Raevyn Addams

Hi there! And aww thank you! You're such a sweetie! *hugs you* ❤️

You're welcome. It's also worth noting that keeping an eye on the forums here will give you some indication when things look like they are getting closer. I've heard people mention the Moles or Lindens gathering on regions prior to release for what I assume must be last minute checks. I've heard others mention Patch gives some sort of warning in the Bellisseria Community group in-world right before release. I have no idea if either one of these things are true or are just speculation. The Lindens and Moles are hoping to release regions regularly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays but it's not always going to be possible. There's no official times for these releases and can happen at any time during the work day (7:30 a.m. to I think 2:00 p.m. SLT or thereabouts). These releases can sometimes be more than one region. Generally no more than two per day (so far?) and I don't think they are released at the same time of day. With larger releases (that release many regions at once, and that common speculation on the forum here believes could still be at least weeks or months away - and should see the release of the campers or trailers), we will be given official warning from Patch here: That's all I know, beyond the fact it's still a game of chance where the quickest to click the button wins. Again bear in mind the last few releases (of regions, NOT larger releases) were all taken in a time frame of around 3 to 7 seconds. Good luck!

Sounds right, I think. Only I wouldn't expect Linden Homes to be released any earlier than 7:30 a.m. SLT which is still I think maybe 3 or so hours from now, or any time after that point. I could be wrong but something about homes being released during LL work hours. Given it's 4:30 a.m. SLT could still be a bit early. But Patch Linden has been known to show up at 6:30 a.m. sometimes in the forum (I suspect Patch is a robot who doesn't need sleep - I'm kidding! 😛 ) to read comments when time allows. I wouldn't expect regions to be released just yet. Give it a few hours perhaps. As for the "how" listed above it seems like you're doing it right. As for when are houses abandoned - it can happen any time. It's just a matter of luck and clicking faster to get an abandoned home before someone else does. EDIT: I think Bellisseria will be listed at the top of selection when it becomes available but you might have to click the drop-down arrow to see it. It hasn't always show up 100% of the time for me (but does show up a majority of the time). And you will have to be quick. Previous region releases have all been taken in around 3 - 7 seconds. That is a very small window of time to grab a house or even refresh manually!

Bows out of the gender/sexual identity/whatever term you least find offensive conversation this has become.

No, I know what I meant to say. And I said it. Sadly it doesn't seem to matter how I word things people always end up being offended. And in a roundabout way this is also the problem SL would have dare it attempt to push or promote one area over another. Basically watch your step lest you risk offence, well intentioned or otherwise. For the record those who identify as any specific gender don't scare, sicken, offend, or upset me. You are what you are or who you choose to be. But sexual identity is like religion in that I don't need to know your preference just like you don't need to know mine. I'm certainly not going to rush to join a game I feel is further promoting division between the sexes, or darkening the waters regarding sexual identity - which COULD be a risk of you promote ONLY gay or ONLY TG avatars over ONLY heterosexual ones. That is all I am saying. Personally I feel the media attention drawn to so many different sexes now is ludicrous. That isn't to diminish or trivialise those struggling with said issues, but I worry more for the bigger picture. It saddens me people would rather get offended over 101 new genders rather than save a planet that may not be here to support us when we've sorted out our collective gender issues. That's my opinion and if you disagree you are entitled to do so. Not disputing that fact. Again, bringing things back into the context of SL and NOT personal or RL beliefs as much as possible, I would not be more interested to join a game where all of that media buzz specifically regarding gender identity was still for a better word, buzzing. I want a place to escape RL politics and drama as much as possible. If I see advertisement that suggests any hint of what I'm trying to avoid IRL, I will avoid the game. I can't put it any simpler than that, and should anyone be offended, sorry. It's not intended. I'll say it again in the hopes this makes things clearer. Don't imply. Include. That's the point you missed, and what I didn't say as eloquently as I could have. Sorry for that. 😔

Yep, you got it. I wasn't sure if *I* made sense when I asked it so phew! 😄👍

I get the point you're trying to make but speaking from my experience if I saw the gay and trans avatars I would probably avoid too. I'm hetero but my best friend is gay. I'm not by any means or shape homophobic and nor do I condone homophobia, and I sincerely believe that people of consenting age are free to love who they want. But I have to be honest; I'm drowning in well-intentioned media saturation that has turned sex, race, gender, nationality, and pretty much every other defining characteristic of what makes us "us" into not just political agendas but divisive issues. And I don't want any part of that. EDIT: I'd rather see a wider array of options as opposed to honing in on one particular "area". Though that just takes us back to where we are now in terms of being too broad and ill-defined.

