If I had to do it all again...

Eacen and I were in our kitchen cooking dinner together a few nights ago trying to brainstorm some ideas to give our main accounts some new direction or new life. Eaken and Korinna are a little stale, at least for us, but we want to keep our characters fresh and relevant, truly.

I asked him -- just for fun -- What he would do in Second Life if he was given the chance to start over. His answer warmed my heart as well and got me thinking. He said. "I'd like another shot at being a Centaur. I feel like we started admining before I got the chance to do that."

He's right. While we were able to come up with a back story for both of us, it was heavily influenced by needing to help the RP, in fact they were quite different characters when we started (Hence the name changes).

He wouldn't want to be anything than an retired officer turned blacksmith, but he would have liked do it differently. He didn't know how, I mean... he's just a bloke, really. *ducks*

It occured to me the other day while browsing over character applications, that a lot of people who come to RP to a sim, have a great opportunity to present themselves to the group as they want to be presented. Don't get me wrong, presenting one's self can be intimidating and difficult. But it is an opportunity that one should seize, because it is here where you get to set your own momentum.

I can not help but notice, that people take advantage of the flexability of second life, move on and reinvent themselves constantly. People who are not tied to one sim, have a lot of room to reinvent, or go with a different character entirely. Sometimes several at a time.

So now I find myself, asking myself what would I do if I had the opportunity to walk into my own sim, and start our character(s) over fresh? Now that the sim is settled, the sim is full, and the sim has the capacity for Role-players; what would I do, if I could?

I find that, like Eaken, I would still be Korinna. An Epimeliad coming back to her birthplace in the Seven Isles, after years wandering around in a retinue of revelers devoted to the Wine God, until she settled down with a Centaur officer. I'd have let her be a priestess in a small humble temple where she learned the rites that called to her. I would have them come by ship, Korinna Ill and weak having been separated from her tree for so long, with or without her infant daughter.

We could come in Armour for him, and full Chiton and Himnation robes for me, before we traded them for aprons and heavy gloves.

I would have roleplayed her recovery, and being reunited with her sister who was raising her kids there. I would have confronted her with the mystery of her mother going from Hamadryad to full tree. I would have spent more time cuddling with my Centaur, had more intimate time with him (Not sexual. We have RL sex with RL privacy!) I would have gotten to know his Centaur while he got to know him too.

We could Roleplay choosing our home, and setting up from humble beginnings.

And maybe, more of the real Eaken would have been able to Roleplay his own experiences, coming to an island much different than his own, one that lacks laws and the level of civilization he was used to. Maybe more people would have seen he has a gentle soul behind that crass and bad sense of humor. Maybe we'd see a fierce side of him that emerges only when his family or land is threatened.

If I had the opportunity to do this months back, I could have re-roleplayed her pregnancy, this time as a first time mother with grave concern how a Centaur pregnancy would turn out. I could be inexperienced, but gaining confidence. More approachable, less authoritative.

But most of all, I would like to have loved the time to be absorbed in my Centaur partner, A knight of a man who needed no horse. Strength, with Honour as well as thought and skill.

The Centaur and the Epimeliad
The warrior and the Maenad
The Officer and the Priestess
The Potter and the Blacksmith
The Mother and the Father

We could have been all of these things. Perhaps we should have. Perhaps we are in our pasts, but to feel them as our present... it could have been wonderful.

Upgrading the Sim: One Year Later.

It's been a year now since three elders sold a homestead, scraped together an additional $1000 USD and called in a favour or two in order to upgrade our Homestead into a full sim. It seems such a long time ago that we (the three of us) did this, and I can not imagine life on a homestead anymore. How did we ever manage with so few prims, and without all that scripting power?

Not very well, actually. Don't get me wrong, we hung in there and we made do, because that was what was required for the sim to be born a few months before Eacen and I arrived. We did the best with what we had to keep the sim alive. Because, we three have a deep love for our land. We took the (current) Seven Isles from a flat piece of land, made peaks and valleys, found water, and raised trees and plants.

