Bits of SL Life And Times

 

As I wrote earlier, yours truly can be very busy in real life sometimes. So sometimes there's very little time to write. And so things I would like to put my pen down to get postponed, sometimes again and again. So here's a few things that I couldn't find the time to write down earlier, such as cool Halloween looks, an alt experience, and a wrestling match.

 

Read, and see, the tales and pictures in People.

 

Reader Submitted Pictures: "Rave In The Cave"

 

Pictures from Lilybethpatterson. On Saturday Nov 22 and Sunday Nov 23, there was a joint event between Sin Club and Club. The pictures are from DJ Whiskey's set on Sunday the 23rd. 

 

RAVE IN THE CAVE:  Dark Techno Sounds with DJ Whiskey!

The RAVE IN THE CAVE event is still going strong and DJ Whiskey will spin those Dark Techno sounds from 6pm-8pmSLT that will make your heart pump fast as you dance the night away.  Lilybeth is your hostess for the evening and will guide you through this electrifying experience.  Come on in to the NEW SIN Club Cave venue!

 

The event went from 6 to 8 PM.

 

Sin Club is at Blume (72/33/22), Urban Furry is at Vector Valley (163/89/2039) 

 

Reader Submitted: An Open Letter From An ABC Horse Owner

 

To Sentire Bravin,

 

I am sorry that Awesomebreed didn't pay you for your code in the last year.   You were paid prior that though so removing all your code even from pets and shutting down the pasture screws over customers who have been here for years more than it screws awesomebreed person who clearly doesn't care.  I wish that person had never apparently bought ABC from I can't recall his name when they broke up.   

 

Many of us have spent 1000's over the years and many hours breeding horses.   Screwing over 100's of customers because the owner is a jerk, is not fair.  Please out of decency leave us functioning pets and allow us to remove pets from pasture, please.
 

Kitacelia

Trouble With ABC Breedables

Breedable virtual pets have been a part of Second Life for most of it's history. And over time there have been a number of companies who have made them. But sometimes they run into trouble. One of the first to make it big was Ozimals. But in 2017, the company folded due to an internal dispute. Thankfully it's last act was to save the pet bunnies it's customers had. But those of another company may not be so fortunate. 

For some years, Awesome Breed Creations has been in the business of selling breedable horses and the feed for them, as well as medicine and accessories. People would breed them for desired traits, as well as auction them and hold races. But a few days ago came some trouble that may spell the end of the business. The person in charge of the scripts that brought the horses to life, Sentire Bravin, had resigned. 

I am writing to formally announce my resignation from my role as a software and content developer, effective immediately. This decision was not made lightly, and I deeply regret having to take this step.

I have the utmost respect and admiration for the staff and developers I’ve had the privilege of working alongside. Their dedication, talent, and passion for creating one of the finest breedable experiences in Second Life have been both inspiring and enriching. It has been an honor to collaborate with such a talented and exceptional team.

But, he stated he hadn't been paid in over a year. As a result, he was quitting, and had turned the scripts off.

As a result of the prolonged lack of payment, I have removed all of my code and data from ABC servers. Additionally, I have formally notified the owner of ABC to cease and desist from any unauthorized use of my code. I understand this will impact the functionality of ABC products, but this is a matter that Stephanie (the owner of ABC) must address. ...

Unfortunately, the results of the code and data removal was that the horses became frozen, the stats display above them showing red. They were now little more than props, static, not able to walk around, breed, be ridden, or anything else. Kitacelia, an ABC breeder for a number of years told me the "Pasture" where horses can be stored was inoperable and nothing could be taken back from there. The ABC website was also down. 

"I lost 1000's of dollars worth of pets," Kitacelia told me, "... not be able to turn on accessories/horns/wings on them or movement/sound ... I can't even get my remaining pets out of pasture ...  can't turn movement on or off or add accessories to the ones in inventory or inworld." Checking Penny Shuftan's horses in the Sunweaver community where the Newser office is, they were glitched as well.

Besides Sentire, there was also an announcement of two others on the team resigning, Saphear Saunders and Krystal Silverweb

After an incredible 10+ years as the artists behind Awesome Breed Creations, it’s with a heavy heart that we share the news of our departure from the development team. This decision has not been made lightly, but unfortunately, we’ve reached a point where it’s no longer financially sustainable for us to continue under the current circumstances.

