The Best Of SL Magazine November 2022 Edition

PHOTO: TIYIALIC MODEL: SHANTAL GRAVOIS

MODEL: GIN RAYNA

BRAVEHEART

Iknew

we only have one month of autumn left to enjoy so I decided to pay homage to this stunning season by bringing you reds, oranges, pumpkins, and apples galore. It is a veritable feast of color, tastes, and the virtual scent of leaves and wood fires.

I have set up these areas inside Trompe Loeil’s gorgeous Trixan Treehouse. I have always wanted to live in a treehouse so now I do. Isn’t SL a great place to finally live out some of those childhood dreams! Which reminds me, I must get a dragon.

I wanted to create some areas that really showcase fall in SL and so I have put together some areas that incorporate old and new items to show you that your inventory is your friend when it comes to home decorating.

The kitchen was the obvious place to start. I had so much to show you, but I ended up taking away food from the bench so that we could see the amazing items I already had. Pies are just perfect for autumn festivities.

Take a seat at the table and enjoy the harvest fare. The table set is from CHEZ MOI who always does fabulous table settings and plates that make the food for you. This is an idea I wish we had in RL. I only added soup and bread to the feast and the meal was done. Easy.

Outside on the deck is this great little spot to rock and watch the autumn sunsets. This area is up high, and I can see for miles. I have coffee, blankets, and books so I could stay here for ages. The main set is from LouChara and is perfect for inside or out. I love the decor touches that go with the set.

The last two pictures you will see are to show off the outside decor and furniture I have been gathering over the last month or so. There are so many beautiful items and so I needed to let you see them in all of their glory. My autumn favs are the telephone booth from irrISIStible and the Beetle from DaD.

This lounge area is both comfortable and classy. It is a mix of LouChara and Nutmeg items with some other bits thrown in to complete the look. I love how all the colors of autumn blended among the white to give this a lived-in feel. However, no drinks on the sofa thanks!

The cat area was fun, and it revolved around the Spruce cat art that I had bought a few weeks back. I just had to showcase them and then decided to go full cat lady and complete the look with a cat tower and accessories.

I also wanted to give you a glimpse of the build. The great thing about this build is it comes in bits so you can configure it however you want so that it suits you and the land you are building on. The box also came with a couple already put together and this is the corner build. Perfect for lazy builders like me.

I hope you enjoyed this taste of autumn as much as I did bringing it to you. Next month we are back into the snow so the color will give way to white. Let’s just enjoy autumn while we can.

DAYS OF WINE AND RENCES making a living in your backyard

COCO ST. GEORGE

Afterbeing in Second Life for a few years, something inescapable happens: You find a few places you like the most, and even a single spot where you feel at your best. That place usually is your home if you are lucky enough to have one. And you don’t need to own the place; a modest $L50-a-week rental may be all you need to feel at home.

But I’m digressing. If you read my article in the October issue, there’s a good chance that by now you are a seasoned brewer, with a nice number of rence beer barrels under your belt, and the corresponding parties and hours of good time among friends. And maybe you’re willing to escalate to the next level and try your hand at something a little more complicated.

Very well, so now let’s review the procedure to make wine. Wine is the product of fermenting grapes. And if you want to have grapes, you need a vineyard. Or two… or as many as you can afford. But we better talk about that later. First, you need a vineyard and to buy one, point your teleporter to Guardian de las Sombras, the original maker of this whole system. Of course, you could also search the Marketplace to buy a vineyard but going there in person allows you to see other offerings you may have not considered before. Besides, you’re going to need the free HUD, and you will find it there too. And since you are already there, don’t forget to join the support group, in case you have any questions later.

And now I realize why I was talking about your favorite place: you need land to rez the vineyard and take care of it. Don’t worry you only need

a 5m x 2m piece of land to keep it. Once your vineyard is rezzed, it will need water and cares. To care for the vineyard, you’ll need a sickle which you can find at the Market. Look for the master’s sickle, which provides better performance than the regular one.

Are you wearing the HUD now? If so, you’ll notice a grey bar; that’s your energy meter. Yes, it’s empty now. To gain energy, you need to eat. And the simplest thing you can eat is bread. Remember you made beer from rence? Well, you can also make bread if you grind it and cook it. Let’s see how that is done.

If you don’t have a rence bale at hand, you can buy it right at the market for one linden a bale. Now, rez the bale next to the rence grinder, sit on the grinder, accept the animation, and click “Load” on the menu you’ll see. The rence bale will disappear, which means it is now in the grinder. Click “Grind” and in a short time, you’ll have one sack of fine rence flour!

