The Raglan Shake

So my good pal Pyewacket and I filmed this yesterday...



Fun times!

Spring Clean

In an effort to try and jump-start Spring, I've been having a general tidy-up of my vendor presence in-world.

Well, it was kind of enforced upon me on account of my hippoVendors refusing to deliver two items from any of my vendors, even after I'd checked permissions, reset and re-uploaded everything. So after some deliberation - and cursing that I've now got a costly hippoVend system gathering pixeldust in my inventory - I chose to switch to the Caspervend system.

And so far, I've been pleasantly surprised by it; it seems a very easy system to set up and use. the in-world instructions from the server and vendor units are pretty simple and the layout of the webpages is extremely manageable, nice and uncluttered. I bought the free version, which pays Casper a small fee on each transaction, but seeing as my sales are so low, I couldn't have justified (at least not in the immediate short-term) to pay out for the full system, especially with only having bought hippo no more than a year ago. So I've replaced my vendors at the Tiny Outpost at Orbiuna, my single units at Cynister and Elemental Motifs, whilst also taking the opportunity to move around my main store layout at Heron Shire wharf.

Funny Bunny Store on Heron Shire Wharf

In addition to the new vendors, I've also put out a single prim vendor containing all of my previous Tiny Swagtastic Weekend exclusives; TSW is a $50L offer that Tia Macbain and Dorian Longstaff run, whereby participating store owners put out an item for $50L for the weekend. I had a load of stuff that I put out on offer but never transferred to my main range, so thought I'd make use of a spare wall and throw out a vendor just for those few random items.

I also took the time to replace the items in my two Lucky Watermelons - actually Shep Korvin's popular Lucky Chairs, retextured to look like giant cut fruit. So the extremely popular Tiny Aviator Outfit and the Tiny Glockenspiel have both been put into retirement to be replaced with...well, you'll have to go and find out yourself!

Shifting Sands

I logged in the other day to pick up some notices and was alerted to a situation that was beginning to cause ripples amongst the Shires, and was asked my opinion on it. This was my response, on a notecard I wrote up and sent out to the groups of Raglan. It asks tinies to better 'police' themselves around the Raglan Shire sandbox - better know as the Silica Cubicle, or Silicube for short.

The Silicube Story

First, let's go BACK IN TIME...

*twinkly harp music*

A few years back, if you wanted to build things and learn about how Second Life worked and how you, as a resident, could help it grow, you'd find one of the numerous Linden sandboxes and go and torture prims in it all day long. You might start small, with a lampshade, then progress to a clickable lamp and then onto a clickable Eiffel Tower that fired fireworks out of the top of it. 

However, more often than not, your day would be constantly interrupted by others parking their jet fighters directly on top of your builds or introducing themselves with "hey bro i gona shoot u lol" and then trap you in a cage or attach a red cube to your head that did nothing but scream at you. Classy stuff.

So when Raglan appeared and started to attract many of the fabulous builders who still create here today, the idea was borne that they should have somewhere that they could build in peace, surrounded by like-minded people that they could share ideas with. Hence, a corner of Raglan Shire was cordoned off and became Raglan's very own sandbox: the Silicube.

*more twinkly harp music*

Back to the present!

The Silicube is one of the few constants in the Shire - it never changes; it's always that big square bit of land that doesn't move. That makes it a pretty good landmark to find and hang out in. But it also hasn't changed what it essentially is and what it was always intended to be: a place for builders.

Now, it would be misleading to say that that's all it's ever used for; we've sometimes used the space to hold one-off building events and it's the starting point for our amazing annual Mardi Gras parade. But that doesn't mean that it should be used as a race track or a party venue or a firing range ALL of the time, especially if someone is there trying to carefully figure out how to link two prims together. That stuff's important for anyone who wants to build anything - just ask anyone who ever goes to a Raglan U lesson.

So yes, you can use the Silicube to hang out in and chat with one another in or to show off your latest new favourite toy - but please be respectful of who else is around and what they're doing; they could be learning how to make your NEXT new favourite toy, and you're going to want them to get it right. 

