I’ve always loved the metaphor of portals. They are a powerful and evocative way to immersively interconnect virtual worlds.
Thanks to some simple scripting, I’ve been creating new Hypergate portals to other grids on my island Pathlandia in jokaydiaGRID.
Read on to learn how you can do it yourself.
In this meeting we talked about exciting new updates to the Hypergrid, how HyperGates work, and visited a French grid in search of adventure.
We also met a French researcher who informed us of very cool upcoming mixed-reality opera in FrancoGrid. Read on for all the details!
The Hypergrid Adventurers Club had its first meeting today.
For more info about the club and how you can join us, please see our homepage.
Onward to Adventure!
Cubey Terra recently wrote a bittersweet short story called “The Oldbie.” Â If you’ve ever used Second Life, you should read it.
It inspired me. Â So I’ve written a similar story. Â A story about virtual worlds and the future.
It’s called “Jetpack.” Â This one’s for you, Cubey.
I’ve decided to start something.
It’s an open club for anyone interested in group explorations of virtual worlds on the Hypergrid and sharing their experiences with others.
Want to join us?
In the movie Terminator 2, there is a memorable scene where Sarah Connor carves some words into a park bench.
I think those words hold a special meaning for those of us interested in the future of virtual worlds like Second Life, OpenSim, and whatever new worlds will come.
And I believe it’s a very bright future. Â For everyone.
Setting up Opensim on a USB key is a great experience. Â Looking out with your avatar on a vast expanse of 4 regions is like peering at a huge blank canvas waiting for your imagination.
A Tabula Rasa in the palm of your hand.
But if you feel daunted by the need to terraform many acres of land, remember that you can easily upload terrain files.
I recently found a wonderful 4-sim megaregion terrain that is freely available and looks fantastic. Â You can find a copy here. Â I’ll also explain how to quickly set it up.
From the movie Time Bandits:
“You see, to be quite frank, the fabric of the universe is far from perfect. It was a bit of botched job, you see. We only had seven days to make it.
And that’s where this comes in. This is the only map of all the holes. Well, why repair them? Why not use them to get stinking rich?”
Or, you could use them to build a foundation for the future of Virtual Worlds.
Once in a while, I get a tingling feeling on the back of my neck.
It’s triggered by my discovery of something beautiful that has the potential to change both my own life and the lives of others.
Nascent revolutionary change.
Today I got that feeling again. Â And it only took me 1 hour of my time and a small USB key.
As you may have noticed, I haven’t blogged for about a month. I was also quiet on Twitter. The primary reason for this was a nasty bug that knocked me off my feet for a few weeks, and while I recovered I took the time to pretty much unplug from the online world.
Occasionally decoupling from the endless flow of online information gives me a chance to focus on new things without interruption. I spent my offline time reading books on various subjects and deeply immersing myself in the narrative of a couple video games.
While my illness bug is happily gone, my writing bug has happily returned. My next few blog posts will be about some insights I had into the nature of engagement in virtual worlds, games, and immersive stories. But for now, I’ll share some thoughts about the current situation with educators and non-profits in Second Life.
Be Cunning and Full of Tricks 