InWorldz is developing

It is time for an update as there has been some key changes at InWorldz with some huge milestones met in the last month. The big one for many residents is that PhysX is here and has been rolled out on the main grid. Everyone is all chatter about it. Also the other bit of tech news is that Mesh is enabled on the Beta grid.

The other night InWorldz reached 70,000 users. When I joined it was sitting at 6,000 so I feel I have watched this world grow. One of the things that first dismayed me was that the first avatar newbies were given was such a Ruth! Now new residents have a much better choice. Of course from this point on you can customise all you want and  the InWorldz Mentors are around to help new avatars and there are many freebies to assist with the transition too.

To my regulars I have been a very tardy blogger lately. My excuse is that it is summer. I live on the East coast of Australia and to be honest it has been a hot dry season with most of the east coast on alert with high fire danger days. North of me there is floods. South of me their has been fires. Hopefully I will return to regular updates soon.

Wanderstill at Ode

I had to dive into my landmarks folder as I was introducing a friend new to Second Life to some of my favourite places when I remembered that when I was  new, I relied on blogs to tell me where nice spots were.

So tonight I want to share some screenshots of place that anyone who is familiar with Second life will know but new folks may not.

Wanderstill at Ode is described as Immersive Art Experience but the thing I always remember about it is that the place is carpeted solidly in acres and acres of wildflowers that stand shoulder high. Colour irrupts all around you creating a very photogenic sim. Numerous machinima have been made that feature this build by Random Calliope

Dance balls are dotted about and there are loads of quiet corners to chat and admire the environment. The mood is romantic, but if you are not here on a date, who could not take pleasure in the environment?

SLURL: Visit Wanderstill

NCI for new Residents

I have been musing over the results of a readers survey that Hamlet reported on over on New World Notes. Readers responses are collated together in In Your First Hour: What You Did, And Why You Stayed

“Why did you stay? These results are just as striking, for almost none of you mention the Lindens’ official orientation experience. Instead, the vast majority mention help from other Residents, while a significant percentage specifically mention Resident/3rd party sites that assisted them”

There are many resident run groups that aim to help new residents. I decided to take a look at them again and plan to cover others over the next few weeks as the mood strikes

As I said in this post about my own newbie experience when I was new and I found the official Second Life site confusing I turned to blogs for answers. Although I did learn much from reading the second life blogs they are fan sites, and as such, there was much assumed knowledge that I had to try and make sense of. Some blogs were worse than others but generally there was also many sites not spoken about because it was assumed everyone (except newbies) knew about them. Now this does not matter for many sites but when it is a site that is set up specifically to assist new residents it is a bit unfortunate. A key group is NCI or New Citizens Incorporated and I found out about them three weeks after I had first tried Second Life.

They were so helpful I decided to revisit them last night. New Citizens Incorporated is designed to make new residents welcome and has a team of people who help, teach, and assist new residents.

Each week NCI hosts activities and social gatherings such as Blitz Building contests and parties which are are events designed to make new residents welcome. Dotted around the space are information boards that contain information. Click on them and you are delivered notecards, landmarks and tutorials. There are also numerous freebies to collect. NCI is funded through donations, sponsored advertising, and by businesses that NCI conduct branded classes and events for.

NCI classes range from the very basic to the more advanced building. But you do not have to become a builder to enjoy Second Life. NCI also offer an introduction to SL class and many classes that enable you to consolidate skills such as using the Search Menu and Maps, or giving yourself an Avatar Makeover, and some good advice is dished out in their SL Consumer Skills class.

NCI operates a number of Second Life campuses including two in Caledon. On the Nova Civis Caledon site there is a good map display of how SL has changed over time.

NCI also has a blog which houses tips and tutorials as well as news about what is going on.
SLURLs to NCI Locations in world
NCI Kuula New Citizens incorporated

NCI Beach – Fishermans Cove

NCI South Hamnida

Nova Civis Caledon

Caledon Highlands Formerly Caledon Academy of Virtual