Month: May 2022

2022 Sci-Fi Con in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
via the RFL Sci-Fi Con 2022

The 2022 Second Life Sci-Fi Con departed spacedock on Wednesday, May 18th, 2022, and will remain in orbit through until Sunday, May 29th, 2022 in aid of The American Cancer Society.

Now in its 14th year, the Sci-Fi Con is taking place across 9 regions (including the main hub, and carries the theme of Brave New Future.

The Sci-Fi Con is … the largest gathering of science fiction fans, role-players, creators, merchants, and entertainers in Second Life! The Con covers sci-fi and all its sub-genres like horror, steampunk, post-apocalypse, cyberpunk, superheroes, and even a little fantasy thrown in for good measure. We all come together in peaceful unity to celebrate the things we love, the possibilities of the future, and most importantly, to support the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life of Second Life’s quest to achieve a world without cancer.

– from the Sci-Fi Con’s website

2022 RFL Sci-Fi Con: Main Hub

For this year, each of the eight shopping regions for the convention carries its own theme (the Hub region also feature the main event stage):

All of the regions can be reached via the teleport kiosks at the main hub, or by walking between them, with most following a broadly similar layout with their landing point / info area towards the centre, and the merchant and group stores set out around it within an environment intended to reflect the region theme.

The best place to find out about planned events running throughout the convention – DJ sessions, movies, quizzes and more – is via the Event Calendar (all times SLT).

2022 RFL Sci-Fi Con (“There’s no place, I can be / Since I’ve found Serenity. / And you can’t take the sky from me.”)

This year’s convention includes the Stargate Hunt: stargates are hidden in plain sight throughout the convention regions. Touching them when found will give you a number. Get all six numbers, and use them to dial a secret gate address at the main stargate dial home device (DHD) to travel to a secret location where you can claim your prize.

Those who wish can also purchase convention T-shirts both in-world at the convention, and out-world as well, or pick up a convention bag.

So, prepare your away team / landing party, set phasers on fun and head over to the Sci-Fi Convention.

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2022 SUG meetings week #20 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Lost Dreams, April 2022 – blog post

The following summary notes were taken from the Tuesday, May 17th, 2022 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. It forms a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. A video of the entire meeting is embedded at the end of the article for those wishing to review the meeting in full – my thanks to Pantera for recording it.

Server Deployments

Please refer to the server deployment thread for updates.

  • On Tuesday, May 17th, the SLS Main and Event channel server were restarted by left on simulator version 05-05.571557.
  • On Wednesday, May, 18th, the RC channels should be updated to simulator version 05-06.571613, which contains the server-side fixes for off-line Friend and Group invites going stale. In addition, server-side generation of Calling Cards when a friendship offer is accepted has been removed. This feature moved to the viewer several years ago and now accepting friendship offers creates, at most, two Calling Cards, one for each party.

Available Official Viewers

There have been no official viewer updates at the start of the week, leaving the current crop as:

  • Release viewer: version version 6.5.5.571282, – formerly the MFA RC viewer, dated April 26, promoted Wednesday, May 4th – No change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Performance Improvements RC viewer version 6.6.0.571736, May 12.
    • Makgeolli Maintenance RC viewer (Maintenance M) viewer, version 6.5.6.571575, May 12.
  • Project viewers:
    • Performance Floater project viewer, version 6.5.4.571296, May 10.
    • Mesh Optimizer project viewer, version 6.5.2.566858, dated January 5, issued after January 10.
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, dated October 26, 2020.
    • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, dated December 9, 2019.

In Brief

  • Bug 232091 – “Implement object_rez_failure Event” has been accepted as a feature request by the Lab and is liable to be implemented, providing testing doesn’t reveal any backward comparability issues – but no date for possible implementation.
    • This request led to a degree of discussion on the nature of the event (and the possible need for a new function to support it).
    • BUG-228939 – “on_rez action delayed for 2 to 3 seconds in many regions” and BUG-231929 – “llCanRez or something equivalent to check if an object can rez at the location it will try to in the future” are also touched upon in the discussion.
    • The broad discussion on object rezzing and control took up the majority of the rest of the meeting – please refer to the video below for details.
  • Bug 231582 “Newly rezzed objects are invisible after relog under certain circumstances” – should have a fix available in the week #21 RC maintenance release.