Now you need water. At the market’s corner, you’ll find a wind water pump that delivers barrels of water for free. Click it and wait to receive your barrel. Next to the grinders, there are cauldrons you can use freely to cook. Rez the barrel of water and the sack of rence flour next to one of the cauldrons and click it. You’ll see a message it is looking for ingredients, and then a menu listing whatever ingredients it found. Now, the order in which you add the ingredients in the cauldron is very important, so choose first the flour, and then the water. Once both ingredients are loaded, click “Cook”, and wait a few minutes to receive your

freshly baked bread! Rez it, click it, choose “Eat” on the menu that will appear, and bonne appetite! Delicious!

You’ll see that eating that bread gave you energy points, which now appear on your HUD (~20%). You may want to cook several pieces of bread to achieve a 100% level of energy. Don’t worry about the ingredients. The bale of rence you just ground gave you a sack with 15 servings of flour, so you have more than enough to bake several pieces of bread. And in case you need more water to cook, now you know where to get it. And come to think of it, now that you are already there, grab several barrels, maybe five. You’re going to need them for the vineyard.

All right, the vineyard! Let’s go back home to rez it. The first menu you’ll see is the language selection. Select whichever suits you best and move forward. You’ll notice the vineyard looks dry. Of course, it’s been inside a box only God knows for how long. Rez one of the barrels next to it to begin the process of growing your grapes.

I hope you remembered to buy the master’s sickle at the market because this is when you’re going to need it. (I suppose you’re wearing your HUD too.) Wear the sickle and wait for the message to appear, saying all systems are ready. Also, on your HUD you’ll see an icon for the sickle. That means you’re ready to take care of your vineyard.

Great. Now click the vineyard and you’ll get a menu with key information. What you are more concerned about now is the lines Water and Care. You may have up to 6 levels of water; of course, since you rezzed a water barrel nearby, that issue is already covered. The water won’t last forever, though, and when it’s depleted, the barrel will disappear. So, it’s easy to tell if your vineyard needs water when you see there is not a barrel of water next to it.

Now, about the care. You will see something like 0/3, meaning the vineyard hasn’t been cared for at all (0). Chose “Cares” and wait for the message to appear saying nothing went wrong, and that you successfully took care of your vineyard. You may wonder what can go wrong in such a simple operation. The answer to this question is complicated; let’s just say that it involves a random algorithm and that sometimes the care may fail. What do you do in case you fail? Persist: wait a few moments and try again. Failures very rarely happen twice in a row.

What happens next? You wait. How long? Well, let me explain something first. A vineyard may yield up to three harvests at a time, meaning you’ll have three baskets of grapes, which in time will become three barrels of wine. Above the vineyard, you’ll see a text indicating its progress, as a percentage, from 0% when you first rez it, to 300% which is when you may get up to three harvests. Going from 0% to 300% takes around two weeks. But remember the random algorithm? In this case, it also rolls the dice, and you may get only two harvests, even if the process is at its full 300%. You may stack the odds in your favor by taking care of it often (at least once a day), keeping the water available at all times, and keeping your energy level as high as you can by eating frequently.

That’s why you may want to have more than one vineyard, to get more harvests and more frequently. That is if you think you would like to produce wine for selling it. The time needed to grow the grapes, and to mature the juice into wine

This process is known as Guardian de las Sombras, are you willing to escalate to the next level and try your hand at something a little more complicated?

means you can have two or three barrels of wine (one per harvest) in two weeks, four days, and four hours. Such a meager production wouldn’t be profitable. It’s enough, though, for your personal needs and to entertain your friends.

Fast forward two weeks and now the process is at 300%; you clicked the vineyard, and it told you the number of harvests is 3. Congratulations, what an auspicious start! Now, to pick up the grapes you need a basket. You can buy one at the market, of course, or if you want to go deep into it, weave it yourself. That can be fun, for sure, and you may save a few lindens in the process.

Let’s go back to the market, where you’ll find a weaving station in one of the corners. Sit on it, rez your rence bale next to it, and choose “Load Rence” on the menu that appears. Your rence disappears after is loaded, and now you can choose “Manufacturing”. You may select one of four models for the basket. All of them work the same, and the only difference is how they look. After you chose the model, you’ll see a message saying how long it will take to weave the basket. Once it’s done, you receive an object that you must rez right there. That object will become your basket, and you’ll be able to use it 50 times. Not bad for a one-linden bale of rence, right?

Back to the vineyard! Rez the basket next to it, click the vineyard, and select “Harvest”. Whatever number of harvests you have, two or three will be contained in your basket. Perfect! You are now the proud owner of a basket full of grapes you grew yourself. How cool is that?

Now that you have grapes, you need to press them to make juice. You may buy a winepress, of course, but you also may use the one at the winery for free. If later on, you decide this may be a trade for you, then sure, by all means, buy your press to use it from the comfort of your home.

