Where Are The Communities

Me and a friend were just saying, where have all the communities gone in SL?

I used to have a really nice house, and next to me was a guy called Lumiere, and he was really friendly, always making stuff... I was always making stuff too. There was a woman next to me with a nice pretty waterfall... It was lovely.

I got my stone waterfall thing from the woman across the river, that was her trade. I sold security alarms. It was a real community.

Now I don't know where to go, I can't find community. But I can find it in these forums.

My personal suspicion is the huge number of private islands... Maybe all my old friends are around the corners on private sims... Well don't leave me behind!

Do you have a nice community on a private island? I'll pay you if me and my sleeping bag can bunk at your place for a bit. I miss having neighbours and a purpose. A lot of the main land these days is either deserted or it looks like the surface of that crater in Armageddon, all jagged and spiky and uneven, with no signs of life.

Does anyone here have three or more houses near to each other, and can you give me the name of two or more of your neighbours?

Lumiere has moved to Natoma.

I think there's still good communities out there, but you probably have to search a little more to find them nowdays.

There are still communities - I live in one in Uli. A large part of the mountain has been landscaped by my neighbours and you will find waterfalls and streams and trees and plants. We regularly meet up for a chat. If you want to come and take a look, IM me in game and I would be happy to TP you and show you around.

Latonia

I'd like that cause wherever the communities have gone that's where I'm going... I'm like the last dinosaur here, wandering alone on the rocks and old builds...

You're welcome. Oh i forgot to mention the wildlife - hummingbirds, fireflies and I have a frog who flicks his tongue out occasionally lol. Oh and an eagle who circles the opposite mountain

Latonia

Latonia,

It sounds beautiful... You guys got a nice spot for sale at all?

Well actually, there is. We are right on the edge of the sim here. Next door to my neighbour, although in the next sim, there is some land - 1024 sqm up for sale.

Latonia

PS since it went up for sale, we have been hoping someone who was in tune with the landscaping would buy it.

I'm looking for a community too. but right now I'm only good as a bum sleeping in ditches maybe.

Lol Burke - well I have a cave now - took away the house, which left more prims for plants etc. You are welcome to lay your weary bones down any time.

Latonia

I had two great neighbors: Katykiwi Moonflower and Axel Valentino.

Alas *sniff* they've both moved away.

Then again, both sold me some of their land so I suppose it's not a total loss.

Some of us are trying to form a community in Miramare, but we've hit a bit of a wall with people who don't do anything with their land, yet won't sell it. (Or have it set to sell at ridiculous price)

If you own land somewhere but aren't using it, PLEASE consider selling it to people who have a vision of community.

Of course, Slate is always available too.

The Slate Group formed their community in Beta, and after 1.2 was published, we put all of our land into one single group.

Currently we are working on a new project called "Red River City". Once we have completed work on this project, we anticipate that we will be moving the whole SIM towards the theme we have adopted for Red River.

I encourage you to come and visit us, we are very friendly (to those that are friendly) and we always enjoy meeting new friends.

Yesh! But if you are considering selling your land in Miramare, please sell it to me, not Marcos. Me, not Marcos. Me, not Marcos. Me, not Marcos. Me, not Marcos. (subliminal messages)

My store is in Miramare but my home is Tharu, and I have great neighbours around and there's definetely a community feeling. It's kinda neat.

Things can change really quickly in SL. I like to drop by the various neighborhoods and see what's up. Of course people sometimes move away, and in SL, it may tend to be sudden.

I'm enjoying Slate, and have talked on several occasions to those like Bob and Kenichi about it. Looking forward to the grand opening.

I have roots in Midnight City... I am grateful. Got a warm welcome there when I was fresh off of the virtual boat. While it is a shopping city, there is a warm human vibe of friendship there, often to be found in the central square.

Taber is a beautiful place to visit, with a distinct Tudoresque style and some of my good friends living there, and some SL venerables I have not met inworld yet (that's you, Siggy!).

Uli? Sure, kickass... Gwyn, Lily, nice natural lushness.

I CAN'T FORGET INDIGO!!! *shout-outs to the Indigo Crew* And the expansion into Magenta.

No one really seems to live in Nexus Prime, but I know I like the people who build it.

MOCHA AS A COMMUNITY?!? MMMHMMM!!!

Islands of Oceana as a 2nd SL continent and a communal place to be, where you know your neighbors? Absolutely.

Lumiere Noir is like uberoverseer of Natoma. Heh.

I can go on. And on.

But Jsecure, to answer your original questions, I am a friendly explorer and therefore somewhat of a nomad. I may not have a few fixed neighbors but it's fair to reckon I know whose neighbors are whose.

