Meeroos Addresses It's Pet Issues

 

Longtime residents will likely remember the Meeroos, even if they never got one. Introduced in 2011, these cute virtual pets known for their wanting to snuggle were very popular then. Almost fifteen years later, they're still around, with a smaller but still active fanbase.  Recently a friend of mine who owned some started telling me about trouble. But after several days, there was finally a response from someone in the company behind them.

Read the story in Design. 

Zooby Prim "Legacy" Babies Get Continued Support

 

In August, Zooby announced it would soon be ending support for Legacy babies, aka "prim babies," and pre-mesh pets. December was supposed to be the last month, with support ending in January. But this will not be happening. Zooby made the decision to continue support.

 

On November 19, Zooby announced news.  

 

We have migrated the ZOOBY LEGACY BABIES!!! This means you can KEEP YOUR LEGACY BABIES FOR AS LONG AS ZOOBY EXISTS! They will remain alive!!! WE DID THIS FOR YOU! 

There is NOTHING YOU HAVE TO DO! We are just letting the community know we did the work on our backend! It just means you can keep you Legacy Babies for as long as Zooby exists! You don't have to do anything!!! WOOHOOO!!!!!

If you need old Legacy supplies they are located here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shedao/185/113/34

The Curious Cats, Curious Canines and Trainapets have also been migrated! We just have the Breedable Lemurs left and then we are done!

We HOPE this month the Animesh Cats will be updated and out with new cat breeds and new cat toys!
We love the community and are doing all we can!! 

 

So for those with older Legacy babies, and pre-mesh pets, they now have a new lease on (virtual) life.

 

Hat tip: Kitacelia

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

 

Saturday, March 18

 

    ~*~

    

    At 10 AM PST   

    Knowledge Creation

    By Prof. Devi Jankowicz

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/knowledge-creation/

    Auditorium

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

      

    ~*~

 

    At 9 PM PST   

    Pets

    By  Jes Stannard

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/pets/

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

 

    ~*~

    

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝

 

 

BioBreeds Breedable Pets Shut Down

 

Second Life has one less breedable pets company. Last weekend, the BioBreeds company apparently closed down due to a dispute between the co-owners.

I found a notecard in the BioBreeds Advertising group, and the Relay for Life Volunteers group, the latter where I found it first. It was signed "Oz," presumably meaning co-owner Ozzie Drucker, the Group Management and Marketing leader.

I have always been as transparent with you all as possible from the start, so let me explain what has happened.

Our provider last fall informed us that we needed to “migrate” our server to the cloud. And needed to do so by the end of the year. At that time they would no longer provide service if we failed to do so.  Our coder, Bytecode Republic, who also is an owner, refused to do so.  He also refused to move us to another provider. Since then I have attempted a variety of ways to convince him that it was necessary so that we could continue. Then, after I took some additional steps to force a migration, and without entangling you in technical jargon, he shut us down on Friday. And in a way that it cannot be undone. Up until late yesterday I was hopeful that somehow this could be resolved.

But he refuses to re-establish us.

The notecard was in the Relay group on Sunday January 29, but not in the BioBreeds Advertising group, the largest BioBreeds group I could find, until Tuesday January 31. I couldn't find an existing larger Biobreeds group. Trying to head to the Biobreeds sim, it was closed. Their Marketplace page was also closed. There was nothing about what happened on the blog (http://www.biobreeds.com/). Their Facebook and Twitter hadn't been updated in a while.

 

I was able to send an alt to a sim known as "The Farm," which came up when I did a search on Biobreeds-related places. I only saw one to two to three people around and most of the stalls were closed. Talking to someone, she told me the creators were making an effort to preserve the pets still out there. She copy-pasted from a group I wasn't able to find on Search.

[15:30] Ozzie Drucker: Group Notice Sent by: Ozzie Drucker
Free Food Plus
DO NOT BUT FOOD!

 Around midnight tonight We will  be rezzing vendors for you to be able to use to get free food and free medkits.

Hope this helps some.

