Rufferta

Thanks! I found it at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Okhotsk/82/155/31- there are a lot of interesting builds in that area. I will add it to my list of mole builds. Please feel free to send me a notecard with any places that are your favorite mole builds.

Kayle Matzerath wrote: There is way more than just artifacts around The Moles made the Portal Park, the Cornfield (new one) , Winter Wonderland, the Halloween Tour, PaleoQuest, Linden Realms, Learning and Social Island and pretty much all the Premium Gifts.  Quite right - I still continue to discover large and small builds created by the moles - yesterday I found "Harry's Island" where the space pigs crashed It is actually in Mohr, not Bay of Space Pigs. If you want to visit, it is at Mohrr (173, 208, 25) -There's also a mud hole.... When I posted that information under "Destinations" someone sent info on yet another site! I recently bought a 1024 near MoleMart and hope to eventually turn it into a park honoring moles (and honorary moles) and providing landmarks to their builds. If anyone has a favorite mole build please notecard me with the slurl. Oh, and I also need an heroic statue of a mole for the park - something like the above poster used as propaganda to recruit moles... I'd also like to add that the best 'mentoring' I've gotten in Second Life has been advice given to this and other alts over the years on these very forums. Thank you.

I had been reading about Second Life history and I found a reference to "Bay of Space Pigs". Supposedly it was so named because space pigs had crashed near there. Finally found the island - It is actually called Harry's Island and it is in Mohr, not Bay of Space Pigs. If you want to visit, it is at Harry's Island, Mohrr (173, 208, 25) -

I have an item on the Marketplace "How to Find Free Textures in Second Life - Version 4", and a short article at http://wartybliggensthetoad.blogspot.com which covers the same ground. If you could send me a link when you have your site completed I would appreciate it. Probably a notecard is best. Rufferta Resident

Gavin Hird wrote: A Mac that does not have integrated (Intel) graphics will perform better with SL than one with, but all of the current models will be able to run SL from the Air, minis, iMacs to the Pro models. Thank you - I'm not sure what that means, but I will print it out and show it to the tech when I have saved up enough to buy a new computer.

Polenth Yue wrote: A tourist place would be useful. I like the idea of giving more context to destinations. Maybe having a map of each continent, showing where the recommended destinations actually are. I didn't really understand that SL had a world map with continents when I was new, as getting to places was all by teleporting. Yadni used to have wonderful maps on his junkyard walls (sigh) showing the development of Second Life. I'm sorry he left Second Life; however, there is an excellent map museum at: New Kadath (36, 32, 21) and a lot of other good resources.

CheriColette wrote: That sounds useful Ruff...have you approched the land owner/get permission for your TI center? I have two small parcels near travelled routes (land and sea) where I've decided to put little parks, but I'll put in low-key Information kiosks as well and see if anyone uses them.

Thank you!

While the Welcome centers like NCI offer a lot of support and information, and the Destination Guide lists many interesting places and experiences, I couldn't find anyplace that offered what I was thinking about -- a place that could offer a general overview of the Mainland, and lists of out of the way places where noobs could visit without being bounced by a security orb. I feel that there are a lot of "tourist spots" that aren't being advertised because it would not be a good business model - much easier to keep things running if avatars are not dispersed. For example, it was quite a while before I learned about the wonderful network of pods and public- transportation. Teleporting from place to place is fine, but to me it is like visiting the sights of a large city like London or Paris by only using the Metro - you get there, but you don't have a context. I was thinking of putting up a "Tourist Information" center on a plot next to one of the pod routes, but don't want to re-invent the wheel. Any ideas?

It's no fun trying to do something like the Fantasy Faire Quest when you every time you move you have to wait until the next bit of scenary rezzes. I'm no techy. I did some adjustment to the SL viewer and the calibration on my monitor that helped a little, but I figure the problem is probably that my iMac is a few years old and thus obsolete and I need a new one. I was hoping that someone here that is not always 'seeing grey' could tell me what system, graphics card, viewer, etc...they are using. Not wanting to get into the "You ought to get a PC" argument - I'm too old to change religions. Oh, and except for the mandatory Quest attachments I'm running as low-lag as possible - almost Ruthed. Any help would be appreciated.

You know that The Arbor Project has put up some nice public parks. I'm wondering if any group has ever tried to put up "Tourist Information" centers on the Mainland?

jordan Cannoli wrote: As of recently, I've been following the few and far between information released about Sansar, and it sounds promising. Ebbe seems like he has a clear vision of the platform he wants to create, and I feel like he's dedicated to the platform. I've been playing Second Life since early 2005, and there is something I really miss about the platform. Between 2005-2006, the playerbase was really involved in the mainland, the sandboxes were social hubs, and people regularly traveled across the mainland sims in vehicles. It felt more like a community of creators than the SL of today, which is mostly a consumer platform with few new developments. I'd really like to see LL relaunch the "Linden Department of Public Works" or the Mole Program, a initiative in which creators build on public land and the land is open to the public. The public land can be explored, used as a communication hub, charity events, vehicle regions, etc Reply: There are still hundreds of mole-created artifacts around, but they don't get too much publicity. I especially like the roads that go across some of the continents, and some of the mini-quests that are scattered about. Part of Second Life's "sense of place" comes from a feeling of shared content - I don't see Project Sansar as providing that. Also, I understand that Project Sansar is not initially going to support those of us who use Macs, which I guess means I will be staying in Second Life for a while.

