Hiyas Hun - What's happening tonight ...

... or - 'Hiyas Hun when's the next party?' and of course I could carry on recording a dozen variations without too much trouble. The important thing about all of these variations is they are all reasonable questions and in truth any Sim that plans on being successful and providing entertainment needs to find a way to provide the answers to them.

At OneFinalDarkness we have a multi-layered approach because we have found that one solution definitely does not fit all. There are of course the traditional Second Life groups, which, for people fairly new to Second Life is a solution because they won't necessarily have reached the 25 group limit. Interestingly most people seem to acquire groups fairly quickly but over a period of time there is a turn over till as a resident really settles into Second Life the really essential groups become fixed and they will no longer be able/willing to accept groups. To accommodate this situation we use a product called Subscribe-O-Matic; this is a web based service which is accessed by residents using in world objects and is managed by the Subscribe-O-Matic group owner on the Service Web Site. The flexibility of Subscribe-O-Matic is excellent and like SL groups people can choose to subscribe to it or remove themselves. As yet another layer we have developed a Web Site specifically for the OneFinalDarkness Estate and, although still developing, it covers all the major aspects of the Sims including the events by way of an Included Google Calendar and RSS Feeds for the Subscribe-O-Matic. The final layer which we provide is also accessible through our website and that is a Blog dealing with the history and day to day happenings in the OneFinalDarkness Estate ... but you already know about that because you are reading it *S*

Sooo ... these days when any one of the many variations of 'Hiyas Hun - What's happening tonight?' turns up we at least feel prepared with a battery of answers and of course a note card with all the relevant details and links included ... plus of course a sexy smile *S*

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I am new to Second Life ...

... What do I do now? I have genuinely lost count of the number of times I have heard this and similar questions. I always try my best to help people new to Second Life particularly if they have stumbled onto us at OneFinalDarkness; both Babs and I remember being new to Second Life although in fairness that is now over a year ago and we are both very comfortable in our second lives.

The way we look at new residents arriving on our Sim is as an opportunity to help them avoid some of the stumbling blocks of the early days of Second Life and maybe give them a chance to enjoy some safe relaxation in a friendly environment. We always encourage them to come along to our regular events and we often find that when they have been introduced to some of our friends they rapidly start to enjoy Second Life to it's fullest extent.

We are very lucky to have a wide range of friends and some of them enjoy producing music events for us such as: DJ Than and his hostess Shelly (they are US based) or perhaps Meri or Sean they are UK based. With this quite broad range of times we cover and provide events during there is usually something that people can find to look forward to (see calendar here).

In addition to the events we also provide a camping system for people who have demonstrated that they are regularly at events and around the sim. The camping is not for huge amounts of money but for someone just starting up it is a very approachable way to start exploring Second Life with no risk to pocket to be concerned about.

One of the great joys is to see people starting to branch out in Second Life and on more than one occasion we have been able to give them a flying start at the commercail side of Second Life by providing either very cheap or even sometimes Free Rental Shop Space. There really are some superb ideas out there from new residents and unlike us rather more 'jaded' residents the enthusiasm can be infectious!!!

I won't pretend that there haven't been some heated moments with new residents ... In reality we all know it is a virtual world ... we also know that rezzing a full size replica of a B52 in the middle of someones bar isn't exactly going to kill anyone ... LOLOLOL; but of course words have to be exchanged over such incidents and although the vast majority of new residents say 'Oooo I am soooo sorry!!' there are those that take the attitude 'So what ... why shouldn't I do that!!! '. There are different approaches but the one Babs and I find most positive is to be as firm as possible and ask that there are no further instances or polite persuasion will probably have to escalate. We haven't had any real issues so far which is a credit to the general maturity of the people we see attracted to Second Life.

As a summary and an answer to the question ... I would suggest people use common sense and if they don't understand something they find someone to ask rather that blunder on ... we all would prefer to answer questions than pick up the dust of a broken Sim or have to dust off the cobwebs from a banned list.

