Rufferta

ProzacGummyBear's question reminds me that there is a big gap between being spit out of the chute at the current Noob Indoctrination Point, and actually learning to walk around and do things. It seems as if many unofficial residents have teamed up to provide places where people can ask questions and learn basic skills but there is so much to learn...how about Linden Labs gives every new avatar a handbook containing links to the official help pages, the forums, and the different in-world help groups? I am still learning things every day.

About moving the Constellation from the Blake Sea area: My understanding is that several years ago Linden Lab partnered with a Blake Sea group to extend access to the Mainland. http://blakesea.blogspot.com/p/history-of-blake-sea.html - To my mind while this made Mainland accessible to sailors from Blake Sea private estates, it also meant that some Mainland residents had more access to the Blake Sea Region. I would love it if Linden Lab opened a sea route from Bellisseria to the Blake Sea. Perhaps the next Premium Home continent could be put into place between Sansara and Satori - just move some little Void-Ocean-locked private regions over a smidge (they won't notice the difference). Also, for those who are interested, there is a life-size recreation of an independence-class light aircraft carrier, the USS Woodbine, in the Woodbine Region. It is not as large or impressive as the Constellation, but still worth a visit.

One of my alts is in the Pod Riders group and saw the list there. I think you have to be a member to access the notices, but there is no fee to join.

Checking out the new Victorians, I found wonderful forested regions with streams and clear pools. One of the Regions is SSPE375, right above Banebury. I'm wondering if they are going to give it a name?

Last night I was exploring an historic Mole Build, and I saw this huge sign on the edge of an adjoining sim. When I flew closer to see what the sign was protecting a teleport orb gave me a 15-second warning. It made me sad to think how many new residents, exploring the Mainland, had probably run into something like this. I'm used to it by now. When I checked for the owner, and started to add a note on their profile, I saw that I had been stuck on a ban line* on one of his properties in Corsica a few days before - again, the owner was within his rights, but this was in a narrow public sailing channel, and the banline (while on the edge of their property) was a few meters from an obvious property barrier. I did IM suggesting that the owner put up a marker buoy, but I'm not holding my breath for a response. I love the Mainland, and I'm not leaving it, but sometimes I despair... *experienced sailors probably know this, but I found that I could get out of the banline by editing my sailboat and moving away, then restarting it.

1. If you derender the water you will see either the black of the Ocean Void, or the terrain texture for that region. 2. Where the water is cut off at the end of the parcel, it could be either because there isn't anything there, or because the Owner is using an object with an animated water texture that resembles 'real' water. Nothing is real. Also, I have been told that water levels may be different in different regions. "Off sim" objects like rocks and lighthouses often make it look as if the 'real' water extends over the Ocean Void. Sometimes it is very hard to tell.

Abnor wrote somewhere that he made the obelisk because he was sad at some of the ugliness he saw on the Mainland. He said these are 'suggestions' rather than rules. They are free to copy.

Just from personal experience, I have found it helps me to put the name of the Region (some call them 'sims') first when naming a landmark. I then put it in an inventory folder marked "Places I've Visited".

Please let us know. I'd love to know if there are any I've missed.

Welcome to Second Life! I once tried being a Land Baron - buying property, improving it, and renting it out or re-selling it. It was a lot of fun but when I toted everything up I found I was not making any money - just losing it very slowly. I think you have to be a very dedicated person, willing to put in long hours, to make money in real estate. Premium membership, the cost of land, structures, advertising, etc....all factor in. I don't think I could give you any realistic estimates for how much it would cost, but I agree with Prokofy's advice, above. As for making things to sell, you can download blender for free and there are a ton of tutorials out there. Residents seem to always be buying new clothing and accessories. There seems to be a need for people who can create with bento, animations, and baked-on-mesh (BOM). As for making houses - I recently did a survey of houses on the Marketplace and I was surprised at the variety and quality that was available. I even picked up a few freebie houses that were quite well made. If you want to make a living making and selling houses you will be facing stiff competition. BUT - if you learn to work with Blender and animations you will have skills that you can use outside of Second Life. I've read that some people have no trouble learning Blender, while others (like myself) have yet to get beyond making very simple things. Look around inworld and see what people are doing, and look at the Marketplace to see what is selling. Pick up some freebies and see if you can take them apart to see how they are made. Good luck!

Using an off-the-rack avatar is good cover. Can I add a peeve? Major shopping events are full of floating body parts and folks who seem to be strutting around naked. Is there a way to determine whether an avatar is naked by choice or whether it is just my computer?

Another place to find Victorian and earlier furnishings - There is an entire role-play community, Antiquities. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Antiquity Texas/143/48/1555 - This link is to their information center, which offers free antique clothing and accessories, teleports to their different areas, and even information on how to get a free pirate ship! They have a community shop at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Antiquity Texas/85/190/24. Unfortunately several shops that used to be in Antiquity Heights are now gone, but Art of Saint Bruno is still in the Marketplace. I recommend visiting Antiquities. I notice that they have tour guides available, but you could just don some free period clothing and wander around on your own.

Gosh....does that mean that the Moles could be building anywhere on the grid, disguising what they are doing by putting blue platforms overhead?

The original Premium Home Continents were cloned. I think since you could only get 'home' then by teleporting, there wouldn't have been the problem of mistakenly arriving at the wrong place by simply using Map View. Since Bellisseria is accessible by sea or air, cloning the whole of Bellisseria could be a problem for someone who remembers "My home is a houseboat on the upper NE corner". For street-level viewing; however, the way that Bellissereans have individualized their parcels I think makes it impossible that you would find identical homes on different continents. In California there are subdivisions with perhaps seven different home models. It is obvious at first, but after a few years people have customized their places so much that they all look unique.

