Lawrence of Serenity

 Tosha Tyran: Hiya Lawrence, thanks for the invite

Thirza Ember: the bravery of this man is incredible

Lawrence Pierce

Lawrence Pierce: My pleasure

Forest Azure: are we dangerous?

Luna Lunaria: we iz

Tosha Tyran: lol, yes, we nibble

Lawrence Pierce: Well, just a brief introduction...I started using and building in Second Life while working on a master's in education, and then discovered Open Simulator and Kitely.

James Atlloud: Hey Lawrence, I did pretty much the same thing.

Lawrence Pierce: Yes, SL and education are regular portals to virtual living! Serenity Island was born August 29, 2011. I came here every day to create as a calming activity while going through a loss. It represents a variety of my interests through time.  After all this time, visiting Serenity Island now is like visiting a lifelong friend.

Tosha Tyran: how sweet

Dates with Destiny... and more

Opensim is such a great multi media and multi reality place and here are a few items that prove that statement. It's a great way to learn about other cultures and languages and ideas, so be sure to get out there and explore!

First of all congrats to Art Destiny radio which is 2 years old this month! 

It's a radio station with commentary by three opensim friends, Richi, Genie Fegte, and Loru - plenty of great music, great chat if you know German or want to practice listening to German and improve your accent, and either way a great choice for the soundtrack to your sim, perhaps. It's a fun way to bring together the diaspora of small grids with a people who know opensim inside out.

Give it a try! Here is their latest promo, which you can also watch on Youtube of course - and if you watch it there you can Like, Comment and of course subscribe to the channel.

More SGT

 SGT? That would be Self Guided Tours, or Trails, in Opensim.  But kind of fun a challenge too. Each of these self-guided tours is a collection of 6 HG addresses/LMs that will take you all over the hyperverse to see things linked  by a common theme like 'art destinations' (there are loads of separate tours for that, each one has the name of a color), or builds that are inspired by movies, or real places, and so on. It's not all of the builds that are out there, of course, just a sampling of the treats out there. 

Avacon portals

Lots of people set up HG hubs, a particularly good example was the one that late Rudy Backerly set up on Soul Grid some time ago, continuing the hard work of Spike Sols Weltraumbahnhof. 

HG Safari has a rather different approach. Instead of offering lots of portals to specific places, the idea is to make grid jumping even more portable - you can grab a pack of LMs and a notecard listing the destinations, use them at a later date, pass them to a friend and so on. 

Are You Ready to Mumble..?

Last week, on Inworld Review, we talked Murmur with two guests. Cyberglo Cyberstar, famous for his scripting prowess and many wonderful free items on his grid Cyberdatastorm, runs a Mumble server on his grid, and he told us a bit about it. Opensim veteran Snowbody Cortes shared some general information about how Mumble could revolutionize opensim, and here are the slides he showed us during the program.

Inworld Review Studio

Snowbody Cortes:  I first got interested in Mumble in 2009 but at the time I didn't really think about it in terms of an overall service for virtual worlds. Back then, Mumble was less evolved than it is today. I did some standalone experiments, and I created a Murmur server that I shared with some SL friends, just to be able to have a communication channel that didn't use the usual things like Skype or WhatsApp.

For a long time, it seemed like the voice element in opensim was covered by Vivox, so I didn't really dedicate any time to thinking about Mumble. I was aware that there were various projects that were aimed at integrating Mumble into opensim use, and of course over recent years, it is becoming clear that the vivox solution for opensim voice is not a long term and reliable thing, it could go away any time; and of course we are grateful to them that they have provided this service to us for free for so many years.

Snowbody Cortes: When I heard there was going to be an edition of Inworld Review talking about Mumble for Opensim, I began thinking about strategies for bringing Mumble into Opensim in a way that would be low tech and easy for users to figure out, maybe just as an independent tool to be used in parallel with the virtual world, which was the way I had used it all those years ago. The best solution would be if Mumble was integrated into the Viewer, of course, so that the user doesn't have to do anything. That seemed a big ask... 

Snowbody Cortes: So, going from what would be the most simple way right up to the most sophisticated way to bring Mumble into opensim, I came up with 4 possibilities. That is what these slides illustrate, just to demonstrate the possibilities and to invite people to think about ways it might be made to work.
I'm not saying these are the only solutions, but more like a set of ideas that can be useful. Opensim is not a monolith. the people have lots of different needs and their own ideas about how they want to run their grids. and for sure, people with more detailed knowledge of opensimulator code may have a lot to contribute in terms of coming up with a module... but let me explain the basics first.

