’t return to New Orleans to research when building for the sim. “It’s all outta my head,” she says, smiling. She smiles a lot when talking about New Toulouse.
Carricre Wind calls herself a “tech-head” and a “graphics junkie.” Over two years ago, she read an article on Slashdot about the processor company AMD holding a board meeting in Second Life. “I’d never heard of it before, but as I’m reading the comments on the story, I see that nearly every gamer nerd on Slashdot hates hates hates SL. Well, I hate games usually, so I reasoned if they disliked it, and AMD liked it enough to hold a board meeting, I’d give it a go. Been hooked since.”
What keeps her here? The food? The weather? The bling? “It’s building stuff, and scripting stuff. 3D graphics is my utter passion—been doing it since high school. I love it, and frankly, I 3D model like most people doodle.”
This is utterly true. I’ve seen her “doodle” a miniature hearse right on the café table, incredibly quickly. No doubt it won’t be long before we see her roaring around town in the completed version.
Her decision to sell New Toulouse was a hard one. “Amazingly so, and I kept putting it off, too. When I first started to go out of pocket, which was surprisingly early on, I didn’t mind at all, ’cause I loved what was being done here by folks. But time rolled on, RL money issues crept in, and I figured it was time to turn the business side of it over to someone with a clue. Hell, if I could afford it, I’d just pay the tier myself every month and let everyone stay for free, but that ain’t happenin’.”
When she sent out the message saying that New Toulouse would have to be sold, she got surprisingly few responses from the residents, “which made me feel better. Was sure everyone would hate me.” She did hear from a lot of potential buyers “that were, well, idiots who just wanted cheap sims.” A few people offered to give her a bail-out so she could keep the sims. “But I didn’t want to do that unless I had to, ’cause I know me—I’d end up back at the same spot again. I’m way too eager to let rent slide for nearly everyone if they need it. So I was about to accept one of those when Miz Gabi [Gabrielle Riel] contacted me.”
Saved by the Riel, I suggest. “Too right,” she says, smiling. “And frankly, I think she’s the best thing for it. Known her forever and trust her bunches.”
In real life, she will probably be on her way to Mississippi around the time of Mardi Gras, and she might get to swing through New Orleans. “That whole part of the world will inspire me. Just hearing bugs at night will be enough,” says Mama Cree with another big grin.
Asked what she would like to see in New Toulouse that hasn’t yet happened, she laughs. “Well, that could be a long list! For starters, four more sims.” But that probably won’t happen for a while. “I need to build the ferry still. Would love to remake the streetcar. More gators, perhaps a few muggings, buskers …”
At the next table, a longtime resident wonders aloud why we can’t just let artists and buskers set up in the square. Mama Cree answers, “Oh, I think the market doesn’t get used as much as I had hoped. So since I will soon be shopless, I may well use it.” Of course she will be staying in town as a builder. “And a tavern owner,” she says, smiling.
Another zombie shambles around the corner of the café. Mama Cree sighs, raises her gun, and aims.
Photo credits: Henri Godenot, Gwynn Blackburn
Originally published on January 21, 2009.
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