Happy Halloween

DrFran Babcock, a Second Life blogger whose batty friend Ariel Loonie is a frequent subject, shows off her own winged avatar, a modified early Lusk bat when we were both at the Skybeam Estates.

Dark Business for Halloween at Podex

It was a late October day at the Podex Exchange. The employees talked a little about Burn2 at the month’s begining, but most of the conversation was about Halloween. The tellers and clients chatted about the various haunted places across the Grid, various scary games, plus the abundance of Halloween parties and all of those spooky costumes.

It was turning dusk, and getting close to closing time when a dark figure walked in. He was dressed all in black, and resembled a humanoid bat, covered in thin black fur and with huge wings folded on his back. After a couple moments of looking around, he walked up to one of the tellers.

“Um, hello?” the teller greeted nervously.

“Yes,” the visitor spoke, “I’d like to inquire about making an account here.”

“Well Sir, we’re an exchange service. For a small fee, you can exchange one of a number of currencies from around the world to Lindens, and vice-versa.”

“Oh. Well in that case, I’d like to exchange a few Euros for an ammount of Lindens. There is some business I’d like to conduct inworld.”

“Of course, Sir.” Through electronic transfer, the visitor brought forward an ammount of Euros for sale, and the teller exchanged it for the Lindens

“Excellent.” The visitor smiled, “I don’t suppose you know where I could find a bakery or candy store, to pick up a supply of cookies?”

“I know of a few places, Sir,” the teller listed a few, “Planning on having a party?”

“Perhaps later. But tonight I shall be taking part in, I guess you might call it a blood drive. And I understand it’s customary to give sweets to the,” the figure paused and grinned, the tips of his fangs showing, “donors.”

The teller spoke nothing, the dark visitor’s words and toothy smile having brought a chill up his spine. All that was done was to watch the figure walk out of the bank, flap his wings, and jump up and took flight into the darkening sky.

The Podex Exchange is located at Moonbeam (26, 223, 34), with a website at http://www.podex.info/ . Jacek Shuftan is the CEO.

Bixyl Shuftan

Eye on the Blog: “Beginner’s Easy Guide” to Zombie Games

With the popularity of zombies and zombie games, it’s no surprise this Halloween season that Linden Lab did a “Beginner’s Easy Guide” to zombie games on the Grid. They highlighted three different games with three levels of complexity, “select the one that matches how much time you have to kill (bad pun intended).” They gave “The Dead Zone” as an example of a Zombie shoot-em-up that was fairly simple for those with less than an hour to play, join the group, grab the free gun, then go into mouselook and start shooting.

For those whom wanted something a little deeper for several hours of gaming fun, the Lab mentioned “Urban Zombie,” an abandoned city filled with “haunted alleys and dark passageways” where the undead lie in wait. This game is a little more detailed, involving getting and wearing a HUD, which keeps track of your score, as well as experience points, quests, and missions. There’s also a free gun available. After that, you can head out into the streets. For more serious players, there is armor and other items up for sale.

For the truly serious zombie slayers, aka the “zombie maniacs” as the blog called them, there were places “that will immerse you deeper into the combat gameplay.” The Linden article described game in this third category, “Bloodbath and Beyond,” which could be described as a Medieval Fantasy MORPG. In this sim, “you fight zombies, skeletons and elves, complete quests for prizes and rewards, drink potions to rejuvenate, and much more. Play with friends and even level up.“

Before playing, residents are asked to spend about 20 minutes or so reading the rules, background story, and other information. Then join the group, wear an appropriate outfit (the Linden blog showed a picture of a revealing Fantasy outfit for women fighters), then get the starter pack with a HUD and a longbow & sword (no guns allowed in the Medieval area). The HUD also keeps track of your score, and the highest ones are publicly displayed, so along with the guts comes glory.

Although the blog article showed a variety of action games in Second Life, not everyone was overly impressed. Hamlet Au, although he called it “a good resource guide,” he commented it “reminds me how much Second Life’s Development tools need to improve.” Simple games from Facebook could be downloaded in less than a minute, he argued, and more detailed video games could be downloaded via “Steam” in as little as five minutes, “Hopefully this is just the kind of time-consuming pain that Linden Lab CEO and game development veteran Rod Humble is now working hard to improve.”

Despite the lag and the bugs, these are still good games, and an example of the fun one can have on the Grid. But, there is room for improvement.