Happiness in Cica’s Garden in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cica Ghost: Garden, May 2022
Happiness is a butterfly in my garden.

This is the sentence Cica Ghost uses to introduce visitors to her latest installation in Second Life, entitled Garden. It’s an expression that brings to mind a couple of thoughts, both of which aptly apply to Cica’s build.

The first expression comes from taking Cica’s words as given. For who can look upon butterflies on a summer’s day as they flutter around the blooming plants of a garden seemingly at random with brightly coloured wings catching the sunlight or raised like gay sails as they rest upon leaf, flower, or branch, and not feel a sense of happiness and joy?

Cica Ghost: Garden, May 2022

And within this setting there are butterflies a-plenty, hovering here and there over an expanse of clover and grass and flowers that tower over visitors like trees, and within which watering cans stand like (and indeed, have become) houses. Along with the butterflies, ants are also at work – more particularly, at play. Some chat with the butterflies, some sit upon the bent stalks of flowers or clover, waving for us to photograph them, whilst others perform feats of acrobatics in order to get up onto taller stalks!

Caught beneath a hazy teal sky, this is a wild corner of a garden with trails winding between tall flowers and clovers to lead visitors to places where they can sit and observe or join in a happy little dance alongside butterflies or ants, or – if they accept Cica’s gift at the landing point – drift along beneath their wings of their very own wearable butterfly.

Cica Ghost: Garden, May 2022

Garden is a simple, charming setting, where not even the trio of huge cats are out to cause trouble; instead, they are happy to converse with a little caterpillar who appears to have missed out on the opportunity to snooze its way to butterfly status in a chrysalis – and one of the moggies is even happy to have avatars take a seat on its back!

The other expression Cica’s description for Garden brought to mind is perhaps a little deeper:

Happiness is like a butterfly – the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.
Cica Ghost: Garden, May 2022

Granted, this may well not be what Cica had in mind when writing her description for the installation, but it nevertheless fits her garden, because right now with all the bleakness of news and headlines surrounding us in the physical world, we could all do with a little happiness. With its charm, simplicity and plethora of careful inhabitants, Garden presents an opportunity to turn our attention away from the things that crowd our thoughts, allowing that happiness to settle on us like that butterfly alighting on our shoulder.

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The week with Seanchai Library – May 17th-20th

Posted on by Inara Pey
Seanchai Library

It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home in Nowhereville, unless otherwise indicated. Note that the schedule below may be subject to change during the week, please refer to the Seanchai Library website for the latest information through the week.

Tuesday, May 17th

12:00 Noon: Russell Eponym

With music, and poetry in Ceiluradh Glen.

19:00: Shady Hollow

Shady Hollow: a village where woodland creatures all appear to live together in harmony – at least until a curmudgeonly toad turns up dead.

Vera Vixen is a fox with a nose for a good story;  that’s why she’s a reporter. So when the rumours of the passing of the bad-tempered member of the bufonidae family might not actually be down to natural causes, she makes up her mind to sniff out the truth, despite being somewhat new to the village and still regarded as an outsider.

But as Vera digs into matters, the more convoluted things become. Soon it becomes clear that there is more than one mystery that needs to be solved – and more than one life is in danger. Someone within the village appears to be prepared to go to any lengths to stop secrets from being revealed, and Vera finds she’ll nee all her cunning and quickness to get to the truth – and possibly avoid becoming a victim herself!

Join Faerie Maven Pralou to discover more as she read’s the first volume in Juneau Black’s Shady Hollow series.

Wednesday, May 18th: Seanchai Flicks

A special for Star Wars month as the Seanchai cinema space plays host to videos from the galaxy far, far away.

