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Monday, December 14, 2015

Top Places and Tips for Role Playing - Camury Reporting




In Second Life we can find a large number of global groups for virtual role-playing , including vampire, Goth , steampunk, fantasy,furry, historical , pirate and nautical clubs.

Each RP Community has its own history and so it is highly recommended to read any information provided by RP SIMS. This will make your gaming experience the most complete and enjoyable as possible.

 When the player accepts the rules of the RP, he/she takes the role of a character previously established, just as in a theatrical performance and interacts with the other players.   It is highly recommended to wear an outfit that matches the character. Most RP SIMS make it mandatory.

Each RP SIM guides the user to get appropriate clothing for more realism to the game. When he/she incorporates the character, he should use his imagination to give some realism to the scenes. For example, what would really happen if he was there. In general, the character speaks using the first person , typing "/ me " at the beginning of each sentence .

In so-called live action role playing game ( LARP ) , the characters move according to the scenes. But in general, RPG, everything is based on the imagination of the plan. The scenes and fights are described by the characters, not physically experienced .
For example , if the character is dancing , you will imagine and describe body movements and sensations that his dance is expressing. You don’t need to run to a dance ball to represent the scene. The important thing is that to describe the scene in the local chat so the other characters are able to follow and interact. This can be weird for a beginner but with practice, the ability to describe the scenes keeps getting better as the storyline progresses.

Fortunately, in most SIMs there is a friendly area for beginners where you can practice your game safely.

Bloodlines is a vampire-themed RP game example set within Second Life. It is also one of the oldest and most popular. The game achieved a huge popularity rating. Membership is still phenomenal, especially among newbies.

Many families and clans, well organized, disclose the vampire culture, influencing the behavior in SL. To gain position, you must have voluntary souls. We still see many Bloodlines players in clubs, beaches and shops, looking for new victims to bite. Some humans prefer to keep their humanity, but serve the vampire culture as a renewable source of blood.
Visit in Second life:


Urban RP
Immerse yourself in the pages of Toxic City, a dark and gloomy urban live action role playing game (LARP), where participants physically make the moves of his characters. Players pursue goals within a fictional scenario (a city after a major toxic disaster), while interacting with each other in character. You can become a vampire, a werewolf, a mystic, demon, drug addict or a sci-fi character with cybernetic implants. You can also be a mutant, or maybe you were sent to put an end to the chaos, like an angel.
 The characters consist of a large variety of configurations with different strengths and skills defined by your race or level.

Visit in Second life:


Kingdom of Sand
The Ireem desert kingdom is full of magic. Take a ride on a camel mounted below the Silk Road and enter this desert kingdom, full of mysteries. Explore the opulent palaces of the kingdom and walk the decadent bars. This role playing fighting game is lush and full of odalisques, sheiks, gladiators, and magical djinn ..Visit in Second life:



If you are a fan of the Game of Thrones series, you'll love King's Landing: Realms of Ice and Fire. This role playing game is based on the works GRR Martin located Within Second Life. The rules are very well defined and to participate you need to create a character, with beautifully detailed features, which must be approved in advance by the administrators of the game.
Visit in Second life:


Travel back in time, the daily life of Berlin in 1920, during the Weimar Republic.
The Berlin Project 1920 is an online interactive model of historical SIM, created within the virtual world of Second Life The objective of the project is to give visitors the opportunity to delve into the past. I loved this one! The experience is fun, but also educational. In the RP SIM, you will see some exact replicas of real buildings like the exclusive Hotel Adlon in Berlin Alexanderplatz station, the inn Zum Nußbaum and Brandenburg Gate. There are also reconstructions of buildings made, used to show people another side of life in the 1920s The neighborhood includes tiny apartments, you can visit and shops selling clothes of that era. There is also a theater where people can see real films from the 20's, school, hotel and nightclub, called Der Keller, where people can listen to original music and dance in 1920.The RP SIM has rules for all visitors. People should dress in according to the 20's trends. There are boxes of free clothes at the entrance plaza, which allow avatars to do that. The idea is to make all visitors and residents feel as if they belong to the period of time.



