The Merry Month of May in Second Life

 

As full of spirit as the month of May, and as gorgeous as the sun in Midsummer.

William Shakespeare

  

          It’s May!

          For those of us in the northern latitudes in Real Life (RL) this is a welcome relief from the recent winter.  (Although, spring is a little off its game this year so far!)

          But, not only in RL but in Second Life (SL) there are signs of new life and the end of winter’s oppression.  (Significant Other while agreeing with my opinion of winter does thing my prose is a bit florid.)

          One sign of spring’s arrival inworld was my recent receipt of a note card from my good friend and the Mayor of Mieville, Perryn Peterson, announcing the Merry Month of May

in Mieville!

          While I enjoy all the Mieville events staged by Perryn, freezing the River Thames, the Chinese Lunar New Year, and Mardi Gras all reminded me of what winter can be.  (Yes, I know!  Some people enjoy these festivals in RL in subtropical temperatures. Alas, I’m not one of them.  Mine are more like conditions on the Ice Planet Hoth.) 

          Anyway, back to May!

          The Merry Month of May is a celebration of the return of Spring in all its wonders to both SL and RL as only Perryn could arrange. 

          (Julie Andrews singing The Lusty Month of May from Camelot springs to mind!  No pun intended!) 

         

The festivities will be a riotous collage of all that is medieval, fantasy and spring!

          There will be over 100 booths where wonderful items will be for sale.  There'll be lots to see and do, a Mini-Hunt, entertainment, gachas, shopping, a huge maypole, dancing, tons of freebies, food and drinks, and much more! 

          Recently, Perryn was kind enough to give me a private tour prior to the opening of the event.

          We began at the arrival area and walked through the lower grounds where there are many of the merchants’ shops and booths, entertainment areas and beautiful landscaping. 

          Mieville’s natural beauty seems to always improve from one event to the next.

          The natural realism and attention to detail make a trip to the site for visuals alone

worthwhile. 

          Mike Olbracht and Jalynne Ohmai have worked their usual magic in bringing Mieville’s venues to life. 

Climbing into the surrounding hills, Perryn takes me the gacha emporium which is downstairs from one of the most realistic taverns I’ve ever seen in SL.  The stained glass windows with their lighting effects have to be seen.

          The upper elevations also contain Unicorn Castle which is Perryn’s pride and joy.

          Unicorn is large, multi-storied castle with many nooks and crannies.  The dance floor for the festival’s parties is located here.  (Watch for a separate story on this edifice alone in the not too distant future!)

          The imposing May Pole is located in front of Unicorn Castle and has wonderful dance

animations crafted by Cyneswith Luik within.  (No, there won’t be pictures of Perryn and me dancing around it.) 

          Situated across the sim are several towers which give wonderful views over all the festivities and I recommend these to anyone looking to take in all the fun before getting started. 

Cierra Anatine of Kismet, Miss Lunar Tripsa, and Tamiron Landar are well established merchants at Mieville festivals and are returning with impressive merchandise for discerning shoppers. 

Mostal Resident of Dragons Are Too Seldom and Shilan Folger are just two of the new merchants at the festival and are well worth a visit. 

          Mike Olbracht now does oil paintings and has his shop on the lower grounds. His works are beautiful and I highly recommend for anyone looking to fill a space on a wall in

their SL home. 

Ktahdn Vesuvino will be part of the scheduled entertainment and will be providing period music. Don’t miss him! 

          Apologies to all the other wonderful merchants and entertainers who will be participating, it’s just not possible to list all of you! 

          But, I encourage visitors to support as many they can because without all the efforts of these creative people we’d never have festivals like this.

          Mieville’s Merry Month of May will be a fun filled opportunity to meet others inworld and do a little shopping.

          It represents the best of what a community is all about in SL!

          Please come and enjoy yourselves and maybe you’ll see me dancing around the May Pole! 

          I’d like to thank Perryn Peterson for his time and hospitality in showing me around and all the others whose hard work makes these events possible!

          The Merry Month of May runs from April 25^th to May 19^th and can be found here. 

          Tell ‘em web sent you!

          Additional pictures from my visit can be found here.

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!

