32 of 52 - On the move

Lately, I have felt a little lost, living alone in a skybox above some crappy mainland. Some new neighboor at the place where I kept my shop and skybox home also started to pollute the area with tasteless particle effects LOL. So, I decided it was time to move again. Somehow, I keep dropping by the Winterfell estate, so when a search showed a free parcel there, I took the leap and started to move. Rezzing the skybox was rather painless, but moving all the artwork took a bit of time, jumping back and forth to get a few and putting them up on the wall at the same place. Cat and Fuschia in particular have made works that are not grouped, so moving them took a little careful prim manipulation.

Down on the ground it is beautiful green, with a wood and a seafront. My closest neighboor, Princess Ivory, has a cute little castle on the ground, and even has a nice blog! Hope to get to meet her some day:-)

For now, this means tirering down a bit in in SL, but since it's summer and lots of other stuff to do anyway that's OK. Not sure what to make on the ground yet, but I guess some idea will pop up soon enough!

1 1/2 / 52 - Where do I hang my hat?

Is the Nascera SIMs the new Linden Home Beta continent?

One really should be careful what to wish for.... in my previous post I hoped that the next big mainland thing should be high-density city sims - and what do we get? Bag End in The Shire, ROFL:-)

Oh well, the Lindens want to offer premium account holders the option of having a double-prim 512 with a non removable house INSTEAD OF the "free" 512 tier that is part of the deal now. The parcels will be on a new separate continent, with several different themes available in addition to hobbiton, LOL. Can we at least hope for something a bit like a small city with streets and a harbor?

Someone discovered a new small continent on the map, a 8x8 sim grid all named Nascara 1200 910 and counting (column/row), and speculations are growing. You can't TP there and see though; whatever they do is just visible on the map. But that certainly looks like the Shire for now:-)

Prok and the other mainland landlords targeting newbs are of course outraged, but I don't think they need to be. There will still be lots of people who wants to put up the house of their own choice. With a bit bigger parcel. And without committing to the USD payments.

It also seems that these parcels, unlike the other mainland, will be given away for free, no need to actually buy them.

I think this is great for new residents. From other games and virtual environments, like Sony's PS Home, The Sims and Little Big Adventure, people are used to being dropped into a space of their own. A home. Even Prok have experienced lots of new residents on his public infohubs that thinks they are really home when they rez, and not just "home" at a street corner:

"o there was a girl who kept saying "Get out! get away!" In my experience, this is usually somebody young and unschooled in worlds who thinks she has landed on a space that is her own personal starting pad with a house there waiting for her, and she is mad that other people have invaded it -- you'd be surprised how often that happens LOL."

But unlike any other environment that I know of, in SL one can actually walk outside of ones home and visit the neighbors. And since these parcels will not be subject to property speculations, they will not be vacant.

And that is my biggest hope for these parcels: They may provide the first large-scale, densely populated residential area in SL. With lots of new people moving in and out. Each sim will have 32 parcels; since estates normally have much larger parcels they offer fewer neighbors in the sim.

So, I for one will definitely want one, not as home, but as a kind of vacation spot for when I need to get away from my quiet solitude in the sky.

But my hat will not move I think:-)

In memory of Brooks Wharf

Ayam Merlin had a great place with lots of galleries and exciting artists. His own photo exhibition was also well worth a visit. I had a lot of nice moments when I rented a gallery space there a year ago; working with photos, meeting people that has since become close friends.

Now the place is all gone; there is a shop selling glasses instead. Ayam (a very nice guy btw) says in his pics that he has plans to rebuild the place in another sim; I hope he succeeds in whatever he is doing.



So long, and thanks for all the fish!