Sources: Linden Blog, New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

Sometimes friends can be such a pain in the neck.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Happy Anniversary Qwark & Gemma

Yesterday, October 30th, was the 4rth anniversary of when SL Newser's Gemma Cleanslate and DJ Qwark Allen tied the knot. Solarhydro Cleanslate DJed for this party as the couple just danced on the floor. Prizes, and virtual desserts, were available to guests.

Happy Anniversary, and many more.

More Halloween Haunts on the Grid

Halloween is almost upon us, but there's still time to check out more spooky fun places on the Grid. Some are simple thrills and chills, but some like "The Flesh Game" and "The Mullbery Harbor" have impressive backgrounds and offer to unnerve even the most jaded of residents.

Read about the haunts in Places.

Vampire Bat Spotted at Steelhead

This Halloween, the Steelhead sims have been frequented by a winged visitor, a huge vampire bat.


It’s unclear exactly when the dark visitor first began frequenting the skies of the noted Steampunk region, as strange things happen there seemingly every day. But sometime in October following it’s Oktoberfest celebrations, people began seeing a huge creature flying overhead. Not a true bat, the being is described as a “were-bat” or “man-bat,” humanoid-shaped with arms, legs, and hands, wearing dark clothes. On the ground, it stands over six feet high, and in the air has a wingspan over a dozen feet across.

So far, the only complaint about the bat concerns the slaugtherhouse, in which the disappearance of gallons of cattle and pig’s blood has been linked to the vampire bat, as it has been sighted there, “That would have made good sausage. Why does this beastie want the product raw?”

The vampire bat has not made a serious attempt to assault anyone. It did reportedly break up a nighttime attempted purse-snatching, sending the thief panicking and running into the direction of a neighborhood policeman on patrol, who arrested the petty crook on other charges. The woman was later found, with what seemed like a hickey on her neck and a wistful smile on her face. When asked it the bat tried to harm her in any way, she answered, “Oh no,” then happily sighed.

A couple scientists are reportedly searching for the bat, wanting to study it for Science!. But so far the aireal interloper has evaded them. There has been no comment from the office of Sheriff “Fuzzball” Ortega.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Path

Gemma Cleanslate recently took a look at "The Path," an exhibition from Bryn Oh, and seven other artists in Second Life. Backed by the Linden Endowment of the Arts, this journey into the surreal with numerous scenes seemed to show something new to her every time she walked through it, "This is a journey not to be rushed."

Read the story in Design.

Globe Theater, SL Shakespeare Company, to Close.

Some sad news for those who enjoy the arts in Second Life. A few days ago, Ina Centaur announced in the SL Shakespeare Company Blog that their sims would be shutting down on October 29 “or thereabouts,” and with them the Globe Theater.

Begining in February 2008, the SL Shakespeare Company held performances in it’s Globe Theater. Things went well to the final performance in December 2011. Then in 2012, things went bad. With the discount for nonprofit sim teirs gone, Ina posted in May that they could raise only enough money to cover the costs for two of their sims. Fortunetly, the sims had been paid for in advance for some months, but due to $3,200 in unpaid fees elsewhere, her account was frozen and locked out of the Grid, bringing the long-term future of the Globe Theater in doubt. Hopes were raised when she negotiated to possibly gain preservation status for the theater, like Svarga. But the Linden she made the deals with was dismissed from the Lab, and Ina found it “impossible” to talk to her replacement. She began to conclude that the end was just a matter of time.

On October 22, she posted in her own blog and the Shakespeare blog that the end was finally coming. She thanked the patrons of the Globe, beginning with those “who could no longer be with us.” She also made one particularly bold claim, saying in the past after doing some fundraising, “the avatar of someone rich and famous in RL contacted me. The patron criticized me for paying too much for SL and attempting to do everything myself, but helped donate enough (through several alt’s) to help save the Shakespeare and Primtings sims.”

“In early 2009, I received a mysterious package by mail in RL — an iPhone 3G. It was rather anonymized, but I thanked the patron by IM — and, he told me that that was what I should be putting my time into. He also said that he created iTunes so that independent creators could share their creations and even turn it into a viable business ...”

“Was it really Steve Jobs?” Ina stated she respected “the privacy of our patrons, so I did not inquire further.” But she did want to meet him in real life, and was saddened when the Apple co-founder died from cancer, “I knew two weeks ago, when he passed away, that this SL dream was over… But, it was beautiful while it lasted.”

And so, another valued piece of land is set to depart from the Grid. But this one was especially a treasure to those in the art community

“We thank you for having witnessed the short duration of this virtual miracle. Adieu.”

