Showing posts with label vampires. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vampires. Show all posts

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Castles in Second Life IV – Lost Castles


Art is never finished, only abandoned.

Leonardo da Vinci 

 

          The concept of this blog series you’re now reading began not long after I rezzed into Second Life (SL) for the first time.

          Having always been a fan of castles in Real Life (RL), it was only natural that I’d be drawn to them inworld.  (Significant Other mumbles something about “creature of habit.”)

          It didn’t take me long to find them and I planned to one day blog about them. 

          So, I kept notes on the ones I visited as I wandered across the Grid.

          Sadly, as I learned the hard way in SL, things don’t remain the same.

          They change or they go away.

          That’s what happened to some of my castles, they went away. 

          So, this story will be about the ones that got away.

          Castles that I once visited and was impressed with and are now gone and lost to us.

          To make matters worse, I didn’t take enough pictures when I did visit.  (Significant Other comments about nothing new there.) 

          But, I do want to share the memories of these great builds with you and of the communities behind them. 

          My first big SL castle hearkens back to when I published my SL stories on CNN iReports before I got the impression they didn’t really care about SL anymore.  (Another story for another time.) 

          The castle was Nulli Secundus and was inhabited by a vampire clan back in the day
when vampires were all the rage inworld.  (Another fine, old tradition that seems to have been lost inworld, trying to avoid being bitten by vanpires.)

          Nulli Secundus was big, dark, and foreboding, not to mention drafty.  (How’d I know that?  By looking at the torches flickering.)

          It was always nighttime whenever I arrived.  (They were vampires after all.)

          Old Drac would have been at home here. 

          Nulli Secundus was a fun castle to visit and to wander about in.

          The vampires had great parties and I went to my first SL wedding there. 

          Then one day after wandering off as I tend to do inworld, I returned only to find that it was gone.

          Sometime after, I ran into some of the vampires to find that they had moved onto the world of SL fashion modeling.

          I guess things change.

          The next great castle was at the fairy tale castle at the recently closed Phaze Demesnes. 

          Phaze Demesnes was a magical place created by Ferd Frederix, a onetime SL resident, who now resides at http://www.outworldz.com/

         
His castle alone was a work of beauty and creativity let alone all the other work that he put into his sim. 

          I can still remember when I took the flying crane tour and was overwhelmed by the castle and its environs. 

          Now, only pictures remain of what once was.

          My final addition to this list lost castles is Domus Dominari Pietas which was a BDSM club located in a large, Gothic castle with all the requisite dungeons and playthings that one would expect from such a place.

          The main hall was especially impressive and hints at the grandeur of the rest of the
castle.

          I really dropped the ball here because I have no pictures of the castle from the outside. 

          I recently dropped by the sim to find green pastures and a few small buildings.

          I asked a nearby resident if she knew anything about the great castle that once stood there and she simply replied, “No.”

          Like all the others, it’s now gone and belongs to the ages. 

          This concludes my list of great castles of SL that are now lost to us?

          Why did they close?

          Good question.

          I suspect that the communities behind them which supported them financially and with building and maintaining the sims wandered off to do other things or just left SL altogether. 

          Tier payments aren’t cheap so I’m sure this was always a significant factor.

          As in RL, these castles may have simply outlived their usefulness and became too expensive and difficult to maintain.

          Unlike RL, these structures couldn’t just be left to turn to dust but have to be turned off because of the expense.

          But, these castles will always live on in the memories of folks like myself who grew up on stories of Ivanhoe and dragons living and fighting in castles! 

          To all the unnamed builders who built and maintained these castles for our pleasure, many thanks!

          I wish you well in all your future endeavors and hope to someday visit them!  

          The lesson learned here is that when we encounter a beautiful build inworld to explore and enjoy it because we never know how long it may remain with us.  (And to remember to take plenty of pictures!)

          As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I can be found on Google+ as webspelunker Ghostraven.

My flickr Photostream is located here.

On Skype I’m webspelunker Ghostraven.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life
please click here.

