Spooktober

 I can't lie, and anyway what would be the point, if you've read this blog before in Octobers past, you know I don't care at all for Halloween. This one day event has become, in the real world, six weeks of solid commercialized nastiness. People who like to think they're anti crime invite their children to play at extorting the neighbors with threats. Bloodshed, loss, and torture are trivialized. It appeals to nobody's better nature. The whole sense of Samhain is engulfed by ghoulish goofiness.

That said, Halloween is a really big deal in Opensim. From September onward, builds begin to spring up online and freebie shops abound with special items to mark the month-long 'one day event' of Halloween. However, unlike the real world, thank goodness, the spirit here is not one of selling as much candy as you can. It's about generosity, and the ingenuity and creative fantasy of outfit builders, scripters, meshers, sim dressers, performers, and huntsmen and women, and good for them.

Would it be better if Halloween (and Xmas too, the other end-of-the-year juggernaut) didn't engulf such a long time span, if there were a little bit more originality in what people chose to come up with in the winter months, rather than all leaping lemming-like into the same pumpkin-scented abyss? 

Sure. 

But in light of the fact that, as you pick up your 57th different version of a dancing skeleton, you really don't care what I think, here are a few interesting Halloween builds you might enjoy. HG addresses as always at the end of the post.

Arte and Montmartre

Minord Loup: bienvenue aux arrivants

Francisco Koolhoven: hi everyone!

Lavia Lavine: Hi everybody!!! :D :D :D

Alex Salamander: <bonsoir

SoA BAD: hello all

Tristan Dehaie [fr→en]: Good evening everyone :)

Draghan Marksman: Glenn is here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The gradual rez of the crowd, outside the SV3D Louvre

It was a typical day in the neighborhood of Opensim, yet another HG Safari tour, this time a return visit to SV3D, a mostly Francophone grid, run by the terrific Minord Loup. Not a huge place, and the region we were due to land on LeVieuxParis (HG address as always at the end of the post) is abundant with textures, so it was reasonable to think that it might be a while before anybody really saw anything. There were upwards of twenty people on the sim, quite a few had to relog, but the overall effect was excellent. A golden hour in the gilded age of old Paris, in company with several SV3D friends, in particular our host the builder Glenn Dayafter.

Glenn Dayafter

Glenn Dayafter:  Welcome to Le Vieux Paris !  Paris at the turn of the century — where art, imagination, and nostalgia meet. Le Vieux Paris recreates the city between the late 1800s and early 1900s, a time when creativity and curiosity filled every street and café.

Tosha Tyran: sounds great

Alexey Kazarovic: /me claps

Glenn Dayafter: The idea was born two years ago, and since then, the sim has slowly taken shape — a labour of love, inspired by research, art, and the spirit of old Paris. Today, it is almost complete, waiting for us to explore.

Dings Digital: wonderful... it must have been hard but fulfilling work

Cherry Manga: textures are insane! ♥

Pierre Segrov: Bonsoir toutes et tous !

Thirza Ember: how many regions have you built, Glenn?

A Witching Hour

Our second stop this week was to a forest on Stregasea, in OSGrid. This build was a gift to Clairwil Oh from the late Pasha Theas, who made it as a place of serenity,  a splitscreen forest between sumer lush and winter snowscape, where you can immerse yourself in nature and leave behind the oppressive worries and fears of RL for a while, and recharge your batteries. 

It's far from the first Pasha Theas build that the Safari has visited. Pasha's close friend, builder, DJ, artist and tech-friendly  Andron Rae was our erudite and amusing guide on two previous builds, Brigadoon and The Caves, and he joined us for this trip too.

Clairwil Oh

Clairwil Oh: oh, here's comes "everyone" yay!

Star Ravenhurst: Hello!
Tosha Tyran: oh shucks! Naked again
Clairwil Oh: Naked is always the best outfit for the day
Ary Ravenshires: woot! nakies party!
andron rae: its a moderate rated sim so nakies is permissible, I have shorts on under my kilt, because you know, distractions

Dancing on Counterearth

 Counter Earth Grid puts on a Holiday Show each year, with a big Christmas dancing extravaganza. The next 90 minute event is on November 21, 2025, the time hasn't been fixed just yet, but it will be somewhere between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM Grid Time, depending on majority preference. 

