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Tuesday, December 16, 2008

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Keeping Kids Safe; One focus of Human Rights Festival pers and magazines throughout the country. She has also appeared on A lineup of diverse live perseveral talk shows and news formers like Jano Runo, Kitzie shows including a special feature Lane, Nick99 Razor and Pasty by news anchor Peter Jennings Petrov along with DJ Jaycee Slade where she was recognized as “Perrecently performed to benefit the son of the Week.” charity Drive by Agony with the Her move to bring Drive by theme of Keeping Kids Safe. Agony/Life Learning Programs The philosophy is that children into SL was almost an accident have the right to live in safety in due to a mishap of her own. She their home, schools and communihad heard of SL from her daughter ties. There was a riveting memoand about the presence of Nonrial dedicated to children Profit Commons (NPC), managed everywhere who have been murby TechSoup, an RL organization dered or hurt by violence. providing technical assistance to This was part of the larger non-profit organizations. Human Rights Festival that ran NPC encompasses two sims from Dec. 10 through Dec. 15 to devoted to housing non-profit orcelebrate the sixtieth anniversary ganizations in SL. She did join SL of the Signing of the Declaration at that time but did not dedicate of Human Rights by the United any time to delving into it, that is, Nations. until she injured her ankle. Lorna Hawkins (aka Carmen While laid up from this acciGray), founder of Drive by Agony, CARMEN GRAY (LORNA Hawkins in meatspace) works in her office for Drive by Agony, an dent, Hawkins picked up where found a way to turn the most dev- organization she started to fight hate and violence among youth, through individual and/or fam- she left off in assessing the options astating tragedies of her life into a ily counseling, anger management, victims assistance and more. - Photo by SHERRIE SHEPHERD and opportunities for non-profits life-long passion helping others in in SL. been expanded throughout the years to provide violence similar circumstances. In November of 2007, convinced that a venture into prevention programs and awareness campaigns to eduIn 1988, she founded the non-profit organization, cate the public. SL could be successful, she first took advantage of the Drive by Agony, located in Lynwood, Ca., to provide a Through the programs of the organization that she consultant services and a free land parcel offered by support group for victims and families of victims of vi- founded, Hawkins stresses the effects that violence has TechSoup on NPC. Later she expanded to acquire a olent crime. on victims and their families and the fact that this type of larger venue, in addition to the NPC venue, now her main She did this because a few years before, within the violence has reached epidemic status and is a national headquarters at Oleander (115, 142, 22),where she conspan of a two year period, she lost two sons, Joe, at age health issue. ducts meetings and offers access to information for SL 21 and then Gerald, at age 22, who were fathers of inThe life learning programs offered to communities residents. fants themselves, to street violence. While touring her SL headquarters, Hawkins points have helped to make a positive impact for over 50,000 Hawkins doesn’t dwell on the past; instead she re- youths and thousands of families around the world. out a slide show display commemorating the victims of mains focused on doing what she can to prevent this type Hawkins and her organization have received com- violent crime. She knows the stories behind each young of violence in the future and to spare other families this munity service awards, been recognized by the United type of tragedy. The support group that she founded has States Congress and have been featured in many newspaSee FOCUS, Page 13 By SHERRIE SHEPHERD Staff writer

Winner decided in recent Miss Virtual World 2009

By LORA CONSTANTINE Staff writer

The Miss Virtual World 2009 pageant was recently held by Frolic Mills of “The Best of SL (BOSL)“ enterprises. Set in a glitz and grand glam four-sim auditorium, the event was received by a live audience of over two hundred avatars, as presented by several judges, a dance troupe, and a cast of 18 models representing Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA and Venezeula. At the end of the landmark event, Miss Virtual World 2009 was announced as Mimmi Boa, representing Italy. Hosted by Frolic Mills and Giela Delpaso in live text chat, the event opened with a dance by last year’s finalists Mui Mukerji and Willamina Fitzgerald. The contestants then arrived on-stage, each standing above a small capsule-carpet of their country flag. Giela described the ethnic nature of each dress, as introductions were made by each model. Frolic then introduced the judges. The swimsuit competition followed with each model standing in a cylindrical compartment. Next, the show featured an intermission with a dace and particle show by the Changhigh Trinity Sisters. The next round featured evening gowns, and each model was introduced center stage before walking to the capsule flag of their country. Miss Congeniality and Miss Elegance were announced. The judges then deliberated to determine five finalists. Each of the five finalists were allowed to choose a judge, and to answer a question from the judge. Farewell was made to Miss Virtual World 2008 (Isabel Brocco), and Miss Virtual World 2009 took center stage, in a grand culmination of the event.

Inside

Sim of the Week - Page 10

The event was sponsored by Nokia, 3d Concepts, First Meta, Mandinka Estates, XR Skins, Minnu Model Skins, Runway Magazine, Chateau de Versailles, AWM Advertising, and the Metaverse Broadcasting Company. The 18 contestants were Chalice Carling (Miss Australia), Sally Yachvili (Miss Brazil), Alexa Trefoil (Miss Canada), Maxie Daviau (Miss Costa Rica), Lacey Alderson (Miss Czech Republic), Aleida Rhode (Miss Denmark), Candi Dreamscape (Miss Egypt), Tiffany Dragonash (Miss Finland), EmmZ Tzara (Miss France), ZoeAnastasia Aeon (Miss Greece), RhiannaLynn Lane (Miss Ireland), Mimmi Boa (Miss Italy), Haruka Kish (Miss Japan), Isis Seville (Miss Spain), Kate Stockholm (Miss Sweden), Barbarella Fuosing (Miss United Kingdom), Arabella Graves (Miss USA), and Kyrinnia Desmoulins (Miss Venezeula). Miss Elegance, chosen in a Crystal Ball the week preceding the event, was Haruka Kish. Miss Congeniality, chosen by the contestants, was Kate Stockholm. The five finalists, chosen by the judges, were Miss Italy (Mimmi Boa), Miss Brazil (Sally Yachvili), Miss Japan (Haruka Kish), Miss France (EmmZ Tzara), and Miss Australia (Chalice Carling). The contest was judged by Elisne Allen (Model, Photographer, Miss Photogenic 2008), Devon Dinzeo (CEO, Dinzeo Designs), Joy Laperriere (VP, First Meta), Maggie Mahoney (CEO, Runway Magazine), Maximilian March (CEO, March Industries), Minnu Palen (CEO, Glam World), Raven Pennyfeather (CEO, House of Rfyre), Deco Straff (RL Lawyer, Virtual Law Specialist), and Maddox Dupont (CEO, KMADD). Miss Virtual World 2009 was Miss Italy (Mimmi Boa).

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To complement the Second Life Winterfaire, Linden Lab has created a small number of parcels available only via the Second Life Land Auctions starting on Dec. 15. Auctions for parcels on Dasher, Prancer, Donner and Blitzen will start at only L$1. Learn more at blog.secondlife.com.

SL News . . . . . . . . . .Page 3 Perspectives . . . . . . .Page 5 The Line . . . . . . . . . . Page 6 ROTW . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 8 Comics .. . . . . . . . . . .Page 8 Entertainment. . . . . . Page 8 Photo Contest . . . . . .Page 9 Community . . . . . . Page 16 Sports . . . . . . . . . . .Page 18

Inside

Resi of the Week - Page 8

About Us Volume 4 No.15 Second Life The Metaverse Messenger

Page 2 The Metaverse Messenger December 16, 2008

Looking to unplug and relax? Magnolia Bay Resort is the best kept secret in SL!

Rent one of our homes and experience the beautiful scenery, swimming, fishing, windsurfing, jet skiing, scuba diving, tennis, volleyball, and the beautiful18 hole golf course Magnolia Bay Resort has to offer. Visitors and residents alike will enjoy the natural beauty, slower pace and warmth of the area. We offer weddings here at the Country Club located at Magnolia Golf Club. Weddings are also offered to our mermaid and mermen friends at Magnolia Bay Beach Club. Scuba Divers may also take advantage of this facility when our mermaid friends are not using it. Happy memories are made here!

SL News December 16, 2008



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THE CAMPUS OF VIRTUAL TEXAS State Technical College is ready for an influx of new students for its Media Design programs. - Photo by KATT KONGO.

Virtual college offers media design scholarship By KATT KONGO Staff writer The next semester of the Digital Media program at Virtual Texas State Technical College will begin soon, and there is a scholarship for new students accepted into the Digital Media program for the Spring '09 semester. New Digital Media students in the Spring '09 semester will receive a $500 scholarship for the first semester, as well as copies of Adobe CS3 and Microsoft Office 2007 at no additional cost to the student (total package of approximately $700 in software). That brings the overall savings to the student to $1200. The virtual campus of Texas State Technical College (vTSTC) will offer a certificate program as well as classes to earn an Associates in Applied Science (AAS) degree, both in digital media. The certificate can be completed

in two semesters (eight months total), while the AAS will take four semesters to earn. As with most online courses, the classes for both the certificate and the degree will be very flexible. KevinRB Techsan, vTSTC project manager said, “We leave a lot up to the teachers, but we do have all the students meet together with the instructor, how many times is dependant on the class.” He noted that previous students have asked for more class time in SL. He also explained that traditional online components, such as the Blackboard product, are used. In addition, “The instructors do much of the lecturing, discussions face to face with the students here,” he said. Other features of the classes at vTSTC include guest speakers and team projects. Techsan said that efforts with collaboration have been very positive.

