Zoning Happens

This entry may sound harsh to some folks. But keep in mind this is my blog and not some forum post. It's my place and this IS where I can get off saying what I'm going to say in response to Linden Lab's recent blog about zoning porn.

Maturity.

What defines it? What does it mean with regard to the world or SL? Who has the most trouble with maturity and discerning it from Adult content? Who tries to use Maturity as an excuse to be immature?

This is the bottom line about maturity. This is the ONLY line about it: Maturity is realizing that there is a time and place for everything.

Yes, one might add the word "legal" to be safe, but you know what I mean.

Or do you?

Did you know that Mature land meant that on your property or on a designated property, you would not be liable for AR action if you cursed? It's true.

Did you know that Mature land meant that if you wanted to have a poseball bed in your house, you wouldn't be liable for AR action if it was discovered or you were spied on with a camhead? It's true.

Did you know PG land means if you were caught using profanity or engaged in explicit sexual discussion you were liable for AR?

Did you know you could be AR liable having a penicycle 400m up on PG land?

Did you know that the use of poseball sexbeds anywhere on PG land, including indoors, was a violation of the terms? It's true.

See, that's why PG land is cheaper. You can't do everything on there. In fact, there's a whole lot more land availble which accommodates Adult activity.

Linden Lab has seen to it that you can pursue your dream. But you have to do your part. Or parts. Indoors or concealed from neighboring parcels and passersby.

Take my new neighbors for instance. Yes, my former friend and neighbor would not give me a counter offer. Instead she shaved off 5L from the price and the whorehouse up the hill bought it for about US$100. They've been around for years from what I hear. They're mature. They have a kind of office structure up the hill, and supposed rendezvous nooks somewhere up there out of sight. They are either using the added land for prim allowance or have added skyboxes; the lawn is pristine.

btw I ARed a penicycle hanging 200m up in Angler several months back. It's visible to the naked eye for most graphics settings. I know third time's the charm, but I don't feel like whipping out another pun.

ANYway...

There are a lot of repressed people in SL:

- Rebelling against religious upbringing of course.

- Rebelling against extreme rightwing community of course.

- Just off the teen grid and college kids have much in common. Just outside their parents' reach legally or geographically, along with either or the previous two reasons to propel them into exploration, they're ready to plunge into their own blissful concept of Sodom and Gomorrah.

There's nothing wrong with that, except they have that rebellious thing going on and a "step aside" attitude which makes them oblivious to two key aspects of Maturity they have yet to embrace: consideration and consent. Regardless of urges, drives, physiology, and philosophy, until people realize that there's a time and place for everything and can indulge and still be responsible and don't see words like "consideration" and "consent" as boring stodgy things to rebel against, then - while they are legally permitted to engage in adult activity in and out of second life - they are by no means mature, nor do they understand the purpose of Mature land.

Kudos to Second Life, who have made dreams come true for most of this decade. They trusted the residents to let EVERYBODY chase their dreams. If that were the case, you know we would not have seen that blog entry and they would not have had to expend resources toward it. The theory that all residents taking up mature land were mature didn't pan out. So zoning happens.

Another End of an Era

This has been a whirlwind week, ending a whirlwind two months.

I spent a great deal of time on Donner. As a packrat, making myself tear down things and rebuild was a very difficult but important process. I decorated the land for Christmas (added a menorah during Chanukah), Inauguration, Chinese New Year, and Mardi Gras.

I think I did pretty well, even though I didn't sell a single thing and no one came to my shop or gallery from there. I didn't expect to make anything, so no disappointment there.

We got a lot of first timers into the winter marketplace for some reason, so it was fun giving them basics on movement and a lead to search for the NCI for their freebie wall and courses. I found the infohub points on each winter region were random and people had auctioned for parcels with these. Great landing points but what did you have for the noobs? NOTHING! If I'd known, I could have had my dream for two months of an infohub and orientaion spot MY WAY, which would include cultural orientation. btw assorted Lindens have taken interest in this when I brought it up at office hours, so if you start seeing these in the next generations of infohubs, they got the idea from me ;)


Either way it's been a blast, but time to go home. The SS Monkeyshinez has dropped anchor on my front lawn in Anilis and will stay through Mardi Gras. There's no prim space for the noobs, but there will be free beads from Monday night through Wednesday morning in the air around the float. I'll put more up as people "catch" the ones there.

