Discussion about wandering around the mainland grid

[2pluscake]

EDIT: Aw shucks, I'm a forum n00b and posted this in the section dedicated to people, not places!

 

I spend a majority of my time in Second Life wandering around the mainland continents, so I'd think it'd be interesting to have a general discussion about experiences with other people who enjoy wandering around as well!

 

Favourite vehicle to travel with:

If I'm not walking around on my legs, my favourite vehicle for wandering around is some sort of freebie hoverboard I found (also by wandering). It's not too fast or too slow, it can go over water, and holding the jump button makes it able to jump over obstacles as well. It can pretty much go over every terrain!

 

Weirdest place I've found:

I once found a church dedicated to Barack Obama. The building was structured like a church, only except it had pictures of Obama everywhere. It was so weird that I landmarked the place. I checked if it was still there yesterday, but it has changed into somebody's private home with a security orb...

I also found this hotel building long ago. It was empty and there was no one in it. I looked around the place and eventually I found a door that looked the same as all the other doors. I opened it, and instead of being a nice-looking yet empty room like all the others, it had an ugly grey floor with a lone mattress. I clicked on the mattress, and found out it was labelled "Dirty Rape Mattress". Even though the building was empty, I promptly exited that place.

 

Favourite place I found:

Someone had made some sort of North Pole village. It has all these Santa elves, Santa's workshop, a bakery, and lots of Christmas themed buildings actually. I think it was really pretty. I think it was at some sort of region called Porvoo.

 

Other random remarks:

Once I found a really long wall with a really long tunnel inside of it. It was great.

For me, I've rarely ever met many other people wandering around. If I do see other people, they're normally just sitting in their house, or they're shopping.

Strangely enough, I find minor griefers really interesting. (By minor, I mean you walk past, they shoot all these stuff at you for no reason, but nothing more drastic and not enough to break the game or make you crash.) They're really open to interacting with strangers. Some were fans of vehicles, and if you rez one at a rez-zone with more than two seats and start driving the vehicle, there's a chance that they will hop along for a ride to wherever you're going for a while. I've even had odd race with one of them (though it was short lived, because eventually the sim-crossings and fast vehicles don't mix.)

Once I fell in the lake and saw a giant catfish, big enough to eat you.

The only sea monsters I've spotted in Blake Sea are those hammerhead sharks (which are average sized), and in Blake Sea - Kraken, there's a family of squids there. Two biggish squids, and two little squids. Well, except for the time someone remarked that they did see a sea monster in Blake Sea, only to describe my avatar!

Sometimes I wish the mainland was more interesting. Don't get me wrong, you can find a lot of places of interest while wandering (e.g. temples, churches, castles, amusement parks, other interesting architecture), but the amount of houses, shops, and empty abandoned land really do outnumber the places of interest for me. Sometimes I can walk over 30 minutes, and all I've come across are houses and more houses and shops. And many aren't in neat villages or towns, they're just oddly scattered over the hills, with banlines and stuff blocking you. Maybe I'm just wandering around the wrong places...

Sometimes you come across people not actively wandering, they're just standing around outside in the middle of nowhere (the place isn't any good for photography). If you talk to them, they do respond, meaning the person is behind the keyboard. So sometimes I wonder what they're doing, standing in boring places where you can't build anything.

Attempting to drive a boat on land is... interesting. One of the boats I have work on land, but it can't go up slopes, and ends up sliding down. The other boat doesn't work at all.