The virtual campus features more than the rather traditional classroom. For example, the Digital Photography classroom contains interactive displays that foster hands on learning. As Techsan explained, “Students may involve themselves with the knowledge, not just look at a static page on a website.” Most of the displays offer buttons which students can push in order to watch a slide or engage in some other activity that will immerse them in learning. Added Techsan, “Sometimes, it’s just a matter of simplifying a concept to a 3d visual.” As an example, he pointed out a large prim model of a cut away camera, which demonstrates the path of light when using a shutter of an DSLR. “[It’s] very simple, but easily understood, plus I don't have to rip apart an expensive camera to See VTSTC, Page 15

The Metaverse Messenger The most read publication in Second Life!

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First life, second news By HOLMAN TIBBETT Staff writer No! Really? Much to the surprise of…well, pretty well nobody, Google has announced that it will be pulling the plug on its “virtual world,” Lively, in December. Lively, as you may recall, was launched this past July amid numerous press stories calling it a “challenge” to Second Life, with some going so far as to label it a “Second Life killer.” On the face of it, such claims were initially perhaps not entirely out of line. After all, Google already had SketchUp, an application that allows users to create three dimensional objects far easier than with the clunky prim manipulation of Second Life. Furthermore, Google also had Google Earth which makes available a virtual world that encompasses the entire real world. With all that going for it, how could a Google virtual world fail? Well, for one thing by not making any of those features available. Perhaps out of fears that if users were allowed to create their own content, some of them might create sex toys, the Google people only allowed the use of approved and pre-created objects. Unsurprisingly, with nothing to create, a large number of users turned their creativity to finding new and decidedly unapproved ways to use the pre-created objects. Before the site was a week old, the majority of the popular locations were devoted to sex. And as for the actual world itself…well, there wasn’t one. Lively consisted of nothing but a series of “rooms” chosen from a set of templates. On the plus side, however, every avatar had the ability to kick, punch and bitch-slap any other avatar, so there was an inbuilt attraction for seven- to tenyear-old boys. As for the rest of us, with nothing to do and no place to go there seemed little point in hanging around. Unless, of course, you were partial to bitch-slapping. The Google blog called the decision to close down Lively “tough,” but added that it was necessary in order “to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business.” In other words, it wasn’t working, and there was no way to monetize it. For Second Lifers, the news comes as a kind of vindication. Lively, from the very beginning,

was so obviously a non-starter that the media’s gleeful promotion of it as some kind of rival to Linden Lab’s virtual world felt like a deliberate insult. Now, less than six months later, its failure serves as a reminder that when it comes to success, neither Google nor media pundits necessarily know what they’re talking about. Average people need not apply The VP of Linden Lab’s business affairs, Ginsu Yoon, recently told The Industry Standard that Second Life was no longer interested in reaching out to the average person and that only those with the highestend computers would be welcome in Second Life. Not that he put it in quite those words. What he actually said was, “If you don’t show the capabilities that are possible on the high end, I think that you don’t really get an opportunity to develop toward where the world is going.” And the only way of showing the capabilities on the high end, of course, is by using high end computers. This puts a new slant on the decreasing interest in Second Life that has been plaguing the virtual world. While most users cite their growing dissatisfaction on problems of stability, increasing lag, and a general tendency of the Lindens to ignore pretty well every request for a more basic and reliable system, the actual problem, it appears, is that the users just aren’t “with it.” Part of the need for more powerful computers to operate virtual worlds like Second Life has to do with the coming interfaces, according to Yoon. Pointing out that “interaction with the computing environment is not always going to be about a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse,” Yoon predicts the coming use of “more natural interactions, in terms of gestural interface and the kinds of things that lend themselves very well to interacting in a 3d environment.” These would include cameras and brainwave devices, which he called “Minority Report-type interfaces” in reference to the documentary starring Tom Cruise. They will undoubtedly be available to the public in the coming months. In a related news story, the Department of Motor Vehicles has announced that drivers will now be required to get a pilot’s license in order to drive the new generation of flying cars popularized in the documentary Bladerunner.

A real newspaper for a virtual world

Perspectives December 16, 2008



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SLice of Second Life By Dagmar Kojishi SLICING SOME CUTTING EDGE EDUCATION I’m not telling you about this seminar in hopes that you will attend it. By the time you read this, it will probably have passed anyway. Plus, unless you are a mental health professional, you probably would not have been able to sign up for it anyway—it was limited to the first ten registrants, who had to submit institutional affiliation and role as part of the registration process. I want to tell you about it because of what it indicates to me about the usefulness of SL in education. I haven’t actually talked with Dr. Kalman Kaplan, who is slated to do a symposium in SL on Dec. 4 at 4 p.m. SLT, but he sounds fascinating. Kaplan’s topic: “Therapy versus Tragedy: A Biblical Approach to Mental Health.” If your first thought was, “Ah! A religious nut,” then let me quickly scotch that. Dr. Kaplan is Director of the Program for Religion, Spirituality and Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. Did I mention that he is a Ful-

bright Fellow? Aside from the fact that his title is almost as long as this article, I find much to be interested in here. Please note that this comes from a medical school. And, at the risk of being indelicate, it’s worth pointing out that this is not a medical school associated with a private, church-affiliated university. I have no idea what Dr. Kaplan’s personal religious orientation is, and in light of his topic I suspect it doesn’t much matter, because he is simply looking at paradigms to see what works best for mental health. Kaplan was the subject of a Chicago Sun-Times article back in May, partially headlined “Professor thinks biblical stories are better than Greek mythology for psychotherapy.” He explained to that reporter why the John Templeton Fund had given the school a grant for a course entitled “A Biblical Approach to Mental Health.” “The Greek notion of a tragedy is that people can’t change,” he said. “So if you’re using stories that imply people can’t change, what’s the point of doing therapy?”

WANT TO WRITE? The Metaverse Messenger accepts signed letters to the editor/publisher from our readers. Letters must include avatar name for verification. Send letters to [email protected].

See SLICE, Page 12

The Metaverse Messenger E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.metaversemessenger.com

Publisher: Kristan Hall (Katt Kongo in SL) Associate Publisher: Katt Kongo Composition: Katt Kongo Account Executive: Katt Kongo Office Manager: George

Backbite Distribution: Join the M2 fan group Associate Editor: Dagmar Kojishi News Editor: Katier Reitveld For a complete list of staff writers, visit the M2 website.

The Metaverse Messenger is published once each week on Tuesday for $L0 per year in Second Life. Subscribers should an instant message to distribution. 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. Copyright © 2008.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.

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norinnrichard.blogspot.com Pranks An event this week inspired my friend and fellow writer Violetta Heart to write a Line article. So once again I yield my soap box to her. Pranksters have always enjoyed a place in our hearts, or at least as a pain in the backside. Googling “Prank” pulls up 9,370,000 hits. There are definitions for “Prank,” websites for The Prankster supervillian from Superman, websites for pranking ideas, websites for prank brag rights, and the list goes on and on. There have been TV shows and movies about pranking (or as Ashton Kutcher called it “Punk’d”). How many of us have tuned into hear Allen Funt say those memorable words, “Smile! You’re on Candid Camera”? Do not get me wrong, some pranks are funny. I admit I laughed at a few of the “Punk’d” episodes (the one where Kutcher highjack’s Frankie Muniz’s brand new car is a special favorite) and watching reactions on the old Candid Camera was extremely entertaining. There have even been a few pranks in Real Life that are particularly funny such as a friend, who raised rats and mice, coming home to find that her rats had mysteriously multiplied in the course of one day. (“They must

have been pregnant without you knowing it.” *Big innocent eyes.* “Yeah, they are pretty big for being newborns, aren’t they?”) She was in seventh heaven but still had to find places for the excess little ones her friends pranked her with. There have even been some Second Life pranks that leave me chuckling. One of my groups owns land on a private island and another group on the island decided to prank us with purple and black smoke bombs, graffiti signs and explosions. This part was funny. However, the pranksters were unaware that the multitude of five prim bonfires they graced us with would be distressing to one of our group members. She was badly burned as a child and has a phobia of being burned again. This part of the prank was easily cleaned up, and the damage was minimal, just a few minor twitches and “eeps.” The hardest part to get rid of was the sound effects. They were in invisible prims scattered all over the land and even buried underneath it. When does a prank, something meant to be funny or silly, turn into griefing? The carpet bombing of our land was funny once. But the See LINE, Page 14

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Entertainment Page 8



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NAME: Rosetta Price OCCUPATION IN SL: I am a kajira of Briarhaven Township and have been sent to school. That is my only SL job at this time, exquisite beauty, absolute obedience and studying. DATE JOINED SL: Aug. 12, 2007 WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT BEING A RESIDENT OF SL? My favorite thing about being a resident in Second Life is the ability to converse with people from all walks of life who come from places all around the world. It enables you to communicate, network and learn things that you may have never been exposed to otherwise. WHAT IS THE ONE THING IN YOUR INVENTORY THAT YOU WOULD BE THE MOST DEVASTATED TO LOSE? The one thing in my inventory that I would be the most devastated to lose would be my collar. My collar and the meaning in it mean the world to me. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LOCATION IN SL? My favorite location in Second Life