Hard to believe this is what the Sim looked like at the begining.

Hard to believe this is what it looked like during it's birthing process...

We used to be so tight on prims, that at any given moment, someone could have rezzed their hair to make a copy, and sent belongings back to their owners. Believe it or not, around the time we upgraded we were down to one hundred available prims. One Hundred!

Up until that point many visitors moaned that we lacked the power to run a proper RP, and they were right. Of course, we were also lacking in many other things that makes an RP successful. We had a plot but no other admins, no committed players. People have a way of volunteering for things like administration, and showing up to play... and then not following through.

Initially, The Seven Isles saw a fantastic jump in participation, a few weeks later we were awed and humbled by being featured in the destination guide. Winter was very quiet, and so slow that many people (myself included) worried about the Sim's demise. But we pulled through, and then *finally* kicked off the skeleton of the RP storyline. People were a little slow to realize that disasters were happening right in front of their eyes,  but once they did It was epic, and beautiful and it really showed the potential we have as an RP sim. Many people came to us and said it was the best they had ever been in. It was the best I had ever been in, too.

But it was very hard work for us three elders, (who also build, socialize, and organize events when we have the time) to run that start on our own. After all, we all have families, and jobs, and lives outside of Second Life. By the time we reached the peak of the story, we three were left exhausted, but optimistic that now the ball was rolling  and the players now had a ball to play with.

If only someone would... you know... bend over and pick up the ball now that we got it rolling, and maybe throw it to one another and Roleplay without our constant guidance and direction. I will be blunt. I am dissapointed that all that work has changed very little.

People (bless them) seem to want us to hold their hands, but our hands are already *so* full just keeping it all running.

I was told recently by a member (who has actually done something to spark activity on the sim without our prompting, which is most awesome) that this has been a common rp sim problem in many sims he had visited. Everyone stands around with their thumb up their bum, waiting for something to happen, and when it doesn't they find something else to do. It means they miss the opportunities To RP when something *does* happen, or those opportunities just don't happen, because why do anything when no one is around to see it?

It is a frustrating cycle. I wish more people understood that if they want to RP, (on any sim, not just ours) they have to take some initiative to engage, interact, and allow themselves to grow.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do not intend to give up on The Seven Isles, but any Sim owner(s) who does not question whether things will be viable in the long term when they do not make tier that month, is lying.

Once again, I am going to be blunt: It is a lot of responsibility for me (I won't speak for the other elders, they have voices of their own) to log in and find that what members we have that are willing to stay around and RP, still depend on us for everything.

I do not think that what we need is a bunch of admins herding players around like sheep. We are often commended for our lack of Drama, No intimidating authority and lack of rigid rules, probably because we do not have a lot of Admins.

But I have to say, with some disappointment, that I thought providing our people with a full sim, objects to perform their trade with, and plenty of things to do most people still want us to hold their hands and tell them a story. No one wants to make their own story, and allow others to make a community story with them.

I also have to say this. I know it can be done. A few weeks ago Eacen and I took a break from our main avatars, and jumped into two child avatars we created to help with a project that (surprise) someone abandoned. We wanted to see just how much RP one could create for themselves with little or no help.

We had a blast! We built a steam powered wagon that we drove around the sim at high speeds.

We took a row boat to the top of the lighthouse, and jumped off the top. We flew kites, coloured, climbed mountains, discovered treasure under the sea.



(it was a crate of mayonnaise, sadly) We swam, and banged on drums.



We quaked in the fear of an Unseelie Fae visitor, and ran away from a strange man speaking a language that frightened us. We even "borrowed" items from the blacksmith's right under the noses of people waiting for something to happen.



Pete, who is always there was even game.  We played a drinking game with him where 1 shot with our toy arrows, meant we would buy him 1 shot.  He loved it!

Not content to play darts, we put our own spin on the game



We even RPed our afternoon nap.



