New World Notes

Expanding My History of Second Life from 2003 With a "Best Of" Archive

"People can't tell how far back this blog goes!", was some very helpful advice a friend recently offered, and so I'm slowly expanding my archive of posts tracking the history of Second Life and the Metaverse in general starting from 2003 (when I was still with Linden Lab) up until now. (If you're on desktop, they're available on the right column.)

That includes classics like "Fighting the Front" from 2007 (above), "Impeachable Offense" from 2005, and, of course, 2003's "The War of the Jessie Wall". Adding more years soon!

Watch: Seracast's Live Stream Look at New Items from the Outlet

For your SL shopping plans this week, here's Del and Kess' live streamed look at the latest items from the Outlet in the Seraphim sim (click here to teleport), accompanied by a group of fans including a small yellow dinasaur.

SL Special: Buy Summer Home Furnishing Bundles from Dutchie -- And Support Dutchie During a Difficult Real Life Health Crisis!

The Dutchie Spa Bundle is a special discount Summer offer from the beloved creator of SL furnishings, one of many bundles that Dutchie owner Froukje Hoorenbeek is offering now. (Many more below.) She's offering these as she's going through a real life health crisis that will take her away from SL content creation for awhile:

"What I have is two fractured vertebrae," she tells me, "and the operation is being done by a neurosurgeon and an orthopedic surgeon together. They are gonna put cages and screws in to fixate my spine and it's gonna take at least 4 hours for them. Afterward, I will not be able to work for at least 3 months, they tell me. Sitting will be hard to do during that time.

"We have pretty good health care in the Netherlands and I have insurance, so the operating costs are covered. The three months of recovery afterward are not."

So she is expanding her Marketplace offerings now ("as much as the pain allows me") as she prepares for her operation, and the long stretch afterward. Dutchie, a sometime sponsoring supporter of New World Notes (though not at the moment) is a longtime and much-admired SL brand, so if you are in the market for great virtual home furnishings, I hope you consider shopping on her store.

More Dutchie bundles below, and all my best for a speedy Dutchy recovery!

Watch: Seracast's Season 1 Finale, Bravely Recorded Live from the Seraphim Sim With a Highly Active Drinking Game

Streaming live and unedited this week, here's the latest fun and chatty episode of Seracast, broadcast from the Seraphim sim. Details from the blog:

As well as all the usual features and information we will be giving away 2 full makeovers to 2 lucky winners including head and body of their choice plus spending money for hair, accessories, clothes and skins. One winner will be chosen from the live audience and one from YouTube after a week. Catch up with the cast for how to enter on YouTube.

For this season finale, the ladies bravely and hilariously do a drinking game during the episode, hitting their cocktails whenever "SL", "metaverse", or Second Life" is said. Which they do a lot! They also chat about Strawberry's 15 years in the virtual world, which is fitting, as their video seems like the very kind of thing she was hoping to see more in the SL social media ecosystem.

Cajsa is Seriously Injured IRL and Needs Our Help With L$ Donations & Medical Supply Purchases

Above: Casja's home in SL and donation-collecting dog -- click here to teleport.

Cajsa Lilliehook's long-running and much-loved New World Notes' column did not run today -- because today, Cajsa was at her nearby wound clinic, undergoing debridement.

She has, as Cajsa puts it to me, "an infection in my leg, complicated by an impaired immune system. It's shallow but very broad, so quite painful."

Retired in real life, this condition requires medical supplies that aren't covered by her insurance.

If you want to help Cajsa with these supplies, you can go here to her Amazon wish list.

Or if you prefer, you can visit her lovely home by the water in Second Life, and click the dog by her door, which accepts Linden Dollar donations -- click here to teleport.

New World Notes Seeking New Sponsoring Media Partner - Here's Details!

Much thanks to Dutchie Design for being a proud and ongoing sponsoring partner to New World Notes these last few years, and to recent partner The Really Useful Scripts Corner

We're looking for a new media partner! If you're reading this post, chances our your customers and potential customers are too. Here's details:

This Week's Featured Banner: The Mass Effect-Inspired World Created in SL

This week's banner above was featured in my recent post on BluShock, a group of dedicated Mass Effect roleplay fans who have created an entire experience in Second Life inspired by their favorite game. Sample:

“It's our largest and most ambitious/compact base of operations yet,” BluShock leader Fazzy Constantine (above) tells me. “We have over 25 rooms and multiple elevators with 8 levels each, a huge arboretum dome, which is inspired to look like the Presidium Commons, on the Citadel, from the Mass Effect games, which our roleplay group has been inspired by, since 2010.”

But the base is only the beginning:

“The asteroid will be our base of operations in our fictional star system. Vanaheim, which is set in the Milky Way galaxy, in what would be known as the Beta Quadrant, if you were into Star Trek. We have three more main worlds we'll be creating, over the course of 6 to 9 months.”

Teleport link to start exploring yourself, but be sure not to interrupt any Mass Effect roleplay already in progress.

Submit your own favorite virtual world locations here or in Comments below:

Post Pics of Favorite Virtual World Locations to Feature on NWN's Banner

Want to feature an impressive virtual world location on New World Notes' revolving banner? Post some images of it in Comments with some information on the place, the host platform/world -- Second Life, OpenSim, VRChat, Sinespace, Rec Room, Minecraft, ROBLOX, basically any world I have or should feature on New World Notes -- along with details for accessing it.  

And yes, self-promotion is encouraged (but that does raise the bar on requisite coolness).

Survey: Would You Pay $5/Month for a Special New World Notes Newsletter?

Quick favor, excellent readers: Let me know if you're interested in a New World Notes newsletter, where subscribers will get special articles and other content. While I plan to always post to New World Notes the blog you're reading now, a subscription-based newsletter (if there's enough interest!) would give me a chance to devote more time to writing richer, more in-depth, news-you-can-use stories -- something I've wanting to do for years.

Hope enough of you agree. But even if you don't, I'd love your opinion. Much mahalo!

Send Me Great Virtual World Location Pics to Feature on Our Banner

As one reader recently noted, New World Notes has a new banner -- a pic of Localhost, a new-ish cityscape in Sinespace with a very interesting story about its creation. (Full image below.)

Know of other impressive virtual world places that should be featured in the same spot? Send me an image in Comments or on New World Notes' Discord (#cool-virtual-locations) with info on the place, the host platform/world -- Second Life, OpenSim, VRChat, Sinespace, Rec Room, Minecraft, ROBLOX, basically any world I have or should feature on NWN -- along with details for accessing it. If I get enough submissions, this will become a weekly/monthly feature!