Happy New Year | Meet the Ambassadors: Bijoux | Events & Announcements | Out & About | New Locations
01/07/2023
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Happy New Year!
Someone said that 2023 is the YEAR TO SEE. In this spirit, we hope to see massive improvements in both our RL and SL lifestyles. We can't address the Real-Life improvements here, but we do wish people the best in areas like improved job opportunities, less pandemic sickness and fewer restrictions, etc. But we can take a look at some of what lays ahead for Second Life® in 2023.
Linden Lab has been working hard to make SL more exciting for residents. One of those areas has been in making land ownership more accessible to people with limited finances. They introduced the Plus membership in mid-November of last year, and the expectation is that in 2023 more people will begin to own their own homes on mainland. The Plus membership gives a resident a 512 m2 mainland tier allowance, plus a weekly stipend of L$150. The Plus member can own any size mainland if they are willing to pay the tier for it. The Plus membership is only $5.99 per month or an annual rate of $65.99 per year – substantially less than a Netflix subscription.
Along with that, they lowered the monthly tier price for everyone on the larger mainland parcels, starting with 1/8 of a region (8192 m2) and above. The 1/8 of a region used to be $37.00 US a month, and it dropped to $31.00 US. That is a savings of $6.00 US per month or $72.00 USD per year. This will make it possible for more people to own larger parcels in 2023.
There has also been speculation (and a lot of excitement) that sometime early in this year, LL will make the 2048 m2 Bellisseria homes available to the Premium Plus members. Linden Lab has not said anything definitive on this, but they have dropped a few hints. There is an active thread on the Linden Homes forum on this topic, and from what I can tell, people are very eagerly awaiting this release.
And Linden Lab has announced plans for upcoming non-land improvements to Second Life®. This includes graphical improvements (Physical Based Rendering or PBR) which will allow creators to make some amazing materials in their products. It will even support actual real mirrors that reflect avatars and surroundings. There will also be new/improved capabilities that will allow scripters to give us even more realism and fun gadgets.
We can also look forward to performance improvements, and it should become easier to customize our avatars. Linden Lab also wants to give us new community building tools for specific interest groups, which they are calling new centralised hubs.
As you can see, SL will offer us some great things in 2023.
Article & Photograph by Teresa Firelight
MEET THE AMBASSADORS: BIJOUX
We are continuing our series of Meet the Ambassadors. We interview each of the ambassadors so you can get a bit of a feel for who they are and what they do. And this week we will meet Bijoux Barr, who is possibly the most artistic of all of the Bellisseria ambassadors.
Here is what she had to say:
What SL Continent are you an Ambassador for? And where can people find your embassy?
I am an Ambassador for the Satori Continent. Our embassy is in the region of Gangkhar at this location.
Please share your favorite thing about this continent.
My favorite thing about Satori is its proximity to Bellisseria, Nautilus and the Blake Sea! You can explore the continent through its roads. You can hop on a boat or plane (or any vehicle you want) and then explore away!
Do you have suggestions for places to visit in your Continent?
Here are my Top 2 Places in Satori:
1. Mole Village:
Meauxle Bureaux is the home of the Linden Department of Public Works, a program focused on improvements related to the experience of living in and visiting the Linden Mainland. This intricate build was lovingly crafted by resident experts for all to enjoy, so come see the ultimate in shared creative spaces!
GTFO World Headquarters, & Drivers of SL HQ. Located just three sims from the Blake on the north edge of Satori. It provides route 8 road access along with boats, sea planes, and aircraft! Come peruse the shops and load up some freight!
When I think of mainland exploration, Bruissac Bay would be the first place I can think of as a starting point. Whether by land, sea or air, a great adventure starts here!
How long have you been an ambassador now? And what motivated you to become an ambassador?
I have been an Ambassador for almost 1 year now. I love what the BBB represents and how each person is fostering Bellisseria and mainland connections. I see the hard work and dedication of the members and staff and it is a joy to have the opportunity to give back or contribute to the team's efforts.
What was the most special event you either held at your Embassy or sponsored for your continent?
The most special event up-to-date for me is the Embassy opening event which we were given the opportunity to hold it at the Belli Fairgrounds. A little bit hard to top that one, but more ideas will come!
What is your favorite thing about Bellisseria that you tell residents of your continent?
It's always been the community in Belli. I love how everyone comes together to celebrate each other, and foster friendship, creativity and music.
