Gaeta 1 Stays: Linden Lab Reverses Decision To Close The Continent

 

In April, Linden Lab announced they would eventually be closing the smallest of the continents in Second Life, Gaeta 1, as part of "A New Chapter For Mainland."  The reason given was that Zindra, the unfinished continent they planned to complete, was growing in population while Gaeta had a small population that wasn't getting bigger. It was a decision that had many people asking "why," locals on the land mass as well as people who made their home elsewhere. Never before had Linden Lab shut down a permanent landmass. Why do so now?

 

Now it seems the residents who live on the small continent can relax. On Monday August 3, Linden Lab would announce it had canceled plans to close Gaeta 1.

 

After further review of resident feedback, relocation activity, and our long-term plans for Mainland, Linden Lab has decided that Gaeta 1 will remain open.

This is a significant change from the transition plan announced in April. We are sorry for the disruption and uncertainty this reversal has caused, especially for residents who made decisions or completed relocations based on the information and direction we previously provided. We recognize that those residents acted promptly and in good faith, and we are committed to providing affected residents with meaningful choices moving forward.

 

So those who have land on Gaeta can stay. For those who already moved out under assistance from Linden Lab, the announcement stated they would soon be hearing from the Lindens, who would ask if they wanted help in returning, or not, if they haven't heard already.  

 

The Lab would call this change of plans for Gaeta, "the first step in our renewed focus for Mainland." They would go on to say further plans included, 

 

Addition of several open water homesteads in an effort to improve the sailing experience around some of the mainland continents. We encourage anyone interested in sailing in SL to give it a try. 

Repairs of many legacy Mainland regions with badly baked edges, to fix longstanding region crossing issues between these specific regions, and make them more attractive overall.

Restoration of several legacy Mainland builds, including the Balloon Tour in Linden Village, the Snowlands chairlifts, and the Pomponio Crater area. 

So what did the Gaetans think of the move? When I looked at the map, the largest group was at "All Smolls Music Hall" in Vibus Ten. Going there, the tinies there told me others in the community had been talking about it earlier in the day. One remarked, "they go for the least productive ones first, never mind that those ones they are destroying are the ones that are more loyal to the rules and regulations than the others." Another quipped, "Wish they'd do something about all the bloodlines bots and Tiny World Bots." Still, they were happy they wouldn't have to move. 

 

And so, what looked like the upcoming closing of a continent has been averted. 

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Mermaid Retreat in Trouble, Saved For Another Month

On Sunday over group chat in the Safe Waters Foundation, there was chatter among the merfolk of an underawater place in trouble, "We have a mer sim in trouble, and want us mers to come together to help out. ... It's short of L(inden dollars), by about 8K or so. ... The Mermaid Retreat ... great mer sim. So I am reaching out to see if anyone could help them."

"The owner Lady Scarlet (Luckxe Resident) is here," the person would continue, "taking donation and applying ot the land instantly." Someone else asked if help had been requested. The answer was, "Yes, she is just a bundle of nerves. (I) won't go into it, but she is one and this place means a lot, but went from sad to now almost crying form people wanting to help."

People did help. About forty minutes after the chat started, "WE SAVED IT FOR A MONTH!!!!!!! THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!"

The place itself is an underwater area with a few small rocky island on the surface. There are luminous underwater plants, and a large dancing area with a DJ booth. The description of the place is, "An island of tranquility and relaxation for the mind and body. Come and get lost with a sense of mythical mystery of merfolk and bonding with each other in a dreamlike state." A notecard describes the location as raising "awareness for a different charity every month," having group discussion, and a number of events and parties. Those wanting a party or wedding at the place are free to ask. The location is owned by Vivienne Koisera (Vivien0Koisera Resident) and Lady Scarlett Momobami (Luckxe Resident).

Flicker page: https://www.flickr.com/groups/themermaidretreat/

SURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Frozen%20Field/74/48/2

Bixyl Shuftan

Chouchou Sims To Be Preserved By Linden Lab

Good news for fans of the Chouchou sims. In May, the owners Juliet Heberle and Arabesque Choche had announced they would soon be closing down. Fans protested in the forums, and Patch Linden responded by asking the owners to contact him about preserving the sims in cooperation with Linden Lab. Recently in the sims' fan group, and their Facebook page, there was a post announcing that the sims would be preserved through the Second Life Region Preservation Society, joining already preserved areas such as Svarga and the SS Galaxy. A third sim of theirs, Chouchou XVI, also known as "The Babel," which was closed in 2013 would also be brought back.

