Friday 26 January 2007

Al struggles with initials & L words

Al is finding it hard these days. All these new whippersnappers entering SL have to sheer gall to ban ramblers from entering before they're good & ready. So you can imagine how miffed he was wehen couldn't get entry to KGBR islands - all 20 of 'em. So he's been squandering his time instead trying to figure out who this might be? Not the radio station for a throwback, soviet spy outfit surely? The Mighty Google suggests KGBR 92.7 FM, a Pennsylvania radio station - but Al and I are hard pushed to see why a radio station would shell out nearly $35K for a bunch of islands, and that's without build costs. Perhaps you, gentle reader, can enlighten us.

And whilst we're on the subject of initials... what's with the 25 islands set aside for "The L Word". We know what it is, we're just curious as to why it suddenly needs 25 islands in SL. The build seems to be the work of Mr DNA Prototype, of the Electric Sheep Company. It's nicely detailed and textured - if exhibiting a little too much contrast in the style of Weber Studios. The main L Word island has lots of shops on which to squander your Linden's - but even better: when Al dropped in he found an "Elemental car/bike/whatever thing"! Scouting out this general area, there are also a number of L Word Orientation islands, for use by Second Life newbies. Why so much effort? You can always register to find out - but Al's not bothered.

UPDATE: Here is an article from Second Life Herald about it. It seems that newbies can avoid the congestion at the usual Orientation Islands by coming straight (?) into The L Word's own Orientation islands. Of course, that also means avoiding all the weirdo stuff you would otherwise be likely to encounter as soon as you enter the main grid. A major improvement in the user experience, and one likely to be taken up by RL companies looking to host meetings and events in SL.

UPDATE 2: The opportunity to enter SL via The L Word orientation islands comes courtesy of a new feature, still in Beta test - the Registration API. Acording to LL: "This API will allow you to register users of Second Life from your own website, and set those users to a default login orientation experience and estate that you operate. Important limitations and conditions apply, including the requirement that you make clear that users registering for Second Life account through your website are establishing a relationship with Linden Lab, separate from their relationship with you." Thanks to Team Mascot for the info on this.

A word to any L Word fans. The main island seems to have a lot of visitors, so lag could be a problem. If you do experience lag, why not use your map/Search and locate one of the other islands, as they all appear to be clones of the main island.

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