Thursday, May 19th 19:00: Beggar’s Day: The Beggar Prince

The Kingdom of Galaway has a law – The Test of Kings –  that every heir to the throne must work a year and a day as a commoner in order to prove they are worthy of being ruler. Not a great law when you are as lazy and indulgent as Prince Larry.

He find that on his day, he must become servant to a former slave, Brishee, as she is conscripted to find the lost artefact, The Shield of Many Uses. However, the evil Percy has other ideas. Via murder and conspiracy, he intends to usurp the throne of King Willy.

Will Larry survive in his role as servant to Brishee? Will she succeed in her quest – and Larry, by extension, succeed in The Test of Kings, or will he be the first to fail, and Percy thus succeed?

The King, meanwhile, has problems of his own: why does Cruith the Crone keep stealing his chickens? Why is she always the first in line to bend his ear on Beggar’s Day?

Caledonia Skytower reads M.J. McGalliard’s first volume in the Beggar’s Day series.

Nara’s Forgotten Ghost in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Art Korner: Nara Ghost – Forgotten Ghosts

Update, June 27th, 2022: Art Korner has Closed.

Currently open within Frank Atisso’s Art Korner hub is Forgotten Ghosts by Nara Marcus (Nara Ghost), a quite captivating series of black and white studies that are wrapped within a personal theme whilst each piece carries its own narrative mood – although I very much doubt what is offered in terms of theme and narratives will be lost on any of us, as Forgotten Ghosts very much holds up a mirror into which we can all gaze.

Life can be a complicated thing. We can have periods when everything seems to be ganging up on us: tasks take longer to complete than expected, or become overly onerous; moods plummet; people around us all appear to be operating in their own gloom; worries about just about everything – life, work, health, kinds, parents, finance, etc., – seem to build themselves into insurmountable peaks all around us, and so on. But then circumstances change, and we find ourselves bursting through them, with life becoming brighter, lighter and something to be enjoyed – yet even when this happens, those darker times haunting us and perhaps informing us.

Art Korner: Nara Ghost – Forgotten Ghosts

These latter times – when feeling good, but the shadows are lurking – are the moments Nara explores within Forgotten Ghosts, part of the exhibition title reflects her avatar’s name, thus emphasising the personal perspective contained within the 16 images on display, something further emphasised in her use of urban environments for the images in reflection of the fact she is from a city background.

These are all images that have been carefully posed and constructed – and quite beautifully so – to capture the personal moods Nara wishes to convey. However, their brilliance lies in the fact that while personal to her, they each carry a richness of mood, emotion and / or narrative with which anyone viewing these pieces can identify. This is likely because, as Nara notes herself when introducing the exhibition, we tend to be more driven by the things that haunt us than those that don’t.

Every day, I try to live a healthy and happy SL, but the darker and moody vibes seem to be easier to connect with and drive me to create. I hope you appreciate it as much as I did, like the entire process and the end outcome.

– Nara Marcus (Nara Ghost)

Art Korner: Nara Ghost – Forgotten Ghosts

All of which make for an evocative and engaging display of art.

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Visiting the Sakura Linden Home regions in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Sakura Linden Homes – Shobu Community Centre, May 2022

On Monday, May 16th, just a month after their preview, Linden Lab released the Sakura Linden Homes theme for Premium subscribers. Thanks to the prior April preview, I’ve already offered something of an overview and thoughts on the house designs within Linden Homes: Asian theme in Second Life, so what follows is a very brief recap on them, followed by more of a look at the Sakura regions as a whole, and my thoughts on now having seen the regions.

Overall, the theme is offered with both 1024 sq m and 512 sq m parcels, with a total of 8 house designs split between 4 styles (each style having two versions, one with multiple rooms, the other with fewer rooms and something of a more open-plan feel). Some of the designs are specific to the 1024 sq m parcel size, but the smaller designs are available on both 1024 and 512 sq m parcels.