I've found a place with a speed camera. Since I don't have any money, I enjoy trying to speed past it and trying to get the highest fine I can. (Unfortunately I can't remember how many lindens the fine costed, but the highest speed the camera recorded from me was 120 km per hour).

~~~

So, share your wandering experiences and any odd stuff you've seen or people you've met!

 

Edited December 18, 2017 by 2pluscake
adding more text

[Tari Landar]

I love wandering the grid, it's one of the favorite things to do in sl to be honest. I run into a LOT of weird..uhh..stuff, that way too. I do run into the same old lotta empty nothing as many others, but usually hidden among them I find some true gems.  I love looking at builds that have clearly been there for ages, are only made of regular ole prims(no sculpt, no mesh), builds that seem to have a history-even if they can't tell me what that history is.  Actually, I love looking at pretty much any builds, there's just something cool about running into stuff build "the old fashioned way"-as many seem to refer to it. Something nostalgic about it I suppose.   I also love the fact that I'm nearly always the only person around when I'm wandering. I actually prefer it that way, when I'm grid hopping, because then I can just keep right on going, enjoying my travels and exploration. Sometimes I'll come across another resident or two, and occasionally they'll talk in local, but mostly, I'm alone.

A few years ago I was riding the SLRR around, because it's uber fun, and I am a TERRIBLE driver in sl. I will literally crash into everything, it's hilarious(to me, not to other people)-NEVER trust me with a vehicle, of any sort...you WILL crash. 

But, I digress...

I got off the train because I saw something that looked interesting to me at the time. It was a big pink glowing, giant stick of some sort(really just a giant pink prim cylinder with glow on max, but, it looked like a giant glow stick, lol). I wandered over, and found what looked to be about 1/4 of a sim, give or take, covered in all kinds of odd builds. I found more glow stick looking things, flowers, animals, balloons everywhere, a giant centipede looking thing, some vehicles, a few buildings, bunch of those old arcade games that you can't really play but they looked neat, some carnival type games, food stands, a few different jukeboxes, pieces and parts strewn about..generally, it looked like a giant prim scrap yard. It was sooooo cool to me, mostly because I haven't seen many places like this since, gosh, probably 2010-ish, if not earlier, lol. Some of the stuff rezzed out did things, moved, could be ridden, could be walked on, or interacted with, made noise, lit up, etc.. It looked like someone's sandbox, not all that different from what my land tends to look like when I get in a building tizzy and can't concentrate on one thing for very long so I just start throwing crap out, building, moving on, etc...Build was open on the land, but most of the stuff there seemed to be from the person that owned the land. So I made a card, a giant card that you click and it opens, and I had a "thanks for the fun" kind of message inside of it, rezzed it out, then rezzed a tip jar I'd made some years back-changed the info to the landowner's info and paid it some lindens, then continued on enjoying the stuff laying about. I spent a good few hours there, probably the longest amount of time I've ever spent in one place during my travels. I got an IM about a week later from the landowner...I thought for sure I was in trouble, lol(yes I know, not nice to rez things on people's land..but, stick with me on this). She was so sweet, we had a nice chat. I learned during the chat that she's just a lowly hobbyist, much like myself, and countless others. She pretty much builds the same way I do, lol. Towards the end of the conversation she thanked me for visiting, thanked me for the card(which I later handed to her) and then informed me that the tip jar I'd left sitting out and accumulated more than $10,000L in the last week in donations, lmao.  I was just being a smartass, really, and wanted to thank her for having such a cool(to me, probably not to most people who prefer "ooooh, pretty mesh") place to visit. Her traffic had also gone up to an enormous amount(her words, not mine, I don't know what her traffic actually was). We stayed friends up until the end of September this year when she sadly passed away. She was always rezzing out weird things, building weird things, and welcomed others to come build on and enjoy her land too, provided we weren't prim hogs(and no one was-likely because her parcel wasn't on the edge of a sim or linden road, nor was it in an area well traveled, or easily spotted if you didn't notice the giant pink glowstick). Her land grew to be just an amazing spot of mostly nostalgic builds, primarily regular ole prims. It was neat. Her tip jar accumulated a LOT of linden...enough so that when she passed away, her daughter was able to cover all of her final expenses, and then some, a very welcome surprise to her daughter when she logged on to close her mom's account(she thought she had to log inworld to do so). Sl was her only escape, her only entertainment, she'd grown quite fond of it and her daughter, quite clearly, knew what it meant to her. Her daughter contacted me when she passed away. We're still in contact today-she's just as sweet as her mom, even if she thinks sl is weird  

I miss that land, and that lovely lady too, an awesome friend just as quirky and oddballish as I am. 