When we say "community," are we talking here about (1) a shopping area with people who know each other, an apartment complex, or some other type of dwell-generating enterprise, or... (2) a place where people who like each other hang out together? I think there is definitely a difference between those two types of mindsets in SL.

As much as SL land can cost, is it any wonder people don't want to sell it once they've bought it, even if their game time has reduced for whatever reason? If you really want control over your Second Life and with whom you interact within it, your best option right now is to buy an island (or the better part of a sim). Or lobby the Lindens for some sort of zoning measures that dictate what can be built in certain areas.

That is a good question... and I have seen some that are both, 1+2.

A shopping area with people who like each other hang out together.

It happens!

Oh, I agree totally, Torley. However, not everybody seeks out this combination, often people want (1) or (2). I really was kind of curious exactly what Jsecure meant by "community," since he's decrying the demise of it.

I am part of a great community in Shona. We have come together to buy land in our Sim and keep it looking nice and natural. None of us knew each other before we moved - we just got lucky that all the auction winners and First Land claimants were great people with a common cause. I wish I could spend more time there.... but it's only a vacation home for me.

As for my main home in Isere - yes, I can name my wonderful neighbors.

Bob's Slate Group have a lovely ski lodge to my north. Sifo Mfume has a small tree house in the middle of my lot where he develops his amazing vehicles, and also a sky mall that he owns with Teknobase Prototype to the east, with a second lot to the south. Primsrose Buttercup and her significant other are building a lovely winter wonderland to the southeast. A few First Landers remain to the south - the talented AV designer Everest Palmerstone has an event area on his 512m2, and Meatwad Extraordinaire can always be relied on to put something spacey and awesome on his 512m2. Omnis Prototype has recently replaced his Club "O" and event stage with a huge sword standing on end in a very futuristic-looking building on 1024m2. Garth and Pituca have a small sales outlet in a cabin, also in middle of my lot.

There's a couple of First Landers I'm forgetting, and Speedfreak Valentino and Felix Madison have a handful of lots for sale there, but apart from that - that's my Sim! And yes, I typed all that without being online to check My apologies to anyone whose name I mentioned incorrectly.

Yeah, Beryl... I don't quite get the exclusivity you pointed out of going for (1) OR (2). I suppose I just cannot relate to such a thing. It has always struck me as strange, that type of polarization.

Lisse, I'd say you know your land well, but me doing so would be redundant, given your gracious expertise.

I have no idea how to put in words what I meant by community, but I'll try... I just meant having a nice home, with nice people next to me who I knew, and who I got on with... Sometimes one person would move, and someone new would turn up, but they were nice too...

I suppose what lost the idea of community for me was that people moved away and then the sim I lived in got turned into that huge fortress (Ritch), and when I moved to another sim it was a nice community area (Hooper) where I held some cool parties, but my neighbours were never home much, and it got kind of lonely out there, like being on an outpost or something... So then I sold up in the end, and I've moved around a bit, but since then I've never had the whole 'neighbourhood' thing... I didn't see any, and I started to wonder have they all gone... I thought maybe everyone had gone to the private sims, till these guys came out from where they were hidden, waved a hand and said "We have a community, over here!"

So I'm glad to know they're still about... I'm going to have to take time and think about where's right for me now This thread's given me some starting points though

Something occurred to me as I was reading this thread. You know what's different about SL compared to the RW (at least in terms of community)? Although people come and go in the RW, the buildings (i.e., houses, apartments, offices, etc.) remain fairly static. I know it can be done, but one thing that might help maintain community cohesion in SL would be for LL to make it far more intuitive to sell land + improvements (i.e., buildings).

Just a thought.

I requested that as a feature (sell land + objects on land) in a response to one of Philip's blog postings, and he said he'd move it "up the priority list". So they are aware.

Communities are passe. I used to live on the island in Natoma -- Delerium Island. I knew my neighbours. Loki Pico, Tea Digeridoo, and Delerium Digeridoo. Now that I'm in Abbotts I feel like I have no place in SL beyond the industrial complex of Abbotts Aerodrome. Who are my neighbours? Does it matter when the average player stays only for a couple of months?

When a multiplayer game becomes too populous, when does it stop being a community? How do we create smaller communities within the larger Second Life population?

haha.. Cubey, you remind me of a RL apartment dweller in the city. So hard to have community these days in the big cities.

But yes, all answers above are great. There are so many communities in SL, and in so many forms. I'd say just stumble upon people you like and see where their community is. Before long you will have many communites to choose from.

It's not a very active community, at least from my observance, but the folks in Grignano seem to be fairly civil and friendly. The apartment building across the street from my studio usually has a few folks chillin' in it whenever I'm around.

I just finished building a causeway/bridge thing that stretches across the whole of Grignano. Maybe I could make it more "community friendly". What would ya'll want on it?

LF