Since August of this year, our development team has not been paid, and despite numerous attempts to contact Stephanie Merrienboer (the owner and CEO of ABC), we’ve been met with silence. We’ve received no explanation or reasoning as to why this has happened. We are aware that Stephanie has internet access and has been in touch with others, so there’s no reason why she couldn’t have spoken to us or even laid us off respectfully if the company was experiencing financial hardships (which, to our knowledge, it wasn’t). We’ve poured countless hours, effort, and love into ABC over the years, and we feel deeply disrespected to be treated in this manner. It isn’t right.

As a result, we’ve had to find other work and make the difficult decision to halt the development of any new horses or content for ABC.

Nikki Detritus, the Racing Commissioner, would also comment. 

I need you all to know that the RA and myself are all saddened by what has happened. I am still trying to hold out with some hope but that is hard to hold on to when you have no clue what has happened. None of us.. Not the RA, the VSRs, the auctioneers, the managers knew about this. The only ones who knew are obviously the ones not getting paid. BUT even THEY held on for so long because the loved ABC.  I know people are angry and emotions are high and rightly so.. But please lets stick together as family and treat each other nice as it is none of our faults and we are all sick over this. Jockeys and Owners.. I need you to know ONE thing..  I NEVER wanted to be the Commissioner.. I have worked as an RA member for close to 10 years now and I never wanted that position BUT I am so glad that I did take it. I learned a lot and I got to know all of you.  It was some of the BEST times of my SL life!  I care about each and everyone of you and will always cherish the memories of the great times!

While at the ABC store, I ran into a couple people, one who was quite upset, "I spent 30000 Linden ...  I had 150 horses cost me in food almost $ 150 a month. ... There are breeders who have 500 horses ... we have all been scammed!" He mentioned the Auction House had been closed for a month.

As of the writing of this article, there has been no comment from ABC's owner. What we do know is the horses are broken, and there are many upset and sad owners. 

Bixyl Shuftan

Interview With Kitacelia on Raising Horses

 

Penny Shuftan String (Deaflegacy) took a break from her hiatus to write an article about a subject in Second Life that interested her: raising breedable horses. So she interviewed someone who breeds them: Kἶէმƈεlἶმ Lմἶղƈօɾἶმlօէε Kεlνმɾl (Kitacelia). Kitacelia had plenty to say about the subject. 

 

Read Penny's article in People. 

Reader-Submitted Commentary: Linden Lab's Continued Greed

  
Due to the recent increase in purchasing lindens an added 7.5 percent, which is higher than the sales tax in my state which is neither zero or low, I am forced to cancel my premium account. They cap it at $9.99 however, all this does is make it so those who buy over $150 USD lindens aren't charged more who could probably more afford it.  This mostly effects those who buy between $100 USD and $140 USD, which is what I think a lot of regular users may purchase. Buying more frequently in smaller increments won't help as you are charged $1.49 per purchase on top of this new charge.  

I know Linden Lab seems to think that most people who play Second Life are some kind of at least middle-class pay pigs with huge sums of expendable income. But the truth is, many of us are in fact either working class, unemployed, or like me on a low fixed income due to disability, retirement or similar.   They have raised the cost of premium in the past 2-3 years. They have raised the cost of buying lindens for the 4th time in five years, and they raised the cost of selling them at least once. They have also raised the cut of MP sellers that they takem forcing them to raise MP prices.

I feel that in addition to just plain greed, we are being forced to pay for their failed projects (Sansar) and poor choices moving the servers to Amazon business cloud servers, not even the gaming ones, to save money, which has resulted in a number of bugs and issues. To those whose stores or groups I left, please understand I had no other choice.  

Linden Lab gets away with this kind of horrid move and generally poor customer service to a large degree because they are somewhat of a monopoly in complex immersive adult virtual worlds.  IMVU is geared more towards teens and not really competition.  Avakin seems similar to IMVU.  Inworldz is long dead.  I have tried some other grids but never logged in more than a few times.  I have too much time, relationships and money invested in Secondlife anyway to start over unless forced to do so.  Many people they know who have been here for years almost daily are in a similar position so the Lindens know they can charge whatever they like.   

Oh and the increase on buying lindens comes  right at the beginning of the annual Fantasy Faire, which benefits Relay For Life, an organization that raises money to fight Cancer. So I hope that doesn't affect them raising money.

Kἶէმƈεlἶმ Lմἶղƈօɾἶმlօէε Kεlνმɾl (Kitacelia Resident)
  

Reader Submitted: The Cloud Move

Kἶէმƈεlἶმ Lմἶղƈօɾἶმlօէε Kεlνმɾl (Kitacelia Resident) recently sent a reader submitted commentary about what she feels has become quite an aggravating problem: increasing lag along with bugs and glitches due to Linden Lab moving data from it's current servers to cloud-based ones. The Lab's "good idea," from her point of view, is causing a lot of problems. So she took the time to explain the problem as she sees it.