I would go by later, and there were some food and medkit packages available for free at the main building. They were at The Farm (172/207/21).

 

The notice I saw in the Relay for Life Volunteers group was a bit panicky, saying the animals were in danger of dying. Checking with a friend, her Biobreeds permapet was just fine and her regular one was sleeping but otherwise okay. She told me it was a shame BioBreeds was closing as it was her impression they were one of the few companies that tried to keep prices reasonable. 

 

Biobreeds was created on February 5, 2010, the company closing just days before it's thirteenth anniversary. 

This isn't the first time a breedable pets company has closed. In May 2017, Ozimals closed down due to a "cease and desist" order from a lawyer, the result between a dispute between the script builder and the company. 

There will likely be more details as information comes in.

 

 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Farm/172/207/21

 

 Bixyl Shuftan

Looking Back: The End of Ozimals

 

It was five years ago on Wednesday May 17, 2017,  that one of the first breedable pet companies, Ozimals, closed down. They came onto Second Life in 2010. While they were not the first breedable pets in Second Life, they were a breakthrough as they were hardier than the fragile Sion chickens and "the first breedable pet company in Second Life to use a sophisticated system based on dominant and recessive genetics instead of RGB color values as the previous popular breeding pet games." For a time, they were wildly popular, some rare breeds selling for tens of thousands of Lindens at auctions. They even made a marketing deal with Linden Lab.  But the bunny craze soon faded. Shellie Sands thought that the market had become saturated, and when people kept on selling as people wanted to get rid of bunnies they could no longer afford to feed, the price plummeted.

Shortly afterwards, Ozimals filed suit against Amaretto horses, the next popular breedable, saying they had copied sections of their scripts. But after some time, the judge ruled in favor of Amaretto. More breedables entered the market, from dogs to cats and many others. But the Ozimal bunny had a place in Second Life history.

Ozimals continued on, smaller than before, but still going. But behind the scenes trouble was brewing. It seems Ozimals partnered with a "Akimeta Metaverse Development Services" in order to create the scripts for their bunnies, and apparently the partnership for some reason came to an end with no agreement on what Akimeta was owed. What is known is that Malkavyn Eldritch, the owner of Ozimals, posted on their blog that the day before, she had been hit with a "cease and desist" order from a lawyer representing their former partner, and she felt she had no choice to comply. Ozimals was coming to an end as a company.

But it wasn't necessarily the end of the Ozimal bunnies already out there. Malkavyn created for bunny owners "free eternal timepieces and other goodies" that would keep their pets active. Otherwise they would soon go into hibernation without fresh food. Bunnies that were "Everlasting" would go on okay. For a time, the Newser kept a package of these Ozimal goods at the office for anyone who got the news late. There was also a group created, "For the Love of Oz" for fans of the bunnies.

I was recently contacted by an Ozimal fan who asked me some questions about the closing and the goods for preserving and reviving bunnies. So five years later, interest in Ozimals is still out there.
 
Bixyl Shuftan
 

This And That: News in Brief

 There's a lot going on, and only a little time to write about it. So here's a few things that have been going on, but we haven't had the time to write about it in-depth.

With the Pandemic and US Presidential Election in the news lately, something called the CASE Act was almost unnoticed. Tacked onto the Coronovirus relief bill, the act was to "a small claims court-type system within the United States Copyright Office for copyright owners to seek damages under US$30,000 for copyright violations." It got the attention of one SL DJ whom was concerned as it sounded like streaming for public performance would become a felony under the bill.

A residential area, Baja Cove, closed down, "it was a beautiful New Jersey like beach."

Flash is no longer operating for computers, and with it, a number of browser games, and animated files are no longer playing.

We still have yet to write about the Silent Hill "Otherworld" area, an interactive horror area where monsters attack people as they explore an area. For those who can't wait for the article, you can check it out at Chief (42/87/691).

A new kind of breedable pet was recommended  to us to write about. We'll get to it soon.

Second Life's land area grew over the previous year according to Tyche Shepherd, from 24740 regions to 25555, with most of the increase being private sims.

Stay tuned for more on these, and other topics.