See ROTW, Page 20

During one of my normal nomadic journeys I came across an ad for a live music act which claimed an ‘edge’ like Melissa Etheridge. I have to admit that I was skeptical. Boasting that an artist sounds anywhere near the gritty and yet sensational vocals of Melissa Etheridge was a bold move by Shaydon, a simple yet cozy venue for SL performers. Coming into the venue expecting much less, Gina Stella blew me away. Her full voice seemed vexed with passion as she sang to the crowd what seemed to be a ballad straight

from her heart. With such lines as “You’re not alone, I’m right here.” she channeled compassion in every person within earshot. The soft, melodic chords flowed naturally from her guitar and seemed only to amplify the emotion that was being conveyed by her voice. That’s not to say that it was a purely dramatic show. Her set was full of giggles from the crowd as well as herself. She even joked briefly about the crowd never before seeing a performer change on stage. A hairstylist in RL, it’s a wonder that Gina can make so much time to perform for her adoring fans. She can be seen every

GOGOMODO TRIVIA SCORES For the week of Nov. 24

Tuesday at the Prim Economy Music Park at five and The Double Olive at 8 with Anek Fuchs. On Wednesdays, she plays Shaydon, while on Thursdays, she plays at 11am at the Golden Horn. Fridays she plays at the Drunken Drow at 5 and the Krash at 8. In addition to her, needless to say, hectic schedule, she also plays shows in between and is beginning to play Nantucket biweekly at 6 on Saturdays. She is a very talented and skilled acoustic singer/songwriter, and I urge all SL residents to see her at least once, although I’m sure you’ll be packing venues to see her time and time again.

Bison Nichols

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Fantasy Isles 6231 Cafe Trivia 3858 Zoo Bar 3749 ZYGOFIX 2454 K2's Game Room 1906 Club AMS 1639 Sunflower Trivia 1438 ((( GOLDBAR.TV ))) =TRIVIA VIP= 1416 Destiny Dreams 1375 SubPlime 1364 The Cats Lair 1297 Incendia 1170 eBid ZeroFee Auction 1061 NOT TOO HOT Cafe 1058 MWP

December 16, 2008

Upcoming events

R e s i d e n t o f t h e We e k : Rosetta Price

By JUNIPER THARNABY Staff writer



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“THROUGH OTHERS’ EYES; African Americans and Identify in American Art” - The exhibition of an art collection from the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY is on display Dec. 1 through Dec. 31 at Museum of the African American Experience, Sugarhill Retreat (112,163,24). The exhibit, which features works from both black and white artists, offers insights into the ways that Americans in the past viewed one another; how artistic representations of black people created and reinforced popular attitudes; and how these attitudes continue to affect us today. For more information, contact Winn Wellman or Nicolo Anthony.

Tell the metaverse about your event! Send details to [email protected]

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ORC rounds continue By SHARON KEATS Staff writer The two ORC Championships near the end of their series with both series likely to go “down to the wire.” The layout was the latest custom circuit from Katier Reitveld. The buggy race didn’t start well for her, however, and she dropped to fifth of the six runners. Up front, Sonic Costello took the lead, with Mango Birdbrain proving to be the only one able to run with him. For the first 10 laps, Costello and Birdbrain built up a few seconds lead while Mercarian Barbosa in third found himself embroiled in a battle with Caz Freschi. Freschi and Barbosa swapped placed several times, until on lap 12, when the first incidents happened. Freschi and Birdbrain both crashed and rejoined almost together around eight seconds behind Reitveld, who was now in third. At the rear, Avier Horsforth was unable to keep up and retired at half distance. Barbosa, for a couple of laps after being freed of Freschi, gained on the leader dramatically, but a crash on lap 15 ended any threat on the lead. Reitveld was now second and for the next 35 laps was locked in a battle with Barbosa.

Initially, Barbosa gained steadily on Reitveld, but when he reached her, he found she was driving well and not leaving room to get through. A crash on lap 21 dropped Barbosa back just as Birdbrain joined the battle. Reitveld held him off initially but a small mistake allowed Birdbrain through and Barbosa to catch up. For the next few laps, Reitveld was able to run ahead of Barbosa comfortably until a mistake on lap 33. That gave Barbosa the chance to take third, but Reitveld wasn’t’ giving up. It took a small error, nine laps later, for Reitveld to lose the place. Barbosa would hold on for the last podium spot even though Reitveld was pushing him hard. They finished just 0.69 seconds apart. 1st. Sonic Costello, 50 laps. 2nd. Mango Birdbrain, -10.609 3rd. Mercarian Barbosa, -1 laps. 4th. Katier Reitveld, -1 laps. 5th. Caz Freschi, -1 laps. 6th. Avier Horsforth, -25 laps. Fastest lap, Costello, 26.018 The win allowed Costello to close the gap by two points as they are the only two battling for the championship. Behind, Reitveld looks likely to take second ahead of Barbosa and Fuhr. See ORC, Page 19

WIN L$1,000 in the M2’S Eagle Eye Photo ID Contest! If you think you know where this picture was taken, e-mail your answer to [email protected] along with your avatar’s name. The deadline for this week’s contest is Dec. 15. No one correctly identified last week’s photo as The New Vibe HQ in Shaea. For a complete list of rules for the contest, visit the M2 website at www.metaversemessenger.com.

Page 10 The Metaverse Messenger December 16, 2008

AVATAR ISLAND OFFERS A QUIET beach front to while away the time as you wait for your new face lif, as well as three new user orientation areas. If you go there, be sure to check out the underwater areas with their spectacular views.. - Photos by.THE SOTW TEAM

Sim of the Week: A new you

By THE SOTW STAFF NORINN RICHARD - Lead writer VIOLETTA HEART - Contributing writer Come and walk the red carpet with the team from Sim of the week. See the paparazzi descend like sharks in a feeding frenzy. See the gathered crowds waiting to for just one glimpse of a famous face. The shutter clicks, the flash cube strobes, and *poof* here we are at Avatar Island. Norinn, did they get my good side? (Of course they did. You only have good sides.) Avatar Island is a standalone island in the Western Sea. It has one of the nicest layouts I have seen in a long time in Second Life. The island itself is laid out in a solar cross pattern with four building at the North East, North West, South East and South West points. A perfectly circular, giant ring surrounds the central business district with three more sets of buildings at the very outer edge at North East, South West, and South East corners. These three sets of buildings are the New User Orientation buildings. The teleport point drops you off on the Western arm of the solar cross. The outer ring is accessible by flying and is largely a rest and recreation area with cabanas, sea walls, and beach front sunbathing areas. In a ring around the main building is a high end mall featuring such designers as

RPD, Sunsations, Aeryglow Wildlife, Something Fishy, Bryce Designs (be sure to check Bryce Tully’s hair designs out, he features some of the best male prim hair I have ever seen in Second Life), MM by Rockwell Maltz, Rha! by Rhaorth Antonelli, and Cryogen Skins by Michelle Margetts. Now we come to the fun part. The main purpose of Avatar Island is to house CyberExtruder. It is billed as “The only automated service in Second Life that converts your photograph to a face texture for your SL character. Results are delivered in about one minute.” Want to look like Brad Pitt? They can do it. Want to look like Angelina Jolie? They can do it. Want to *gasp* look like YOURSELF? They can do it. At the front entrance on the West side are two Try-Before-You-Buy booths. To operate the booths merely step inside and click the green button. Your avatar is bombarded with microwaves for 20 second (you will see your Avatar’s bones but don’t worry, she will be alright in the end…the smoking and green, glowing tinge to your skin eventually goes away). (Norinn, I promise, the green glow will go away…now come and stand beside me so I can see the back of the cupboards.) (Next time you expose me to strange radiation that turns me green, I want the super strength and anger management issues

See SOTW, Page 11

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SL Translation Services Professional translations from and into any of the following languages: Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German and French. website: http://sltranslation.services.officelive.com

Andraca (131, 184, 39) LOOKING LIKE A HIGH tech dermatologist or plastic surgeon's office, CyberExtruders facial tatoo program whisks you away for a face lift experience like no other.