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I was once asked ....

... 'Why do you do this?'; the question followed a lengthy and interesting conversation with a new resident. I remember feeling completely confident as I sent my fingers flying toward the keys ... 'I know this ...' the confidence faded as my fingers landed on the keys 'I must know this ...' as I waited expectantly for the answer to pop into my head .... what I typed was 'I know we enjoy what we do ... we enjoy seeing other people have fun on the Sim ... Errrmmm...'.

The conversation went on for a while and ended as so many did with pleasantries and a good feeling of having met another nice person. What the question did do though was leave an echo in my mind ... 'Why do we do this?'.

Ultimately it is a complex question which has a lot to do with the way both Babs and I are in Real Life. We are helpful people if a little 'Stressy' at times ... LOLOL ... and we are old enough to realise that everyone we meet is a unique individual who needs to be understood and respected for who they are this is easy for us as we enjoy meeting people.

Other reasons are simple to see; it is a fun and absorbing hobby which rarely has a boring moment and as a playground for imagination it is superb. I suspect that one of the things about owning and running the Sims on the OneFinalDarkness Estate which also appeals to each of us is being able to do exactly what we want and watch while other people ratify our choices by choosing to spend time on the Sims and give us positive feedback on things we implement. Perhaps counter intuitively though neither of us are control freaks we like things to be right but each of us can accept that sometimes things don't go according to plan!!

In more recent months with the pressure rising on everyone from the staggering global economy I suspect many Sim owners have considered pulling the plug on the substantial financial drain that owning Sims in reality is. Babs and I have discussed the future of OneFinalDarkness and Oceans End on a number of occasions with both our enthusiasts heads on and our Real Life business heads on ... so far we have decided that as a hobby we can sustain the costs and will continue to do so for as long as we can but clearly this is another way to understand the question that was posed to me. I am sure if any Second Life resident actually paused for a moment while browsing for the latest fashions or took a breather from a marauding dragon inside a magical shield they would realise that Second Life would not be the rich and immensely compelling and immersive place it is without the time, inspiration and financial commitment of the hundreds of Sim and business owners ... soooo ... perhaps the best and fullest answer to the question 'Why do you do it?' would be ... We do it for you!! Enjoy!!

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Precious Prims ...

One of the earliest revelations and joys for both Babette and I was discovering building in Second Life; I am completely convinced that being able to realise ideas; fantastic, outrageous, practical, beautiful or even just fun will always be one of the abiding delights and challenges of Second Life.

In addition to being one of our earliest high spots it also became the driver for everything that followed; from the earliest plot of land we paid tier on to the OneFinalDarkness Estate as it stands today. The reason for this drive is that virtually everything you would like to see/create/build in Second Life is dependent on Prims; these are literally the fundamental building blocks which when manipulated create the Second Life world we experience and enjoy.

If you are relatively new to Second Life you may be thinking to yourself 'The Ditzy Blonde Brit is delirious!!' ... and I wouldn't blame you. I clearly remember when Babs and I filled our first parcel of land ... literally used all of the Prims it supported ... it was one of those 'OooHhh!!!' *wide eyed shock* moments. We sat and thought about deleting some things, which we did, then we added the things we wanted which was great ... then of course all the prims were used up AGAIN!!!

I am sure you can all see the bigger picture here; we needed more Prims, so we needed more land ... and not surprisingly that process simply continued till we arrived at the OneFinalDarkness Estate as it is today. To be fair at each escalation in our land ownership there were difficult financial decisions which provided plenty of 'Lively' debates. The biggest of the debates we had came when we realised we were paying tier on more than half of the island on which we had started (ikyoto) and we wanted more land. It was still a big jump to move to our own island not least because of the set up fee's but Linden Labs had just announced their new lower set up fees and ultimately we shut our eyes, crossed our fingers and made the final leap to becoming Sim Co-Owners.

