bellisseria An Open Letter to Patch, the Moles & the Lindens

[Mahogany Dejavu]

Tala and Hello Patch, Lindens, Moles.

First I want to say how appreciative we Mers are for all of the things that you, the Lindens & the Moles have put under the water in for us to view, swim through and explore.  I know that the plans are already set for how the rest of Bellisseria is going to be built, but we would like to offer up a couple of suggestions.

The first is, we were wondering if it will be possible to have underwater Linden homes? I know obtaining a linden home is based upon basically a lottery system but it would still be nice if that could be brought to the table sometime in the future. A potentially possible theme that the underwater creatures could use and enjoy life in Bellisseria. The current homes are beautiful, and we will need to come out of our tails, shells, fins or whatever to be able to live in them. If there were an underwater living environment, we could stay in our true forms. The added benefit of underwater homes, is that it also could allow additional free space for flying above beautiful underwater scenery.

The other request is this. We enjoy doing things in and around Bellisseria, but most of the times we have to be out of the water to enjoy them. The events at the fairground have been amazing and in talking with many Mers, other underwater creatures and humans, it has been mentioned that it would be awesome if we could have an underwater type fairground.  It could be run like the above water fairground, if someone wants to use it then will just need to be put on the 'list' and what not, or however the process works.

A potential name could be be Belli-Atlantis. (That name was offered up in a chat)  It could serve as a multi-purpose place, depending upon the size. Campwich for example is a great "hang out" place for many land walkers to go. As Mer's we do not have a centralized location.  Belli-Atlantas could be where the underwater community of Bellissera has a place to gather, hold events, and possible a general hangout place.

There is another advantage of having an underwater area. Not only will it serve the needs of the underwater Bellisseria community but it can serve the needs for the land walkers also. There could be be a platform/deck/scuba shack-hut type building above it. It can have a water rezz zone like the dock at the fairground, so then boats will be able to sail from that spot to wherever they desire. Also there could possibly be scuba equipment that humans can rezz and wear to dive down and participate in whatever Mer event is going on, or explore Belli-Atlantis. This would also help other groups in Bellisseria such as the diving & fishing groups.

Persu Em - Thank you very much

Signed:
Bev Dymond (BeverlyDynamic Resident), Mahogany Dejavu, Roary McGillivary, Sweet Rebel Tee (Teetah Beck),
Bellisseria Mermaids

[Pussycat Catnap]

With one note I could get behind this.

If this imagined style had say... 4 or 6 homes types.

Half of them were things like open shells or caves... and the other half undersea pods for air breathers.
- you click the shell on the edge of the parcel to rez one or the other.

Once they do that, it becomes a style for everyone, and not just a niche community, and so I'd be for it. And done right it could be a style that made both sets of folks happy.

I also like the idea of an under water hangout spot.

Years ago the most amazing rental region I ever saw was underwater on a region with water height at I think 100 or 400 or something crazy... ever since I've wanted to see something like that done again. That estate though, only lasted 1 or 2 months... demand was just not there. But mermaid avatars didn't look or function anywhere near as good then as they do now...

 

Finally... if this style came about it would need some special rules for what can be rezzed on the surface of the water. We wouldn't want people covering up the water. I'd also say it would need special rules for security orbs at surface level - to prevent orbs from stopping sailing. I'd just flat out not allow orbs above 18m and below 2000m....

Aircraft can usually get through a plot in under 15 seconds, but boats often cannot, and if the build is underwater people might not know when they are on protected water or a parcel... so orbs would need to be more limited.

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by Pussycat Catnap

[Mahogany Dejavu]

8 minutes ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

With one note I could get behind this.

If this imagined style had say... 4 or 6 homes types.

Half of them were things like open shells or caves... and the other half undersea pods for air breathers.
- you click the shell on the edge of the parcel to rez one or the other.

Once they do that, it becomes a style for everyone, and not just a niche community, and so I'd be for it. And done right it could be a style that made both sets of folks happy.

I also like the idea of an under water hangout spot.