          Open roads and kind fires!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Ruminations on Second Life


Never regret. If it’s good, it’s wonderful. If it’s bad, it’s experience.


Victoria Holt

          
          As is my wont (Hey, it’s my blog after all!) every once in a while I stop in between projects and ruminate about what I’ve seen and learnt in Second Life (SL) as I’ve wandered about.  And, at the risk of becoming overly self-centered, there’s a lot to think about.  Especially around the question of whether or not the promise of SL has been fulfilled. 

          I always come back to the diversity of SL.  The many different types of residents inworld, what they do, and how they do it never ceases to amaze me. I freely admit to first coming onto the grid expecting it be populated by an overly technical group of geeks building whatever they took a fancy to.  Yes, there is certainly that group inworld but there are many others too. 

          The social aspects of SL took me by surprise.  People had come inworld, overcome the hurdles (more about these later), and staked out communities on this virtual frontier.  Many of these were drawn by the social aspects of SL.  Others by the creative opportunities. 

          People come together to socialize but also for other personal reasons such helping one another.  People go to concerts, create new art forms which can only exist inworld, and are reinventing the literary salon.  Don’t let me forget that old cultural standard, the magazine. 

          With communities and socialization comes bad behavior and, unfortunately, SL has it.  Glorf Bulmer and Lindal Kidd have recently blogged about some of the behaviors they have encountered recently. I regret this type of conduct inworld as much as I do in RL but I do find this a reassurance of the vibrancy of life inworld.  (Glorf will kill me for writing this.) 

          Another interesting observation I’ve made is how these communities can either parallel Real Life (RL) interests and communities or be completely stand alone in SL.  The BDSM communities come to mind for the former and vampires for the latter.  (If there are any RL vampire communities co-locating in and I’ve missed you, I apologize and want to meet you.) And, these are only a couple of examples. 

          Other things I’ve noticed in SL are that there is a lot to see and I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of it all.  (Although with sims shutting down I do worry this may not be as much of a problem longer term. Sorry, bad joke.)

          I have noticed that things change fast inworld.  Some of the groups whom I first met when I began blogging I’m now told are no longer as cohesive as they once were.  Good friends have quietly winked out never to be heard from again.  Some of the more poignant blogs I’ve read have been about friends lamenting the disappearance of those whom they’ve been close to and have never come back.  A real sense of loss can be felt by the survivors and I may run the risk of sounding trite here but the not knowing what happened really bothers them. 

          Of course, there’s the more traditional break up of a relationship where both parties are inworld and don’t want to know where the other is.  The anonymity of SL relationships plays an important role here.  Myself, I always take at face value how a resident presents herself or himself.  One could drive oneself nuts trying to figure out who is really behind an avatar really is.  I’ve always been suspicious that many avatars whom I meet inworld are fronts for nineteen year old unemployed community college drop-outs who live in their parents’ basements in suburbs of Detroit.  Yet, I’m always told by my inworld friends to remember that there is a real person with real feelings behind that avatar. 

          Finally, while I find a lot of repetitive “me too-ism” inworld in some creators’ work there is still much original work.  The recent addition of mesh technology in SL has fueled a creative revolution in my humble opinion. 



          All of this has got me thinking about the promise of SL versus the reality especially when measured against Facebook (FB). In RL, when I mention SL these days, many are surprised that I’m still here.  Most had avatars or still do, they just haven’t returned in years. 

          When I inquire as to why they haven’t returned, the infamous hurdles are raised.  They say that getting set up was a hassle and when they finally got an avatar going they couldn’t find a lot to do.  I remember one RL colleague at work, whom I convinced to join me in an effort to explore SL’s potential for RL meetings, was just sitting at a bus stop somewhere inworld when I found him. He didn’t know what to do and couldn’t find anything to do.  Those who hung around a little longer complain of poor system performance and frequent crashes. 

          FB, on the other hand, seems to have fewer barriers to entry and I’ve met too many people in RL who have told me that they’re grandparents even use it.  FB permits a few tasks to be done but does them well.  Their simple games and the ease with which developers can create applications only helps.  FB’s business friendly approach seems to have helped people make some serious RL money.  (Unlike their recent IPO!)

