Mm20050823

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

A Second Life Publication

Free

Deadline for contest extended

Inside

By KATIER REITVELD Staff writer

Terrapin Station - Page 5

Sports ILIANEXSI SOJOURNER GAZES at the figure of a burning man during last year’s Burning Life festival. This year’s festival promises to be bigger than ever. - Photo courtesy of ILIANEXSI SOJOURNER

SL fishing - Page 6

FYI Did you know that The Metaverse Messenger offers a variety of services? We are developing our classified sections, so if you would like to place an ad, just contact us.

We also publish engagement and wedding announcements. If you have news of that nature, contact Orion Jarrico.

And finally, if your group or club has recently held an event or is about to, let us know. We’ll publish it, free of charge.

Index Perspectives . . . . . . Page 2 Comics .. . . . . . . . . Page 2 Classifieds . . .. . . . . Page 2 Lifestyles. . . . . . . . . Page 5 Entertainment News . Page 5 Sports . .. . . . . . . . . Page 6

Web Poll

By KATT KONGO Staff writer The Burning Life festival is returning to Second Life once again in early September. The annual event is a homage to the Burning Man festival in the ancient lakebed known as Black Rock City in Nevada.

The Burning Man festival brings people to the Black Rock Desert for one week to be part of an experimental community, which challenges its members to express themselves and rely on themselves to a degree that is not normally encountered in one's day-to-day life, says the Burning Man website.

During this event, it is up to each participant to decide how they will contribute and what they will give to this community. Art plays a huge part in the festival, says the site.

The Second Life festival is intended to help residents "recognize the true creative potential of our ever-changing world," said Jeska Linden in an Aug. 16 forum post.

Linden said that this year’s event will be "bigger and more imaginative than ever." The festival grounds will be a 6-estate island this year, said Linden, which will be much larger than last year’s site. Participants in the event will be announced on Aug. 26 and will have almost 1/16 of a sim to express their interpretation of Burning Life.

Linden said that winners and the coordinates of their plots will be posted in the forums on or before Aug. 26. Land not claimed by Aug. 31 may be given to another participant, she added.

No sales or other money transactions or advertisements are allowed, said Linden. "Burning Life is about collaborative art and expression – not commerce," she added. Linden also said that the parcels used during the festival cannot be terraformed and will not capture dwell.

"As this is a collaborative project, participants

Go to our website at www.metaversemessenger.com to participate in our online poll.

This week’s question: Describe your Second Life love life.

Look for the results from last week’s poll on Page 6. By GEORGE BACKBITE

are asked to limit their use of scripts to insure that the festival grounds offer a level performance that allows visitors to enjoy everyone’s creations," she said.

One of those entered for this year’s festival lottery was inspired by last year’s festival.

HoseQueen McLean, a resident of Second Life since April of 2004, said she didn’t hear about last year’s event in time to enroll, but she "explored every last inch of it and have zillions of pictures."

"It was very cool... I am familiar with Burning Man, so it was great to see LL implement it in SL," she said. "The ground was textured a cool desert cracked mud, and there were some really great builds," she added.

McLean said there was a lot of creativity.

"There were many I liked, but the one that sticks out is Fallingwater Cellardoor's," she said, adding, "It was a huge, organic tower type build."

She doesn’t yet have a plan for what she is going to build, but said, "I was thinking of possibly recreating Watts Towers."

She explained that the structure is a series of huge steel sculptures covered in mosaic, made by a man in the early 1920's, all by hand. Said McLean, "He built them all by hand, everyone thought he was crazy. Maybe he was, but it's amazing."

While last year’s exhibits inspired McLean, they also had another effect. "I think more than anything, it initially intimidated me. I'm not a very good builder, and some of the builds were incredible," she said.

She still questions her abilities as a builder. "I am impatient, and the math part of manipulating prims intimidates me," she said, "but I am more confident now and not afraid to try."

To learn more about the Burning Man festival in Nevada, visit www.burningman.com. To learn more about the Watts Tower, visit http://www.narrowlarry.com/nlwatts.html.

In last week's edition of the Messenger, we covered a competition run by Linden Labs for residents to create the five stations for the new SL Railroad.

The deadline for the competition was Aug. 16; however, shortly after the deadline passed, Nigel Linden announced that LL had decided to extend the deadline "due to the volume of entries and the confusion regarding the deadline."

Linden said entries will now be accepted until 12am on Aug. 22.

Judging will take place on Aug. 23, and the winners will be announced at 8pm that evening on the SL forums.

