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.

Free Life in the City

This week's trip took us first to FreeLife Grid, the home of Victor DeAngelo. Our handsome host, noted for his many freebies and his kind and helpful spirit, awaited us on his Central City region. The HG Address is of course in the usual place.

James takes a seat at the arrival area on Central City

As you know, the Safari generally avoids malls because the combination of thousands of textures, a dozen avies, and less than an hour to take the tour makes for a lag challenge of immense proportions, so you may notice some of the pictures - and Jessica Pixel's livestreamed video walkthrough - had a few details missing here and there. 
If you are interested in having the Safari come visit your grid? Please, read this page it's just for you! And then come on a couple of Safari trips - there is no better way to get a feel for the dynamics of group tourism in virtual worlds, and it will help you plan your own hosted event.

Ange Menges: Bonsoir à tous

Ayla Alvarez: Bonsoir, Ange

Victor DeAngelo: i am seeing everyone pretty much.....rezzing is happening and you all look amazing

Into the West

Continuing our celebration of all things Rings on this the 55th Anniversary of the publication of The Return of the King, the final volume in the LOTR trilogy, we visited  an elven sim of quiet majesty. Roland Francis has been building at ViBel grid (Virtual Belgium, his homeland) for years, and the quality of his regions reflect his artistry and philosophy - a respectful, relaxed environment with a little spirituality thrown in. Perfect elf territory.  Roland's region WesLorien was our second destination this week, on the heels of his recent post about making animesh animals herd - something everyone would like to have on their landscape sim. But first, a little history.

Roland Francis, photo by Wizardoz Chrome

Roland Francis: Once the home of the Lorien Elves, the region was depopulated during the Fourth Age until all Elves were gone. The woods and the elven homes have been maintained by the creatures who reside there, hoping l that the Elves eventually will return to claim their home once again. Read Elbereth Elentari’s Diary entry about her visit to WesLorien here. You can see the  WesLorien Flickr photos here.

Golyfeydd... and other views

George Equus: as far as Safari goes, pretty successful one today  ;}

Two destinations this week. HG Addresses at the end of the post as usual.
 First up a Welsh Paradise, devised by Susannah Avonside.

Susannah Avonside

            Views of welsh scenery, and views about the future of opensim were on the menu this week. Although it almost seemed like we were going nowhere, at first. Seemed like none of us were entirely present from the very beginning, some of us foggy, George's trousers had gone walkabout again, and a new friend Spax Orion was just hair and a sword, leading us to wonder if he had remembered to put his mesh avie in his My Suitcase folder.