In the Zone

 Zone Nations grid was our second stop this week, for the opening Safari of 2023, and our host was Druskus, who welcomed us to his fantasy sim HG Welcome along with Fiona Saiman, Cleopatra Abu, Ares Kytori who all created a great party atmosphere for us right off the bat.  

The group arrives at Zone Nations. Photo by Fitheach Eun

Druskus gave us some info about the grid and himself - he told us he manages both the Grid and the utilities, he is an Italian who works in the IT field. In the OpenSource world "he is renowned in the beautiful country for his web activities in the JOOMLA and has been mentioned in several books by the Hoeply publishing house on intermediate-level technical texts related to JOOMLA! and is considered a real reference, at the Italian level, for the implementation of Communities and Social Networks."

Thirza Ember: anyone here familiar with Joomla?

Lyr Lobo: yes, long ago

Tosha Tyran: yes

Fitheach Eun: Yes, we use the jOpensim interface with our web page

James Atlloud: I've looked at Joomla but our workplace went with Drupal. Both Joomla and Drupal have advantages.

Ares Kytori: i started to work with Joomla some years ago but now I'm involved in html, css and javascript mode. Druskus has teach me a lot about Joomla

We were all curious to know what is the connection between Joomla and OpenSim.

Druskus: I have been collaborating for 12 years on the JOpenSim project (extension for Joomla) and is the developer of the Italian Language for JOpenSim, and I have several projects "in the pipeline" related to OpenSim and Joomla, one of them is a Sim and parcel rental system for users, visible on the web. Zone Nations is a collaborative grid where everyone can offer their support and backing! On the Zone Nations website there is a "Credits" section, where we thank all the people who supported and support, with their own contribution, the Grid. It is a sign of recognition provided for everyone. The people in the "Credits" are not all Zone Nations users, but they are users in HG (HyperGrid).

The castle on HG Welcome, ZoneNations

 Thirza Ember: how did this grid get started?

Druskus: Zone Nations was born in 2019, and was a test Grid for Clone Life, which was born in 2010.

 Clone Life was shut down the same year due to problems with db (database), security and assets. Therefore, it was closed and all the contents of the old Grid were deleted by starting from scratch with the project.  The Mission of Zone Nations is to try to offer a constant and stable service to all users, regardless of whether they may be users in HG or local users.  The Vision of Zone Nations is to be able to involve new people who are not yet familiar with this reality.

Druskus ZoneNations: How can I contribute for Zone Nations?  One can contribute what one does best!  What does "what one does best" mean?  If you don't know how to build, photograph, create content, don't worry. Even just talking about us and what you see is enough! Of course you have to like it!

Lavia Lavine: Everyone has something to contribute in one way or another.

Druskus ZoneNations: How many islands exist in the Grid of Zone Nations?  Currently there are only 12 islands, 10 of which are accessible in HG and two are only advertised on OSW (OpenSimWorld). Of these 12 islands, two are not accessible in HG; the first is the "Welcome Area," where avatars are born and is a Sim learning and awareness on the use of one's avatar and helps one take their first steps on Zone Nations. The second is a SIM whose details I cannot disclose at the moment.

James Atlloud: Mysterioso!

Druskus: Why the choice to advertise only two sims on OSW?  The answer is very simple. One is the "HGWelcome." The second is "Impero Island," dedicated to the provision of entertainment materials, the other 8...you discover them :)   "HGWelcome" comes out of all the standards seen so far in OSW and is an end point intentionally without "store" of any kind. All items are free to copy and it is dedicated exclusively to lovers of soft, medieval, romantic and post-apocalyptic environments, a place where you can take, in total tranquility, photographs with your avatars or simply panoramic ones. The content present in HGWelcome are both exclusive creations made by Druskus, Beduino Ruben and in collaboration with, the alas late and lamented, Giacomo Rexen, and objects taken in other Grids. Why this choice?  Because Zone Nations wants to make its mark! Out of the standard, out of the box and wants to intrigue!

Lavia Lavine: Shouldn't that be the goal of all grid owners?  To stand out and be unique in their own way?

Druskus

Thirza Ember: wow that is a scary face, Druskus

 Ares Kytori: he's more scary in RL! /me laugh

Druskus: is a mask inspired by a Japanese Anime called Bleach and is a vacant spirit

Star Ravenhurst: I like the mask

Lyr Lobo: affascinante

Druskus: I wear a mask more not to hide, but to make people feel comfortable, you see I always smile :D. Seriously I do it to show that I am just another person.