Sakura Linden Homes Theme with Mount Soji on the horizon

The houses are predominantly single-floor units, with only the Himawari / Haibisukasu (available on both 512 sq and 1024 sq m parcels) and the Kaneshon / Kuchinashi (available on 1024 sq m parcels only) having upper floors.

By default the outer walls of all the designs have been given stucco / plaster finish, and all have the typical steep tiled roofs we in the west identify with this style of house. The majority of doors are of the sliding variety, either fully glazed and set between glazed window panels, or for a degree of privacy between rooms, may be opaquely screened. I assume they include the same decorating options found in the more recent Linden home releases.

Sakura Linden Homes – Shobu Community Centre, May 2022

I confess that on first seeing the house designs, I couldn’t help be feel the variants with multiple rooms tended to feel as if their interior spaces were a little cramped and in places awkward. Some of the designs still leave me felling that way, but I confess to have changed my mind somewhat on others – the Shion, for example, with its central “courtyard” potentially offers a lot of opportunities for the imaginative interior designer.

The Sakura regions offer a mix of roads and waterways running through the regions, with the houses arranged in informal “blocks” between them such that the majority of properties either face onto either a road or waterway (and in some cases both), even if they don’t provide fully open access to due to a strip / belt of intervening protected land. The roads are similar in nature to those within the Newbrooke theme regions and cross the waterways using relatively low bridges (compared to some other bridge designs seen across Bellisseria), potentially limiting the waterways to smaller water vehicles – which as actually no bad thing; who really wants a honking great cruiser crowding its way inland?

Sakura Linden Homes, May 2022

As I noted with my preview piece, the waterways all have their own footpaths running alongside them, giving them something of a canal-like feel and offering the opportunity for waterside walks. Garden spaces both on land and on the water in places), ponds and copses help to break up the houses and provide a sense of space, while both roads and waterways have periodic rez zones for vehicles. A nice touch with some of the roads is that, rather than ending short of a waterway, they actually slope down into the water quite handy if you have an amphibious road vehicle or wish to drive your boat to the water on a trailer!

However, the most attractive parts of the Sakura theme come in the presence of Mount Soji and the Shobu community centre and surrounding gardens.

Sakura Linden Homes – Shobu Community Centre railway station, May 2022
Mount Soji, seen in most of the images here, is a four-region snow-capped peak that bears something of a resemblance to Mount Fuji. It’s defined as a park, but could perhaps do with a little more flora around its lower slopes (LI allowing) – which I hope will come, as it does make for an eye-catching backdrop, one that is quite unique among the Linden Homes regions.

Shobu, meanwhile, is perhaps the most attractive community centre yet provided for a Linden Homes theme – and I’m speaking as someone who really likes the Fantasy theme community centre. It presents a marvellous mix of gardens, waterways, footpaths (complete with Torii gates), places to sit, places to meditate, water gardens and features, trees, and its own railway station (although the tracks don’t, as yet, run very far).

Sakura Linden Homes, May 2022

Within all this, the community centre itself sits as a grand, modern take on a feudal palace of old, complete with its own waterway sitting within cloister-like covered walkways. Shoji-style lanterns light the large, airy rooms inside the centre whilst stairways within either wing of the centre provide access to two rooftop spaces.

Approachable by road or water (or, eventually, I assume, rail), it’s a superbly considered design; the surrounding gardens offering an engaging series of walks. And, having been built as a part of the initial development of the theme, it very much sits at the heart of it, rather than feeling a little pushed to one side, as has been the case with the community centres for some Linden Home themes.

Sakura Linden Homes – Shobu Community Centre, May 2022

Taken as a whole, the Sakura theme – allowing for the caveat on room sizes in some of the designs (which in fairness applies to some of the other themes, such as Newbrooke and Victorian, IMHO) – is one of the more visually engaging and attractive Linden Home environments, particularly with this initial release built around Mount Soji and the Shobu Community Centre. So much so, that I’m actually tempted to make the jump from Newbrooke!

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