Source: InaCantaur.com, SL Shakespeare Company Blog, Daniel Voyager’s Blog

Bixyl Shuftan



The Globe Theater when being built, and a future of plays and drama, the good kind, ahead of it.

Oktoberfest!

Please join the Passionate Redheads as we celebrate Oktoberfest in style! It will also be the debut of a NEW venue, the beautiful La Palais du Soliel. The Palais is a formal 18th C ballroom, so put on your finest! The party starts at 5PM SLT, and runs until 8PM. I hope you will be there!

Enchanted Forest, Southern Colorado (195, 239, 1201)

Areo Park's Fifth Annual Halloween Trail

With ten connected sims and over thirty exhibits from large to small, Areo Park's Halloween Trail offers a number of spooky thrills and chills for visitors. Haunted houses, mazes, creatures after you, the list goes on. The place is definitely worth a peek.

More on the story in Extra.

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Halloween Sites and other Dark Sims

It's Halloween season in Second Life, which means lots of spooky places for thrills and chills, as well as a few not overly spooky autumn spots. Netera Landar took a look at some, and wrote about a few locations.

Read more in Places.

Breaking News: Will Wright, Creator of “the Simulation Game Genere,” Joins Linden Lab’s Board of Directors

If you’re a fan of simulation gaming, you have recall the name Will Wright. Starting with the groundbreaking “Sim City” in 1989, Wright created a number of successful simulation games, such as the “Sims” series and “Spore.” He now has a new addition to his impressive resume: a member of Linden Labs’ Board of Directors.

A look at the Linden Lab site revealed his name and a biography. He was listed as “CEO of the Stupid Fun Club,” which suggests a tone of levity on his joining in. Taking a look at the Stupid Fun Club’s website was a manifesto stating a goal of helping human beings better unify with their technology, sometimes using tounge-in-cheek phrases.

Second Life Newser was contacted by Fuzzball Ortega of Steelhead, whom found the information on New World Notes, Hamlet rightly calling it a major coup, the creator of “the Simulation Game Genere” now joining Second Life. The lycan sherrif lightheartedly chided us, joking about the Newser not being the first this time to report breaking news.

The addition of Wright to Linden Labs shouldn’t be too big a surprise, considering Linden Lab’s CEO Rod Humble’s own background in gaming. Still, bringing in such a prestigious figure to Second Life, it can only be considered very good news for the future for the Grid.

Image from Stupid Fun Club.

Bixyl Shuftan

Press Release: "Acquarella - After the Apocalypse" Opens in InWorldz

Acquarella: After the Apocalypse GRAND OPENING
Saturday, October 29, 12 - 3 pm PDT

Attention! this event is in InWorldz, not Second Life!!

You are cordially invited to the GRAND OPENING for my first-ever full-sim art installation!

Come give me a hug or introduce yourself if we haven't met. Enjoy music by Chandra Deed noon to 1:30 pm PDT and Declan G 1:30 - 3 pm PDT! Feast on sushi! Ride a pink seahorse!

Best of all, come see a story as told by a sim: the Age of Man has ended in a blaze of fire, famine, and warfare, and the Age of Acquarella dawns. The mighty goddess repopulates the oceans with aquarium outposts filled with creatures that survived in the coolest depths. Hoping to avoid the violent excesses of her forebears, she plans for these little oceans to be peaceful and pure. Alas, as they say, if you want to make the Devil laugh, make plans.

Check out the unusual terraforming and land textures, the beautiful hand-drawn plants and exotic fish, the sea serpent, the rideable seahorses. Feast in the Sushi Pavilion. Look out for the 8-eyed monster - a true fear experience. Freebies and lots of cool stuff for sale in the Sim Store, too.

Inworldz Grid, Nexus Central (211, 49, 25)

http://places.inworldz.com/Nexus%20Central/211/49/25

Hope to see you then,

Ali
(Alizarin Goldflake)

Events this Week in Second Life from Oct. 25th to Oct 31st

This week in Second Life, it's a spook-tacular time across the Grid with the approach of Halloween. The various clubs, in addition to their live music events, bring out themes with dark and spooky costumes. Plus there are Halloween-themed hunts such as the Loup Garou Benefit Hunt, scary events like the Phantasmagoria, and a tribute to Orson Wells' radio scare "War of the Worlds."

Halloween in Second Life, it's a scream.

Read more in Events.