          Are there alternatives to SL?  There are other virtual worlds but I’m not sure how successful they’ve been.  Based on a recent post in Wagner James Au’s blog, New World Notes, until the recent technologies, smart phone and tablet mobility being the most notable, are absorbed, not a lot may be happening in virtual worlds for a while.  (Although an even more recent post on his blog gives hope for the future.)

          So where do we go from here?  I’m not sure.  SL has a niche, although admittedly, it’s getting smaller.  Social media like FB and Twitter have large followings but will they last?  Everyone remember the AOL and Yahoo portals?  Anyone still really using them?  I don’t expect any new virtual world competitors to arise until the technology shakes out. 

          SL can continue to hold on for a while. Although, if paying customers continue to decline and the platform’s performance issues get worse then things could spiral out of control.  Remember the SL architecture is almost ten years old and most, if not all, of its creators are long gone. 

          I’ll continue my travels across the grid and bring my stories back to my readers for as long as there is a grid. One thing I’m certain of is that as long as the grid is still there, I won’t be lacking for things to write about! 

As always, I’m grateful to all for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives. 

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

     If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life
please click here.








Friday, May 11, 2012

How I Write

My personality type was always telling me to pack light, run fast and loose, don’t ask permission, beg forgiveness instead if things went wrong, and improvise your way out of trouble.    

Richard Grant
                                                               

          Since I’ve been blogging for the last year about my travels across Second Life (SL) I’ve been asked by my inworld friends and other acquaintances about how I write.  I think they mean where do the ideas for my stories come from?  Sometimes they ask about what the motivation is behind my blogging.  I think they are going to be surprised about the method to my madness.

          I know many writers (real writers, not hacks like me) have a methodology which they use to produce their stories.  Serial writers of popular fiction have templates which they use to turn out their regular installments like a well tuned assembly line.        

          I, on the other hand, do not follow such conventions.  I like to be a merry wanderer without commitments and deadlines.  (OK, I’ve failed miserably with the last, I do blog regularly.)  However, as I said previously there is a method to my madness and this is what I’m blogging about now. 

          Although, one nice thing about wandering about inworld is that I get to come home to my own bed in Real Life (RL) each evening.  (Virtual worlds have many advantages over reality sometimes.) 

          So what do I do?  Nothing terribly complicated.  I start by going walkabout.  In the beginning, I was looking to meet the various communities inworld and see what they were about.  I’ve been with vampires, nudists, and the BDSM community.  Then I hang around with them for awhile.  (I have to admire how they put up with me.)  I go where my leads take me.  For example, meeting someone in Nowaki, the neighborhood that I live in when inworld, led me to the BDSM community inworld.  Which in turn led to other folks and places. 

          While hanging around (and wearing out my welcome) I try to learn who is in the community.  What do they do?  How are they different from other communities?  Why do they let me hang around?  And, finally, what am I doing there myself? 

          I find myself staying longer and longer within these communities trying to answer these questions.  I’m also finding how open and hospitable folks are in SL. 

          This blog is the second in a trilogy I’m writing on the first anniversary of my beginning to blog about SL.  Next week, I’ll blog about pushing the edges of the envelope in SL.

          I want to thank all those who have helped me and guided me along my way over the course of the last twelve months.  The list is too long to write but I thank each and every one of you.  What I am truly grateful for is how each of you opened yourselves up and gave me something which I could share with the broader group. 

As always, I’m grateful to all for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives. 

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

     If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life
please click here.




Sunday, May 6, 2012

One Year in Second Life


The best things always happened unexpectedly when traveling.  The trick was to keep planning to a minimum and allow plenty of time and opportunity for random encounters, happenstance, and the pursuing of sudden whims. 

Richard Grant

Depending on one’s viewpoint, one year is either a very long time off in the future or it has been the blink of an eye.

For me, since I posted my first blog about my travels and experiences in Second Life (SL) the time has been the blink of an eye.  Something also tells me that the next year, while now seems a long way off, will go by just as quickly as I continue my journeys inworld. 