SOTW

From Page 10 tos. CyberExtruder is owned by Korvel Noh, Fromic Beck, Trieste Jamus, Trogg, Dave Surface, Whaley Bailey and Captain Borgaine. We always close with a statement that you should visit the sim yourself to see what we missed. That is particularly true this time. We only went through the maze once, so entire sections of it remain to be explored! Mija will then return to offer more handpicked goodness for you. If you have a suggestion for where her handpicked selection should be, drop us a line! Don’t forget that residents in the Sim of the Week get a ten percent discount on ads ordered during their sim’s week.

that go with it.) When the machine is done, it spits out a link to a webpage where you can upload a .jpeg of a photo for them to apply to your avatar’s settings. They give you hints on lighting, hair, accessories (ie: glasses, facial jewelry, etc.) to make a good picture for the process. I didn’t have one of myself to use so I found one of Cindy Crawford on line and used that. The results were shown to me in about a minute and were amazing. This process creates a facial tattoo. CyberExtruder warns that you must have modify rights to the skin you are wearing in order to use this service. If you do not, the facial tattoo will not apply to your skin. This service costs $2700L for one photo, $4000L Wish you’d rez here, for two, and $5400 for three pho- The SOTW Team

IM Franco Medrano E-mail: [email protected]

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ABOVE, OBJECTS ARE SET up for Dr. Kalman Kaplan’s recent symposium on the topic of “Therapy versus Tragedy: A Biblical Approach to Mental Health.” - Photo by DAGMAR KOJISHI

SLICE

Much of traditional psychotherapy is based on Greek tragedies focused on pathology (can you say Oedipus Rex? Nice try), which stands in marked contrast to what Kaplan calls hope-filled Bible stories, such as the story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son Isaac, who was saved at the last second by God and who then grew up to be a blessing to his father and a nation. The Western world “has it all reversed,” Kaplan told the SunTimes. “They look at the Bible as being an enslaving doctrine. That’s not the way we see it at all. It gives people free will. In the Greek world, people are fated. You can’t possibly get over any dysfunction.” The course was in demand enough to lead the college to offer the course a second time this fall. None of which would matter much to us, except that Dr. Kaplan presented this symposium in SL. It was set at a place called SL

From Page 5 Institute for Clinical Education multi-media aspects. The sympo(yes, that’s right, SLICE—no re- sium was to start with a brief lationship to this column). The presentation using slides and invitation I saw said, in part, voice, and then mainly involve a “This activity is intended for discussion of “the topics prethose who are involved in coun- sented with participants using seling or healthcare and might text chat.” include psychologists, counThat could mean Dr. Kaplan selors, hospice workers, nurses, (and course co-creator and chapsocial workers, and chaplains as lain Elizabeth Jones, coordinator well as students and other care for UIC’s Religion, Spirituality givers but all interested avatars and Mental Health program) are welcome to register. It would continue to communicate via be especially interesting to have voice, or it could mean that all some of you who are currently will engage in text chat at that engaged in SL counseling activ- point. ities to join the discussion.” In any case, they’ve chosen to There’s just so much to mine present this symposium using SL there. rather than, say, a Skype conferFor one thing, it’s an interest- ence or some Web-based confering (for me) tie to a earlier col- encing system. umn in which we talked about I’m sure they use other methcounselors using SL. ods as well, but their use of SL as It’s interesting because it was a teaching method I find particulimited to the first 10 to re- lar intriguing. I’ll be interested to spond—I assume this was see how it turns out, and what it mainly to make absolutely cer- implies for others teaching in SL. tain lag would be no problem, so Heck, I’m just intrigued that that participants would be able to there is an SL Institute for Clinihave a high-quality experience. cal Education. I’ll get back to It’s interesting because of the you about that one.

Be virtually visible!

December 16, 2008 The Metaverse Messenger Page 13

A MEMORIAL AT THE RECENt Keeping Kids Safe event lists the names of those who have died as the victims of violent crime. - Photo by SHERRIE SHEPHERD.

FOCUS victim and recounts them as their photos come into view, two of which are her very own sons. One would think she knew every one of these victims personally since she spoke with such empathy and familiarity. When asked whether that was the case, she responded that she came to know them, after their passing, through their families as they participated in support groups. She said “It is sad that we all have this in common.” The mission and core values of the organization are prominently featured on the wall emphasizing the commitment to community in fighting hate and violence between youth. The promise of compassionate service is highlighted in the form of Individual and/or family counseling, anger management, victims assistance, out-reach programs, and straight talk about vi-

From Page 1

olence for at-risk youth. It’s obvious where Hawkins draws her inspiration as photos and quotes from Martin Luther King and Gandhi adorn the walls of her SL headquarters. In fact, Hawkins has organized peaceful demonstrations in RL and SL to bring awareness to the epidemic of violent crime and the learning programs offered by Drive by Agony. She plans another in-world demonstration in April of 2009. A true benefit of SL is that the message of the organization has reached a worldwide audience that may never have had exposure to it without the opportunity that SL has afforded. The years since the death of her sons have been a true journey for Hawkins, however, not a journey of grief and despair but one of hope and courage and activism. When she lectures, her

straight forward approach is second to none, and no one walks away without feeling empowered and or touched by her experience and spoken words. “I try to keep my head up and move forward,” said Hawkins. She went on to express it best when she said, “Life is too short to hate, be jealous or envious. Try a little forgiveness and love. It goes further!” What you notice most about this remarkable woman is genuineness and a feeling that all that she says and all that she does is straight from the heart. To find out more about Drive by Agony and the Life Learning Programs, contact Carmen Gray or visit her Life Learning Center in Oleander, or surf to the organization’s website at www.drivebyagony.net. For general information about the festival, go to http://slhumanrightsfestival.wordpress.com/.

Wanted: Fashion writers E-mail [email protected] for details

Page 14 The Metaverse Messenger December 16, 2008

LOLLY MELNIK AND CARL SUSA enjoy couples dancing in elegant attire at the new Majestic in San Diego. Operations manager Emmie Fairymeadow said, "We wanted it to be classy yet jazzy with a bit of a modern feel." Dane Benford is the builder. - PHOTO BY SITEARM MADONNA

subject matter was distressing for one member of our group. It could have been easily cleaned up simply by sending all prims owned by people not of the group back to their original owners. However, the group administrator was not available, so each object had to be sent back individually. What could have been a minute long operation took almost an hour to clean up. When does a prank cross the line from Second Life to Real Life? Those buried, invisible prims took over three weeks to find and remove. Most were found when one of our members was building and accidentally clicked on them while trying to position

LINE

From Page 6 walls. Yet, during this time the explosions sound effects continued to rage across our land. It is likely that the pranksters didn’t know one of our group members is subject to migraines in Real and noise can be one of her triggers. She was unable to visit our land for more then a few minutes until the last of those prims were gone. Finally, when does pranking and griefing become one and the same? The bonfire clean up, while a onerous task, was easily accomplished, just annoying. The invisible prims and their sound effects were another matter. When the other group was asked (several times) to find and

remove the noise maker prims, our group was told the person that placed them, “was not on very much,” “would probably not want them back anyway as they were glitched,” and “your group administrator can take care of it.” Have we forgotten common courtesy and common decency in this Second Life? Where has the lessons of “You made the mess, you clean it up” gone? And (worse yet) what would our mothers think if they saw us littering all over someone else’s land? Pranking can be fun and silly, but, please everyone, have the decency to clean up after yourself if asked.

Be virtually visible!

December 16, 2008 The Metaverse Messenger Page 15

show the same thing,” he said. Other aspects of the virtual campus include classrooms and discussion area, spread out over three sims with very special names (which are top secret and highly classified. To reveal such information in this article may mean the torture and eventual death of a certain publisher). Techsan stated that the vTSCT instructors weren’t required to have a classroom, but they are encouraged to have one, and to involve the students in what those rooms should be and look like. Informal discussion areas, like the one used by Techsan, offer enticing seating for conversing on topics of interest and concern, including assignments. Techsan said, “I wanted them to know that they could talk to me, ask questions and make sure I understood.” The work of students is often displayed in galleries throughout the campus. Project managers for the facility created display boards to exhibit the photography and media designs of students. Each board has a mailbox underneath, so other students as well as visitors have a way to offer feedback on each student’s work. The campus also displays some Texan touches, such as the many wind turbines scattered throughout the sim (a common sight, such turbines number in the thousands and are most frequently seen in West Texas). TSTC ended the virtual realm a few years ago, after Techsan presented the idea of SL as a education platform during a meeting. “A couple times a year, our institution has Development Days for our faculty and staff,” he said as he began to explain. “[It’s] one of these ‘the Administration wanted to hear from all of us, present to them instead of the other way around.’ They wanted ideas,” he continued. As he had

VTSTC

From Page 3 some thoughts on how SL could be beneficial to student organizations and such, he presented the idea to those in attendance during a Development Day. Asked if it hard to convince the administration to establish a presence here, Techsan replied that it took the time of his presentation, which was about two minutes long. “The President knew immediately that we would be involved,” he added.

The first step in the project was to put together a team of people, including ChrisG Techsan and RickA Techsan, to investigate the uses of the environment. “We began seeing the potential of this env. for educational application and not just a communication platform,” said ChrisG, “[as well as] how to actually teach in SL.” He added, “This generated our attention and focused the team on how to really push the platform.” He also explained, “Kevin[RB Techsan] began by proving the validity of the platfrom by introducing it in his f2f (face-to-face) classes then eventually transitioning

it to fully online.” Classes offered at vTSCT include computer applications, professional development, photo digital Imaging and basic graphic design. To enroll in either the certificate or degree program, those interested should go to http://www.westtexas .tstc.edu/index.cfm?Action=Apply . Where it asks for the preferred campus to attend, applicants should select “Abilene.” Stella Schuler, SL resident and vTSTC advisor, can answer questions and help with any problems. Financial assistance is also available, and it’s not too late for interested residents to apply for federal aid with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ . As with any college, there will be transcripts to provide, assessments to take and questions to answer, but the process is actually very simple. And the benefits are tremendous. KevinRB Techsan explains why, “Well, this using this type if platform is kind of the best of both worlds, [as it offers] face to face and online classes. Online gives a lot of flexiblity to the student, but we also have that connection, engagement, with the instructor, that you may not get in an online class.” He adds, “Also, going to a class in your slippers is pretty cool.” To learn more about vTSTC, go to http://v.tstc.edu/ or visit the vTSTC sims. Those interested should register early. Registration for new students is open now through Jan. 9, while new student orientation for vTSTC is on January 10th. The staff at vTSTC has also added additional access to the campus via a direct SLURL at http://v.tst c.edu. This allows students to not only register for SL accounts, but to be placed directly onto the campus bypassing the help islands. For those who already have a registered account in SL, the direct SLURL allows them to be dropped directly onto the virtual campus.