Donner was also a good testing ground for 7Seas custom catches. I made shirts, toys, and deely boppers for assorted occasions. The original Mardi Gras shirts and CNY shoulder pals are currently fishable in Anilis. Many things planned for that.

I was offered a small shop space for a percentage of sales. Hope their hunch pans out! I'll be preparing that the next few days.

This week also marked a few other ends and beginnings. Last week as you know, OnRez (and their ready made vendors) was liquidated and SL took over XStreetSL. I got ahold of some very user friendly vendors which were even easy for ME to customize. I even figured out how to send a cut of a sale to a specified second party, something I'll need to set the shop vendors to do. I GUESS I should add more stuff to SLEx and activate what I've already uploaded.

On a sad note was the unannounced exit of the Simon Joseph House of Healing & Mirth after almost three years. No more Michigan J Frog, peacock garden, free clown noses, or happy rainbow over Anilis. The region has lost a piece of its soul.

Mardi Gras bash tonight!

As many of you know, I aquired a winter holiday marketplace parcel last December in the Donner region of Second Life.

It's been an exciting and educational experience for me: building at light speed and keeping up with a succession of holiday themes. Most of all: learning how not to be a packrat by tearing down and rebuilding.

I also experimented with making custom catches for the 7Seas fishing game. Prizes included shoulder pals, deely boppers, and commemorative tees.

This week it ends and the marketplace lands will disappear. We've been told the 20th is the final day for those in Dasher, Prancer, Donner and Blitzen.

As a send-off, I've made some floats and redecorated the land for a pre Mardi Gras party. Harlequin Noobs will have beads for you (it's PG land so keep your shirts on. Besides, I'm inviting some SL Kids :P ). The water has shoulder pals and souvenir tees for 7Seas fishers, and a Looney Tunes video will be uploaded before the party starts. We can fish and dance our brains out!

The party starts at 8:30pm EST aka 5:30pm SLT

Where? Well, my picks has the location but typing in "Donner" should show a pink events star.
A personal favorite technique of mine as a high altitude resident is to aim on the map for the pool and teleport for a splashtacular entrance.

I hope to see you tonight!

Inauguration Week in Donner

Well, I got that Greek Donner stand done, learned to offer custom fishing stuffs, and completed the inaugural pool (forgetting to set the media texture - DOH!) in time for February 20th. Patriotic and commemorative Obama goodies will be removed on Monday.

I was pleased to find people fishing at the pond following the update and an announcement on the 7Seas boards. Weee!


So what next? Why, the Year of the Ox of course! I have toys, trinkets, and Tees planned for the fishing pond. If all goes well, I will also have some really nice things for sale.

In other news, those dorks either removed the encroaching trees from my Angler property or a Linden returned those things to them. Either way, it's good. I'll have to add more vendors - damnit from XStreetSL, which means making ALL of them from scratch. Feh.

But before then, GUNG HAI FAT CHOI!

Coasting through the winter.

My conspicuous markings in Donner. Friend Marianne has a place in Dasher

Not via a bobtail nag.

I invested recouped medical money on a piece of land in Second Life's Winter Holiday Marketplace. It was exciting about the whole week of auctions. It was like my old eBay days, hovering over auctions and - well I didn't usually get outbid the last second. That was usually my triumph.

There were two things going: First, I wanted snowy land for winter. Second, being that four regions were named for reindeer, one was called Donner. I HAD TO HAVE A PLACE IN DONNER! You know us artists - when we have something in our heads there's no stopping us. And I had a triple entendre going full throttle.

I actually had this spot in my sites at the foot of two mountains (a pass! Oh, rapture). Being how I lost a piece of land the previous day by $L5, and the pass land was the very last Donner plot being offered, I went for a bigger one at the water in an earlier bidding wave. Booyah! It's a shame about that other plot I wanted; the winner did nothing Donner Pass related.

In fact, no one else in Donner really had anything in mind other than plopping what they already had built for their island or whatever to promote it. Once they made their spot, you never saw them again.

