Rufferta Mainlander

I was wandering around Bay City when I noticed this group near the VRI and REKLAME offices there and decided to join them. VRI and REKLAME are interesting organizations. (That's my avatar in the middle).

You are correct that many explorers spend money on good quality vehicles and everything that goes with them. I was thinking everyone was like me, using free sailboats, roller skates, and Hobo trains. My apology.

It is not only 'attract new users' but 'attract new users who will stay and spend money'. I first came to Second Life out of curiosity. If I have to be Bartled I guess I would be categorized as "Explorer", although I also like to build, landscape, decorate, socialize, and try on different costumes and personas. Part of why I pay for Premium is because I want to support the world. Problem is, Linden Lab probably doesn't make much of a profit on explorers, in fact, I sometimes think they are trying to discourage explorers by failing to provide more navigable waterways, airways, and roadways. It doesn't cost a lot to be an explorer, and I imagine it is costly for Linden Lab to have to turn the lights on every time someone who is just exploring enters a Region. On the other hand, residents who pay Premium to have a home or who buy land bring in tier- and Premium-payments. Residents who are interested in improving their avatar's appearance contribute a lot to the economy. Artists and content creators also help the income stream. I like the ideas (suggested in previous posts in this thread) of having expanded learning experiences for newcomers (and even us oldbies). An example: A doorway marked "How to Build" could lead newcomers to places like Builders Brewery or Happy Hippo. My son tells me that there are other 'virtual games' that provide 'home' spaces to players, so SL is not unique in this; however, the fact that it is a world where you do not have to be part of a larger 'game' to enjoy it is a plus.

I am at Crabbie's Fine Dining near Hairy Hippo Fun Land in Bay City. I'm hesitant to eat the Shark Fin Soup because the sharks still seem to be circling.

SLEA. Since this was a looking-at-art thing I'm wearing artist SaveMe Oh's free avatar.

Trying out the new mobile app at my gallery . I logged in one alt from my iPhone and one from my Mac. The resolution on the mobile app was better than I expected, but I think I prefer to visit SL on the computer. Do not know why the iPhone screenshot has the name tags. Note the 'H' in Harmony and the 'R' in Mainlander are missing.

At Harmony Homes For the Craft Weekend Sale: July 19th through 21st Four Tire Chairs, Pallet, & Tabletop Items Set is $L100 for 8 pieces Whole set is 29 or 30 LI but can be taken apart pallett 8 one tire seat 2 tiny seated skeleton statue 1 owl incense 1 jar set 12 The tire seats come with 20 animations but my older avatar wasn't cooperative Also at the store Clothespin Table with camera and tv is L$249 regularly but $L99 for group members* Table 9LI Also comes with Harmony Camera 1LI (only really visible close up) and Vintage Television 3LI Cat Statue is a group gift* 1LI and $L1 *Join fee for Harmony Design Group is $L10 and the group tag is "Harmony Lover" Note: Photos taken using Firestorm Dec 23 Version with default viewer settings.

I had visited after reading an article about Ragville, which is Alpha Auer's world "Where discarded old toys live happily ever after. What particularly interested me was that much of this world was built with Meshy and Genie, both apparently AI creation tools. Avatar is my Dinkie avatar.

Most of this post was originally in the SSP thread. It was suggested I move it here. Recent Belli Train Trip: At Tuliptree I picked up a free Opensource Train. This Hobo train is not fancy, but it is easy to drive. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tuliptree/62/115/30 Then I rezzed the train at Flotilla Rail Station http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Flotilla/239/58/27 Here the tracks go underground and then under water. At the other end the tracks surface at Nothing There. The tracks continue through the Ranch House area and around the upper loop until they dead-end at SSPBarnes Wallow. I would suggest that if you take this trip you stop before you get to the SSP Regions because 1) You don't want to bother the hard-working Moles, and 2) The Regions aren't finished yet. More Info: If you want to drive a train through Bellisseria there are many train routes. You can rez a train at practically every Railway Station. One nice trip is rezzing a train at the station at the Welcome Hub and driving over the bridge to travel through the Log Cabin area (LogLand). Earlier in this thread there was mention of a train rezzer at Chippewa Station. Currently it rezzes a non-usable train but gives you directions to pick up a free train at Tuliptree. Chippewa is one of the older areas of Bellisseria and the tracks run through areas with traditional homes and Victorian homes. While exploring I also found a trolley rezzer at DeerMoor that works. This is a nice-looking trolley and will carry multiple residents. I was able to run this trolley all the way to Red Hook with no problems. At Red Hook there is a boat rezz area where you could continue your journey to sail past some Stilt Homes.

This trip started at the Virtual Railway Consortium in Tuliptree where I picked up a free Opensource Train. This Hobo train is not fancy, but it is easy to drive. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tuliptree/62/115/30 Then I rezzed the train at Flotilla Rail Station http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Flotilla/239/58/27 .The tracks went underground and then under water. At the other end the tracks surfaced at Nothing There. The tracks continued around the upper loop of the new ranch area, and then dead ended at SSPBarnes Wallow. I would suggest stopping before you get to the SSP Regions because 1) You don't want to bother the hard-working Moles, and 2) The Regions aren't finished yet. If you want to drive a train through Bellisseria there are many train routes. I got the link for this route from a BBB notecard. You can rez a train at practically every Railway Station.

