Drivers of SL

 

Sometimes when driving, you just want to get where you're going. And sometimes it's the journey itself that's more important, listening to the radio, and taking in the scenery. And on occasion, there's no particular destination, except maybe back home, eventually, the journey made just to see new things and new places. If this is something you like doing, there's a group for you, the "Drivers of SL." The Newser interviewed a few people behind this large group of people here in Second Life.

Read the story in People.

 

Announcement: New Items Added to Sunweaver Mall

Sunnies:  I have added two new vendors to the Sunweaver Mall, on Space.  One is filled with some really nice military vehicles and aircraft.  The second one is filled with enough firearms to make any NRA member smile and blush with glee. Be sure to check them out.  The stuff is from Blue Works Studio and bunny gets a cut if you buy from the vendors.  *hint * hint

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunweaver%20Space/159/83/27

Rita Mariner

Axtel Motors Closing, Most Vehicles Free

For auto fans, and anyone else looking for a great deal, there's been a development you'll want to here. There's a location where you can get dozens of cars for free.

In Sunweaver chat last night, Cynthia Farshore announced, "Axtel is closing down and has set several hundred vehicles to free status at their main store. LM is attached. Once they fully close, the vehicles will no longer be available so act soon if you're interested." She would then say the place was in the Osla sim. So I headed over. There were a number of vendors for various types of cars, each vendor able to hold several. There was also a sign with the following message:

Final Closing Sale

Axtel's Autos will be closing soon. All cars are free until we take down the store. We are aware some of the vendors are broken. Please try to take turns on the vendors and do not spam click them because they will break and even less people will be able to use them. Axtel will have to come back to fix these in a few days. Meantime you can visit Highflyer location to get some of the cars that are in the broken vendors. Join the Axtel's Autos group for updates and to request a link to this location. For those who use combat HUD systems in SL, this is mean to be a place for everyone to get free cars. Attacks on each other will result in freezing or a ban from the property. You will be warned only once. Please rez only Axtel vehicles here during the duration of this sale. The sim is VERY laggy due to all the scripts running. For that we apologize. We ask only axtel's vehicles be rezzed to people can test them and to keep your personal scripts down to a minimum. If you would like to advertise for your business here, please ask management first.

Lady Death (Selenia Galicia)

There were many types of cars available from early roadsters of the 30s and 40s, to classic cars of the 50s, 60s muscle cars, sports cars, even a few subcompacts and vans. There was also a "modern Batmobile" available. There was a vendor full of motorbikes. But when I looked, it was inoperable. Although the price listed was one Linden, I was refunded it after the purchase was made. So these really were free cars and bikes.

Each car comes with a HUD which one can use to keep an eye on the speed, shift gears, turn on the lights. Some cars will also drift if you hold the shift key and make a sudden turn. The instructions had a warning not to press a certain button on the HUD, but I didn't see it in the cars I tried out.

The mainland highway is next to Axtel's, so you can drive onto the road and test out the car. I found driving them to be a little tricky, especially when crossing sims. But it was smoother than jerky ten year old freebies whose scripts were designed for a much earlier Second Life. There were the sounds of the engine revving as I drove.

Of the group to join, I noticed no announcements. So it's unclear how long how long this great deal will last. Happy driving.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Oslar/107/154/104

Bixyl Shuftan

Press Release: Hot Bay City Nights 2016

BAY CITY, SL (18 August 2016) - Celebrating Bay City's mid-century theme as well as its vast network of roadways, the "Hot Bay City Nights" event in Second Life® showcase vehicle makers who create automobiles from the Bay City "theme era," stretching from 1940 to 1965.

The event is held in the the Bay City Fairgrounds, in the North Channel region, from the 20-27th of August to present the best in vintage and retro vehicles. Each designer is hand-picked, and presents great road vehicles for use in Second Life.

Additional events will provide plenty for all to do, including the crowning of 2016s Miss Bay City on the 27th, and a series of virtual car washes for charity. The first of these virtual car washes will be held on Sunday, 21 August at 1:00 p.m. SLT

The event will raise funds for Child's Play Charity, an organization that provides toys and games for children in hospitals around the world. Bay City is a silver-level sponsor of Child's Play.