Currently, there are 169 Role-playing Communities, according to the guide of the Second Life destinations. You can PR anything, be a magical fairy, a magician, a dragon, a fearsome warrior, the curator of a band of marauding pagan or survivor of the apocalypse. Your imagination is the limit!

Additional Information:
 Join Forum Games in Second Life - Discussion about the best places to play games in Second Life

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Top 5 Boot Stores in SL- Dragonmaster Mistwalker Reporting…

Drakke Designs

In our virtual world we have many options for clothes, accessories, footwear and more. I love the variety of footwear in SL and I must admit I`m a sucker for a nice pair of boots. I like when women wear boots too.  I own quite a few pairs of boots in SL and know just where to shop for them. Here are the top five stores I like most.


Drakke Designs opened its doors in 2009 and has a wide variety of boots, some of which have  unique designs you won’t find anywhere else. Starting in the ladies section they have ankle boots, knee high boots, fetish, and thigh high boots. Moving over to the men`s section they have cowboy boots, biker boots, and some knee high boots as well. Drakke Designs has a sister store Shade Design and they provide boots that match some of that store`s outfits. Alongside the boots Drakke also sells chopper motorcycles and its sister store Shade designs. Each store has a raffle for a 500L gift cards. It only takes a pick and group membership which costs 25L for each store but they also have group gifts as well.
Drakke also has Midnight Mania boards, and every weekend they have a board where they sell some of their designs for only 60L. Make sure you are in the group because they send a notice out showing what items are on that sale.



Bootgasm

Bootgasm has a range of great boots. Their boots run the gambit from casual to fancy as well as winter boots. They have ankle, knee high, and thigh high boots for the ladies. For the men they have cowboy boots and biker styles. They also have midnight Mania boards and a monthly group gift that you pay 1L and it gets reimbursed. Bootgasm also has lucky chairs with boots on them which you need to join the group for.


Mesh Head

Mesh Head brings a unique style that is all their own for the biker or Goth style seekers. They have ankle boots and over the knee boots for ladies that have skulls and other Gothic type images. Some of their outfits are complete with the boots or shoes. Some styles of his boots and shoes come with slink appliers. On the men’s side they have combat and biker boots some with skull designs as well.



Shey Couture

Shey Couture which I was introduced to when my wife went there for freebie heels and boots. They have ankle, mid calf, knee high, and thigh high boots done couture style. Most of their boots feature a color change hud. This feature is perfect if you want more bang for your buck. The new releases are found right at the landing point of the store. There are a lot of trendy styles at Shey Couture are 99L. Shey also features new releases often and if you subscribe to the group you will receive note cards with the textures and links to marketplace.


Blackburns

Blackburns boots are mostly ankle boots and some knee high boots. Their style is kind of Goth,yet kind of old school saloon girl style ankle boots, also some gothic style knee high boots. They have a lot of freebies on marketplace and in the entrance to their in-world store. If you're looking for Goth, cheap but fairly well done then this is the place for you.



Happy Boot Shopping!

Saturday, December 12, 2015

FALL FASHION TRENDS- WHATS COLORS AND TRENDS ARE GOOD FOR THIS SEASON- Camury Reporting…



Fashion trends for fall 2015 are inspired by the 60s. It is tradition in fashion to determine a color that represents the year. In 2015, the hue “ Marshala”  also known as maroon and accent colors seems to be the trend for fall and winter. Designers in Second Life are creating fashion in these inspired trends and colors during the cold seasons.


Here are some Fashions trending now
Demin
Denim never goes out of style. This material can be used for dresses, jackets, and jeans during the autumn and winter seasons. The denim fabrics give the look a more stripped and sporty style and is a great option, comfortable and practical.


