Safari: Art and Science

          On average, how many minutes a week do you spend thinking about the Viewer you use to access Opensim, or SL?  I bet it's not many. Like air, or legs, we tend to think about the viewer only when there's something wrong with it, and rarely remember how much we owe to this free resource. But this week, the Safari went to XMIR grid to learn more about one such Viewer, Kokua. We followed up the tech talk with Gavin Hird by going over to Metropolis Grid to met up with Zonja Capalini and Ludmilla Writer, on Condensation Land, you can read about that in the next post. How to get to the places mentioned in this blog? The HG Address is given at the end of the post.

Gavin Hird

Genesis Metaverse Grid

 Our second 90 minute destination was on the commercial grid, Genesis Metaverse.  It is a huge contrast to the opensource, commerce free feel of FrancoGrid with its almost decade-long history, that's the beauty of opensi, there is such a lot of variety here, and so many different ways to enjoy the hyperverse.

        The Genesis Metaverse website is hazy on specifics about its origins, but reading between the lines it seems to have begun in 2016 and the guys there seem to have been on a grid where customer service was not a top priority. But there is nothing hazy about the welcome you will get when you arrive on GMV, as they call it for short.
           Gage Logan was the GMV mentor who kindly agreed to show us around. Now usually, when someone agrees to act as guide on a grid, they choose to showcase their own regions. So is was quite remarkable - and a testament to Gage's commitment and love of his inworld family - that he chose to show us regions belonging to Roffellos Kisses, (Angelorum Enim Est) Kit Capone and bonnie dean, (Bonova)  and Kim song and Fred Blogs (Perfect Waters).
       A bunch of people were on the Welcome sim to meet us, including grid owners Dragon Genesis and Candi Genesis.  The source of any lag experienced by those coming in seems to have been down to Vivox, not for the first time in Safari experience. I you're not planning on talking, it really pays to uncheck the Voice option in Preferences before hypergridding, it can save a lot of trouble. That, and anything scripted you're wearing.

Genesis Park

Dragon Genesis: have fun all :) and enjoy our homes
Candi Genesis: y'all will love Fred & Kim's place, amazing people those two
Aquarius Dragonella: they was the first couple I met here and we been like family since!
Getting to our first stop proved pretty challenging, but about half of us survived the crashing and made it to Roffellos Kisses' region Angelorum Enim Est. The lag kind of made it hard to raise draw distances too high, but he passed out a funny dance - so mission accomplished! I went back today to try and get some pics, sadly, the region was closed to outsiders.

        Our second stop was a shopping region called Bonova built and run by Kit Capone and bonnie dean.

        Lots of toys, carousels, trains and planes here as well as a store with clothes and so forth, all on sale for the local currency.

Sunbeam Magic: Cute place! I love the guy with the bagpipes.
Thirza Ember: Gage, tell us about this region
Gage Logan: This is owned by Kid and Bonnie... they are a bit shy lol
Kid Capone: Our land is not based on anything in Particular.  It's a mixture of all sorts of wonderful stuff we just enjoy building no matter what. There is a lot to see here. Make sure you visit Versailles !
Gage Logan: ...and if there is something you want ...they will make it for you!

The vast Bonova region, and beyond

  Finally, we got where the dancing was already hotting up, on sim Perfect Waters. What felt like dozens of local residents all made us feel very welcome. The music was supplied by fantasia Logan, whose rich, warm voice was the perfect match for a lively, noisy, fun-loving playlist.

The outstanding DJane talent of Fantasia Logan

Lady Lissa: this is Fred and Kim's region
Gage Logan: Perfect Waters consists of three units, the Mall, Blue Waters Ballroom and the H20 Nightclub. To see the region at its best it is set to midnight. The Mall is a small cozy affair with stores by RFF, Anna May, Hair by Ulrika, Velvet Rhythms, This and That and Cats Claws.  Blue Waters ballroom is for those romantic evenings, dining, music  24/7, chapel attached and couples areas on the balconies and surrounding areas. H20 Nightclub is possibly the best looking club in Genesis with regular live singers, dj`s, events and contests. A family atmosphere is promoted with everyone welcome. A good place to meet friends new and old.

Thirza Ember: i was taking a photo inside the ballroom, with the glass floor, very nice!
Aquarius Dragonella: the world would be an amazing place,  if everyone just got together and partied!
Kim song: feel free to look around
Sunbeam Magic: Love the bubbles and dolphin talk !!!round
Thirza.Ember: wow we are an energetic bunch, even after all that grid jumping, we still have the stamina to dance
Maggie O: AND to have Fantasia to DJ for us! what an honor!!
Isis.Ophelia: we had power drinks before we left
Thirza Ember: i had wine, I won't lie

Kim song: whoot
Gage Logan: hahaha
Our host, Fred Bloggs, came in to greet us too
Maggie O: OOPS THE BOSS IS HERE!
Fred Blogs: WELCOME EVERYONE FROM HG SAFARI!! SORRY LATE..FUNNY THING CALLED RL WORK!!!  So has everyone had fun while I`ve been working???
       We couldn't deny it!