Quick question (and I'm not currently in world to test so bear with me). Of the two prims you mention here, is one the root prim? Meaning after you've made your walls Convex Hull you link them to the root prim and set the CV to phantom? CV without a root prim (and CV set to phantom) will just push your avatar out won't it? I'm more familiar with a meshing program so haven't tried the conversion process without one as you described above, so I hope the question made sense. Thanks in advance.

I agree with most of this. But generally speaking from my experience people don't read. They skim. They find the important part, or most relevant parts to them (if any) and ignore the rest. Then comes the bombardment of questions (already answered) to staff or group - if you even get those. That happens with non-noobs as well. People are just impatient. Its worse when you're new; there's so much to see and do or explore and there's all these possibilities. You're not generally aware of the existence of restrictions or importance of them or even the possibility of ruining immersion as you haven't as yet had a chance to experience it from the other side. Granted there may be the rare few that do, but I'm generalizing. Few are psychic enough to drop into a new platform and pick our way through like an expert within minutes. And while it may be easier to adapt to a platform with a defined purpose (as in a combat game for example), new members run into problems because SL is so broadly defined and not uniform; region rules are not uniform across the board (ToS aside). There are no doubt well-intentioned noobs who really do want to learn and absorb new information and be a part of RP regions or regions in general, but I can only speak to what I have seen. Running a RP region you see it all. You try and predict and place regulations and restrictions so as to not upset the flow for established members, but you don't want to completely diminish the fresh injection of new players. You can't please everyone all the time. By and large I'd even go so far as to suspect a good percentage of noobs were alts of members that had been booted for causing problems, or new potential characters brought by existing members with the intent to add to ongoing RP without the player taking the time to consider they don't need an army of alts to continue that particular storyline; just some thought and imagination. I am still of the opinion age restrictions are a good thing, but that runs the risk of losing potentially good players/members. To me it's a risk worth taking if the pros and cons balance each other out.

I don't know; personally I think the atmosphere itself at Daycare drives just about everyone insane. Why should dogs be the exception to the rule? FYI: those Huskies look a lot happier after Daycare than my niece and nephews. Less foaming at the mouth too. 🤣

Side Yard

Okay, granted the title was a little... misleading, and sure you could have advertised rides another way, but I do wish you good luck in finding that spot you're searching for. For your friend. Not sure we can be of much help on the ground or sending out flares for that matter, but I do applaud the fact it's not another topic venting in anger I guess. That's a positive?

That is such a cute idea! I don't have any animals per se (does an animesh baby count? 😛) but I'm just curious; will your sanctuary be a place for other animals to stay, as in board like kennels if they have no other home? Would it be more like a pet café or petting zoo, or all of these things and more? Do the animals have to be already known Bellisserian residents, or from other regions, and is there size restrictions, meaning for example, no elephants? I'm just wondering. I don't see many of the animals together, only in pictures. Would it be okay for non-animal avatars to stop by at all, or is this animal only? Sorry for the questions... inquiring minds need to know these things!

There has to be a sense of accomplishment in that, at least a small sense of pride when you see a name you chose up there on the screen and Residents living in the region you named, and speaking of it? Kind of like naming a child in a way... in a very odd sense of the word, I guess regions kind of are your children? See, you have your favourites, it's definitely like parenthood! 🤣 Where's the inspiration come from? Random words? I can imagine the team suggesting names and someone going "Alright, who threw in Soggy Britches?" and everyone points to one particular team member who hangs their head. There'd have to be some laughs going on behind the scenes. Have to be. Not just for the possible inebriation or stress...

