Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Back to Normal: A Look Back At The "Bid Me Human" and "Platinum Challenge"

Do you ever feel like you're not quite yourself? For over two weeks, the Editor was in two avatars quite different from his normal look. First as part of a Relay for Life "Bid Me," he went about a ethnic human appearance. Then when his Relay team reached Platinum level fundraising, he had to make good on an "avatar challenge," going female for a week. So how did his time of going furless, then of the fairer sex turn out?

Read Bixyl's story in People.

Update On The Rusty Garter Saloon

A few months ago, we wrote about the "Rusty Garter Saloon," a cowboy-themed venue in the Caledon II sim. Recently, there has been a change in ownership. Blake (Palmerblake), the owner of the saloon, along with the location's Patty Poppy (Autopilotpatty Poppy), will no longer be operating the establishment. The last event under their direction was on Friday April 14. But fans of the saloon need not worry. One of the people coming by to enjoy the place, Soaron Ronin (soaron.fazuku), stepped up to continue to run it.

Chatting with Soaron some, he explained that the transfer had been done, "ll is sorted.. just small details." He had no plans to change anything, "The saloon remains as is.. just a new owner that likes to keep the place running." He would need to find a DJ, but he expected that wouldn't take long. I asked him if he had any role at the saloon before. His answer was, "Wanderer, as most of my SL life." So would it be a problem for him to have to take care of a fixed location? He told me no, "Well I got time, so not a problem." He told me that visitors to the saloon should expect to see him act in-character, "I keep the OOC (talk) to a bare minimu."

The "Rusty Garter Saloon" has events "every other Friday" at 7PM SL time.

Caledon II (112, 69, 22)

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

Taken at the Giant Snail Race at Raglan Shire. Although redshirts didn't have such a high death rate in later series, the joke from the original Star Trek series persisted. So one would think survival in itself was the real trophy.

By Bixyl Shuftan

The Wild West Roleplay: Part Two - Meet The Natives

By Bixyl Shuftan

In January, the Newser wrote about the Wild West Roleplay, a twenty-three sim area of connected roleplay sims with Old West themes that ranged from desert to mountain to forested to town. There are a variety of roles one could play, from cowboy, to soldier, to outlaw, to American Indian. The first article dealt with getting started, getting the HUD and a few freebies at the starting point in Colorado, and how one can make a little RP cash by mining and smelting bars, and make a few basic items. But a roleplay is more than just making money and things, and there's more to the place than being a miner or a smith.

It was probably appropriate that the first people of the roleplay I came across after Goneigh, the owner of Titingham or "Indian Wilds," were representing the Old West's original inhabitants: American Indians. The first two people he introduced me to were Grey Wolf (Fairy Randt), and Ipa-Cik-Ala (Spiritkiss Snook) two shamen of the Ogllala Lakota village. They had moved to the sim this month, previously making their home area in the Oregon sim, having created their tribe two and a half years ago.

So what's life like in an Indian village. Usually it's peaceful enough, Ipa-Cik-Ala saying, "As shaman, I do my prayer morning and night. My husband like to go scouting, and I cook." But it turned out earlier things were not typical, "Today we had some action, a stupid pawnee like to make trouble and say bad things. My husband Tashunke Witka and war chief Lone Wolf captured him. We interrogated him and then he got away (TPed out). But I learned a lot. ... I had a feeling who he was." So what would they do next? Ipa-Cik-Ala answered, "The natives have a council every week. They are usually good to go to."

Ipa-Cik-Ala described typical council business as, "matter of events being planed, training, wedding, who is fighting who." I asked how many weddings happen around the place. She answered, "There was one last week in Sonora." Grey Wolf told, "I have done approximately seven weddings." Ipa-Cik-Ala commented, "(We) Oglala, we take our time. There is a ritual you have to go through." ?
"Same with tsa la gi (Cherokee)," Grey Wolf added. Asking what the ritual involved, I was told, by Ipa-Cik-Ala "The weddings are all alike, except the fast way where the chief blesses the wedding by there tepi. I was married in Cherokee, very magical. ... I like helping in the Cherokee way."

I asked about the trading of goods between the tribes. Ipa-Cik-Ala told me, "A Oglala warrior named truc. He travels to all the lands an' trades. He is the best at it. There are also G & S items here." When the question of how many tribes there were in the Wild West Roleplay came up, she answered "Five or six, I think." It turned out some of the tribes down south were what Goneigh called "German-speak" tribes, "It is a bit of a fad in Germany." Ipa-Cik-Ala added, "Yes, I began here with the Germans."

