Tiki Linden Homes Appear on Map, Quickly Grabbed by Residents

 

 

 

Earlier today, the new Linden Homes, the Tiki and underwater Groto homes, were made available, the sims open and free to people to visit. There were several varieties of Tiki, and two types of the underwater groto.

Even though the homes were limited to Premium Plus residents, within hours, every single one had been grabbed up.

More on the homes later.

Bixyl Shuftan

 

HealthInfo Island

 

Second Life is a fun place to have music events and chatting with friends. But it can also be a source of information as there are a number of museums and other educational places. Gemma Cleanslate recently returned to one to write about it: HealthInfo Island. It is not static, but some displays are changed to inform about new topics, such as disease, mental health, and conditions. It's often to reflect occasions, such as World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day later this month. So what did Gemma have to say about the location today?

 

Read Gemma's story in Places. 

 

Blue Lagoon

A friend of the Newser recently suggested a place that was worth checking out: Blue Lagoon. Located in the Isle of Blessings sim, the area is owned by Bolera Rau. At ground level, it's a tropical area with a few activities. But there's also some skyboxes with ice skating and a club, and places for a couple to relax a little alone.

Read more in Places.

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Horse-hunting Crocodiles of Ancient Germany"

"Horse-hunting Crocodiles of Ancient Germany"

Saturday April 11

10 AM to 11 AM SL time

About 45 million years ago, Germany was part of a warm subtropical set of islands, teeming with life. In this warm, greenhouse environment reptiles were enormously successful, reaching larger body sizes than mammals and pushing into new ecological roles. Explore the fascinating environment known as Geisletal with Dr. Alex Hastings as he presents some of his research from his fellowship at Martin Luther University in Halle, Germany.

To read more, Click Here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/67/129/32

Frolicking Deer Cay

Today, the Newser takes a look at Frolicking Deer Cay. Built and owned by Natasha Petrichor, the place is made to look like a tourist spot in the Bahamas. We had a few words with Natasha about the location, and how it came to be.

Read the article in Places.

AiR Club and Resort

I was recently at an island getaway vacation spot in Second Life, the AiR Club and Resort. Created and owned by Roxanne (Hiddeyn Resident), she invited me over to have a look. Dropping over, the place's default time had been set to dawn, resulting in a picturesque sunrise to the east. "I honestly wanted to create somewhere really peaceful that felt like a vacation," Roxanne told me, " I really wanted to create a place similar to my real-life vacations." She told me the location of the real-life location the sim was based on was in the Seychelles Islands hundreds of miles off the eastern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. "And (I) was sick of skybox clubs," she added, "not enough places with fresh pixel 'AiR,'" hence the sim's name. At the entry location, I noticed meteors streaking across the still dark sky. "They were here from Christmas," Roxanne told me with a smile, " and I decided to keep them. And also the twinkly lights. I'm a big fan of twinkly lights."

The place was fairly quiet at the time, "You've caught us on a Saturday where we don't have an event. Not usual, but we had so many people off sick and on vacation, we decided to have a quiet Saturday." She offered to show me around.

We first went to an open-air club. "This is the AiR Chill lounge ," Roxanne told me, "It's parcelled off from the main club - we have small accoustic sets and poetry readings here. Also people chill by the pool and play greedy, sometimes Dj's will do ad hoc sets, etc. We have various areas around the sim for people to hang out - I really want to encourage people to think of it as their second home, or at least their Second Life vacation home. Im certainly not in this for the money (laughter). ... That part is slower than I would like. I have spent the last few months getting the live music side running and its very successful. We had 92 here here the other night. ... most of the artists and DJ's love the open aspect."

It was about then that AiR's co-owner Spence Corwin appeared. Roxanne told me, "Spence has joined me at AiR recently - hes very experienced and has brought a great energy." When I asked how long AiR had been running, Roxanne told me, "We celebrate our six month  'anniversary' on 29th January.  That's a lifetime in SL for venues, well feels like it (smile). ... It took a while, and on my old avatar I had some experience - slow and steady wins the race."

We began walking around further, Roxanne fast on her feet ahead of me and Spence, "Sorry ... I need to find a slower AO." We soon approached a small harbor with a large yacht, which she quickly put away, "Sorry. just realized I had left a big boat. We have a marina for guests to party on the boats - the water isn't sailable (smile). We are going to have our sixth month party on the yacht - I just need to place it better (smile)." Before long, the man would have to log off. "Spence is also unwell," Roxanne told me, "he came online to say hi."

We walked around down a path in the rain forest, "The place has lots of little vistas and hang out areas. The club is a small part." We soon came across a bridge over a stream, which was hanging so low, the middle part went under the surface of the water. "That water is splashable," Roxanne told me, and walked across it herself to demonstrate, "It's embarrassing how much time I walk over that bridge (smile). Easily amused I am."

One of the more memorable events in the island's history took place in late October, "At Halloween we were visited by ten pirate ships. All ghostly of course. Well, they took a few souls, but it didn't hurt traffic too much (grins)." When I asked if the place had a shoe shop or fish market for the occasion, she giggled in response. She would later say in December, "At Christmas we had sandmen, instead of snowmen, who gave out random gifts." There was also an elven-themed wedding here.