Community Page 16



Support for Healing Weekly Meetings:

Sunday 08:00 AM SLT Tong Ren Energy Sharing Hosted by TongRen Writer at Catherine House Peer-to-peer distant healing modality for physical and psychological issues.

Monday 04:00 PM SLT



The Metaverse Messenger Sido (169, 195)

Depression Support Group Hosted by Industria Dowler at the Meeting Circle

Tuesday 06:00 PM SLT Tong Ren Energy Sharing Hosted by TongRen Writer at the Meeting Circle 07:00 PM SLT Loss for Life Hosted by Jenna Tapioca and Lavendermist McTeague at Catherine House This is a weight loss support group.

Thursday 08:00 PM SLT Anxiety Support Circle

December 16, 2008

Hosted by Glenn Oud and Reverie TimTam at Catherine House

Friday 07:00 PM SLT Loss for Life Hosted by Jenna Tapioca and Lavendermist McTeague at the Meeting Circle Monthly Meetings:

Saturday, Jan. 5 11:00 AM SLT GLBT Group Hosted by Industria Dowler at the Meeting Circle Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender issues. PFLAG and heterosexuals welcome!

Saturday, Jan. 19 11:00 AM SLT Fundraising Meeting Hosted by Industria Dowler at Catherine House Come help SFH's fundraising projects come to fruition! Impromptu Meetings:

*Random days 2:00 PM SLT

Buddhist Listening and Discussion Group Hosted by Jonno Zond at Catherine House Check events or contact Jonno for more info.

December 16, 2008 The Metaverse Messenger Page 17

Submitted by LORELEI JUNOT

Alliance Library System Smart Christmas Shopping on Investing InfoIsland Having a hard time with your shopping this gift giving season? Stop over at Investing Infoisland and check out our new exhibit on Smart Christmas Shopping. It’s full of tips and ideas for a brighter holiday, including how to plan for next year. For more info, contact Daisyblue Hefferma. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Investing%20InfoIsland/193/70/22 “Christmas on the Prairie: Readings from Pioneer Journals and Memoirs” Tuesday, Dec. 16, 9 p.m. SLT Olathe Public Library on Talis Cybrary Island Please join us for a cozy evening of revisiting the past. We will sit around a campfire, sip hot beverages and listen to the words of American prairie pioneers as they describe the hardships and joys of the holiday season on the harsh and isolated Great Plains of the 1800s and early 1900s. For more information contact Leeorie Alter. Program will be in voice. Spanish Holiday Celebrations Spanish Holiday Traditions Exhibit at Mi Pueblo Cantina, Info Island International, Dec. 1 through Jan. 6, 2008 (exhibits by Marimar Berchot).

December 10th 5:00 PM SLT - 6:30 PM SLT Jazz Cat - Infotainment Island In addtion to our regular 56:30 PM SLT Monday Night Blue’s session and Friday Night Smooth Jazz dance, this week we will be adding a couple’s event on Wednesday, December 10th. This will be a formal dress event with a prize of 1000 Lindens to the couple in the best holiday finery. The Jazz Cat is one of the most romantic spots for dancing on SL, built on a lake - now frozen over for the season and skating! The Jazz Cat offers a beautiful dance floor and smaller dance spots around the lake for couples to use. Teleports can transport couples to spots in the clouds or high up under the stars for dancing too!

Christmas Ball at Land of Lincoln White House Land of Lincoln will hold a Christmas Ball at the White House on Dec. 13, from 5-7pm slt. Period music will be provided by Gabrielle Riel. In conjunction with the Ball, we are holding a Victorian Christmas Tree decorating contest. All are welcome to decorate a tree as for the 1860s. A tree to use as a base will be available on the Land of Lincoln Welcome Center, and offered as an attachment in group notices. To be eligible for the contest, full perms trees must be dropped on Daisyblue Hefferman no later than Saturday, Dec. Celebrate the Holidays Span- 13, at 9am slt. Ball guests ish Style with the Music of will vote during the evening. Joaquin Gustav, at Mi Pueblo Cantina, Info Island Interna- Cloudy Rainbow Book Talk in tional, Dec. 14, 2008, 4 p.m. slt. Reader’s Garden (sponsored by Marimar Berchot On Tuesday, December 16th and Abbey Zenith) at 6 pm SLT, join us for an interview/book talk with our very Spain: Culture, Music, and own Dulcie Mills (Debbie De Sports at the Spanish Center, Louise in real life) in the Info Island International, Dec. 7 Reader’s Garden, Cybrary City through Jan. 7, 2008 (design and 1, in celebration of her romance exhibits by Marimar Berchot and novel, Cloudy Rainbow. PresenPI Illios, content supplied and tation will be in text and here is written by pacodemelk Allen) what Dulcie is planning: “...talk about my experience publishing Couples Dance - Formal Holi- the book and touch on some of See LIBRARY, Page 23 day Dress

Page 18 The Metaverse Messenger December 16, 2008

DWRL report

By SHARON KEATS Staff writer

As DWRL’s season nears its end, two superb races took to the tracks last Friday. The headline event was a 100 lap figure eight event that marked the end of the TROO season. First up, however, was a non-points Pavement Late Model race. The field of five cars featured an interesting mix of drivers. Off the start, Subwoofer Fuhr took an early lead as the remaining cars battled over the places behind. On lap two, a problem caused the leader to drop to second behind Katier Reitveld, with Sonic Costello in third ahead of the impressive Skyler Darkfold. Reitveld held the lead for three laps before everyone, except Fuhr, hit trouble and dropped to five seconds behind the leader. The DLMs were proving tricky cars to handle, and frequent errors and glitches added to the entertainment. Through it all, Fuhr continued to lead, while behind him Reitveld slotted into second on lap 15 of the planned 35. Costello almost lost third, at this point, to Darkfold but held on under pressure. He retook second when Reitveld hit trouble on lap 21. The Reitveld/Costello battle was proving to be the highlight of the race. Behind them, Darkfold was proving impressive but unable to handle the ultimate pace of the two ahead. Caz Freschi brought up the rear at this stage, unable to run with the lead four. He did, after losing time initially, hold the gap to Darkfold and slowly pull her in. Meanwhile, Fuhr up front was running a stable six to eight seconds ahead of the rest of the podium. Costello and Reitveld were now locked in a ferocious battle and frequently swapped places. The battling was intense, with one driving taking the place on one corner, then the other retak-

ing it just a lap later. The battle finished on lap 30, when Reitveld lost touch with Costello after the entire field was hit with a technical glitch. So Fuhr won by almost a lap from Costello who just held on to the lead lap. Reitveld cruised home in third ahead of Freschi, who grabbed fourth with just two laps to go. 1st. Subwoofer Fuhr, 35 laps. 2nd. Sonic Costello, -7.308 3rd. Katier Reitveld, -1 laps. 4th. Caz Freschi, -1 laps. 5th. Skyler Darkfold, -1 laps. Fastest lap, Darkfold, 6.035

The TROO event followed up the entertainment with a 100 lap event, which had the debut of a new style of TROO car. Pink Punk Racing launched their 2009 liveried Metro 6R4 TROO car at the event, and it proved to be close to the pace. The Black, White and Pink car featured well in qualifying, and off the start slotted into an early third place. Costello took the early lead from Suku Ming, with Greg Drayman in fourth ahead of Fuhr. Behind them, two trucks had qualified for the final. However, Darkfold dropped out at the start. This left Freschi as the only truck, which meant he’d have a quiet race. Reitveld said, “It was a shame Darkfold didn’t race. In [the] previous TROO events I’ve run trucks against trucks, they were excellent fun. TROO cars are more fun, but certainly I’d encourage people without a TROO to run Trucks.” By Lap 20, Fuhr had taken the lead with Fuhr and Costello behind. Reitveld was a lap down, having had some incidents that put her out of contention with Drayman in fourth. The race settled down at this stage, with Fuhr continuing to lead from Costello with Ming in close attendance.