New Firestorm Viewer, Christmas Gifts

 

Although the Linden Viewer made the Environmental Enhancement Project part of it's features in April, it wasn't until August that Team Firestorm so much as had a beta version of a viewer with the feature available. A few days ago on December 10, they finally released an official version of their viewer with the feature: 6.4.12 (62831).

Many of you have been waiting a long time for our full release of EEP! This is Linden Lab’s “Environmental Enhancement Project,” which replaces Firestorm’s Windlight feature. This feature has meant we’ve had to redesign some UI panels and functionality within the viewer. Now, we know that change can be hard, but there’s no getting around this one. EEP is here to stay, and Linden Lab did a crazy amount of hard work on this as we and others incessantly found and reported the bugs. ... But this update has LOADS more than just EEP packed inside. It’s been a long time since our last release, and we’ve had plenty of time to add valuable changes, features, fixes and improvements! ...

Some friends of mine have already downloaded the viewer. A few have told me that the new viewer seems to take longer to rezz objects than the last one, so some people may want to be prepared to reinstall the previous version. The beta EEP viewer and Firestorm version 6.2.4.57588 will be blocked on December 31, "As per our 3-version rule."

To celebrate, Team Firestorm threw a party with some gifts. While the party is over, the gifts are still available. In the sky platform above the Firestorm sims, one can pick up the "hair gift" and two pets, a panther and a ferret. 

!!Firelight!! is celebrating with a unisex holiday hair gift. It looks great on both male and female avatars. The gift includes two versions: a rigged version and an unrigged version. You can resize and reshape the unrigged version to fit almost any head. The gift comes with a 16-shade hair-color HUD. A color wheel is also included so you can tint to your liking.

Wild Kajaera has made us 2 gifts! First is the most amazing and stunning Limited Edition Black Panther to celebrate the holiday season.

Their second gift is a Ferret! WK Ferrets are much like the real world they love to run around and play with their toys they have. As a forever pet they need no food unless you give them a wild thing potion.

It's unknown how much longer the gifts will be around.

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Firestorm%20Dow%20Forest/228/244/3902

Bixyl Shuftan

Firestorm 10th Anniversary Party This Sunday

 

After being delayed for about a month, Team Firestorm, the volunteers behind the Firestorm Viewer, is ready to throw it's tenth anniversary bash. It's real anniversary was actually last month, September 3 2010 being when the team (known then as Team Phoenix) was formed. The event starts at Sunday October 18, Noon SL time, and will last for three hours to 3PM SL time. Each hour offers music from three big-name musicians.

We’ve lined up 3 BIG names to bring us live performances through our 3-hour party!

Savannah Rain opens up the party for us, 12–1 pm! ...

Maximillion Kleene rocks the second show from Canada, 1–2 pm. ...

Keeba Tammas and the Tiny Maniacs performs the finale show, 2–3 pm. ...

As with most of their anniversary events, Team Firestorm is offering presents to it's fans. One is a tiger from Wild Kajaera. The other, appropriately enough, is a pet phoenix made by Rezz Room.

Rezz Room is celebrating Firestorm’s anniversary by donating an incredible, animesh, fiery Phoenix companion pet. It can be worn or rezzed and can be set to a radius or to follow its owner.

The SURL of the location hasn't been officially announced yet, the team asking you check their blog an hour before the event. Though a search for Firestorm-owned places revealed a likely location high above their sims.

Once again, the party is on Sunday October 18, from Noon to 3PM SL time.

Bixyl Shuftan

Christmas Gift of Kittens

Yours truly got lots of Christmas cards (thank you all who sent them), as well as a few other presents. But what stood out was a gift of kittens.

The little kitties are all at the Newser office.

Kitacelia and Raising Horses

Before automobiles, people got around either on foot or by horse. Even today when many people go weeks or months without seeing one, horses are still a big part of our culture such as engines measured in "horsepower," expressions such as "never look a gift horse in the mouth," and of course our stories such as cowboys always being near their horses. So it was probably inevitable people would bring horses to Second Life. Several years ago, breedable pet horses came about. And it became possible to raise them here. Deaflegacy, who owns a few horses, recently interviewed one horse breeder, Kitacelia. She had a few questions about raising horses here in the virtual world.

