All of my friends are granted permission to run screaming from the room in abject terror. The rest of you must now sit down and listen to me ramble on about meaningless drivel that makes your brain cells commit suicide by the millions.
Well, it's been a year now. More or less... A lot has changed since I join the SL community, and I thought I would touch on some of them...
I came on during the era of SL-1.5 (I think. Get's hazy after a year). When I first came into SL, I immediatly knew what SL was: An eternal beta project for a VR community.
Wow. No levels. No grinding. Just the tools to create anything my foolish little heart desired. Even more, so much had already been built by others! One of my first useful buys was a belt that helped me to fly and maintain my current height when building. Cubey Terra, built it, I believe...
Soon after getting a place in SL, I founded my first home in Maroon and built a tower there to tinker inside of. From there, I began building for other people. I think I enjoyed that best of all.
I soon was able to upgrade my RL wife's computer and get her into SL. At her request, I created her a unique look for SL. Botany Black was born then, a Dryad so unique that people who have never met her before recognise her by description. You could say she is not only my Partner, but my greatest creation.
Pity so few people make cloths that look good on a dryad... As well. Live and learn!
I soon after made her a gift of some land and a place to live: Botany's Grove. It was the last place we lived before moving to the Techra Sim, and one of the ones we remember the most fondly. There I built her tree for her home. Not a tree-house, as such, but a home made inside of a tree. I really could not think of anywhere else for a tree-sprite to live...
We had a lot of fun there. Even had a May-Day party that was exceedingly fun. Of course, most of my time was spent trying to get my May-Pole to work for it. I swear that thing must have been laughing at me. I DID finally get it working. A few are even still floating about SL, or so people tell me...
As many of you know, I was given the not-so-rare chance to make use of a sim for six months in exchange for my help on one of his projects. (Thanks Edgeware and Baccara!) During this time, I learned much about land management and building on a SIM-sized scale. A few things that came up during my 'ownership of Techra:
- Land management is more than just slapping prims down across a sim. It's also knowing how to section the land for effect and use. Even if you own the whole sim, it's a good idea to seperate the land into usable sections. A good reason to do this is because it is VERY possible to accidently return all the prims on a section of land if you are not paying attention. If you have not sectioned the SIM, then you could be returning every prim in the SIM. Up to 15000. Not cool.
- Landscaping takes time to do right, but is well worth the effort. Making the land something aside from a flat plane shows visitors that you care about the sim. Adding trees and plants, even if just weeds in the sidewalk cracks, makes everything seem more 'right'.
- You not only have to invest the time or money to build your SIM, but also have to set aside time for regular maintenence. This can take up a good amount of time on a sim sized build. I spent hours each week cleaning 3rd party prims, realigning a stray section, checking the local scripts, and even just welcoming visitors to the sim.
- During the times I needed to speak with the Lindens about SIM issues, they were ALWAYS helpful. We were not always to immediatly find what was causing a problem, but they always tried, and always got back to me once we discovered what the issue was. (side note, thanks to the Lindens for making SIM ownership less of a hassle than it could have been. Your help has been welcome.)
- A LOT of people out there want to use you sim. A whole lot. Most have fun ideas that are great, and I felt bad about not being able to help them. What most of them did not understand was that I was in the same boat as them, and had been granted the right to use the sim for my own projects for six months. Most were understanding, and talked for a while. A few were downright rude to the point of sillyness. Word to the wise: Abusing people who will not give you things for free leads quickly to being ignored by anyone he mentions it to. Manners are not optional when you want something.
Lastly, let me say I learned another important fact about myself: I don't need a SIM.
Nope. Never did. It just took me having one for 6 months to learn it. I had a feeling of as much before I agreed, but the truth is: I needed to HAVE the sim to make that call.
Let's get rigt down to it: I like to build for others. I like to make my 'toys' for other people to play with. I don't really want to run a large scale club, or a mall. I don't really want to rent to others, as even with one sim it's a fulltime job. I am not designing a sim sized game, since by the time you get the players in there, there would be no room for spectators.
And I now live on a 1024 lot, helpfully provided by my friends (thanks Angel and Alexin!). I also rent some land for a shop, where I am finally boxing up a year's worth of items and getting them ready for vendors. I have some freebies there too, so don't be afraid to just grab those... As to where the shop is, I have it under my name in the find system, but could not even tell you the SIM name. Never have been much for marketing.
As it is, I have a few new projects I want to get to on my plate. I've built two sims from the ground up now, and have an idea of the work involved. Perhaps I'll build some new avatars next...
Oh, and to end this, I want to thank Botany Black for all her help. Her touch has made everything I've done even better, both here and in Real Life.
Here's to another year of SL!
