SL, as sad as real life sometimes?

Hello fellow sim dwellers….

Well what a crazy world SL can be. Normally I would be on right now enjoying beautiful Buffys Cove but instead I am sitting here writing a new blog.

How disappointing SL can be sometimes.

I had a very uneducated Av tell one of my fellow owners at Buffys that I was going around telling everyone we were shutting it down. I got a notecard with a conversation addressing all sorts of things I supposedly said none of which were true. Automatically, my fellow owner and friend was on the back foot wondering if I was secretly pulling out or trying to destroy the island. I suppose in retrospect I can understand why he thought that, I mean it was a fairly compelling story but thankfully he knew me better than this…

I read the note and exploded. I am just fed up with things that happen in sl when there was no reason for any distress in the first place. Too many times I have been accused of things I have never done. Again I was accused of saying things that were so far away from the truth that it’s just a joke.

Truth was this ‘Av’ asked me where the previous owner, Amy went. I replied Osgrid and this Av wanted to know what that was. I said it was another grid like sl but much more like a new sl, a new world. I said I was not that keen to be a new pioneer and was happy to stay in sl but as he seemed interested so I passed him the note that Amy wrote in regards to Osgrid.

Never did I say I was going to pull out. Never did I say we were going to let it close.

However… This was all he needed to go around and tell everyone we were shutting the sim down! He even used the note I gave him from Amy dated last year to back up his amazing news!

Please everyone, consider carefully the words you say in sl. Consider the feelings of others and make sure you get your facts right if you intend to announce such major mistruths. It only causes division and pain, both of which I am feeling at this point so very heavily.

Teresa.

Are we facing more fee increases in SL?

Hello everyone.
Hope you are great and life has been kind.

Recently a sim that has been close to many people’s hearts including mine had a drama. While not entering into debate on the rights and wrongs of this or why it happened, it’s always a shame when things go wrong and disputes arise in Second Life. The owners of Buffy’s all agreed to support our friends over where this happened by installing a tip wagon wheel at our entry wharf and publicising it on our group notices. There has been a great response and I personally wish to thank everyone who has dipped into their own money to help out.

Human beings are wonderful sometimes, when things come to the crunch, many people rise up and help out. Some I guess will never help and only want to take but when you see things like this happen it gives great faith in the human race.

Obviously at Buffy’s and Natures Way, we have always wanted to have a free area for people to come in and enjoy. We have no group fee to pay, no day pass to buy, just an open sim where thankfully, griefing is minimal. Obviously it’s going to cost someone to operate this land but along with my other three fellow owners at Buffy’s, we pay the tier for others to enjoy. It would be wonderful to think that tips alone could pay for this but we have only ever received a fraction of what it costs to run the sim. That is our choice to pay this money and keep Buffy’s alive but I want to stress something to everyone right here…

I have never been against people making money by operating their businesses in Second Life either by making things or setting up an area of land to rent out. If the sim or Sims are good enough then I wish everyone there including the landowner good fortune. I believe that without free enterprise, Second Life would never have got anywhere. People would not strive to improve their products and slowly it would wind down to nothing. I also believe that without some idea of profit or at the very least a break even then we would never see beautiful land to rent or buy. I am not against anyone making money in Second Life!!

There is talk of fee increases for mid year for SL. Every person who outlays real dollars will have to examine what these eventual price increases will mean and decide if they can carry on. Having acknowledged I am ok for people to make money in SL, I also hope that the Lindens will observe and reward those sim owners who are not in SL to make dollars but to provide the beautiful areas for everyone to enjoy.

Please don’t think I am after a handout. Proof I am not is right there at Buffy’s but, a smaller increase for those non profit Sims would go a long way in promoting the wonder of this amazing cyber platform and reinforce why people love Second Life in the first place.

I know, you are probably reading this and perhaps laughing at the folly of why people pay cold hard cash for something that offers nothing back but satisfaction of what beauty is and SL means but I do hope you can see the dreams of the folk at Sims that do offer free visits. Maybe I am naive, but I am happy.

Finally can I ask everyone to consider some loyalty to the places they like to hang out at. If you do like a place then why not tip in something you can afford? They will love it and you will feel more a part of it than ever.

Rude event of the month. The other day we had one of the operators of a nude Sim that has day passes for sale and paid memberships to join, come to Buffys and directly try to get our friends off our island by offering free day passes. This person approached one of the owners saying how good their place was and offered a free day pass. If you do this you will soon find yourself on our banned list and will never be welcome back. We will never do this. We only ask fairness and fun. At Buffys, we are not dependant on how many come and join us, however we will not put up with anyone trying to lure friends off our place for their own gain. By the way, I visited the small area where you are allowed without a pass and realised why they need people on their Sim. Pretty ordinary…..

Hope your days are blessed in both worlds.
Peace and love to you all.

Teresa.

Greed marvelous greed!!

Well, I am back for installment two.