More Thoughts about Whom We Are in Second Life

 

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

Albert Einstein

 

 

          After several years of exploring and blogging about Second Life (SL) I’ve been to many new places, met many new friends, and had many new experiences.  (If you read my earlier stories then you’ll get all the details!)

          All this activity constantly brings me back to the question of whom we are in SL and is it that different at all from Real Life (RL)? 

          Earlier stories went into identity and questioned whom we were inworld.  

          I’m still not satisfied with my answers so far and I’m returning to this topic once more with this story.  (Significant Other’s eyes roll.)

          My dissatisfaction may arise from the nature of itself.  (Significant Other eyes are really rolling now,)

          While I’m in the camp that SL is an extension of RL, some look on it as a mere game. 

          For some, SL is all about role play (RP).  Whether historical, fantasy, or something else altogether, they’re here for a reenactment of a community with rules of some sort.

          Others are here for a truer RL experience.  This can be religious or helping others such as Relay for Life among others.    

          Then I encounter the question of where do we all fit in with this.

          Are we here for fun and pleasure?

          Are we looking for a technical challenge?

          Are we here to be of service to others?

          With me so far?

          Finally, I come to the ultimate question about SL.

          Does any of this really matter?

          Is a purpose really necessary to be inworld?  (I’ve lost Significant Other at this point.  Who has exited complaining of eye strain.) 

          Can we be here for multiple reasons?

          Is it selfish to come inworld only to play and hang out?

          I don’t have any good answers presently.

          I do know that like RL, SL is diverse.

          We’re all here inworld for our own purposes of this I’m certain.  Anyone who enters SL more than once has a purpose.

          Then there’s for me the inescapable fact that we all need one another inworld regardless of whatever reasons we have for being here.

          I apologize for leaving more questions than answers with this story.

          But, I truly believe that as virtual communities develop and evolve these questions will become more and more important. 

          I’ll return to this topic in the future.  (This may not be for a while, I have to convince Significant Other to come back into the room.)  

          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!

                                             

No Go for SL Go in Second Life

 The greater cantle of the world is lost

With very ignorance, we have kissed away

Kingdoms and provinces.

Shakespeare

 

           Sometimes it takes me a while to get around to things and because of that I miss an opportunity. (Significant Other nods in agreement.)

          Like I’d blogged a while back about the new mobile app, SL Go, which permitted Second Life (SL) users to interact inworld as they went about Real Life (RL), and I had been critical about its initial launch.

          Subsequently, a few of my beefs were corrected and folks spoke well of the tool.

          I planned to do a follow-up since there was now a decent free trial period.

          Well, things changed.

          Sony recently announced its acquisition of certain patents and intellectual properties of OnLive, the online gaming service that owns SL Go and as a consequence the app will be shut down on April 30,^, 2015.

          Guess I won’t be writing that story any time soon now!

          Hard to believe that it was just over a year ago that SL Go was first announced.

          So, what happened?

          Why is Sony buying some parts of OnLive and not others?

          Does this give us a hint into the future of SL itself?    

          OnLive’s sale of selected assets is probably just part of the normal buying and selling of products and services by larger global companies in the mistaken belief that somewhere along the line “Synergy will create added value!”  (Yes, I know, I must sound terribly cynical.  If you had the wounds that I have from these deals, you’d be cynical too!)

          But, there is that nagging question, why not SL Go too?

          Let’s think about this for a moment. (Significant Other starts to worry.)

          Sony is a fairly astute corporate player.  (Notwithstanding it’s recent email problems.)  They know how to handicap the winners from the losers.

          Could this decision to not purchase SL Go now be a sign of some doubt on their part about the long term viability of SL?

          Or, are they worried about SL 2.0?

          Linden Lab’s new and improved version of SL that they don’t anyone too much about except for “Trust us!”  (Yes, yes, I know!  I’ve already admitted to being cynical,)

          Does the sudden demise of SL Go mean the clock is ticking for SL?

          How come no one ever tells the residents of SL anything until it’s in the news?

          As I’ve blogged before, the Lindens remind me of the ancient Greek gods.

          Legendary, remote on Mount Olympus, interfering in the affairs of humankind as it suited their whims, and nobody ever met one! 

          Let’s see what the rest of the year brings! 