The purpose of it was to illustrate to the residents that whilst the Silicube is a very convenient place to meet and hang out or rez items to show off, it's there for a specific purpose, should builders need an area to work in without fear of being griefed. I'm really proud of the fact that we have a publicly-accessible sandbox area; it reminds me very much of the one that used to be on Limbo in the Isle of Wyrms, a few years ago (if it still there; I must admit I have not ventured out that way for a while). That became my sandbox of choice, not only because it was large and had plenty of available space, but that it was populated by some incredibly talented people/dragons who had nothing but constructive ideas and suggestions to share. I probably learnt more in that sandbox in the few weeks that I could use it than I had in all the months I'd spent dodging missile silos or giant phalluses in Linden sandboxes.

So a situation that could've become bigger than it deserved to be was diffused pretty efficiently, but I'm more proud of the fact that a number of people chose to IM and congratulate me on writing it. Thanks tinies! Now, get back to building.

SIX

It's my rezday today!

Yes, six years ago something inspired me to Google the words 'second life' and go to the trouble of setting up an account. I only wish I could remember what that something was... Maybe then I'd have an idea what my goal was.

Farvel Nin

Nin's Farewell by Izo Ryba

If anyone was still in any doubt as to the power of the community that Second Life offers - and after this year's SL9B, that must be very few - then take a look at the above picture; it's a snap of just some of the 60 people crammed onto Athen Shire to celebrate the life and contribution to the Raglan Shire family of Nin Maximus, a Danish resident who passed away in real life last week. The tribute was lead by Raglan magistrate Zayn Till and featured the reading of several poems written by friends and neighbours of Nin's. I'm sure I wasn't the only one there who shed tears.

Not pictured though are the dozens of others who couldn't access the sim because it was maxed out. Now, I don't know of any other social network in existence that would elicit such a strong emotional reaction from so many people from across the globe coming together to honour the passing of a friend they may have only ever met online. Second Life is special.

Goodbye Nin. You will be missed by many.

Nin Maximus

Nin Maximus by karmagirl Avro

Absolutely heartbroken to hear of the passing of Nin Maximus, a tiny of the Raglan community. She had suffered with cancer.

Nin was a tiny wolf. She and her partner Korben had been around for a while and wow, she was cool; when we weren't having a themed month, she would often dress in punk clothing accentuated by her tiny nose-ring bling and long black eyelashes; she often had a cool hairstyle or wore cool hats; and, best of all, occasionally wore a cigarette hanging nonchalantly from her tiny lips. She was stylish, seemingly effortlessly so. Among such a vibrant and diverse group of artists as Raglan has, she always stood out. She wasn't on a great deal, but when she was, I'd more often than not bump into her and we'd share some words and a giggle.

And she was a friend. She would always encourage me to do more, to make more, to create more. She complimented me on my machinima, and would tell me what she liked about each. It wasn't just small talk - she cared, or at the very least gave me that impression - and that care was reciprocated. Whenever we lose anyone, we always feel as though we've lost a little part of the care given to us - and every little piece matters. I will miss her for that. And my love goes out to Korben.

To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die. Nin, you will not be forgotten.

A tributary blog post is up at the Raglan Shire blog.

Kickin' It

A few weeks ago, Zayn Till (he of the ownership of the Shires) and Wynx Whiplash (she of the creator of the tiny avatars) launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund their efforts to try and transpose the characters of Second Life into a first-world Raglan Shire project, and with a week to go, not only have supporters helped them reach their target amount of $8,500, they've taken it past $10,000!

This is a great result for the Jazz Paws team, and I truly hope their efforts pay off, as their vision far exceeds the desire to see these characters in a media away from a digital one. I hope they both utilise the talents of Shire residents at some point too! The community didn't get to where it was simply of the position of prims, but the people behind the avatars!

Goodbye Tiggs!

Tiggs Linden by Marianne McCann

Some slightly sad news to report: Tiggs Linden, one of the very few (if not only) full-time tiny Lindens is to leave Linden Lab on March 9th.

Tiggs has been working out of the Boston office of the Lab for a number of years but has decided that now is the time to move on to pastures new. "This was my choice. I still believe in Second Life and I think it is a viable, healthy place to be," Tiggs told the Friends of Raglan Shire group. He's off to work for Turbine, developers of some other popular MMO games including Lord Of The Rings Online.