In the Abyss

 James Atlloud: i am mes-mer-ized

Imagine a drowned city, old as time.  Here creatures of the sea play among the ruins, while above the water a series of monumental bridges link land masses, no more than islands now, where a scatter of fine buildings, architecture ancient and modern, can be visited - even danced in and shopped in.

Mr Smokes and Nexus Storm

 From a landing point among coral and shoals of fish, Nexus led the intrepid group who made it to Aqua Abyss through the main points of interest at quite a speed. 

The Virtue of Paragon

Tosha Tyran: lately we seem to have full house a lot

Star Ravenhurst: Because this is FUN!

Forest Azure: yay!

Thirza Ember: OK time to go... see you at PARAGON PARK

Gabe Collingwood and Huga Bug

Huga Bug: Welcome all.   Paragon Park opened to the public on Saturday, June 10, 1905, transforming Nantasket for the better part of the 20th century. This park was built from photos of child hood & off the web. It is a wonderful Place to have spent summer fun. 

Star Ravenhurst: I am so excited!! I love theme parks, carnivals, fairs...anything with rides!

Paragon Park

Nara Nook: me too

Biker Bad

 Sons of Anarchy (often referred to just as 'SoA') portrays biker gangs in California - specifically the fictional NorCal city of Charming. The show garnered respect and a loyal following for both its gritty drama and its equally gritty soundtrack. Running from 2008-2014 on american TV, it's the story of a chaotic combination of family ties, dodgy deals, rundown roadhouses, violence and vendetta... not to mention, the Harleys.

CCI grid is the home of SoA Bad and the beautiful Siwas. They are both talented builders; the Safari has visited two Scandinavian builds here in the past. First, Siwas' charming recreation of the city landmarks of Tromsø, and then the exquisite and immensely detailed Viking village on their region Lofoten. Bad is such a fan of Sons of Anarchy, it's right there in his name. And here we are on their Sons of Anarchy inspired sim, Bikerworld. Full HG Address at the end of the post, as always. 

A Serenissima Safari

The nickname of Venice is 'The most serene' = La serenissima. Not an emotion one associates with the Safari, either in the preparation or the execution of our visit, and this was our first trip to a fabulous grid, Aviverse, so there was a lot at stake. Another big turnout this week, and it was all to play for with a tight schedule of tour and concert... would we make it? Read on and find out.

Isha Cullen: Welcome to Aviverse

Gin Leeder [it→en]: Welcome everyone!
snowbody Cortes: chi gha 'sciugà il canal?
KingScorpion Resident: buonasera a tutti
snowbody Cortes: sera King 

Gin Leeder [it→en]: if you want to visit the tower, remember to increase your viewing distance to be able to see the wonder of the landscape from above
Mal Burns: beware if you have vertigo
Nyx Breen: where is the gelatto shop?

Lavia Lavine: I know two whole words in Italian.....Spaghetti and Pizza.

Pati's Party

 Yesterday evening, Portugal time, was the grand opening of the new AI generated art gallery of Pat Babii on her sim Gavezdois.

Pat Babii

You may remember this interesting sim in another life, when it was located on Craft Grid. Now it has found a home on SharingIsCaring and over a dozen people joined the fun in the spectacular sky dance hall, with its constantly moving wall art. 

Gavezdois

Andron Rae DJ'd the event with all kinds of Ai generated music, mixing singers and styles and songs that created a colorful, curious,  crazy and sometimes quite philosophical. 

Shining Xzar

Star Ravenhurst: I JUST got nervous!  

Ms.Cal: hello Lucy,  Mal

Star Ravenhurst: Hugs Lucy! Thirza you may want to move. They will be landing on your head

Roffellos Kisses: she likes it

Star Ravenhurst: Welcome James, you may want to move. That thing will keep going off when you are near it

James Atlloud: A welcome message!  I feel very welcome. Do you recommend region environment or something else?

Tosha Tyran: wow, how lovely

Star Ravenhurst: Shared environment.  Some of the parcels have different EPP settings, so with Shared on, you will experience the changes in climate as we walk... Hi Marlon. Welcome. Hi Kelso. Hi Tosha

Lannorra's Bayou Bliss

Lannorra Sion: Hello and welcome!

Marlon Wayne: Hello, ty

Tutz Zabelin: helloo

Lannorra Sion: while you wait you can take some handouts if you wish, i especially recommend taking the map, they are all on this table near me

Tutz Zabelin: i must start my translator, my english not so good

Marlon Wayne: you have it in suitcase?

