I'm an Old Avatar Now

A busy year in Second Life has brought some very exciting news. We have been successful in exposing the international needs of river and rafting sports and the need for river preservation. Many countries are creating river parks in their cities, environmentalists in foreign lands are flexing their muscle trying to save the rivers and waterways within their own communities and more people than ever are paddling or rafting California whitewater rivers with commercial outfitters.

But, I am now a full-fledged citizen of SL and there is a responsibility there being a landowner and a builder. Do we make 10 story malls next to beautiful oceanfront homes or do we raise them above 500 meters to lessen blight? Mainland properties have increased throughout the grid with residency rentals, vendor spaces and waterfalls and river parks. Water is a theme everywhere now. WET River Trips has two regions where I am building another project for them.

The best part is the social atmosphere of friends, partys, and events that seem to occur daily. I have joined forces with several groups and interests in creating a unified marketing strategy for traffic in world and out world internationally. We are having an awful lot of fun doing this!

Big changes are in the virtual landscape itself. More virtual worlds are being introduced though none have the economic base or sophistication of SL. I think soon, the entire virtual grid will be a standardized platform so that business can participate easily jumping from one landscape to another... business meetings, presentations, etc are already being utilized by several companies now.

The buzz is gone... it's not trendy anymore... just another business platform to help us promote our interests. And, that is the way it should be.

RAFTWET Jewell : Rafting Avatar Second Life

February came and went. A very exciting month for the Second Life avatar. RAFTWET Jewell celebrated her one year anniversary. In world, they call it the rezz day, a reference to resurrecting the avatar into life. Here is her report on happenings in Second Life.

My name is RAFTWET Jewell and I am the Second Life avatar for W.E.T. River Trips. Last month I celebrated my one year anniversary; the day I was born into this world. We celebrate the rezz day as if it was a full blown birthday. I didn't plan any parties, but my friends sure did. And I celebrated an entire week of fun.

This month, I have purchased additional lands on the mainland. Mainland property is very expensive. Mainland protected Linden land is even more expensive. Mainland protected ocean front Linden land is the most expensive. This last category is the focus of our land holdings. All of the WET Builder's land is currently in this category except for the practice lands which are in the second category.

The decision to buy was not done through analysis. It was completely serendipity. I ended up in the Mauve sandbox very early in this game. I met the best builders here. Surrounded by sims, these builders had purchased several properties that either held objects or were being used just for the prim count. The area is surrounded by the creative builders for Second Life and W.E.T. 's practice land is here, too.

The new property is approximately 16,000 meters squared and is completely surrounded by Linden protected lands and water. I am considering building luxury condos and my ultimate home here. Last night, I met with a builder friend who gave me great advice on maximizing the land. He is an awesome builder, and I love his work.

The property in Archan is being rented. This property is oceanfront and is approximately 4,400 meters squared. Five decks for entertaining and a huge oceanfront for surfing and swimming lay in front of the home. I am never at this house, so I have decided to become a landlord here in Second Life.

This week Second Life has invited all concierge level landowners and estate owners to a special gathering and party on Saturday. It will be a very fun party and many of my friends will be there. As a large property owner, W.E.T. River Trips feels a responsibility to the Second Life grid in creating beautiful landscapes featuring rivers and waterfalls. We hope to promote and encourage conservation and environmental concerns for rivers, streams and oceans in-world and in the real world.

The properties in Bisque remain. I live there mostly in a beautiful home on the ocean near the practice lands. I am not sure if I will remain living at this location as I am in love with the new property. As always, I will add water features throughout with rivers, waterfalls and other watery delights. I love building in Second Life... it is an addiction.

RAFTWET Jewell is now writing her own blogs:::

myspace.com/raftwetjewell

raftwetjewell.blogspot.com

flickr.com/photos/raftwetjewell

Virtual Reality crosses into Real Life

Second Life is a project that we are involved with so that our whitewater rafting industry is not forgotten in the virtual world. Our rafting avatar has been learning Linden script, building and security measures for the lands that we own. We haven't published our location yet, though it seems every avatar knows where we are. We have already set up several landmark givers and links to the river land already.

Raftwet Jewell took apart most of the old waterfalls and streams recently. The task of a second life builder is to create the best project with the least amount of prims. This way, the property owner has a reserve of prims for future projects or for current vendors on the land. Prim count is extremely important in any build.

With water scripts, the lag can be enormous. So decreasing each scripted prim is essential to the sim. I asked our avatar how she was doing in the goal. She told me that the last two nights, she was able to recover approximately 150 prims. I'm not sure exactly how she did it, but when I saw the results, I was blown away.

The water looks so real and the waterfalls are awesome. We will be publishing the location of the builder's land. It is a place where our company avatars practice building and scripting. They have essentially taken over the project completely. Those of us in the real world are having difficulty understanding exactly how they do this. All I know is that the place looks incredible and visitors have increased 10-fold.

We'll keep you posted as the land gets done. Now if we can only get the avatars to stop going to all these parties... they might get done quicker. Meanwhile, visit us in real world on the web for all your California rafting trips!

Raftwet Jewell Second Life Rafting Avatar

Hi all... as I usually say when I walk into a club to dance after building all day. The past few months have been an incredible journey of learning how to build, learning the Linden script and socializing with an international group of people, businesses and groups. I am officially a builder here. It's time to let you in the real world know a little more about W.E.T. River Trips focus here in Second Life.

Many of you who read the W.E.T. River Trips blogs, especially the California Whitewater Rafting Blog are usually reading about rivers, rafting, guides and California whitewater. The company started to write about lifestyles since extreme sports and whitewater rafting usually attracted certain types of people and markets. We in the SL world are focusing on promoting whitewater rafting.

The sims that have extreme sports are usually reflected in the groups that you might join here. There are skiing, snowboarding, sky diving, scuba diving, surfing, kite surfing, skateboarding, mountain biking, paddling, and on and on. Are they there to sell the activity? Probably not. All of us who own sims and land do this because we love the sports we love.

Second Life is just that. A secondary reality that usually reflects hopes, dreams and light and dark visions that a RL (real life) person may visualize. SL is not the answer for a lot of people. There are rites of passage while navigating this place. And some are not so nice.

I love being here. The support from this community has been unparalleled in any place I've ever been. I love my friends and especially those who love extreme sports. We thrive on living on the edge. Those who laugh and poke fun at us avis... they don't understand. And we don't expect them to understand.

My best friend here is a tech head in RL. He is also a builder and scripter in SL. Here is what he has said about the critics: "Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." (quote by Albert Einstein) And I can't argue with that.

Posted by Second Life Avatar: RAFTWET Jewell
Groups: rafting, whitewater, W.E.T. River Trips - join our groups in Second Life!