The Calm before The Faire

Well.. that sounds better than Panic…

All around the World there are Second Life Creators beavering away, they have a Deadline. In just under 7 days, Fantasy Faire 2023 will open to the public.

They’re making last minute tweaks, taking product photos, packaging stuff up and of course not panicking.

The room in which you see me and my little flaming friend here is the Fantasy Faire Blogger Room. Right now it’s very quiet, but in a few days, all those boxes on the walls will begin to be filled with all those Creators hard work. That’s so that I and (getting on for nearly 100) other bloggers can show you all the wonderful stuff they’ve made in aid of Relay For Life.

Which is of course to entice you all come to the Faire and buy it all!

Fantasy Faire is the highlight of the Second Life calendar for me and many involved with it. It runs this year from 20th April til 7th May and is a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society.

Outfit Credits:

For anyone wondering, I wasn’t given any special early access to the Blogger room. It’s just always in the same place (outside the Fairelands) and I still have the Landmark from previous years.

80 Days of Star Wars

Camilla Runo has created a new build for us to explore once again. This one is a little different though, it’s SciFi inspired, more specifically the planet Tatooine from Star Wars. 80 Days is the name of the group Camilla uses for all her builds and to let people know about what she’s building, so doesn’t reflect the time the installation will be open. The landing point is in a comfy SciFi styled lounge area, with a conveniently located TP pad to get you to where you need to go.

Here we land in a small courtyard mostly occupied by a small craft and possibly it’s owner and droid, I climb up onto a raised for a better look.

No obvious sign of any Imperial forces yet,so I head on through the archway to see who or what may be seen on this dusty rock of a planet.

Maybe not that way yet..
So into town it is
Usual desert town so far..
Are they just traders?
What’s that place over there?
Does a guard outside mean trouble?
Seems safe enough
just regular mix of interstellar flotsam

As darkness draws near it might be good to get off the street.

Maybe that place?
Hmm..an empty bar is possibly more dangerous
..yah..not staying here!
Maybe in here?
Entertainment
Polite bar staff
Best leave that guy alone
Rooms a bit messy..
Creepy droid in the corner

Come sunrise it’s time to have an explore of the surrounding area outside the town.

Those guys are still there..
The Empire has arrived.

Now just to wait for the Imperials to land and watch as the locals just ignore them.

Outfit Credits:

Landing Point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Infinite%20Spirit/146/158/1001

SL Living Expo – The Amateur Witch

The SL Living Expo in aid of the American Cancer Society and Relay for Life has been open a couple of days now and I’ve been playing with some of the fab stuff you can get there for your SL home. Anyone that’s taken a look at my blog will see I like a good story, so I’ve come up with one to go with the photos.

Standing in her living room of her Victorian town house Ava positions the book stand in the middle of the room, opposite the fireplace where she can see the portrait of her ancestor. The lady had apparently had some unusual talents that no-one would speak of, but up in the attic hidden under some boards the book had been found. Being somewhat tired of housework and curious, Ava had decided to have a read of the book and try out some of the incantations within.

The old lady had included a few pages of basic steps to get set up tucked in the front which she read. This was followed by several pages of cautionary advice that she skipped over like people do with a T’s & C’s page that you find everywhere these days. Flicking through the next few pages of the book, Ava’s eye is caught by the words “Love Spell” and stops to read this one in detail. Glancing up at the portrait on the fireplace, which now seems to be frowning, she begins following the rituals instructions.

Credits:

  • Room: Part of “Victorian Estate” by The Looking Glass – TLG Event Booth
  • Dress: Ashbourne & Burleigh Spring Blossoms – A&B Event Booth
  • Portrait: Lenore Painting Ornate – Mementos Mori Event Booth
  • Bookstand: Lost Lenore Spellcasting Stand with Animations – Mementos Mori
  • Couch, rug and adjacent decor: LouChara Adrienne Complete Set – Event Booth
  • Sea Grass artwork and rugs: Chloe in Wonderland – Event Booth
  • Abstract art: //Mind & Body, //Something Special, //Swing by A. Rose – Booth

Event Links:

Happy Place by Cica Ghost

Sometimes I get to see them, sometimes I miss them, but Cica Ghosts creations are always impressive. I saw Isabelle Cheren’s video of “Scribbled” and I just had to check it out. However by the time I got there, it had ben replaced by another new masterpeice by the name of “Happy Place”.