Talk turned to other things about the roleplay. Goneigh commented, "As an animal, I stand on a pasture to eat, and stand on a lake to drink,  and try not to get injured from wild predators." Among the hazards here were what Goneigh called "static predators, bison, boars, gators and rattle snakes..  and active RP predators , wolves, mountain lions, bobcats and jaguars. All things that were around in the wild west days. The HUD allows for health and damage control and the weapons used will register hits on your health. Animals can combat using their teeth and claws, and hooves." Ipa-Cik-Ala remarked, "The wolves respect Goneigh."

Goneigh went on, "The humans will need to mine minerals and gather wood and ingredients to make necessary things. Some things that they make take considerable time to build." "Traps are the hard job," Ipa-Cik-Ala added, "I make them for my husband. He traps an' gives me the meat."

Goneigh reminded, "This is not a shoot-em-up place. (The) roleplay must be consistent with genre. And random attacks are not allowed without some kind of RP first. Once a fight has started properly, it is actually a running shoot-em up. Not uncommon to see several soldiers and several Indians in a mass fight. ... If you register too much damage you fall unconscious for a preset time limit." Ipa-Cik-Ala added, "And you can be captured."Yeah. if you are unconscious, people, friends or foes, can drag you off. If you fall to a wolf pack, they can drag you to their den." "As a healer, I can sneak in an' drag off people to heal them."

Ipa-Cik-Ala went on to say some of the roleplayers were child avies, "There are about six active kids in camp, but some more than others." So how is camp life for the kids, Ipa-Cik-Ala smiled, "They love the family part. We are like a big family and watch out for each other." Grey Wolf spoke up, "It is time for learning and growing." Ipa-Cik-Ala told me, "Grey Wolf has story time here." Grey Wolf went on, "Each tribe raised dinyotli (children) in different ways based on culture. Usually the grandparents did a lot of (the) teaching, parents busy working do their jobs." "All the women were like Mother an' cooked for anyone hungry." "Dinyotli (children) would help depending on their ages." Goneigh added, "Some of the tribes even have story hour each week." "Stories an the elder tell lessons," Ipa-Cik-Ala told. "My daugther Feather, she had school and told native ways. She is on break, but when she comes back we will do school too. ... Many of the months have ceremonies. A good time to dance an' give thanks."

We soon parted ways, and later on Goneigh would take me to a couple American Indian roleplayers of the Cheyenne tribe, also in Indiana Wilds. They were Taigi (moonstonelust) and Uhaya, the chief. Uhaya was the one who would show me the mine area described in the first article. Besides mining, another way to make cash, Taigi explained, "you can shoot rabbits and sell the skins." One would need a knife of course, either making one, as explained in the first article, or purchasing one from an NPC merchant. Uhaya saying, "If you shoot a rabbit, you need a knife to get the flesh for meat. So you make a blade in the forge, then make a knife from it at the workbench. You need wood for the knife too. You gather wood, like outside of this trading post, then make a log out of it, then use the log plus the blade to make a knife. Because a knife has a handle of course, thus the wood. You can also make axes and traps for animals, and so on. You can get a boar with a trap, and get the meat from it. You can use the axe for melee fighting. So all the different things you gather and make sort of cross-reference each other in ways like that."

So where can one find wood?  Uhaya showed me a few places where wood pieces spawned just outside the trading post and a tree not far from it, "wait a few minutes and new wood will appear, which you can also pick up. So you can gather wood until you have 20 (pieces), then go make logs out of that, then come back and get more wood, and eventually you'll have both wood a logs full in your hud. ...  I like to keep my log and wood stores full. You need logs to make sawdust, which is also a component in dynamite, and other things. Some things take more time and effort than others. Other things are more simple."

There were other things near the trading post one could pic off the ground too, an apple, a tomato, some herbs, and, cannabis? Uhaya explained, "Yes, cannabis is used for some medicines and I think rope too." Further away was an apple tree, which more apples spawned at the bottom. There was also a spot in the water, where one could click a few times and eventually the HUD would show you as full.

Eventually, I would part ways with Chief Uhaya and Taigi, and rode off into the virtual sunset. So that's all for now from the Wild West Roleplay. Until next time, happy trails.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Colorado/190/105/944 

Bixyl Shuftan

The Wild West Roleplay: Part One - Getting Started

By Bixyl Shuftan

There's just something about the Old West that has a deep appeal to people, and not just to Americans. Here, a man could make a new start for himself, whether someone from a large family wanting his own farm, an immigrant wanting more than a factory job but his own home, former slaves and freedmen looking for new opportunities not available in their old home, prospectors looking to strike it rich, businessmen looking to make a buck, adventurers looking to make a name for themselves, lawmen trying to bring order and justice to the frontier, and more. But where there are people, there are always opportunists whom would rather rob or con others than work at making their money honestly, and so there were the outlaws or badmen. And the land wasn't empty. The place was the home of American Indian tribes, either whom had been here since the dawn of history or perhaps having moved here after being forced from the east. How to adapt to the changing times, and yet still preserve their traditions and culture?