Read Deaflegacy's story in People.

My Horses on Second Life

Besides her writing, Deaflegacy has a love of horses. Besides her pony avatar, lately she's been getting some pet horses for her place in Cape Heron. So what is it like having a small herd of horses in Second Life? She writes some about her experiences.

Read Deaflegacy's article in Extra.

Update on Ozimals: New "Fables" Bunnies On The Way

Just as the fans of Ozimal's bunnies were coming to terms with their pets no longer breedable, the following announcement was made, in notecard, in the "For the Love of Oz" group.

Hello from the land of Fables!

The creators of Ozimals, Candy and Malk, would like to share with you our new breedables project, Fables! Fairy dust is flying, behind the scenes, as we work to bring magical life to our first animal--the beloved Bunny!

To keep up with our progress, join our in-world Fables Update group, (secondlife:///app/group/d973573f-9060-3efa-d22a-2efffc2eecec/about ) visit our website www.fablesinsl.com, and join our email list. We're also on Plurk if you'd like to follow us there: https://www.plurk.com/fablesinsl

Our alpha testing group is closed, but we will need more testers in the near future! If you are interested in helping Fables as a beta tester, please send a notecard to Vander Ashland.

We are thrilled to begin a new adventure, and hope all of you will join us as we explore the mysterious world of Fables!

Happily ever after,
Fables Team

There were no updates in the Fables group when I checked. And there was no additional information in the website or Plurk. On some discussion in the "For the Love of Oz" group, Molly Glitter and Vander Ashland confirmed themselves to be Ozimal creators Candy Cerveau and Malkavyn Eldritch respectively. When someone worried that Ozimals' legal troubles might follow, he was told by Molly, " I can tell you that this is a new project from ground up and we own every piece of it. (smile)."

I instant-messaged Molly, and we had a conversation in which she gave me the okay to use. She told me, "Well, we are very excited to work on a new project from ground up, with lots of updates and enhancements to the original, since we were limited as to how much we could improve the old product. We plan to keep the core of what made the bunnies so fun, and use SL's advances over the years to make them even better." When I asked how soon we could see them on the market, she told me, "We're currently in a closed alpha, with a bunny model in testing and a waiting list for beta. That's about all we could comfortably say right now, but we will be updating the community regularly with our progress via the Fables Update group."


I asked her if she could tell me what the differences between Ozimals and Fables bunnies would be. She told me, "Not quite yet, but we'll be putting out some notices with additional information on our updates and upgrades in the next week or two. We like to have a feature well tested and working properly before we talk about it." I asked if there were plans in the future of pets other than bunnies. She answered, "We've always had ideas for other animals, but we've been limited with what we could do within the old framework. For Fables, we are building it from the start with the ability to create other pets, and we do have a couple in mind (smile), but for now, we are focused on the Bunny. (smile)" I asked would there be some kind of discount offered to Ozimal customers. I was told, "As of now, we're still being advised on on our ability to do that, but we'd love to give back to our loyal community who choose to support us with the new venture if we are able to."

I then brought up, carefully, the group member who expressed worry about Ozimal's legal troubles. She answered, "it is completely new code and assets, owned entirely by us. and created from the ground up. There is no claim anyone else can try to make on this new product." But I was told they couldn't comment on Akimeta's statement following the closing of Ozimals, "Unfortunately, we've been advised that any further public comments on that matter beyond what we said when we closed Ozimals could present legal risk to us, so I'm not able to respond to their statement. We want to look forward to new beginnings and the future, and the community asked us to come back, so that's where we want to focus now. (smile)."

"We're very excited to be working on Fables, we are planning to release more info regularly to our group, and are happy to talk about the new project any time. (smile) Thank you for speaking to me."