The winners must have their builds completed and in place by the end of Aug. 26. "I would like to thank everyone for the great entries we have received so far. They have amazed us all," said Linden in a forum post.

We will have the complete results of this competition in next week's edition.

New feature coming to SL Lauren Linden recently announced the opportunity for Second Life residents to particiapte is a directory of developers.

In an Aug. 18 forum post, Linden said, “As Second Life continues to grow and evolve, new opportunities will continue to emerge for Linden Lab, our residents and developers interested in creating content.”

She continued by saying, “Occasionally, residents of Second Life have projects that require the specialized skills and knowledge of other residents.”

The Developer Directory that will allow residents to promote their services. “Each developer listing will highlight your areas of expertise as well as your completed projects,” she said.

Those who are interested in participating in the Developer Directory should submit their information sldev@secondlife.com. For more information, visit the Second Life announcement forums.

Plywood comic strip coming soon

About Us Volume 1, No. 3 Second Life The Metaverse Messenger Sido (169, 195)

Rose from Ash Publishing

Staff Writer “Plywood,” a comic strip set in Second Life, will be featured in the Messenger beginning with the Aug. 30 issue.

Nathan Walton and Monica Young, the creators of “Plywood,” describe it as “the poignant story of one man's trials and tribulations in the Second Life metaverse.”

In a statement on the plywoodcomic.com website, Walton and Young describe the strip as “Claymation, minus the jerkiness, unless the server's on fire, or there are, in fact, jerks... but that (has) less to do with claymation and more to

do with flying watermelons.”

Said Young, “We are both extremely flattered that an in-game publication would want to pick us up.”

She added, “The comic started out as a neat idea and seems to have gotten bigger than either one of us ever imagined it would!”

Phoenix Psaltery, associate publisher of the Messenger, said that he was alerted to the comic by SL fashionista Aimee Weber. “It’s hilarious,” said Psaltery, “we’re excited about having “Plywood” as part of the team.”

Nathan and Young, both from Texas, said on thier website that they create the strip for fun.

STARTING NEXT week, the webcomic known as “Plywood” will be a vital part of The Metaverse Messenger. - Courtesy of PLYWOOD.

Perspectives Page 2 The Metaverse Messenger Sido (169, 195) August 23, 2005 A Bird’s Eye View Observations on Second Life and its denizens

By Phoenix Psaltery

Don’t Panic: The Hitchhiker’s Guide To Second Life?

Having recently moved to a new community in my First Life, I have been in the process of assimilating tons of new information about such basic matters as where the nearest bank is, where the cheapest gas is (good luck with that these days), where the grocery stores are, the Wal-Mart, the fast food places, and so on.

All of these matters are things that I have to stop and think about when I need to find one of these places.

However, a couple of years from now, I won’t think twice about it — it’ll all have become second nature to me. But at this point, I find it all new, different, and rather dazzling.

Second Life is much the same way. The oldest among us have been here for just over two years. That’s really not much time to take in information about an entire virtual world, especially one that is constantly changing, but if you’ve been here more than a few months, and if SL has captured your imagination the way it has captured mine, you have probably spent quite a bit of time getting to know your way around Second Life.

However, there are always new places to explore — both truly new, that have only recently been built, and “new-to-me,” which may have been here from day one, but which I have only recently become aware of.

A great example is the Spook House in Noyo.

That happens to be one of the places I stumbled across during my

very first day in SL, but my beloved wife “discovered” it last week and TPed me there in excitement, only to be rather crestfallen when she found that I’d — literally — been there, done that, and bought the tee shirt.

There’s just so much content in SL, more, I daresay, than in any other virtual world, that it’s an endless adventure of exploration just being a citizen of Second Life.

Then there are the newbies. As I have said before in this column, I don’t use the term in a derogatory fashion — all of us were once newbies. There’s no shame in being new, and the only way you’re going to learn about things is by asking questions.

The other night, my wife and I were at an event and there was a young lady there who had joined SL less than 48 hours before. She was very open about asking questions.

How do I do this? Where do I get that? Fortunately, the crowd was an extremely friendly one, and soon she had more helpful advice than you could shake a stick at, and many gifts as well.

This got me to thinking about something which has been discussed on the SL forums off and on for some time, which is the idea of a “newbie pack,” a gift box with some basic essentials for getting along in Second Life. Not a bad idea, and one I support wholeheartedly.

Then, in yesterday’s mail, I received something that set me to thinking along another path.

Katt’s Meow

By Katt Kongo For many years, I worked at a semi-weekly newspaper in Texas.