We jumped over to the nearby region built to celebrate Joomla in opensim - indeed a Temple to Joomla.

James Atlloud: Joomla Logo is very cool.

Druskus: thank you is my creation in primitives, all object here is my creation in primitives. This sim in times of pandemic served various Italian JUGs where we were testing new versions of joomla.

Tosha Tyran: oh cool! a temple with a pizzeria

James 'sit anywhere' Atlloud

Thirza Ember: Druskus, what did you discover first? Joomla, or Opensim?

Druskus: I started with Joomla in 2005. This sim is made to raise awareness and help understand the use of joomla with the possible integrations that are many. For those who do not know what Joomla is, it is a product that allows you to build websites and is from the family of basic cms blogs is possible with JOpenSim and I'm the developers of Italian translator

Rhiannon Chatnoir: that is great you are using OpenSimulator, have you worked on integrating Joomla and OpenSim together? or at least passing data between in any way?

Druskus: Rhiannon, no, for JOpenSim works only for translation

Thirza Ember: it must be a big community of opensource fans, I think... Like opensim, but with fewer wardrobe malfunctions. Do people who work on Joomla know about opensim? do the two worlds have contact?

Druskus: Thirza to answer you I am writing an article that I will post in Joomla Magazine where I will talk about the integration between joomla and JOpenSim

Lyr Lobo: lovely

James Atlloud: Drupal seems to be more like commercial software - is Joomla less commercial?

Druskus: Joomla and Drupal is a similar product, have their differences, and they are both for medium-sized companies unlike wordpress which is for end user and small companies

James.Atlloud: Ah, I see. Many grids use Wordpress as front-end for the community.

Druskus ZoneNations: wordpress is not very secure

 James.Atlloud: I agree!

Nara.Nook: Is Joomla more secure?

Druskus: Joomla is very controlled and is updated often is developed by the community who also report bugs as was the original purpose of this island. The difference on checking extensions is obvious - Wordpress has no checks and often you have bad apps  - on Joomla they are all read and approved.

Lyr Lobo: hehe

The Joomla 'temple' JUG = Joomla User Group

Tosha Tyran: yes, because it is very easy to work with - wordpress, it is very intuitive, unlike Joomla :D

Thirza Ember: oh Tosha, don't say that - not in the Joomla temple!

Lorin Tone: :)

Tosha Tyran: gulp... I take a piece of pizza

Ares Kytori: lol Tosha

Thirza Ember: I love the way there are all these opensource communities uniting people around the world in so many different projects

We ended our trip on Impero Island, with a spot of shopping in honor of the old Clonelife grid, one of the few places where you could find a bit of unusual content back in the early days of opensim.

Druskus: you can walk around and visit it freely and take what you want :)  if you want you can also visit Nykothos is Ares' sim, many exclusive Zone Nations content made by him in mesh

Ares Kytori: mh... it's a mess of incomplete jobs

Star Ravenhurst: Sounds like my region, I always have at least 5 proects going at once

Ares Kytori: but my laziness is insane!

Tosha Tyran: not insane, ares, italian :P

Ares Kytori: ahahaha really true Tosha!

Tosha Tyran: for sure not, hahahaha

Ares Kytori: well my strategy is... to avoid frustration when i don't want to completa a job... start immidiatly with another one

Thirza Ember: I love to shop by cam

Fitheach Eun: My favorite way to shop

Lyr Lobo: you are not alone

Just before the group photo, everyone scattered, some to the shops on Impero, some to Ares' region Nykothos, some back to RL. But we got a few good pics of him surrounded by women. His response had all the charm of an evening on the lungotevere. 

Druskus: I am shy too many women near me, I need air :D one more beautiful than the other!!! :D

Thirza Ember: Thanks for letting us visit!

Fitheach Eun  [en→it]: Thanks Druskas, Molto interessante

Star Ravenhurst: Great start to a new season!

HG Addresses:  

Welcome sim, default arrival place:  login.zonenations.com:8002:HGWelcome

Freebies:   Impero Island

Ares' sim of treasures: Nykothos

the Joomla 'temple':  JUGProject