Second Life – Page 59

June 9, 2015

Second Life Premium Members Can Get Their SL12B Avatar Early At Premium Meetup

Second Life’s twelfth night, or birthday if you prefer, is fast approaching. The SL12B community Celebration, will run between June 21st-28th. Linden Lab are playing their part in the celebrations and will be releasing a commemorative avatar to celebrate the anniversary.

This is a long standing tradition and in recent years we were gifted a bear avatar for SL10B and a robot avatar for SL11B.

Premium Members of Second Life will get the chance to get early access to this year’s birthday avatar, according to a blog post from Xiola Linden : Premium Members:Get Early Access to the SL12B Commemorative Avatar at a Tiki-tastic Party!

Splish Splash – it’s a Tiki Beach Bash!

Premium members – this one is just for you, so be sure to save the date! We’ve lit the tiki torches and brushed up on our fruity drink-mixing skills to host a casual gathering with the added bonus of early access to our Official Second Life 12th Birthday commemorative avatar.

That’s right – come to the SL12B Premium Meetup on Thursday June 11th from 10:30 to 11:30 AM SLT, hang out with us, and be one of the first to glimpse and grab the celebratory 12th anniversary avatar. The nature of this particular avatar required us to select a remote island for our gathering as well as implement a strict quarantine on the subject, so you’re going to have to drop by our tropical jungle destination to find out what it is.

Ah but what about those Premium Members who want the avatar but can’t make the meetup? Do not worry, you can still get the avatar early.

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June 8, 2015

In The Bleak Midwinter At Galanthus – The Ice Keep of Niphus

Galanthus – The Ice Keep of Niphus is listed in the Castles & Ruins section of the Second Life destination guide and comes with a story :

Winter came with draught and suffering. Lords of the north had very little choice but to retreat. So did the lord of Galanthus. A land so fertile and green. People so brave and loyal. Will so strong. But…. Winter came to Galanthus as much as it came to all.

Lord of Galanthus retreated to his ice keep of Niphus with the remaining people of his lordship.

There he hoped to return one day stronger.

Built 2000 years before his time the mighty keep of Niphus is beautiful but old. İts tunnels are deep and mysterious. The ancient arena is still with blood and the few remaining knights still honour their lord with their lance in tournaments.

The sim describes itself as Semi-RP, which the handily provided notecard informs me means that the sim is an RP sim, but has very few rules.

The sim is the second episode of the legacy, the first, Galanthus, was created by Ozgur Portilo and his partner, Mina Pelazzi, a few years ago. The same couple have created this second episode too.

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June 6, 2015

Visiting Skyeridge Parkway Mountain Retreat But Still Looking For The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine

The Nature and Parks section of The Destination Guide is always makes for interesting viewing and it was there that I found Skyeridge Parkway Mountain Retreat. The location is inspired by The Blue Ridge mountains in the United States Of America and provides some extremely scenic views.

There’s a road winding around the sim that climbs to the higher reaches, or if prefer rail travel there’s a rail carriage that runs alongside the road.

There’s also a social side to the region with a bar that has a flashing sign advertising Jazz, although I do not know if Jazz is actually performed here.

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June 5, 2015

The Arcade Is Open Until June 30th But Be Patient If You Want To Participate

The Arcade in Second Life is a build that would be a sight to behold were it simply a build to view and walk through. The people behind The Arcade describe it as :

Set in a seaside build that evokes the whimsical feel of the penny arcades of early 1900’s Coney Island and Brighton Pier, The Arcade strives to present a nostalgic atmosphere that welcomes an audience seeking great gacha prizes, and continues to be a favorite destination for photographers and enthusiasts of vintage architecture.

However there’s more to it than just being a spectacular build, it’s an Arcade that plans to hold events in June, September and December. As we’re now a few days into June that means there’s an event on now. We’re not talking any old events here, we’re talking Gacha, which is extremely popular in Second Life. This is demonstrated by the fact that the two regions are often full and hard to enter, but I’ll come to that later.

The Arcade has been a big part of Second Life going back to 2012, and it’s time to give some credit to those behind it :

The Arcade was founded in September of 2012 by Second Life residents, Octagons Yazimoto, Katharine McGinnis, Emery Milneaux and Umberto Giano. Currently, the quarterly gacha event features 100 of the grid’s best designers and builders, each whom offer a collection of high-quality prizes sold at random from gacha machines within The Arcade’s build.

There’s no doubting that The Arcade delivers what it claims to be. The place is atmospheric, you do like to be beside the seaside when visiting. Linden Lab are on the ball regarding this location too as it gets a mention in their latest blog post regarding Highlights From The Destination Guide. That blog post is worth a read too as there are some other extremely interesting looking venues mentioned. Linden Lab are doing a really good job with promoting The Destination Guide.

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June 4, 2015

Virtual Ability Drew A Great Virtual World Picture At Denver Comic Con

Denver Comic Con ran from May 23rd – 25th and was the expected mixture of comics, computer games, science fiction, fantasy and more. The more part had what was to me, a surprising part to it as it included Virtual Ability Inc. a non-profit organisation who have a presence in both Second Life and Inworldz. Virtual Ability build community support for people with a wide range of disabilities in virtual worlds.

That they were part of Denver Comic Con initially seemed odd, but then I noticed that Denver Comic Con also has links with Pop Culture Classroom, whose mission statement is :

Pop Culture Classroom ignites a love of learning, increases literacy, celebrates diversity and builds community through the tools of popular culture and the power of self-expression.

If you’re still scratching your head, then a blog post may help you : Live from DCC’15: Virtual Ability Helps People in the Real World :

It’s not just about comics at Denver Comic Con. Denver’s fandom is unique in supporting the efforts of education, through our associated nonprofit, Pop Culture Classroom, as well our new and unique gaming and development area, the E.D.G.E.

The post is worth a read in full because it exemplifies a lot of the good work Virtual Ability do in Virtual Worlds, th author of the post spoke to Alice Krueger, the President and founder of Virtual Ability and Alice made some very positive and interesting comments on virtual worlds, particularly with regards to Second Life :

We provide education and entertainment to our community members and do outreach to the general population in Second Life. Most people don’t realize that in virtual environments, one out of every five persons has some kind of disability and that’s a higher percentage than in the general population outside the virtual world.

There are many good uses of Virtual Worlds of course, but the way they can aid people with disabilities is a very important use case.

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