Regarding the closure of the region Chouchou (Chouchou sim, Chouchou V sim) in Second Life, we'd like to report some progress. As a result of our discussion with Linden Lab, we made a decision to maintain our region by joining The Second Life Region Preservation Society provided by Linden Lab. And it is also decided that one of our sims, Chouchou XVI - The Babel - which was closed in 2013 will be back in Second Life thanks to Linden Lab's kind arrangements. 10223 Resident (Tofu), the staff of our team will continue to take charge of the management of all our sims. Please enjoy our region that will remain unchanged including the music and video effects.

Right now, we’re in the middle of exchanging contracts with Linden Lab, and it's taking time for the contract procedures. We’re very sorry for the late announcement.

At first, we were not going to change our plan for the closure of the region Chouchou because of a variety of issues that the region is encountering, but as we received many messages hoping for the survival of our sims, we came to a decision to maintain our region as it is and to continue to work to resolve these issues. However, there is a limit to what we can do. Please respect others with morals and help us to make the place better and comfortable for many people visiting there.



For a video of The Babel, Click Here.


That the owners would still be among those managing the sims would be something new for areas preserved under Linden Lab's preservation program. Areas such as the SS Galaxy essentially became static museum areas in which change had stopped. Talking to Hamlet Au, the owners stated

"We will manage our sims just like before we participated in [Linden Lab's preservation program] ... We will stream music and videos to the sims, do the maintenance if needed and handle troubles if there's a griefer or harassment. ... "[w]e always add new music some time after its release, but only if the songs match the atmosphere of the sims."

In real life, the two owners are a musical duo, vocalist Juliet Heberle and composer Arabesque Choche, who had met in Second Life, performed a number of events there, eventually met in real life, and got married. While they continued to expand their audience over the Internet, their performances in the virtual world declined. That led to their original decision to close the sim. But thankfully both they and Linden Lab listened to their fans, and these artistically well done sims will be preserved.

Source: New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

Hangars Liquides Crowdfunder Passes $3400, Owner Says Sims Are Safe

On Saturday night, July 27 at 6:51 PM, Djehan Kidd announced that enough money had been raised in her crowdfunder to keep the Hangars Liquides cyberpunk city sim up and running past the end of July, when payments needed to be made.

That's it! THE SERVERS WILL KEEP RUNNING on August 1st ! YAR!

Wow, so, 'Id like every donor, from the fundraiser AND from SL, to write to me in the next 24 hours so we can make a group picture because I think everyone is happy we could make it, couldn't we?! 

There is still way to go, you can still donate! But the very emergency is over!

The amount raised by then was $3477, of 52% of the $6682 goal for the fundraiser. Djehan had stated 50% of the crowdfunder goal was what was needed to pay for the sims before time was up at a minute after Midnight on August 1.

Chatting with Djehan, she was breathing a sign of relief. "Now, I can sort out much easier, august 1st was a real emergency. Everything will be spent on server space, but the invoice date was August 1st. This invoice is 3K so yes. ... such happiness, this is such a community thing, it is amazing! As a non profit, it's a big thing, to see we can still have community stuff like that."

"I really am grateful and very humbled, super touched in the heart (smile)."

Hangars Liquides has been in Second Life for over 12 years. It ran into trouble when Linden Lab stated that it couldn't keep it's nonprofit discount while renting out apartments for those wanting housing on the sims.

Bixyl Shuftan

Chouchou Sim May Be Saved

The news about Chouchou about to close down drew quite a reaction among a number of residents. This included an appeal by Kira Balestra on the Second Life forums for Linden Lab to save the place. As it turned out, they were listening. Yesterday on May 22, Patch Linden posted the following on the forum thread:

Your calls have been heard! 
 
I need the region owner to contact me directly (via email or through support) to start the process of entering the region into the Second Life Region Preservation Society.  I have not seen contact from them so far.
So it seems the sim can be saved, but it will mean owners Juliet Heberle and Arabesque Choche contacting Linden Lab to do so. While the Lab had brought back the Lost Gardens of Apollo apparently without contacting it's owner, it took five years. Hopefully Linden Lab can get in touch with the musicians for a smooth handover.

Stay tuned for further details

Bixyl Shuftan

“Apocalypse Canceled," Insilico Roleplay Sims Saved By Last-Minute

Good news for fans of the sci-fi Insilico roleplay area. The sims have been saved, and it appears money is no longer an issue, at least for the forseeable future.

