The Forest

The Forest is an island simulation in Second Life. While under the ownership of Anshe Chung, it was operated until late May 2006 by members of the Second Life furry community (these members have now moved to Serenity Woods). The adjoining furry-only residential islands of Tiger Creek, Bunny Bay, Turtle Reef and the Coyote Islands are considered part of The Forest region, and their land tier and rental income go towards the upkeep of the main island.

Items of interest included an art gallery, a set of apartments, and the mostly-underground Forest Store, with material separated into PG, Teen and Mature levels. A pub (possibly entitled the Fox & Feather, although this may be the name of a previous pub) was recently built, but just as recently destroyed in the action that triggered the change of administration - ironically, it was one of the few buildings standing afterwards. The sim's nightclub, Club Essence, was also under renovation at the time of the disruption.

Staff and membership (2005-May 2006)
The Forest was a Second Life group. Its officers, known as Forest Guides (apart from Anshe Chung), included:


 * Eirinn Overdrive
 * Ron Overdrive (Events Manager)
 * Walter Faddoul
 * Yiffy Yaffle (Head of Security, Art Museum Manager)

History
The Forest was created on 12 January 2005 by Spade Richelieu. In April 2005 Spade sold it to Anshe Chung, a well-known Second Life land baron, and it became part of their collection of connected island simulations, Dreamland.

Shortly after The Forest passed into Anshe Chung's possession it was mysteriously erased. The only surviving artifact from it's previous era was half of the Fox & Feather pub. This led to a spontaneous spasm of rebuilding in which The Forest was reinvented as a woodland-themed furry sim.

Many people, both furs and humans, took part in the rebuilding. Major contributors were Thili Playfair, Miles05 Reitveld, Fargo Divine, Alazarin Mondrian as well as Chad Statosky who managed to recover and rebuild the store on his own. Countless others joined in and helped to redefine The Forest, with the giant tree, Yggdrasil, dominating the skyline.

Over time, further additions and refinements were added such as the treehouse apartments and the Sky Village with a runway to accommodate pilots who sought to fly the skies of Second Life. The Forest Store was later rebuilt by Obsidian Stormwind and managed by DeForest Shatner who turned it around into a revenue-earning venture for The Forest before passing it on to the current Forest administration.

Club Fur used to be located in The Forest. Shortly after ownership passed to Anshe, the club moved to FurNation Worlds. Club Essence was created in its place, but disappeared in early 2006 in "unfortunate circumstances".

The Art Gallery was opened in September 2005.

On March 7th 2006, The Forest was relocated one block north of its old location on the Second Life map, and its original location was replaced by Bunny Bay. The addition was made due to the virtually complete occupation of Tiger Creek, and, according to Anshe Chung, to reduce lag for residents on its northern border.

In mid-April, a new island appeared to the north of The Forest, entitled Panther Crossing. As of 21 April the purpose and form of the land is not yet clear. In late May, the Coyote Islands appeared to the west of The Forest.

Controversy


A crisis arose at the end of May when Anshe demanded 1/4 of the area of The Forest be rezoned for commercial development. Anshe claims two months' notice was given, while the Forest Guides claim two weeks. Either way, when the deadline expired without a choice, Anshe wiped the southeastern 1/4 of the island clean, including The Fox & Feather tavern and several residential and rental properties. The land was lightly re-forested and occupied by the familiar " ANSHE CHUNG.COM" buttons.

Protest was swift, in the form of large black banners and buttons from Alazarin Mondrian reading " BANS HEE DUNG: You know she dont give a shit" (sic). In the early hours of 29 May, most of the content of the sim was returned to its owners, and then a previous version of it was restored. Much material in the sim was owned by its designer, Yiffy Yaffle, who promptly removed it, rendering around 80% of the sim bare of trees, housing and decoration, including the Forest Store.

The Forest Guides made offers of alternatives to the commercial activities section, but claimed that they were not responded to, nor were to the previous attempts at communication regarding management of the sim. Anshe ultimately removed power from the Guides when it became clear that they were opposed to implementing her policies, and the Guides removed their content in response. Rebuilding was undertaken later that day by the Dreamland administration, starting with a temporary version of the store. Many of those who left went to Wolf Valley. Plans to create a separate sim were voiced by former Guides, and a petition for investigation was created.

As of May 30th 2006, the officers' title of "Forest Guides" has been changed to "Dreamland Angels", a generic officer title used on all of Anshe's controlled properties (regardless of the sim's theme). At the same time, Anshe created a new sim group (Forest Friends) when her attempt to delete the sim's original group (Forest Fans and Friends) failed. The argument used to try to convince the Lindens to terminate this group was the allegation of griefing attacks within it against her persona.

The Forest remained very bare at the start of June. Meanwhile, the former Guides moved to a new sim, Serenity Woods, created less than a week after their departure. The Forest has since been rebuilt, but it remains significantly less busy than Serenity Woods (Traffic: 690 vs. 6565 as of 1 November 2006).

Rating
While technically a Mature-rated sim, those who wish to role-play sexual situations are asked to take it to the basement of Club Essence, or a private treehouse. Of course, many residents are completely nude all the time, but that's not really a problem when you have so much fur. Violence is not permitted in The Forest except by pre-arrangement.