I thought having just past my first anniversary of blogging about my adventures inworld this would be a good time to stop and reflect about how I’ve spent my time inworld so far.  (Warning, this blog will resemble one of those flashback episodes on television that we all hate so.  However, there may also be teasers about future episodes, er, I mean journeys.  So, dear reader, you decide whether to read on or not. I’m awful aren’t I?)

I began writing because I wanted to share with a larger audience my wanderings about the grid.  Why was I even on the grid in the first place?  Well, traveling about in Real Life (RL) is not an option for me as it once was.  (Significant Other expects me home on a regular basis and quite rightly insists on a forwarding address those few times that I do get about these days.)  Also, I’d read the blog of Bunky Snowbear who had tried to walk across the SL grid before giving up.  I thought to myself, “Why not?”

SL was only meant to be the first step on a journey across the entire Metaverse itself.  But, SL offered opportunities and challenges to me.  How do I even get in?  How do I make myself look presentable?  Then, the big one which has driven away so many noobies, what do I do once I’m inworld?  Can I get a job and cover my costs?

Next thing I know, I own a house in Nowaki and I have many friends whom I’ve met as I’ve crossed and recrossed the grid. 

After figuring out how to exit SL’s arrival center, my next challenge was what should I look like?  I wanted to do this on the cheap (A virtue of mine in RL as well.  Significant Other has another word for it.)  Fortunately, there are many diverse and free options here inworld. Despite the raised eyebrows (Quite a trick inworld.) of some of my SL friends, I created a new look for myself.  My red eyes always draw comments.  (Yes, I know it’s a cheap trick but I couldn’t rely on my personality.) 

So, after finally getting my looks sorted out (Some might say that they still aren’t.  They’re just jealous.), I decided to go out and meet people.  Where to start?  I wanted to investigate the various communities inworld.  I started with nekos, vampires, and steampunks.  Tried to meet goths but that didn’t go anywhere.   I just went out onto the highways and byways of SL, stopped the people I met along the way, and started up conversations.

What I found was a terrific sense of community among those whom I did meet.  I spent considerable time with the vampires of Nulli Secundus.  I even attended a vampire wedding.   

From this starting point, I encountered the cultural life within SL.  I met particle dance performers, musicians, and writers.  Then there is the whole world of fashion.  I met models and designers. 

All of these people opened up their SL lives for me and took the time to tell me about their worlds.  Few ever rejected my request for an interview and in fairness, those that did said they either were too new to SL or didn’t speak English well enough to be able to help.  No one has been rude. 

I found people helping other people.  Fund raisers for RL causes and for SL residents who have issues in RL.  This is more than a game. This is a community that is coming together and becoming something more than World of Warcraft. 

I came across the 1920’s Berlin sim where Frau Jo Yardley and her friends have built an incredible recreation of Weimar Berlin before the madness descended.  Here too is a rich cultural community which I plan to return to in the next year. 

My time inworld has given me a chance to see and think about some of the things that could adversely affect SL.  The first of these was the Great Recession of 2008.  I spent some time trying to gauge its impact on SL.  The clues were all the blogs that seemed to stop at about that time, residents whom nobody had seen in years, and large inworld builds that appeared to be ghost towns where work had just stopped and everyone walked away never to return.  If people continue to leave then eventually the plug’s going to be pulled.  But, then they need a reason to stay, don’t they?  Which leads me to my next topic. 

The other major potential for trouble inworld is Linden Lab (LL) itself.  SL is coming on ten years old soon.  The infrastructure is aging.  What could have been a vibrant virtual economy is moribund.  New mobile technologies like smart phones and tablets are ignored.  Most telling of all, for all the time I’ve spent inworld, I’ve never met a Linden.  For late arrivals like myself, they are the stuff of legend.  Recently, someone told me that a Linden’s appearance inworld is denoted by a blue dot on the maps.  I have never seen a blue dot.  Finally, all the residents I’ve met complain about their tier fees.  This is the company that once graced the cover of Businessweek. 