Years ago the most amazing rental region I ever saw was underwater on a region with water height at I think 100 or 400 or something crazy... ever since I've wanted to see something like that done again. That estate though, only lasted 1 or 2 months... demand was just not there. But mermaid avatars didn't look or function anywhere near as good then as they do now...

 

Finally... if this style came about it would need some special rules for what can be rezzed on the surface of the water. We wouldn't want people covering up the water. I'd also say it would need special rules for security orbs at surface level - to prevent orbs from stopping sailing. I'd just flat out not allow orbs above 18m and below 2000m....

Aircraft can usually get through a plot in under 15 seconds, but boats often cannot, and if the build is underwater people might not know when they are on protected water or a parcel... so orbs would need to be more limited.

 

That is a great idea. The land could be sunken down to possibley 20, 30, 40  or 50 meters even, to allow greater distance between land and the top of the surface level

[Pussycat Catnap]

Just now, Mahogany Dejavu said:

That is a great idea. The land could be sunken down to possibley 20, 30, 40  or 50 meters even, to allow greater distance between land and the top of the surface level

Yeah there's a small part of old mainland with very deep water. Historically I have often seen mer folks trying to get plots there. Usually they get beat out by some land baron that rezzes icons in the sky and rents the plot to a freebie shop or somebody with a fetish for banlines... but every now and then you find some really cool under sea builds there.

 

[BeverlyDynamic]

I absolutely love the idea of an underwater fair grounds as well. That way everyone can utilise it too and adds some diversity to events. I can imagine the types of amazing parties that could be created from it. 

[Mahogany Dejavu]

2 minutes ago, BeverlyDynamic said:

I absolutely love the idea of an underwater fair grounds as well. That way everyone can utilise it too and adds some diversity to events. I can imagine the types of amazing parties that could be created from it. 

Yes, the Scuba Divers Midnight Ball. LOL Ohh the ideas!

[Roary McGillivary]

I like your Idea Mahogany, and the mention from Catnip about the homes is Okayee. But Shell homes are to me blah, Caves? well ok maybe. What does appeal to me are the type of builds from HEADHUNTER's ISLAND, like the Beached Ship Wrek that I purchased and "sunk" it makes a GREAT Mer home, they also have a plane crash that could be sunk as well as a submarine which are possible great Mer homes as well. Yes Bathysphere habitats for those that do not breath underwater to well are also great idea's to share the space. Who knows there lots of  possibilities. BUT in the same token I can see if they start catering to a specific fantasy group they would no doubt be getting all kinds of requests from all the others. Who knows maybe they already have. Wish a Full underwater region were within my grasp to obtain. 

[Pussycat Catnap]

1 minute ago, Roary McGillivary said:

I like your Idea Mahogany, and the mention from Catnip about the homes is Okayee. But Shell homes are to me blah, Caves? well ok maybe. What does appeal to me are the type of builds from HEADHUNTER's ISLAND, like the Beached Ship Wrek that I purchased and "sunk" it makes a GREAT Mer home, . . .

Yeah I'm not an actual 'Mer' so I don't know what they like... I was random guessing there.

Basically make it half homes that fit 'water breathing avatars' and half that fit 'air breathers'...

And obviously... get feedback from people actually IN the waterbreathing avatar community or you end up with 'caves' like I came up with...

 

[Anton Catesby]

It's a lovely idea but I wonder how much LL will want to to implement it, at least in the immediate future.

How large is the SL mer-community?   What's proposed is, in effect, a whole new theme, like houseboats, or campers, or Victorian, which will be of huge interest to mer-folk but of limited interest (though probably not of no interest) to most other people.

Depending on the size of the mer-community, LL might wonder if it's an efficient use of the Moles' time to have them create content and to build new regions for a specialist theme primarily aimed at one particular rp community when there's however many tens of thousands of Premium members who aren't merfolk still needing homes built.

By the same token, what effect would this have on existing residential mer communities in SL (assuming there are some)?   Their members with premium accounts would have a very good reason to abandon their existing residences for Bellisseria, which might well leave whoever owns the region where the merfolk presently live unable to continue to support it, and thus break up the old community completely.