Happy Place definitely does have a happy vibe to it, very whimsical as we have come to expect. I’ll shut up now and let the pictures speak for themselves, before you go visit!

Landing Point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mysterious/21/72/35

Outfit Credit: SIGRID in Purple from JANGKA

Bloggers: The Media of the Metaverse

I started this blog four years ago as a little project to chronicle my time in Second Life. However once I really got into it, I found there was a lot more to it than I expected. So for the fourth anniversary of my first post, I thought I’d write a little about what being a Second Life blogger is for me.

I believe there are a few different categories of SecondLife blogs, but I think they can be split into two main ones; Shopping & Exploring. Both are very broad containing a myriad of sub categories. Shopping obviously divides into all the different types of things that can be bought, which in SL can be quite extensive from avatars to potted plants to spaceships. This category is where you’ll find Influencers lurking. These are the bloggers that have a 1000+ followers on Flickr, which seems to be a common requirement to be an Official blogger for large stores and events (except Fantasy Faire). You can read my thoughts on that here.

Then you have Explorers that wander the virtual landscape seeking out new and old places of interest,that’s more were I feel I fit best.

Not being affiliated with or sponsored by any particular stores or creators gives me flexibility and freedom to write what I want, when I want with no deadline pressure other than those I set myself. So if nothing jumps out at me to write about or I’m busy in Real Life, there’s no stress. That’s important because if you let yourself get carried away with wanting to cover every event you hear about inworld, you’d wear yourself out very quickly!

Around the time I started thinking about this post and what might go into it,a new blog surfaced. The blog in question is by Lizbeth Morningstar and mainly centres around her art gallery in SL,but also her thoughts on the virtual world. I thought it would be interesting to get the first impressions of someone new to SL blogging in these times. Things are always changing and one person’s start can be very different from another’s.

I asked Lizbeth for some of her thoughts on the subject and this is what she had to say:

The reason I start my SL blog is to record or share my experiences, feeling in Second Life. As the bond with SL grows stronger with time, it’s like I really have my Second Life. We do feel the community vibe and we want to make it better.The obstacle being a new SL blogger is time management among all the workload in RL, my SL gallery and my SL photography. Thus, I hope to do it with free will, not to limit topics and due date. Blogging as homework, it would be mere formality. I want to blog when I truly have something to say which is the key of writing.I do hope my blog gain more followers, this will motivate me to keep blogging as I surely don’t want my blog as a private diary lol. 

I know what she means about blogging as homework. If you let yourself get wrapped up in commitments and deadlines it becomes like a job and stops being fun. Some people that receive commission or revenue may choose to treat it as a job,but that’s not for me. Although I did assure her that there’s nothing wrong with a blog just being a diary. This blog still has quite low traffic numbers compared to more commercial ones (except during Fantasy Faire when they shoot through the roof). I don’t mind that, I enjoy it regardless. However one thing that does bring people to my pages of ramblings is the Second Life Blogger Network set up by Strawberry Linden. The Blogger Network has “around 900” bloggers signed up according to Strawberry. It is a great way to be found and find other blogs you might like.

To contrast a new blog against an older one, I asked Isabelle Cheren for her thoughts as well. Isabelle started her blog back in 2016 and as I alluded to above,things were quite different back then.

[13:01:35] isabelle Cheren: well i may be different than others,im not sure because if i wasnt in sl i would still keep doing it. I like being able to in many ways journal my moments. Bad days and good days and i love using sl photos and video for it
[13:01:57] isabelle Cheren: its like my journal in many ways only everyone knows

So journaling our experiences is an expected common thread with most non-shopping blogs evidently.

