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.