Public areas in Belli?

[Mog Huszar]

Hi all, fairly new to Bellisseria and enjoying exploring and decorating my new home in Crawdad Inlet.. one thing that has struck me though and I'm curious.. I have a list of 'public' spaces and have found a number of pools etc, but is there, or are there any plans to create any 'civic' public spaces? It seems a little odd to have so much (and wow it's huge!) residential space with no 'main street' or 'town square' type of areas? I'm not thinking of anything commercial, more like libraries, coffee shops, town halls.. that kind of thing? Feels like it would break things up, maybe an opportunity for folks to hang out and meet and encourage some community stuffs? What do you think? Not necessary or wanted? As I say, I am new and sorry if it's been covered, couldn't see anything in the threads..

[Alwin Alcott]

what comes close to a answer is perhaps this

On 12/8/2019 at 11:40 AM, Patch Linden said:

....................One reactive change I can call out based on feedback is that we have not done anything with the commercial mix-in we expected to do originally.  It's clear to us people want homes, first..............

Homes are the most important at the moment,
and there are really a lot of places where you can hang out on Belliseria, privately owned in homes/boats and at community grounds.

I you don't know any yet, the map is a quite nice tool, you can see where people gather (look at the pile of dots at those places)

[Sister Nova]

1 hour ago, Mog Huszar said:

Hi all, fairly new to Bellisseria and enjoying exploring and decorating my new home in Crawdad Inlet.. one thing that has struck me though and I'm curious.. I have a list of 'public' spaces and have found a number of pools etc, but is there, or are there any plans to create any 'civic' public spaces? It seems a little odd to have so much (and wow it's huge!) residential space with no 'main street' or 'town square' type of areas? I'm not thinking of anything commercial, more like libraries, coffee shops, town halls.. that kind of thing? Feels like it would break things up, maybe an opportunity for folks to hang out and meet and encourage some community stuffs? What do you think? Not necessary or wanted? As I say, I am new and sorry if it's been covered, couldn't see anything in the threads..

There are some community buildings around: small cabins in the trailer areas; circular cafe/bar style buildings in the houseboat areas; lighthouses; a very large community cabin at an intersection by trailer area/river.

There used to be very regular dances held at the houseboat cafes, I’m unsure as to the frequency of events these days.

Some private homes have been decorated as cafes and pubs, and if you listen out to chat in the citizen/community groups people will sometimes give a shout out when something is being hosted.

I’m not sure there’s really a need for anything else, as the buildings that are already in place are not used a great deal.

[Morena Tully]

There's still something going into Millbank region, but nobody knows for sure what it will be, and it seems to have gotten put on the back burner for now. Strongest speculation is that it will be a sort of market, but there have been no hints to its actual purpose.

[Christhiana]

37 minutes ago, Morena Tully said:

There's still something going into Millbank region, but nobody knows for sure what it will be, and it seems to have gotten put on the back burner for now. Strongest speculation is that it will be a sort of market, but there have been no hints to its actual purpose.

I'd love a permanent flea market!

[Pussycat Catnap]

I'm kinda glad we don't have it. Capitalism doesn't need to invade EVERY space.

I like that Bellisseria is residential.

There are a LOT of public spaces in Bellisseria - they just aren't about taking money.

 

[Christhiana]

We're talking about one region here, I hardly call that an invasion

[Pussycat Catnap]

22 minutes ago, Christhiana said:

We're talking about one region here, I hardly call that an invasion

I would. The entire rest of the grid is about hustling people for money. Thousands of regions already out there for it.

This thread title was 'Public Areas' - I came in looking for a discussion about the many parks, Pickle hangouts, people hosting music events, the lodge, the many smaller lodges, the boating, the airports, all the little spots to stop and sit with friends, and so on...

Not 'how do I make a buck off these suckers?'

  

4 hours ago, Mog Huszar said:

I'm not thinking of anything commercial, more like libraries, coffee shops, town halls.. that kind of thing? Feels like it would break things up, maybe an opportunity for folks to hang out and meet and encourage some community stuffs?

It looks like the OP was of the same mind.

 

Here are some popular spots:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Domingos/38/240/36 - a blues club. Busy when they're hosting. There is NO tipjar, and no one hawking for money. But there is a lot of chat when they host. Great for socializing if the theme fits you.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Campwich Forest/126/114/44 - the lodge. Very often some people hanging out here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Blackwater Shoals/167/111/25 - one of The Pickle venues. There are several of these around, but mostly unused. Still you can always manage to get people to show up by giving a call out to it.