Becky Shamen had originally wrote in 2016 about the twenty-three sim Wild-West themed roleplay area she simply called "The Wild West Roleplay Lands." I was recently approached by Goneigh, or "Gone" as his friends call him, who usually goes about in a feral horse avatar. He owns one of the sims of the place, Tittingham, or "Indiana Wilds." He told me he was just one of a number of sim owners there, some owning one, some two or three, whom had banded their locations together so their roleplayers had a huge place to roam around in, from the flat prairies of Oklahoma to the dry desert of western Texas and northern Mexico, to the Rockies. "One sim is nothing," Goneigh told me, "but 23 sims offers much adventure. We have green places, snowy places, and red-dirt places." The entire area combined had no official name, though "Wild West Roleplay" would do for now.

While you can find the RP HUD in most sims, it is recommended that new players start at the store area above the Colorado sim at (190/105/944). follow the gold arrows to a cavern. There you will find a few recommended items for purchase, and a few freebie outfits and weapons. Click the stagecoach, select "to join" and then teleport and go down a tunnel, which leads to a board where you can get the RP HUD, an observer tag, and a copy of the rules. Goneigh felt two rules deserved special notation. One was that this was a plot driven roleplay and not just a "shoot-em-up." Anyone whom just went around shooting people would be treated as a threat by everyone. Goneigh did say there were a few examples of attacks by such people that were later talked about "in character" as attacks by unknown lone badmen. Another rule was one that fans of nonhuman avatars would likely dislike. Like a number of other historical RPs, there's a rule about having to look like someone from the time and place, both in appearance and dress. So one is limited to human avatars, wearing styles of clothing that could be seen in the Old West, or feral animal avatars of domestic and North American animals, such as horses. So while furry avatars aren't within the rules, neither are obviously out of the time period styles of clothing such as punk rock outfits and hairstyles.

The HUD is in a box that has to be set down and opened, but fortunately you can do that in the entry area. It has a number of symbols on the top row, a red bar and a green bar in the middle, and more symbols on the bottom row. The red bar is the health meter, and starts out low when first activated, but soon builds up. When hit by bullets, weapons, or animal attacks, it goes down. When it reaches zero as the result of a fight, the player is considered "defeated," and must wait to recover, or be healed. The top buttons are for, food (such as apples and tomatoes), fluids (such as water), plants (such as herbs), tools, objects, components, and medicine. Two smaller bars under those are for hunger and thirst (okay at the start). On the bottom row, the first button brings up the players coins. The second button takes the player in and out of OOC mode. The third button is for putting the player in a melee position. The fifth button can also put the player in melee mode and toggles male/female sounds. The sixth button brings up webpages explaining some things about the game: meter usage, inventory usage, inventory description, and RP Object description. On the very bottom is a button showing how many coins the player has on hand. Over the player will be displayed the player's health and condition, red when low, orange when medium, and green when good.

In the part of the beginner's area where you get the HUD, you will find a list of some of the administrators. If you have some questions, feel free to answer some questions.

So how can one make money in the RP? At Tittingham, there is a mine in the north, center part of the sim. One can reach it, by going along the river next to the mountain, waliing into what at first looks like just a dent in the mountain wall, but turns out to be a hidden cave. There are spots where one can mine coal, iron, tin, copper, silver, and gold. To mine, get the pickaxe in the hand of one skeleton on the ground and wear it. Then sit on the spot you want to mine. Coal doesn't take long to mine, just 15 seconds to break off a chunk. But each metal takes longer, iron 30 seconds, tin 45, copper 60, silver 90, and gold 120. When ore is mined, it's recorded in your HUD.

There is a furnace nearby where you can smelt ores into bars, and forge the bars into items, such as blades and axeheads, and can also be used to make "blanks," which are used to help make certain other items. Items you make in the furnace are also counted in your HUD. There's also a couple tomatoes that spawn here, as well as some plants and a couple peices of wood.