Ok, so it wasn't really all that weird, even though it kinda started out that way..and that was a super long way of saying "I love to wander and find things accidentally on purpose that I never knew I never knew"  

[Callum Meriman]

1 hour ago, 2pluscake said:

Once I found a really long wall with a really long tunnel inside of it. It was great.

I'm going to guess: http://secondlife.com/destination/the-great-china-wall

 

 

[Hintswen Guardian]

4 hours ago, 2pluscake said:

Once I found a really long wall with a really long tunnel inside of it. It was great.

I remember stumbling across this whole roaming the grid many many many years ago. It really is a great place to check out. I found one part where there were a lot of shops on both sides of the wall with enterances leading onto the wall. Wonder if it’s still there...

[2pluscake]

3 hours ago, Callum Meriman said:

I'm going to guess: http://secondlife.com/destination/the-great-china-wall

 

 

I checked it out, and your guess is right! Hooray! I had forgotten where that wall was!

[Love Zhaoying]

9 hours ago, 2pluscake said:

Weirdest place I've found:

Weirdest LINDEN place I found was near my “birth spot” Luna Oaks- I have no idea when this was put there, but it is an abandoned hospital/asylum. Bigger than the similar kind of build you can buy.

[Whirly Fizzle]

1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Weirdest LINDEN place I found was near my “birth spot” Luna Oaks- I have no idea when this was put there, but it is an abandoned hospital/asylum. Bigger than the similar kind of build you can buy.

Yeah they really need to patch up that place.  The Lindens keep escaping.

Edited December 18, 2017 by Whirly Fizzle

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, Whirly Fizzle said:

Yeah they really need to patch up that place.  The Lindens keep escaping.

Sometimes the best Trap is the most beautiful one.

[animats]

There's a long road, Circuit le Corse, across many sims. That road has frequent rez areas, so you can bring in vehicles easily. Here's a typical rez zone: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Timescape/160/67/66

At least two  speed cameras are on that road. I  just got

YD Speed Camera: 
USA Motorcycle v0.10b, 
Owned by  animats Resident
55.393681 KpH
Fine L$25

It didn't deduct from my balance, though.

I've written a motorcycle script that can handle region boundaries without much trouble, so I can go cruising along, passing a region boundary every five seconds.  It's a good ride.

Edited December 19, 2017 by animats
Expand

[Pomeline Pancake]

Yus! Exploring mainland is so much fun.

That church sounds hilarious and slightly creepy. Kind of sad it doesn't exist anymore. The wall tunnel you speak of. Shh. It's a secret.

Arton Rotaru vehicles handle at an even, steady pace. They make sightseeing worthwhile. Horseback is fun too.

Once spotted a huge castle filled with bouncy balls. Publicly accessible. Also came across a ufo crash with lots of bizarre things on site.

Avatars in the middle of nowhere... Sometimes, I'm in unpopulated mainland areas or at the bottom of the ocean sorting inventory, opening boxes, or decompressing in general. No idea what others are up to.

One aspect that never grows old is catching opposites, like a hobbit home next to a vampire castle. Neighbors with seemingly vast differences, residing harmoniously beside each other, always brings a smile to my face.

As Tari mentioned, prim buildings are lovely. For a virtual world to retain a sense of history, well, that's kind of a marvel.

[Jameson2001]

Love hearing wandering stories, and believe me when I tell you, there are a lot of us out wandering.  One of my favorite things to do is to pick a word of the day in Search, for example:  Waterfalls, Winter, Animals, or Music;  and just see what pops up for sim locations with that word.  You can randomly select sim locations and just go explore.  I really like empty or abandoned sims and the things you find on these is amazing. 

When you see someone else on the sim say hello and see if they want to chat.  More times than not I have found other wanderers this way and the conversations you can have is enlightening.   It's a big world out there!

 

[Claireschen Hesten]

Wandering the Mainland can be fun being on Jeogeot i had to pay a rent box for a booth i rent today and decided rather than TP home i'd get my bike out cycle home. The strangest thing i saw was a load of presumably bot av's just dumped in a sim standing there doing bo diddly. i've also seen the same thing in an abandoned parcel in Bieup a fellow welcome centre bordering sim 

[McGrillen]

I've never really explored any of the continents, but I started to do so yesterday.

[Syo Emerald]

When I explore, I never drive any vehicle. I once did and lag and my bad driving skills got me off the road and I hit a pig. AND IT FELT OVER. I felt so sorry...

[Tari Landar]

4 hours ago, Syo Emerald said:

When I explore, I never drive any vehicle. I once did and lag and my bad driving skills got me off the road and I hit a pig. AND IT FELT OVER. I felt so sorry...

See, this is exactly what I would do, I'd end up hitting something, or someone, and then I'd feel bad. Sadly, that's happened more times than I care to count. The last time I crashed a vehicle, I got thrown(ok, it was probably a combo of bad lag, and my terrible sl driving skills) through  house into someone's backyard and landed on them. I felt horrible, even though it, of course, didn't hurt them, and they were busting up laughing(and eventually I was too). But...still...I literally crushed two people just enjoying a nice backyard bbq. Sigh. Whoever gave me an sl license needs to get their head checked.

