Linden Realms open to all

Update Dec 2nd:I spoke to Tiggs Linden today regarding the HUD issue, and he has now fixed the problem.

Linden Labs have announced that Linden Realms, the crystal-hunting game is now open to everyone.

Portals are now available across the grid, allowing users to teleport to the game areas.

Some six “island clusters” of 12 regions each have been established to provide space for users to play the game without undue lag. From the map, it would appear another two further “islands” of 12 regions apiece may be under development for further expansion of the game, should they be deemed necessary – or perhaps they’re being prepared for the next Linden Realms project?

Note that you cannot teleport directly to the game areas – you must go through one of the designated portals.

I reviewed the game a while back, the objective is to collect crystals, avoid various rock monsters and other obstacles and, as a side benefit, earn L$ (but don’t look to make a fortune – that not the point!).

I took a quick look at the expanded gaming areas earlier, and did find there seemed to be a slight issue: some people were arriving and failing to receive the game HUDs. As these also provide instructions – and the LL blog post announcing the game to be open doesn’t mentioned them at all, I actually encountered quite a few very confused people wandering around wondering what was going on and what they were supposed to be doing. I actually tried the portals at Barbarossa, Eldervale and Degrand – and failed to receive a HUD through any.

Hopefully, this issue will be fixed in short order.

The game is a lot of fun – and there is a rumour further quests may be added; if true, I’m not overly sure it’s a good idea. The aim of the game (from LL’s perspective) is to introduce mechanics and features that are to be made available to all – as such building an entire multi-quest game smacks a little of biting the hand of content creators – who are the people who should be using the tools to make engaging, fun and very different experiences for people to enjoy.

That said, I recommend that if you have 30 mins to spare – and once the initial rush has died down (and the HUD issue fixed), why not give it a try?