This year I’ve left my looking back over the previous year until the year was actually over. After all you can’t wrap up a year without including New Years Eve. A lot happens in a year in SecondLife and a lot of it I forget when exactly things happen. So fortunately I have screenshots to remind me what happened when, so I’m showing them to you as a brief glimpse of stuff that didn’t make into onto the blog due to lack of relevance to anything, or were just random captured moments.
January
Dancing with my friend Sheree at ShazzamSteampunk themed music set by DJ Tori at NeoVictoriaAdapted a build by Camilla Reso to tell story of “Spring coming early to Vargsargen”
February
I decided I was going to sell some items at Fantasy Faire in April, so work started early!Then when the stuffs made, it’s boxing and photos, not sure how big stores have the patience!Dropped by an old friends place to visit, but they weren’t home. I let myself in!
March
More Faire stuff. Custom version of the robe for PromoSome muppet thought my blog would make a good targetSt Patricks Day with music by DJ ToriSteampunk Outfit for Dj Tori’s set at NeoVictoriaDJ Tori’s set at NeoVictoria
April
My sale item vendors for Fantasy Faire set out in the storeFelt kinda good having my name over a store door for the first time!One of my Faire blog post looks“Kiss It” Tatoo I made to go with a particular revealing dress!
May
Another Faire look I was quite proud ofSome of the Larger items that came from the Faire Blogger Room!StarWars Jawas following the Centaurs ParadeSlideshow of images from the Centaurs ParadeThese Guys got Everywhere!All the inventory ite offers after completing the Faire Quest! (I’m not sure I’ve even opend all of them yet nearly a year later!)Dancing at “The Rave That Never Happened”, you’ll have to wait til Fantasy Faire 2023 opens to see the rest of the photos!Visit to Centauria with some of my new Centaur accessories from the FaireThe Fantasy Faire 2022 regions being switched off one at a time.Chat it looks and feels like when the region you’re in is about to be turned off!Possible state of your avatar afte logging back in after the above happened!A last minute purchasePhilip Rosedale looking totally enthralled by the speaker..with his eyes shut.Prime example of how *NOT* to build a curb (Sidewalk) in SLA board at SciFi Con 2022 grabbed and displayed my profile pic without asking!A Western Saloon
June
Synchronised Ballet at theseasideAn outfit from Sci Fi ExpoGoing all RainbowsThe Tattoo from earlier in the year seemed appropriate!The region build by Death Row Designs for SciFi Con 2022Customised Replicator for use in my Mars SciFi RoleplayAn outfit I forgot about, I felt it needed a pic
July
Dancing at a set by DJ Anjoux Herbit at a club that I believe is no longer there.I moved on to a club called Hexnation which was much more meI attended the SciFi Con post event meeting (where htey tried to explain how it had been such a disaster and failed because no-one would admit fault.)Related to the above, I was just asking questions to write an article about the Scifi Con. Turns out they didn’t need my help for that.
August
I switched to a Lelutka EvoX Mesh Head and new skinPainting by a waterfall (at NatureCon I think)
October
(I didn’t do anything in SL during September due to being on a long Holiday! )
I was pleasantly surprised at this rather considerate sign at the SciFi ExpoTalking to one of the Bots as part of the SciFi Expo QuestSciFi Expo closing party outfit (white to reflectthe cool lighting)I did a graveyard thing at home..A little messy accident while on the Haunted Neighbourhood tourA Disgustingly EXPENSIVE limited edition outfit by Jadka at We Love RP event
November
The Evil Overlords at Facebook thought that copying and pasting a link into another brower tab of clicking through was a crime or something..They REALLY don’t like you doing that apparently..Random visit to an old Linden built monsterRegion crossings on bridges are still as perilous as alwaysI joined the site Avatarlife.social and one of the first people I added was the official SL account, obviously!Elon Musk decided he was going to let in all the banned people to Twitter so I started putting my Tweeting affairs in order and reduced my use of Twitter.“Ho, Ho, Ho!” some tattoos for Christmas..
December
I decided on a different look for a Candelight Procession showCandlight Procesional with guest narator Patch LindenSome of the animesh choir were a bit creepy though!The queue to get a picture with Santa (Patch) LindenA top I picked up from the Gothmas event, it included other uncomplimentry slogans.It’s the holiday season..so time for SL to get a little screwyJumping for joy after 3 relogs and a cache clear the virtual world and everyone in it finally became visible againI created another avatar for my last blog postApparently money trees are still a thing..Chilling out with a book, Post Christmas, Pre New Years
The Final Day..
I felt Scotland in SL would be a good place to spend New YearsThey always have great music in the form of the Red Hot Chili Pipers!
Well it’s certainly been an eventful year now that I look back it. Some of the stuff feels like it happened yesterday, others seem even longer than when they actually did.
Recently Linden Lab advertised a position for Senior Product Manager. The description for which boiled down to: find a way to keep new residents from leaving. Quite a challenge that, given the steep learning curve of SecondLife. Lots of people have discussed and commented on this, so I’m not covering that in this post. I thought it might be good to see what the current new user experience was like now.
