Beryl Greenacre

Twenty years ago when I started playing in SL, it was the only game/virtual world to which I devoted time. Now I play multiple mmo's and SL isn't the first on my list when it comes to time I spend online, not by a long shot. I'm lucky to stop by a few times a week and shop or check out events or whatever, let alone do hunts. Bless every one of you who post your candy bucket locations to these public lists, you enable me to feel as though I can participate somewhat without spending hours trudging around (often empty) neighborhoods where people grab plots and never use the houses on them (skyboxes? wandered away from the game? who knows). I will never hit 800 buckets visited, but at least with the listings I can maybe get up to 300, I think that's about what I hit last year. Maybe.

I recall that last year there was a publicly accessible google doc posted where we could add the SL coords of the candy buckets we have on our Belli properties. Anyone know if there's one for this year's event and also where I might find a link for it? Thanks for any help with this.

Second Life is not actively trying to attract the under-25s, they can't because that age group is playing games like FFXIV, Genshin Impact, League of Legends, PUBG, Smite, Apex, Fortnite, even Overwatch. They want to build a house? They play Minecraft or Roblox. SL's largest population is aging and happy with opening our wallets to pay for fake houses and bodies/faces. We are what is referred to in the gaming industry as "whales" (FFXIV even has a flying whale mount you can buy in an ironic meta humor reference). One of my gamer friends calls people like us "wallet warriors" since we pay to win - and winning in SL means more land, bigger houses, more clothes/accessories, etc. People over the past few years have been whisper-screaming "metaverse!" and I think the Lab figured they might be able to capitalize on this trend. I just don't think they can make it happen, and I think the whole idea of a true metaverse is a fallacy anyway. When a company only gets a couple thousand views on their You-Tube videos about their product, Twitch has banned them because mass amounts of adult content could pop out at any time, and there's no real way to make TikTok vids within the game - Linden Lab has bigger problems than being a part of the "metaverse." The fact that the Lab is investing money in expanding Bellisseria is proof that the wallet warriors are the true kings and queens of SL and the ones who pay their bills. They've never been 100% forthcoming with what their future plans are about anything in the game, but that is typical of all gaming companies. Bless their hearts, though, Linden Lab keeps trying to evolve even as they come up with Premium Plus to help keep the lights on, the moles paid and the servers running while they try (once again) to figure out how to be more socially relevant. I truly wish them luck, after all I've been kicking around this game for over 19 years myself.

I feel your pain, the cats and traffic noises drove me out of Newbrooke tbh. Different Linden Home types have different sound profiles though; I greatly prefer the sound profiles in Victorian and Log Home zones, and Traditionals have almost zero ambient sounds. The above thread link that Elena suggested is helpful. However, I swear I have tried to find all the sound files for cats and traffic the weeks I spent in a Newbrooke home but I couldn't get them all and they would respawn or something idk. I stick to the Linden Home zones that have sounds that don't drive me insane. I 100% agree with you that (like pretty much all other game worlds) it would be optimal to have a Second Life dashboard with more sophisticated sound controls. However, given the build-it-as-you-go nature of this virtual world, I don't see it happening in the near future.

Oh, I know, I know... but I wanna hear the water tooooo... just not those infernal FELINES... as me pappy would've said I wouldn't be happy if I was hung with a new rope lol. Seriously, the Vics and log homes are great, I love the sounds around both those homes... there is just... something... about the yowling cats and traffic noises. IDK. The Newbrooke homes are gorgeous, though.

Oh, believe me, I've spent hours trottin' 'round to all the teeny tiny tiny teeny sound boxes hidden away in trees and at the end of faux jersey barriers and being carried around by nefarious animated rodents and such... when I login to SL I just want bloody flukin' silence from the local wildlife and traffic in my virtual home. Which is why I don't have a house in Newbrooke, I have a blessedly peaceful trad on a nice wide canal.

If these 'beachy Newbrookes' won't have the sounds of mating cats yowling around outside, this might actually make it worthwhile for me to upgrade to premium plus to put in a request for one.