ChinRey wrote: I think your post got truncated at some point, irihapeti. Here's a corrected version: ChinRey wrote: I think your post got truncated at some point, irihapeti. Here's a corrected version: irihapeti probably meant to write: am not really getting your point FMeh to make something oldschool from scratch in SL then - use a 3rd party tool to create the textures - use a 3rd party tool to create sounds - use a 3rd party tool to create animations for avatars that will interact with the model - use the SL Code Editor to create effect scripts - use the SL Builder to create the model by torturing triangles then combine all to create the finished thing + to make something newschool from scratch in SL then - use a 3rd party tool to create the textures - use a 3rd party tool to create sounds - use a 3rd party tool to create animations for avatars that will interact with the model - use the SL Code Editor to create effect scripts - use the a 3rd party tool to create the model by torturing triangles - Log on to the beta grid for the first test upload - Try to figure out why the UV maps that looked so good in your 3D editors are all wrong in SL - Fix the UV maps - Upload second test to check you got the UV maps right this time. If necessary, repeat the two previous steps until you have it sorted out - Go back to your 3D editor software, merge, remove and move triangles until you have something that looks like a decent mid resolution LOD model - Upload on beta grid to check what is wrong with the mid resolution model. Keep making new ones until you get a good compromice between LOD and LI - Go back to your 3D editor software, merge, remove and move triangles until you have something that looks like a decent low resolution LOD model - Upload on beta grid to check what is wrong with the low resolution model. Keep making new ones until you get a good compromice between LOD and LI - Go back to your 3D editor software, merge, remove and move triangles until you have something that looks like a decent lowest resolution LOD model - if your build needs one - Upload on beta grid to check what is wrong with the lowest resolution model. Keep making new ones until you get a good compromice between LOD and LI - If your build requires a defined phsyics shape, go back to your 3D editor software and make something that looks like a decent physics model - Upload to beta grid with physics - Figure out why the physics model made the land impact skyrocket - Fix the pjhysics model - Upload the complete build to the beta grid - Check for the inevitable blatanty embarrasing errors - Log on to the main grid - Upload to the main grid - Go back to the 3D editor and fix the blatantly embarrasing errors you can't believe you overlooked on the beta grid - Reupload to the main grid - Go back to the 3D editor and fix the blatantly embarrasing errors you still somehow had managed to miss then combine all to create the finished thing and finally: find a way to blame Linden Lab for the lag your twenty gazzillion high resolution cutsom baked textures cause. + the torturing of triangles part is the same. Only the tool used for this part is different. The rest is the same as it ever was I got a good laugh from this. I think, to put it more simply, that when you make something in mesh you lose the spontaneity of working in the moment. You have to plan ahead, measure carefully, and then test test test. I remember my first prim 'house' - it took me just a few minutes to make - and it didn't have a door, but it was there. I still haven't yet made a decent house in mesh.

I've been getting warnings about 'phishing' scams on Second Life, so when I got an email that said it was from Second Life and that I needed to go in and update my credit information I thought it was a scam. Then I saw that the Second Life Blog said the same thing... One thing that made me think it was a scam was the comment "small amounts will show up on your credit charges, then disappear..." bit... I'm sorry, but that doesn't make sense to me. Can someone please explain?

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Second_Life_Road_Network_Directory has listings of different routes so that you can get some idea of the roads. Last month I used a freebie bicycle to take a short trip on Route 14 in Nautilus. I started at Sandy Trunks Beach, passed Seven Chickens Bridge and Dead Mole's Curve, and ended at End of the Line Inn. I didn't encounter any particular problems. If you go, be sure to read the highway markers along the way.

I believe the SL community is extremely diverse and residents may or may not interact outside with others. Here are some communities I thought about. Casual drop-in's. They heard about Second Life, dropped in for a minute or an hour, then left. Now they are a community of SL-expats who are SL experts. Anthropologists doing ethnographical research (hope I spelled that right.) People who are using Second Life to do something that they can't do as well in real life because of physical limitations or financial limitations or other restrictions. (That's people like me.) Artists who create what is impossible in real life. Builders, architects, code poets, real estate agents, educators, fashion designers, creators of all types. And ("cough cough") we shouldn't forget those who just visit the 'red light' districts in our world. I'd like to pretend they don't exist, but they help the economy. Hope this isn't too jumbled. I haven't had my coffee yet.

At Bertrada you will find the first clue for the White Islands Quest. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bertrada/127/141/21 I have put more information on my blog at http://wartybliggensthetoad.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-north-sansara-sea-forts-and-white.html - the entry of August 9th.

