Vela Turns Eight

 Vela dreams grid just turned eight years old last weekend, in opensim grid terms, that's a pretty venerable age. 

This small grid, run from home (the ddns in the name gives that away) is the creation of Cleopata and Myrena Rajal, and they celebrated with friends with a mixed event, starting with a fashion show, in collaboration with Loru Destiny.

The Warmth of Yana

It's no secret that Yana Dakota likes to be warm! Whether it's her signature Tahiti build, visited by the HG Safari group back in  or her take on what makes the ideal opensim gird, warmth is key. She discovered opensim by herself, and the experience wasn't all that positive at first.

Yana Dakota: I joined a grid that was not open for HG which had some serious problems and after 3 months I had had enough. Then I joined OSGrid and I didn't feel comfortable there either, that didn't last long. And then I come to AMV and it was a feeling of coming home. I was immediately addicted again, lol. What I look for in the owners of a grid, is warmth, safety, feeling safe under their wings, and that's what I found here.One big family, warmth, coziness, and especially love, because that is actually what life is all about, not only in RL but also here.

Yana on Tahiti

Yana's experience as a landscape builder began early in her virtual life - back in 2007 she got a job dressing sims for XiaoWang Yue of Tao estates - five regions, each with 16 parcels if you remember those. Plenty of work, then, in organizing them for rental use.

Yana Dakota:   I  think I worked for him for 3 years. Landscaping is a thing of mine.  All in all I got the hang of creating 3D. I put everything on the marketplace with a 3D picture and in no time everything was rented out with the result that he had to order more sims. Eventually I became general manager there.Then the recession in RL meant that he started selling his sims until there was nothing left. After that I had 2 more jobs and then took a big break from SL.

Advent Neighborhood

 Osgrid is back up, or kind of back up, not entirely convinced by it, from a performance point of view, but it's a good omen, and another promise of good times ahead is the start of the Advent build by Ange Menges and Nani ferguson. Ange and Nani have been consistently building festive, ephemeral regions for over 12 years in Opensim (and worked together before that back in SL) so they're used to the vagaries of the virtual. They have set up their latest creation Advent Calendar on two grids, Zetaworlds and OSGrid. 

When you arrive there's the usual poster board but this time, no HUD, it's just up to you to go out wandering around the snowy, bosky neighborhood and seek out structures with numbers on them. 

Something for the Weekend

 Next weekend is going to be a busy one for opensim - isn't it almost always? For starters, it's the Opensimulator Community Conference held on a dedicated grid - this is the 13th year for the event that brings together educators and developers, with speakers like Valibrarian Gregg, Lone Wolf, and Sally Cherry.

Rhiannon Chatnoir and the team at Avacon organize the OSCC every year

On Saturday at 12.00noon SLT there's a panel presentation all about the Hypergrid International Expo! Mal Burns, James Atlloud and I will be discussing how the HIE event came into being, some details about the history, technical aspects, and aims of the event. SO if you're available to come over and hear it, check the HG Addresses at the bottom of this post. OSCC events are filmed and streamed in Youtube also. Subscribe if you haven't yet done so, and visit the OSCC Expo Zone 2 to see more information about HIE. 

There's more going on this weekend though. 

It's the final party on Discovery grid, next Saturday. They have 4 DJs lined up. from 12 noon SLT, to serenade the grid offline, or should I say transitioning  to O3DE. 

We Thinx Winx

Winxtropia is one of the most fun and cutting grids out there, with a strong bias toward original opensim content, cartoon looks, lots of low poly and low lag and high performance happening here. A short while back, the new sim 'Frutti Music Bar' was featured on this blog - it's all your food groups wrapped into one!

But... even super tech savvy grids can have their  hiccups - one happened just over a week ago. A new update caused havoc to Crescent Melody, the music region you probably remember for its dancing cats.

This situation brought Bloom Peters, owner of Winxtropia, to a decision - she decided to start again. Well, not entirely of course...

Bloom Peters: I kept many backups and lost nothing. All sims are restored and inventory so Winx should work the same as it did.

Thirza Ember: OK, so what's new? Re-friending everyone, I know, possibly LMs will be broken... what else?

Film Fest! Will you take part?

Loru Destiny: My dears, I keep seeing little films here on Facebook that you lovingly created. Now I got an idea: how about an Opensim Film Festival?

Hmm that got your attention! We all love them, watching and making films to celebrate your virtual worlds. If you want to be part of this event, whether as a filmmaker, or part of the audience, or both, you may have some questions. Let's get some answers!

When is the deadline for participating?
Loru Destiny:  The deadline is 28 February 2025. After that I will prepare everything for the festival. This will take some time. I also have to agree the exact date of the festival with the video artists. So I can't say exactly when the festival will take place. But I'll do my best to organise everything quickly.

