Why I'm so passionate about Opensim
Like many people my
introduction to Opensim began with my “adventures” in Second Life (SL).
Before I go into that, let me preface it by saying before second life
my computer use was pretty much work related with email use to
family/friends, online shopping and bubble popping on Lycos. I had
never been a “gamer” or anything like that. So, of course, my
introduction to SL had to be from a non standard avenue. I don’t know
how many of you watched the CSI shows, but the CSI NY series did a
season that was all about SL basically. They solved the murder of a
woman who was also a big time SL addict. CSI had its own sim in SL and
you could go in and solve murders….that hooked me especially since I'm
an insomniac and there was not much on tv at 3 am.
Of course, any
write up wouldn’t be complete without the embarrassing parts, so I was
“newb” for a very long time lol. I didn’t get my first skin until I had
been in SL for a few months, my first AO til about 6 months in. Not
because I didn’t want to spend the money, but because I didn’t know
these things existed! And you should have seen my face when someone told
me about the OTHER stuff peeps got up to (yes I was really newb for the
longest time!)
It wasn’t long after that and I had my first SL job
which led to me learning to DJ. What fun! Now this was back in 2007/2008
when it was still a big deal to be an inworld DJ…we were total
rockstars back then!! Of course clubs demanded certain things, like you
had to use sam broadcaster to dj and had to have a following and had to
voice. Being the type of person who loves to learn, it wasn’t long
before I was attempting to make things. I say attempt as my first house
I made I wasn’t sure how to get the door how I wanted it as I wanted it
to swing one way but it was set up to swing the opposite. I asked a
friend how to do what I wanted and I was told to just rotate the
door….needless to say when I did that and attached to the house and went
to open the door it wasn’t the door that swung around, it was the whole
bloody house!
Then there was the very first time I tried to
terraform. I was trying to make myself a little natural pool for when I
decided to go mer. After 6 hours I still didn’t have the perfectly
rectangular hole in the ground I was trying to achieve…..yes 6
hours….and it just kept getting bigger and bigger because I was
determined it would be perfectly rectangular. To this day I STILL
totally suck at terraforming, which is OK as there are people who are
awesome at it!
What sealed the deal for virtual for me though was
something a little less tangible. I bought my first piece of land on a
mainland sim called Coverdale. It was out in the middle of nowhere (not
really, but that part is coming up). Ocean view as far as the eye
could see (not really, but that part is coming up). I would sit at the
beach and just watch the water move and it was mine..it was there that I
met someone whom would become a lifelong friend, his name was Cosmo and
he bought the lot next to mine. For the first few months I was just
the crazy lady who would wander around building while wearing fancy
formal dresses (oh yeah I was a TOTAL fancy dress addict). Then came
the day I learned about draw distance….
Remember I said I was a newb
for a long time… I don’t know if you can imagine the shock I got when I
opened up my draw distance and discovered not only was I not in the
middle of nowhere…but there was CRAP everywhere! OMG, in the water, in
the sky, on the land…..as far as the eye could see…just
stuff….everywhere! By the time I became disenchanted with SL (mainly
because of poor business decisions and poor customer service by LL),
Cosmo and I owned almost the entire mainland between the two of us, and
the first lil parcels we owned traded between us numerous times. By then
I had learned how to do quite a lot, make animations, make textures,
make clothes (could not make a decent sculpt to save my life though).
So, one day I went out searching to see if there was ANY competition to
SL, and that is how I discovered opensim..of sorts.
After many
failed attempts at various grids over the course of the next few years, I
finally ended up at 3rd Rock grid for the second time. When Terry and
TR left there to set up Digiworldz, I followed shortly thereafter as
they really were my first experience with caring, committed grid
management. It also doesn't hurt at all that the prices are beyond
affordable and the customer care is, in my opinion, unparalled.
Digiworldz is my home and everyday I find myself thankful for
discovering the path that led me here.
Now to get to the “meat” of the story…why I’m so passionate about opensim…
While
SL was great as a first introduction to virtual and I owe it for
opening my world and expanding my horizons, its too saturated with
people…with creators, with clubs, with dj’s, with drama, with
griefers….you can’t see the forest thru the trees, there’s just sooo
much…. It's probably the biggest proof to “you can stand in a crowded
room and feel all alone”.
I honestly feel that the quality of
“friendships” one can make in OS vs SL is greater. I have a higher
number of people I call friends here in OS than I did in SL. In fact
most of those true friends I had in SL are no longer even there, some
have followed me out of SL, some are not in virtual at all but we text
or fb chat or skype chat.
I believe that when Sansar goes full force
LL will let SL fall to the wayside, that means that opensim will be the
last bastion for those peeps who are like me. Learning to make
something out of nothing is a magical moment, learning to make your
first prim house, your first prim chair, torturing your first prim to
make a ribbon, making your first curtain and watching it wave in the
virtual wind...these are things that make virtual worlds special. That
moment when you realize that you too can create animations, it doesn’t
take a degree in rocket science, that you can create beautiful textures
and gorgeous dresses.
These are all real world skills one can learn
by playing a “game”….and then of course there’s scripting (ok I have
never been able to wrap my head around scripting…I can do basic stuff
…”hello world”…but anything more complex has my brain exploding),
however there is that moment when you write your first little script to
make that door open and it works! Its an empowering, positive feeling.
And..you get to do this all for FREE!
Whether you make things to
give away, make things to sell, offer custom services/products for pay,
or you like to play and leave the work to others, everyone is needed for
opensim, because someday opensim might be the only place(of its kind)
for everyone.
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