Adventures in Teleporting and How To Set Your Landing Point

This week I've been doing a little more Gacha shopping (it's becoming a problem, seriously,) and dipping my toes back in to the Second Life live music scene. Back in the day, I spent hours swooning to the sounds of virtual crooners, eventually ending up in an ill-fated relationship with one.

Questionable life decisions aside, my main takeaway from this past week has been a problem arriving at events.

While browsing the listings, I found an Open House for a new rental neighborhood. It's name was similar to a place I know in 1st life, so I took it as a sign and went to check it out. (I'm all about the signs.) I tped over and landed in the ocean, beneath a dock at the bottom of a rock. Flying wasn't allowed, so I had to hike up the side of the rock, in my 6 inch heels and ended up INSIDE it.

I was not a happy camper.

The only way out was to cam through someone's window and sit on their sexy boom-boom couch, next to their child's crib. Thank goodness no one was home. I creeped myself out.

The area was well built and rather nice, but if I were looking for a rental, there's no way I would trust the technical prowess of landowners who couldn't properly set their landing point.

It's the little things that ruin a business.

If you have land and you're not sure, it's easy peasy to set the landing point for your land before you schedule an event or run a classified ad.

(Click picture to enlarge)

First, go to the spot you want people to land on when they tp to your parcel, shop, region or whatever. Go to your land tab, then options. The bottom of the popup window will show the current landing point. To change it to your current position, click "set."

See? Easy peasy lemon cheesy. Now your potential customers don't have to swim, fly or hike out of the swamp to find your event.

Sometimes when I'm at a loss for what to write about, I hop around the grid with the Destination Guide. A few days ago, there was an event for animesh creators. I love me some woodland creatures, so I headed over. Upon landing, I was greeted by a popup from a security orb, threatening to boot me out. I checked it again this morning. It's still listed on the Destination Guide, but the security orb is still there. Now they have a sign saying they don't open until noon today.

I'm not sure of the process involved to get featured on the guide, but imagine you're a new user heading to an event, only to be evicted. It's a problem.

One night I tried to attend a live music event at a well known tiny community. The landing point had a sign (that had to rez before I could read it,) leading to another landing point that still wasn't the venue. I ended up messaging a random person from the mini-map for a tp to the venue. Luckily she turned out to be very kind and helpful.

I get needing the landing zone to be away from the venue. SLag is an issue where many gather, but a simple note card giver with the landmark would be more practical . I'm sure you worked hard on your lovely sign, but not everyone is going to see it.

As someone who used to hold their own events, I know how much planning goes into them. I understand the investment of time and money, but I also know the frustration of looking for something to do and ending up stuck in odd places, of being new and not knowing how to dislodge myself from a tree.

Anywho, be careful out there. We'll talk again soon.

Finding Bargains at Gacha Resellers

Click to enlarge.

 After my return, it took me a while to figure out what, exactly, Gachas were. Once I found out, I made a conscious effort to avoid the little machines like the plague. I don't have anything against them as a rule, but I know me and my addictive personality. I knew I'd get hooked and end up begging for $L at the infohubs for hair money.

I once became so obsessed over a piece of land that I got involved in an auction bidding war and ended up buying more $L in the process which almost resulted in my paying about 5 times what it was worth.

Luckily I was out bid.

I do, however, love shopping at the many Gacha reseller areas. They're like ginormous flea markets of STUFF. Most stores are set up with little boxes neatly aligned with rare and common items clearly marked. Great for finding that rare piece to complete your collection. I'm not interested in collections though. I want to wander around and look at everything in-world. Shops like the one pictured above, with a smorgasbord of items crammed together remind me of the 1st life thrift stores that I love.

Click to enlarge.

 I try to avoid stores that specialize in pets. I don't need more, but I'm a sucker for anything cute and cuddly, like this little dinosaur. My home will be full of chubby pandas and shark plushies if I'm not careful.

There were a few things I had in mind before I set out on my shopping trip. I need something for my back deck, but I'm not sure what. Maybe an outdoor dining set or possibly a yoga mat. Or fairies and gnomes. I DON'T KNOW.

That's what's great about shopping the resellers. They're full of ideas, different styles and designers. Marketplace is great if you know exactly what you're looking for, but if you're like me and not sure, it can be frustrating.

I looked on the Marketplace recently for a small, contemporary fireplace to fit my latest house, but without much luck. So when I wandered in to the back room of a Gacha shop and found this, I was super excited.

Click to enlarge.

 It fits the space and style of my new home perfectly.

If you set out on an epic Gacha shopping trip, try the smaller places first. With less traffic, their prices tend to be a little lower and they stock the same items you'll find at the massive sim-wide malls.

Anywho, that's what I've been up to this week.

We'll talk again soon!

Visiting Storybook Forest

Being an adult isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes it's nice to put all of your grownup responsibilities aside and enjoy simpler times. That's what I found at Storybook Forest, a beautifully landscaped fantasy build paying homage to all our favorite fairy tales. 

Upon landing I was greeted by woodland creatures going about their daily routines. I followed the path across the bridge and to the forest where I found vignettes paying homage to Cinderella, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel. I was surprised to find "live" avatars playing the parts of beloved characters. I didn't try speaking to them, so I'm not sure if they were actually "there" or not, but I did witness a queen fleeing across the bridge towards the castle. 

I tried to shoo the wee ones away from the candy house but they wouldn't listen. The old witch kept shouting something. I'm not sure if she was saying "Land Ho!" or if she thought I was showing too much skin.

Mice on a mission!

Storybook Forest is the kind of build you want to spend time to explore. There are lots of photo opportunities, with grazing unicorns, sandy beaches and shafts of light that add to the fantasy ambiance. 

There Be Giants

Tired. I'm probably not moving from this spot for a while.

What have ya'll been up to? I've been suffering from a house building obsession for about a month now. During that time, I learned some new skills, remembered some old ones and found out a few things about myself. 

First, I do not have the patience nor the brain cells required to texture and shadow each and every wall, floor and tiny little window trim. Second, and most important, I suck at building houses. The one thing I am good at, apparently, is buying houses.

I did complete a lovely home. When it was almost finished, I invited a friend over for a visit and made yet another earth shattering discovery about myself.

You see, when you spend most of your time alone, you never realize that you're A FREAKING GIANT.

So I took a short break from aligning and texturing to venture out to the club scene where I casually slid up behind other avatars and gauged my height against theirs.

Yeah, I was a creeper. You do what you have to do.

Adjustments were made. Finally satisfied that I wouldn't look like Godzilla stomping through the village when I did go out, I returned to my build, which I then realized was BUILT FOR A FREAKING GIANT.

Disgusted, I deleted it all, including the little island it sat upon, which hadn't done a thing wrong. I decided to set up house on the actual coast, which has enough actual land for a rusted out hippie van and not much else. So I needed something on stilts, beachy, but not shacky yet with a touch of class.

I'm not picky. Much.

I shopped ya'll. I am reasonably sure that I visited every purveyor of houses on the grid. I looked at ultra modern, concrete and steel constructions, fishing shacks and even bought one of those furnished monstrosities with nine hundred and eleventy billion scripts.

That one lasted a hour.

But now? I'm done. If you fly over Faravari in the near future, you'll be able to find me floating in the pool, eyes glazed over and scarcely moving.

That is, until I get another wild hair and decide I need a new house.