My boss was a man who believed in having a small number of employees who worked their collective [insert plural cuss word here] off.

While working such long hours was not always pleasant, I was able to learn a lot of skills in my “official” position of managing editor.

My duties included those of a receptionist, photographer, staff writer, news editor, proofreader, account executive, researcher, columnist, composition artist and, sometimes, chief bottle washer too.

As the main writer for the paper, it was my responsibility to provide enough copy to fill however many pages we were going to have that

week.

The majority of stories came from city employees, the city council, the school district, the county -- basically, all of the government entities.

The same can be said of news stories in Second Life. A large percentage of news stories are derived from Linden Lab and as such, require an interview with a LL employee.

Therein lies this publication’s, and others’ as well, biggest problem.

Getting a Linden to grant you an interview is harder to do than to make a horse drink water when it “ain’t” thirsty.

Prior to our first issue, I assigned a story about the replicating prim virus to one of our reporters. She requested an interview. Three weeks

See MEOW, Page 7

See BIRD EYE, Page 7 Our policy pertaining to letters:

The Metaverse Messenger Sido (169, 195) E-mail: metaverse_messenger@yahoo.com Website: http://www.1webspace.biz/metaversemessenger Publisher: Katt Kongo Associate Publisher: Phoenix Psaltery Publishing Assistant: Aluria Quatro Composition: Katt Kongo Phoenix Psaltery Account Executive: Phoenix Psaltery

later, she is still waiting for a reply.

One thing I really believe in is spotlighting Lindens who excel at their jobs. However, the first Linden I selected for what I consider an honor said he would prefer not to grant an interview at that point.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hearing Squagmire Stravinsky’s thoughts on the future of SL. She foresees an expanding metaverse, to the point where people conduct first life business via SL. While the thought of that absolutely astounds me, I do agree that SL will grow and grow and...

As it grows, more news publications will spring up. With the creation of SL television, news programs are

Staff Writers: Katt Kongo Aluria Quatro Phoenix Psaltery Katier Reitveld Distribution: Lola Rosebud Office Manager: George Backbite

The Metaverse Messenger is published once each week on Tuesday for $L0 per year in Second Life.

Subscribers send notecard or instant message to publishers. Any erroneous reflection upon the character, standing or reputation of any person, firm or corporation, which may occur in the columns of The Metaverse Messenger, will be gladly corrected upon being brought to the attention of the publisher(s).

The publisher is not responsible for copy ommissions or typographical errors which may occur other than to correct them in the nearest issue after it is brought to the publisher’s attention and in no case does the publisher hold him/herself liable for damages further than the amount received by him for actual space covering the error.

Copright © 2005.The entire contents of this publication are copyrighted by The Metaverse Messenger and the Rose from Ash Publishing Company. No material may be reproduced without the expressed written permission of the publisher.

The Metaverse Messenger accepts letters to the editor/publisher from our readers. Letters must include a valid SL name and an e-mail address. All letters will be verified before being published, and only letters that address SL matters will be accepted. To submit your letter, either send it via a notecard in-world, with “Letter to editor” in the file name or e-mail it.

@-->-->-- @-->-->-- @-->-->-@-->-->-- @-->-->-- @-->-->-@-->-->-- @-->-->-- @-->-->-@-->-->-- @-->-->-- @-->-->-A DOZEN RED ROSES for my beloved Katt Happy one month anniversary.

Love, Phoenix

BIRD’S EYE

FROM PAGE 2

Lifestyles Page 5 The Metaverse Messenger Sido (169, 195) August 23, 2005

New game debuts in SL An exciting new game, Cost of cards will vary from L$20 to Powerball!, has been created by L$250! We're looking to have huge Michael Revere of Power Products pots to give away!" (maker of the Power Ring).

She added that the party will have Domonee Benton purchased all music, dancing, food and lots of SL rights of Powerball!, and current- prizes. "But the best part is we'll be ly offers one exclusive location for announcing the names of the winners SL gamers. of our membership drive contest," Powerball is a bingo-style game she said. that's extremely easy to play. A ball The membership drive contest is released, guided downward, will reward sponsorship of members bouncing off some paddles, and with huge prizes. The person who landing on a number that is either sponsors the most members wins added to or subtracted from players' L$2500, while second place wins TERRAPIN STATION in Sutherland is the perfect place for Grateful cards. At the end of 15 rounds, the L$1,000 and third place will get Dead fans to hang out and have fun. - Photo by KATT KONGO. highest total of scored points deter- L$500. mines the winner.

