Some Moving…..

There is a bit of transitioning that has been going on behind the scenes, which is part of the reason that I have not been available to post.  Real life had danced with illnesses back to back, exams, and other things.  Its been a two month over run, so to speak.  April will still be filled and May I will have some time freed up for virtual wonders and games.

I will write more as I can.  For now, please take note the the blog is moving to my domain as I am centralizing my content.  You can find it at www.neoma.oncedarkness.com – the content here will be shut down at the end of the month.  I am moving away from the NVhe name, because there are three real life entities that use Nvhe as their initials.  To avoid confusion, I will be re-branding old content and releasing new content under the name neoma.  I am changing strategies with my content release as well, so that it is available to Open Sim as well as the virtual world of Second Life.

Until then…..look for the rest of the blogs to appear at the new address.  😀

Loyalty Yellow Eyes

Happy to present the nvhe Loyalty Eyes in yellow.  There will be many more colors of this eye released, so stay tuned.  You can find this eye on the Second Life marketplace here.

Be the nvhed!

Its a new look, new you, a new moon.

Exciting, elegant and playful

Adds drama and approachable appeal to your avatar.

Have those wondrous puppy like eyes

The eyes can have a dramatic effect on the appearance of your avatar. They are the window to the soul even in a virtual world. Don’t envy, be the nvhed. Make a revitalized, refreshed, regenerated you today!

Please note: The size of your eyes in the avatar slider will determine how much of a system eye is shown. Due to a current bug those using Shadows will see either white dots or the eye itself will be a shimmery white regardless of which system eyes you choose. Simply turn off shadows and you will be able to see your system eyes.

Sandbox Bricker ~ Exploring Adventures in Content Creation

I am just starting to explore the premium sandboxes in Second Life. Each month I will visit a new one as I work through projects. It is 8:00 AM EST and there is no one else here. I wonder if it ever gets really busy. Traffic is currently at 1709, which is almost what one avatar can cause in traffic ratings standing on a sim for about eight to ten hours. Yes – I have done it enough to know, but I was actually there creating content.  :p

This month’s sandbox is Bricker.  There are three other sandboxes that are attached to the Bricker Sandbox sim, which I will eventually be playing on in the coming months.  The sandboxes have rules that one must abide by when using them.  My question to find out is what is a simple script?  Does the average virtual world traveler understand or have the ability to determine if the scripts they choose to use are simple?  Can we be sure if we are not able to edit the scripts?  Is there a way to test the scripts so we do not accidently break this rule?  These are some of the questions we will need to answer in the coming months.

While hanging out in the sandbox there was one visitor.  She was doing a bit of rezzing and creating.  Her avatar looked a bit dangerous, but that is to be expected because this sandbox is an adult sandbox.  No kiddies allowed here.  Why would I choose to create content in an adult sandbox?  Creating content requires the use of the avatar and sometimes mishaps happen that exposes things that *coughs* one would not want to expose.  You get in trouble for that on G rated sandboxes, even if it were an accident.

This is me creating ad concepts, uploading new content and getting things together for the second part of our transition into virtual living without an in world store. I am a direct contrast to the lady I share the sandbox with currently. Yet, we both are there to do something specific ~ create, dream, invent, design. I was too shy to say hello. Maybe next time.

Taken at Sandbox Bricker (60, 59, 32)

Success! Land Has Sold

Last night someone came by and purchased the large parcel of land from me.  I had an additional 512 plot that I simply abandoned.  It was up for sale for a month with no takers.  The large parcel went just in the nick of time.  I was actually starting to mull over the idea of just abandoning it.

I know, many people think that is a silly idea, but you really have to weigh the costs of the land tier versus what you gain from the land sale.  It was a very uneven match and I did not want to have to do another tier payment after this month.

This has also allowed us to remove the NyteVargas group from the virtual world as well.  The NVhe group is sufficient and right now open for others to join at will.  We will be closing it and setting it to be join with a payment because group gifts and supporters will be able to access the gifts we release or do beta testing of creations in this group.

Right now our next step is to get all of our stock of eyes up on the marketplace for people to be able to access and update our marketplace information so no one is teleporting into a place that no longer exists.  (We still have pictures though! :D)

This is our goal for November.  Simple, accomplish-able and the first step in an exciting new adventure.  I will be visiting the premium sandboxes each month, writing about the experiences there with some snapshots here and there.  (See the evil grin!)

It is time to start the new chapter in this virtual world as a partial gypsy.  At least I have my tiny home to land and change clothes.  It is certainly about the need, so this experiment will be interesting and a great adventure.

With the virtual worlds current premium account offering is there a need or an enticement for an avatar to truly own more land then the Second Life house provided?  Are stores necessary in world?  Does a physical in world presence (such as a store) make a difference to one’s sales or created content?

I already know that the lack of a physical presence makes your avatar friends slowly forget you.  I also know that the lack of a physical presence can affect your sales.  You must socialize, but socializing does not necessarily mean owning or holding land.

So onto the grand adventure to find the answer to these questions.

The NVhe Parcel is Up for Sale

Yesterday we were finally able to put the NVhe parcel up for sale. We are a few days ahead of schedule and I am totally excited. The days ahead are going to be filled with some awesome adventures as we transition into our new strategy and focus on those things we do best. YAY!!!

The tenants are all gone, the build, plants and store removed. It is a blank canvas waiting for the next person to dream out their imagination. 25280m for sale for 15000 linden. Hopefully someone will snap this mainland parcel soon. The sale of the parcel is the last task left on our transitionary process. Then its onto getting the products all on the marketplace and exploration in world. It is an exciting time.

