As news of Queen Elizabeth's death spreads across the globe, mourners in the virtual world of Second Life have been converging into London City, a sprawling island devoted to the UK's capital. I have tried over the last hour to take photos of the impromptu memorial, but as avatars keep teleporting into London, the surroundings continue to be a blurry as actual London in the worst fog imaginable.
You can see them in the screenshot here, green dots indicating users from around the world, piling into the town square, where the British flag has been lowered to half-mast, and the audio stream has been changed from the usual Britpop music to somber songs played on piano and pan flute.
"May she be in God's arms half hour before the devil knows she's gone," announces a mourner in chat.
"There is music on the stream now," says someone who helps manage London. "I hope it is fitting. I'm raising a glass to Her Majesty The Queen!"
As is often the case, the serendipitous mourning is basically SLers gathering and chatting together in the wake of monumental offline news at a virtual world location with some mirror relationship to that news. (See also: Mourners outside the virtual recreation of the Eiffel Tower, after a terrorist attack in Paris.)
And as also befits Second Life, the arriving mourners include Superman in a Batman helmet, a sentient dog, and a humanoid fox (not to be confused), along with various supermodels. Many or most are from the UK, but mourners and well-wishers from outside Britain are arriving too:
"My condolences for your loss from Germany," says one.
"Even here in Switzerland they cancelled the normal programming," says another, standing next to an angel and a dragon in knight's armor. "It's surreal."
More images when (if?) the lag ebbs!
Update: Cajsa just sent me this somber image by Dazler Resident -- "RIP Queen Elizabeth II", shot in St Alban's Church in Alba:
Also this one via Cajsa by Calamity Clowie -- "I Rather It Were Coronation Day":
Our thoughts are with the UK
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