Caledon
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Turning over a new leaf in Guild Wars 2's Sylvari starting experience
The Sylvari have been my race of choice ever since they were announced as a playable race in Guild Wars 2. It's not often that you see races outside of the generic Orc-Elf-Dwarf-Human spectrum, so the sylvan-esque race really appealed to me as something different. So of course, when time rolled around to stake claims on the impressions piece of the newly introduced Sylvari starting experience during the final beta weekend, you better believe I pounced on it. So here we are: Guild Wars 2's final beta weekend is over, and it's just a matter of time before launch is upon us. But you'll be happy to know that I spent my entire weekend prancing around Tyria in the leafy soles of a Sylvari's boots. It was a journey full of mystery, surprises (both pleasant and otherwise), and a whole lot of oversized foliage. Follow along past the cut, where I shall make like a tree and get the hell on with it already.
The Virtual Whirl: Vox virtualis
A change is as good as a holiday, they say. Seriously, I don't actually know anyone who says this other than myself; though I'm assured that there are some folks out there who do. With that tragically underutilized platitude in mind, then, last week I posed a question to a spread of well-known virtual environment users (at least to those that I felt would actually respond) and collected the responses. The question put to the respondents was "What's the single thing that the operators/developers could do to make you feel more satisfied with their virtual environment offering; what thing would help an operator keep you as a customer, or that would make some other operator more appealing than the one or ones you already have?"
Blue Mars limited-term pioneer pricing plans announcement
Avatar Reality Inc, the operators of Blue Mars, are today announcing limited time "pioneer" pricing for developers, digital entrepreneurs, educators, and businesses for space on the Blue Mars virtual environment platform. Space on Blue Mars is allocated in "cities". A Blue Mars city can be any size up to 16 kilometres on a side (a total of 256 million square metres). A city is more or less a discrete environment, or pocket "world" (if you prefer the term) with its own custom terrain, interface, rules, controls, items, themes, dominant language, and activities.
Second Life's Caledon expands to Blue Mars
Desmond Shang, operator of one of the most popular and cohesive themed communities in Second Life, is extending his community into Blue Mars in just a few days time. Shang's Caledon, popular among aficionados of Victoriana, Steampunk and Gaslight, is opening a sister colony, Caledonia on Blue Mars, with an initial stake of roughly four million square metres. Caledonia is roughly 30% larger than Caledon, sporting a lot of wilder country, forests, mountains and more. We'll be looking forward to seeing what the content development pipeline will really do. Initial reports are that Caledonia will, even when built out, be considerably less bandwidth intensive on its own than Caledon.
Linden Lab changes pricing/policy on void simulators
Concerned users gather in Caledon to discuss implications of the pricing/policy changes Linden Lab have announced an immediate set of policy changes for what they call openspace simulators (more commonly called void sims by Second Life users), and a deferred set of pricing changes that will take effect for all void sims come 1 January 2009. From 1 January 2009, upfront fees for void sims will be increased by 50% and monthly fees will rise by 66%. Presently the fees are US$250 upfront and US$75/mo. The new fees from 1 January will be US$375 upfront and US$125/mo. Owners with groups of four void simulators will have those groups migrated to class 5 servers at that time. The pricing change will certainly hit many quite hard. Void sims have been a popular alternative to regular simulators ever since the Lab encouraged more comprehensive use of the simulators, by increasing their capacities and making their pricing more accessible.
One Shots: A peaceful day in Caledon
One of the things that really impresses us with virtual worlds is all the user-created content. Having spent some time on-grid myself, I can tell you that the array of ideas and designs is just mind-boggling. Today our very own Tateru Nino shares a screenshot she took in Second Life. This area is in Caledon, about two sims north of Tateru's office in Nova Civis. Tateru describes Caledon as "the home of Victorian civility, mad science, and gentleman adventurers in dirigibles where giant steam-powered robots hardly ever attack -- at least not during tea." Having tried (and failed) to build many things in SL myself, I can say that between lining up all of your prims (primitive 'building blocks') and adding textures to them (assuming you didn't have to make your own) you can imagine how much time and care went into all of the many user-generated things that we see in this screenshot. Impressive!If you have something you've made, dreamed up, or just like to look at, what are you waiting for? Grab a quick screenshot, tell us who you are and what it's about, and pop it into the mail to us at oneshots@massively.com. Your image could be next!%Gallery-9798%
Cinemassively: The Invasion of Artificial Isle
Once upon a time, Caledon, Darkmere, and Artificial Isle were allies. However, Zatzai decided to attack Darkmere and challenge them to battle. What follows is an accurate accounting of the events leading up to Zatzai's capture and burning at the stake.IredescentEye and crew took an interesting approach to battle videos. They introduce you to a resident watching the Second Life History Console to learn all about the Invasion of Artificial Isle. Keep in mind that this is a SL roleplaying video and events like this do not happen seriously there.[Thanks, Lucifer!]
Second Life's Caledon celebrates New Year's Eve across the globe
For those of you unwilling or unable to travel to a friend's home for a New Year's Eve bash, or too tired just thinking about holding one yourself, spend it in Second Life in the Independent State of Caledon! Beginning at 4 AM SLT (Second Life Time, which is Pacific Standard Time), and running right up to 1 AM the following New Year's Day, you can enjoy "Many Midnights", A Gilded Age Masqued Charity Ball!The schedule of activities runs thusly:* 4:00AM - 6:00AM SLT - Sydney/Melbourne New Year's Eve Ball* 2:00PM - 3:00PM SLT - Live Charity Auction* 3:00PM - 5:00PM SLT - London New Year's Eve Ball* 8:00PM - 10:00PM SLT - New York New Year's Eve Ball* 10:00PM - 11:00PM SLT - Live Charity Auction* 11:00PM - 1:00AM SLT - San Francisco New Year's Eve BallThe event hosts are donating all auction proceeds to "Gardens of Hope", an organization that builds greenhouses, tree nurseries, and more in Lesotho, Africa. These gardens are then used as a source of food, firewood, and income for several communities in this Southern African nation.For more information, visit Better World Island in-world, or go here on the Webternet. Don't forget your masque![Thanks, Saffia!]