Along the road in the western part of Tittingham, there are a couple shops. The one slightly further away from the road has some NPC merchants and workstations. NPC characters here will buy and sell certain items at a 50/100 percent cash value. For instance, the blacksmith will buy bronze bars you make from the cave furnace for 23 coins. But it takes 46 to buy one off of him. The merchant will buy your gold bars here for 43 coins. So you could make a little cash here as a miner. But you can also use the bars at the mine to forge items like blades and axeheads at a furnace, and use the workstation to make those items into knives and axes. You'll need wood, which besides in the mine spawns in a spot just outside the store. Five wood pieces can be combined into a log, of which you'll need one apiece to make items like knives, axes, and shovels, along with a "blank" which needs one bronze bar and a coal to make 10. Both items will raise your melee strength in a fight.

Should you meet anyone, remember that you're expected to act and behave like someone in the Old West. Any Out of Character chat is recommended to be in parentheses, or otherwise obvious that it is. These people may include cowboys, lawmen, American Indians, or possibly bandits. The latter may leave new players alone out of courtesy, though there's always the chance encountering them may lead to the player being demanded "Stand and deliver."

So there are a few details about getting started. Later on, we'll discuss more about some of the groups of people, and more. For now

"Gotta head out for now, pardners. Happy trails."

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Colorado/190/105/944

Bixyl Shuftan

New Sponsor: Indiana Wilds Wild West Roleplay

The Second Life Newser has a new sponsor, the Indiana Wilds Wild West Roleplay. The region consists of 23 sims representing various places of the late 1860s western US. One can play as a cowboy, lawman, trader, badman, American Indian, or one of the animals that makes the place their home, such as horses. We'll have an article about the place soon. If you can't wait to get there, head on over to Colorado (190/105/944) to learn more about the roleplay (and pick up a few freebie clothes, weapons, and combat and RP HUD).

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Colorado/190/105/944

Responding to Readers: There's No Terrorism Here

By Bixyl Shuftan

I get a few messages in my email and Facebook about places that deserve a look, or concerns that the reader feels they need attention. With the five year anniversary of the death of Bin-Laden about this time, one certain email got my attention. The writer claimed there were Islamic extremists causing trouble in Second Life, his message containing part of a chatlog dated from mid-November.

Secondlife gamings sites are were the terrorist find kids and are recruiting; there is a need for actions.

[2015/11/15 09:03]  *****: Haha

[2015/11/15 09:03]  *****: Stupid Kahfir

[2015/11/15 09:03]  *****: Allah Ackbar!

[2015/11/15 09:07]  *****: Haha, continue playing your game little boy

[2015/11/15 09:07]  *****: Soon, your country will spills with blood

We need to close down Linden Lab, Head Quarters, 945 Battery Street, San Francisco, CA94111, as they are supporting terrorist by coving up that they do use the sites. and the terrorist attacks in the EU countrys could have been stop if they had took action.

As it turns out, there's no record of the name the reader gave in the Second Life database. But to me, this looks less like a terrorist, and more like a troll trying to stir people up. There wasn't a record of the person who mailed me earlier; when I asked him about it, he told me the Lab wouldn't listen and banned him.

As it turns out, Federal agents have investigated Second Life. as well as World of Warcraft and other MMOs, after concluding they were "potentially 'target-rich environments' in which suspected terrorists 'hide in plain sight.'" (Techdirt article) But "experts and developers of games like these have found no evidence that terrorists are using their services to communicate or recruit new members." “For terror groups looking to keep their communications secret, there are far more effective and easier ways to do so than putting on a troll avatar.”

It is true that supporters of Islamic Extremism have been on Second Life before. A few years ago, there was a place in the Jordan River sim supporting Hamas with many displays of pro-Hamas propaganda against "the Zionists." But eventually the sim vanished. While there are are places in Second Life built to attract Arab users, such locations are the scene of people engaging in idle chatter and games and not terrorism.

So no, there is no ISIS in Second Life, unless you mean builds of the Ancient Egyptian goddess of life, or perhaps an "Opposing Force" group for a combat sim (somebody has to be the bad guy in one).

Sources: Techdirt

Bixyl Shuftan

Ringing In The New Year Across Second Life

A number of places across Second Life held events to say goodbye to 2015, and ring in 2016. One place was "Eiffelicious" at LEA7.

Dozens of residents attended the party under a replica of the Eiffel Tower made by Regi Yifu. But when yours truly dropped by, a few of the guests there were a little, less than pleasant to others.

A much friendlier event awaited those at "T-1 Radio's 11th Rockin' New Year's" at the "Legends Pier" at the Arinultra Cay sim. Trader Whiplash, best known for his music events for the Relay for Life, played for the crowd from 7PM SL time to Midnight SL time when 2016 officially arrived on the Grid.