We continued on. Roxanne told me of the island, "it's been designed in that hopefully you will find a new place each time you visit." Eventually, the path took us to a large pond with some sandy shore and rocky cliff and jungle around it. There were stepping stones allowing people to walk across it, and a waterfall going down one cliff. "This is one of my favorite parts of the island," Roxanne told me, "with the exception of the sunsets." She told me she planned to add to the underwater, "this area will eventually have mermaid/man items underwater, a few bits under the water here and also in the marina area. For now - we have to stick to the stones." She headed to the waterfall, going inside, and following her there was a hidden cavern inside, "Another cuddle area and I just love this cave (smile)."

Besides the cuddle spots, couples could also enjoy the rental cottages, "We have four vacation rentals here, designed for only one to two nights, max seven. (They've) been really popular for those getting married in SL or proposals." She showed me one after turning off it's security system, which was to help ensure the privacy of any renters, "We have four, all slightly different. ...  I think more people in SL should take vacations (smile)." She did say there were gift certificates for rentals to give out as presents for friends.

We ended the tour at a pier area, in the southeast corner of the island, "this is where you'll usually find me at sunset, and where a lot of people come to chill out. (There is a) few more games and cuddle places down the way as well. ... I missed out the forest and some bits that also have cuddle areas, but thought I'd not bombard you with places." She had made sure there was plenty of places to see on the sim, "It's just one island but I've not tired of it yet."

Roxanne went onto say that the place had a policy of welcoming all types of avatars, saying one of the regulars was a full-sized dragon avatar, and she herself has a microfox. For those in the VIP group, "we try and give a different VIP gift every few months." One example of one was a chair made to look like half a boat. She told me there are currently about 350 in the group.

For more information, check the website at http://www.air-sl.club/ or the Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/groups/4138957@N21/pool/ .

AiR Island (56, 186, 22)

Bixyl Shuftan

Furry Tiki Island

Have you wanted to just get away from it all, head to a tropical island and enjoy the ocean breeze while swimming in the water, sampling the food, or just resting in a hammock? There's a place that recently opened that allows all these, and more: Furry Tiki Island at the Havoc sim. The place offers more than just sights and sounds. The owner is promising to establish a DJ school.

Read more in Places.

Seduction Estates

Becky Shamen's adventures across Second Life recently took her to a 30-sim large area called "Seduction Estates." Her first impression of the place was that of a "clothing optional" tropical island where one could virtually live an upper-class lifestyle, a "Beverly Hills on the sea." So she dropped by with a bikini and a speedboat to look around. So what did she think?

Read more in Places.

New Wilderness area in Second Life for Premium Members

Earlier this week, Linden Labs revealed a new region in Second Life, the Wilderness.



Meet other Premium members and travel together through a dense rainforest filled with abandoned ruins, mysterious tombs, and hidden surprises in Wilderness, Second Life's newest exclusive destination for Premium-only fun. Hop aboard a boat cruise for an Amazonian adventure sure to thrill and chill, or check out one of the bars or hangout spots. Rumor even has it there are fish within the waters of the Wilderness, so grab your fishing rod and attempt to catch a rare species - or try to wrangle an ornery alligator!


The wilderness is made up of six sims far (southeast) from the mainland: Gecko, Caiman, Piranha, Tapir, Capybara, and Leech. different from the rest of the Grid in a few ways. Like the Linden Realms gaming area, it's a creation of Linden Labs. Unlike Linden Realms however, it's finely detailed, making much use of mesh objects. Plus it's limited to Premium Account members, the post asking people to take advantage of a 50% discount on memberships (lasting one quarter). Free players trying to get in will be blocked. According to the blog post, it also makes much use of the new Pathfinding tools to animate the critters. It also stated they would be generally available "at the end of March."

There was also a Frequently Asked Questions page for the Wilderness in the Knowledge Base. Besides exploring the place by foot, one could swim or scuba dive and "additional fun activities include competing in a goat race, charming rats with a magic flute, capybara herding, playing fetch, riding around on guided mounts, and various mini-games." There were also details on getting the best visual appearance, depending on how powerful one's computer is.

The response has been, on the whole, positive. In the "Eternal Sunshine" blog, Mera thought the place looked much better in-avatar than what the pictures suggested, "I got a different feeling when I walked around the paths of those sims than I usually get in Second Life. They had more LIFE!" She very much recomended walking about instead of flying or teleporting. She did wonder if a few more features, such as poisonous snakes or infectious diseases, might be needed to keep the place something of a challenge, but she liked it.

Yordie Sands had a more mixed review. At first she had a great impression of the place. Then she had some second thoughts, being less than thrilled with what she saw as "silly" animals, "strange choices" by Linden Lab, and "2007 level animations." She felt while it would still appeal to Premium members, she thought it would mostly be to newer Premium members.

Hamlet Au called the place an attempt by the Lab to boost Premium memberships to make up for shrinking revenue from land tiers. His short article was more noteworthy from it's varied comments. Some free players thought it looked good, but it would take more than this to make them subscribe. Some seemed to have the opinion the one big thing wrong with the sim was Linden Lab itself, "From some of the comments here, I get the sense that there really IS something new and different here (a vast place to explore) but the video just looks like More Of The Same."

Source: Linden Blog, Eternal Sunshine, Yordie Sands

The Linden Destination Guide gave a landmark to the Wilderness at Caiman (215, 13, 22).

Bixyl Shuftan