Thank you for the comments I received in regards to my first blog entry. It’s great that people are prepared to identify themselves when you consider my words. I think it shows a lot of guts. For myself, I will never expose people’s names who did these things but I welcome it.

For myself, I have long moved on from the dark days when people took advantage of me for their own gain.

Well my SL friends, much has changed since I last wrote. I am now officially (and have been since last December) a landowner in Second Life!

I say that with my tongue firmly in my cheek because in SL you really don’t own anything, you rent it! And whatever, you are just renting a cyberspace. One flick of a server switch and your land no longer exists!

However, it’s the best we can do and hope for in this crazy second life!

I have to start by saying it actually is a great feeling to finally be in a place where my talents don’t have to be used to hold on to a small parcel of land. I can’t be kicked off now. It’s a full sim and most people who read this will be well aware of where this magnificent second life land is.

In my last blog I discussed Amy from Nature’s Way. Now there is a person who sticks to their word. Well, with the extra charges imposed by the Lindens late last year, Amy decided to close down Nature’s Way, one of the greatest sims in SL and move to Ozgrid.

An action group was formed to try and save this paradise which I joined. Nature’s Way or Buffys Cove struck me from the moment I saw it ages ago and like many others, I fell in love with the place. It was a massive influence on my work at other sims and I followed Amys landscaping theme right into Half Moon Bay at Natures Way.

I am happy to report my friends that after a lot of conversation and debate back last year, I am one of the owners and the builder at Buffy’s Cove at Nature’s Way!! My co-owners are just the best people and I won’t embarrass them by naming them here. All I will say is their generosity is fantastic. None of us make anything from it, we do it for the love of it.

We have been able to keep the sim open and in a fairly close state to how we took it over. This is not to say that there wasn’t a lot to do! The village there was in no state to use as Amy had just started it, but I could see its beauty and purpose so I took over and rebuilt it so it was finally finished. I have also added a new beach area near the entry point and added a few fun things into the sim. Its no sex island but runs almost like a real nudist island would.
It is a non profit sim, that is, you can’t rent there or buy anything from a shop there. It’s an open space sim run to the ideal that the Lindens wanted but we lost because it was so badly abused by money hungry landowners. This is the point I would like to make.

If you read many blogs regarding sl, you will see the bleatings of wounded landowners of open sims complaining when the Lindens put up their prices. While I can’t ever agree about allowing these areas to largely disappear, I can see why the Lindens did it.

Open space sims were supposed to be just that, places with little or no rental or retail areas. They made them less prims but they also cost less to purchase. In the spirit of the open sims, some people like Amy and myself, tried to make free wilderness areas hopefully that residents found beautiful and wonderful to relax in. Unfortunately, greed took over as it does so often. Some of the owners of open sim land sub rented and installed large retail shops on their land. The Lindens went, Hmmm, this is not what we wanted so all of us suffered. We lost our cheaper land for open space. So sad...

So, do we blame the Lindens? Or do we blame the greedy? Take away the greedy and the Lindens would never have needed to act, so, there’s your answer. Thank you to all the greedy land owners of Second Life! You know who you are! Lol You were the cause of these price rises. Please don’t complain about it now.

I think it would be good for all land owners to be forced into providing an amount of free space in their sims, just like happens in local councils around the world. A little town planning and bylaws would stop the ‘ugly’ sim and contribute to the beauty.

Now back to Nature’s Way.. Amy created a paradise with many others chipping in to make it the magnificent place it is. We have tried to operate the same way as what it always was. You will land on a jetty, you cant set a point to land in a fav spot. You walk over the hill, past her beautiful falls and secret cave and the recently installed lighthouse and you still jump off the famous wooden walk down onto the beach.

You will laugh to see a whale (that we freed) in a small lagoon and will marvel at the technology of the talking cheese plants. Hopefully you will almost feel like you are walking along somewhere in the Greek islands if you take the long walk around the promenade. You will probably also ask why there’s a toxic waste drum sitting in a pristine perched lake in the mountains, I know I did and still do!!

We have tried to leave these items as a testament to Amy’s sense of humor and to support the unique nature of the sim as many have marked it as their favorite over many years now.

I would personally like to thank everyone for the support I have received since being there. I have never seen a sim where long-term visitors are welcome and no fee is charged yet who see it as their right to tell us exactly the way the sim should be! Ha haaaaaa And, we actually listen and act if we agree!

To all those that have worked on this sim in previous times, thank you. It’s a mark of your talents that four strong willed residents agreed to pay real dollars just to keep this sim open to the public. Please, if you do have a spare Linden or two, there are enough tip jars on the island to really help us along in our plan to keep this beautiful place open.

There’s no egos, no kings, no queens, no boss, no penalties to dish out, just a beautiful natural place where you can come and relax and stay as long as you like. All we ask is you follow the easy rules and don’t grief anyone. What could be easier or better?

Love to see you on the island soon!

To all, love and peace always.

Teresa.