Chandra’s Page

I was looking over the map on the Second Life home page, and a distinctive circular structure caught my eye in Georgean. Upon teleporting over to have a closer look, I found myself in the middle of a large event space for the 2ASE.

Searching through the forums, I ran across the 2ASE announcement, which doesn’t do much to describe what’s taking place. I expect to see lots of high geekery on display by this weekend, when the event officially takes place, some of which may or may not have something to do with satellites.

Linden Lab continued its tradition of replacing the sun and the moon with holiday-themed imagery today. Apparently, the only two moving celestial bodies in Second Life have been changed several times already today, with messages such as “Marry me,” “I do,” and “2Lag is 2Love.”

This is the sort of inspired zaniness that keeps me coming back to Second Life. Even in times that I’m not feeling much interest for building or socializing, I can count on LL to provide a bit of self-deprecating humor. Thanks for a good laugh, Linden Lab.

I followed a poster advertising skydiving at Cubey Terra’s store in Abbotts, and I was pleasantly surprised to arrive at the lovely island of Allure. Not only did I find a fantastic skydiving platform (complete with diving boards, a bar, and a dance floor), the entire island has been covered in a recent snowfall, giving it a cheery holiday feel.

However, the holiday magic quickly gave way to amusement as I surveyed a large number of snow sculptures, both macabre and whimsical, throughout the island. In the spirit of Calvin and Hobbes, the snowmen are engaged in activities unusual, and often dangerous, for snowmen.

Lured by the prospect of seeing pixel-shaded water effects, last Friday the preview grid saw a small invasion from many EFNet #secondlife regulars. The 1.8.0(1) preview attracted a couple dozen people, who crowded onto Chip Midnight’s swimming raft in Freelon.

The atmosphere was festive, and culminated in an attempt to cram as many people as possible onto my Flying Tako sailboat.

As for the new ripple water effect, those people whose graphics cards are capable of displaying it were most pleased. Though far from perfect, it’s a far cry easier on the eyes than Second Life’s current water surface. It looks even more impressive today on version 1.8.0(3), including real-time distortion of objects on the opposite side of the surface from the viewer.