Multiple winners are allowed.

The first $1000L pot winner in Also, anyone who sponsors 200 PowerBall! was Angel Jewel on Aug. members will win L$5,000, and 19. However, the official grand those who sponsor 500 members will

By JASON LAMINGTON with the Grateful Dead. opening will be on Sept. 3 at 6pm in win L$10,000.

Rambling Roses, Sugar Magnolia Pruni (50,85).

Staff writer Message the host for a teleport trees, drum circles for jam sessions, Said Benton, "We'll have lots and if you would like to attend the Terrapin Station, located in outstanding music, beautiful posters lots of games and add $L to the pots! grandopening event.

Sutherland (28,131), is a tribute to and colors all are there to recreate one of the most beloved rock groups the magic that was the Grateful If your club or group is having an event, spread the of all time, The Grateful Dead.

Dead. news! Just e-mail the information to Occupying approximately 1/8 of Visitors will also find an unbelievmetaverse_messenger@yahoo.com, and it will a sim, every portion of this shrine's ably well done dance floor, a greenexistence is in some way associated house, smoking room, hot tub, pool appear in the next issue.

SL resident creates monument in honor of the Grateful Dead band

See TERRAPIN, Page 6

Advertising WORKS!

*CLUB NEWS* The manager of Club Dark Dreams, Elle Zaftig, announced yesterday that the club has started relocating and as such has shut its doors for a few days. This is in response to feedback from visitors who tended to have difficulty finding the club from the waypoint. The new location is a lot easier to find, being immediatly adjacent to the large floor area below the old club location.

Inside the new location is the familiar dance floor with its mix of goth/BDSM theming, dance poles and cages. The play rooms are no longer part of the main club, being now located in a sky box mansion, which may be used for specific events, with easily access and easy to find teleporter which the club dancers can point visitors to.

Zaftig announced that the club will re-open on Aug. 26 with a day long, grand opening showing off the club and the mansion. She said the party will likely start fairly on and go throughout the day and into the night.

Sports Page 6 The Metaverse Messenger Sido (169, 195) August 16, 2005

SL fishing camp reels in big fans

By KATT KONGO Staff writer

TERRAPIN and the tripping Dark Star Room.

Starling Glitterbuck is the owner of this mecca to the Grateful Dead, and she has big plans to continue to grow and expand her tribute to the band, but not in the typical capitalistic way.

She said, "I'm not here to make money; I'm trying to recreate the Dead experience as much as possible. We don't give away much cash because it brings non-heads here but if you don't know the Dead and you

FROM PAGE 5

come here, then we are so happy to have you."

Glitterbuck also expressed interest in growing Terrapin Station into its own full sim, and if anyone is interested in helping her in that goal, she is more than happy to discuss making it happen.

Terrapin Station is a great place to kick back, listen to some tunes and meet some people in SL who lived, enjoyed or are looking to find the experience that is the Grateful Dead.

A venture started by a foursome of fishers has SL residents hooked. The Neo-Realms Fishing Camp in Alston (41, 87) offers a relaxing atmosphere in which people can relax and, of course, catch fish.

Sweegy Manilow, camp co-owner, said the fishing camp was started by him, Gessepi Gillespie, King Craven and Loki Veil in December.

Said Manilow, "We were fans of the game Animal Crossing and fishing there." He added that the group was talking one day at a restaurant and thought it would be a great idea to make a fishing game.

The method for fishing at NeoRealms’ is simple. "Basically you load bait into a fishing rod and equip it. Then you type ‘/1cast’ to fish and wait for a response," Manilow said.

"You have the chance to catch something which you can keep in your inventory."

He said that there are a variety of different rods and bait that catch different kinds of fish, ranging from tiny goldfish to epic sea monsters.

"Your rods also gain experience and levels up, making it easier to catch fish over time," he said, adding "Each catch gains you award points, that can be traded in for NeoRealms prizes as well."

Different fish have different MALICUS WELESA fishes at Neo-Realms, where fish point levels, and and tournaments abound. - Photo by KATT KONGO the points are used "Many fishermen like to try to comin tournaments, which usually run plete the entire catch-able fish colSundays through Thursdays, with lection," he added. occasional weekend tournaments.