And so, Ozimal fans have hope that the creators of their pets will soon be out with a new kind of bunny. Under a new name and a code created by them, will they be free of the problems of their predecessors? Time will tell. But for now, the residents in the bunny group are happy to hear the news breedable bunnies will soon be back.

Bixyl Shuftan

Interview added 7:50AM

More On Ozimal's Closing

There's been a few developments following the closing of Ozimals. I found the real Ozimal store at the Magic of Oz sim (180/90/23), but sadly anything having to do with their breedable bunnies or any other products of theirs was gone. There are still other items one can buy at shops, and one can explore the sim, going down it's yellow brick road and seeing Emerald City. It is unclear how long the sim will remain. The Ozimal blog has also been shut down.

Contacting Malkavyn Eldritch, he told me he couldn't tell me any details at all related to the "cease and desist" order other than what he already stated. But he did say there was a group concerned fans of Ozimal bunnies could join: For The Love of Oz . Chatting with the people there, I was handed a package with an "Everlasting timepiece" and other items needed to keep a pet bunny active, even one that had gone into hibernation. So if someone gets the news late about Ozimal's closing, they can still save their bunnies. You can also get the items from IMing the group and getting them from someone, or from the box of them at the Newser office at HV Community (135/85/25)

Fans of Ozimal have also set up a gofundme page, not to help bring back the company (which is unlikely), but to help out Malkavyn. "The funds we raise here will go toward helping him rebuild things in his life beyond Second Life and hopefully ease his real life burdens," the page states, "Please help us give back to him for all the joy that he has brought us."

In group notices, people were still trading bunnies, and there was plenty of chat about their pets and happy moments. So while the company may be gone, many bunny owners will still be enjoying their pets.

Bixyl Shuftan

"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" Ozimal Bunnies Closes Due to "Cease And Desist" Order

After seven years, Ozimals has closed it's doors.

The news came suddenly yesterday on Tuesday May 16 when Malkavyn Eldritch posted on the Ozimals blog that the day before, she had been hit with a "cease and desist" order from a lawyer representing an Edward Distelhurst of Akimeta Ltd, "This letter demands that I cease all use of Ozimals intellectual property." Sadly, she made the conclusion they had no choice but to comply.

I don’t personally agree with this claim, but I do not have the means to fight this in court, therefore I have no choice but to comply. As of the morning of Wednesday, May 17, 2017, my products and their associated games will cease to function. 

This really f***ing sucks, and I’m sorry. It was never my intention for the time we’ve all spent with the bunnies and the Pufflings to end like this. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the support this community has given me over the last seven years. I wish there was more I could say.

For those looking at two of the last pictures on her Flickr page, they found that if they could get to the Ozimal store in time. they could get "free eternal timepieces and other goodies" that would keep their pets active. Otherwise "Any bunny who is not Everlasing will be unable to eat and will hibernate within 72 hours." Those bunnies that were "Everlasting" would go on. Getting to the store at slightly after Midnight SL time, the store, and the means to preserve unprotected pets, were gone.

Who is Akimeta? A search let to a blog by "Akimeta Metaverse Development Services," in which they listed Ozimal bunnies as one of their collaboration projects, "Work for Ozimals LLC began in June or July of 2009 and through the course of my time creating the bulk of visual assets used by the company some ~2000 files were created, culminating in over 600 individual visual assets now used in the widely popular game." It seems their partnership has ended under less than cordial circumstances.

Ozimals came onto Second Life in 2010. While they were not the first breedable pets in Second Life, they were a breakthrough as they were hardier than the fragile Sion chickens and "the first breedable pet company in Second Life to use a sophisticated system based on dominant and recessive genetics instead of RGB color values as the previous popular breeding pet games." For a time, they were wildly popular, some rare breeds selling for tens of thousands of Lindens at auctions. They even made a marketing deal with Linden Lab.  But the bunny craze soon faded. Shellie Sands thought that the market had become saturated, and when people kept on selling as people wanted to get rid of bunnies they could no longer afford to feed, the price plummeted.

