Back in Kitely with Birchglen

The first massive chunk of land I ever had in Opensim that wasn't self hosted was in Kitely. I had a 4x4, and it's where Ravens Reef fully became realized. My goal was to make a roleplay community that was accessible all over Opensim, but after the initial setting up I sort of powered out. My goals seemed unreachable unless I was going to sink a lot of time into being in the town on a regular basis to continually encourage the roleplay - and life had a lot going on so that wasn't happening. 

I ended up back in InWorldz and condensed my 4x4 idea that I had created in Kitely into a 2x2 in InWorldz. 

After InWorldz I went to Digiworldz for a while and Tag grid, and finally settled on 3rd Rock Grid to load my 4x4 OAR that I had from Kitely as a permanent home. Ravens Reef is still  in 3rd Rock Grid today. No longer with ideas of it being the best small town RP ever - now it is just themed residential. The back story is still posted for those who do want to RP however. 

So Ravens Reef had been a thing since 2015 app. And every grid I went to I simply dragged it along with me - and recently I wanted to do something different. 

I missed Birchglen. I have for a good while. Birchglen was the name of the town I created in InWorldz on my very first region Diamond Valley. It was on the IW mainland across from IDI.

So I decided to get a 2x2 in Kitely again and recreate Birchglen. But this time it is a 2x2 and not a single region, like it was in InWorldz. 

It's been so nice to putter again with the very small details. Just taking my time to fill things in and make it feel comfy and real. 

And it's funny - In Digiworldz I see there are 70-80 people online sometime, but I rarely run into anyone. In Kitely I have no idea how many people are on, but perhaps because of the very intuitive Explore Worlds section of the website I end up getting people popping in all the time and it's great. Just the other day I spent the evening visiting with Koshari of Four Winds, we were testing out all the rides of her amusement park and chatted up a storm. She is SUCH a lovely person! 

I have new people plopping in looking for things, or to ask questions or just to visit. And likewise I use the World Search section and find all sorts of amazing regions to explore. 

It's been a blast. I'm glad I decided to rebuild Birchglen. Kitely is very stable, the marketplace is so easy to use, and the back end for region owners is great. I've never found a region easier to set up or manage. 

Come by and visit sometime!

Oh!!!! And there are mesh avis for kids in Kitely Marketplace! Totsipops! 

So, that's about it for now - here's some pics :)

Cheap Land and OpenSim Communities - or Feeling Homesick

It's pretty great in OpenSim, you can get a lot of land for a cheap price. Almost anyone can afford to put out less than ten dollars a month for a region to call their own.

Many of us started in Second Life, and came to OpenSim to make our virtual dreams come true. We could create our own space, the sort of space perhaps we always wanted to make in the Big Grid but couldn't afford. It's fantastic. The downside is often deserted communities. People don't need to share land with other people and participate in immersive roleplay or themed regions because they are able to make their very own. Everyone can be their own landlord, their own Game Master, their own town Mayor.

InWorldz was pretty great because although the land was only a fraction of the cost in Second Life, it was still a chunk of change, and there were neighbourhoods, roleplay regions and communities where people joined together to share the costs. Right up until InWorldz closed down, I had some renters in Birchglen that had been there since day one. A good five years at least.

I could be working on the land and a resident would come by and chat, sometimes we'd sit in each others yards and have great conversations, just like visiting neighbours and friends in real life. I spent time in a bustling medieval roleplay community called Chanwood and spent time as a Dornish woman in Westeros. The urban roleplay region I had at the time actually witnessed some great roleplay sessions with a continuing storyline as well as many hours just spent laughing and just goofing off. At one point I had so many residents I needed an additional region just to home people who were disappointed that the parcels were all full.

People started the Great Migration toward the Open Sim non-walled grids, because land was so cheap and many grids had become quite stable over time. People went seeking their own kingdoms.

And now we have many lovely communities built by residents - for residents - that stand empty. Our creative endeavours often seen by no one, because everyone is busy working on their own masterpiece. It's great to have that freedom, but it's lonely. Yes there are clubs aplenty where people can mingle with each other while listening to music, but it's not as immersive as little towns, with valleys and hills, homes and cafe's , streets and pathways . Places where people would come together as virtual neighbours.

In Second Life you still find many people living in communities, visiting each other, and enjoying immersive participation, even among the many thriving clubs and other venues. People are enjoying parks and themed lands, visiting galleries and appreciating the efforts of others while socializing, roleplaying and having a good time.

In the two years of having a (what I consider to be) beautiful region with homes, parks and waterways, I've had one other person join the community and it lasted a week before they wandered off to work on their own land.

We partied on into the night, the Grand Opening for Prickle Pear Bay RP in InWorldz 

I have my own regions in DigiWorldz and Taggrid. a 4x4 on each. But recently, as a bit of an experiment, Ive also taken parcels in Coopersville in Kitely, and New England Estates in 3rd Rock Grid, not only because they are lovely - but I feel like I want to recognize the effort of those creators of beautiful spaces.

There are many breathtaking places to explore in many grids and it seems that being so numerous is a downfall in a way because it dilutes the actual traffic to these places. I'm not talking about regions on grids that are just full of copybotted items being distributed to anyone who wants a copybotted Catwa head, Freya body, Roost or Trompe L'oeil home - sadly those places see LOTS of traffic - but rather the places made with love, and with hopes of being enjoyed by others. Those places are numerous and grand. Even though I have my multiple regions in different grids, I still travel about on a regular basis and explore the various places of beauty and creativity .

If you have friends working on such projects, don't forget to leave your own little hidey-hole from time to time and see how they are coming along. There is much potential for lots of social interaction in OpenSim - if one is willing to step out from their own world and explore.

Sitting on the shore at Anam Cara in Birchglen, DigiWorldz

OpenSim 'Freebies'

I know this isn't a popular opinion - but when I see regions advertising themselves on OpenSimWorld with 'freebies' and those freebies are Catwa heads, Freya, Maitreya (cleary pictured), and upon checking these freebies out they also include Blueberry clothing and other rigged mesh items specifically for Freya and Maitreya - I find it really disappointing.

I don't condone botting - but I know its pretty common. Someone has an item they paid good money for elsewhere and have no moral or ethical qualms about taking it out of the Big Grid so they can use it elsewhere. That in itself is a different topic outside of this. But to see these items taken from creators who spent a lot of time and money of their own to use programs and create items that take many hours to do - just offered for free to anyone as though it is some sort of good deed is kind of sad.

When I first found a body called Elena , I was pretty excited. Then I put it on and realized it was Maitreya's Lara. Even some parts were still named as such, and the clothing for it was identical to the blueberry clothing I have for Maitreya in SL. So trying another body - one called Mesh Body I believe - I saw it was Freya and had freya clothing.

And in a few other stores I saw these same bodies not even being disguised but actually just called Freya - and the Maitreya sales box with Elena written on it.

It just kind of discredits the opensim community. I understanding wanting to be a free comunity - but commercial creators DO deserve to get paid for their hard work. I am sure we have people here talented enough to take on the task of creating great content and they can do so and then give it away for free. But using exported items without permission KNOWINGLY (i do realize some people might not know what these things are, especially if they weren't familiar with them in SL) and giving it away for everyone else to use just seems kind of cruddy.

One of the photos used to promote a 'freebie' store in opensim