This. Though as to HOW... not so sure. I guess the trick is first finding your "target audience" and then targeting your marketing strategy in a way that fits or attracts them. The only issue is that with so many facets to promote that's still an awfully big landscape and a lot of proverbial fingers to have in a lot of proverbial pies. LL's previous marketing strategy has, I think, been deliberately vague. "Your world. Your imagination" doesn't exclude anyone or set limitations. They've basically outlined that "this world can be whatever you want, go for it!" The only problem with that is that it is TOO big. It's a fantastic concept, but doesn't really coincide with our human need to categorize and label. What is it? Well... it's different things for different people. Okay, well who's it for? Anyone! Okay, what kind of things can people do there? Anything! See the problem? Hard to categorize = hard to market = hard to sell. Not impossible, just... hard. Harder than something that can be easily defined, like... WoW, RLD, or a shoot-'em-up game for instance. The issue with restriction is that it starts setting boundaries on what people feel they can do. Restriction in a world defined by the user's own imagination can lead to frustration. Or a sense of exclusion. Or oppression. Or lack of freedom, which is the opposite of what SL has been all this time (Terms of Service and Local Laws notwithstanding). I think for SL to really get anywhere it would have to define itself more as one thing above all others. Right now it doesn't even say it is a creative platform that allows for social interactivity with opportunity to role play and explore. It doesn't say anything (plus let's face it, that's just not catchy enough XD). It's left for the curious to take a leap of faith and join up and hope they get inspired enough after the very steep learning curve of movement, User Interface, Inventory, Group management and Friend's List, plus Local chat and Instant Message system (before you even enter into avatar appearance, Marketplace purchases, Linden purchases, or Land acquisition). And that's the other thing LL counts on: They hope more will because WE did; those of us here in the forums now. Depending on your notion of success a business would consider a percentage of failure; for every five viewers statistically you might hook at least one. If that's a number that works for your business model and you're happy with that, so be it. But I think there's opportunity to increase the ratio if LL really wanted. But to do so they have to change the current model that has worked for them for sixteen years. By anyone's standards that's a long time, and longer than people have been giving them credit for from the start (and especially since it's heyday years ago). Why would they consider changing anything with that kind of staying power? On top of that, any time they do change something, it's almost always met with negativity and panic. The "I'm quitting!" posts, and "you've lost me after X years here!", and "you've signed your own death warrant as a game" kind of feedback. It's rare any change has been met with any positivity. Faced with very likely severe backlash or cruising along at the same pace of the last 16 years with few speedbumps, I know which I'd prefer. So while people are throwing out suggestions that LL adapt a more up-to-date marketing strategy, consider that aspect too; they're upsetting the majority with mandatory changes just to bring things up to local regulation and technical standard (though some will argue the need for those points too), so a change many will see as optional just won't sit well either. They're damned either way whether they update or stay the same. As for the how, if there was to be a how, consideration needs to be made in terms of online marketing. Get some good OFFICIAL PR. Officially dismiss the previous claims that have dogged SL for so long, or at least downplay to benefit (after all this time the Chinese Whispers of debauchery have been left to grow into gospel). Run regular print adverts in gaming magazines. Millennials won't agree with print so much as the older generations perhaps, but if you want to catch a wider demographic you need to allow some compensation accordingly. As wary as I am leaning too much on one platform (digital media), that is the way society is headed. With more people invested on their smart phones and computers, that's where the action is and will likely continue to be as years progress. A video advert that pops up as a different video is loading. We've all seen those; they're still there catching our eyes for a few seconds until we're allowed to skip them. Even a TV advert would do it. Something more along the lines of "Second Life: Imagine. Create. Socialize. Write." Or "Second Life: Be. Do. Have. Dream." From Be: show a variety of avatars; human, fantasy, sci-fi, animal, child, elderly, zombie, etc. Do: Avatars running or walking or exploring various regions. Some engaging in combat RP. Or clubbing, or driving or riding horses, or sailing, or holding children, or getting married, or decorating a house, etc. Have: Show various houses. Islands. Boats. Cars. Clothes/fashion. Fantasy selections, etc. Dream: bigger scenes; couples together. Large families. The socializing aspect. The building aspect. Bringing all the other parts together. I know it's pretty sh***y and probably dated, or even too predictable, but honestly THAT gives more of an impression of something I would expect to find or eventually do in SL that I didn't know as a new member who had no idea what SL was all about. And as someone looking for any one of those things is going to find and latch onto to draw them in. At least more so than a blank canvas and that's literally so big I don't even know where to start much less how. Promotion is one thing. Once you've gotten them through the door; learning island and the website BOTH need streamlining so you don't scare them away again. Even as an old member creating an alt and running back through the initial sign-up process, the learning curve is too steep, too confusing, too patchwork, and partially irrelevant. More important topics that should be covered (and mentioned five paragraphs above), aren't. But they're other topics for other times. TL:DR (for those that skim or ignore long posts); Advertise. Define/categorize. Streamline.

