Linden Lab – Page 60 – Ciaran Laval

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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June 3, 2015

A Dwarfin Storms 1920’s Berlin On Relaxed Rules Day

The 1920’s Berlin Project in Second Life is a roleplaying region that takes its history seriously. The year is 1929, Germany is a republic and you get to see an authentic representation of Berlin of that era.

To enable authenticity, Frau Yardley enforces a strict dress code. Now don’t worry, for two reasons. The first reason is that there are freebie clothing outfits at the landing point to enable you to visit without looking out of place. The second reason is that today, June 3rd 2015, is relaxed rules day in 1920’s Berlin.

What does relaxed rules day mean? Well it means this :

As you may know, Berlin has a dress code, we ask all our visitors to look realistic and authentic for the theme of our sim.
But now and then we decide to relax these rules to give new people a chance to explore our sim even if they don’t feel like dressing up or having a realistic avatar.

So, on Relaxed Rules Day we will NOT be asking people to dress in the 1920s style and we will be welcoming avatars such as furries, tinies, demons, fantasy animals, etc.
The only rules we will be enforcing are that we will not accept public nudity or Nazi related behaviour and dress.
Of course anyone bothering or harassing people will also be send home.

This may be a good day to show Berlin to your friends who have not been here before and may feel a bit intimidated by our rules or roleplay.

We will also allow flying on this day so you can see the city from a whole new angle.

This therefore means that as a Dwarfin King I was able to roam the streets of 1920’s Berlin in my full regal attire, therefore earning the respect I deserve from these humans.

Obviously I have taken full advantage of this and done the whole tourist thing by taking plenty of snapshots.

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