The region and roleplay community, founded in 2008, has had a rough year, with the sims being taken offline after it's owner, Skills Hak, was banned from Second Life. But thanks to some negotiations behind the scenes, Linden Lab was willing to transfer the sims to administrator Abeus Madruga. But unfortunately it was proving more and more difficult for the community to keep their sims financed. And it October, it was announced that the region would soon be closing. As time went on, the roleplay began to prepare for the end, but still hoping for a last-minute reprieve.

And in what can only be called a Second Life Christmas miracle, one arrived. Abeus wrote the following in the community blog:

I had planned to make this announcement through some rousing “Apocalypse Canceled” type of post, but that would certainly be anticlimactic at this point.  Anyhoo, yeah…SURPRISE and Merry Giftmas! INSILICO is here to stay (again)! It just took a while to get all these ducks lined up. Suffice to say though, it’s pretty much official. We live on.  

So what does this mean to you, as players? Well, it simply means that you and your characters get to live on too! This world won’t be ripped out from under your feet, and there won’t be any major shakeups/downs/outs. The Southeast AI arc was put in place as a potential catalyst for the city’s evacuation if it came to that, however we also intentionally left it open ended. It will now continue on however it naturally will ...

Although Abeus didn't mention all the details, what he stated next means it looks like whoever sent the cash will be continuing to do so, and enough so they they don't have to worry about raising money.

The biggest change coming through is that we can now strive be nearly 100% RP focused. Without the need to continually generate revenue from rentals/sales/donations, we have been freed to divert our energies into more important things. Traditional rentals will be replaced with residential/RP locations made available to active players...BUT more on that later as we actually work out those details.

For the players of Insilico, this is certainly good news. Exactly the nature of the help was speculated about by Hamlet Au, who thought it could have been someone donating the cash no questions asked, or possibly an investor hoping to get money from the roleplayers through playing fees.

While the last word has yet to be revealed, it looks like this noted roleplay and region, once considered among the top ten places in Second Life to photograph, will be sticking around for it's tenth year. And for those keeping up with gridwide news, it looks like 2016 will be ending on a high note.

Hat Tip: New World Notes.

Bixyl Shuftan

University of Western Australia Sims Saved, For Now

Last month, the manager of the University of Western Australia sims announced that four of their five sims would be retired following budget cuts at the real-life university that owns them. One, UWA Virlantis, would be handed to another owner. Three others, UWA, UWA Winthrop, and WASP Land, would be abandoned and allowed to vanish. Only the University of WA sim would remain after October 9.

Thankfully, the sims are still up. JayJay Zifanwe announced the sims have been given a reprieve, thanks in part to people writing to the university. None of the sims will be vanishing, although UWA Virlantis is still being handed to Dr Phylis Johnson (Sonicity Fitzroy).

Following a lot of work in the background at UWA in RL. The UWA presence in SL has been extended through 31st July 2017. Thank you to the many who have written in to UWA central providing support as well as the many who have worked to preserve a lot of the art and grounds in film. Thanks especially to the Desinging Worlds team with AviewTV and TreetTV for their incredible work on their tribute programme, and to Secret Rage (AKA Vee Marie) for her excellent videos documenting nearly everything on the 4 UWA sims. See links below. 4 of the 5 sims will remain part of the UWA cluster, and the 5th SIM (UWA Virtlantis) is being taken over by the University of San Jose & Sonicity Fitzroy, who have been occupying it for the last couple of years.

When sims are so often gone too soon, it's good news to hear about some given a new lease on life.

Grendel's Children Saved From Shutdown

This week, Grendel's Children, a well-known avatar and accessory store, came close to being shut down due to Paypal, and then Linden Lab, bureaucratic stubornness over technical details.

When I asked Toady Nakamura, one of the co-owners of the place, about the problem, she answered, "we seemed to have fixed it. Some snafu in the billing caused the Lindens to lock Flea (Bussy) out right after the holiday weekend, and it took a few days to sort it out. ... today (at) 9:35 am, they let Flea back in.  It was kinda Miracle on Avaria Street, all our old friends and customers came out of the woodwork and between the good energy and their shopping energy, they helped us get around the PayPal/Linden snafu. So (it) was very scary for a while, because they really weren't listening. And even today 'when the fix was in,' it still took 3 calls to get thru to someone down there who had read the memo."