See RESULTS, Page 20

Neo-Realms Fishing Camp 2008-12-09 - Event Rod Tourney First Place: GoldQueen Dezno Second Place: Tony Sydney Third Place: Lacey Latrell Best Catch: Myke Philbin

Third Place: Sal Salubrius Best Catch: Starhawk Ranger

2008-12-09 - Open Rod Tourney First Place: Sal Salubrius Second Place: Carol1313 Greenwood Third Place: Marikha Hutton Best Catch: polo Ellils 2008-12-09 - Event Rod Tourney First Place: KaliCat Kennedy Second Place: mikelz Ember Third Place: Walther Kondrad Best Catch: Maggiez Emery

2008-12-10 - Open Rod Tourney First Place: Sal Salubrius Second Place: Cherish Blazer Third Place: Lacey Latrell Best Catch: Carol1313 Greenwood 2008-12-10 - Open Rod Tourney First Place: Marikha Hutton Second Place: Carol1313 Greenwood Third Place: Anastazia Lemieux Best Catch: BaaS Tone 2008-12-10 - Event Rod Tourney First Place: Nikee London Second Place: Lacey Latrell Third Place: Jaki Sismondi Best Catch: Jaki Sismondi

2008-12-09 - Open Rod Tourney First Place: Giada Visconti Second Place: GoldQueen Dezno Third Place: KaliCat Kennedy Best Catch: BaaS Tone

2008-12-10 - Event Rod Tourney First Place: KaliCat Kennedy Second Place: Nikee London Third Place: GoldQueen Dezno Best Catch: Zang Itano

2008-12-09 - Event Rod Tourney First Place: Avner Raymaker Second Place: Tina14 Lane Third Place: Tashi Jewell Best Catch: LadyBug Bashly

2008-12-11 - Event Rod Tourney First Place: Destiny Divisadero Second Place: Odda Bing Third Place: Lance Lafleur Best Catch: Destiny Divisadero

2008-12-09 - Event Rod Tourney First Place: Lacey Latrell Second Place: Starhawk Ranger Third Place: Nikee London Best Catch: Maggiez Emery 2008-12-09 - Event Rod Tourney First Place: Giada Visconti Second Place: Carol1313 Greenwood Third Place: FoxyKim Keegan Best Catch: FoxyKim Keegan 2008-12-10 - Event Rod Tourney First Place: Tashi Jewell Second Place: Borg Capalini

2008-12-11 - Event Rod Tourney First Place: KaliCat Kennedy Second Place: Lacey Latrell Third Place: Tashi Jewell Best Catch: francois Uba 2008-12-11 - Event Rod Tourney First Place: Lacey Latrell Second Place: Jaki Sismondi Third Place: Tashi Jewell Best Catch: Melodilynn Freenote

TOP 5 2007 TOUR Name

Points First Second Third Best Catch

KaliCat Kennedy Allissa Demar Nikee London Suma Sleeper Avner Raymaker

1113 994 983 664 661

121 107 111 61 71

96 89 81 61 59

84 83 90 64 49

Hearts Enchanted (203, 192, 24) Samarai Tokyo (161, 96, 24) Alston (41, 87, 22) For a complete tournament schedule, visit fish.neorealms.com

63 55 40 55 32

December 16, 2008 The Metaverse Messenger Page 19

MIDKNIGHT AUER AND CHER HARRINGTON play the Majestic in San Diego City in SL. Auer, one of real world San Diego's premier male jazz vocalists (David Patrone Jazz Quartet), simulcasts live from La Jolla every Wednesday. - PHOTO BY SITEARM MADONNA

ORC

From Page 9

Sadly, only the top three have Freschi had a bad crash on run a complete full season. lap 29 and joined the battle for five laps before crashing again Mango Birdbrain - 654 Points and ultimately retiring with nine Sonic Costello - 650 Points to go. Katier Reitveld - 592 Points Meanwhile, Barbosa was Mercarian Barbosa - 558 Points looking secure in third behind Subwoofer Fuhr - 434 Points Ming who was chasing the race leader hard. The truck race would see She almost took the lead on more intense and very close rac- lap 45 but was unable to pass the ing. championship leader and had to So close was the racing that settle for second. as the field streamed through the Back in fourth, Reitveld won bumpy kink near the end of the the battle when Birdbrain had a first lap Reitveld’s truck took off series of poor laps, and she rolled over them and landed on Suku off the last 15 laps under no presMing’s truck. sure. The championship contender looked unflustered by the 1st. Sonic Costello, 50 laps. Total addition to her truck. Incredibly, Time : 1148.291 Reitveld completed the pass and 2nd. Suku Ming, -1.434 ended the lap just ahead of the 3rd. Mercarian Barbosa, -15.510 Flying Fur driver, with Freschi 4th. Katier Reitveld, -2 laps. right behind. 5th. Mango Birdbrain, -2 laps. On the next lap, Reitveld 6th. Caz Freschi, -9 laps. rolled in the same corner after Fastest lap, Birdbrain, 21.634 accidental contact with Freschi, putting her off the back of the Costello looks almost certain field. to take the championship with Up front, Ming soon caught Ming a secure second. Likewise, Costello but the two were evenly Barbosa looks secure in third matched. Ming took the lead on ahead of Reitveld, who has benlap three but was unable to keep efited from racing in every event. the place. By lap 11, Costello was back in front. Sonic Costello - 598 Points Behind them, two other bat- Suku Ming - 566 Points tles had developed. Caz Freschi Mercarian Barbosa - 542 Points and Mercarian Barbosa fre- Katier Reitveld - 506 Points quently swapped third and fourth Dale Gears - 494 Points places until Freschi lost time on Subwoofer Fuhr - 434 Points lap 17. One event remains for the The other battle involved Re- Trucks, while the Buggys will itveld and Birdbrain. For 33 laps, run three more events, including the two squabbled and swapped a double event in two weeks positions. time.

The M2 is now hiring!

Page 20 The Metaverse Messenger December 16, 2008

RESULTS It was clear at this stage that the race was down to these three, short of a bad crash. By half distance, this was looking to be the case with Costello now in the lead from Ming and Fuhr. The whole field stabilised for a while, and by lap 80, with 20 to go, the places were unchanged. Costello led by a couple of seconds from Ming with Fuhr just behind. Drayman was on the lead lap, with Reitveld’s problems putting her two laps down while Freschi was over 10 down. Ming and Costello were close together by now. Over the last 20 laps, they battled hard. Ming passed Costello, just after the flag dropped capping off a

From Page 18

fantastic season finale. 1st., Sonic Costello 100 laps. 2nd. Suku Ming, -0.245 3rd. Subwoofer Fuhr, -10.712 4th. Greg Drayman, -1 laps. 5th. Katier Reitveld, -4 laps. 6th. Caz Freschi, -18 laps. Despite finishing third, Fuhr took the championship by six points from Drayman. Ming and Costello both missed a couple of events but enjoyed a battle for third. Subwoofer Fuhr - 294 Points Greg Drayman - 288 Points Suku Ming - 196 Points Sonic Costello - 184 Points Quick Gazov - 98 Points Mango Birdbrain - 88 Points

ROTW

is the library in Briarhaven Township. It is where I found safety in learning things about myself without the drama that sometimes can be found in this endeavor. Briarhaven Township is an oasis in the desert of Second Life Gorean sims. It was founded to be a “safe” learning place for those who wish to learn about Gor minus the drama.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE THE OUTSIDE WORLD TO KNOW ABOUT SL? I would like for the outside world to know that Second Life is a wonderful place full of great people. We are just the opposite of what people on the outside tend to think of us. There are great minds here, brilliant, intelligent and amazing people from all around the world. Second Life is what you make of it; you take the good with the bad and move on, just like “real life.” The possibilities are endless.

From Page 8 avatar. DO YOU HAVE AN SL PARTNER? IF SO, TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT HIM/HER. No, I don’t. Been there, done that. My current mission in Second Life does not require a partner and would be undermined if I had one. WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO SEE IN FUTURE SL UPGRADES? I would like to see the ability to add more groups, and a way to filter the friends list to associated groups of our choosing.

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE PERSON (NON-PARTNER) IN SL, AND WHY? Gabi Fanshaw, my Gorean sister. She has always been very kind and helpful. Rexx Capalini, one of my first Second Life friends. Brilliant guy with a great personality. A girl’s best friend. A genius in my WHAT ONE THING ABOUT mind. Tony Upshaw, my protecSECOND LIFE WOULD tor in Gor. He is one of the first YOU CHANGE IF YOU people I met in Second Life over COULD? a year ago. Good friend, great I would make a red flag guy. warning that would pop up when people create an account. It DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE would let everyone know that LINDEN? IF SO, WHO AND Second Life is what you make of WHY? it, but also remind everyone that No favorite Linden. we bring part of us to the grid when we join and that we should PIE OR CHEESE, AND WHY? Pie. Why have cheese when “play” responsibly and remember that there is a real person I can choose the flavor of my fawith real feelings behind every vorite pie and eat it.