So I created a new account and installed the latest version of the official viewer and logged in.
I found myself on a nice beach location with the usual step-by-step signage to guide you around.
The walkway lead in-shore where there were a few things to sit on to familiarise you with that,also a ride on a giant bat..
When I touch down, next tutorial step was buying and unboxing stuff, both from the Marketplace and Inworld. This is a good addition since Marketplace has a wealth of cheap and free stuff for new residents. However one thing that jumped right out at me here was the Inventory screenshot, all the others were from the Official viewer this one was of Firestorm.
After a short walk I came to the board showing you how to change between the stock avatars, which I dutifully did, a few times.
However, as you may well have noticed, I was still a cloud after walking around for over an hour at this point. It was starting to get on my nerves so I did a login via Firestorm viewer to make my avatar appear. Then back to the official viewer to resume the tutorials.
After a short flight that gave you a nice view of the island I was deposited in an area offering a few free outfits and some warnings.
As suggested in a video linked from a post by Wagner Jame Au, a common question at this point might be “where now?”
Well this training island is part of a small continent of regions that features a number of buildings hinting at the different cultures or genres of activities you can find in SecondLife. However it doesn’t tell you where you might find such places.
Portal Park was shown in the video mentioned above, but there was no such equivalent offered to me at the end of this particular induction. This may well have something to do with the possible affiliation with a land rental company that has a showroom on the continent. Which I was surprised and disappointed to see, but presumably a casualty of allowing third parties to create induction areas.
So the biggest issue I see here is still that of “Where Now?” How can the Lab address this issue without favouring particular locations?
Maybe it could be as simple as adding a step in these tutorials that prompts the user to open the Destination Guide, but I doubt that. I look forward to finding out what the new Senior Product Manager comes up with.
Each year there is now a “Lindens Vs Residents” snowball fight at some point in December, this years was yesterday.
In two sessions, each an hour long, of frantic activity both groups use the provided weaponry to bombard each other. I think in theory it’s meant to be some kind of Capture the Flag variant, but it really isn’t that organised. It is however a lot of fun!
Don’t worry if you missed the event though, you can still go to the region with your friends (or enemies?) and throw snowballs at each other to your hearts content.
Here’s a selection of snaps I took during the craziness. I did try to make a video of some of it, but my computer really didn’t want to cooperate sadly.
At the end of last week I attended the first of several performances of the Candelight Processional. This was the telling of the Christmas story in music and narration by Patch Linden. Whatever your beliefs regarding this seasonal story,the music works well with the lighting effects and the whole performance is beautifully presented and heart warmingly cheerful to watch.
There are a few more peformances leading up to Christmas the times and locations are as follows:
December 5, 2pm SLT – @ Wedcot December 9 – 10am SLT – @ Wedcot December 19 – 4pm SLT – @ Wedcot
December 22 – 6pm SLT – @ XeoRealms — This special location will only be open prior to the show starting and will close to the general public shortly after the show.
I was recently exploring the a patch of Mainland I was considering purchasing, when a tour pod went past, I’d not been on one of these for years, so thought I’d see where it took me. I found I was on the “Historic SecondLife” tour, so I rode it for a little while until the pod car turned into a boat and took me out across the water to an island in the distance. As my boat got closer to the shore it announced “To our right is the beautiful Linden owned island of Mnemosyne. I’ll stop here for two minutes, for you to have a look around if you wish.” I certainly did wish, it looked very intriguing.
The isalnd had been there since the very early years of SecondLife, the About Land details reporting 2004. I had a little look around, the building seeming like somce kind of observatory with something akin to a projector displaying images of SL locations inside. On the opposite side of the island there’s a platform and a ladder back down to water level.
Once you’ve had a look around,you can either wait for a tour boat to come along, or rez your own water craft in the water next to the jetty on the West side.
The fresh wounds were sore today,but they had to be endured. To try and alleviate the discomfort she would wear as little as she could get away with and stand in the sun after the marking ceremony. The markings didn’t half hurt when they were carved into her skin, revealing the dark flesh below, but they were what gave her power. So under the light of each new moon, the Elders set to work on her with the ritual knives, to replenish her magics potency. They had tried using tattoos on her skin,some of which still remained on her forearms,but they were not a fraction as effective as cutting the designs into her flesh.
Outfit Credits:
Wounds: [Cubic Cherry] {Tarnation} wounds BLACK – New Releae @ Necrocize
Face Mask:[Cubic Cherry] {Insight} mask BLACK R (bom) – Mainstore
Stockings: [Cubic Cherry] {Mellien} socks BLACK (bom) – Melody{SOUR} Event
Top: [Cubic Cherry] {Loomy} top metal ed. ONYX (mait. reg) – Mainstore
Now that Halloween is past it’s time to continue exploring other places in SL and first on my list is the latest build by Camila Runo. This one is called Amon Duin and is described as an Elven Realm,which it certainly lives up to.
