Those of you wishing to escape the trappings of the real world for a few hours, can take solace in what is arguably one of the finest online sims for Doctor Who. The 'Katrina' region of SecondLife, is a land dedicated to Doctor Who, with painstaking attention to detail from a team of designers who, quite frankly, are geniuses.
But what is this SecondLife? Isn't it that online virtual world that you sometimes hear about in the news? Well…yes…it is, but the Katrina sim is a little different, in that it has everything a Doctor Who fan could want, housed in a friendly, inviting, and thoroughly entertaining area. It's a place where everything you ever wanted to do in the Doctor Who universe, can actually happen and become reality, albeit, virtually.
The sim is an incredibly loyal reconstruction of the Cardiff bay area, complete with Roald Dahl Plass; Millennium Centre et al (pictured). The best part is that within this familiar setting are attractions that will be of interest to all Doctor Who fans; including a Doctor Who Museum / Exhibition (pictured), a cinema (streaming Doctor Who related YouTube videos), as well as the ability to walk through and operate a wide variety of TARDIS' from the show. You can even dress up as your favourite characters from the show, and take part in battles as your favourite Monster / Villain.
Doctor Who Online has its very own base in Katrina next to the museum (pictured), where you can find out about the site as well as listen to our latest podcast episodes, purchase SecondLife Doctor Who inspired T-Shirts for your Avatars, compare prices for the latest Doctor Who merchandise, and much more.
There are plenty of themed events to take part in too - some of which DWO will be organising in the near future. Our friends over at fellow Doctor Who podcast, Podshock, have a SecondLife meet-up on 27th February in the Katrina sim between 1pm-6pm PST.
One other particular feature of the sim that is worth a special mention, is the Hands of Omega Time Travelling Capsule range. The Hands of Omega team have worked hard to produce fully operational TARDIS' that users of SecondLife can buy and fly around the sim. Just hop aboard your Police Box, set the controls to a location in SecondLife, and within seconds you will be transported through time and space.
One cannot help being reduced to a child as you spend hours playing with the numerous controls and landing in reproduced locations from the TV series. The sheer hard work and effort that the team have put into the range is admirable to say the least. Worthy of a special mention is their 11th Doctor TTC (pictured).
So if you find yourself with a bit of time to spare this week, we strongly encourage you to check out the Katrina Doctor Who sim in SecondLife. It's totally free to use, and the SecondLife software can be downloaded from http://www.secondlife.com/. Don't forget to stop by the DWO SL Base!
** The Doctor Who Katrina sim and Hands of Omega are both non-profit and no copyright infringement is intended.
+ Download the SecondLife software.
+ Watch a SecondLife orientation video by Victor1st Mornington.
+ SLURL for the Katrina region of SecondLife.
+ SLURL for the DWO SL Base in SecondLife.
[Source: Doctor Who Online]