 

[Pussycat Catnap]

35 minutes ago, Anton Catesby said:

It's a lovely idea but I wonder how much LL will want to to implement it, at least in the immediate future.

How large is the SL mer-community?   What's proposed is, in effect, a whole new theme, like houseboats, or campers, or Victorian, which will be of huge interest to mer-folk but of limited interest (though probably not of no interest) to most other people.

Agreed, and that's why I suggested split design.

I think the community of folks wanting underwater homes is potentially large. Just make sure half of them can be used by water breathers and half by air breathers and you end up hitting most people.

If it was only homes for air-breathers living under the waves, or only for water breathers - it would be too niche.

But as a mixed theme - it actually hits 3 communities. The third is people who want to live on the surface of the water in open water, and leave their plot below the waves as a sort of 'garden'. The folks who's "home" is basically something like a Bandit If or Bandit 50 and... open water.

 

As a dedicated air-breather... this is actually the sort of theme that would get me to toss my victorian back into the pool.

 

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by Pussycat Catnap

[Anton Catesby]

I don't know, but I'd suspect that most land-based themes would prove far more generally attractive -- if you think of the number of people who might be interested in living in -- say -- something based on styles reminiscent of, for example, a Tuscan or Provençal or Moroccan or Greek or Japanese village, I suspect that would be far greater than the number of people other than merfolk interested in underwater living.

 

[sceneris]

i like your idea @Mahogany Dejavu, linden home in underwater and landscape, can imagine it is going to be very beautiful, i don't know linden and moles have any plans for it, but can be put into the list of themes if they decided to plan it out one day

 

[Aethelwine]

8 hours ago, Mahogany Dejavu said:

That is a great idea. The land could be sunken down to possibley 20, 30, 40  or 50 meters even, to allow greater distance between land and the top of the surface level

That would be great if possible, but whilst there are areas with deeper water I think that is always done by raising the water level and land around it. I don't know that pushing the seabed down below 0m height is impossible, but I don't think I have ever seen it done.

[foneco Zuzu]

Indeed i love the ideas and hope that LL remembers that the Mer community is one of the oldest and always present community.

[LilithAbdelnour]

I am on board with this idea, but I agree with all the points Pussycat made. Homes will need to appeal to more than just mers to make it feasible for the Lindens to create a whole new theme. We mers are (like it or not) a minority community. So the builds will need to be attractive to landwalkers too. And special rules for what can be rezzed on the surface would be mandatory. Otherwise people would start rezzing "raft homes".

[Bernice Galtier]

At the very least, some attractive underwater landscaping for aquatic avatars to swim through and explore would be nice. Also, an event venue need not be entirely underwater, some land space adjacent to water could allow land-based avatars and aquatics to attend an event at the same time and enjoy each other's company. I have attended events at places like this and it's a lot of fun.

 

[Rolig Loon]

9 hours ago, Bernice Galtier said:

At the very least, some attractive underwater landscaping for aquatic avatars to swim through and explore would be nice.

I agree. There are already some definitely cool underwater places in Bellisseria -- sunken ships, a houseboat, a couple of houses, a lighthouse, and at least four very fun grottoes.

Most of the sea floor and most lake and river beds are pretty boring, though.

It takes valuable Mole time to make anything very fancy, and that takes creative time away from making more Linden Homes.  Most watery regions are pretty low in L.I., though, so it might not be hard to go back and add seaweed, fish, and more sunken stuff when there's time to do it.  And add a few more grottoes or mixed-use event spaces.  I can certainly understand that extras like that have to be a low priority, but they'd be good to have on a wish list somewhere.

[Alyona Su]

It's a fun idea, though I doubt there would be enough demand. Also remember that on a technical basis, the Linden Homes are designed to be starter homes and it is unlikely a new resident will jump into the mermaid genre of avatar because it is very expensive to do it correctly and there are no mermaid starter avatars as of this writing.