Virtual Museum of Architecture - Fall Build-Off

The Virtual Museum of Architecture recently had it's Fall "Build-Off." Those entering had two days to finish their builds, to be done in the Art Deco theme. And the results were very impressive in both quality and variety. Grey Lupindo dropped in to take a look at the contest, and hear the winners.

Read more in Design.

Gracie Kendal’s “1000 Avatar Project“ Almost at 2000

Recently, Bixyl Shuftan met up with Gracie Kendel, the artist behind the "1000 Avatar Project." Taking pictures at the time of his virtual neighbors, Gracie had long surpassed her original goal and was closing in on twice that. Here, he writes about what the project is about, a little about the artist, and where to go if one wants to have their picture taken.

Read more in People.

The Way I See It (1) : Games of Chance on Second Life

Second Life Newser welcomes it's newest writer: Alynia Vixen. Today, she starts things off with what she hopes will be a regular column, "The Way I See It."

Sometimes when I am less than occupied on Second Life, I go club hopping. Now mind you I have my own club where I tend to hang out, and there are a number of other clubs that I prefer. But some of the clubs I go to I have seen a sploder or two in play. Now for those who have not seen a sploder, it is basically a device that residents dump Linden dollars into, and some of the entrants get money back.

Sploders can be set up different ways. Sometimes everyone gets money, sometimes only a few do and they get the majority of the money. There are different types of sploders with different rules. But exactly how these sploders work isn't really the issue this column is about. The problem is that the Second Life terms of services says that "Games of Chance" are against the rules.

Now I would like to clarify, I personally do not have anything against sploders or games of chance at all, in fact, I think they are fun to play. And this article is not to condemn any club that might be using one. Instead I would like to talk a bit about the history of this particular part of the TOS and discuss its risks and implications, but also talk practically about the existence and use of games of chance in Second Life.

In November of 2007, Linden Lab invited the FBI to examine the operations of Second Life, including in world and business activities. It is commonly believed that the FBI initiated this investigation, but this is not the case. The FBI reported afterwords there were no 'areas of concern' found and found Linden Lab to be operating within the law, despite all the casino's strewn about the grid.

They proceeded to ban 'all games of chance' anyway. Why? This is a good question to which the answer has never been clearly given, but then we should expect nothing less of the Lab. There has been some theories however. Many believe they simply did not want to take chances with the law. But I believe that's nonsensical, because the presence of casinos, the land they occupied and the L$ they brought in great profit for them.

There are however other things that were factors. One of the ways that casinos drew in players was with 'money chairs' which paid you to sit in them. Often people would just plant themselves into a chair and used an auto-deidling client to stay in it. From a social perspective and a sim load perspective, the Lindens did not like this.

But an even bigger nuisance is that casino's were popping up everywhere. I bought a chunk of land in a mainland sim that was pretty quiet and about a month later a casino moved in. Its noises reached my parcel, easily. In short, casinos were devaluing the land on Second Life in general, and that hit the pocket of the Lindens. since most of the profit of Linden Lab comes from land transactions, money bought and sold in SL stays in the economy and the Lab gets a small percentage of the Lindex exchange.

What this means to games of chance today? Well, take a mass marketed game like Zyngo. I like Zyngo, it is debatable whether or not it is a game of chance. It has elements of chance in it. But the creator of the game must state in almost every three sentences describing it how it is not a game of chance, as if they felt the need to defend its existence against the Lab. But did the Lab do this because they feared the law, or did they just hate the deluge of casinos? I would contend it is the latter.

Sploders are definitely a game of chance, no skill involved. However, will you get in trouble for having one? Potentially, if someone wants to abuse report you for having one. But to be right honest, unless you're an oldbie, you probably don't even know that games of chance are against the TOS. And will the Lab come looking for them? Probably not. These days the Lindens aren't part of the world they enabled, instead they sit on high, and pretty much EVERYTHING they know about what is happening on the grid comes from abuse reports. Perhaps, this is why they seem to have such an apathetic view on us residents anymore.

In closing I just wanted to give people who use games of chance the perspective they need to judge whether or not they should use such a thing to attract people to their club. Does Linden Lab care about sploders? Probably not. They do not represent a threat to their profits, to the grid, or to the happiness of other residents. Can others use the existence of a sploder to hurt your club? Potentially, but unlikely. But just because I say 'unlikely' doesn't mean 'impossible' if someone really decides to push the issue. In my personal opinion I think sploders should be OK and that the 'games of chance' clause in the TOS is silly, but nonetheless, it is there.