In a week, Eacen and I created plenty of RP for ourselves, and this was without interacting with one other person. (not a single adult stopped us to warn us we were up to no good, or could get hurt.) Imagine what could have been done if people just engaged, and added their own elements that week. Now, keep in mind that the child avatars have *less* to do than the adults in our sim, and yet we did so much that week. Surely, the grownups can too. Can't they?

and on that, I will end with a rhetorical question.

What do you want to do in the Seven Isles?

What is stopping you?

Certainly not the Elders.

Peace and love,
Korinna.

The Life of the Ranger

It's a very lonely thing.

After a long time of *not* getting any Table top gaming, and then going through a phase where I could not bond with any characters I rolled up, I recently settled down with a character who among the offspring of one of my fictional families. Lately, Corinda hasn't been much fun for me. And my SL activity with her consists of logging in, doing any work I need to do, or just sitting online trying to be available in case someone needs help. Her character is sort of stuck, so I am putting her aside a litte, documenting her character on Tumblr until something stirs, and spending time with some alts (please see previous post for more on that subject)

I decided that with the display name function that Phoenix has caught up with (the only good thing to come out of this update, In my opinion) that this would be a good opportunity to do a little character developing, in world. Doing as a ranger does. I'm not really learning anything that I didn't know, but I am reminded of the deeper side of the things I know.

For instance, when trying to understand his motivation for joining a party of people he barely knows? He's lonely. Not angst ridden, it's just nice to talk to people, or plan with people. Hear someone else's thoughts other than your own. So simple it gets lost in the shuffle of papers, but found by following him around with a "camera."

Second Life really is helpful in seeing into a character's motivations like that.  (I even feel that way about the Sims, too) Here I have a Ranger who is part Drow (but a full elf,) raised over the ground, not under it, so other than his skin, he carries few Drow cultural imprints. He comes from a good (albeit weird) family, a few pieces of trauma in his life that he has survived well enough and helped him shape his personality.

He didn't really want to be a Ranger. In fact I can see he has been fighting an inevitable awakening with it. He was training to be something else entirely. But it became clear after years of training, that while he did not lack skill, he lacked the discipline and personality to do it. To continue on would be to betray his nature.

For an elf, he's not so into hugging trees or mother nature, (which still means he is into it more than the average person... just not so intense about it) It didn't make sense, or even occur to him that he was a Ranger. but it seems he and I got caught up in the stereotype that has evolved over the years, of the Ranger.

Because we are finding him to be a bit like the original Ranger; Strider.

The Tracker, The Scout, The Infiltrator, The Spy, The Fighter.

Shoosh. at least I'm avoiding comparisons to Drizzt.  I am enjoying rediscovering the character class I loved so much until I disallowed myself from playing them. Learning that, it's not all bows and arrows and survivalism.

Even if I (the social recluse!) am feeling a little lonely exploring alone. It just comes along with the job.

Odds and Ends.

I've had about a handful of Korinda related blogs and accounts now.  One would think it was just not working out for me, but I am going to give Tumblr a shot.  A friend of mine uses it for microblogging with a picture, and I was inspired to try it. I will hang on to my neglected wordpress, probably for those days when I need to wax, and wax, and wax, and bitch bitch bitch. And naturally, to be near the Official blog of the Seven Isles!

My Facebook account is about farming mostly, and being near to the Official Seven Isles Facebook Group.  My Deviant art account is for pictures (but makes me feel self concious for some reason) My SL Live Journal and twitter will go the way of the Dodo by the end of the day. (randomly Dik-diks sure are adorable!)

I also want to address something, even though no one except those who already know will read this.

Even when you don't see "Corinda Taurus" On your Radars, Maps, and Online Friend's list, I am still there everyday.  There is just more to my SL than Korinda.  There is sometimes Haruk, there is more often  Thyul. At rarer times there is the NPC Ellge, who, thanks to the new display name feature, has allowed me to get to know my table-top drow ranger Y'raen better.