Have news you’d like published in The Metaverse Messenger? Send press releases to [email protected]

December 16, 2008 The Metaverse Messenger Page 21

Second Life publisher publishes virtual romance Debbie De Louise (Dulcie Mills in Second Life), the Associate Publisher of the Second Life library magazine, RezLibris, and a writer for the Metaverse Messenger newspaper, is proud to announce the publication of her first real life novel, “Cloudy Rainbow,” a paranormal romance that features a virtual world, a cat, a clairvoyant and the answer to one of life’s hardest questions. De Louise wrote the book after the loss of her beloved 15year old cat, Floppy, last fall. “I was inspired to start writing a novel that Floppy would be a part of,” she said, “but as people usually write best about their own experiences, I also decided to include a virtual world in this book as well as my college experiences on a student newspaper. I took all of these elements and wrote for a short time each night after work. “By the following spring, I had a 90,000 word manuscript that was fictional but also incredibly personal and heartfelt, something I wanted to share with others who have lost someone they’ve really loved whether it was a relative, friend, or pet.” “Cloudy Rainbow” is told in five parts, one for each of the main characters, and spans 16 years in a non-linear sequence. Starting in Part One several months before the ending in Part Five, the plot follows the main

character, appropriately named Dulcie Mills, through her college days to her mid-thirties, from her first true love experienced during the early years of the Internet up to the current explosion of virtual worlds and a tragic loss that she is given a unique chance to redeem. Addressing topics of reincarnation and soul transfer in similar ways as Greg Iles’ “Sleep No More” and Nora Roberts’ “Midnight Bayou,” “Cloudy Rainbow,” features an interesting mix of technology and the paranormal and will also appeal to cat lovers. After trying traditional methods of publishing, De Louise decided to self-publish her novel. She researched several POD (print on demand) companies and chose Booklocker.com because it was “small and customer-oriented.” She also liked the fact that they screen all submissions and is selective in what they print, accepting only 35 per cent of manuscripts. “To me, the time and effort of soliciting agents while my manuscript grew old, was a big factor in my decision,” De Louise said. “I did not have dreams of fame and fortune. Most first novelists are more realistic than that. It was a memorial to my cat but, even more than that, I knew it would give a message to others, beyond any religious beliefs, which might console them after

a loved one’s loss.” This was not De Louise’s only effort to pay tribute to her cat. As Mills, she operates a pet memorial center, Rainbow Gardens, located on Cybrary City (map coordinates) that was built a few months after Floppy’s death as a place to go in Second Life for consolation and where visitors can

have photos of their deceased pets displayed in a pet viewer. “Cloudy Rainbow” is available as a downloadable eBook and/or trade paper from www.booklocker.com and is available as a trade paper only through Amazon.com and other booksellers.

Be Virtually Visible!

Business Page 22



Social network marketing and customer relations All I wanted was an H2O™ mop. You’ve seen them advertised on television. They look like the old-fashioned stick vacuums, only instead of a bag there’s a water supply, and instead of sucking up the dirt they steam it away. Clever gadgets. While I love the Swiffer Wet Jet™ for the tile floors in the bathroom and kitchen, I’m less than pleased with the sticky residue it leaves behind on the wooden floors. I hate feeling like I live in a movie theater every time I walk across the floor. The H2O mop seemed like the perfect solution. Of course, just because it works on TV doesn’t mean it works in real life — just look at those ShamWow™ cloths. When that guy in the commercial demonstrates them while yelling at the camera he can take a wet ShamWow and use it to leave behind a completely dry surface. In my hands, however, all a wet ShamWow leaves behind is water. Maybe I’m not doing it right. Plus, he never mentions that they can’t be washed with detergent, which means that they need their own separate wash cycle. I have no idea what happens if you disregard this instruction. Maybe they absorb all the deter-

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gent and the next time you use them they fill the house with foam allowing the guy from the commercial to sneak in and steal your CD player. The point is, I wanted to know more about the H20 mop and, seeing as how I write about advertising and such, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore the “social network marketing” that’s all the rage among cutting edge marketing experts. Social network marketing, we’re told, is like having a thousand or more friends who share information, trade handy tips, and possibly even tell cute stories about a particular product. You know, just like in real life (if your real life is in Pleasantville). Of course, in reality, social networking is a mish-mash of conflicting testimonies. I tried getting some information from YouTube and while I admit the results were entertaining, they weren’t particularly informative. One video shows a woman calling the company because her mop spread hot water all over, burned her baby’s foot, and scratched up the floor. That will happen when you fail to put the cloth on the end of the mop like it shows in the directions (which the woman complained had been “blurry”). In another video two girls filmed themselves sideways as they demonstrated that the H20 mop

wouldn’t clean a stain off a carpet if you just leave it in one place, as opposed to moving it back and forth (as per the instructions). On the other hand, the frenetically energetic man on a morning show found it to be quite effective as he cleaned the floors for a family of five. As for text reviews, I discovered that the H20 mop was “a piece of junk,” “everything I could ask for,” and “has no learning curve at all.” (Say what?) Yep. That was helpful. The only sane advice I got was from my wife. “If you don’t like it, you can always get your money back,” she pointed out. Of course. The next step was finding out who sold them. The logical choice was Wal-Mart, so I gave them a call. After going through several “Your call is very important to us” messages combined with a brain-challenging puzzle which involved pushing various numbers in response to ambiguous questions, I was finally connected to a young girl who had obviously been wandering through on unrelated business when the phone rang and she decided to pick it up. Either that or she was just plain stupid. “Do you have the H20 mop in stock?” I asked. “I’ll put you through to the



December 16, 2008

chemical department,” she answered. “I don’t think that will help,” I said. “Well, I don’t know what we have in stock, I have to send you to the right department,” she answered.” “Sure,” I said, “but the chemical department isn’t the right department.” “Well I can’t answer your question,” she said. That’s because you’ve got the brains of a turnip that’s been hooked up to an iPod for a hundred hours straight, I thought. “I know that, but it’s just a mop, it doesn’t have anything to do with the chemical department,” I said. “Is there anyone here who wants to talk to this guy?” she said, thoughtfully holding the phone a good six inches away so I wouldn’t hear. I was on hold for about half a minute, fully expecting another voice to come on the line to deal with this difficult customer. I was somewhat surprised, then, when the same voice came back. “Just hold on while I put you through to household supplies,” she said. “That makes more sense,” I said. “Well,” she said indignantly, “you should have said right at the beginning…” She got no further.

“Just get me away from you!” I yelled. To her credit, this was one instruction she seemed capable of carrying out. In the end, I bought the mop. Not from Wal-Mart, mind you. Even though it turned out they had them in stock, I spent another half hour on the phone finding a different supplier. No way I was going to spend my money at a place with customer service that sounded like a bad sketch on Saturday Night Live. When you come down to it, this is the foundation of social network marketing. It’s not exciting, and it’s not particularly cutting edge, but if your customer service sucks, you’re going to lose business. I doubt that all Wal-Mart stores have such catastrophically poor service, but those that do will suffer. As for social network marketing, when you open your product up to reviews from every braindamaged moron in the country, the results are bound to be less than optimal. Just because it involves the latest in communications technology doesn’t mean it’s a good medium for marketing. I’d heard about the mop through traditional advertising and I decided to try it based on the old-fashioned “money back guarantee.” The rest was a pain in the butt.

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December 16, 2008 The Metaverse Messenger Page 23

LIBRARY the themes in the book so that people would not necessarily have had to read the book.” “Cloudy Rainbow” is available as a downloadable eBook and/or trade paper from www.booklocker.com and is available as a trade paper through Amazon.com Alexandrian Free Library: Caledon, Winterfell, Steelhead, New Toulouse, New Babbage & Amatsu Shima Library Events for December 16-17 The Alexandr1an Free Library welcomes it’s newest member: The Amatsu Library Amatsu Shima http://slurl.com/secondlife/Amatsu%20Shima/175/221/22 The Amatsu Library is a small community library serving Amatsu, Shima, Okiya and all interested residents of Second Life. Amatsu Shima (Heavenly Island) is a Japanese themed island sim. The Okiya is a school for geisha. The students study Japanese history as well as the various arts and culture associated with geisha in the Edo Period (1603 to 1868), and their expression in Second Life. The Library’s collections focus on these and related subjects. All materials are in English. Pomona Writer, Geisha Mishiori for Amatsu Shima Okiya, invites you to contact her if you wish a personal tour or have any questions. Suggestions are cordially welcomed.

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terials on one of Worth’s famous patrons, Isabella Stewart Gardner.Indeed, the exhibit features the unveiling of a new item of SL couture! Especially for this exhibit, Miss Laval has created an in-world re-imagined version of one of Mrs. Gardner’s favorite dresses by Worth. The Caledon Library would like to extend its thanks to the Isabella Stewart Gardenr Museum of Boston, Massachusetts, for its kind permission to use materials relating to the life of Mrs. Gardner Steelhead Public Library Alice in Wonderland series Dec. 11, 4-5pm slt Steelhead Hotel Ballroom http://slurl.com/secondlife/Steelhead/75/156/26 Shalmendo Glineux brings Alice In Wonderland to life at the Steelhead Grand Hotel. Mr. Glineux will take us down the rabbit hole and help us solve the mystery of who actually stole the tarts. AND, you don’t even have to be at the hotel or logged into SL! You can listen to Shalmendo on the Gargoyle Wireless station! http://slan13.ipr365.com :10212