What do you like to do in your spare time (or when you are not busy with your ambassador duties)?
If I'm not working in RL, usually I play games, or read, or paint or draw. I was able to grab (hoard really!) a lot of online art courses last Black Friday sale so I'm going through them to further develop my skills in art.
Tell us one thing about yourself that most people do not know.
Gosh this is hard. For those that I am connected to on social media, they would already know. But for the sake of this interview, maybe it's my love for art and music? I grew up in a family of artists, from my grandmother, to my mother, to me, then to my daughter. We immensely enjoy all different aspects of it from traditional painting, pencil art, graphic art, music (my tastes range from classical music to NU Metal), and the spoken word.
Do you have anything else you would like to share?
Our embassy is open to events you'd like to promote in Satori! I'd love to be able to collaborate with the residents, so please feel free to contact me if you have any event you'd like for us to partner with.
Article & Photograph by Teresa Firelight
EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
| If you have one of our stamp terminals at your place and you're having an event there or would like to make any other announcement, just let us know and we'll be happy to feature it here. Please drop a notecard on the Editor Dave (Lord.Junibalya) in-world or use the Email the Editor link in the sidebar to send us your information, posters or photos. |
News from the Nature Collective
We at The Nature Collective would like to share some exciting news! Due to our unprecedented growth in 2022, we've taken on several additional properties, including TNC Off the Rails in Gluphisia, which offers a DFS Community Garden and also serves as a GTFO! Hub.
To kick off 2023, we have partnered with the Mainland Community Alliance to bring you Rails, Trails and Sails, a monthly series of explorations across the mainland by land and sea.
RAILS! sets off from various points along the Linden rail system and travellers can chat, play games, learn about the history of the area, and explore GTFO! hubs. Rides happen the second Saturday of the month at 6pm SLT.
TRAILS! meets at a different TNC mainland member location on the third Saturday of the month at 6PM. Explorers can ride horses as a group, or bikes or even just walk the trails, as we explore the countryside.
SAILS! takes off on the fourth Saturday of the month at 6PM SLT from various ports off of SL waterways, with routes created by the SAILS! team. A navigation hud is free for participants of any level of experience, from beginners to experts, and may start and/or end at GTFO! hubs with stops along the way.
Also new to the TNC events lineup is the Coffee Collective, on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 10am SLT. We will be choosing different TNC member coffee houses to visit for a relaxing and low-key social meet-up.
Additionally, the TNC Book Club has found a home in the Bay City Library! Run by moderators Catori Mistwalker and Ayame Kitsungi-Moon (Stable.Mum), the TNC Book club meets monthly to discuss our monthly reads, and to vote on the next book on the list. Interested book-lovers can reach out to Catori or Ayame for more information.
We hope you will come to some of our events, and explore all that The Nature Collective has to offer. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, Kestrel Evergarden, at any time.
OUT AND ABOUT
Our thanks to resident Nika Talaj for drawing our attention in the Second Life® forums to the Moles' latest doings at SSPShell Yeah.
This new region in Bellisseria is developing into quite the transport hub. As you can see from the Moley-markers in shot, this is still a work in progress. However it already has two airstrips, a helicopter landing pad and two docks – all with the necessary rez zones to make them useful. Our staff photographer launched The Gazette airship from there very comfortably for some aerial shots.
There's also a cool refuelling station and parking places for two further planes.
The complex is in the newest maritime area to the far North of Bellisseria – just across the void from Satori.
We won't join in the speculations rife on the forums as to whether our ever-friendly and industrious SL talpidae will connect the waterways/airways of Belli to those of Satori, but hey, those coasts are now tantalisingly close!
The new areas provide interesting opportunities for sea, land and air-based exploration of SL. Check them out but please be careful. We know that the first law of SL aviation is that landings are harder than take-offs, but do try to handle your approach better than this resident did.
At least, if you don't get your landing right, please respect the signage and take your trashed craft home!
Article and photograph by The Gazette staff
NEW LOCATIONS
This week's new location is a boathouse in a gloriously messy and anarchic part of mainland Nautilus. It boasts it serves "all your maritime needs". You can launch your own boat in its Rez Area and it has 7 Seas Fishing. It is also a GTFO! hub for those of you into SL shipping. It's a great place to start your exploration of the local waters and now it offers a very cute stamp for your passport in bright pink ink.
| Baby Shark Boathouse NA |
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