Sorry to be the one party-pooper here. LOL

[Rolig Loon]

3 hours ago, Alyona Su said:

it is unlikely a new resident will jump into the mermaid genre of avatar because it is very expensive to do it correctly

"Expensive" is a relative term, as is "correctly," so it's hard to make a comeback that will ring true for everyone. Still, one of the most popular mermaid tails in the market sells for under L$500. You can get an attractive rigged mesh tail for L$100. Animations can be pricier -- a couple of the more popular packages cost L$1200 -- but again, you can get a decent set of basic mermaid anims for under L$500.  All in all, life as a mermaid doesn't need to be any more expensive than life on solid ground.  And hey, you save on shoes.  😄

I do agree, though, that a mer-style Linden Home is not likely to happen. The demand is not high enough to justify building homes for primary use by a niche community -- even a friendly, welcoming one.

[Rabid Cheetah]

If I or one of my close friends gets a houseboat, we plan to do something underwatery with the area under the houseboat, as well as the water part.  Had stuff like this on the mainland, but no one ever came by and tier got to be too much.

Maybe the merefolk can luck out and get a houseboat?  The water isn't super deep, but it's still 512 m2 of water.  I wish you success if you do try for a houseboat, and add my voice to those who like the idea of a fully immersed Bellisaria region or two.

[Aethelwine]

Thinking about this, there are already quite a lot of open waterways for boat travel. Perhaps if they were parcelled up with an addition to their covenants that restricts orb usage and physical prims within a few metres of the surface and with sufficient prims for a few of the larger vehicles to pass through, then this could provide a return for LL where they had none before. 

[Mahogany Dejavu]

On 1/26/2020 at 7:40 PM, Anton Catesby said:

...By the same token, what effect would this have on existing residential mer communities in SL (assuming there are some)?   Their members with premium accounts would have a very good reason to abandon their existing residences for Bellisseria, which might well leave whoever owns the region where the merfolk presently live unable to continue to support it, and thus break up the old community completely.

It is probably in theory the same amount of non mer people who also live and r/p on other regions. They use the linden home as their linden home and still function on their role play sims.  Many people (non-mers) have linden homes in Bellisseria and have homes on the mainland, different regions or even own thier own homeseads and/or regions. The Mer coummunity of Second Life is a very old and faithful community.  So I still have to agree with Pussycat Catnip that making the homes accessable to both Underwater creaturs and air breathers is an excellent idea.

It is definitally true that the air-breathing population is larger than the Underwater community. That is the wonderful thing about these forms, so many other ideas could come up to improve upon the initial suggestions:  Mer houses, mer/human houses, underwater hangout areas, underwater landscaping.  Who know what the future will hold but we can always suggest and look forward to something new.

[Mahogany Dejavu]

22 hours ago, Rabid Cheetah said:

If I or one of my close friends gets a houseboat, we plan to do something underwatery with the area under the houseboat, as well as the water part.  Had stuff like this on the mainland, but no one ever came by and tier got to be too much.

Maybe the merefolk can luck out and get a houseboat?  The water isn't super deep, but it's still 512 m2 of water.  I wish you success if you do try for a houseboat, and add my voice to those who like the idea of a fully immersed Bellisaria region or two.

I was lucky enough to get a houseboat. and most of my living space is under water, but i do have some seating inside and up on the upper deck.  I totally LOVEmy houseboat and the only way I would give it up would be for underwater living........or a houseboat with deeper water  

[Rabid Cheetah]

5 hours ago, Mahogany Dejavu said:

I was lucky enough to get a houseboat. and most of my living space is under water, but i do have some seating inside and up on the upper deck.  I totally LOVEmy houseboat and the only way I would give it up would be for underwater living........or a houseboat with deeper water  

 

 

That is awesome!  Where is this?

[Mahogany Dejavu]

On 2/4/2020 at 2:17 AM, Rabid Cheetah said:

That is awesome!  Where is this?

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Laroux/102/139/22

Come on over for a visit!!  Its open to all. It's also the Bellisseira Merfolk Group HQ.!