Enter the immersive world of Arcachon Atlantique with Designing Worlds

Now available on the web – our latest episode, as we visut the beautiful – and endangered – region of Arcachon Atlantique.

Arcachon Atlantique is the beautiful Francophone region based on the Languedoc region of France, which has recently come close to closure, despite offering great activities and developing a brilliant immersive language learning programme.

In this show, we explore some of the beauties of the region with Claire Pascale, the owner of Arcachon and with Cybère Placebo, who has been working on developing language courses, as well as Karelia Kondor, a teacher of French in the UK, who has used the region of Arcachon in her teaching.

Arcachon Harbour

We explore the region, discussing the plans to use it as an immersive language resource, and also experience some of the activities it offers, from wine tasting, to a hot air balloon trip, to harvesting (and enjoying!) fresh oysters.

And we’ll be looking at the problems owners face in sustaining such a region.

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Designing Worlds immerses itself in the beauties of Arcachon

Arcachon Harbour

Join us at 2pm SLT today, Monday 11th February, for our new episode of Designing Worlds at our studio in Garden of Dreams as we visit Arcachon, the beautiful Francophone region based on the Languedoc region of France, which has recently come close to closure, despite offering great activities and developing a brilliant immersive language learning programme.

We explore some of the beauties of the region with Claire Pascale, the owner of Arcachon and with Cybère Placebo, who has been working on developing language courses, as well as Karelia Kondor, a teacher of French in the UK, who has used the region of Arcachon in her teaching.

Arcachon came close to closure in January

We’ll be exploring the region, discussing the plans to use it as an immersive language resource, and also experiencing some of the activities it offers, from wine tasting, to a hot air balloon trip, to harvesting (and enjoying!) fresh oysters.

And we’ll be looking at the problems owners face in sustaining such a region.

Arcachon farm, photograph by Aisling Sinclair

It makes for a fascinating show – so do come and join us at 2pm.

Or – if you can’t attend in person – tune in at 2pm SLT on Monday for the live show on http://treet.tv/live – where you can now chat with other audience members and even some of the participants during the show – or catch it later in the week on our shows page on the Treet.tv web site at http://treet.tv/shows/designingworlds – our very own version of the iPlayer!

The Lighthouse at Arcachon

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw: Cap Ferret Lighthouse at Arcachon

Cap Ferret Lighthouse at Arcachon

No apologies for posting another picture of Arcachon, the stunningly beautiful Francophone region that is currently struggling to avoid closure while simultaneously working hard to develop itself as a resource for language teaching. We were over there filming Designing Worlds last night, and it’s going to make for a stunning programme in a couple of weeks.

This is a region that so repays maxing your phototools out to the full, choosing a nice sunset windlight setting and taking pics until your computer whimpers at you.  This is the famous Cap Ferret lighthouse, close to the real Arcachon, and part of the Aquitaine  area that Second Life Arcachon is seeking to present to the visitor.

It makes for a great jigsaw too.

Cap Ferret Lighthouse at Arcachon

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

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Because there are always some people out there who don’t get it

And they are on blogs and forum posts and in IM telling us we are wrong because we are supporting One Billion Rising in Second Life, an event about women.

So let’s get a few things clear.

Why is this event not acknowledging the fact that violence is far more likely to occur against men than it is against women?
Because it is an event that focuses on violence against women.  There are other events that focus on different issues, and we give active support to some of these too.  At the moment we are supporting an event that focuses on violence against women.

Later in the year we will be focusing on an event that is about cancer.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t think heart disease and strokes are problems too.  But we have chosen to get involved with an event about cancer.

Why can’t you change the event to make it more inclusive? It’s anti-men!
One Billion Rising is a global event. In the real world, there are events associated with it going on in many, many different countries. I’m in the UK, and today I had an email from an MP saying how she and other MPs want to raise the issue in the UK parliament, using One Billion Rising as an occasion. A group of us decided to bring the event inworld to Second Life – as part of this huge global thing.  We are a part of the global event now.  Men are very welcome to join in – we have men on the team pulling the event together in a variety of roles. In addition, some of the artists you will see will be men, so will some of the performers. This is not a men-hating event, any more than an event about cancer would hate the healthy.

Why are you supporting an event which favours one gender and provides no support for the other? This event is one-sided!
Supporting One Billion Rising is s a choice we have made. Violence against women occurs. It should be stopped.  We quite agree that violence against men should be stopped too.  But supporting a campaign against one isn’t a denial of the other.

If we chose to support a campaign to raise awareness of prostate cancer, that wouldn’t mean we were ignoring breast cancer, or saying that prostate cancer was the more important issue or or that more people are affected by prostate cancer than breast cancer, or that resources should be directed to one and not the other.  We would be choosing to raise awareness of prostate cancer, and another time we might support a campaign to raise awareness of breast cancer or epilepsy or kidney disease.

Wanting to support a particular cause at a particular time is, actually,  rather sensible – of course you could have campaigns that oppose all violence, everywhere, just as you could have a campaign against all forms of illness.  But, historically, it has proved more fruitful in terms of raising funds and raising awareness, to focus on aspects of an issue.