The ability to explore different people is my number one love of SL. Please remember when I am in these other avatars, that it is still the same person behind the avatar. It's not my official working face,  but I am there in the event of an emergency or urgent matter. Also, I'm still as friendly in and out of character no matter which clothes I wear. Just RP me like the different character that I am... and we'll all have a good time.

Peace!

An Avatar By Any Other Name, Is Not The Same.

Not so long ago, A Real Life and Second Life friend of ours successfully converted his lady friend over to the grid.  It was fun, all of us sitting around my living room, watching as she went under the same initiation process that we all go through, chosing both a first, *and* second name that she would have to live with for the rest of her second life. With much wailing and gnashing of teeth she was eventually successful.  Little did we know that we were on the cusp of the end of an era.  The Era of surnames in Second Life.

Now, if you look about the sims,  interesting last names on people with recent rez dates have been replaced with "Resident"  This is all part of the new display name system that allows users new to Second life to create a user name, while enabling them to use a different display name.  Don't get me wrong,  I was in favour of the ability to change one's display name, even with my reservations that it would be a way for people to try and grief by appearing to be someone else, a time and tested trolling technique used all over the internet since the general public was allowed access to it.

But I also understand people who greif, are not detured or encouraged by anything other than their own intentions to cause grief. And even in the group of people who do create alts, those who do so to start shit are in a minority.  People who want to cause trouble will do so no matter what measures or features are in place... but I digress.

I know that being able to change a display name, could have made my life a little more... singular. Rather than having a few alts I need in order to be different people in Second Life, I could use just one, change my clothes, my skin, and a display name, and presto! A new character all in one avatar. This would have reduced my need to try and shuffle transferable items from inventory to inventory, and would save me a ton of money in the process.

However, this feature, (in my personal opinion,) was not worth the loss of a very special and distinct feature of Second Life. The Surname.  Sure, the selection sort of sucked at times, but with determination, one could scour SL Name watch, and then hit the "Change name" button until a desirable name came up for them.  Hell, it was this ability that took one of my alts out of an unused table top Dungeons and Dragons game, to the grid, allowing me to define what they looked like, and how they behaved, without a sheet of paper or a table full of other players.

Thanks to surnames in Second Life, the members of my Second Life Family were all able to obtain the same surname,  like a real family has.  That's a special sort of thing, because the surnames are eventually retired.  I'm now just thankful, everyone got the surname they needed for us to be a proper clan of Tauruses.

And so what if some random stranger also had your last name.  This is the way it is in the real world, isn't it? I have a very common last name in the real world.  It doesn't bind me to strangers with the same last name, but it does with my family.

Now, with the last name "Resident" the value of family or individuality in the username, is lost.  Gone are our delightfully pretentious last names, and our ability to use a first name to make a pun, a joke, or something poingiant.  In comes the generation of "Amanda resident" soon becoming "Amanda1975 Resident" because their desired first name is already taken, A thought I had not considered until a good friend pointed it out. When so much of Second Life is about being immersed in a virtual reality, we will now be constantly reminded by cold usernames, that this is just the internet, and now we are all reminded to go and check our email account, with the similarly formatted, dreadful username.

I really hope that the Lindens will reconsider this move (even though I won't hold my breath).  I really hope that there is outrage among new and old "residents" about this special little thing that has been taken from them. I really hope this new feature is the "New Coke" that spawns the revival of "Classic Coca-cola."

But as I said, I won't hold my breath.  For as much love as I have for Second Life and all it does for me, The Lindens do not have a great track record of listening to the masses.  We can't fool ourselves in believing the grid is a democracy. Those who have to worry about paying tier every month know that better than anyone.  If you have ever had to call Linden Lab in order to fix something gone wrong with your sim or account, you find out pretty quickly that they are interested in being paid for their free service.