Tiggs will undoubtedly be sorely missed by many around the Grid, but by none more so than those in the Friends of Raglan Shire group. As part of that group, Tiggs would often allow residents to throw questions his way about how things worked (or didn't) or why things happened (or didn't) and would very happily and succinctly answer and offer explanations. It was great to see a Linden interacting first-hand with residents, many of whom had probably never heard from a Linden before, let alone have seen or stood alongside one of them at the many Raglan events that Tiggs would come alone to see.

Tiggs has promised to stay in Second Life though - "I'm just leaving the Lab, not Second Life" - and stay as a tiny too. He also suggested (tongue-in-cheek) that he may teach a class or two at Raglan U, the Shire's in-world learning facility. From FoRS group chat:

[12:51] Toady Nakamura: and imagine the scripting classes you could teach at Raglan U
[12:51] Tiggs Linden: i do know a tad about scripting
[12:51] Morton Wheels: cool :-)
[12:51] mouseplay Resident: loll scripting classses?
[12:51] Toady Nakamura: I knows
[12:51] One Rhiadra: ooo scriptings
[12:52] Morganne Darkstone: oooo...wuld love t'learn lots about scripting...
[12:52] Tiggs Linden: "how to bring a region down"

Thanks for being such a wonderful source of help and support, Tiggs and we all wish you well in Middle-Earth!

Happy New Year!

Hello dear reader, hope you had a good Christmas holiday period and fabulous New Year break. As soon as I do something noteworthy in Second Life, I'll be sure to tell you about it! The cold chill of RL keeps my brain's creativity levels somewhere in line with the mercury in the thermometer. I'll do something soon, I'm sure.

For now, stay safe, stay warm, stay awesome.

Podium Soapbox

Tonight was Raglan Shire's fifth annual Talent Show as part of the Showvember month of activity. It was great fun, as usual, with about a dozen performers from the Shire groups performing various acts including singing, acrobatics, sketches, magic shows, etc. Once again - for the fifth year in succession - I was asked to MC the show; my talent clearly for being able to talk incessantly when required. It's a task that is both easy and difficult at the same time: if you've prepared a script, it's easy enough to just copy-and-paste your text; it's when there are gaps to be filled, to keep the show going that it can get tricky. Still, it seems I have a penchant to be able to say something when needed (whether it's the right or wrong thing). As I told one performer, I'm only the glue to join the acts together; if I fall together, I let them down more than anything.

But I did take the opportunity this year to read off a piece of text that I'd written earlier in the year; bizarrely, it was part of an obituary that I'd written about the number of real life losses that have affected the Shire groups over the past two years - the deaths of Stillpink Sandgrain, Daisyblue Hefferman, Har Dyrssen and Nitzrokk Saru, as well as the alleged loss of Jammers Inaka* - and the impact that they've had on those they were around online.

Here's my oratory from tonight.

Second Life isn’t just a game - it’s an advanced, real-time social networking experience. It allows us to immediately connect with people from all over the globe to share a vast range of interests. 

We can converse with each other as easily and as efficiently - most of the time at least - as we can with someone in the same room. From these connections, communities grow. The Shires themselves have expanded over the past four years from up to 100 members of the Friends of Raglan Shire group within its first 6 months to well over a thousand fellows now.

And it continues to grow; our creativity, technical knowledge, warmth, and general friendliness have made the Shires a wholly enjoyable place to explore and reside in and the community - as a sum of all of our contributions, no matter how small you may feel you have contributed - has been the main reason for that. For me especially, and I hope for you too, it reminds us that we shouldn’t ever take the connections we make with one another for granted. 

No-one person is better than the next; we’re all different and we all contribute in different ways. Whatever difference of opinion you may have with someone else, always be gracious, be helpful and kind and enjoy your time amongst your friends, neighbours and tiny acquaintances. 

That’s always been the Raglan way and it’s made the community one of the strongest, most caring and warm-hearted in all of Second Life.