A number of noted Relayers would appear there as well at different times in the night.

A number of communities held their own events. New Babbage had their event, which began as England was ringing in 2016.

There were a number of pictures in the background of noted people and events across the year. The DJ also proved flexible, when seeing someone in a squirrel avatar playing the song "Squirrels." Though some avatars were more appropriate for a Steampunk event.

New Babage wasn't the only Steampunk-themed place to have an event that night. McLaglen Noonan Museum Garden at Caledon Cay had a smaller one. Cynthia Farshore took this picture at the tail end of the event.

And the Sunweaver/Angels community would hold their own event at the Happy Vixen beach club in the Purrfection Estates. Although the event was touted as no formal attire required, many felt the most appropriate outfit they could have on was a gown or suit.

DJ Akea played the tunes for the first half of the event from 6-8PM SL time. from 8 to 10PM, DJ Rose spun the music. And at 9 and 10 PM, the Sunnies celebrated as the New Year was rung in on the East Coast and the Central US time zone respectively.

Other places had their own events. The ROMA sims had an event earlier in the day as 2016 was rung in across Europe. Luskwood called off it's New Year's Eve event due to Shady Fox's illness, though the Pony sims would have an event in honor of Ponyland, which went offline late that night (more about the event later).

Happy New Year Second Life

Bixyl Shuftan

Better Late Than Never

Quite a bit has happened in recent days, such as Rod Humble's resignation and the head of the UCCSL's conclusion about Linden Lab and the ToS controversy.  Regrettably, this meant a few noteworthy events weren't mentioned. Still deserving of mention, here they are.

Wounded Warrior Benefit Raises Close to 120,000 Lindens

On January 26, the monthly Wounded Warrior fundraiser took place at Veterans Isle. From 5PM SL time to a bit after 9PM SL time (Midnight EST), four musicians performed live in front of the crowd. Besides Frets Nirvana who organized the event, there was PonDman Haalan, Ganjo Mokeev, and the popular Mankind Tracer. When the last singer was finished, they had raised about 115,000 Lindens. But the donations kept coming. About a half hour later, the total had gone up to a few shy short of 120,000.


We raised 115k Linden at last nights Wounded Warriors Benefit. That means we will be sending a little over $400 to Wounded Warriors for the month of January 2014. Thank you to all who supported and to the great performers. Pondman Haalan, ( Alton Rex), Ganjo Mokeev and Mankind Tracer ( Seth Regan). You were fantastic. ...  Remember, this need does not get smaller. It only gets bigger. Count the blessings that so many have sacrificed to allow us to have. Thank you all for supporting.


Veterans Isle holds Wounded Warrior benefits by Frets Nirvana on the last Sunday of every month.

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ROMA Celebrates Paganalia

While the Steamlands were having their Winter Games on the weekend of January 25 and 26, the ROMA area was having its Paganalia festival. Things started off on Saturday with a roleplay ritual for Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, and Tellus, or "Mother Earth" to the Romans. The ceremony was done in Latin with an English translation. The two other events that day were fishing and a crocodile race. Sunday would see a recreated ancient Egyptian ritual, then the Grand Feast which offered lots of food and dance.

The final event was the "Legio XIII Death-match," in which ROMA's legionnaire's fought one another with sword and shield in one on one elimination combat with the winners of the first round taking on one another in the second, and so on. The match was held on a bridge over spikes. If a player fell, he or she was out. The semifinals had one close match with each legionnaire's combat meter close to one another as damaging blows were felt. The result was both players knocking each other out: a rare occurrence in ROMA's legionnaire fights. The winner was Tarvos Cilvrnigvs (Tarvos Resident), whom walked away with a 1000 Linden prize.

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The Drax Files Radio Hour (With Jo Yardley)

Following the first episode of Draxtor Despres' radio show, the program continued to be broadcasted every Friday morning in Second Life, with the episodes available for later listening on the show's webpage. Yours truly planned to listen to each one before writing about it, but time constraints left that a nonoption.

Episode 2 discussed the legacy of the late entertainer Osprey Therian whom passed away recently. Other topics included the Redzone controversy, NSA snooping, net neutrality, and Philip Rosedale's High Fidelity.

Episode 3 featured an interview with Esteban Winsmore. discussing a documentary about virtual reality by Loki Eliot, and a Google Glass user getting arrested.

Episode 4 discussed the resignation of Rod Humble, and the impending shutdown of Cloud Party.

Sorry these stories didn't get attention until now, but better late than never,

Bixyl Shuftan