In Orlop looking at pirate treasure. I have temporarily moved back to the old Firestorm Viewer because of computer performance issues, I may not have PBR, but at least there is still bling. Senra Jamie wearing a discontinued Gothic Pirate outfit from Tayren Fantasy Fashion. Fashiowl Beach Tower 2 Pose.

Blame my poor computer skills. I was trying to adjust color so text would show up. I think the lines around the Regions indicate 'work in progress'. Although there was also some odd color in the air near the ground in some areas it didn't seem to affect the map view.

Thank you for all the good information in this thread. Here's my computer info for what it is worth: iMac 10.1 bought in 2021 3.1GHZ 6-Core Intel i5 AMD Radeon Pro 5300 4GB Mac HD Sonoma 14.5 250GB (I am just copying this down - I don't know what they mean - I went to the Mac Store and told them I wanted a gaming/graphic computer). I had been running the old Firestorm and SL Viewers up until recently - upgraded both. Was at first pleased with how pretty everything looked but kept finding places where things took forever to come into focus. I had already made graphics preference changes like not checking 'mirrors' and so forth.Top photo shows what I was seeing sometimes with the new Firestorm. Although I find if I wait a while things do rez, eventually, but I am old (79) and impatient. I backed up new FS and re-installed Dec '23 version. Bottom photo shows what I am seeing now - not pretty and shiny, though.....(sigh). I first came to SL in 2012, with many absences since then. I'm not a computer expert. I expect to keep using the old Firestorm for now until I hear there are better solutions. Photos taken from computer screen and only processing was resizing with Gimp. I was using Default viewer.

I took a ride from Shark Pool through part of the ranch area today, and was surprised by all the work that had been done since the last time I had been there. At one point, though, it looked to me as if the parcels were just too close together and the pattern layout was too regular. I know when houses are being framed the rooms always seem too small, so maybe these will look better after they've been completed. Note: When I teleported back for a second look I landed right in the middle of one of those green markers. When I flew up I saw the 'deco budget' device on top. I'll wait to come back until all the work has been done, because I don't want to get in the way, but I'm very curious to see how things will look when it's finished.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLB Steamy/206/172/43 I was so glad I went back to SL21B to finish seeing the exhibits. I would have missed seeing the wonderful infernal area around Steamy. The exhibits are only open through July 21st. (Yes, that's a system avatar, I just took off the horse.

I certainly will come back to the store, I just won't go into the tower..

Oh heck! I was part-way through the Silk Road Hunt when I got to Emma's @ Blue Moose and went into the Dark Tower to look for the hunt object and met this....thing...Fortunately I had put a face light on so I could find the exit. No better picture, I'm not going back in there. I try to do this hunt every year, there are a variety of stores, some of which have become my favorites. This was the only scary part. Read more about the hunt here. Old Nyanotech Hair Eihmao V3, old fit mesh kimono by sakura Verino. Don't know what the zombie is wearing.

It's been a while, but when my land allowance exceeded my tier limits the extra charge came out of my VISA. The fact that tier does not have more graduated increases has always been one of my pet peeves - go one meter over your tier limit and you are paying for the next higher bracket. My general advice when starting out would be to find an inexpensive parcel within your tier limits and learn as you go. An older article on "How Not To Buy Land" https://thesecondlifetourist.blogspot.com/2016/07/draft-how-not-to-buy-real-estate-in_79.html (has not been updated). Based on my mistakes, which I still make. Seems I always "buy high and sell low."

More Free Art: Haiku Quan has an exhibit: "The Dignity of Things". Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dark Dreamer/37/229/37 - St. Elizabeth Gallery in Dark Dreamer I read about it at https://modemworld.me/2024/07/11/the-dignity-of-things-in-second-life/ Chic Aeon has opened the Gallery of Free Art in Anise Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Anise/40/151/32 I read about it at http://chicatphilsplace.blogspot.com/2024/06/gallery-of-free-art.html

I'd like to see more community areas. The Bellisseria Fairgrounds gets a lot of use, but perhaps smaller areas could host DJ's or other kinds of entertainment. I remember seeing an "Embassy Row" in RL somewhere. I know Bellisseria has embassies on the Mainland, and there are some scattered "Embassies" in Bellisseria, but would representatives of other communities be interested in being located in some central area? I suspect it is an idea much easier to imagine than to put into practice. One of the best things about Bellisseria is the community spirit and the large number of citizen/residents who come together to make events happen, but perhaps having multiple smaller groups with their own community buildings would allow more people to participate.

I forgot what body I was wearing.

Ancient Mole has set up a puzzle at the Nimbus at SL21B. I'm celebrating that I finally got to the end. Can't say I actually solved it on my own -Thank you to all the folks who helped. Wearing Senra Jamie with Jinx free Sentaur. Available at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Jubilant/18/95/53

About the Caeshu mini parcels. A blighted neighborhood: 'privacy' screens, big "For Sale" signs, large empty block 'buildings', everyone-for-himself terraforming, mini parcels, 'Friendship' and ASR obelisks...etc... Look under the bridge in front of the mini parcels to see one of Garden Mole's nice landscape touches. LL and the Moles gave us a pretty good Mainland, but residents have taken advantage of the lack of rules (or lack of enforcement of rules) and places like this result.

I'm at Kowloon's Wall: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife//149/33/24 - You can pick up a location HUD near the bus stop, or just explore (I often get lost). Website: https://kowloonswall.wordpress.com http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/kowloons-gate/ - game Avatar and outfit are from Capsule Toy Center (left of Gate).

6) They don't understand that the whole purpose of Second Life is to spend as much time and money on your appearance as possible.