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Rothenburg-06

Rothenburg, the real life city that Neualtenburg is based on

Anzere was the sim for Neualtenburg Projekt from August 2004 to May 2005. Around August 2004, Linden Lab was worried about the way snow sims were "misused"--residents simply ignored the "theme" and built whatever they wanted--even outdoor swimming pools. Very quickly, there was no real difference between a snow sim and a tropical sim in terms of building, and it was too late to "enforce" new rules.

Instead, LL proposed a "contest for the preservation of the snow sims", where part of Anzere (1/2 sim--the rest would be kept as "protected land") would be leased for 4 months--but people would need to gather up tier to support it) for the best project who presented a thematic build and a means to mantain it. The Neualtenburg Projekt, lead by Ulrika Zugzwang, was the winner of the contest, proposing to recreate a medieval Bavarian village (based upon the RL town of Rothenburg) with some post-modern adaptations. As a means for mantaining the village, an elected government would be in charge of keeping it operational, changing and adapting the structures, holding events, promoting a financially sound operation (where the income generated by the city would be used to pay for tier), and generally keeping the city operational even when some of the residents left Second Life by electing new people for the government--unlike groups based on selected individuals, which usually fall apart when the "leader" of the project leaves SL.

This project has always been a source of discussion and argument since it's a counterpoint to the "corporatist oligarchy" mantained by the Lindens on the mainland sims. In Neualtenburg, residents elect their own governments, which mantain order as they see fit--there are rules, organization, planning, discussing, and, of course, enforcement of certain standards.

After the lease expired, Neualtenburg moved to its own sim, currently renamed to Neufreistadt, is the oldest region of the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS). The CDS continues the democratic experiment in Second Life.

The Anzere InfoHub is currently maintained by the CDS and is considered an integral part of the community.

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