Lannorra Sion: your english is better than any other language that I cannot speak LOL

Thirza Ember: hi guys!  The group is just forming at the Clubhouse. There is a lot of lag here.

Lannorra Sion: yes i was worried about that, i see some errors on the map giver

Thirza Ember: it is best if you sit down, and maybe Lannorra the best thing is to not give out any items at all until the server has recovered from our arrival... I'm warning all to lower draw distance and be ready for the sim to be a bit slow

Lannorra Sion: I've never done any load testing here. This is one of the most resource hungry regions, but I was hoping it would be ok. I've had 6 or 7 people at once here

Thirza Ember: it will be ok i'm sure, best is if they just sit in here for a little while, then we can move on, moving is very crashy.

Jessica livestreams Safari trips so you can see real time what it's like

Lots of people on Safari this week! We began as usual at the Clubhouse on OSGrid, where we gather to check on the last-minute details, to friend each other so that anyone new has plenty of people to ask if they need help, and to enjoy a few moments of calm before the storm. With us on this trip was Jessica 'Lifted' Pixel who livestreamed the event - nice to watch in playback, and it's worth following her channel so you can 'ride along' if you can't get inworld to be part of the trip. Jess was a guest on Inworld Review last week, talking about filming in opensim, together fellow guests Petlove Petshop and Marcus Llewellyn - it makes interesting viewing.

Thirza Ember: about 9 more trying to arrive... oh hello Forest's dress!

Forest Azure: lol

Jupiter Rowland: Okay, someone try to sit next to me. Taarna, here's a seat.

Forest Azure: room for 2, here at my dress

Tutz Zabelin: hi Taarna, hi Tosha, James, hi Patnha

Tosha Tyran: before I need a seat, I need my body... got it - body, soul and seat

Taarna.Welles: Hello peeps

Tosha Tyran: Hi Tutz, and James and Taarna and, and, and

Tutz Zabelin: hi Kelso, hi Unadecal

Beth Ghostraven: Hello, all you assorted body parts and pieces of clothing!

Thirza Ember: ok i see maybe 2 more coming... wow Lannorra, 16!

Taarna Welles: <<<<<< APPLAUSE>>>>>>

Nothing's Nicer than Risa

Sun, sand, and spaceships. And some pretty big Horga'hns

Tutz and Treasure

 Pangea Grid has a well deserved reputation for being home to some spectacular art, and this week's visit to Treasure Island, a region built by Tutz Zabelin, is no exception! 

After our visit to the Cherry Manga installation on Craft grid mentioned in the previous post, we were all ready for some more atmospheric environments, and jumping to this region to meet with some of the Pangeans - Tutz and Marlon, Lampi, Karsten, Mys, and Kitty.

HIE - Art on Craft

 The Hypergrid International Expo is an annual event where people whose first language is not English get the chance to speak about their grid, their projects, their inventions and their opinion- in their own language - with subtitles for the rest of us - about places in Opensim.

While the emphasis of the presentations is to give non-English speakers a voice, the HIE Park is full of publicity booths that celebrate and inform you about all kinds of places in opensim. 

Tosha's Bilbao Wow

Wow, just like that, from Louisiana to the northern coast of Spain, and some of the most interesting modern art remade in the virtual, all thanks to the spectacularly talented Tosha Tyran. Craft grid veteran and self-confessed 'bricklayer' Tosha has created some of the most amazing opportunities for opensimmers who want to tour world heritage sites without ever leaving the house. From her Taj Mahal to the Hopi Indian village, her interest in architectural heritage is truly global. We arrived on sim The Caravan on craft to a nice welcoming bit of graffiti on the plaza. 

Thirza Ember: i find it so fascinating how art could change a city and change people's lives

Tosha Tyran: yes! for example that wonderful Zubizuri, and all the new metro stations, they really are like this, and a new university building, and a lot of art and theater and music all over the city of Bilbao.

Forest Azure: was fighting with the terms of agreement

Unadecal Masala: having to sign gdpr... for what, there is no personal information collected beyond an avatar name, a mac address and an IP address. People need to get off thinking that an IP address is in any way private information

Lucy Afarensis: what is a GDPR ?

NOLA Treat

 Ms Cal: Welcome to the Magical World of Jackson Square Walking Tour! I'm your guide, Cal. I am thrilled to have you here today as we embark on a journey through this iconic location that holds a special place in the heart of New Orleans.

Taarna Welles: Woot woot

James Atlloud: I was here (RL) to celebrate new year's eve 1999!