Lady Lissa: hey y'all, to keep up with the parties and events, check this link to the Genesis Events calendar... https://teamup.com/ks00a59b6aa516c720
      The secret of Genesis is the community.
 Gage Logan: When I first joined, I thought ok here we go another grid who has no one to help you find things or answer any questions i might have...BUT when I came on I was truly amazed ...landing here at this very spot ...and wow a what welcoming group!!! they all spoke to me ...showed me the freebies and asked if i needed anything else...They made me feel more welcome than anywhere I've ever been.  And boy, did I jump in...but yet they were right there...ready to help me ..no matter what i did wrong and believe me i did wrong ..lol  and now I want others to feel like I did and this is why I find it such a pleasure and honor to show ya'll ....our lives here on Genesis!

GMV Welcome sim                      grid.genesismetaverse.com:8002

Safari: Vive la différence

      Our first destination was Conference region on FrancoGrid, to meet some of the FrancoGrid regulars, including the democratically elected Grid President Nino Whitman, and the technical guru Ssm Binder, as well as Ange Menges, Cendres Magic, Archael Magic,  and Cherry Manga who all wanted to tell us something of the grid's story, and its future. 

Francogrid Conference

About thirty of us gathered inside the fabulous spherical building where the grid holds its annual meetings.
          Francogrid is a non-profit grid. There is no 'owner' as you find on other grids. It is run according to European law for non-profits; decisions are made by the Administrative Council, and residents who have paid the membership fee are consulted about changes and new ideas, for example, they can vote on the look and style of the new Welcome regions that will be coming soon. 

You do not need to speak French to be part of the grid; the website is bilingual, translators are available, and everyone goes out of their way to speak some English. And of course, it does us all good to at least try to communicate in another language. While most residents are Francophone, 'foreigners' like Lucy Afarensis, Snowbody, and me, are made very welcome!

Cendres Magic: bienvenue / welcome

Thirza Ember: so... who here is the oldest Francogrid resident?

Film Noir

       Two destinations that delight this week. Grid addresses at the end of the post as usual.
        If you have not visited Avacon Grid yet, put it on your 'Must See' list.

         Not only is Avacon closely associated with the organization and prep work that goes into the annual Opensim Community Convention (held over on OSCC Grid), it is also home to some interesting regions, including the Building Tutorial region Primland, you may remember it being originally on Fleep Grid; some nice work-in-progress Library regions belonging to Rockcliffe University, and of course Nebadon Izumi's regions bursting with interesting free stuff, called Oni Kenkon Creations.

Safari Goes Down Under

 After Neverworld, this week our next stop was on the other side of the planet.  In these troubling times, I always find some comfort in being with Australians living, as they do, where Tomorrow has already safely arrived. This time, we were on U4Ria.

Uriah Heep: ok any of the teleporters can take you to a destination

Arrival on u4ria

Juliette SurrealDreaming: i made it!  lol thanks
Sunbeam Magic: and with your clothes on too Juliette
Uriah Heep: covers my eyes
Juliette SurrealDreaming: omg did i not have them earlier?
Sunbeam Magic: you did not lol
Juliette SurrealDreaming: giggles, free show!!! :-P

Safari and the Gum Trees

 Australia was again our destination for the final stop this week. Our hostess Gen, lives in Australia where it's the middle of the night when we do Safari, so she asked if we'd mind showing ourselves around. As always, you'll find the HG Address at the end of the blog post.

           This time Kitely grid, and the fabulous Australian Home Land, by the beautiful Genavieve Paige. The experience of this region is breathtaking, make sure you have sound on, and have your environment set to the region windlight to get the full effect.

Genavieve Paige

Thirza Ember: The Murray River is huge, more than 2500 km long, it is Australia's longest single river. It begins in the Australian Alps and winds its way out to the sea not far from Adelaide , so it has lots of environments, from the beaches to the wetlands, and she has tried to include it all on her region.

A Quick Bit of Luster

 Our first stop of three this week on Safari - lil bit of lag, it can't be denied, but fun nonetheless. That's one of the advantages of multiple destinations each time. If one place has issues, or maybe isn't to your taste, another will be fine. 

Plenty of tasteful stuff on Neverworld though...

Neverworld Welcome 

Our first stop, however, was set to be on Neverworld grid, founded by Govega Sachertorte. We were invited by Locked Semaphore, and Pasha Theas was also there to welcome us to what was due to be a whistlestop tour of six different regions. Yes, I know what you're thinking, very ambitious...

           Neverworld is a grid of about three hundred regions, with about 200 in traffic monthly, between residents and visitors (pretty nice numbers) and the six regions being showcased were well chosen t demonstrate the range of activities available, from the airport, Banning International (great name) to the dark labyrinth of Ludicus...

Ludicus

..... to the romance of Luster, and so on. 

Here on Neverworld you will find fashion, freebies, rentals, sailing, and social events, as well as free parcels if you just want to try the grid out.  My favorite part in all of it is the Greeter, with his corny Pirate jokes. Unmissable.

Neverworld Greeter

There was something happening with teleports however right when we all tried to go there (an hour later, of course, teleporting was fine, that's just the way opensim works out sometimes) so our tour didn't go quite as expected. Better luck for sure on our next visit.

Check out the next post for our continued trip...

Luster