Toady went on, "Ah yes, Paypal (not known to us) decided that all accounts must be VERIFIED. That means something like cellphone or chargecard. Well, (Flea) doesn't have cellphone and the chargecard had rolled over with new expiration date. And kaboom, no good says Paypal, (and the) Lindens go 'no good' and lock him out. So he couldn't get to his linden balance to pay. (It) was annoying, catch 22 and a half,  subsection (really annoying 1.34.c)."

"So finally this morning it all got straightened out, but only after SEVERAL people had run it all up the flag pole and back down. ... We were a couple hours from losing the sims. It was a bit of an overreaction. We wouldn't have raised holy hell without it being so close. It's always around holidays that their billing department goes kukaburra. They did similar to me around Memorial Day 2014. My credit card did same thing, rolled over, new expiration date. And they wouldn't take my premium membership and the letter I got was all full of threats. ... Which was amazing stupid cuz not one week before they'd told me to send in copy of my drivers license and utility bills (which I did) for 'personal verification' and during that time they also threatened to close my account if I didn't comply. So two times in less than 30 days. Their problem solving department was apparently trained by 500-lb canaries."

"The Lab wouldn't listen to you?" I asked. Today answered, "I sent in all my stuff initially, but it wasn't good enough, driver's license and utility bill showing HOME address. They wanted (a) cellphone.  I don't have one. So I was being threatened for verification of something I don't have. And no they didn't listen very well. Ifilled out ticket after ticket and finally one of them was read well enough for comprehension to trickle down. I told them I'd be delighted to get cellphone, but they'd have to pay for it. Then I'd be so happy to give them the # for their files. They stopped being so demanding."

"This time, the Lab listened to a LOT of people freaking out all at one time.  I don't know if they'd have listened to us individually, but I would hope they would have."

"So what happens now?" I asked. Toady answered, "We have to straighten out the Paypal problem. But we have some time now... Hopefully Lindens take look at system that makes 9 year paying customers feel like they went in and out of SingSing. Not nice. But I can't tell them what to do, I can only hold up my end and wish they'd play nicer." She commented of Linden Lab's behavior, " 'plays well with others,' D- this week. 'Takes care of pets and toys,' F. 'Runs with scissors in stairways' (PLEASE!!)."

Toady called the effort by others to prove their worth to Linden Lab a "miracle," "Our customers and old friends, and people we never met before got enough $L in our accounts by buying things to render the PayPal snafu moot for now.  That's miraculous, and MUCHLY appreciated. A total wonderful flock of angels descended on our store and literally saved us. And PS, I never got so much $L in so short a time, even in the old days when sales were wonderful."

Toady had been one of the volunteers at the Second Life Birthday celebration, the builder of their live music stage, and was in the process of dismantling it as the cash flow came in, "I was taking down the birthday sim, prim by prim, set by set. And almost as I was taking prims, the balance of $ was going up up up, inverse, was utterly amazing."

Toady added, "And you could also thank the Lindens who were contacted. I don't know their names, but I know some of the people that heard about this contacted them. One twittered the CEO, others got strings pulled somehow so he didn't have to go thru the 'outsourced billing department' but got bounced 'up into Linden billing,' whatever that difference is. Again I don't know, but those were things we were told to tell him ... when he calls, insist to be transferred to 'Linden billing.' It's just a paperwork/computer problem that got really way too big, and way too out of hand."

Toady stated, "And if I had one wish in all this, is the Lindens would have some sort of algorithm for their customers. Anyone paying for one or two sims for 9 years is not your enemy. They don't deserve to be treated badly. So like have some account history for these poor people in billing. 'Oh gee, 9 years, at least two sims, maybe I should take that into account and skip the threats,' ... yanno really, they should just skip the threats, no matter how long someone been (a) customer. In truth, today's 1 month old sim owner who is late for snafu is just as important as 9 year old member, yanno?"

Toady did say that she wasn't bitter toward the Lab, "I am really grateful that the Lindens did listen, cuz the alternative would be watching 1600 of Flea's avatars disappear totally, plus all his other zany stuff. ... Just today one linden said they remember getting our 'new Linden gift pack' in 2007(?) or 6, and still having all the contents. You know Flea has two avatars in your library? (The) Box Bot (which the Lindens use in their premium adverts), and Fae Dragon ... You have Library > Clothing > Box bot, 'cardboard box bot' and 'dragonlet.' "

Today went on, "Back in the ooooold days, they flew Flea out to San Francisco to receive a Linden award, in 2006, and Philip said 'As goes Grendel's so goes the grid.' I then brought up a few years ago the quote had been used when Grendel's had some trouble. "We had four sims," Toady answered, "two of them went utterly wonky and we couldn't get customer service at all. So Flea sold them. THEN we got customer service for a while. Apparently there was a LOT of press."