Thanks Patch. Good to know!

I'm curious, and this seems like the right place (semi-right?) to post my question. With all the attention on the appearance, development, (and waiting), it seems a shame to ignore one major characteristic of the regions; it's name! So, does anyone know how the Bellisseria regions get their names? As in, do the Moles or Lindens working on that particular region put their heads together and come up with a list of names and then randomly draw one out of a hat? Is one team member assigned name duty rights? Is that duty rotational, meaning, do they take it in turns with each new region created to name? What's the inspiration? What's the limitation or restriction? Can anyone hazard a guess? Again, I'm just curious as I was camming around just to have a read. Some of them are quite funny. Some make me wonder if we have some drunk Moles or Lindens on the loose. Some have to be philosophical, if not tongue-in-cheek, or literary or pop culture references, or just plain out-of-the-box thinking. I'm not sure if I've seen the information before (though if it has been posted and someone knows where it is, please feel free to link me, I'd be most appreciative). Maybe @Abnor Mole or @Patch Linden, or any of the other creative team members might weigh in on this. Or not.

I actually agree with this. I find smaller spaces far easier to decorate as I prefer a more lived-in look that isn't typically display-home style. It's easier to achieve a cluttered homey feel with more objects crammed into a smaller space than it would be having them in a larger space. This is ideal for OOC homes. Perhaps not so much for RP or for those who like to have lots of people over to visit, or have larger families, or more than one person living in and utilising the space. I'm still deciding whether to make the switch. I really do like some of the camper models, and they're the smaller models too. Seems like a fun challenge if nothing else. And I have to admit, if the landscaping I've seen at the display models are anything to go by I might just have to switch because it looked rather peaceful too.

Looks like you found an alternative that works for you, and cheaper too. It's all a learning experience and learning from each other helps keep the creativity flowing. Just glad you made enough sense of it all to find it not only useful but to adapt and to help others along the way. Great work!

Lately I've seen maybe two thread/topics that were positive in nature and dozens of complaints. That doesn't include the hundreds of complaints posted separately in other threads. That means people are actually more driven to complain than share anything good; they want to whine and feel entitled to it. They need acknowledgement of pain, either real slights or imagined, past or present, and they need for them to be rectified. Immediately. Individually. Immeasurably. Just don't ignore them or more complaining ensues. 😑 I refer to psychology and the popular belief that as a species we are hardwired to focus on, and remember, negativity more than we are positive. Watch the NEWS headlines sometimes; the good news stories are relegated to later pages since shock and misery and sensationalism sells and grabs our attention. People need to be right. Or to be noticed or recognised. Or to have the last word. Or to be praised above someone else, or be praised or acknowledged just for joining in. Or be given or paid what they feel they are owed. Everyone's entitled to something nowadays. There is no self-sacrifice anymore. No empathy or compassion; no considering others' feelings above your own, or putting yourself in anothers' shoes without any benefit to yourself, no doing good for the sake of doing good (or saying good in this instance) without prompting. There has to be a reward or incentive at the end. Some people still do these things, but they're no longer common traits or held in high regard. As a society, as a species we'd rather just win. Regardless the argument. Regardless the cost. This erosion of core values and sense of community in the real world and the virtual one is just one more thing to complain about... which if you read this far you'll find I just did, naturally. 😒