Then I introduced a group of basement kitties performing covers of Monkees songs whilst a hamster rode on a barrel around them. Never a dull day in the Shires!

*I haven't addressed the Jammers situation, and I don't know if I will here. I deleted my original blog post about her supposed death earlier in the year, not out of disrespect but that it had no relevance anymore when she turned up again. It's a contentious situation, and I appreciate others views surrounding it; all I'll say is that I find it astonishing that those who would say "if only I had one more day with this person to tell them..." can so easily turn that person away when they do return.

Scaling Back

Adelebsen Isle by MarillaAnne

Despite not being especially prolific in terms of building over the past year (due primarily to the distraction of a RL house move), I've been able to rack up a fair amount of sales over the past few months - but never really more than enough to cover my rents. I've paid out for a shop space on Heron Shire (my main store), one on Raglan Shire, a houseboat on Heron Shire for (my wife) Kitti Dumpling, a home plot on Raglan Commons (despite still having my Linden home), a shop on Extrovirtual and a shop on Adelebsen Isle.

I've earned a bit in Second Life over the past five years, but never the kind of amounts that would pay for anything substantial in RL - I did cash out some L$ last year though to buy this for our wedding - and as exciting as that would be, I can't imagine it happening now. Sales in-world, especially for a niche market like tinydom, have slowly ground to a crawl over the past couple of years. There are good days and good weeks and the Tiny Swagtastic $50L Weekend offer has proved to be a great success; but the profits never seem to outweigh the costs and the majority of my sales actually come from the Marketplace - another example that goes some way to proving this point about the closing of ElvenMyst to be true.

So it was with a heavy heart that I decided I'd need to start scaling back on my costs, losing a couple of the Shire properties in favour of refocusing on the others. But another decision has sadly been made for me this week with the news that MarillaAnne Slade and Michmeister Slade can no longer afford to keep Adelebsen Isle running. I really liked what they'd done at Adelebsen Isle, and loved to explore around and see the blend of goods from both tiny merchants and more regular sized folk too; they were able to attract a good number of creators who I'd never encountered before, which is always refreshing. I just hope that both Marilla and Mitch find the energy and enthusiasm to stay around in SL for a while longer; it's one thing to lose a good sim, but quite another to lose good sim managers and creators.

I'm not giving up all in-world presence - far from it, I think there's still a great deal to be gained from having an in-world shop and I love kitting them out! - but I'm downsizing. I'm not alone in doing this; several others have had to adopt a similar approach recently, but I hope that the spaces I free up will be quickly snapped up by someone wanting to call the Shire home or make use of a shop space at the heart of one of the most endearing communities on the Grid.


UPDATE (11/11/11): Well, it seems Adelebsen has had a stay! MarillaAnne has announced that she has found a sponsor to keep the Isle alive for at least another three months!

Five Years On

So this past weekend was my fifth rezday anniversary in Second Life.

Five years already? I feel like I've accomplished nothing.

But maybe because that's because when I close my SL viewer, I have very little to show for it of course; it's all there, on the Grid. But when I look back, I guess I've done quite a bit.

In those five years, I've owned land on the mainland and built a virtual zoo on it; bought half a private sim and transferred the zoo there, added a finely-detailed gothic vampire crypt and a island for tinies; upgraded that to a full sim and transferred the zoo there - then the biggest and most popular zoo on the grid - and built a forest designed for tinies; discovered Raglan Shire, went tiny permanently, moved there, set up a shop, had a SL-wedding...

Beyond that, I learned how to make machinima, which has been a great creative outlet; but most importantly, Second Life has allowed me to genuinely made a great number of friends, whose friendships extend well beyond the viewer. Without Second Life, my wife (whom I introduced to SL!) and I would not have had two of the guests we had at our RL wedding. Without it, we would likely have never traveled to Denmark to stay with one of those guests in return. Without it we wouldn't care for some people in almost every corner of the globe; I was genuinely terrified for the welfare of SL friends in Japan when their earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit; and I've shed real tears when told of the loss of SL-residents who I have never met, but shared an affinity with somewhere on the Grid.

