The End of Discovery

 Discovery Grid is closing, and will be gone by December 15. The news was announced at a grid meeting last Saturday. If, like me, you're busy on Saturdays and missed the meeting, you can get a recap of the main points of Balpien's announcement here. 

It seems the main reason why Balpien decided to shut down Discovery is that the internal economy of the grid has ground to a halt, with few merchants and money making sims, and a general decline in residents and regions.

It's always a shame to see a grid go offline, and one that's been around for over eight years is a loss to the general hypergrid community. But you still have a few weeks to go around and take one last look!

If you can't quite place Discovery among the many grids we have visited, here are a few reminders. The Safari has been lucky enough to tour here once or twice, beginning with a visit to Spirit Rock Ranch when the grid was just one year old. 

At that time our guide, Angel Discovery, explained how the grid was born out of friendships forged in Inworldz, so it's no surprise that, in his statement about the closing of Discovery, Balpien makes reference to that shambles of a shutdown that happened to Inworldz back in the summer of 2018, and vows to do better.  

Titanic going down

More recently we made a return to Discovery to see Kayaker Magic. He has a fabulous interactive Titanic build which is the scene of an annual party, to memorialize the sinking of that great ship - he very kindly let us see the dramatic sinking play out - so many details, with icebergs and lifeboats and flotsam and even rats deserting the ship!  The sporty Panthalassa region, with its opportunities for surfing, riding, hiking, and shooting dinosaurs, will surely survive on some other grid, it is a jewel of a sim.

T Rex on Panthalassa

Jillian2000 Quintessa's historical region Celestial Japan  was another highlight in our Safari calendar. Beautiful, photogenic, and informative, a great deal of work went into creating an accurate slice of history here.

Celestial Japan

and of course, we visited Weefolkenshire, the Dinkie storybook sim of Shalheira Nailo who talked to us about the community of small people across opensim, and the joy of having a peaceful place to call home.

Shalheira Nailo on Weefolkenshire

But times change, and a few days  before Christmas this year, Discovery Grid will have become just a memory. Balpien's off to pastures new, a platform called O3DE which is totally unrelated to opensim. Obviously the new grid he builds there will have no connections to the hypergrid community, and will have a new interface/inventory to cope with. It promises all kinds of new special effects although, honestly, judging by the videos Balpien linked to in his announcement, it's all rather underwhelming and seems like a lot of talk and not much substance. Perhaps it's just very early days let's hope so.

Anyone who's been a resident on Discovery has now just ninety days to cash out and find a new home. Luckily there are dozens of grids out there that are fast, reliable, welcoming, relaxed, and reasonably priced. 

It's going to be a challenge and an adventure for the Discovery people to have to set up yet again on another grid, so please don't hesitate to reach out to them all and make them feel welcome wherever they land in Opensim!