Shortly afterwards, Ozimals filed suit against Amaretto horses, the next popular breedable, saying they had copied sections of their scripts. But after some time, the judge ruled in favor of Amaretto. More breedables entered the market, from dogs to cats and many others. But the Ozimal bunny had a place in Second Life history. And now years after the lawsuit, ironically but sadly the bunnies have met their end due to another suit.

Goodbye, Ozimals, you brought joy and happiness to the grid for years, and I wish some of that will follow the people who kept the bunlife going.

Addition: The Ozimal blog seems to have been taken down, so here is a screenshot of the last entry.


Hat Tip: Hamlet Au

Sources: Second Life Wiki , Ozimals, Akimeta 


Bixyl Shuftan

The Pokemon Sim of Ravenlock

Pokemon has been around in a number of forms over the past 20 years: video and computer games, cartoons, an animated movie, and recently the handheld ap "augmented reality" game "Pokemon GO" which has became an instant huge hit just weeks ago. As it turns out, there's been a Pokemon sim in Second Life for a number of years: Ravenlock. Second Life Newser recently went there to talk to it's owner Mindy Runo and one of her two other teammates, Ivy Steampunk.

Read more in Design.

Peace Valley Pet Cemetery

Deaflegacy Darkbloom recently stopped by the Peace Valley Pet Cemetery. A place for residents to set up memorials for their pets in real life which have passed away, Deaflegacy was impressed with how well the place was well done, from the placement of the trees to the church setting.

Read Deaflegacy's article in Extra.

"Toys for Tots" Breedables Auction on Sunday

Every year in Second Life, there's been an event to help "Toys for Tots." This Sunday, it was announced there will be a breedables auction with proceeds going to the charity.

The event takes place on Sunday, Nov 8, at 12PM SL time.

"Help make a child's Christmas Magical"

E&S Breedables, Miniconjou (192, 59, 25)

Organized by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots has distributed millions of toys to needy children.

Scenes From the 2014 Christmas Expo

Tomorrow marks the start of Second Life's biggest event for the American Cancer Society outside the official Relay for Life season, the Christmas Expo. Several sims have been set up with numerous shops for goods and ranch areas for breedable pets. Second Life Newser got an early peek at the Expo grounds, and had a look around.

Read more in Events.

Press Release: Relay For LIfe Breedable Auction This Sunday Dec 8

 

 

 

Returning to Second Life this wonderful Holiday season, the Magic of Christmas Breedables Fair is proud to present the RFL Breedable Collectors Auction with Nynaveve Wirefly!  This year’s auction features an unequaled selection of One-of-a-Kind items from the biggest names in breedables!

EVERY item is special in some way, a must-have for breedable collectors across the grid, and ALL proceeds benefit RFL!

PARTICIPATING COMPANIES:
1. Meeroos
2. BioBreeds
3. Amaretto Breedables
4. Bands of Cypher
5. Charmed Breedables Fashions
6. Breedables Paradies Market
7. ABC Horses
8. Evo Breeding
9. Dwarfins
10. Ozimals
11. Gothic Breedables
12. CannabiSL
13. JingJings
14. KittyCats
15. PlantPets
16. Mossms
17. Odyssey
18. Wild Kajaera

VERY IMPORTANT!!

ALL INTERESTED BIDDERS MUST PRE-REGISTER TO TAKE PART IN THE LIVE BIDDING!  There will be a silent auction on the items starting Tuesday, December 3, and ending on Midnight, Saturday, Dec 7.  This will aid in the LIVE portion of the auction on Sunday, Dec 8.  The highest bid from the Silent Auction will be the starting bid for the Live Auction.

Please visit http://slbreedables.com/ooak-breedable-auction/ for more information!

Linden Lab Offering "New Limited Time Deals on Amazon"

Today is the last day that Second Life residents in the US can "take advantage of a couple of great sales for Second Life packs" on Amazon. The three offers are a "Premium Vehicle Pack - which includes L$4000, an exclusive hoverboard, deluxe sail boat, and premium dune buggy" at "30% off" for $24.95 US dollars, a "Hoverboard Bonus Pack," and a "Pet Pack."

More details are on the Linden Blog (Here).