          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!

                                             

Life and Death in Second Life

 Life is but a dream for the dead.

Gerard Way

 

          Recently, I came across an interesting and thought provoking article by another blogger, Canary Beck. 

          (Yes, I do read other bloggers!  The question is how many of them return the favor!)

          The article was titled What if our avatars aged (and died!) in Second Life? and discusses the pros and cons of avatars aging in Second Life (SL).

          At about the same time as I read this article, I ran into Bec Kellstrom, my unofficial  

spiritual advisor inworld.  (This may be news to Bec and should in no way reflect poorly on her.  Like many in her calling, she has a penchant for lost causes.)

          Bec had read the same article and this led to a far ranging discussion about life and death in SL and the relationship with Real Life (RL).  (Significant Other groans and leaves.  Significant Other doesn’t like this topic.)

          The question that arose for me from Canary’s article and my conversation with Bec (No blame should attach to either of them here.) is what’s our ultimate end in SL?

          In other words, where do our virtual existences lead inworld given that our RL ones are finite.  (Now, you can understand why Significant Other left.)

          Let’s start with aging.

          If our avatars were to age along with our RL selves what end would it be to?

          Would our virtual selves become more like our RL selves?

          Would we act our age (Does not sound as strange to you reading this as it does to me writing it?) or become some sort of senile delinquents? 

          One thing’s for sure, aging would be a real crimp in the sex industry inworld. 

          (But, then I did run across virtual Viagra™ in an earlier story.) 

Why would we want to age inworld?

Added realism?  Perhaps.

Because we could?  Possibly.  (There’s one in every crowd.)

Would I do it?

No.

My reasons are primarily ease and I don’t want my SL existence to be about my avatar.

I’m an observer of life inworld and I don’t want my avatar to be a distraction.

(OK, and yes, as Significant Other would say if here, I’m probably too lazy to stay up with all the changes required to age properly.)

Besides, I’m close enough to my RL self.  Except for the blond hair, red eyes, and a few other details…

Let’s move along to death. 

In RL, death has a certain finality about it.

None of us knows for sure what lies beyond the curtain.

Maybe there is life after death.  Maybe there’s not.

Or, maybe reincarnation does exist.

(For the record, I happen to believe in life after death.  I have no logical argument for this that I can offer.  Personally, I’m more worried about being locked out of both levels.  But, that’s my problem.)

In SL, on the other hand is it final?  Does it have to be?

          When we lose someone inworld, many times we never know why. 

          Has the person just grown tired of a virtual existence, has RL reasserted its rightful place, or has the person actually passed on in RL?

          Sometimes, we know.

          There may be inworld memorial services and gravesites that can be visited. 

 

         I recently came across three such gravestones at Beau Belle Village memorializing members who never came back to SL because they had passed away in RL.

          Can we have reincarnation in SL?

          If we change avatars and never go back to our former selves isn’t this a form of reincarnation?

          What if another RL person takes over someone else’s avatar because they’ve died in RL or left for some other reason?

          (Starting to get heavy here, eh?  I don’t go to nudist sims all the time!)

          Which brings me to when death intersects both RL and SL.

          What should one do?

          Just disappear?  Leaving friends to always wonder why in the false hope that we’ll return?

          Let someone else take our avatar over a la Dread Pirate Roberts and we go on as long as there’s a virtual world to hang out in?

          Or, do we just stop being in SL just like we must do in RL someday.  (If anyone has figured out how to avoid the final day of reckoning, please let me know because I can make us a lot of money!)

          Me?

          (Not that I’m planning on going anywhere soon!)

          My SL existence will end with my RL one.

          Is it vanity?

          I don’t know.  

          All I know is that I’m here for a certain length of time and that should be good enough for both RL and SL.  (Besides, let’s be honest, could anyone else ever replace my inimitable wit and charm?)

          I’ve made my inworld arrangements.  (Significant Other’s not too crazy about this.)

          So, if someday you get an invite to see me off then please come and remember my stories with everyone else!

          (I repeat.  Everything is fine and I plan on being around longer than SL!)

          I’d like to thank Bec for taking the time to have these heavy philosophical discussions with me and Canary for writing an awesome blog!

          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!