Before going to the press, look around the market stalls and buy as many barrels as harvests as you have. They should cost around L$ 10 apiece. Now

rez the basket and the barrels next to the winepress, click it, and choose “Press”. You’ll be presented with the option to “Fill” or “Normal”. If you have more than one harvest, choose “Fill”; otherwise, clicking “Normal” will give you only one barrel and you will lose the rest of the harvests.

That’s the final step in the winemaking process: you now have a barrel full of grape juice that will mature in four days and four hours, as you can see in the text above it. A new observation about randomness: in this case, the algorithm also plays a part and, after the time has elapsed, you may find that your grape juice matured into wine, but that it is still maturing further. That means you are going to get a reserved wine. Achieving that level takes another four days and four hours. And even then, you might be in for another surprise: your reserved wine may be maturing further into great reserve! Yes, another four days and four hours, and you may have the most appreciated kind of wine there is a great reserve.

I sincerely hope you will find this experience as fascinating and appealing as I did. And if you decide to dig deeper into the [G&S] system, you’ll find there is a whole new world with exciting places waiting for you to discover them. And, who knows? Maybe one day you’ll find that those places are also some of your favorite spots in Second Life.

If you’d like to see more detailed instructions about winemaking and other [G&S] processes, check the help from Guardián de las Sombras (in both Spanish and English).

JAMEE SANDALWOOD

TINY EMPIRES

Thereis an undeniable truth in Second Life. Games may come and games may go, but Tiny Empires remain. Tiny Empires not only endures, but it also flourishes, like the quest for royalty, the game of cyber kings, grows.

Unless one’s SL status is Newbie Born Yesterday, chances are good you either play Tiny Empires or know someone who does. TE is almost as old as Second Life itself.

One reason for its popularity is gaming sessions can and do run in the background, on a HUD, ready when you are. Or it will wait, as avatars go about their daily shopping, dancing, chatting, and wondering where their body parts are.

The game has many stages of advancement. One starts as a wanderer, then progresses up the ranks from peasant, squire, knight, etc., to prince or princess with the goal of becoming a king or queen. To find out more, we started at the top. We met a queen.

“Welcome to the palace,” Queen Anastasia (Ana) says as we walk through the stunning Kingdom of Burgundy. There are winding staircases, parlors, a dining area, and more in the expansive fortress. “This is the throne room,” Ana notes, showing BOSL visitors her majestic dwelling. “Mostly people come here to receive instructional materials and a trial HUD.” Others visit just to see it.

The queen notes, “people ask me questions or just want to talk about whatever. Some people need somebody to talk with.”

As for playing the game, the goal is straight forward: As explained in the rules – “Cultivate a cadre of loyal followers (subjects) and climb the ranks by accumulating gold and land. Each is gained naturally in the game, or by your subjects. It is important to recruit subjects.

The queen notes, “You buy acres, ask friends to play, and they join, and their acres count for your acres. Imagine it as a pyramid. Each person can have ten subjects and each of your subjects can have 10 acres.”

Like everyone in this game, Queen Ana rose through the ranks. There was a time in 2008 when she was a wanderer, just like every other TE newbie. She recalls, “I was wandering around Second Life and saw people with ‘princess’ over their heads, just like group titles. They were discussing buying land. I asked about the game.” And before you could say ‘all hail the queen,’ behold, Ana the Wanderer was born.

She continues, “to me, one of the attractions of the game is that you stand by a person to join. You get to know a lot of people and socialize with them. It’s an excellent way to gain SL friends.”

Ana notes about players, “I think people play because of social reasons. Some Second Life people have trouble finding friends. Tiny Empires is a good way to make friends.”

COMPE LOCKWOOD

Still, others enjoy the game continuously running in the background. “I play it simply because it is a cute little diversion,” says Emelia, TE veteran of 12 years. “With an unobtrusive Hud on my screen, the game runs while I’m doing other things.”

Like all other players, the game’s enduring popularity is not rocket -or castle - science. “I play it because it’s fun,” Emelia explains. “We get to buy land, obtain titles and collect subjects. In some groups, we have get-togethers with other players which I have enjoyed in things like formal dances.”

She notes, “The kingdoms remind me of Game of Thrones.

“Tiny Empires was Second Life’s top game of the year, not long ago,” recalls Prince Dall – so named because Queen Ana dubbed him, “Handsome Prince.” He refers to TE benefits. In addition to being a game, it is a unifier.

“It brings people together,” adds Dall. “Many come to TE from all across the grid.”

Much like the game of Second Life, the game of Tiny Empires takes practice. Dall was trained by Ana and others. “It was nice,” he recalls. “I met people from all over, people who all have something in common. We all enjoy TE.”

The official rules on TE’s website note “The irresistible urge to play grow as you start to realize that your friends may make excellent subjects, and you lure them into the game.”

For more information, consult Tiny Empire’s website: www.tinyempires.com, ask a seasoned player, or just jump in and learn as you go and grow.