What do you, the readers, think? Feel free to leave comments.

Alynna Vixen

Cartoon of the Day

By Xymbers Slade

Reader Submitted: Carmeldansen

Submitted by Rua Whitepaw (center forward), she and a few friends dancing away on a music-emitting "Carmeldansen Cube" at a secret location somewhere at the Angel Estates.

Weekend Land Sale

Second Life is having a special "Land Sale" this weekend. If you get some virtual land from Linden Lab, they'll skip the set-up fee.

We’re offering a limited-time deal on some of our most popular items — Private Islands and Homesteads. For the first time, new land or additional land is available without the usual set-up fee. From October 21 to 23, you can take advantage of this special and become a Landowner if you’re not already — or maybe bump up the size of your land.

Tateru Nino commented her readers asked if Linden Labs was starting to notice the increasing number of private sims slipping away and was getting "desperate." Her opinion, "my take is that the Lab has all of those expensive servers kicking around and that’s just a waste ... I’d be very keen to get all of those servers back into service rather than just sitting around."

Details are on http://secondlife.com/land/sale/ , and the deadline is Midnight SL time on Octomber 23rd.

Le Magique Haunted House

Found out about this haunted house at Le Magique and Goth Magique.


Not too complicated, just a house filled with thrills and chills, although there are a couple places you may want to jump or rush forward.


The haunt is at Le Magique (46, 40, 41).

Meeroo Madness

Despite having been in Second Life for some months, Meeroos are still the top selling breedable pet on the Grid. So just what's the attraction of the little critters? Xymbers Slade decided to see for himself.

Read more in Design.

Megaprims Accidentaly Removed by Linden Lab, Lab Says Problem Solved

Last night, I was contacted by Jasmine Dawn, whom pointed out to me a thread in the SL Universe Forums. It stated Linden Labs had “blacklisted” someone and their actions in dealing with him had the side effect of removing megaprims with his name on them. There was a link to a JIRA filed about the problem, which had been written down:


Just a few moments ago most megaprims contained in the SALT collection were blacklisted. These megaprims are part of a collection used by most creators across the grid. Any items created with these prims are no longer rezzable. This includes components of a product I work on as well as possibly thousands others. It is not even possible to remove these prims from builds as the items containing them are not rezzable.


This was a potentially big mess, as a numble of builds I knew made use of megaprims such as Tuna Oddfellow’s Odd Ball and Club Zero Gravity. but stopping by the club, it was intact, and Tuna Oddfellow held an impromptu event that night without trouble. I never heard from any of my friends having a build taken down that night.

A couple posters on the SLU Forum thread checked and found of about a dozen makers of megaprims, it was one whose creations were blocked. Looking further, a couple posters mentioned having items taken down, and another those of his customers.

Later on, there was a Grid Status Report about the issue. Apparently, Linden Lab had fixed the problem, and while the affected megaprims weren’t back up, theye were no longer blocked, so those whom had them returned to inventory could rebuild. Those whose builds had disappeared were asked to contact Linden Lab, with a shortcut for Premium members.


[POSTED 10:35AM PDT, 20 October 2011] Due to a change we recently made to address a griefing problem, some megaprims were removed from the grid, which has affected users’ creations containing these megaprims. The issue has been resolved, and the megaprim objects can be re-rezzed from your inventories at this time. If you do not have a copy of the affected build, please go to your support portal immediately and file a case. If you are Premium member or above, you can use these case types: “Technical Questions” > “Objects (Rezzed) Issues. If you have a free membership and your group owned land was affected, please use “Land & Region” > Report an Offline Region”. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and are reviewing our processes to try to avoid repeating this situation in the future.


There was also a post in the official forums, though with no new information.

So hopefully the mess is resolved. But this on top of the mass of sim restarts earlier this week, one wonders what next?

Sources: SL Universe Forums, Grid Status Report

Bixyl Shuftan

Basketball in Second Life: Changes at the VBA

I overheard a little chatter about the Virtual Basketball Association recently. Rather than assume, I decided to check things out for myself. So I headed to Alpha Cold, the home of the VBA, and talked with co-founder Emerald Ishtari about recent events in Second Life's largest basketball league.

Read the story in Extra.

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Dahlia's Second Life Adventures

Netera Landar recently did one of her more adventuresome interviews. Dahlia Jayaram, whom once made news by sailing across the waters of Second Life, is back. This time, the traveler is making a hot air balloon journey across the continents of the Grid. To talk with her, Netera flew with her, braving storm clouds, air traffic, potential pirate gunfire, and ever-trecherous sim crossings


Read the story in People.