I have long said that Second Life is the best and most advanced social networking tool available, and I still believe that. I don't care for the politicking; I don't really understand why some people feel they need to pick apart everything that Linden Lab does or says so fervently. Second Life connects more people from across the globe simultaneously than any other social network that I know of; I love being part of conversations between people in Australia, California, Holland and the UK all at once. I appreciate that some people invest huge amounts of their RL income into this virtual world and they want some good returns on that investment, and I have seen firsthand the Lab's level of service fall way short more than once. But it still doesn't change the fact that almost every day I fire up the viewer, log in and do something, whether it's to see the product of someone's imagination, hear a musical act I would otherwise never have heard before or talk to someone thousands of miles away and share a joke with them.

Here's to the next five!

Where Dat?

Hello reader! I am still here, but on a kind of enforced-hiatus from Second Life exploring: I've been moving house in First Life - sheesh, not nearly as easy as right-click, Take - and was without internet access for about 16 days and now really just without the energy to do very much. But that will change over the next few weeks I'm sure.

However, after missing 95% of the recent Medieval Festival, I did find the time to pop over to the Shire and set up my room for this year's Shocktober Haunted Ride Of Horrors ride. Shocktober is the name the Raglan folk have given to the month of October, feeling that one day for Halloween wasn't nearly enough and dedicating a whole spooky month to it. It's all looking good, and I'm looking forward to seeing it all in action.

Hopping Toad

The problems plaguing the managers of Grendel's Children aren't anywhere near resolved - in fact, they might be getting a whole lot worse. Toady Nakamura has posted a video of the kind of quality she's getting from the latest version of Viewer 2 (v.3) viewer and it isn't good.



She had to film this using her Nikon Coolpix because the 'hopping' of frames on her monitor meant that she couldn't use her screen capture program. So why not switch back to a viewer that will be more comfortable to use? Because Toady was told to upgrade to the latest release, as until she did so the Lab couldn't look into the problems she's been having with Grendel's Avaria and Avaria Tor sims, that both her and Flea have continued to request help with.

The problem that Toady has though is that the change in framerate for Viewer 2 makes it almost impossible for her to spend much more than a couple of minutes in Second Life now; the flickering leads to her getting headaches and nausea. Not exactly an ideal Second Life experience. This, coupled with the lack of support that she and Flea got from the problems with their sims, is starting to take its toll.

Toady's resorted to having to create a Jira to try and sum up all of the issues she's having, with links to her Flickr stream containing snapshots of what she has to contend with. I really don't see where the connection between what client a user would be using and the performance of a sim? Surely client performance is almost unique to every user, whereas a sim's performance will ultimately effect everyone on it, regardless of how they got there?

Looking After The Children

A few blog posts have popped up over the past couple of days about the recent plight of Grendel’s Children.

Treet TV’s Saffia Widdershins has a comprehensive write up of the issues that Flea Bussy and Toady Nakamura have been facing for the past few weeks, which basically amounts to the fact that two of their cluster of sims have been performing so poorly that even after repeated requests to the Lab about trying to rectify the problems, they’ve decided that the best course of action is to dump them entirely.

I know for a fact that this isn’t a decision they’ve taken lightly - I’m very proud of the fact that I can count Toady as a good friend - and I know when she told me about the closures over the weekend that she and Flea were both saddened and angry that it had come to this. It seems the Lab had put in a fix to try and better performance on the sims, but the solution hadn’t lasted beyond a few days and wasn’t followed up on again; it was only when they announced their decision to off-load the sims that someone decided to take notice, immediately flying in to investigate and proudly informing them that performance had massively improved. “Of course it had,” Toady told me, “because there were only 6 prims left on the sim by then.”

It won’t be a massive hit for Grendel’s as a business but it’s a shame for them both as creators; not only do Toady and Flea want to give users a product range but an experience to go along with it, an environment as well-crafted and atmospheric as their avatars are. The sims at ground level are amazing feats of architecture that Toady, Flea and others work so hard at that it’s almost the the suppression of creativity that I feel most saddened about. I've filmed

Hopefully someone at the Lab - or Rodvik himself - will be alerted to the problems that are still haunting the business and, although too late for Grendel’s, does something to ensure that other clusters and communities (and ultimately, revenue for the Lab) don’t slip away unnecessarily or unnoticed. In the meantime, if you’re looking for somewhere to explore, teleport over to the GC store and then find a way outside and hurl yourself down to ground level!