At this point we both felt very 'Prim Rich' ... a brand new SIM has 15000 Prims available ... how would we ever use all of those!!! The real answer here is ... we haven't but we have had to stop adding features to the Sim to allow for unforeseen needs such as decorations for seasonal events and themed parties so you could be excused for being somewhat aghast that we have effectively eaten through 15000 Prims ... and that is just on the main Sim. Oceans End is the Homestead Sim we have adjoining and that had 3750 Prims ... all but a working buffer are also used up!!

If you are reading this as a seasoned Second Life resident you may well not be that surprised ... as someone completely new to Second Life the numbers may appear stunning. The main purpose I had in talking about this was to provide a framework for people to fit their expectations into and maybe to raise the awareness of just how Precious Prims really are!!

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What does OneFinalDarkness mean??

After a wonderful holiday weekend I quickly looked at this blog over a cup of tea before Real Life and work finally swept away the relaxation.



The point that struck me was 'What about telling people about the Name!' ... 'OneFinalDarkness' isn't exactly a middle of the road title to choose for a sim. By way of explanation I have to sketch out a few details about the friendship I have with Babette.



Babette has a large family and after being good friends for so long I am lucky enough to have become considered part of her family. This extended family for me is a wonderful experience as I have only a very small family of my own. Amongst many of the plus points to this friendship and extended family is Gary, Babette's Real Life partner. When Babette and I were starting to think about renting land in Second Life and had to face decisions like 'What shall we call the parcel?' ... we pondered and discussed this for days till one afternoon Gary piped up with 'Call it OneFinalDarkness ...'. I am not sure who said it first Babette or I but it went like this 'What is that supposed to mean?'



There were explanations from Gary ... none of which made much sense at the time (or even now!); but after a few minutes both Babette and I felt that it had a nice mix of things going for it so we stole - acquired!! it. Gary doesn't seem to mind, in fact I think he feels quite paternal toward the title and the two Ditzy Brit Birds who run the OneFinalDarkness sims.



So there you have it ... LOLOLOL ... It is what it is and was inspired by the love of Babette's life ... Gary.



One day I am sure the truth will emerge!!

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Second start for Second Life ...

I would love to be methodical enough to write about things in a chronological order ... I'm not so ... I'll have to ask you all to excuse my feeble memory and hope you find some thread that I can't begin to imagine will exist.

This is actually my second go at Second Life; the first was an unmitigated disaster which nearly meant I gave up entirely. I only ventured back after seeing some blogs and general news articles while doing some research for a website.

At the time I had some time on my hands so I thought 'What the hey ...' and dived back in with only a little enthusiasm.

To be truthful nothing really helped to change my mind till I mentioned it to my Real Life best friend (now my SL business partner Babette Bellios) ... Babette said 'That sounds like a laugh ... show me how to join ... lets have together.' Since then it's been lots of laughs ... lots and lots of hours of hard work and the most enormously satisfying experience I could ever have wished for.

If you have any doubts about Second Life I'd encourage you to grab a free account and once you leave orientation island come join us in OneFinalDarkness,  this site has lots of information and directions to get here.

See you here ... *S*  [Short for: *Smile*]

Welcome to OneFinalDarkness in Second Life

Well I finally decided to get round to a Blog about the Second Life Sim's that I own and run in partnership with my 'Real Life' best friend and Second Life business partner ... Babette Bellios.

There has been so much that has changed since we started and it has been at times hard work, long hours and of course expensive .... but with all the wonderful experiences and the amazing friends we have made .... very much worthwhile.

The OneFinalDarkness Estate currently consists of one Full sim and one Homestead sim. The main Full sim is called OneFinalDarkness and is the Estate HQ ... the Homestead sim is called Oceans End and features lots of aspects of water based entertainment and sports.

Over the coming weeks and months I hope to include my thoughts and memories about all the things that have bought me to this point ... and I will be introducing you to the people I have met and consider myself lucky to be called friend by.