BobbyGeorge wrote: As it should be, IMO. Google 'Mark Knapp second life' for an extreme consequence of too much immersion. -------------------------------------------- Yes; that was tragic, but I can understand how people can be addicted to video games. The worse your real life, the more enticing Second Life, World of Warcraft, etc...can be. It can become a vicious cycle because you find yourself playing so long that you neglect things that could improve your 'real' life. I realize that I myself sometimes turn to virtual realities when I'm not ready to deal with real reality. I have to set a timer by the computer to remind myself (although sometimes I ignore it.) Does anyone remember Red Dwarf's "Better Than Real Life" episode (there was at least one follow-up novel called "Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers."? Now I need to go do some real life stuff. Added 8-10-15. I tried to find out more about the "Mark Knapp" situation. Turns out that the child had leukemia, and the parents were charged with severe neglect because they didn't seek medical treatment. Also turns out that the mother had apparently also earlier been charged with neglect of another child because of her drug use at the time - but of course, that wouldn't make as interesting a headline - "Toddler neglected because mother uses drugs." because that is, unfortunately, not news...

Rhonda Huntress wrote: We have gone past VR goggles. Have you seen the hype about hHoloLens yet? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aThCr0PsyuA I hadn't seen the youtube video, but I was aware that they did a Minecraft similuation at E3. The future should be interesting.

I just finished reading Joel Stein's article "Inside the Box" in the August 2015 issue of TIME magazine. I was disappointed that it wasn't about virtual worlds, it was about virtual reality headsets, but it got me to thinking about how "real" I want my virtual reality to be. I already have virtual worlds in my head - for example I have two versions of Middle Earth (one from the book, the other from the movies), and many other imaginationary worlds. True, they rely on my imagination to fill in the empty spots, but do I really need to be immersed with all my senses? One part of the article discusses the uses of the virtual reality headsets. Some of the designers initially thought that they wanted a game where they could feel as if they were actually "running down halls shooting bad guys.." but when someone created a zombie game they found that even one virtual zombie, hardly moving, was too frightening for some people. Will we adapt so that we are not frightened by "one zombie, hardly moving", and, if so, will it make it harder to identify the dangers in RR ("real reality"). Will people lose track of the differences between the world they see through a virtual reality headset, and "real life." Yesterday I enjoyed sailing through part of Second Life, but at the same time I was aware of a cat near my ankle, I listened to my husband telling me about what he was watching on tv., and it felt as if I had a foot in both worlds. What would happen if I put on a virtual reality viewer that would block out everything in "real life"?

I do agree with you on one point - having a virtual 'sense of place' is important. Having a 'home' is important, even in virtual reality, and it would be great if it were free.

In spite of the manufactured myths, Second Life is not a string of new territories discovered by Magellan Linden, it is a virtual world platform run by a business. I think we are all lucky that we don't have to pay an admission fee. Perhaps I will be censured, but you know there are other virtual worlds out there, springing up like mushrooms. See http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/statistics/active-grids/ for a partial list. I've visited a few, and some of them will give you free land and a house. The catch is, of course, that they are not Second Life. Many of them have features that are better than Second Life's, such as better rendering, or lower fees, or higher prim limits, but they are not Second Life. I believe that, right now, Second Life is the best virtual world for me, but you may be happier elsewhere. I'm not interested in a "which virtual world is better" discussion, but I am interested in watching the evolution of virtual worlds. I suspect that, like the video format wars* it won't necessarily be the 'best' virtual world that ends up on top, but the one that is run by a business that seems to know what its customers want and has the best business model. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotape_format_war

For what it's worth, there used to be a copy of the Ruth avi in the "Old Library Content" at Stillman. I remember wearing it a few times when I wanted to be righteously low-lag. Tried it on this morning, though, and it wouldn't rezz out of zombie mode.

I posted the details on my blog, http://wartybliggensthetoad.blogspot.com, entry of July 27th, 2015. Basically just use the "rezz a cube, push it through the wall, and teleport to it" trick, but I thought I would post the information here for anyone who is new or who (like myself) has forgotten. (Added - yes, I know there are other ways. I just like my way.) http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mos%20Ainsley/160/152/48 (you should arrive in flying mode, just in case.)

I don't have an opinion about The Next Generation Platform, I have a worry that I won't be able to keep up. I have a hard time now keeping up with Second Life, and I crash more often than any non-pigheadedly-stubborn person would tolerate. I guess it is naive of me, but I don't see why Second Life can't be gradually updated so that it can continue to be accessed - like one of those wonderfully-restored antique vehicles I see on the freeways on Sundays. Second Life is currently the oldest and the largest of the virtual worlds - it has a history, and the Mainland has features that help give a sense of place - you may not be able to keep the same parcel forever, but you know that if you come back the roads and the LDPW builds will still be there - they won't vanish like a sim on a stick. Perhaps there could be some kind of "Virtual World" living museum? Do we really need "The next big thing"? Do we need to continue with Exponential Growth paired with Exponential Dread? There was an interesting talk on "Web Design: ?The First 100 Years"at http://idlewords.com/talks/web_design_first_100_years.htm Now I've got to go crash.