Now if and when I use any kind of vehicle, I ensure there is no one and no parcels with objects for miles and miles..or whatever the hell the sl equivalent of that is. If I even spot a dot on the sim, anywhere, I stop, immediately, lol. I don't need anymore pancaked people on my record. 

[LittleMe Jewell]

On 12/18/2017 at 8:43 PM, animats said:

At least two  speed cameras are on that road. I  just got

YD Speed Camera: 
USA Motorcycle v0.10b, 
Owned by  animats Resident
55.393681 KpH
Fine L$25

 

Haha, that's great. 

[Talligurl]

My most interesting experience in wandering came when i had TPed to some place, then noticed that it was seven sims away from my SL home, so my friend and I walked across the seven sims to get back to my place .

 

[Prokofy Neva]

On 12/18/2017 at 12:42 AM, 2pluscake said:

EDIT: Aw shucks, I'm a forum n00b and posted this in the section dedicated to people, not places!

 

I spend a majority of my time in Second Life wandering around the mainland continents, so I'd think it'd be interesting to have a general discussion about experiences with other people who enjoy wandering around as well!

 

Favourite vehicle to travel with:

If I'm not walking around on my legs, my favourite vehicle for wandering around is some sort of freebie hoverboard I found (also by wandering). It's not too fast or too slow, it can go over water, and holding the jump button makes it able to jump over obstacles as well. It can pretty much go over every terrain!

 

Weirdest place I've found:

I once found a church dedicated to Barack Obama. The building was structured like a church, only except it had pictures of Obama everywhere. It was so weird that I landmarked the place. I checked if it was still there yesterday, but it has changed into somebody's private home with a security orb...

I also found this hotel building long ago. It was empty and there was no one in it. I looked around the place and eventually I found a door that looked the same as all the other doors. I opened it, and instead of being a nice-looking yet empty room like all the others, it had an ugly grey floor with a lone mattress. I clicked on the mattress, and found out it was labelled "Dirty Rape Mattress". Even though the building was empty, I promptly exited that place.

 

Favourite place I found:

Someone had made some sort of North Pole village. It has all these Santa elves, Santa's workshop, a bakery, and lots of Christmas themed buildings actually. I think it was really pretty. I think it was at some sort of region called Porvoo.

 

Other random remarks:

Once I found a really long wall with a really long tunnel inside of it. It was great.

For me, I've rarely ever met many other people wandering around. If I do see other people, they're normally just sitting in their house, or they're shopping.

Strangely enough, I find minor griefers really interesting. (By minor, I mean you walk past, they shoot all these stuff at you for no reason, but nothing more drastic and not enough to break the game or make you crash.) They're really open to interacting with strangers. Some were fans of vehicles, and if you rez one at a rez-zone with more than two seats and start driving the vehicle, there's a chance that they will hop along for a ride to wherever you're going for a while. I've even had odd race with one of them (though it was short lived, because eventually the sim-crossings and fast vehicles don't mix.)

Once I fell in the lake and saw a giant catfish, big enough to eat you.

The only sea monsters I've spotted in Blake Sea are those hammerhead sharks (which are average sized), and in Blake Sea - Kraken, there's a family of squids there. Two biggish squids, and two little squids. Well, except for the time someone remarked that they did see a sea monster in Blake Sea, only to describe my avatar!

Sometimes I wish the mainland was more interesting. Don't get me wrong, you can find a lot of places of interest while wandering (e.g. temples, churches, castles, amusement parks, other interesting architecture), but the amount of houses, shops, and empty abandoned land really do outnumber the places of interest for me. Sometimes I can walk over 30 minutes, and all I've come across are houses and more houses and shops. And many aren't in neat villages or towns, they're just oddly scattered over the hills, with banlines and stuff blocking you. Maybe I'm just wandering around the wrong places...

Sometimes you come across people not actively wandering, they're just standing around outside in the middle of nowhere (the place isn't any good for photography). If you talk to them, they do respond, meaning the person is behind the keyboard. So sometimes I wonder what they're doing, standing in boring places where you can't build anything.

Attempting to drive a boat on land is... interesting. One of the boats I have work on land, but it can't go up slopes, and ends up sliding down. The other boat doesn't work at all.

I've found a place with a speed camera. Since I don't have any money, I enjoy trying to speed past it and trying to get the highest fine I can. (Unfortunately I can't remember how many lindens the fine costed, but the highest speed the camera recorded from me was 120 km per hour).