Gothic
The Gothic trend is still popular in SL and is back in style for Fall/Winter 2015. It seems to have a new romanticism about it. Dark colors, crosses and veils are an integral part of this style as well as skulls and Victorian style jewelry.
The punk style is also very appreciated in SL. Its return is was evident in fashion trends for autumn 2015, where the black color is predominant. The plush (imitating animal skins) and vinyl brings more charm to the punk style.
•  T-shirts and tops have prints, bands and street symbols.
• The mixture of colors, materials and print, are always contrasting, even mixed in the same outfit ensemble.
• Accessories such as boots and shoes with metal inserts, bracelets, necklaces and belts with applications and chains are essential in this style.

 Taxi to Some shops where you can find clothes, punk and gothic:
Corvus
L&B


Metallic shine
One more reminder that the style of the 60s is on the rise is the presence of metallic luster. Autumn and Winter trends bring details in gold, silver and other metallic colors in both dresses and accessories, as well as in footwear. With the coming of new textures SL offers beautiful metallic options.

Footwear
Speaking of footwear, the knee high boots is back. If you want to be trendy, do not hesitate to buy boots with lace or shiny vinyl. The high and medium boots are also trendy and will enhance your style with a retro charm, perfect for the season.

Taxi to shop where you can find clothes, metallized:

FASHIONNATIC


Plaid Fabrics
Plaid has been popular in previous Fall and Winters Seasons. It is still fashionable for 2015.  This trend can be seen in pants, dresses and even accessories like headbands and scarves.
One piece of plaid is enough to spice up your look. For example: if you are wearing a pair of plaid pants try pairing it with a shirt without patterns, or use neutral color to balance your look.


 Taxi to Shop, where you can find Demin, sweaters and Plaid
Gizza Creations



Sweaters
Who said that comfort cannot be fashionable? The sweaters is invading the catwalks, complete with embroidery, textures mixes and creative prints. To make the look even more comfortable, the maxi style is in fashion this autumn and Winter. You can find beautiful sweaters in different stores in SL.



Whatever your style is, be aware of what is trending now and enjoy the season!

A return to community building - Lacy Muircastle reporting ...


Linden Lab’s announcement that it was developing a new virtual world platform caused a huge fracas.  Now that the dust has settled somewhat and Project Sansar has gone into beta, they would it seems, have reapplied themselves to keeping Second Life alive and well, and gasp, have actively created new programmes to rejuvenate the community and retain new residents.

Originally when new residents joined SL they would go through a community gateway. A Community Gateway (CG) was a starting point for new residents of SL which was not maintained by Linden Lab, but by an established community in SL. These gateways offered their own orientation path to give Residents an easy start, providing them with assistance and hands-on support in getting started in SL.

The programme was discontinued in August 2010, with the Lab citing several reasons for doing so, including issues around scalability and management oversight, together with question marks around the overall effectiveness of the programme.

There were, however, repeated calls from within the community for the Lab to bring the programme back, but they were a little distracted by their other projects to heed these calls.
But now Linden Lab has Second Life back on its radar.  At the recently launched Chat Lab*, the Gateway Programme question was raised …

“So, the Gateway Programme is of significant interest to us, because again … we want to make it possible for creators to attract their own audiences. We are in the testing phase … Laws, and all kinds of things have changed since we had gateways way back in the day, and it comes to who can collect what information, and what information can be stored where – so we have to get those pieces right. So the team has been working on it for quite a while, and we’re also going to make some improvements to the API so we can have a better experience for the Gateway Programme.
Obviously, we want to work first with people who are likely to be able to bring-in meaningful numbers of audiences. There’s no point in us having to manage thousands of gateway programmes that each bring in one user a week. So we want to clearly work with people who have the capacity and know-how to be able to attract meaningful numbers of users.”

The new programme is therefore designed to allow communities and groups to bring users into Second Life, present them with help and support in getting started, much like the original Gateway Programme.   The intention is to offer new residents interests and activities to keep them engaged with the platform. These gateways will include web pages to attract new users to them, this will include a registration API to allow those users to sign-up to SL and create an account without necessarily having to go through the central registration process at secondlife.com.   In addition, those running the gateway can provide dedicated links for downloading a viewer (official or TPV).