This is my Convair house on a 4096 in Ukanipo. Most of my stuff is on a sky platform so that the neighbors won't have so much to defender. The chain in the background tethers one of my neighbor's floating islands - one of the really fantastic builds in the area. (This photo shot at mid-range, so you can't see everything). One of my alts has a houseboat in Bellisseria, a beautiful community, but sometimes it is like living in a condominium where members of the Association are all complaining that one of the resident's curtains are the wrong color. Yes, one of my neighbors in Ukanipo has a scenic privacy screen, and another has breedables, but I'm not perfect either* Living on unzoned Mainland can be risky, but I like it. *Yesterday I accidentally deleted the floor of my sky platform. Fortunately no one was injured. I should remember to always wear my parachute when I'm working up there.

I visited the Second Life Exploratorium and found it very interesting, but if the funding body no longer wants to support it and has stopped updating it, it doesn't make sense for us to expect Linden Labs to continue to pay for the electricity. It is not as if when the Second Life Exploratorium is gone, all traces of it will have vanished. There is a real world Exploratorium in San Francisco, and The Science Circle has had seven regions in Open Sim for some time. I would like to save my "Save Our Heritage" outrage for things that are unique to Second Life, for example, the lighthouse mystery at Cape Ekim*, or the Quest for the Prim of Life at Pyri Peaks. *and the Dragon....

One thing to watch out for - I have had property returned in a lump. It will usually be named after something in the lump. In this case "Wall" I took this lump to a sandbox to unpack it and found that it was a skyplatform and build. I took it back piece by piece so that I could find the separate parts, but I still had the 'lump' named "Wall" if I wanted to put it back the same way. At least, now I know what the coalesced object was. Just something to remember if a strange lump shows up in your inventory.

Pyri does seem a bit daunting to look at from that angle, but I would rather the Moles did a little landscaping (plant a few trees?) and preserve the island. I don't think it should be removed because it interferes with a few folks' views. Pyri was here first.

"Void water" looks just like real water. One easy way to tell the difference is to use the 'Advanced' settings and de-render water. (from my article "How Not to Buy Real Estate in Second Life") Don't confuse "water land" with "The Great Nothing". The Mainland Continents are bordered by varying amounts of sailable water. In some areas (Like the Blake Sea) there are many sailing sims, in other area the land may just be cut off at the edge of what I call "The Great Nothing" (others call it "The Void Ocean"). Both sailable water and The Great Nothing are colored blue on the map, so you need to check to make sure. It sure looks like water. With the water derendered On of my pet peeves is that in early days the Linden sold water parcels around continent edges, and the new owners built on these parcels and made it impossible to sail past. Watch out for weasel words in real estate listings like "waterfront" or "water view". True waterfront parcels on 'sailable' waters are usually more expensive than more inland parcels. Although you have more freedom owning Mainland parcels, an option might be to use your Premium membership option to claim a houseboat in Bellisserea.

I recently ordered something on the Marketplace, but when I got the package it had a notecard instructing me to pick up the item at another location - which no longer existed. When I went back to give feedback the listing was no longer there - either LL had removed the listing, or the seller had taken it down. I have hopes of eventually getting the item, since the seller was a respected merchant and her IM's weren't capped yet. Remember, you may leave Second Life for a while, but your listings may stay on the Marketplace for a long time afterwards. You don't want to return to face an angry mob.

In Inara Pey's blog post of March 15th, on Linden Homes, she indicates that as occupancy in the new Linden Homes goes up, the old Linden Homes (and the continents they are on) will be removed, and those who are still in the old Linden Homes will be encouraged to move (I hope before they remove the continents). I'm wondering if people who are currently occupying the old Linden Homes will be given priority for the new Linden Homes? I'm also worried that some of the nicer features of the old Linden Homes Communities might not be retained or transferred (things like the lovely Stone Dragon, or The Temple to the Mole Gods).

I I believe part of the blame here is that in some places LL sold parcels right up to the edge of The Void Ocean (the Great Nothing). Real Estate agents took advantage of this, and put faux land on it and advertised it as having "unobstructed ocean view". I have hopes that LL may be adding water passage around some of those clogs.

I had an idea. How about Second Life take some of the abandoned sims on Mainland, hire ChinRey to landscape them and put roads on them, and then put some of the 'Linden Homes for Premium Members' on them? They would have to leave 'wildlife corridors' and such in place, but I'm sure it would improve the Mainland. I'm no techy, I'm sure there must be numerous reasons why the Lindens have to put their Premium suburbs on big pieces of separate land or they would have thought of this themselves already, but I thought I'd mention it.

I realize this is probably passive-aggressive behavior, but if I'm ejected by a security orb in less than ten seconds, I just add the name of the owner to my 'block' lists. I have a pathetic hope that one day one of these owners will try to walk across my lawn (otherwise left public) and get blocked. I used to send polite notes like 'hey, did you know your security orb has a trigger finger?' but that didn't seem to change behavior. I never intentionally try to enter private space, usually I get zapped when I'm exploring Mainland and click to teleport on what I think is public land. Last time this happened was when I tried to land on a road outside of a property I had sold, wanting to see what had been done with it. I was instantly ejected, so I have no idea how far off the target I landed. I think I'll add a note to my property descriptions "If you've been blocked from entering this space, it's because you have a security orb which zaps without warning."

I remember chatting with a male avatar and then noticed on his profile an entry "Women I have had."