Short answer: yes. Longwinded rant: You should at least come back, dip your proverbial toes, and see if you feel inspired when you're back in the thick of it. Creativity is still here and still going strong, as much as the inventing of new medium is always spelling doom and gloom for whatever processes went before (the prim vs mesh war, for example). If you are truly driven to create you will, and I think honouring your late husband sounds like a wonderful concept; even the smallest gesture can keep the memories alive regardless whether that's with you, other people, or spread out there into the far reaches of cyberspace. I didn't know him, but as you mentioned he was a creative soul, I think keeping that essence alive is a wonderful testament not just to him but to you both. And you really can't put a price on satisfaction of the creative process, of bringing something, anything to life. As for traffic, it isn't where it used to be years ago, no, but it does seem to be holding steady even if the dwindling numbers are happening reportedly slow. Who knows what the future holds. With the release of Bellisseria (as others have mentioned) there has been a rekindling of community spirit, so you may be reboarding the ship at just the right time! (And yes I said ship as in boat, not s*** as in excrement. You'll find a lot of negativity sprinkled rather liberally through the forums too, but they don't speak for all, fortunately). Lots of love and all the best regardless what you decide.

I'm going to second this. While I'm usually all for trying new creative approaches, I think in some instances the simple answer can often be the best. Forums aside, the best form of advertising (and the one LL most appears to rely upon) is word-of-mouth. There's been a lot of negative press over the years; how SL is little more than a chat room for perverts/sex driven, how "SL is dying" (and apparently has been for years), how Sansar was the new golden child predicted to drain SL dry, how LL staff can't be retained, etc etc… There's been little PUBLIC GOOD, at least that I have seen. Any mention of SL is small-fry. LL doesn't need to reinvent the wheel, just remind people Second Life is still here. That it's not visually clunky (as much as it was). That the landscape is changing (new homes, bento, etc). That improvements are happening, they're no longer just plans for the future but are actually happening with more improvements on the horizon. If anyone out there in cyberspace remembers SL from years ago when it was at it's proverbial peak, then they are likely to have dated opinions. Big business brands "reinvent" themselves every so often. Prime example; Look at Coke. It's a drink. The product formula itself barely changes. Granted it's a mega-million dollar company that can afford to spend a lot on advertising, but if a drink can be remarketed regularly and the product itself never changes, why can't LL do the same to push a product that IS changing even if it has to be on a much smaller scale? I can't remember seeing an advert for Second Life ANYWHERE now I think about it, perhaps only by accident when I'm looking for something else. When I mention SL, people ask me what it is. That tells you something very simple; If people don't know you exist or know what you do/have they won't search you out much less want to sign up.

This. Which is a tactful way of saying "you can't please everyone all the time," and you're right. One man's trash is another's treasure, etc. That's not to detract from those feeling the pinch. For some things aren't fair. I don't agree with everything either. The same changes effect us all, not just one or two. But LL is a business first and foremost. When people don't like the service or product they get from one they vote with their feet. That's the right of the consumer and all of us have that choice. EDIT: and sadly not a lot will likely read your post, since not a lot of people read posts that are wordy because attention spans don't seem to last that long. Since they can't read forum posts I'd imagine getting them to read anything of length LL officially released is wishful thinking, regardless whether it was polished to the OP's standard or not. I'd predict more of the usual 'skim and ask questions' if the panic doesn't kick in first. Feelings dictate over reason much of the time. A lot of people, not the OP but in general, would help themselves by reading first and then, once they have taken stock of the facts, proceed with the freak out if it still applies. Personal opinion is allowed on a public forum. Panic doesn't help... well... anyone.

I'd bet that's likely the case. Many RP regions adopt Adult rating over Mature just to save themselves any possible ARs or issues that may arise should RP cross certain boundaries. I've even recommended such to people just to be on the safe side. Not just that but sex sells. Throw Adult in the search tag and you're also likely to draw in more dots to the map. Could be wrong.