 

Join these groups:

secondlife:///app/group/f7b0c9d9-ab6d-30d1-e37f-52b2bb132074/about - Bellisseria Citizens
https://world.secondlife.com/group/f7b0c9d9-ab6d-30d1-e37f-52b2bb132074?lang=en-US

secondlife:///app/group/0913c244-8878-95ba-c08c-81fc2214b555/about - Bellisseria Events
https://world.secondlife.com/group/0913c244-8878-95ba-c08c-81fc2214b555?lang=en-US

And then search on Bellisseria in group search for any more that fit a theme of interest to you.

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2019 by Pussycat Catnap

[Morena Tully]

I do like the idea of what the OP was about really. Just a town center with the coffee shop type of things. People do make things like that out of their homes, but it's not the same as having it in a community place. I feel like I'm going to someone's home still. If it does become a shopping area there, I'm not interested

Anyway, once the pressure of cranking out the homes eases up a bit, I'm pretty sure we'll start seeing something extra now and then like the fairgrounds.

[Mog Huszar]

7 minutes ago, Morena Tully said:

I do like the idea of what the OP was about really. Just a town center with the coffee shop type of things. People do make things like that out of their homes, but it's not the same as having it in a community place. I feel like I'm going to someone's home still. If it does become a shopping area there, I'm not interested

Anyway, once the pressure of cranking out the homes eases up a bit, I'm pretty sure we'll start seeing something extra now and then like the fairgrounds.

This 🙂

 

[Rolig Loon]

As others have pointed out, Bellisseria already has the lodge in Campwich Forest and several instances of the Squishy Pickle, and there are community swimming pools and parks all over the place.  There are a handful of lovely grottos where mermaids and others can hang out underwater. Very few of those spots ever seem to have many people sitting around, or dancing, or whatever.  Even Bellisseria Fairgrounds, which was designed as an event space, is empty a lot of the time.  I have made a point of visiting many of those spots in the occasional travelogues I've been posting in the Linden Home Photo thread (although I prefer smaller picturesque spots myself).  So far, it looks like we have plenty of public places where people could be gathering if they wanted to, but they don't.

[Christhiana]

I think the home cafe's attract people because they organise something. They'll have a dj for an hour or 2 and post that in the events group. I think that could work for places such as the pickle as well. If we could have a dance for 2 hours every Friday evening at all the pickles with a dj playing, that surely would attract a nice crowd. The Bellisseria Fairgrounds is free for anyone to organise an event for the Bellisseria residents. As Rolig mentioned the spaces are there, we just need to use them. 

[Mog Huszar]

Thanks all.. I guess I wasn't really just thinking about the function of those public spaces.. just as much about the aesthetic really. From a Euro/UKcentric point of view, I tend to think of places where people live (village, town, whatever..) as having a 'centre' .. often a few of them as towns grow and merge. Just 'feels' right if you know what I mean?

Wasn't  a complaint, and certainly not a request for commercial spaces 🙂

[Beth Macbain]

1 hour ago, Christhiana said:

I think the home cafe's attract people because they organise something. They'll have a dj for an hour or 2 and post that in the events group. I think that could work for places such as the pickle as well. If we could have a dance for 2 hours every Friday evening at all the pickles with a dj playing, that surely would attract a nice crowd. The Bellisseria Fairgrounds is free for anyone to organise an event for the Bellisseria residents. As Rolig mentioned the spaces are there, we just need to use them. 

The various Squishy Pickles did all have events for a while. The problem was that the DJs didn't control the stream so people had to listen on an outside media player, and then, I think, scheduling became an issue because (and I might have this story completely wrong) there were competing groups of DJs, or one DJ group and some outcasts, or DJs that got kicked out of the group or left the group, then DJs were getting mad because other DJs were booking events somewhere else on Bellisseria that was competing with their sets, or always reserving the most popular time slots, etc., etc., etc. 

AFAIK, the fairgrounds is the only place that can officially be booked ahead of time, and the stream can be turned over to someone, it can be decorated, etc., but I don't think it's intended for smaller events like a normal DJ set. Missy Mole is in charge of the booking, etc., and I think she's probably got her hands full with her main task of building houses (or decorating or terraforming or whatever her special wonderful talent is). 

I do like the idea of a small commercial center, though. Under 10 shops, all small, cafes, bars, etc., with a center featuring a bandstand maybe, a little dance floor, and tables and chairs. 