Ōpunguriddo

On this round planet, distances are no object, and in the virtual, you can teleport to a grid on the other side of the world in a moment. But one thing that can defeat us is the time zone issue. A quick glance at opensimworld.com will tell you that Opensim is at its busiest in the hours of evening in Europe and the East Coast, let's say from 11am to 8pm SLT. That translates to 4am to 1pm, in Japanese time - yawn! work! ...not an ideal time to get inworld; the Opensimmers of Oceania can also relate, no doubt.

Teddy Dragoone

That makes it even more special when there's an opportunity to hear from someone who's not in your usual time window. Meet Teddy Dragoone, class of '09 in Second Life. We met on the newly minted Open Grid, and I asked him to tell a bit of his story.

Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa, the blank slate, is a concept as ancient as Aristotle, and as modern as an empty sim. Often associated with the human mind in that magical moment before impressions, feelings, opinions and experiences have made their mark, the very words 'tabula rasa' can fill a creative person with the thrill of possibilities.

It's also the name of Ieko Catnap's art sim on OSGrid, and it's home to pleasant pathways leading between attractive buildings with a provencale feel.  In one corner, a little grey graveyard is enriched by this lovely fountain, with prim fish that say they were made by Virtual Christine, giving the place the feel of an authentic history.

Charming too are the little shops, a flower market, bakery, newspaper printers and more, the cutest has to be 'Chik' Ânes' with a bit of a Latin American vibe going on. 

Taarna's Mesh Wizardry

Many of us remember Taarna Welles as one of the few makers of good quality original mesh clothing, shoes and accessories in the first years of opensim, back when mesh was first coming in. 

One of the shops on Savvy

Bubblesz, Taarna's personal grid, still features her legacy build La Barronie from the olden days of Metropolis, and her more recent build, Savvy ,  features mens and womens clothing and footwear, a refreshing break from the aspiring crack whore outfits that make up so much of the apparel assets of our platform.

Ballerina stature on Savvy

More recently, Taarna has been working on a themed region called Domadun, adding yet another point of interest on this always interesting grid. You get a hint of the new region when you arrive on the Bubblesz Welcome sim... the portals are all decorated with a little witch's broom.

Prince's Passions

 suprema citius solvet amor die

He's Prince Amor, or 'the PrinceofAmor' - his precise name fluctuates, but for simplicity's sake let's just call him Prince - is pretty new to Opensim. He's only been here two or three years, but of course he's got a whole lot of SL experience under his belt from before. Safari goers will be well familiar with his Solar System build on OSgrid which we toured back in September. There's much more Amor on OSgrid, and hopefully over time we will get to explore the trippy Maze of the Mind, or his Star Trek build, and perhaps his automotive sim with over 300 cars, just to mention a handful of his personal sims. Along with these, he is known as the landlord of about 100 sims; his renters are either on OSgrid, or have Dreamgrid sims. It's always informative to get someone's take on the two platforms, especially if they're a fairly recent arrival, and it will be interesting to see if your observations are in tune with his. 

Prince Amor

I asked first of all for him to give us an overview of his experience in Opensim and the Other Place.

Prince Amor: Both experiences for me were about the same. When Second Life first started people there were helpful and kind. I was quite worried over privacy in Second Life at the time and they helped me a good while there. Gifts etc....things were free or close to it. Of course when Second Life first started Osgrid and it were one and the same. So it was the same kind of people. I do believe Second Life is not the same place now as it was, I believe it is because the good kind people came to Osgrid. I wish I had known of Osgrid then, but such was not talked about in the circles I was in.

Safari Finale 2025

 And so here it was at last, the Season Finale of HG Safari - in fact, the finale for the whole year, and where better to end our long journey than at a futuristic build most definitely not possible in real life even with all the cool light effects that galleries and concerts now can give people, none of it really compares with Nyx Breen's combination of 3D objects and environments, lights, particles, animesh and EEP. If you're not sure what EEP stands for, there is a nice big fat link for you. 

Nyx Breen wearing a special shiny outfit designed to enhance the Finale experience

It's been, what, two years, maybe a little more than that, since this new way of manipulating the environment in your sim was launched, and for many residents and builders, it's probably seemed a bit too complicated, so they have perhaps grabbed some freebie EEPs to liven up their sim, and left it at that.

Not so Nyx Breen, who in his RL career is a photographer of great talent and so is preternaturally in tune with the importance of ambience in terms of light and density. He has turned EEPs into such an art form, on sims that the folks over in the other place can only dream of - vast cathedrals of color are here in Opensim for us to enjoy, to wonder at and of course, to dance in.