Enter the Phoenix Firestorm team, who are all about enhancing the user experienceIn a previous interview with Jessica Lyon, founder and boss lady of Phoenix Firestorm, I asked her what their rationale was in getting involved with The Gateway Programme -

She said “To improve the user experience… Perhaps not as much lately, but historically I’ve always felt LL never had a good grasp on what this product “Second Life” really is or how to market it. Let’s face it, SL is not an easy thing to pin down or describe to outsiders without writing a book because it really is so many different things to so many different people. When LL approached me a few months ago with the prospect of opening a gateway, I couldn’t help but feel I was being offered the spare keys to the bus that picks up new riders. Finally, I’ve been given the chance to try my hand at drawing in new users to Second Life, which could potentially be what makes the biggest difference, even more than the viewer itself. But what a challenge this would be, and if we’re to do it, we’re going to do it right.  What keeps you in Second Life is different for each and every person, so a successful first-time experience is going to have to have a bit of everything, or at least the most common things. So with six regions, we’re trying to incorporate a little taste of as many things we can in hopes that new users will find that unique thing that ties them into SL. But while we’ve got a large gateway with so many different activities, there is nothing to really encourage them to try such things. Humans are goal oriented, and MadPea is renowned for their ability to create addictive, immersive games and activities in SL, so it only make sense to me that they will bring a lot of value to new user retention. We’re really excited to have MadPea on board with this.”

The result is that the Firestorm Gateway comprises six regions in total, including the original Firestorm Support region, which has been re-purposed to fit with the Gateway approach. Jessica said “One of the new regions is a Firestorm Orientation for new sign ups only.  It’s similar to our original orientation island.”

The rest of the regions offer an assortment of facilities and activities intended to help new users get better acquainted with Second Life, using the viewer, and participating in some of the activities they can find during their in-world travels. A staffed support area provides practical help and support, for example, while users can also enjoy activities such as jet skis, sailing, boating, and flying within the regions, or try their hand at a scuba diving adventure.There’s also an amphitheatre which will be used for events focused on new users, viewer Q&A sessions and the like. The social areas around the island offer new users the opportunity to relax and meet with established SL users.




As part of Firestorms Gateway initiative they are collaborating with Canary Beck.  She is inviting all SL residents to share their photos with Firestorm this weekend to promote Second Life.
“Fancy yourself a good Second Life photographer? Do your pictures make Second Life look as amazing as it can be? A little while ago I asked you if you’d help promote Second Life. Well, this is your first chance to do it this weekend!


I’m looking for a select number of SL photographers to share their photos for me to use on the new user landing pages I’m making for the Firestorm Gateway Project. In return, I’ll showcase the chosen works on the Firestorm blog and its social media properties, with links back to your photo online. That’s a big deal because the Firestorm blog has over 80,000+ subscribers.”

Follow the link for more information on where and how to post your photos -


http://www.canarybeck.com/2015/12/11/share-you-photos-this-weekend-to-promote-second-life/

People yearn for a return to community, seeking a sense of connection with others and that essentially is what Second Life offers.  Linden Lab appears to have finally taken cognisance of this fact.  Now it’s our turn to participate in the rejuvenation of Second Life, let’s start with our photos, and show the Firestorm team our enthusiastic support of their community gateway endeavour.


*Chat Lab - “an opportunity for you to ask Lindens your questions during a live taping that is recorded and archived for everyone to view.”  The first Lab Chat was held on November 19th, at the Linden Endowment for the Arts Theatre – with guest Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab.

Friday, December 11, 2015

The Countdown to THE DICKENS PROJECT has Begun!

The 2015 Edition of  festival known as The Dickens Project is set to open in Second Life on Saturday, December 12th with over 15 hours of live events of all kinds to benefit The Community Virtual Library. The Dickens Project will take place in the Community Virtual Library’s exhibit space in it's home on the Bradley University Sim

Seanchai Library is producing the festival, opening on December 12th and featuring Dickens’ A Christmas Carol; presenting the different staves (i.e. chapters) of the novella at different times to make the live readings accessible to residents from all over the globe. Other events will include Dickens Trivia, selections from other works of the author's vast canon, caroling by the Raglan Shire Tinie Carolers, and Fezziwig's Ball which begins at Noon on Saturday, December 19th.