 

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, Mog Huszar said:

Thanks all.. I guess I wasn't really just thinking about the function of those public spaces.. just as much about the aesthetic really. From a Euro/UKcentric point of view, I tend to think of places where people live (village, town, whatever..) as having a 'centre' .. often a few of them as towns grow and merge. Just 'feels' right if you know what I mean?

Wasn't  a complaint, and certainly not a request for commercial spaces 🙂

Like a "city center", what we call in the US a "Town Square"?

[Zero Starchild]

13 hours ago, Beth Macbain said:

The various Squishy Pickles did all have events for a while. The problem was that the DJs didn't control the stream so people had to listen on an outside media player, and then, I think, scheduling became an issue because (and I might have this story completely wrong) there were competing groups of DJs, or one DJ group and some outcasts, or DJs that got kicked out of the group or left the group, then DJs were getting mad because other DJs were booking events somewhere else on Bellisseria that was competing with their sets, or always reserving the most popular time slots, etc., etc., etc. 

 

 

Here we all go again. The squabbling...

[BJoyful]

Doc and I will be back to some partying again soon as we recover (Doc from a small surgery affecting his ability to speak, which is important for us ...to hear his lovely Brit voice as a DJ ) but we’re not sure how regular it will be as we have become spoiled and lazy doing as little we can!

There is always some kind of an issue with gathering in public spaces it seems (although we personally have been lucky to have not been caught up in it and avoid it all costs!)

1.  Unscheduled hopeful gathering in a picnic area or a town square or a city centre?  Think about this in RL.  Would you go to a park and set out your picnic and expect ppl to come to it?  How would you get them to come there?  Try the Bellisseria Events Group!    Chat and see if anyone would like to come!  In RL 30 people in a city block is not excessive but in SL that is half a Region capacity!  15 seems much more manageable!  With thousands of Homes... 15 ppl having 15 parties in 15 regions is still comfortable for most Residents but 15 is enough to attract more very quickly.  If ppl see 15 dots on the map they get curious and the number grows... Until 30 are suddenly there and is a lot of work for the servers, and for everyone’s pc as well, but SL IS capable of handling it without a doubt!

2. Scheduled gathering... please, just do it!  Pick a time that suits you to do anything (go for a walk, or a bike ride or a swim) and invite some friends from anywhere to come and visit Bellisseria!  Say hello to any extras who come along or wander in and invite them to join you and understand if they are just curious and want to observe for a while (just like RL). Bellisseria Events Group allows the Everyone role to post a Notice or have an event, or chat and invite or see if anyone would like to join you for any activity, any size, anytime, anywhere in Bellisseria!

3. Party... please just do it!  Pick a date and time, maybe a theme or celebrate an occasion... or make a new occasion and plan for appropriate music or ambience and chat about it!  Ask what ppl would like if you don’t know.  Remind them to bring friends or a date or a +1 and just have fun!  Bellisseria must have some fabulous party planners because we have had more crazy fun here than anywhere in SL before we moved here!

4. Event... please just do it!  The Fairgrounds is the place to have these and there is a Calendar to pick your date to reserve for an Event.

This continent will be huge and I certainly hope there will be more than one party going on at a time... LotSa Parties ALL the TimE!!!  Yay! WhOoOo!!!

[Rolig Loon]

43 minutes ago, BJoyful said:

This continent will be huge and I certainly hope there will be more than one party going on at a time... LotSa Parties ALL the TimE!!!  Yay! WhOoOo!!!

Those are excellent points. There's certainly more than one way to approach finding space for a party.  There are also plenty of people who usually avoid parties but would still like to gather with a few friends just to chat.  These days. my main alt spends most of her in-world time just sitting somewhere with a handful of close friends and sharing the day's news.  Sometimes we dance or exercise, but often we just find a friendly spot to enjoy the scenery while we talk.  A neighborhood park or a stretch of beach is great. That's what I use public spaces for -- that and exploring.

[BJoyful]

@Rolig Loon We’ve seen your green dot around many of our fave spots to chill out and often read about those spots with the most amazing pics and tales of your adventures it makes us want to go back for closer examination because you see so many things we miss!  I think the smaller gatherings are much better suited to our current state than big parties but for some reason they seem harder to get ppl out to than a big party sometimes.  
Some will always look for a party and some will always avoid them and I guess we’re in between.  We love big parties sometimes (about once a week or 2 weeks, but more often we like a party of 2 or 3 or 4 or a few more, some good tunes and good conversation.  We are so lucky to have something in a correct size space for nearly everyone in beautiful Bellisseria and I’m sure a good way to utilize our many lovely public spaces will come out.... and maybe in this thread of good ideas and the best of intentions 😁