Vets in Neverworld

 Tig Eberdene: If you wish, you can click the box by the sign here and receive a poppy to wear. Remembrance Day is one holiday that everyone should celebrate. I am a Canadian veteran so I very much agree

Beth Ghostraven: Remembrance Day is one holiday that everyone should celebrate ...maybe "celebrate" isn't the right word - I think I mean "honor)

For our first destination of the day, the HG Safari crew landed in neverworld to explore ways to remember those who have served in the Military, with two veterans, Tig and Troy. Though each served ina different country, and have independent regions on Neverworld, they have found unity of purpose in the way they'll celebrate on Monday the many lives dedicated to the various branches of the armed forces. The event will be posts on Opensimworld and Facebook, and the HG Address to get to Georgetown (and to Troy's aviation collection, on Painted Sky) you'll find at the end of the post, as always.

The commemoration area is right next to the forced landing spot on sim Georgetown

Tig Eberdene: As you arrive in Georgetown you can see we are set in autumn right now. The setting is to be as how it is in Real life Northern Ontario.  Georgetown is a special place, named for my father George Thomas Wilson. He was a WW2 veteran and my personal hero.  My aim in Georgetown is to make it feel like a real place. There are 3 2x2 sims here, which are all based off a combination of places I have been or lived in RL. This sim is the downtown area. The sim directly to the North is homes for anyone who wishes to live in Georgetown, as well as a small lake and Provincial Park.

N'orlins Night

 Our second stop this week was among the tombs of the Lafayette Cemetery of New Orleans. It's located on Ms Cal's grid Lagniappe ( you will find the HG Address as always at the end of this post) and she was on hand to show us around this extraordinary, photorealistic region.

Ms Cal: Welcome, explorers, to the heart of New Orleans—the iconic Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, a true gem in the middle of the Lagniappe grid! Please be sure to click shared environment for the best experience... follow me and I'll give you a little history while we walk to the city of the dead....

Ms Cal

Ms Cal: Back in 1788, New Orleans faced a major yellow fever epidemic. The old St. Peter Street Cemetery was too close for comfort, and the water table made in-ground burials a rather soggy affair. So, city officials created Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 as a solution.

Pumpkins and Prizes on Yaksha

 It's that time of year again and we were guests of Nani ferguson and ANge Menges on their Halloween Hunt this week. The sim will be open until November 6, so you can come back and complete the Hunt, if you wish. It's called Yaksha, over the years I've often asked Nani if there's some sort of storyline or cultural reference behind the odd and distinctive names they pick for their sims, and she's always said something like 'it's funny' so I'm guessing this year is much the same. You can invent your own etymology - bonus game! The full HG Address is, as always, at the end of the post.

Ange Menges: Welcome to all the safarista, you don't have a lot of time, so I will help a little those who want to play the game. You can visit the sim as you like, and for those who want to play the game, start by reading the panel carefully. In the region you can find 10 laughing pumpkins that will give you a gift.  Follow me inside the castle so I can show you one.

Escape 2 Halloween

 Back in 2010, Mystic found her way to Opensim, and settled on OSGrid. Relatively recently, she  made a move to a new grid, which she shares with friends, Escape2Reality, and here she has an annual Halloween region worth a look! The HG Address is, of course at the end. It was too much of a good opportunity to miss when we met up to ask her a few questions about her life on the platform and to know a little bit more about her home.

Mystic Moonshine: Ozzmosis  started this grid  a year and  2 months  ago. We  are finally getting things done here, it's been a slow process - rl  things of course take first place - but  Ozzy, Purr, myself and  Hippie are admins here and trying to make a  wonderful and inviting grid for all to  come use and explore. Many nice places being set up here... I love that the grid is  filled with friends and  family  that  want to get together and share and build a happy environment for anyone wishing to do the same.

Mystic Moonshine: It's  always  nice making friends. However we have had people come  join  the  grid then not  come on  to hangout or join into the grid activities. We want  people that are  wanting to  stay and interact and  enjoy and make the grid better, if that makes sense.

Fair Progress

 This week's HG Safari involved a visit to Wolf Territories to see how the Opensim World's Fair project is getting along. Several of the core organizers were on hand to give a warm welcome to the group! Most of the photos here are by Rosa and Kimm, you can also see some great pics by Star Ravenhurst on Facebook, and of course, the great Lifted Pixel filmed the whole event - you can watch that video on YouTube - don't forget to like comment and why not subscribe to her channel.

This is a massive sim, and the landing point has a 200m tall Observation Tower which seemed the ideal point to arrive  - don't worry, no stairs, there's a convenient TP down to ground level. The view from the top of the tower, when there are a lot of people, takes a moment to kick in, as you would expect of a well filled VAR  of epic proportions. The HG address is... yeah you guessed it, at the end of this blog post, where it always is.