Bay City is a mainland community, developed by Linden Lab™ and home to the Bay City Alliance. The Bay City Alliance was founded in 2008 to promote the Bay City regions of Second Life™ and provide a venue for Bay City Residents and other interested parties to socialize and network. It is now the largest Bay city group, and home to most Residents of Bay City.

For more information, contact: Marianne McCann

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/North Channel/128/128/24

LEA2 : The History of the Vehicle

With residents being able to teleport and fly around, some might not see vehicles in Second Life as being of much use. Others can't do without their mechanical workhorses. However you see them, vehicles have been in Second Life since it's start, and have had quite a history. Sapphire Hotaling has a series of exhibits in LEA2, titled "The History of Vehicles in Second Life." Gemma Cleanslate went over to take a look.

Read Gemma's review in Design.

Linden Lab Offering "New Limited Time Deals on Amazon"

Today is the last day that Second Life residents in the US can "take advantage of a couple of great sales for Second Life packs" on Amazon. The three offers are a "Premium Vehicle Pack - which includes L$4000, an exclusive hoverboard, deluxe sail boat, and premium dune buggy" at "30% off" for $24.95 US dollars, a "Hoverboard Bonus Pack," and a "Pet Pack."

More details are on the Linden Blog (Here).

Eye on the Blog: Second Life on Amazon with Weekend Promotions

This weekend, it was announced on the Linden Blog that Second Life was doing promotions on Amazon.com.

It’s a new year, and we have news: Second Life is now available on Amazon! 

In addition to the standard Mac and PC versions, we’re offering several bundled packages for sale, which include vehicles to enjoy and L$ to spend inworld or on the Marketplace.

As a special promotion, this weekend only the Starter Vehicle Pack (usually $9.95), which includes a hoverboard and L$1000 will be available for FREE [limit one per customer].

If a friend of yours has been waiting to join Second Life, now is a great chance for them to head over to Amazon and get started with the free Starter Vehicle Pack. Spread the word!

Besides links to the Mac and PC official viewers, there were three offers listed. One was a Premium Vehicle Pack that consisted of a overboard, a sailboat, the dune buggy once available only to Premium members, and 4000 Lindens, for $25 US dollars. Then there was the Deluxe Vehicle Pack with the overboard and sailboat with 2000 Lindens for $15. Last was the Starter Vehicle Pack with the overboard and 1000 Lindens. The latter was not listed as free, but marked "Currently unavailable." Word was people were logging in with alts and when the Lab realized this they took it down. Later on, it was listed at ten dollars.

There have been a number of reactions from residents. There was a thread about it in the official forums, where most residents expressed skepticism. One called it "a fiasco that does further damage to SL's reputation."

Daniel Voyager thought it was a good idea overall, but noted in his comments after his post that those outside the United States couldn't benefit from the promotions. Someone commenting on his article thought it was a good idea, but not thought out very well.

Tateru Nino called the promotions "just plain embarrassing." She noted that Second Life was listed as a "game," a sticking point with her and other residents. The second part was because of the content bundles, which were of various vehicles, calling vehicles in general "the single, weakest, most unreliable aspect of Second Life," and likely to give newcomers a bad impression.

Inara Pey noted the items had been up on Amazon since December 10th, but only now being announced by Linden Lab to the residents. In a second post she felt Linden Lab should be let off about the "game" issue, considering public attitudes and Amazon's limited categories, but not about what she felt was the promotion being far short of it's potential, "the packages are indicative of thinking at the Lab, which is at worst simply lazy, or at best demonstrating an inability to think an idea through."

Probably the most enthusiastic about the promotion was Hamlet Au, who called it "a clever sales system" that could help make up for its declining land sales, "a pretty good idea for driving new revenue." He suggested that anyone who had an Amazon affiliate code add it in to a link to the promotions so they could get a small cut if someone makes a purchase. But many of those commenting on his article weren't so sure.