Kristen’s Viewer May Get Second Chance Through "Crowdfunder"

When KirstenLee Cinquetti (Lee Quick in real life) had the misfortune of his real-life partner falling ill, it looked like the end of the line for the viewer he developed last month as he needed to take a second job to get more money. He made the decision to go with a British fundraising website called “Crowdfunder.” The site bills itself as a way for people “to raise money to do cool stuff more easily. ... Lots of people – each giving a small amount ... The ‘crowd’ decides what’s good, what’s not, what they want to fund and what they don’t. It’s survival of the fittest for creative ideas and projects.”

On “The Kirsten’s Viewer Project” page in Crowdfunder, KirstenLee explained in a youtube, “A couple people suggested ‘ why don’t you do a fundraiser? ‘ ... As it happens, we deiced to go for it.” KirstenLee explained the attraction, “it’s an all or nothing situation, people can fund it ... if we don’t hit the target, people get their money back.” He felt a “fair” goal was 25,000 Pounds (about $40,000 US dollars) “for one year’s continuous development. ... If we hit the target that we’re asking, the day it happens Kristen’s Viewer will be re-relased” with an upgraded client.



He explained the people who fund it would get various rewards, depending on the level of their donation, such as special versions of the viewer before general release to the public, suggesting “radical changes to user interface” and special controls. He went on to say, “If we hit the target ... exceed the target ... it affords us the luxury of paying others to contribute to the viewer as well.” He hoped he might be able to hire the former Qual Linden. He also talked about the Kristen’s project being able to license things after the Crowdfunder goal was met.

The Kristen Crowdfunder page gave a list of donor rewards from small to large. Those contributing 1000 Pounds, “You get to choose the features that get into the client for feature voting!” Also, “The TOP 10 funders will have all of the rewards Plus exclusive use of 1 of 10 Login splash screens used by the viewer! Your screen will be seen by thousands of users daily!”

The page was started on Monday October 17th, with 60 days to raise the 25,000 pounds. By Tuesday night, 2,092 Pounds, or eight percent of the total had been raised, contributed by 59 donors. The post on KristenLee’s blog announcing the news was also filled with the comments of well-wishers.

Hamlet Au had a few comments on New World Notes about KristenLee’s move. He called it, “a bid to give Second Life users more say in the future of Second Life. ... If this Crowdfunder is successful, it will help launch a new era of Second Life development that is more directly by the users, for the users.”

“ ... consider contributing a few pounds ... it’s your viewer ... we’d be happy to have you aboard.” - KirstenLee Cinquetti / Lee Quick

Sources: Kristens Viewer, Crowdfunder, New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

Events this Week in Second Life from Oct. 18th to Oct 25th

It's a week full of events in Second Life. There are the music events at clubs, from the romance of the Queen of Hearts to the stellar environment of Club Zero Gravity. There are also other events, such as book and poetry readings, and talk shows. And with Halloween coming up, the clubs are coming up with themes appropriate to the holiday. Plus, there are special events across the Grid, such as the "Hallow 'Deen Festival" and "Phantasmagoria."


Read more in Events.

A Day of Rolling Restarts

Yesterday, Monday the 17th, was a bit frustrating for myself and a number of others on the Grid. When logging back on, I would appear with two avatars on at the same time, one I logged out with and another I had worn not long before. And when looking at the contents of avatar folders, I would sometimes find much of it missing. I wasn't alone as others complained of being "scalped."

But the big thing was all of those sim restarts. Just minutes after logging in, the sim I was in announced it was restarting, warning if I was still around I'd be logged off. Once in a blue moon, I would have a second that day. But the restarts kept coming and coming, some weary residents describing themselves as refugees. I must have encountered almost a dozen that evening.

The next day at work, I ran into someone whom had been using Second Life that night as well. He asked me if I had crashed a lot, and when I explained the restarts, he commented, "So it wasn't just me."

Checking the Linden Lab Grid Status reports, there were a few, the latest being one on the sim restarts:

[RESOLVED 9:04AM PDT, 18 October 2011] Today’s main server rolling restarts have been completed.

[UPDATED 5:30AM PDT, 18 October 2011] Rolling restarts on the main Second Life server channel will begin momentarily. Please refrain from rezzing no copy objects, making inworld L$ transactions and please save all builds. We will update this post when the restarts have completed.