Because, regardless of our first or last names, we are all still assigned a number.  Names aren't as important to the Lindens, as they are to the users. The users who have literally created this world with the tools that were given to us. Because we are numbers to the system, there is no reason why people should be denied their first or last names, or the ability to change their avatar names completely. Which is another little cause I support.

So not having faith that this will change, I am left mourning the loss of a special era, that new comers will not have the ability to share. Sure, we can all look at their profile and see how old their avatar is, but they will forever be a little bit left out, and will have a glaring reminder before all,  that they are late comers, the new kids, and I bet you, they will be marginalized and taken advantage of.

There is no point to this blog post, other than to express my feelings and thoughts on a major change.

I wish I had not told our recent convert, that she could start a new account with a better name later, if she grew to hate the one she chose.  Even if she was one of the very last, to sign up just in time for the last named avatar era.

So they all rolled over and one fell out.

I haven't put in an entry in a really long time, and I have a long list of excuses. My favorites are that my husband suffered a bout of serious illness and needed surgery to unblock an artery (at the ripe old age of 40!)

...and we moved to across the Atlantic to an island where it rains a lot, and the letter 'U' is used gratuitously. In the words of Lisa Simpson "It's a bit of a mystery, yes. But if you look at the clues, you can figure it out." Needless to say I am missing my friends terribly!

So, a lot of change in our real life, and some changes in our SL too. one of our SL kids, decided not to be a SL anything, anymore. It was a drama free departure (if not a little awkward for us both, I would imagine) And she has our blessing, of course. However it does leave us with a sticky situation as far as storyline, and just general "Hey, how is/where's your kid?" I guess good old fashioned (( Out of Character parenthesis speak indicating that she has moved on and we wish her the best, lets not speak of this again)) will have to suffice. I do wish she had chosen a way to write her own exit, however.

Chapter opened and closed, with good times had. The problem *I* am left with, is I did that thing that mothers (In Real Life as well as Second Life) should never, ever do. I allowed too much of my Second Life fall around being a mother. In the process chipped away from the nymph, and the Maenad/Bacchante became things 'I only am, since I once was." In some ways it can't be helped, a tremendous amount had been written to include every member of our family, and make sure everyone and everything had a place and an explanation.

I realize now, that a few weeks have passed, that a lot of the reasons I chose Second Life motherhood, is my husband and I are often too busy to meaningfully connect in Second Life, even though our real lives are very happy, and we both enjoy the work we do in Second Life. Technically we shouldn't need to have a romantic relationship in Second Life, but, a sucker for RP is not much more than a cry for in character attention!

At times I think "It would also be nice to be nymphy, and seductive (of my Centaur) and wild without the example I am laying out for my children." Lots to consider.

I realize that depending on how I go about things, I have an opportunity to try something new, find a new interpretation of myself. What those things are? I don't honestly know. I can say this much, I will not be adopting again unless the other party was an existing friend and confidant, and I am hesitant to carry on with my prim-pregnancy (though at this time I have plans to carry on through the month of September as planned. A lot of work has been done towards this.)

But damned if it isn't hard to "unwrite" or "write-out" a kid in SL. Or a little sister, or an aunt. Writing out a lover (even a long term one) is less complicated than moving on sans child. I could go for heavily melodramatic excuses such as kidnapping, loss of life, mystery of unknown location, but these things would require me to be melancholic at best, and that is not why I log into Second Life. I didn't create a reveler so I could sulk.

In Second Life, we are lucky to be whatever it is that we want to be, but in many ways it is so difficult to erase, or tear up those portions of a character that just didn't work out the way you had thought, like you can on a paper character sheet. As I said before; Out of Character parenthesis speak indicating that she has moved on and we wish her the best, will have to suffice for the time being.

ProudFEET

Skin tinting difficulties or not.



There is no question which looks better. I already have prim ears, why not prim feet? Look at my SLKankles disapear

Awesome picture (OoC)

Just found this stumbling around the internet



If he'd have gone to a Centaur Blacksmith from the beginning, he wouldn't be having trouble with his shoes.