Toady would then show me around Grendel's hidden areas, in addition to the roleplay area beneath the store. It was a reminder a lot more would have been lost than just a store had this bureaucratic snafu not been broken.

Bixyl Shuftan

Seraph City is Saved, Moved to New Sim

Good news for fans of the "retro-future" city area, Seraph City. Once in danger of fading away from Second Life, it now has a new home in the Symbiosis sim. On Wednesday night, I was invited to Club Seraph where some of the location's friends, including some involved with it's rescue, had gathered to celebrate with a few drinks at the bar.

Read Bixyl's article in Places.

Has Seraph City Been Saved?

On February 27, it was announced that Seraph City, the "dieselpunk" sim made in the style of how science fiction from the 1930s saw the future, was all set to close (link). Edward Pearce wrote in his blog that the sim's owner Bromo Ivory had decided to shut the place down on March 21st. A few days ago, the show Designing Worlds dropped in for what looked like a final look at this unique city area before it was gone.



But word is, someone has stepped in to help. Chatting with Fuzzball Ortega of the Steelhead Community, he told me someone from the Steampunk community was about to take ownership of the place. If the plan goes through, fans of the sim will be able to keep on visiting. Second Life Newser will have more once we have talked to the new owner.

Bixyl Shuftan

Club Zero Gravity is Saved

After the announcements Sunday and Monday about Club Zero Gravity's closing, people talked. Although folks understood the club was closing due to events beyond Nydia's control, a number expressed their desire that it continue.

Certain others made inquires and offers, both to Nydia and to others. Finally, Zero Gravity was able to make the following news:


Club Zero Gravity is Back.

Good News everyone. After some discussion and offers of help, it looks like there's enough funds to cover Club Zero Gravity. So the "party beyond the stars" continues.

Special thanks to Daaneth McGettigan (Daaneth Kivioq) and Timber Wolfenhaut.


For fans of Little Dove whom were looking forward to it opening, it will be getting occasional events, a schedule currently being worked on.

And so, the party beyond the stars goes on.

Club Zero Gravity is at the Purrfection Estates (229, 11, 2265). Events are Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6PM SL time. Saturdays at 4PM are beach parties at the "Happy Vixen" on the surface (TP near the LM).

Classic "Crooked House" is Saved

A week ago, SL Newser reported on the "Crooked House" build, whose owner could no longer justify the sim payments. Unless this unusual structure found a new owner, it would vanish.

More recently, we were contacted by a Veritas Raymaker, saying there was more news. We found the house was now on the destination guide, "Visit this recreation of Robert A. Heinlein's 'Crooked House' by Seifert Surface. Explore the interconnected rooms of the house, which is modeled on a four-dimensional hypercube."

But more importantly, it now had a new home, in the Galaxy Quest sim.

Hamlet Au reportedly got in contact with the new owner, whom he declined to name, describing him only as an anonymous academic, "I do strongly believe in doing what I can to help fellow educators who are less familiar with Second Life understand the unique affordances that our world has for education. And Seifert's build illustrates several of these affordances artfully, and in a fun and intriguing way to boot."

So the Crooked House is now safe.

To get to the Crooked House, go to the Galaxy Quest sim at (128, 64, 772)

Source, New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

Endangered Numbakulla Sim Saved, For Now

I recently read on Daniel Voyager's Blog that another sim had closed down: Numbakulla. It was described as a first-class puzzle game sim, reminding him and others of the classic computer game "Myst."

Daniel referenced the SL Universe Forums, which described the place as closing down due to lack of finances. But reading on, I found some good news. Calanris Pendragon announced people had been sending her donations, so the place would stay for at least one more month.

And dropping by the sim, it was still up and running. By the entrance, I found a sign:

Reprieved for a month

Due to the kindness of some generous donors, the tier for the next month is paid and Numbakulla can stay open for the next few weeks.

I am trying to find a way to keep it for the future. Thank you for your support.

Calandris and the Numbakulla Project Team.

From what I read, this looks like a great place. A review will be written on it later, but I feel I can recommend those whom like to explore even only a small amount come on over.

Bixyl Shuftan