If people know of a campaign that is holding an event against violence against men, let us know. We’d very likely be interested in lending our support. And we wouldn’t complain that it wasn’t including women or children or elders. We’d support it as a campaign against violence against men.

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Designing Worlds discovers when griefing turns into extortion

Now available on the web – the first show in our new season as we look at what happens when griefing becomes extortion, talking to people who have been threatened, and looking at some of the solutions people are trying, in the absence from intervention from Linden Lab.

Some of the information shared on this show might surprise or even shock you. How griefing tools are freely available on the marketplace. How people are exploiting newcomers to the grid in some pretty unpleasant ways.

Our guests on the show: from left to right – Rails Bailey, Robert Galland, Frolic Mills, Dina Petty and Kiff Clutterbuck

We talk to Kiff Clutterbuck and Dina Petty, the owners of Junkyard Blues – whose notecard to group members about the extortion they were facing triggered a widespread concern; to Frolic Mills, of Best of Second Life, who encountered a particularly appalling griefer who attacked (and continues to attack) the fashion industry; to Robert Galland, owner of Galland Homes, Member of the Second Life Bar Association and real life attorney, who gives a legal perspective of what has been happening,; and to Rails Bailey, volunteer mentor and head of security at events like SL9B, who talks about ongoing security problems in Second Life.

This is an important show – make sure you don’t miss it.

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw: Butterfly Beach

Butterfly Beach

Today’s jigsaw is another from Honour McMillan’s excellent blog, Honour’s Post Menopausal View (of Second Life).

In today’s post, The Serpent in the Second Life Paradise, she reflects on last night’s Designing Worlds show on griefing as she wanders the beautiful sim, Butterfly Beach.

The post will give you something to think about … and the jigsaw today is pretty tough too – so enjoy!

Butterfly Beach, photographed by Honour McMillan

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

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Designing Worlds returns – with a show you can’t afford to miss

Join us at 2pm SLT today, Monday 21st January, for the first show in our current season of Designing Worlds at our studio in Garden of Dreams as we tackle an important issue that is affecting a growing number of businesses within Second Life – griefing used to run an extortion racket.

The guests with Saffia and Elrik

The griefing issue was tackled in a number of blogs – including Prim Perfect (When will we get to grips with griefing?), and we decided to follow up some of the stories we heard as a result on that.

We’ll be talking to Kiff Clutterbuck and Dina Petty, the owners of Junkyard Blues – whose notecard to group members about the extortion they were facing triggered a widespread concern; to Frolic Mills, of Best of Second Life, who encountered a particularly appalling griefer who attacked (and continues to attack) the fashion industry; to Robert Galland, owner of Galland Homes, Member of the Second Life Bar Association and real life attorney, who gives a legal perspective of what has been happening,; and to Rails Bailey, volunteer mentor and head of security at events like SL9B, who talks about ongoing security problems in Second Life.

Junkyard Blues, site of griefing attacks

This is a very important show – so make sure that you don’t miss it! Do come and join us at 2pm!

Or – if you can’t attend in person – tune in at 2pm SLT on Monday for the live show on http://treet.tv/live – where you can now chat with other audience members and even some of the participants during the show – or catch it later in the week on our shows page on the Treet.tv web site at http://treet.tv/shows/designingworlds – our very own version of the iPlayer!

Our guests on the show: from left to right – Rails Bailey, Robert Galland, Frolic Mills, Dina Petty and Kiff Clutterbuck

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw: Junkyard Blues

Junkyard Blues

Today’s jigsaw forms an interesting link between yesterday’s blogpost and today’s Designing Worlds show.

The image is from Junkyard Blues, that great blues venue where you can hear awesome music and dance the night away (whatever timezone you are in). So there’s a link with our plans for a huge dance party to celebrate One Billion Rising.

However, sadly, Junkyard Blues has recently been the target of some particularly vicious griefing attacks, which have been carried out by people who have tried to extort money. A protection racket, in other words. I blogged about that – as did many other fantastic bloggers. Now Kiff Clutterbuck and Dina Perry, owners of Junkyard Blues, will be on today’s Designing Worlds show to talk about their experiences – along with other guests.

There’ll be more details about the show later today, so watch this space!

In the meantime, let’s do a jigsaw!

Junkyard Blues, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

Read Full Post »

Shine, Perishing Second Life

Cerridwen’s Cauldron – photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

In the UK, there are two meanings of the word “perishing”. The formal one is the one Randall Jeffers uses in his glorious poem, “Shine, Perishing Republic” – where the word is used to mean to “be destroyed or die, esp in an untimely way”. It can also mean to rot as in “leather perishes if exposed to bad weather”.

But it can also be used as an intensifier, qualifying something in a negative, but almost humorous way as in “it’s a perishing nuisance” or “it’s those perishing kids again!”  Indeed, the later phrase was at the root of a very popular comic strip series in the UK known as The Perishers. It owed a lot to Peanuts, but there were decidedly English.