Kimm Starr:  Hi and welcome to the Opensim Worlds Fair build.   Your presenters today are  Kimm Starr, Cooper Swizzle and Koshari Mahana along with our Entertainment Co-ordinator Rosa Alekseev.  We're excited to have you here today for an early sneak peak of the OpenSim World’s Fair, which officially kicks off on March 1st, 2025! This project is under construction and has been since February of 2024 and is no way complete. Everything has been designed to be conveniently close—whether you prefer walking, flying, or driving, all exhibits and entertainment are easily accessible. Directly below and surrounding the landing zone is the heart of the OpenSim World’s Fair, full of amusements, games, and rides. 

Dings Digital: I am looking forward to all this

Who Goes There

This week's first destination was to one of the wonders of Opensim, the Doctor Who region on Littlefield grid, often known as lfgrid because it's shorter! As usual the full HG Address is at the end of the post. The sim creator, Toy McBride, lives on the other side of the world to most of the Safari-goers, so she wasn't able to join us in person.

Dirk Mathers

However Dirk Mathers, one of the founding members of Littlefield grid, a master scripter and none too shabby builder in his own right, was kind enough to step in as guide. He's a knowledgeable Whovian, but even he admitted to getting a little lost in this build, which is encyclopedic and labyrinthine. Much like the long, mysterious and twisted plot of one of the most popular ever sci-fi shows on TV. 

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past half century, you probably know that Dr Who is a British TV show for children which began back in 1962, took a hiatus in the 90's and came roaring back in the naughties to an even wider audience of all ages, and it is still going strong.

Neverworld's Ninth

 Neverworld will be turning nine in a few days and there's a big party planned for October 22 - 25 over on a dedicated sim, NWBB9  

It's a chance for Gov and the guys and gals of this builder's paradise to celebrate another year of challenges and achievements.

Mike's Towns End

Our second stop this week was with the magnificent Mike Townsend, friend of the Safari and frequent tripper with us back in ye olden days when it was a three hour, uncertain slog through any number of  destinations. These days, Mike is busy with his Tropicana sims, where you can rent a bit of pixels for yourself in some very atmospheric places! HG Addresses at the end of the post - but you knew that already.

Coming from another grid, we all met with a fair dose of lag but the welcome was warm from both mike himself and a bunch of Tropicana friends.

Mike Townsend, flanked by Blancanieves and Tina Bey

Mike Townsend: Welcome everyone to Tropicana Village, If everyone is ready we can start the tour

Leoa Urmah: (pt:en)  I'm very ready

Mike Townsend: We will explore the area around the abandoned village and then take the path to the Trailer park. In a state of part ruin and abandonment there is still evidence of people living here. Lets walk to the trailer park.

This part of the build is a great mix of grunge and rundown architecture, with everything from nodding donkeys to a nice red phone box. Walking among all these detailed elements proved to be tricky, to say the least, but while we lost Mike for a moment, most of us were able to power through it. OSgrid's ongoing inv issues and unexpected kicks, when paired with a mass avatar event, kind of reminds us what a privilege it is in reality to be able to be part of a global community, despite the ructions of RL with its solar flares and political shenanigans.

Playing with Infinity

On sim Sirocco, one of the VAR regions belonging to the 3rd Wind community, on Zetaworlds, Han BoShi, Dolfke Barbosa, Jed Dagger, Ellemir Maven,  Nila Mari and Alia Soulstar awaited the arrival of the Safari crew. What better time to confirm or deny a popular myth about Star Trek 

Dolfke Barbosa: am I the only one wearing a uniform?

Thirza Ember: my other avatar has a red uniform on... does that mean I'll get eliminated in the first scenes ?
Nila Mari: /me chuckles

Alia Soulstar: yes, our priority is to thin out security every mission

Ellemir Maven: There was an analysis done that said red shirts are not actually more prone to death and dismemberment.

Left to right, Jedburgh, Alia, Nila and in red, Security Officer Dolfke Barbosa

Dolfke Barbosa: they tend to seed death and dismemberment

Ellemir Maven: lol it does seem to be true of the original series.  I have not checked these numbers... Being a "Red Shirt" on the USS Enterprise is one of the most dangerous jobs in any (imaginary) military. Don't believe me? SiteLogic founder Matt Bailey crunched the numbers: 13.7% of Kirk's crew died during their three-year televised mission. 73% of the deaths were Red Shirts.

Jedburgh Dagger: but as a whole there were more redshirts on the crew

Ellemir Maven: /me gets dol a second red shirt to wear

Dolfke Barbosa: thx for that, Elle, I will wear it with care at my funeral

Alia Soulstar: the dangers of space are best represented by the violent deaths of security

Dolfke Barbosa: Tasha Yar her dead was not necessary for the plot, and she wore yellow

Ellemir Maven: It was necessary for her contract though

Dolfke Barbosa: are you offering me a contract, Elle

Alia Soulstar: with a Christmas bonus... if you reach Christmas