[POSTED 6:43PM PDT, 17 October 2011] Rolling restarts for regions on the main Second Life server channel will be performed on Tuesday, October 18th at approximately 5:00am PDT. Please make sure to save all builds and refrain from making purchases during this time.

They also mentioned a "Critical OS Software Upgrade," which would cause a lot of restarts.

[RESOLVED 11:57PM PDT, 17 October 2011] All maintenance this evening has been completed.

[POSTED 6:57PM PDT, 17 October 2011] The evening round of upgrades is now underway. Some regions may experience up to an hour of downtime during this maintenance. We will update this blog when additional information becomes available.

Hopefully the mess of restarts is over, before my friends start getting Gypsy costumes for Halloween.

Bixyl Shuftan

Luskwood Turns Eight

Last weekend, Luskwood celebrated it's birthday. One of the oldest communities in Second Life, it had reached it's eighth anniversary. So the locals celebrated with music, a couple of presents, and some fun over three days.

Read more in Places.

Cartoon of the Day

Don't worry, he let her go after a couple pints.

By Bixyl Shuftan

The "SL Goonies Visit Burn 2"

Gemma found out about this Youtube done by Loki Eliot,"The SL Goonies once again set out to explore the annual Virtual World version of Burning life 'Burn2' . We explore some of the many builds before finishing at the Kids Camp where we watch the Mini Man burn."

SL Newser Blimp

SL Newser got a present from one of our readers, Jasmine Dawn, a mini-Zepplin.

Maybe someday soon, I can cover a "Cross-Country Snail Race" in this. ;-)

Avalon Town to Host Cystic Fibrosis Fundraiser

Avalon Town is pleased to announce its next semi-annual fundraising event, this time on behalf of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide).

To put a little "fun" in our fundraiser and celebrate this haunting season, we're inviting artists and creative types to participate in our "Scary Art" contest and benefit auction.

To participate, dream up your scariest art: photos, paintings, sculptures, you name it, and submit it by Sunday, October 23rd, noon SLT. The art will be displayed and open for voting and auction bids through the week of the 24th with a grand finale Halloween Ball on Friday, October 28th at 7pm SLT. The bidding and voting will end at 9pm on the 29th.

All proceeds from the bidding will go to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Winners of the Scary Art Contest will win a linden prize donated by Avalon Town.

3rd place: L$1000

2nd place: L$2000

1st place: $3000

1.) Limit 1 entry per artist - if we have space to open up to a second submission we will notify the participants

2.) Please keep the size of the work within a 10m diameter and 20m height

3.) Prim limit 50 prims

4.) Scripts are allowed within reason, please consider sim performance

5.) Bots are not permitted

6.) Avalon Sims are rated moderate, please submit appropriate works.

7.) Mod and copy rights are optional, but works should allow transfer for auction purposes.

8.) Avalon Town management reserves the right to turn down any entry for any reason.

9.) Avalon Town management may participate in the art auction, but will not be eligible for the linen prize.

10.) Entry Deadline Sunday, October 23rd, 12pm SLT.

Submit Entries to:

Tricia Aferdita

Thank you all for your continued support!

Tricia Aferdita

Avalon Town Manager

tricia.aferdita@avalontown.com

Found on "Lanes' List"

"Occupy Wall Street" in Second Life

With the "Occupy Wall Street" movement so much in the news these days, it was inevitable the debate would move online, and eventually into Second Life.

On the Destinations Guide, there was a page for an "Occupy Wall Street." Porting over to the Flagg sim, the location was wall to wall political slogans from the leaning left to socialist and a few "V for Vendetta" masks. But there was also a link to a website, to Second Life Left Unity. The group calls itself "part of a world wide left unity movement in SL. ... united around social justice and anti-capitalism."

Hamlet Au made a few comments about the protest movement in SL. He felt virtual worlds had a viable role in protests, pointing out most people didn't live near the areas where the main events were taking place, "Should you drive to a protest against corporate power if that means buying a lot of gas from a major oil corporation to get there?" He added what protesters spoke at these inworld events would be more likely to spread than comments to one's small circle of friends in Twitter or Facebook.

Among those taking part in the SL protests, Any1 Gynoid. The self-described journalist & promoter has taken up her pen again, writing about the "Occupy" protests for CNN. One of her articles refers to goings on in Second Life.

The "Occupy Wall Street" build featured in the Destination Guide is at Flagg (213, 70, 95). Any1 wrote she found two more at Born East (113, 219, 27) and Four Bridges North (62, 19, 25).