A Winter Wonderland – the 2015 Holidays of hope ball 6th Annual Gala to Support the Relay For Life of Second Life, and the American Cancer Society


The 6th Annual Holidays of Hope Ball will be held Sunday, Dec 13th from 3 to 7 pm SLT as part of the 2015 SL Christmas Expo. This year’s theme will be A Winter Wonderland and is open to all residents of Second Life.  Sponsored by T1Radio, the formal ball will once again feature raffles and door prizes provided by SL’s premier merchants.  
The annual Holidays Of Hope Ball, established in 2010, is one of Second Life’s brightest holiday season highlights and brings together residents from all corners of the virtual community to celebrate the holidays and to support the American Cancer Society.  Holiday Gift Basket Raffle tickets, purchased via scripted kiosks, benefit the Relay For Life of Second Life. Past raffle prizes, and the door prizes which rain down on party goers, have included gift certificates and gifts donated by merchants from throughout Second Life, with values exceeding L$50,000. SL Merchants are invited to become Holidays Of Hope benefactors by providing Gifts and Gift Certificates. For more information please see below*.
This year the ball will be held at the Wonderland Ballroom, created by Darkstone Aeon of Stone’s Works, high above the Christmas Expo. There is no charge for admittance.

If you would like more information or would like more information about the Holidays Of Hope Ball please contact Trader1 Whiplash in world or email trader@t1radio.com .
# # #
* How To Become a Holidays Of Hope Sponsor
•    If you wish to donate Gift Certificates, please be sure to enclose the certificate(s), a notecard with redemption instructions and a landmark to your store or Marketplace Link.
•    If you wish to participate in the Gift Basket Raffle, please provide a coupon to redeem the item, a graphic of the item and a landmark to your store. PLEASE DO NOT SEND OBJECTS.  This will allow you to control permissions.
•    Please be sure to enclose a full perm business logo.
•    ALL COUPONS AND GIFT CERTIFICATES MUST BE TRANSFERABLE.
•    All donors will be recognized by signage at the event and either On Air by T1Radio or by "object shouts" as the items are dispensed by the random gift givers at the ball.
Contact Renee Riva or Xyza Armistice for more information or to provide a gift or gift certificate for either the Holiday Raffle Basket or Random Door Prize.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

You can't win an argument - Lacy Muircastle reporting ...



Last week I experienced an extremely disappointing situation.  Being non-confrontationally inclined, my reaction was to back off from what could have turned into an extremely heated and emotionally charged argument.  If the person had taken the time to understand me they would have known that when my feelings are hurt I prefer to postpone talking about it until I can be calmer.  But said other party decided that I had not given them a chance to voice their side of the story and that I had chosen to believe the third party.  As a result I lost a friend.

Subsequently I came across a blog post by Bryn Donovan which struck a chord.  The headline was, Is Arguing Ever Really Worth It?

Dale Carnegie, he of “How to win friends and influence people" claims that it’s pointless to criticise anyone for anything and in a later chapter makes the statement “You Can’t Win an Argument”.

It seems though, that people generally love an argument and all the drama it brings with it.  Maybe it makes them feel alive.  We all get upset about things at one time or another, that’s only natural, but ranting about it in whatever forum only causes negativity and what is actually achieved in the long run?

How many times has a situation like this occurred to you in SL or on Facebook?  You get into personal arguments because you’re defending someone else. It goes like this:

1. Your FB friend posts something.
2. One of their FB friends says something derogatory about this post.
3. You show up and tell their FB friend that they’re being mean.

Wouldn’t a better way to handle it, though, be this?

1. Your FB friend posts something.
2. One of their FB friends says something derogatory about this post.
3. Ignoring the other person, you tell your FB friend their post is awesome.

There are of course a few situations in which it still makes sense to confront a person directly. If someone around you says something racist, for instance, then call them on it (even if she’s a stranger in the locker room.) In a situation like this, you only have two choices.  You can make it seem like it’s fine and normal to say such things, or you can make it clear that it’s unacceptable.