Who among us does not long for luring friends into a game and seeking their homage as they become loyal subjects?

Why, for such devotion, I would give a king’s crown – and I’m working on it – all in a day’s play in Tiny Empires, the little kingdoms of Second Life.

Cultivate a cadre of loyal followers and climb the ranks by accumulating gold and land.

MISSING LYNX

DANCE OF LIFE

LynXa Congrejo Inglewood

side.” And then, there is progression, as SL allows us to do… and LynXa took advantage of that.

Dance is universal. a touch -- of happiness -and sadness. it is emotion – it is us. It is them. It is humanity and universal, like the wind in the trees. Flowers in bloom – the sea rushing into the shore. Movement -- it is human, animal, nature, and passion. As people, we love to move and watch movement – we marvel at those that can! I rarely am amazed at those that can move in SL and RL like I can’t begin to imagine, and I am in good shape… but you all know what I mean! It doesn’t matter what life you are in. When you see dance and sublime movement, it is pure joy and a perceived language of humanity. LynXa Congrejo Inglewood likes to dream and make others happy -- -as she says, “I found SL like “a dream… of riding boredom and making something out of nothing…” and yes, she found SL and -- LynXa decided… I will do something to inspire and ignite. We at BOSL like that idea… “LynXa adds, a dream doesn’t become a reality through SL magic… it takes RL sweat, and determination and hard work… no matter where you are or what you believe in.”

LynXa found SL as a way to unwind, and we are so happy she did. “ I’ve always loved dancing in SL, and I love music, so it was a natural transition for me to make to become a performance dancer. How it affects my RL, it relaxes me. It allows me to focus on something I love, not harsh realities. Performing in SL allows me to release my artistic

Dance in any life is pure joy -- it is where you can find yourself or imagine yourself whirling and dancing --- it is almost a spiritual experience! LynXA saw something missing in SL… and --- Wow—we are so happy she did… because she formed the wildly acclaimed and top-ratedMissing Lynx Musical Dance Theater Company that helps to fill diversity on the SL performance dance scene… and, best of all, it is well done. When asked Lynx why she named the company Missing Lynx Musical Dance Theater Company, she had a simple answer, “Well, the venue is Missing Lynx, and I named it that as sort of a play on my name. Lynx is short for LynXa, but the venue name, Missing Lynx, stands for the missing links (missing people of color) on the SL dance scene.”

The most intriguing thing is that LynXa uses a variety of storyline performances – you never know what to expect. “I do a variety of storyline performances. Like a musical, my sets utilize dance to tell a story. The music I use depends on my mood at the time and what I want to say.” As for what LynXa wants people to feel. It is simple. “I want people of all colors to feel something. What saddens one may not sadden another. What makes one person laugh may not amuse another. I want our audience to feel immersed and entertained. Any other feelings they may experience are a bonus.”

One thing that makes LynXa’s Dance Company different is that they do storyline sets and use cams. As LynXa tells BOSL, “ Most venues dance

to the music without a story -- it is just a live performance of coordinated dancers. I respect that,

but our dancers are different in telling a story. If you walk away from one of our performances, you will miss part of the story. We also use Metaharper Show Tools Camera utility to immerse our watchers in our shows.” If I were you, I would check it out; these shows are immersive and cutting-edge.

Always a go-getter, Lynxa and the entire team hopes wants to continue to grow and create….”I plan to keep growing Missing Lynx to keep pushing to involve all people, especially those of color, in performance dancing – but all are welcome. As for how I see it progressing, I would say slowly but steadily. Most of our dancers have no prior dance experience and are trained at Missing Lynx. I like that. But to ensure an outstanding team, we take things one step at a time.”

And, as for the future of this growing entertainment. We had to ask LynXa’s thoughts about her dance troupe’s growing popularity. “We are determined to become the best. We will continue to diversify the dance community, and we will continue to get bigger and better.”

When we think of LynX, we were joking around, which turned pretty serious after one of her outstanding performances. I asked, how do you define the elegance of dance and the beauty of life?

And she said, and I will never forget it because it is the essence of what she does. “Dance is life.

You feel the music, express your feelings, tell a story, and all with dance. Your body’s movements are intrinsic to the beat.”

As for us at BOSL… we love your beat and energy… you have all that it takes.

Gallery

BOSL FASHION TREND

PHOTO: GINPHX

PHOTO: GINPHX

BOSL FASHION TREND

PHOTO: JAMEE SANDALWOOD

BOSL FASHION TREND

PHOTO: GINPHX

FASHION

TIYIALIC

BOSL FASHION TREND

PHOTO: SHANTAL GRAVOIS

TIYIALIC

BOSL FASHION TREND

PHOTO: SHANTAL GRAVOIS

BOSL FASHION

TIYIALIC