[Looking for navigable rivers to explore]

You might enjoy the Tapir region too. River through jungle, with interesting stuff in various places. There is a boat something like a freight barge that cruises the river and can be boarded. It's very peaceful; only once or twice have I seen anyone else there. Haven't tried to rez my own boat, but a friend has a swim HUD and enjoys swimming in the river there.

[Rental communities?]

Kowloon has some fun apartments for rent. The sim was designed around a Japan-only videogame called Kowloon's Gate Reborn, so has a busy, dark, post-apocalyptic feel. The first store on the left has a yellow chart that lists all the spaces currently available.  

[Linden Realms, Portal Park, and Decoy Crystals]

Thanks everyone... I'm glad it's not just me 🙂

Dyna Mole's profile explains that a support case should be submitted, so I just added BUG-231914 - Linden Realms Portal says "no destination available" https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/BUG-231914

[Linden Realms, Portal Park, and Decoy Crystals]

Hi everybody. I play Linden Realms every week, a game with its own region that is accessed via Portal Park. Linden Realms has changed a lot within the past two years, and for a few weeks there have been problems accessing the region. When I attempt to enter the portal in Portal Park I often see an error message saying Dyna Mole's 'Linden Realms Portal.' No destinations available. Please try again later.

It feels something like the traffic lights on a freeway on-ramp, the ones that allow a car on the motorway every twenty seconds or so. The portal sometimes requires a wait of several minutes though, as if LL is trying to limit the number of residents in the Linden Realms regions. Does anyone know the reason behind this? As with freeway traffic, this Portal Park error creates a bottleneck and residents get frustrated. My first thought was that LL is trying to reduce the number of game pay-outs, but the pay-out was already recently reduced from L50 to L25, such a small amount that the number of players seems to have been reduced greatly.

I've also found in recent weeks that there are often "decoy crystals" - crystals that you can run over or click on, and nothing changes. The crystals do not enter your Linden Realms HUD inventory. It is as if these decoy crystals are there simply to frustrate players. To be fair, if I don't notice that my Linden Realms HUD has detached, any crystals I run over persist as decoy crystals there until my HUD reattaches. If the HUD reattaches after I have crossed a region border, the crystals persist unless I return to that region. If I return, the decoy crystals vanish.  There is only one decoy crystal that is clearly intentional as a part of the game (in The Valley, LR 184 for example); the rest of these seems like errors. Are the decoy crystals I'm seeing the result of players once again using bots to clear all the crystals in a region? 

I enjoy Linden Realms; it's an easy retro game pastime and provides me with a handful of Linden Dollars that help with rent. But I worry that LL may be intentionally frustrating both access and play as a precursor to eliminating Linden Realms entirely. The only upside of this is that if Linden Realms were taken down I would no longer have to enter Portal Park - a fellow resident has made Portal Park 1 his home, and his avatar stands there staring at everyone as they arrive. Legal? Yes. Creepy? Definitely.

[Improving SL Economy By Killing It?]

Has the Linden Realms payout for crystals gone down too? I made a "rainy day fund" by not redeeming until I have a need for the L$. It would suck in a huge way if the value of my savings has just been cut in half too. Grrrrrr.

 

[Skins and Shapes]

This may sound like a dumb question, but I have to ask: what is the difference between an SL skin and a shape? So far it seems to me that a skin includes a shape, but a shape may not include a skin.

[Is the Vista head dead?]

I have several Catwa and Lelutkas, but nearly always use my Vista Emily head. It just feels like home! I've been disappointed to see the brand fade away, but I get that creators have a lot more on their minds over the past year or two.

[Creating East Asian, Southeast Asian, Polynesian, and African American Looks]

BTW, Slate has some beautiful and unique African hair styles. More African than Asian, but a nice option for those of us somewhere in the middle. 

[Creating East Asian, Southeast Asian, Polynesian, and African American Looks]

So right. I went with the Lara body too, but a Vista Emily head and Ryo shape. Then fidgeted around to get the shape the way I wanted it.

For HAIR you gotta see YumYum! They're at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Minnaloushe/186/196/28

[Clothing For The Rest Of Us]

BIG THANKS to everyone for the fun recommendations! Here is a list of them with a link. Happy shopping! 🙂

Thalia Heckroth   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fingal/128/87/24
ISON  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ISON/181/190/38
Coco Designs   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/COCO DESIGNS/217/72/21
S@BBiA   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Manduca/134/225/600
Neve   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Neve/127/161/24
fd (fashionably dead) http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lula/219/127/23
Tetra   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/TETRA Store/128/127/1300
Aphorism    http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/TMD/184/180/22
Just Because   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/JustBecause/129/113/23
Tres Blah   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lula/132/186/25
Valentina E     http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Vespertine/207/132/281
The Secret Store    http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Polvi/150/129/37
Hilly Haalan    http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chronos/136/127/23
Orquidea   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tihuta/90/144/1802
Izzies    http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Izzies/111/123/32
AlaskaMetro   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Imogen/208/66/21
Giz Seorn   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/GIZ SEORN/163/118/72
Pixicat   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Nouveaux/88/44/23
Cheezu   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chu Chu/111/142/27
Belle Epoque   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wild Willows/162/126/11
Ingenue   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Love Island/184/58/23
Reign   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Yesterday/61/131/24
Baby Monkey   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Keraxic/40/193/32
Virtue    http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Serena Solace/61/197/1222

 

[Clothing For The Rest Of Us]

Thanks folks, these look great!

 

[Clothing For The Rest Of Us]

Aloha all. Hope you're healthy and happy!

I like that SL is a place in which people can explore sides of themselves that they may not be able to do in RL. But having said that, the selection of clothing on SL Marketplace is super frustrating. It's REALLY difficult to find the sort of clothing most of us probably normally wear. You know, like a blouse that isn't open to the navel, or a pair of shorts that barely covers the butt. I'm not conservative, I just don't want to dress like some hormonal kid's wet dream. Are there clothing stores out there for the rest of us? I'd really appreciate any recommendations. Thanks!

[Linden Realms Limits]

Hi Clairschen. I was thinking about doing the same - using Linden Realms to "bank" crystals and then cash them out on a rainy day. Thanks for the warning!