But about 99% of the time, avoiding outright arguments is the way to go. Persuasion is fine, but fighting just makes everyone feel bad.


What do you think? How do you deal with arguing, online, inworld and in real life?

Top 5 tips on how to keep romance alive in Second Life-Becca Drascol Reporting





Just like nurturing a child or a pet, a relationship needs nurturing. And for a romantic relationship it is a bond that can be just as delicate as it can be strong. One needs to think of a good, healthy relationship as a work in progress, where there is definitely a beginning, middle but no foreseeable end. So here we go...my top 5 tips for keeping the romance alive.

1.    Respect-Have you ever blocked and or unfriended someone in SL because they had no respect for or even towards you? We all have. So why then would you be in any type of romantic relationship virtual or real, if there was no respect? Any type of relationship needs respect on both sides.

2.     Honesty-Being honest is another must. While some people can work through and beyond lies, but for most sometimes even one lie can fully change a relationship. Just as trust is a huge issue in relationships, honesty goes hand in hand with that. And afterall, no one likes being lied to.


3.    Making sure to make time for your partner-Like any type of relationship be it romantic, friendship or family, for a bond to stay or grow stronger you must make time for one another. For couples it could be as simple as choosing one night a week and declare it date night. Pick a location in SL you both would enjoy and perhaps have fun and romantic things to do together. The most important part is to take time that is a couples only thing for you and your special someone to enjoy and connect or reconnect even.

4.    Keep it hot-Romance equals intimacy. All people crave intimacy of some form, which is of course human nature. So if that means in SL your idea of keeping it hot is a nice time dancing slow sexy dances, so be it. Cuddling with your partner can be so rewarding. For most of us in SL there is a certain attachment to not only our own avatar but to the avatar of our partner. Sometimes it can be so nice to sit back and just cuddle, be close or hug even. And lastly sex, yes make time for sex. While sex isn't the most important part of intimacy it too is something as humans we crave. For some it may be silly to have sex in a virtual world, but as one half of a couple who plays SL with her RL husband of six years, even sex in SL can be fun and hot.


5.    Show your love-Rather your SL relationship is strictly SL or is a part of your RL as well, for a long lasting, growing relationship to survive, show your love. Give gifts, something small and just sweet you thought your partner would adore, or if you’re so inclined expensive and you felt they just had to have. Show small gestures of love, even if that gesture is simply saying "You know, you make me smile." Request a song that means something to you and your partner. A song request can make the guy or girl in your life at the least smile, and who knows maybe even tear up with joy. Again as well as cuddling for the sake of keeping it hot, cuddle, hug and do whatever shows your love to your SL sweetie.



What’s the trick?

Keeping romance alive is a bit of fun, sometimes hard work, and of course intimacy and love. But most importantly it’s doing whatever betters the relationship you have with that special someone. So what is the trick? Simply put maybe there isn’t one. I don’t know...but what I do know is hopefully these top 5 help you SL’ers in keeping your SL romance alive.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Watercolors in the Rain, Advent Calendar is HOT!



The Advent Calendar at the Watercolors in the Rain sim is burning hot right now! A sim filled with adventure, exploration and fantastic photo shoot opportunities, straight out of the real life novel, Watercolors in the Rain, is now in Christmas mode! Come get a free gift each day until Christmas! Also, take part in our normal, sim wide hunt for another 22 free gifts! 

Including the very limited edition EVO fairies, created especially for the Watercolors in the Rain sim and based on actual characters from the novel written by David Lavigne (Surreal Skytower in SL).

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA29/203/19/26

Ugly Sweater Holiday PARTY AT DADDY-O's Thursday December 10th 6:00 - 8:00 PM



You know how these go in RL right? You grab that ugly of all uglies Holiday sweater, put it on for that one night a year and wear it to the party. Well we are doing it in SL! Music will be provided by the fantastic DJ Rocky! Bring your friends or meet new ones at Daddy-O's...WHERE FUN RULEZ!!!!!!!

 
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