~~~

So, share your wandering experiences and any odd stuff you've seen or people you've met!

 

Where's that giant catfish?

You should try wandering on the oldest sims, I think they have more interesting builds on them.

[MoiraKathleen]

I enjoy exploring the mainland continents also.  Sometimes it's a planned expedition, other times I end up someplace (perhaps at a store, or looking at a parcel for sale that is on a road) and I decide to talk a walk down the road.  Sometimes I drive, though I'm not the greatest driver either, but as long as I have the whole width of the road to myself, I can usually stay on the road.  Walking or riding a bicycle allows for the most freedom in stopping and checking out places along the way.   I generally will stop in and take a look around at stores that I pass.  I also try to LM each rezz zone I come across, especially if I'm driving, in case something happens and I need to restart from the nearest rezz area.  

Route 7 on Gaeta 5 is fun because it changes back and forth several times between being a land road and being a water channel (so bring a small boat with you for that trip).   

One of the fun things I found - though I can't remember now which road/continent it was on - was where a bridge is out along the route and there is a trampoline type square that you can jump on to be catapulted across to the other side.

When I lived out on Heterocera, along the eastern coast on Route 5, I did make a trip to the Bay City fairgrounds via driving, some walking, sail boating, and then driving again.  I think the biggest issue I had with that trip was trying to find a place to rezz a boat to leave the atoll (I could have just sailed from by my house which was close to an ocean rezz area, but I had wanted to drive down to where the ANWR Channel was.   It was a long journey, but fun

 

[Aethelwine]

The Sharks in Portage are dangerous. If they get a chance (when sat on that boat) they will bite and kill you!

[Aethelwine]

5 hours ago, moirakathleen said:

.....

When I lived out on Heterocera, along the eastern coast on Route 5, I did make a trip to the Bay City fairgrounds via driving, some walking, sail boating, and then driving again.  I think the biggest issue I had with that trip was trying to find a place to rezz a boat to leave the atoll (I could have just sailed from by my house which was close to an ocean rezz area, but I had wanted to drive down to where the ANWR Channel was.   It was a long journey, but fun

 

There are closer places to start across the ANWR, but the Hobo Railroad infohub at Calleta allows rezzing and is an interesting place to make that intercontinental crossing from.

[Aethelwine]

A few of Linden Dept of Public works builds I like:

The Temple of the Prim

The Pirate Radio Station

The Underwater World Ruin

Edited December 23, 2017 by Aethelwine

[Aethelwine]

and Ahkenatan Grommet's prim dinosaurs, (Torley Lindens not LDPW)

 

[Evangeline Arcadia]

I love wandering and exploring in SL. That and shopping are about the only things I do (and build/revamp my park). I never ceased to be surprised and delighted by the beautiful and interesting places people build here. I actually feel quite nostalgic and sad when places disappear. I remember some places back from when I first started in SL (years ago). I also hardly ever see anyone on my travels. Can depend where it is. If it's a place in the destination guide there might be a few people but otherwise usually not.

Favourite vehicle:

I've tried some bikes and cars along the linden highways (there are rezz points which is great) but always found the steering a bit temperamental. So it's mostly on foot and flying, and I did buy a really super horse this year which is really fun to ride around on when exploring. The original post reminds me I have a boat somewhere in my inventory, so will have to get that out more.

Weirdest place:

Hmmm, can't think of anything I'd call weird straight off...that might just be because what's normal to me is weird to someone else:) ...might come back to that one...

Favourite place:

Too many to list them all and the list changes over time as builds come and go. Some of the older ones still around (I think - haven't been in the last few months) are:

Svarga

Riverwalk and cliffhouse

Alirium

Tthe Partical Lab at Teal (Ethereal Teal)

Bay city (the waterways) 

Goatswood. 

Right now I'm mainly exploring Christmas and winter themed places. There are some really nice one in the destination guide.

It can be fun just to TP to a random spot on the mainland map, or follow one of the linden highways (there are maps of them). I've found some lovely spots along them off the road, such as a unique creepy circus along route 9.  You have to keep your eye open as some are a little way back, but you can find some good spots along the highways. I've also found some beautiful underwater places too in SL. I have a blog just about exploring in SL and nice places I've found and some pictures on Flickr and in my SL gallery,  mainly to have as a kind of photographic history for when places disappear and to show others places to explore (whilst they are there).

Great thread, will have to come back to see places others post.

Edited December 23, 2017 by Evangeline Arcadia

[Claireschen Hesten]

16 hours ago, Aethelwine said:

A few of Linden Dept of Public works builds I like:

The Temple of the Prim

In Stanlee/Nightfeild where the west road finishes there's a memorial to all the Moles that mined for sculpted prims in the mines of Heterocera Atoll when they were 'newly discovered' in '06