The first Safari of 2024 began in style - NOLA style! on a new grid that has exploded onto the scene with some of the most realistic reconstructions of real places and spaces

Safari Calendar 2024

 Another splendid year of opensim fun has drawn to an end and another is just gearing up - grid hopping in virtual worlds has never been more rewarding or reliable!  To celebrate the new year, here's a calendar that celebrates just a few of the loveliest people and places. 

This calendar is an inworld object, available at the HG Safari clubhouse, and if you hit the Calendar Info button, you will receive a Notecard that gives you the HG addresses and LMs to each of the places featured in the pictures. A big thank you to all the artists and builders who agreed to pose for the calendar, and to snowbody Cortes for invaluable help on the script. 

So who and where does this year's calendar feature?

Our cover artist is Luna Lunaria, seen here on her region Luxor, on Wolf Territories Grid. An absolute genius when it comes to texturing Luna is well known for her

Xmas Mission on 3rd Rock

This Sunday, December 17 at 10am Pacific time is a huge milestone for a very special group, and you're invited to the adventure, and the party!

Starfleet Infinity celebrates one year on 3rd Rock Grid. It's a scifi roleplay group that is based on the format, structure, and values of the TV show and film franchise Star Trek. 

But wait a minute, first anniversary? Hasn't there been a Star Trek inspired roleplay place on 3rd Rock for years? Astraios... Lyonesse Colony... all that? 

Yes. For a long time, this group was an opensim colony of SL's United Federation Starfleet. Last year, the decision was made to break away, and form something new, dynamic, and vaster than before, right here on 3rd Rock, taking advantage of the talent and energy of the locals - in particular Alia Soulstar, builder, art curator, not to mention Captain of the USS Feynman, who has stepped up to create a fabulous website as well as inworld goodies. 

The move was a good one, they doubled their numbers overnight, and the past year has been an ongoing success story. Safari celebrated 'First Contact Day' with many of the crew and creative contributors of Starfleet Infinity last April and it was a delight to see how committed and organized and fun-loving they are.

Name Check

 Yeah, what is in a name?  Full Name, Default Name, Display Name, Username, Modern and Legacy... 
Originally when you joined Second Life, you chose a first name - it could be anything you wanted that wasn't wasn't too obviously rude or copyright infringing. Then you picked a last name from a list of about 50 possibles. This surname list was gradually refreshed, so that people who joined around the same time would often find they had 'cousins' - think of the improbable art trio of Selavy, Bryn and Saveme Oh, all linked by that surname, if not much else.  

It was a golden age of witty and punny creativeness, and a huge dose of crass daftness also. Many of the Last Names invited a play on words, and people rose to the challenge with great choices like AM Radio, Hok Wakawaka, or Rolling Shuffle. I bet you can remember a few good ones, put them in the Comments if you want. 

It's painless and quick to change display names in SL

So far in Second Life's impressive 20 year lifespan, there have been over 11,300 Last Names (here's a list of them). That includes both the ones suggested by the Lindens, and custom names people have requested. Some of the earliest Last Names were Baskerville, Prudhomme, Jetaime, Sideways, and Binder. Interestingly in the first four years of SL, only 360 different Last Names were available, each being retired after a few days or weeks, apparently at whim.
Back in 2010 some big name changes happened in Second Life. New account holders had to pick just one name, and whenever legacy form-filling required a second name, they all used the same one - 'Resident'. 

Xmas Hunting at Whitemeadows

It's that time again, so pull on your warmest jumper and get grid jumping! Ange Menges and Nani Ferguson are about to unveil their latest Seasonal Hunt region!

It's on OSGrid and it's called Whitemeadows, and the big opening party is on December 20 at about 12 noon SLT.

The look and feel of the region is very different from the last Menges/Ferguson Hunt "Ankhtyfy" in October, which was all about aliens and monsters. This time, it's a classic winter wonderland with more of a real world approach, a pronounceable name, and cozy corners in which to sit and drink in the beauty of the sim. And, why not, a snowmobile to speed up your race around the region, following the clues.

This treat has a whopping 40 clues to solve, as usual with help from the handy HUD that combines a photo with a clue. Last time, the game was devilishly difficult, and few finished it. This time, not only there are a lot more rewards, but it's also slightly easier to navigate the build. So drink your egg nog and get your reading glasses, this is one challenge you'll be glad you took up. 

Here's the statue at the start, her light points you in the right direction, but don't rush off quite yet. Beneath the 'How this Works' sign, you will find a box with the HUD in it. Without that, you can't play.