Reblog: The Shifting Face Of Virtual Reality

Magistrate Till pointed me to this blog post by Wayfinder, a member of Elf Clan, that makes a rather lovely mention of the Raglan Shire, and more specifically the residents who inhabit there.

Spaceship Spotting

Someone filmed Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble - aka Rod Linden - when he jetted into SL8B around the time that Songbird was preparing to go on stage. See if you can spot anyone hanging around, staring at him...

Reblog: A Crack In The Veneer

Here's an interesting little piece by One Rhiadra about Raglan Shire. Disturbing too. I'm not for a moment suggesting that One is wrong to address the situation she has here, or that she's wrong to post it - far from it, I think it's a wholly brave and worthwhile post. But the core part of the article is potentially damaging to Raglan's reputation and community.

Raglan Shire is a PG sim; always has been and has always abided by that. It's not the only tiny community around, but it's by far the largest and I would argue the one with the most longevity behind it (there were some other small tiny communities before, but many have since disappeared); but I think that one of Raglan's biggest strengths is that it so welcomes diversity from all walks of life for people who just want to have fun in Second Life. People who want to escape drama, escape persecution for their thoughts, beliefs and choice of lifestyle, to be creative, silly, laugh and log off each evening with a smile on their face. As long as someone can bring that into a PG-environment, well in my book, you're welcome to stay for as long as you want. It's not up to any one, two or group of individuals to say how one should live as long as your day to day behaviour towards one another meets the requirements laid down under those PG guidelines. But that really boils down to good manners, and nothing more.

I can't understand these dissenting voices (either in SL or RL for that matter): so what if someone's gay? So what if someone's of a certain religious standpoint? So what if they're of a different colour skin to you? Are they nice and polite? Probably. And how is their lifestyle affecting you from going about your day-to-day business? Chances are, it's not. PG doesn't mean 'treat your guests and residents like they're six-year-olds.'

I recommend that you take a look at One's excellent piece here: What is Innocence?: A Crack In The Veneer

Hippie Hippie Shake

Ready for Wootstock!!!, originally uploaded by Aime Takaaki.

Aime is all dressed up and ready for Raglan Shire's annual Wootstock festival, a weekend of live music and DJ sets. More information and a run-down of performers can be found at the Raglan Shire blog.

I love the retro-feel of this picture though. It's perfect for the event!

Forever Unknowable

The sim of Unknowable is still out there on the Grid, but the Alien Isle that it once was is no more.



As I mentioned a couple of weeks back, Judi, Lorin, Madcow et al can no longer afford to maintain the Isle so I decided I'd try and make a machinima-postcard whilst I still had the time. It's not my most advanced work - I only filmed for about 20 minutes to get a dozen or so shots. The soundtrack is probably more advanced than the filming process; here I used twelve different sound samples overlaid with each other to give the score a slightly ethereal alien sound. I hope the AI crew like it; it's difficult to capture the majesty and the detail of such a sim, but then that was (and still is) part of the fun of exploring - these experiences are unique to everyone and we all see or discover different things.

Bye Alien Isles. I'll miss visiting you but I'm pleased that I did and that I filmed you.

Tinytanic

During the course of a conversation I was having with a fellow tiny a little earlier this morning, I learned that tinies were banned from the Titanic sim. Unpossible, I hear you cry! Nope, apparently not; after immediately teleporting over, I was greeted with a blue dialogue box quite implicitly stating 'Child avatars/tinies or animal avatars are not allowed'.

Shocking! We're usually welcomed with open arms, allowed to roam and play and spread joy to wherever we go - but not aboard the Titanic, it would seem. I decided at that point that the best course of action was to inform my fellow tinies in the Friends of Raglan Shire group of what I'd discovered, in an attempt to ensure that they were properly educated and didn't accidentally stumble onto this sim and find themselves on the receiving end of a boot. Many of them were equally as stunned and perplexed by my claim and demanded to be teleported in to see the evidence for themselves; so I grabbed another half dozen.

In an effort to try and understand why we may not be allowed to explore this quite incredible and lovingly worked build we clambered aboard; initially to the bow in the hope of recreating a "I'm flying Jack!" moment, before deciding that the ballroom was where we needed to be. After all, we'd all dressed up for the occasion and took to the dancefloor to show off our moves. I even managed to grab a few snapshots as a momento.


I appreciate that some sims and communities strive for accuracy in not only their builds but also trying to achieve 'the feel' of a place or event, but categorically saying that certain avatar types aren't allowed does seem a little blinkered, in my opinion. This whole expedition came about because I'd been told that a friend of mine had been ejected from the Titanic sim when she turned up as a tiny to watch one of her favourite performers do a live show there; that kind of behaviour doesn't benefit anyone, not the resident, the performer or the reputation of the sim. Besides, us being there didn't seem to bother anyone - admittedly, of the 11 people there, eight of them were tiny - and besides ignoring the request of NOT being tiny there, we acted in a wholly respectable manner.

Besides, if the Titanic sim was really striving for accuracy, the sea level would be at its highest level possible, the ship would be wedged into the ground and the build covered in sculpty limpets. I'm just sayin'.