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

 

Mainland Pod Service To Stay Running

Some good news for the Yavascript pod car tours on the mainland. In the pod riders group earlier today, Yavanna Llanfair announced, "I've just had an extremely constructive meeting with Patch, Tommy and Derrick." And would explain more in an attatched notecard.

Dear pod riders,

I am very pleased to report that I've just had an extremely constructive meeting with Patch Linden, Derrick Linden and Tommy Linden. Hopefully I won't get suspended for a pod crash again! (It was clearly a mistake). I have therefore removed the server block on the pods.

It's actually better than just that though. We were able to discuss possible future joint ventures, and how they could help me going forward. So I'm very happy about the outcome of all this.

I'm extremely grateful to you all for your support. It's not been an easy time for me lately for reasons I've talked about before, but your good wishes have made me feel so much better.

I'm still going to be mostly keeping out of SL for the moment, but as the winter nights draw in and I feel better in myself I hope to be working on more pod projects.

Patch would also make an announcement in the forums.


I have returned with an update!  😁  We have just met with Yavanna and I am super excited to say that we will be working more closely together going forward on not only helping to support the pod tours system as it currently exists, but also expanding it in to other areas it does not reach today.   I'm sure that as expansions and other fun add-ons unfold, there will be more updates on those as they happen.  For the immediate future, the pod tour system should be returning to normal functionality.
Thanks to all for the feedback!

So the pod tours are staying up, and with the blessing of Linden Lab. This is certainly good news to the Pod Rider fans, whom cheered in the group and Discord page when it was announced.

On a follow-up to an earlier article, one of the tours I took earlier that was glitched appears to have been fixed and is in good working order. I also noticed that on the rides I (or rather my alt) got off, the pod would usually soon vanish. Also, the pod stations at Bay City are different than at the other ones I'd seen, with the pods already rezzed and needing a minute to start.

So what's become a popular feature of the mainland is here to stay.

Bixyl Shuftan