You arrive on a sea dock with a sunset lighting the sky (if you are using Shared Environment) which gives the place a beautifully mystical atmosphere.
As we’ve come to expect from Camila, the location is the right mix of areas to explore or hangout, without being too spread out, although this one does have quite a lot of stairs, the climb is worth it!
There is a little seating area on the way up that gives you a view of the landscape below.
When you reach the top of the stairs you come to a large area with a number of buildings to be explored with locations to relax, or perhaps even a little roleplay in the throne room or dining hall.
Elsewhere you might like the library with its staircase of books, can you climb it without falling?
Update: Shortly after publishing, Camilla informed me that the region will be available for at least the next four weeks. So you have plenty of time to explore this lovely location!
Outfit Credits:
Outfit inc headband: [JANGKA] ESMERALDA Outfit SHADOW – We 3> Role Play Event (only the Limited Edition Shadow outfit includes the headband)
The We Love RolePlay event usually opens on the 4th of each month, so you may not be able to get there until then. I say “may” because somehow I was able to access the region on Halloween and I’m not an official WLRP blogger. (Which also means items I featured I did actually pay for.)
This is the third and final post set in the Halloween Haunted Nieghbourhood mainly because Halloween is upon us and the Halloween Shop n Hop is closing, so you won’t be able to get the freebies after tomorrow.
“Boat Party” the invitation had said, looking at this thing it’s surprising it’s even floating. This is not the venue she’d have expected for a supposedly respectably classy Halloween gathering. There were meant to be some influential community firgures attending, but it doesn’t look there’s anywhere here at all. As she enters there’s very authauntic green slime hanging from the ceiling, entering through to the main room there’s sigils on the floor that really do look too much like blood..did it just glow when she moved towards it?
That looks too much like real blood..
Did it just glow..?
I guess not..
Backing up she turns the other way out towards the jetty, which looks extremely rickery indeed.
Evidently no-one out here, maybe there’s a note or somethng inside, so she heads back in looks at the book on the altar..
“The moon is dark, and the gods dance in the night; there is terror in the sky, for upon the moon hath sunk an eclipse foretold in no books of men or of earth’s gods.”
Next up in my explorations of the Halloween Haunted Nieghbourhood is a very surprisingly interactive house you should definitely check out.
Arriving at the house the Vampire looks around wondering why this old place had been chosen for the meeting. She smells blood, maybe there’s snacks! The lights don’t seem to work so she picks up a lamp to see what’s here, a bloody mess greats her eyes. A human must have done this, her kind wouldn’t waste so much. It annoyed her, just the mess on the floor would sustain the average vampire for a week!
A noise comes from the next room and she freezes,the human must still be here, she would know if it was one of the Coven. The human is wearing jeans and a leather jacket, looking inside a fridge and hasn’t noticed her presence yet.
A few quick strides and she has her arm around his neck from behind and whispers menacingly in his ear “Who’s your leige,fool? They need to punish you for the mess next door. You know we’re on strict quotas,all that splatter is such a waste!” Loosening her grip ever so slightly she listens to his pleading confused response, “Liege? Quotas? What are you talking about”! Pulling down the collar of his coat she sees no Clan or Coven tattoo on the back of his neck and swears. She can’t really have just walked into the house of a murdering psychopath and not a volunteer, can she?
She considers what to do,if she drains this human and is found out she’ll have gone over her quota, the penalty wasn’t worth it. Instead she decides to just do humanity a favour and jerks his head sharply hearing a crack,she steps back and lets the body fall.
Taking one last look at the scene before she goes, checking she didn’t touch anything since she entered, she heads for the door.
Pausing at the door she sees her mistake, there’s a nail missing from the house number, she’s at number 96 not 66. A few minutes later and 30 doors up the street her coven sister opens the door to the correct house “What kept you? The snaks are almost finished!”.
Having collected a few outfits over the Shop n Hop and other events for Halloween, I thought I’d explore the Halloween Haunted Nieghbourhood for locations to photograph them, so this is the first.
Remember the Shop n Hop finishes on the 1st of November, so some of the items may not be available after that, so be quick!
Flipping the switch by the front door and no lights come on, she sighs and picks up the lamp sat on the reception counter and ascends the dark stairwell. She’s been told the room she has to attend the midnight Vigil is at the top of the stairs to the right, so she makes her way there. Presuming the room with bars and padded walls wasn’t her destination, she takes the *other* right into a bedroom that looks like it’s not seen a duster in decades. Taking a quick look around at the dirty room, she dusts off the least dirty chair, which happened to be a wheelchair, and sits to await the family or any others that might be attending.
The rest of the place was just as creepy on the way upstairs..
Outfit Credits:
Outfit & Boots: [JANGKA] SAMANTHA Outfit HALLOWEEN – Jangka S&H (frankly far too expensive at 700L$ for this pattern)