Being the newb, I had no holiday or winter content from any previous seasons. But I was AN ARTIST. And I was enjoying some time off from work. Except I really didn't rest. I *SLAVED* that night over Photoshop to make each texture file for a gingerbread house, which was assembled like one of those that come in kits. By the weekend the house was done. It was time for my piece d'resistance...

Behold it in its absurd glory. Gosh I'm so proud of myself. I made it look like the real thing. It actually looks delicious if you're not a vegetarian. Ride on the donner kebab sammiches or dance Zorba style on the top over the tomato. It's all good.

Next came the music. Sure Sky had an "okay" holiday channel most were tuning into. But I had a great collection of mp3's and I wanted to share the sound of holiday pop. After struggling with Mediamaster, which happened to run out of server space THAT WEEK, I managed to squeak on my tunes for an awesome playlist. We're talking Bing and Phil Spector meets The Kinks and Stan Freberg. It had everything. Yes, even Charlie Brown stuff.

Had holiday pools all ready, and free holiday food in the gingerbread house.

I didn't sell a thing by the way. Had vendors for the flying foods and pools but not a single purchase. Story of my life!

It was fun anyway, and some friends shared in the New Year Countdown there on Dec 31st.
The Marketplace is deserted except for my puttering around on my land and some folks hugging the Infohubs elsewhere. There are plenty of other holidays to celebrate before I lose the land.

Right now I'm setting it up for the inauguration next Tuesday. The plan is to have freebie stuff people can fish out exclusively there. It would be my first time with the new kit from 7Seas. Be sure to stop by and check it out; I'm hosting a new Superchicken cartoon :)

Sevhen says the Chicken Dance is our dance.

Coasting Virtually Pleasantly

Seven & I dance in soup to The Spongetones.

Less focus on debacles, more on creating and having fun.

This should be everyone's goal, shouldn't it? I mean, if they're not crazy.

The Jewish Neighborhood bought the chunk of land behind my cottage and TMA founder Beth gave me access to create whatever I wanted on the land I donated near the tracks. I think I'll have to do some pondering as soon as the structures beside the region border are relocated. I don't know what she'll have planned for that area, but the new look will help determine what I do with that part. Until then the plot of land displays maps of Mainland, with a pin stuck into our location in Heterocera continent.

The pool shop is starting to look busy. methinks the holiday ones will have to go to vendors while the next holiday editions get sand time, keeping year round ones for permanent display.

My greatest pool finally saw pseudo reality this week when I recreated the Turkey Tureen Tub. This was the epitome of pools for me and marked the highlight of my pool pursuits in the Blaxxun communities.

Speaking of which, the Blaxxun Community regulars who used to hang out in Blaxxun's own VRML world now hang out south of my pool shop in Angler. Sleepy expanded the land from the 512 I gave him to an additional 2048. It's quite the beach hangout got good stats as former Blaxxunites have adopted it as their home base. Sleepy, bitten by the 7Seas bug, installed a fishing area kit and long range server to cover both our properties.


I think I would like to design a lot more T Shirts. Think they'll be well received on the web marketplaces?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Yes, that's how I feel now. Very relieved.

I live in an interesting area of Mainland, rich with history and culture, flanked by longtime residents on three sides and the SL Railroad. Originally someone had their paradise in the sky in back of the house, but they put it up for sale for cheap and the Jewish Neighborhood bought it. Some misguided teen made a couple of quickie profiles and plopped a swatika flag on the other side where someone had an unrestricted parcel. I ARed it and it's gone.

The ground texture might not be lush but everything else makes up for it. The final parcel in Juliet sold about two days after the previous blog entry.

Meanwhile, adding a coupla pools for Halloween has made Holodoc's Pool & Surf Shop over in Angler look pretty nice. I got more planned. Sorry, no guarantees of reproducing my Turkey Tureen Tub in Lindenese.

I've spent a good portion of my solo time in SL the past week working on an avatar I've wanted to have since Cybertown days. Someone there was very good with character construction and character animation for VRML, and I almost asked them to make it. I knew who was behind their name and a good idea of the terms they'd set for doing it, so I never approached them. But now in Second Life, this is possible. The series was broadcast in B+W, but having collected the comic I know the true colors of the character. I will debut it in Show & Tell this Sunday in a big (for me) production.