What happened in Oak Grove?

I've recently been having fun exploring the mainland, an checking out some of the places I've not visited in ages an ages. I've taken the Luna to Dore trolly (which, sadly, falls off the rails every time - anyone know who can fix this?) and wanted in Nova Albion. I checked out Rizal and Morris (darn archery range dun work!), an I nosed around a few other places here and there.

One thing dat did strike me was how underutilized some of these places were. Rizal was all but empty, the vehicle sims deserted, and so on. Sure, there was a clot of people in the Ahern/Dore, etc welcome area -- but the nearest spaces were for the most part absent of avatars.

One of these fine sims was Oak Grove, home of Busy Ben's Vehicle Lot. There were people at the lot, probably hoping to win the upcoming lottery. Two other locations in the sim, however, seemed deserted, perhaps for ages.

Anyway, I have a question or two about the sim of Oak Grove. Maybe someone can take a crack at 'em.

1. There is an education pavilion place there. Is this *ever* used today? Is it somehow reserved for use? How would one use it if it was? What was it used for?

2. There is also a ghost town, which I'm glad was deserted at the time I was there -- as it is damage enabled. Unfortunately, it looks as if the saloon there suffered at the hand of asset issues, as most of it is just simply gone, leaving windows, railings, and other bits floating in the air. What happened to this building? Should I file a ticket to try and get it fixed, or is it a lost cause? What was this ghost town used for, anyway?

Fiinally, I guess I wonder -- is there an interest in these places at all -- or is it a good thing these old sims are deserted?

Mari

The ultimate use of Oak Grove emerged only recently, following several instances of grid assault. Repeated releases of headcrab zombies in the Morris sandbox area were corralled in by narrow no-script zones surrounding that region on all sides but the south. Mindlessly and aggressively replicating, the zombies tumbled over the cliffs into the dusty lowlands, filling the region. Unable to tackle even the gentlest slopes, they were trapped.

That's about when we started firing the artillery from Gibson.

Well, I partially answered my own question, when I found this in general discussion:

/108/d6/93376/1.html

Looks like the area has been largely abandoned for ages, and seems like it was a "white elephant" even then. Misses Ingersoll talked about the bar in the saloon being missing back in March 2006. It's the two story place in her piccies. It is now almost entirely gone from the grid.

The current Education Stage dates from December of 2005, according to http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=43667

Mari

Oh boy... this is starting to sound a bit too familiar.

/120/ed/31858/1.html

Ut oh... dat's an uncomfortable connection, f'r sure...

Mari

What an amazing story! Thanks so much for posting the link, Salazar.

Back inthe days of flying from place to place I used to be in Oak Grove a lot.

I've never seen much action in the old west town.

The old Oak Grove stage, a plain one like there used to be scattered about, was used frequently for lessons, and for contests.

LL used to pay a tiny sum for folks to teach, although I have no idea how much that tiny sum accounted for the lessons.

We used to have far fewer people, so there was much less griefing just because there weren't as many griefers around.

There weren't many alternatives back in 2004.

I think the new stage at Oak Grove was too late, plus, it doesn't add any functions, it's only real difference from the preceding stage is cosmetic.

Nowadays, at least as of a few months ago, if you tried to teach a class at Oak Grove you'd be likely to have a hundred spongebob cubes putting out thousands of racist scatological Nazi porno images.

The existence of video tutorials on YouTube may be reducing the need for inworld training in the basics.

Ya, I kinda gather the old west town, well, lives up to its name of bein a ghost town. Mighta been an idea dat never quite took off. Still, a shame to see that saloon sitting there, so broken near a welcome area, ya know?

The stage... yer right about the troubles it could face, even what seems like a downturn in griefing. Dunno how it could be used today, if at all, but again - kinda a shame, it jes sittin there.

Mari

A sad comparison:

2006: http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=17056

2008: http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=267019

aw, that is sad.

I went there, it looks like someone just deleted the walls and floors and just left the furniture in place...weird.

There was some people doing something or other at the pavilion, though. I didn't stick around too long.

Looks like a good opportunity for the Public Works people to hone their skills.

Ya, I suspect there's a story there. A victim of a "great erase" like natural occurrence, or a vengeful builder?



Ya know, I'd *love* to do someting teach-y there. I dun have clue #1 of who to contact, though.



Definitely! No disrespect to Bay City, which is really cool sounding, but that is what I would love to see some of the LDPW resources go to. Fixing and adding to the road system. Making the trains run. Finishing the great wall in Hetereocera. You know, DPW-sorta stuff

Mari

I figure it couldn't hurt, so...

http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MISC-1073

I also went ahead and created

http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MISC-1075

and

http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MISC-1074

I'm not inworld, so I was unable to get the coordinates for the bitter end of the "Great Wall" in Hetereocera.

I wish I actually felt hopeful on these, but I also know dat there's much bigger issues floating around right now.

Mari

I've been around Oak Grove for over a year now and the western town is getting smaller and smaller - one whole building has vanished leaving behind only bits and pieces like the banister rail and such things. The griefing in Oak Grove has got a hell of a lot better of late and there is a very sweet lady called Eliza who hangs about there in a floating house above the stage.

To be honest, there are huge numbers of sims about there that are void in all but name - empty of content and purpose, not even able to call themselves green spaces, just a form of tundra

Come on Moles, get to work and make something amazing!

You said it!

I agree great read and what of the pics posted.I am not with it is this a general decline or neglect or what, not sure I've understood whats going on.

Ever heard of a RL village called Roanoke? Kinda the same thing, in a creepy sort of way.

Drop by Murray next to Oak Grove, I'm often there chatting to friends if I'm not out looking for missing explorers Careful though, it tends to attract the kind of idiot griefer who stands around with guns bristling bullying newbies that wander by. It's a lot quieter since LL turned off build and script and most areas, but they still come back. Still, 95% of the time it's peaceful and nice

heyas;

do you need to contact anyone to do an event at oak grove? its listed in the public linden parcels section of the event venue list. as i understand, those are there for people to use for their events. though i guess there's always the chance of scheduling conflicting events....

I don't know if this is related or not. But Marcos Fonzarelli sent me a photo he took in Kahruvel about a stone slab that was missing. I just checked it out this morning and he is right. A huge section of the floor ruins, just south of the landing stone, has vanished. At first I thought it might have collapsed, as all the rainfall we've been having has been eroding quite a bit of the hillside near there. But there are no fragments. It's just gone. I don't have an explanation for it.

Do you think the moles are taking short cuts, rather than rez their own, they are stealing prims ready made?

A little of both, I suspect. My bet is that the build (or parts of it) were lost either in an accident, during griefing, or some other malady. Unfortunately, the condition of that old saloon (and soem other old items) is very low on the list, and may well have been wholly forgotten about.



If you find out, let me know too. I'd *love* to actually use dat venue for stuff sometime.



I'll keep an eye out f'r ya. I spended much of last night roaming the vehicle sims, so I wasn't far from there.



KROA

That could very well be... they are sneaky devils! Who knows what additional powers the Lindens have granted them with their work for the LDPW.

p.s. At first I thought that stone had, perhaps, been deeded to the group or set to share with the group. That could have explained the disappearance as someone else in the group could have deleted it. But I don't think that's the case. All those stones were owned by me and not set to the group. This is highly irregular. If not the moles (which I doubt it is) it might be a Void flare or something.

EEK Prim rot!
Our 1's are turning into 0's as they age!

I think you mean regress