ArtDestiny Turns Five

This month, ArtDestiny grid celebrates five years of fun, art, and contributions to the Opensim community. It was fifteen years ago, back in 2011, that RL couple Loru and Tryad found their way to OpenSim.  

Like so many of us, they were previously in Second Life, and after making 'the great leap' they made their home on OSGrid. 

While everyone on ArtDestiny grid is a talented and valued opensimmer, cultivating a wonderful sense of international camaraderie, there's no doubt that Loru is outstanding, and is a much loved figure across Opensim. She has always given so much time and so much of her talent, patience, and understanding to our community, I'm a huge fan not only of what she has achieved, but the way in which she has done it. 

At the Hypergrid International Expo conference last year she gave a wonderful talk about the need for tolerance, for embracing the opportunities of virtual worlds and living our best life here rather than trying to bully others into conforming with our prejudices or ideas, or trying to turn a misunderstanding or a difference of opinion into some pointless drama. As if the world didn't have enough drama. Loru's words and wisdom often come to mind when I come across someone who wants to play pixel police across the hypergrid, I admire her very much. 

Loru Destiny at the Welcome sim on ArtDestiny

Thirza Ember: What motivated you to open your own grid instead of joining an already existing grid, and what have been the biggest difficulties and the biggest pleasures?

Loru Destiny: Tryad and I searched for a long time for a permanent home, but nothing ever quite felt right—partly because of us, since we believed the promises that things would be better elsewhere. But I was also often bothered by the behavior of some grid owners: I felt controlled and patronized. On one grid, the owner used god mode to take my creations and redistribute them without my knowledge. I wanted to be free and was willing to learn (I love learning) and take responsibility for my mistakes. Despite my initial complete lack of knowledge, I found wonderful people who supported me along the way. 

Loru Destiny:  In 2017, I opened my first grid. It ran on a Windows server. I highly recommend that to beginners. But after a year, I decided I’d rather invest the money in server capacity and switched to Linux. My biggest challenge—and my greatest pleasure—is configuring the grid so that it runs smoothly. My goal is to manage this largely on my own, but even after 8 years, I’m still far from achieving that. I’m not an IT professional by training, and OpenSim is constantly evolving. Artdestiny.de is and remains a wonderful adventure!

One tiny corner of the amazing build by Stormy

Anyone who visits the builds by Stormy Scorpio is always blown away not only by her skills in creating landscapes and spacescapes, but also by the way she has been able to weave together elements of the Stark Trek multiverse, with a dozen or so spaceships high in the sky, and the Lord of the Rings inspired landscape at ground level, which serves as a sort of holodeck park for the Trekkies, and if you're not into sci fi, you can simply soak up the elven fantasy. I'm also a huge fan of Moses Rae, Stormy's husband, who's a talented singer songwriter. Stormy and Moses were the other two original members of ArtDestiny grid, there are quite a few more talented residents.... which let me to ask Loru another question.

Thirza Ember: On a practical note, as someone with many years' experience of having a semi private grid you share with a few friends, what do you consider the optimal size for a small group of residents like yourselves? And do you have a 'grid guru' who fixes tech problems - how much time a week do you need to spend managing your grid?

Loru Destiny:  How big a server needs to be depends on your budget and your plans. If you want to rent out space, you should be able to cover the costs of the grid even if you don’t have any tenants. If you want to host exhibitions and parties, you need to be able to deliver solid performance. Nothing ruins the fun more than lag and crashes. 

Loru Destiny:  Without giving specific numbers, I can say my grid is oversized, because I originally wanted to host large parties regularly and open my grid to tenants. However, I don’t host large parties regularly, nor is the grid open to tenants. There are currently 8 active members in the grid. I could rent a smaller server, but as the saying goes, “never change a running system.” The money is well invested; the grid is my hobby, and I share it with people who are on the same wavelength as me. 

Loru Destiny: We want to do good for each other, be creative, and take joy in what we do. I’ve also shared a close friendship with Stormy for decades. That’s worth more than money. But we’re not some elitist clique. We enjoy going out, attending events, and having guests over, and I DJ at other events. None of this would be possible without Manfred Aabeye—he’s my “tech guru,” my protector, my brilliant rock. 

Loru's husband Tryad Destiny, a RL painter, has a new region called Futurum and these pictures are from that sim. It's a bit of a departure from the acrylic 2D canvasses that Tryad has been famous for for years. The Safari has visited his galleries a few times over the years, and his art shows have always been popular. So it was really exciting to see this evolution in his inworld work, with sculptures and installations you can walk inside, or cam around, to see from multiple points of view.

Detail from Futurum

Thirza Ember: It is always interesting to see inworld galleries by a rl painter like Tryad. He's got such a wonderful eye! What does the virtual platform mean to Tryad and to you in terms of a way to show art? Does it have disadvantages? 

Loru Destiny: Tryad no longer exhibits his art in galleries. Here in OpenSim, he still displays his works and enjoys interacting with viewers. The technical capabilities also open up new, exciting possibilities. It all started when he began sharing his paintings here as JPEGs. Now he experiments with software, including AI, to visualize his ideas and inner images. Lately, he’s been fascinated by the ability to give two-dimensional images a third dimension. That’s what you’ll find on his sim 

Detail from Futurum

Loru is a fabulous maker of outfits and clothes, and on her region Glede  you can find a huge collection of these, all available for free. She's very modest about her skills and her sense of style, and she has always been a huge supporter of other makers of original clothing content in Opensim, you may remember several editions of an Opensim Fashion Show. A lot of hard work and such a boost to our community!

Loru's freebie shop on Glede

Loru Destiny:  I am creative, but not an artist. Yet the world of software and pixels offers me, too, a way to express what I feel and think without words. Tryad and I see no downsides in this, only a new frontier for human creativity. Everything humans create, such as AI, has pros and cons. It is always up to us to use it for us, not against us.

HG Addresses:

Party location   artdestiny.de:8002:ArtDestinyWorld

Loru's shop      artdestiny.de:8002:Glede

Tryad's new art sim    artdestiny.de:8002:Futurum 

One of Stormy's many landscape builds  artdestiny.de:8002:Lothlorien

many other destinations are available if you visit the Welcome region

artdestiny.de:8002:ArtDestinyWelcome