For myself, I’ve had a few “events” along the way.  When CNN iReports did a technical overhaul last November I lost many of the features which I needed so I’ve been at Blogger ever since. Ironically, the only iReporters meeting that I went to inworld was their last one when they shut the place down.  (Story of my life.)

Next was my Twenty-four Hours in SL series of blogs where I actually spent an entire day inworld.  That was a lot of fun.  I had a chance to reconnect with many friends and revisit a few places that I hadn’t seen in a while.  I also made new friends and went to new place.  That’s the attraction of SL, one can never see it all.  Unfortunately, my one day inworld may have led to the third big event of this past year. 

My third big happening of my year in SL was the crashing of my laptop’s hard drive.  While inworld, I could hear that it was running hard during my twenty-four hour stint.  A RL friend (I do have some.) later said that hard drives can burn if played too hard and too long in an intense simulation like SL.  OK, I learned something.  While waiting for a replacement to appear, I went into the SL Diaspora in the Metaverse and was able to keep blogging until I could get back inworld.  I was impressed by all who helped me during this time and sent me their messages of support to me. 

But what about the future?  I’ve been writing so much about the past, what do the next twelve months look like.  There will be changes.  (At least I hope there will be!)  I will go back and revisit old friends whom I haven’t seen since I last wrote about them.  While I am a wanderer, I feel bad that I don’t return often enough to those who have helped me along the way.  Hence, be warned, I’m coming back. 

I will push the edges of the envelope more.  Recently, I was at a nudist function in 1920’s Berlin  and I’ve also been spending time with the BDSM community inworld.   I see opportunities for more blogs in those veins.  Don’t worry, I won’t become That Kind of Blog as Glorf Bulmer would say.  Although, who knows?  Maybe there could be Another Blog of That Kind?

The frequency of posts will increase.  I can’t commit to a number yet but there will be more.  I will also be using more social media to attract more readers.

I will try to use my blog to help across the broader community inworld such as the Occupy SL movement.  Much can be done to help residents with their RL issues. 

Finally, I will continue to seek out new places and new friends inworld and bring these experiences to my readers.  One of these topics will be SL relationships that crossed over into RL.  I also want to track down Bunky and talk with him. 

I want to thank all those who have helped me and guided me along my way over the course of the last twelve months.  The list is too long to write but I thank each and every one of you.  What I am truly grateful for is how each of you opened yourselves up and gave me something which I could share with the broader group. 

As always, I’m grateful to all for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives. 

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

     If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life
please click here.




Saturday, November 26, 2011

What Is Second Life?



My life has a superb cast but I can't figure out the plot.



Ashleigh Brilliant



Recently, while talking with my friend, Perryn Peterson, the question of what is Second Life (SL) came up.  (Perryn’s quicker on the uptake on these weighty questions than I am, I kept thinking he was talking about its system architecture.  Fortunately, for the sake of our friendship, Perryn’s patient.  Very patient.)



The question came about during a discussion about my recent story about MadPea Productions when we discussed whether or not SL is a game or is it something else.  This got me thinking, what is a game and if SL isn’t a game what could it be?  And what proofs would I have once I make a determination?  (I’m on thin intellectual ice from this point on.  I take full responsibility for whatever mistakes in logic or faux pas I make from this point forward.  Perryn, your reputation is safe.  I bet he’s feeling better already.)



 I turn to Wikipedia for a definition of what a game is.  I read, “A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool….Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interaction.”



OK, I have to something to go on with this.  SL, at least in my humble opinion, is not exactly “structured playing”.  Especially where I’ve been hanging out.  Enjoyment, except for the masochists, I think everyone I’ve met inworld is there for a good time.  But, hey, being in a bar on a Friday night for a good time doesn’t make it a game.  (Don’t go there.)  Educational tool, probably not since Linden Lab killed the educational institution discount. 