Sardar Fair

Over eleven years old and probably best known for the freebie region Sardar Fair, CounterEarth is the oldest Gorean grid in Opensim, and has a wealth of beautiful sims you can visit, even if you're not a gor by nature. If you're not familiar with the Counter Earth dance event, here's a peep at what they did in 2022, just to get you in the mood to participate. 

Wyld Five

This month, Wyldwood Bayou grid turns five years old, but to know that is only to have the very edges of the story of this vibrant corner of our hyperverse. Best known for its dancing events and roleplay, WWB grew out of a group of friends who had all had experience in Second Life before coming over to Opensim; their story of grid changes probably resonates with most of us, the best bit of it being that they were able to remain together as a tribe, no matter the vagaries of grid shutdowns, lost assets, and the usual craziness of opensimulator.

Kith Whitehawk 

Kith Whitehawk: Our first OS grid was InWorldz. Kira and I build Wyldwood Bayou on Kitley, then once we had to move, due to IW grid removal, settled in Discovery as a spot for the club. Picked Discovery, mainly due to Jay and Ten-Bears. We met Harmony in IW, was a boon that she was in between hosting gigs. Was the best snag ever!

Contessa Lacombe: I met Fit in Inworldz, which was my first OS grid. I picked it because it was all I knew about, but our open OS is so much better! When I first checked out OS, I thought it was very primitive so I stayed in SL, but on a later visit it had grown and I could envision the possibilities. I could have plenty of space to build!

It's a natural part of life that times change, and with experience, confidence and abilities grow. We all yearn for a bit more independence, which is what happened to the WWD group.

Kith Whitehawk: We wanted a place of our own, an independent grid. One where we had control over the ethos and values. We also had an extraordinary opportunity, due to Durham and Fits computer abilities, to have grid stability and a place to call "Our Own Dayum Swamp". We called it Wyldwood Bayou, since even though we lost Kira in 2019, her spirit is ever with us. She started the club on a parcel called WWB in IW back in 2011, and there was never a question of what we were to call our new home.

A Life in Review

 Earlier this summer, the virtual world community was saddened to learn that Mal Burns had died. News aggregator, creator and presenter of Inworld Review, co-founder of the Hypergrid International Expo and extraordinary contributor to the Opensim Community Conference, Mal was a well known face and voice around Opensim and in Second Life too. 

He was also a much loved member of the HG Safari tour group so we wanted to celebrate his virtual life with a gathering of the kind he would have approved of - an opportunity to dance, hear some Jazz, and also hear the comments of a few of those who knew him well, whether they had been guests on his show, fellow tourists on Safari, or colleagues from other projects.
About 40 of us gathered - some were friends who rarely get into Opensim these days , like Fuschia Nightfire and Wizardoz Chrome, names anyone who knows the Safari from way back will recognize immediately, just to name two out of a really exceptional list of attendees. Good thing James filmed it!

The region where this party was held was built by Mal to be his new home for Inworld Review, but also a park and place for him to experiment with the various treasures that he found when out and about on the hypergrid. 

Wonders of Washago

Our first stop this week was on Pangea grid, predominantly but not totally German language, we were there to see a build by Lilly Topas, who has been resident on a number of grids before finding her home among friends. Due to a last minute situation, the tour was led by grid owner Marlon Wayne,  together with the gorgeous Tutz Zabelin, a talented builder herself.

Tutz Zabelin and Marlon Wayne. Nice gloves.

Sven Ingersoll: hello avatars... ah...now everyone is materialising

Marlon Wayne -> en: Good evening everyone, I would like to welcome you all to Washago. The owner Lilly Topas is unfortunately in bed with a fever. In order not to cancel the event I will show you something from Washago today. Lilly says that she will be happy to answer questions at the medieval festival in November that I can't answer today,  I'll send you the date again tomorrow. I have known Lilly since 2009

Thirza Ember: wow Marlon, a long time!

Marlon Wayne -> en: In 2009, washago was still an Indian sim. Hence the sim name. Washago means clear water in Native American. In 2010, Lilly discovered her love of the Middle Ages, she redesigned her sim... unfortunately 1 hour is not enough to discover everything but you are always welcome, so let's Start!

Thirza Ember: yay we are ready to go!

Marlon Wayne -> en: we now enter the castle of washago

Tosha Tyran: hail to the king

Forest Azure: /me curtsies