Read Kitacelia's reader submission in Extra.

Reader Submitted Artwork: "Fox News"

From Kitacelia, a computer artwork of a certain fox journalist, done with just a mouse. She stated she didn't use special applications or software.

Reader Submitted: The Second Life Name Issue

For several years, Second Life allowed everyone to chose from a list of thousands of last names with their choice of first name. It was without cost and without limit, as many if not most created alts over time who also had the same right or opportunity.

Then suddenly about eight years ago, they decided everyone should henceforth joining should be deemed "Resident."  This did two things. It made newcomers feel and look inferior, and it effectively created a permanent "Newbie" class of avatars.

They recently proposed bringing back last names, but only if people paid. This is highly unfair, especially to those who have been here five or more years and participated extensively in the economy. Should they pay when someone who logs in once a month and buys little or nothing for most of nine or more years got one or more for free?

Therefore I feel people who have been here several years and also made ample contributions to the economy, say for example at least fifty dollars worth in uploads a month and suffered under the Resident last name situation should be given a one time free name change, but future name changes could still be paid for everyone.

Kitacelia

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.

Cartoon of the Day

With thanks to Kitacella

By Bixyl Shuftan

Going on a Hunt

You might have heard friends talk about them: hunts. But what exactly are they? In Second Life, hunts are a kind of challenge a store or a group of stores sets up to attract shoppers: one or more freebie items are placed somewhere in the store, and the shopper searches around for it. It's become a popular means of advertising for the stores, and for the shoppers a chance to get free stuff and have fun searching for it. Kitacelia Resident had a few things to say about hunts, and wrote about them.

Read Kitacelia's article in Fashion.

How to Run a Club

Kitacelia has experience with working in clubs. For her article today, she sat down to write about just how are clubs run? While there does seem to be a little bit of luck, or a knack of getting the word out, involved, some bad decisions can doom a club to failure.

Read Kitacelia's article in People.

Tips on Raising Meeroos

Meeroos, a kind of virtual pet, were a big hit when introduced. A few years later, they remain highly popular. Kitacelia Resident writes about how to care and feed for these critters for those interested in owning one, and some of the traits those who try their hand at breeding them are after.

Read Kitacelia's story in Design.

The Return of Little Dove

Club Little Dove is back. After months in storage following it's departure from it's old location, Nydia Tungsten's airship club is up and flying again in Sunweaver Bay, southwest of HV Community where the SL Newser office is. Regular events are expected to be scheduled soon, with Kitacelia as one of the managers.

Sunweaver Bay (137, 130, 77)

A Fairy Faire of Hope

The yearly Fantasy Faire for the Relay For Life took place over last week and the weekend, ending just last night, after having raised over 7,500,000 Lindens ($30,000 US Dollars) for the American Cancer Society. Kitacelia went to the Faire to check things out, notably how well designed the sims were. Even though the sims were up for only a week to the public, they were so well made, they won't be quickly forgotten.

Read Kitacelia's article in Events.

Freebies in Second Life

Today, Second Life Newser has a new writer, Kitacelia. For her first article, she wanted to write about a subject useful for those new to the Grid. And so she took a look at places where one good get a supply of free or nearly-free items. So which were the places to fo to?

Read Kitacelia's article in Design.

Changes at Castaway Cove

It's been almost a year since Castaway Cove first made the scene at the Kalmeere sim. With it's unique look, a beach club between two halves of a wrecked pirate ship, it certainly stands out among social spots in Second Life. For the past several months, the club has had regular activities under the direction of Skylark Lefarve, with Kitacelia recently taking on the job of hostess.


Kitacelia wanted to make the club more than just a great place to party, but also emphasize it being a cool place to just hang out and have fun. The club now sports a bar where one can get drinks. There's also a number of games there, a blackjack table has been installed. So has a pool table, where one can play games of billiards. There's ping pong. There's a dart board. There's bowling. There's a couple arcade games, including Tetris. There's a mechanical bull which keeps track of the lowest time. And there's the mud wrestling ring, which has proven to be a favorite attraction among a number of the regulars. And the Clue and Greedy-Greedy games which were already there are still here, along with the boats and jet skis.

Kitacelia made a group announcement recently that the club's DJs would be taking on a regular schedule most weeks. On Tuesdays at 8PM SL time, DJ Perri would play the music. On Thursdays at 8PM, DJ Kryxia would spin the tunes. And every Saturday at 8PM, the two would alternate.

Castaway Cove is at Kalmeere Paradise (18, 184, 21)

Bixyl Shuftan