Twilight of Summer

Hello dear reader! Apologies for a general lack of update of my virtual self, but truth be told, I haven't really done very much this past month, except pet some Meeroos and hang around the Raglan Shire pool! I'll be sure to find more creative motivation soon I hope.

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

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'.

SL8B

So the Lab's SL8B will open to the general public from 10am SL time on Monday 20th June, and if you give yourself a couple of hours to take a wander around the sims given over to it, you'll be in for a treat.

I did just that this past Sunday afternoon, guided in part by the SL8B MegaHunt by Octoberville which is great for encouraging you to look around more than a single plot of interest and actually cross sim boundaries and loved seeing what others had created. Now, I'm sure some more rampant, more politicised and more critical SL-bloggers will spend much of the next two weeks finding whatever fault they can with the concept and/or the execution of the event, but if you look at it for what it actually is - a celebration not just of the platforms' longevity but also the diversity that the residents bring to it - you'll find yourself treated to a wealth of creativity and talent. Sure, some builds are less polished than others, but what they lack in fine detail they more than make up for in fun, which for me is what SL is all about.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the theme of this year's event is 'The Magic of SL'; for the Raglan Shire plot I took a more literal interpretation of the theme and helped set up a fun little circus-cum-carnival style plot replete with things to sit on and jump on. It's all been very well received by the visitors it's had so far (limited at time of writing to fellow exhibitors) and having had a look around, I've seen many others have chosen to do something similar; but I've been occasionally reading some of the official SL8B blog and was blown away this post especially about how magical SL has been to another resident in a completely different way.

There'll be the critics, of course; an office-type build about the joys of LSL won't be to everyone's taste but for some, it's exactly what they're looking for. And I am pretty sure that the harshest critics will be the ones who have teleported in, flown across two sim boundaries, have racked up no more than twenty minutes of searching and declared it a waste of time. These types of events may only offer up a very small cross section and highly condensed picture of what's out there on the Grid but it does serve to remind me that whatever one may read or hear about 'the state of Second Life' by some of those who feel they are more qualified to write about your experience than I am, that SL is actually very well populated by a large number of very passionate and creative people who want to encourage other residents to explore and discover all that if offers. That discovery doesn't take much to do and you come away from it - or at least I did - feeling that Second Life is a platform that is still very much loved by its users and on a daily basis brings at least a touch of magic to someone's life.

And Cut!

I hosted our second Raglan Film Festival last night! We had 10 new tiny-centric machinima on show, and with over 40 tinies in attendance, it was another typically raucous occasion! You can see the films in question in this thread at the Raglan Shire forums.

Unlike most other machinima events, the RFF is more of a celebration of tinydom and the fun of the community than a contest between film-makers. In fact, my real motivation behind it is to show others how achievable it is to make machinima, in the hope that others give it a go.

The only real criteria for film-makers is that their film must include at least one tiny but because of the lack of limitations, it means that we always end up with a real mixed bag of film styles and lengths. Some people prefer to have hordes of extras in their films whilst others prefer to have just themselves or perhaps one or two others. Because of Raglan’s constantly changing environment with each new event, costumes and sets are virtually built for a film-maker to just grab a camera application and shoot!

It was a shame that there was no real support from the wider machinima community though. I’d been given – and utilised - a number of platforms to promote the event and I’d given away notecards to dozens of people, but even those most enthusiastic about it initially didn’t even find the time to show up for the event, let alone film anything. That’s fine; their loss, in my opinion. However, there was one person in attendance who’s been to a number of machinima events and festivals and was kind enough to tell me that they thought that the RFF was one of the best they’d been to. I put that down less to my hosting and organising skills and more to the audience, for whom the night was really for. In any walk of life, over time you can become complacent to the wonder and the joy of what’s immediately in front of you; sometimes putting it on film makes you see it from a different perspective and reminds you how awesome a community you inhabit!