[13:18:56] Ava Bloodrose Delaney (Ava Bloodrose): I got some comments from someone new to blogging, Lizbeth Morningstar. I asked what her first impressions of sl blogging as she’s just started. Do you think it’s changed since you started back then?
[13:19:16] isabelle Cheren: Ooo yes i do … like a lot
[13:19:52] isabelle Cheren: back then there was maybe less people doing it and less events and now its more all about shopping now which is a shame as to be honest there is so much out in sl
[…]
[13:22:13] isabelle Cheren: i cannot read a blog if it talks about shopping..If you make it fun and a story or something then i can… my time though to read has literally disapeared lately
[13:22:21] isabelle Cheren: rl just makes it that way

However the main thing for me is that it’s great fun. It gives me a reason to explore new places and spend longer enjoying them as I take far too many Snapshots. When the folder on my computer reaches about 70 images, it’s usually time to stop!

Bloggers aren’t just journal writers and purchase reviewers though, it’s a community in itself. I describe bloggers in the title as the “Media of the Metaverse” and I think its an apt description. I inadvertantly came out with the phrase when I was talking about an event that hadn’t co-ordinated or organised any blogger coverage, which meant effectively no-one was publicising it. In the physical world we have journalists and media reporters for all kinds of events, bloggers are the virtual world equivalent. The world wouldn’t be the same without the media (like them or not), likewise the virtual world wouldn’t be the same without bloggers.

Many thanks to Isabelle Cheren and Lizbeth Morningstar for their contributions.

Image Credits: The desk and the castle in which it’s located are part of the Bloodcroft Castle collection from Death Row Designs.

Starborn Gallery

While reading the first post from the new blogger Lizbeth Morningstar, I saw she was having an event at her gallery, so I thought I’d go along.

Featured Artist Exhibition
Banagher Crisp

★ Event ★

2022 in Screenshots

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 Shazzam
Steampunk themed music set by DJ Tori at NeoVictoria
Adapted 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 Promo
Some muppet thought my blog would make a good target
St Patricks Day with music by DJ Tori
Steampunk Outfit for Dj Tori’s set at NeoVictoria
DJ Tori’s set at NeoVictoria

April

My sale item vendors for Fantasy Faire set out in the store
Felt 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 of
Some of the Larger items that came from the Faire Blogger Room!
StarWars Jawas following the Centaurs Parade
Slideshow of images from the Centaurs Parade
These 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 Faire
The 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 purchase
Philip Rosedale looking totally enthralled by the speaker..with his eyes shut.
Prime example of how *NOT* to build a curb (Sidewalk) in SL
A board at SciFi Con 2022 grabbed and displayed my profile pic without asking!
A Western Saloon

June

Synchronised Ballet at theseaside
An outfit from Sci Fi Expo
Going all Rainbows
The Tattoo from earlier in the year seemed appropriate!
The region build by Death Row Designs for SciFi Con 2022
Customised
Replicator for use in my Mars SciFi Roleplay
An 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 me
I 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 skin
Painting 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 Expo
Talking to one of the Bots as part of the SciFi Expo Quest
SciFi 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 tour
A 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 monster
Region crossings on bridges are still as perilous as always
I 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 show
Candlight Procesional with guest narator Patch Linden
Some of the animesh choir were a bit creepy though!
The queue to get a picture with Santa (Patch) Linden
A 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 screwy
Jumping for joy after 3 relogs and a cache clear the virtual world and everyone in it finally became visible again
I created another avatar for my last blog post
Apparently 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 Years
They 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.

The SecondLife Newbie Experience December 2022

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.

            Arrival Point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Adventure%20Island/139/27/24

            The 2022 SecondLife Snowball Fight

            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.

            Location: https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Winter%20Wonderland%205/113/7/31

            The Candelight Processional

            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. 

            Wedcot, the American Gardens Theatre: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Real%20Dreams/120/234/101 

            XeoRealms, the largest, last show of season: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Waters%20of%20Derlem/221/2…

            Details from original Flickr post by Patch Linden.