I always wondered why Phoenix Linden's SL birthday was listed this way, I never got up the nerve to ask him. BTW, If you look at Philip Linden's Account info, it says "Exordium;" Bub Linden's says Your Daddy, lol.

I like the water and the water fowl sounds a lot, those are what I sought out the specific 512 parcel for in fact. Believe me, I have thought about limiting the sounds to my own parcel but I want to hear those geese and ducks. I do think I have managed to block enough of the cats, dogs and traffic sounds that I didn't like - one thing I found was that logging out after blocking a sound box made it work fully. I think I was blocking the sounds and they were still triggering until I logged out. I'm still not sure what I'll do, I have too many Linden Homes right now for the amount of time I use them, I feel like a hoarder.

@Kayako MayakoI tend to agree with your approach of moving to find sounds I like, which is why I may just give up on Newbrooke as much as I like the style of homes, the neighborhood and the community center. The amount of time I spend now in SL is rather limited due to real life and commitments in other mmo's, and I'd really rather just login and enjoy myself rather than spend hours tracking down tiny invisible sound boxes (it seems like they're making them smaller than they used to) to defeat yowling amorous felines and phantom noisy vehicles. In another SLife I would have made lemonade out of lemons and dressed up and RP'd as a traffic cop looking for speeding drivers to ticket outside my Newbrook property; alas, not now, too many other things to do.

I had the same reaction, it sent me searching for that 2016 Blizzcon clip where an audience member asked the Blizz panel essentially for Classic WoW servers and J. Allen Brack was all "You think you want that... but you don't..." and then had to eat his words in 2019 when Classic WoW was released and has been a huge cash cow for them. Ah, devs.

The cacophony of cats, dogs, birds and noisy traffic in Newbrooke is kind of driving me crazy. I have used the search feature in Firestorm to try to block certain sound files, but they just don't seem to go away. I have picked up two houses among the new regions, a 1024 parcel in Seldom Scene along the south edge of the sim and a 512 parcel in Free Will along the south edge of the community area. I don't hear a lot of traffic noise on the larger parcel but I hear vehicles at regular intervals when on the smaller parcel; one of the vehicles makes a noise like it's grinding gears and the muffler is dragging on the ground. I can just hear the water from the lake/pools around the community area, along with waterfowl (ducks and geese) sounds which is all that is keeping me from restricting sounds to my own parcels. (I'm probably going to drop one or both of the parcels, haven't decided yet.) I also have an ocean-side Vic and a log home that is next to a pond, both have amazing water sounds and appropriate other wildlife sounds which I find so soothing and appealing. I really wish there was an easier way to control our personal interaction with the soundscape in SL, but I understand that the moles are trying to create "atmosphere." (Also for those wanting wolves in log home areas, you'd be more likely to see coyotes in areas that populated. Coyotes don't so much howl as yip and yap. We would also realistically see deer wandering around eating all our flower and vegetable gardens lol.) (Also regarding the fantasy home areas, one of the things that weirds me out there is the sound of some large-ish creature that is rushing upon me all of a sudden, it makes me subconsciously want to reach for a weapon to defend myself.)

C'mon, Prokofy, can't you work up a head of steam for an updated "Feted Inner Core" rant? I've been around long enough to remember well your tirades against Linden favoritism toward certain residents, and you were always sort of a hero of mine for having the cajones to say it out loud.

I wasn't going to go for a house in the new area until I happened to notice a couple hours ago that they were on the land page and I got caught up in the frenzy lol. I had one alt with five rolls and I started grabbing homes and tossing them back again, then ended up re-upping an extra alt and caught a house along the edge in Seldom Scene that is, for now, against the water. The edge of the land looks as though it will eventually be connected with the chalet continent, but I'll enjoy the fake water's edge for now and play with decorating. I do love that I can put a smaller house on a 1024 plot, and I also particularly like this Gatewood home with an upper deck. I have so much open yard... I guess it's time to garden. (Edit - apologies for bleh pic but I'm on my lappy rn with lower graphics settings)

Thanks for thinking of me @Frigga Freidman, I have a nice Vic that suits me; I was just curious about new releases because I compulsively watch the LH page and I'm up at all hours on a regular basis.