Let’s take a look at the next set of criteria.  Goals?  One of the biggest criticisms I’ve heard leveled at SL by noobies is what do they do once they get in there.  As for rules, other than Linden Lab acting as some sort of deus ex machina chaperone, I don’t think so.  Challenge, somehow I don’t think the authors of the definition had working through the new SL viewer in mind.  And, finally, there is interaction.  Definitely a lot of that of that in SL and not just in the adult sims. 



The other thing about a game is that there’s generally winners and losers.  (Alright, alright, yes, I know.  There can be draws.  But, you get the idea?)   SL is far from World of Warcraft  There are no points to score, gold to accumulate, or hidden prizes somewhere down there in the virtual Cracker Jack box.  Sure, maybe occasionally you run into some rude jerk but that happens every day in Real Life (RL) too. 



Right about now, I’m comfortable with saying that SL is not a game.  There may be games contained within, residents may certainly play games with each other, but SL is not a game.  (Even if they don’t know they’re playing.) The next question is then, what is SL if it’s not a game?  This one is not so simple to answer. 



I go back to Perryn.  He feels SL is an extension of RL.  That’s heavy.  I think about this for a while and maybe he’s onto something. 



What do we do when we come into SL?  I ask this from a personal level, not a technical one.  Many of us form relationships with other residents.  How many friends do we have?  Have many of us have partners inworld who may not be our partners in RL?  (Please don’t feel any obligation to answer that one, it’s rhetorical.) 



Next, don’t many of these relationships lead to communities?  Recently, I’ve written about vampires, steampunks, furries, and goths to name but a few of the groups I’ve encountered since joining SL.  How many of these people engage in these types of activities in RL?  Except for a minority involved with cosplay, not many I’d hazard a guess.   



Finally, how much time does a typical resident put into his or her SL persona?  Anecdotally, some SL residents have told me they are in SL over ten hours a week.  Sure, some are probably less, others more.  My point is that people are spending decent amounts of time inworld. 



Now, some may say is SL just another form of social media?  I don’t think so.  Here’s why. 



First, borrowing from my friends at Wikipedia again, “Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as ‘a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.’“  What I’m suggesting is that the SL user-generated content is actually RL in another format and is an end in itself enabling RL.  The anonymity of SL is irrelevant.  What matters is that SL permits people to engage as they would in RL.  Social tools like Facebook and Twitter merely facilitate that. 



My next point is SL develops new relationships and communities while social media merely facilitates existing ones.  I use myself as an example.  (Always a dangerous thing to do.)  All my friends in SL are people whom I met there.  None are my RL friends.  (And, yes, I do have RL friends.)  The communities I’ve met inworld I wouldn’t have encountered in RL.  In RL, I don’t use Facebook and Twitter to meet new people.  Reconnect with old friends, yes, but I don’t go trawling for new friends in social media.  (Considered socially unacceptable by many.) 



Finally, developing SL’s user-generated content as well as the relationships and communities takes time.  This is many times leveled as a criticism of SL and the advantage of social media.  I submit that as in RL, relationships in SL take time to build and nurture.  People are hurt in SL every day.  I see many resident profiles where they ask others to remember that a real person is behind the avatar when they interact with them. 



So, where are we now?  SL is not a game because it doesn’t meet the criteria of a game and it’s not social media because it’s not a tool. 



SL is an extension of RL.  We all start in SL with a blank page which we need to fill. Isn’t this akin to being born and having to develop?  Each of us takes our own frame of reference into SL just as we do into RL.  And, as in RL, we can be hurt in SL but then we can be happy too.



I would be very interested in knowing how others feel about this question.  Please send me your thoughts with the following contact information. 



I would like to thank Perryn Peterson for raising this philosophical question with me and then taking the time to discuss it.  Not to mention, encouraging me to write this story.  As always, I’m grateful to all for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.



I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

     If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life
please click here.

Photo No. 1: Perryn Peterson

Photo No. 2: Vampyr Empire Landing Pentagram

Photo No. 3: Steampunk Airship Tower

Photo No. 4: Luskwood – Furry Sim

Photo No. 5. Lost City of Gothika

Photo No. 6: Vampire Wedding Party

Photo No. 7: STEAM: Hunt!5 Wrap Party