One visitor to the camp has fallen in Manilow said, "We offer a money love with fishing at the camp locaprize for first through third places tion. "Well I first found out about this and best catch, as well as a champi- place two days ago, and I’ve been on’s vest for first place winner." here ever since," laughed Malicus He added that they offer reward Welesa. points which can be redeemed for He said he likes it because "It’s very Neo-Realms prizes. "And trophies fun and addictive." He’s caught a lot for all the winners as well," he said. of fish, the biggest of which was a The fish themselves make excel- spinning cave crab worth 72 points. lent trophies. "They can be used in "I know its not that great, but I’m aquariums or keepsakes," he said. still trying."

August 23, 2005 The Metaverse Messenger Page 7

BIRD’S EYE We have been in our RL home for a little over a month, and yesterday I got a big envelope from the Welcome Wagon. In it was a spiralbound guide to the community we now live in, along with other information pamphlets and a generous assortment of coupons for items ranging from a discount on purchases at the local hardware store and wallpaper shop to an order blank for address labels.

Among other things, the guidebook includes information about various businesses in the area, many of which I intend to do business with in the future. The nice thing about it is that finding them was made much easier because of the fact that someone took the time to put together the information that the average “newbie” would need, in a concise, informative, and useful format.

In this case, I’m a newbie in my real life community, but the same principle applies within Second Life. I could have “discovered” the places listed in the guide as I needed them, whether by looking in the Yellow Pages, by driving by and noticing them, or by word of mouth, but having them all listed in the Welcome Wagon guidebook makes it very convenient indeed.

Wouldn’t it be helpful to have something that you could give to the new players you meet, not only to help them find the places that you have found to be the very best in SL, but to help answer the perennial newbie question, “What can you do here?”

In a few weeks, the Metaverse

MEOW surely not far behind.

If I wanted to write a story about SL for the Chickenshack Chronicle (yes, there is such a publication in Texas), I would get in touch with LL’s publicity department. An employee in that department would get me the required information and put me in touch with the appropriate person to interview.

Researching stories in the metaverse of SL should be as easy and painless. I understand that LL employees have jobs to do, but so do I (providing news coverage to the residents of SL, in case you were wondering). If a first life reporter wanted to interview a LL employee, I’m sure that employee would schedule time for the interrogation (are you too COLD, Mr. Linden??

Muahahaha!)

I think now is the perfect time for LL to find a way to deal with inworld requests for interviews and information. In our first Messenger issue, we asked readers, “Do you think there is enough communication

FROM PAGE 2 Messenger will publish ballots for you to vote on your favorite places in SL. Your favorite game-withinthe-game, your favorite furniture store, your favorite men’s clothing store — you name it, we want to know about it.

We hope that you will take the time to participate, and also we hope to turn this into an annual event. In addition, we hope to be able to use the data collected to produce a helpful guide to the very best places in SL as rated by you, the readers of the Metaverse Messenger.

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by the late Douglas Adams, the eponymous guidebook bears on its cover, in “large, friendly letters,” the message: “DON’T PANIC!” Perhaps it would be wise to label a guide to Second Life in the same fashion.

Think back to your newbie days, or even weeks. Remember not knowing how to find items in your inventory? Or how to unpack a boxed item you had purchased?

Remember when you had no idea how to create even the most basic object, or how to apply a different texture to each side of a prim, or even what the word “prim” meant?

Oh, I’m sorry. You, way back in the back. I see that deer-in-the-headlights look. You’ve been here longer than I have. What do you mean you still don’t know how to do half of those things? Well, maybe the Guide isn’t just for newbies.

Look for “The Best Of Second Life,” coming soon to The Metaverse Messenger.

FROM PAGE 2 between SL residents and LL?” The results revealed that 31 percent think that communication between residents and LL could be better, while another 31 percent said that it’s not very effective.

It also showed that 12 percent think everything is great and 12 percent are not sure. But the final nail (in the coffin that is the effectiveness of LL’s communication) is the 14 percent who claim “It’s the worst I have ever encountered.”

Slight brown-nose insertion here: Not ALL Lindens are impossible to interview. Pathfinder Linden sat down with me for an interview for an article in the Aug. 16 issue.

As it so happens, I have a few thoughts on how to create a system for getting information from LL. I’m certainly willing to join with LL and other SL news agencies to discuss the matter. But the first step is to find a Linden who would listen and possibly aid in this quest...

“Anyone listening up there?” Knock, knock. “Hellooooo....?”

To Maureen and the rest of the hardworking staff at Bad Girls Dance and Fetish Club:

Congratulations!

On reaching #2 on the list of Popular Places.

All of your hard work, brilliant ideas, humorous chat, friendliness and good looks has really paid off. I look forward to watching you climb to #1.

With much love and admiration,

Katt