Sources: New World Notes, CNN, Destination Guide

Bixyl Shuftan

Burn2: The Temple Burn

On Sunday, the Burn2 festival had it's grand finale, the Temple Burn. Numerous residents gathered, and were there to see the work of art, the product of hours of work, go up in virtual flames.

Read more in Events.

Cartoon of the Day

By Xymbers Slade, from his visit to the "9 Circles of Hell" exhibit

The Nine Circles of Hell

When was the last time you mentioned "Hell" in conversation? Ever think about how bad it just might be? Xymbers Slade heard about one interpretation at the Lea Full Sim Art Series, designed and built by Rebeca Bashly, "The Nine Circles of Hell," inspired by "Dante's Inferno."

To read more, go to Design.

Events this Week in Second Life from Oct. 11th to Oct 16th

This week offers a variety of events across the Grid. Burn2 is gone, but residents can still drop by to see what's left of the displays until Thursday. Plus there are the usual club events, though the Halloween-themed events are starting to appear more often, as well as Harvest festivals like the one at Steelhead. And there are the live music events, including a new live singer at Mystery.

Read more in Events.

Steelhead Harvest Festival

Steelhead Harvest Festival, starting this week, thru November

- Tuesday October 11th 7:30pm SLT: Lederhosen night at the town hall meeting. Lace up those tights and come to the meeting… drunk...except scamps. You can be on a sugar high.

- Friday October 14th at 6pm SLT: First Annual Sauerkraut Marathon
All donations benefit scamps in getting… scarves for winter. Actually all donations are to benefit the Broken Bust Art Museum to "feed the hungry rental pole." Race starts in Nevermoor and ends in Boomtown. All participants must wear lederhosen and carry a sausage. All fly is going to be turned off so you have to run.

- Friday October 14th at 7pm SLT: OKTOBERFEST hosted by The Geoduck Inn, owned by Zaida Gearbox, DJ'd by Fuzzball

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Steelhead%20Boomtown/31/138/28

ZZ Studios Opens Sim-Wide Venue: “The Hideout”

A little over a week ago, ZZ Studios moved to a new location in Second Life. This time, Cindy Babii and her team (and fans) have an entire sim to play with. And what did the (in)famous tiger-striped skunkgirl come up with? Yours truly was invited to take a look.

Read more in Places.

Burn2: The Burning of the Man

On Saturday, October 8th, the beginning of the end of the Burn2 festival took place. Like it's counterpart at the real-life Burning Man festival, "The Man" was set ablaze.

See the pictures in People.

Syzygy International Car Show

The Syzygy International Car show is going on now at Syzygy Eos (128, 158, 1501). Syzygy resident B. W. Jinxing is curator of the show, which features over 25 vehicles. The show is fun and interactive. You can open the doors, kick the tires (gently), and sit in many of the cars. You will also find food and a space for you to rez a vehicle and play bumper cars.

The car show is set in a modern, two-story showroom. There are a wide variety of sports cars, police cars, a fire truck, semi’s, and fantasy cars. There are even some motorcycles and cars for tinies.

Many of the vehicles are sleek sports cars with realistic handling qualities. You can view models made by Prefabrica, Lusch, EMH, and GEMC. Some of my favorites are the ones produced by Haru Motors. Their cars on display include a La Re Blue, a Fi 50 Pink, and a Po 18 Sp Red

Jinxing owns many of the vehicles, but others have been loaned to the exhibit by his friends Samantha Glume, Erin Fensen, Motoko Henusaki, and Pipsqueak Fiddlesticks. Ms. Fiddlesticks, who owns Cake!, loaned her fantasy cupcake motorcycle and pink cupcake jeep. Residents with a sweet tooth will love these vehicles. Nearby is a 60's flower-power van with fun pose balls.

The work horses of SL are displayed here, too. There is an Astaro DC 6000 semi and an Astaro Westline logging truck. Police cars, a fire truck, and even a 7 passenger city bus, the STML-107 by GEMC, are shown. The lights blink and the wipers wipe on this big guy.

After you’ve checked out the show, go outside for some delicious Japanese food at the Yatai food vendor, which Motoko Henusaki loaned to the show. The Sake and noodles are great!

The International Car Show is the latest in the series of temporary community builds that the residents of Syzygy have been creating this year. It will remain open for a few more weeks.

Syzygy Eos (128, 158, 1501)

Grey Lupindo