Weekly radio play broadcast from Radio Riel Thursday Dec 11th 7- 8pm http://slurl.com/secondlife/Winterfell%20Absinthe/78/128/22 Or tune in at http://music.radioriel.org Join Caledon Library collaboraNew Exhibit at the Winterfell tor Radio Riel for another Library Dec 1-31 thrilling hour of Radio Drama, Sir Gawain and The Green Sir Edward Pearse, Lord PrimNight, an Arthurian Christmas broke, presiding. Winterfell Palace Library, WinWinterfell Library Book Disterfell Taure En Lor http://slurl.com/secondlife/win- cussion Nation, by Terry Praterfell/130/190/25 chett Curated by JJ Drinkwater and Dec. 14 12– 1pm SLT Serra Anansi. Winterfell Palace Library, WinThis exhibit explores the terfell Taure En Lor Medieval alliterative poem “Sir http://slurl.com/secondlife/winGawain and the Green Knight,” terfell/130/190/25 a story which starts with ChristCome join us at the Winterfell mas at Camelot, and ends with Library to discuss this interesting Christmas in the wild land of Lo- new book! From the author gres. Several translations of them widely known for his Discworld poem are available for visitors to series, Nation is something new compare, as are a few of the myr- and stands alone in its own uniiad perspectives, from across the verse. This is a non-Discworld centuries on King Arthur and his novel that Terry said he felt he court. had to write over the last few years. Such a departure from the New Exhibit at the Caledon Li- expected continuation of the Disbrary cworld related “Tiffany Aching” “The Past Reimagined: Victo- series has already caused some rian Fashion and the Designs of serious deliberation and discusEladrienne Laval” sion about the book without even looking at its content. Whitehorn Library, Caledon VicCaledon Library Book of the toria City http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cale- Month Discussion & Listening don%20Victoria%20City/52/203 Party /23 A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Through February 2008 Dylan Thomas Eladrienne Laval’s real life Sunday December 14 1– 3pm background as an artist and a stu- SLT dent of History guides her SL de- HG Wells Memorial Library, sign work, and her experience Caledon Wellsian with the fabric arts informs both http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caleeye and her design choices. don%20Wellsian/225/236/23 This exhibit explores Miss Laval’s creations from source Take the Caledon Train, or use image though design and con- the handy Teleport from the struction, and places them in the Wellsian Hub. Or tune in at context of her inspirations from http://music.radioriel.org Victorian art and Fashion. A secWe’ll listen to, and discuss, tion of the exhibit looks at one of a recording of this much-loved Miss Laval’s favorite designers, tale, read by Dylan Thomas himCharles Frederick Worth, the fa- self. If time permits, we will also ther of haute couture. Caledon listen to a recording by the Library curator Siri Woodget has Nashville Symphony of John collaborated with Miss Laval to Corigliano’s “A Dylan Thomas supplement the exhibit with ma- Trilogy”

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Second Penguins:

To a higher court

By DRAKE BACON M2 columnist I think it’s time we check in on our old enemy, SCO Microsystems, to see how they’re doing. The final judgment in SCO v. Novell has come in, and it’s not good news to SCO. The overview is basically SCO owes Novell about $3.5 million US, and Novell can shut down any lawsuit SCO started to shut down Linux usage. The money is due now, and Novell already told SCO to stop suing IBM, Red Hat, Sequent, AutoZone and others. So what did SCO do, but appeal to the 10th Circuit US Appeals Court. The fat lady had sung, but a player wanted to contest the call. You are invested in popcorn futures, right? It still looks like to be a growth industry. Just don’t violate Myspace‘s Terms Of Service while you do it. The case of US v. Lori Drew drew much concern over it’s verdict. For those who don’t know, this case concerns the actions of Drew on a Myspace account, where she posed as a teenage boy for the purpose of toying around with an emotional Megan Meier, 13 at the time. Around October 2006, Drew posted a final message to Meier causing the teenager to commit suicide. When the community found out who was behind the suicide, the outcry forced a Missouri prosecutor to investigate. Since Myspace‘s TOS requires prospective members submit “truthful and accurate” information on registration, prosecutors theorized that the TOS violation was equal to “unauthorized access” and charged Drew under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986. A jury came back, tossing out a felony charge of accessing a computer w/o authorization to cause harm, hanging on any conspiracy charges, but finding her guilty of three lesser charges of general access w/o authorization. However, the message came out: Violate a TOS, go to jail. That’s raising the lawyer’s

hackles. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and Public Citizen joined with 14 individual college researchers and submitted an amicus brief warning of the effects the judgment can make should it stand. There’s a few outs, though, on canceling the finding. The judge has taken a motion under advise of council to dismiss the case. Many issues have come up, none of them covered by the CFAA. If the motion is denied, the defense is planning on appealing. Appealing may not be the best thing for prospective Mac cloner Psystar. The company has lost all it’s counterclaims against Apple, in Apple’s lawsuit to stop Psystar from making Mac clones. Now, technically, it’s a bit easy to clone a Mac these days. Most now sport Intel Core 2 Duo processors and are basically PC’s that use EFI, or Extensible Firmware Interface, to boot into the system instead of a legacy BIOS – a concept that’s been around since 1984 starting with the IBM PC. For most PC’s, you just need the right drivers, an EFI emulator, and a copy of MacOS X you legally bought. Unfortunately, the EULA on MacOS X says (and I paraphrase) “run only on Mac hardware.” It also says on non-server versions “run directly on Mac hardware, no emulation allowed!” Psystar would buy a copy of MacOS X Leopard and pre-install it, and also provide all the updates instead of Apple (which as far as they know, you’re on the wrong hardware and shouldn’t be running at all). This would violate the EULA, and Apple sued. Psystar counter-sued saying that Apple’s requirement for the OS to only run on Mac hardware was a violation of anti-trust law. The argument Psystar gave to further it’s position didn’t impress the judge, who found it “unenlightening.” Groklaw’s Pamela Jones, who highlighted the flaws of the argument, mentioned that it was legalese for

“Are you kidding me?” The judge has ordered Psystar to shore it up in 20 days or else the dismissal will be permanent, effectively handing Apple the victory. Which given that Apple may be refreshing all

the hardware to use Nvidia graphics and chipsets, would keep things nice and tidy. Besides, AMD/ATI’s chipsets still need work on the OpenGL graphics side, something Nvidia has a sizable lead.

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Ayin set in post comet water world By KATIER REITVELD Staff writer Set 400 years in the future, Ayin is a post global warning set after the world suffered a disaster caused by a meteor impact. The background story states that a failed attempt to divert the passage of a large ice comet left Earth heavily flooded with only the higher land masses being habitable. This comet strike also caused the arrival of microbes. The background story states that: “When the comet melted, droplets of water rained down with their microbial cargo intact, and it infected life in various ways. Some of the microbes evolved into complicated viruses, some of these viruses merely caused humanity to suffer epidemics with flu like symptoms, still others into viruses that caused people to turn into horrible mindless zombie like monsters. There was a form of virus [which] caused the infected to show symptoms that mimicked Vampirism, these humans evolved to feed off blood and in doing so could spread their disease to others through their bite; some humans developed the abilities to change their shape, while others experienced heightened or lowered mental abilities. “ The lack of space caused by the disaster left the worlds community’s overcrowded and anarchic. It is at this point that Ayin, brainchild of Deb Alcott, is set. Alcott said, “ I play the part of a bar keeper. The idea behind the sim was for roleplayers to run it. Everyone has a say; we have meetings every Friday. We decided to rotate the GMs. I was a GM for two years in [another sim]. I had complete power, [and] I had the backing of the owner. I couldn’t do any wrong. “I want people to feel they run this sim. They have a say [as] nothing is set in stone, so why not give anyone you asks a chance to GM.” Alcott added that she felt this sharing of power and giving the roleplayers more control was vital. She said, “I felt that people (owners) in [the other sim] and other sims I’ve role-played in are detached from the people who really matter. If you make a complaint, the ban hammer comes out. I’ve seen it from the inside, heard it too. I re-

spect the people who roleplay here. I listen to what they say, and if they don’t like something, we change it.” The sim has an interesting mix of buildings. The lighthouse protects the shores, with old cargo ships tied up on the docks. Newer modern buildings on the dry land blend with older more rundown buildings and a largo pile of cargo containers. All of which gives plenty of scope for roleplayers, and many of the buildings are also home for the many races and gangs on the sim. Ayin has a wide variety of people with a dozen groups, some of which are mutants, while others are roles such as scientists or Courtesans. Veronique Habercom is one roleplayer in Ayin. She joined the sim when she heard what Alcott was planning as she found Alcott’s roleplay to be very good. Habercom said, “I fell among good people, able to involve others in the RP. I mean not all people are expert roleplayers. [It] is fine [to] find people (like here) who involve you in the play. It helps also to open [up] to newcomers and newbies too.” With the sim being barely a month old, many of the roleplayers here joined the sim due to knowing Alcott and liking the way she plans things. GeorgeStark Slade is another such roleplayer. He said, “The owners are interesting avatars to roleplay with, full of ideas and intelligent enough to share their knowledge with the others. “Most of all, they share their plans about developing new roleplay with all the citizens in the way to let you feel a working part of the sim too.” SilverLeaf Zabaleta also joined the sim thanks to knowing Alcott, and it seems clear that Alcott’s ideas are popular. Thus, she has a solid basis for a quality roleplay environment. Zabaleta said, “There are many of us here that have moved from another sim. Hal and Deb were the first to leave. When I heard they were starting their own sim, I came to look; my friend Lysander invited me. The creativity here is ripe with new ideas and fresh perspectives. “I think Ayin has the potential to be one of the best sims on SL. A bit biased I know, but I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t A VARIED AND INTERESTING build provides the backdrop to this new but true.” promising roleplay sim. - Photos by KATIER REITVELD.