This dichotomy – between the drama of the destruction and the dying, and the intense irritation – seems to me to reflect something about Second Life; much loved and frequently infuriating, its demise is also frequently signposted … but is it always what it seems?

Recently, the news came out that the number of Main Grid regions has dropped below 28, 000. Oh noes! As recently as April 2012 they were above 30,000. Surely this slow decline marks the approaching demise of Second Life?

The Temple of Neptune in Nautilus Blyth

Well, up to a point, Lord Copper.  Numbers of Main Grid regions are dropping – but they have been significantly lower before (and not just before the late 2006 boom).  They were below 28,000 from the beginning of 2009 until late June 2009, when they began to grow again, despite the real world economic downturn (and post the Open Space debacle). Maybe this is “The Beginning of the End”(TM), or maybe it is a start of year blip.

The New Year is bringing in many changes, and some departures. But it is also bringing in new opportunities and new ventures which can be rather exciting.

Alchemy Immortalis

For example, Alchemy Immortalis will be closing their open regions – news that has saddened many of their fans. However, that sadness is tempered with the fact that freeing Alchemy and Immortalis from managing bed and breakfasts will allow them more time to concentrate on creating new and exciting products for the store and other projects.

Oh, and the patisserie remains the Ultimate Place in Second Life for lunch with discerning girlfriends – and you can pick up amazing recipes there too that you can cook in real life!

Armada Breakaway

Sadly, Armada Breakway, that fantastic region of floating pirate ships and improbable airships all lashed together, will be closing shortly, but I understand that the active pirates there will be heading off for a new home in the Blake Sea. I look forward (with some trepidation) to learning what they will be getting up to there.

In other news, Gabrielle Riel, the well-known owner of Radio Riel, is ending her ownership of the New Toulouse estate.

New Toulouse

For the past four years, Gabi has been the owner of New Toulouse, an area with the look and feel of New Orleans back at the turn of the century.  Now she feels that it is time to move on … but she hasn’t finished with community management; she is just ready for a new theme! The estate of New Toulouse has been sold (as it was once before – to Gabi!) and will continue, supplying a home and a commercial location for all those who like the Louisana feel and music.

And Gabi will develop her mysterious – and very beautiful new community, around the regions of Witchport, Witchwoods and Cairntaigh.

Witchwoods

Similarly, the ground level of Cerridwen’s Cauldron – surely one of the most beautful regions in Second Life – will shortly be closing, something that will make a lot of its fans very sad.

But that sadness is mitigated by the news that Elicio Ember, the Cauldron’s owner and creator, is closing it so that he can undertake a complete rebuild of the ground level – something that many people are excited to see.

Cerridwen’s Cauldron:the temple in the sky – photograph by Wildstar Beaumont

And if you do suffer withdrawal symptoms from missing the ground level of the Cauldron (which hasn’t closed yet, so do go and see it!), there is still the temple level to explore.

And there’s the glorious Calas Galadhon estate. Closed for the whole of January – I had some very worried emails about that! – but, hap[pily, just for a complete overhaul and redesign - which the owners are very excited about.  We're planning to show that on Designing Worlds in the near future.

Calas Galadhon – photographed by PJ Trenton

But there are problems. Some are projects coming to an end – the closure of the Swedish Embassy, for example.

And there was the threatened closure of Arcachon – a lovely Francophone region which I wrote about the other day.  The good news is that the word about it got out – people went and donated, and raised enough money to give the region another month of life.  But whether that can be extended is a moot point.

Arcachon – under threat

So go and enjoy the beauties of Second Life that are going … and look forward to those that are to come.  Shine, perishing Second Life.

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Last Chance to See – Arcachon

Arcachon Atlantique

Some days you simply have to tear up the post you were writing – and write something else.

I was planning on writing a not-too-discouraged post today about the state of the grid, pointing out regions that were changing – in design, in theme, in ownership.  Even when some regions were being sold, there are still encouraging signs.

And then you land on Arcachon.

Arcachon – Closing

I have to admit, I’ve never been to Arcachon before.  We had it on our list of places that we really want to feature on Designing Worlds for its content, its authenticity, its wealth of learning and interactivity … but I had never been there myself.

There will, sadly, be no show now.

Arcachon

Based on the southwest of France, the Gironde, it once consisted of two sims.  Now it is just one, but Arcachon Atlantique has a lovely little harbour, huge beaches and an authentically French feel. On doesn’t just parler francais ici – part of its funding came a language institute developing a programme that would enable people to learn French through an immersive experience in Second Life and – in particular – in the charming region of Arcachon.

Learn French in Arcachon

But that funding has run out, and Arcachon finds itself 50,000 Lindens short of the money that would see it continuing another month.

In five days it will be gone.

Arcachon farm, photo by Aisling Sinclair

So, once more, I am sharing a last chance to see. Because, unless a good angel steps in, the charming little French port with its stores, its windmill, its lighthouse, its camping sauvage and its cafe, its bandstand, its information about French and European customs, its boat rides, its bicycle tours, its fishing, its hot air balloon, its cute farm with its animals … all will be gone for good.

Arcachon at sunset, photo by Aisling Sinclair

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