Windy Gyle (139, 243, 124)

Three Small Mountain Mainland Parcels

We cleaned up enough of the items on the land to put up three small mainland parcels for sale in the virtual world of Second Life. This is part of our plan to reduce our land holdings. Two of the parcels are 512m and are located side by side. The third is 1504m, also located next to the two 512m parcels. We placed the 512m parcels at 260L each and the 1504m parcel, I believe is at 900L.

The next set of land that will go up for sale won’t be until October 31st or afterwards. I had provided the tenants with the ability to stay until October 31st. One remains. All rental unit boxes are removed with the exception of that particular tenant.

I removed half of the apartment building, so only one tower remains standing. The store is still up and the corner closest to IEVL’s parcel is still there for me to clean up.

We have already sold the ten 512m parcels we had up for sale earlier this month. The goal is to shape the largest parcel in a nice perfect square or rectangle. All the side lots we had purchased once upon a time to ensure we had enough prim space for the tenants are what we are selling as we get parts of the land up for sale. Once the 31st hits, we will clean off the remaining items and the rest goes up for sale as one large lot, slightly bigger than a 1/4 of the mainland sim. It is also the flattest area on the mountain in this particular sim.

Progress is being made and we are so excited. This means November will bring new exploratory in world adventures. 😀

Breaking Down & Building Up

Today we removed one of the towers from the apartment building since there were no more tenants in that half of the building. The other tower still has one tenant, so its there until he moves or until the 31st, whichever comes first.

We picked up all of the grasses, trees and plants around the side that was removed and are down to one corner of the parcel to clean up and my store. This coming weekend, I will more than likely be spending time updating our eye ads and getting things ready to upload onto the marketplace. IEVL is thinking about cutting his parcel down to half the size it is as well, but hasn’t fully decided as of yet.

So much to do and its all exciting! I have new eyes to release as well, so the timing is good. Like tasks done together! Whoo Hoo!

I need to plan the next adventure. I think it will be a round of visits to the premium sandboxes to assess, do a bit of playing and planning. Maybe I will meet actual residents that say Hello! O.o LOL! At the very least I should see some interesting builds littered here and there.

And so we are onto our next chapter in the virtual world of Second Life. I could not be more excited about it!!

Movements Towards Migrations

We have one tenant left at N’Vhe in the virtual world of Second Life.  The rest have all vacated and I sent back all objects belonging to anyone that was not currently on the parcel.  I still have quite a bit to pick up of my own belongings, as well as two Meeroo’s to turn into pets and the others to set free.

Its not even mid month yet, so we are moving at a very good pace for cleaning up the parcel and getting it ready to sell.  To be honest, I am very excited.  I also have a set of mermaid inspired eyes to get on the market as well.  😀

Meanwhile in 3rdRock Grid, where they love to rock things…..

We have our N’Vhe sim.  Its beginnings are right here.  We had to terra form the land and now its time to really get into exploration and creation. Below is N’Vhe as it sits in 3rdRock right now. The building in progress is the first official building I have made.

Looking out at the sea after all the hard work. I wonder what type of adventures we will have here!?! We have meet many awesome people. IEVL is already doing a scripting job for someone.

Today this is N’Vhe as she sits. Still under construction, but the building is done. The first floor is our store that we need to fill up with things. The second floor is our work space. I have to make our landscaping items, but first I need to figure out how to build and remember how to create sculpties.

The land costs so much less here, the people are extremely friendly and there seems to be much potential with this world. I love the community spirit, even if its hard for me to participate. I think it is awesome that we have a community to draw back on. Friends come easy here!

Important Decisions for Virtual Living

Living in virtual worlds sometimes brings choices that we never thought we would make, or rather, choices we never dared to think about.  However, in the virtual world of Second Life as they are making changes to the Premium Account, of which I am, there are some important facts I need to acknowledge.

The Marketplace online is where most people buy product.  In fact, aside from friends that know me, the only place people buy my eyes is on the Marketplace.  This is hard for me to ignore and it is telling me that, honestly, there is very little need for in world stores.

It also used to be that it was a great thing to own land in the virtual world to either have one’s home, store, business or space to build.  Now that there are sandboxes that are made just for premium accounts, there really is no need to have a private space to build.  I am not a builder anyway.  I just need a place to rez a photo booth and snap pictures for ads.  I can easily do this in a sandbox.  I do not imagine premium sandboxes are faced with the same types of griefers.

Also as part of the premium account, one can have a free house with 512 prims to spend.  While that does not seem to be a lot, it actually is quite a bit.  If you bought a 512 parcel and had to place a house, you would be working with much less.  For someone like me that is not in world everyday, I really just need a place to change and sit when chatting with others.

Sooooo, I have decided to sell off the N’Vhe parcel in its entirety.  I will maintain my little free house that they give me for my account type, use the sandboxes and if I really want to be alone, well I can zip over to IEVL’s place.  The skybeach is going to be located at his parcel for now.

I really think it will be more realistic and manageable.  If I were in the virtual world everyday, then I could see maintaining the half sim parcel.  The truth is, I am in a few days out of the week and for less then ten minutes at a time.  Just enough to check on my tenants.

We gave notice to our tenants last week.  They are filtering out and we have the die hards left.  They have until the last day of the month.  After that we return all items and put it all up for sale.  If the land doesn’t sell by the end of November, I may just abandon it.  After all, we more than received the enjoyment out of the parcel for what we have paid into it.  At any rate, I am not to worried about it.  Actually, I am excited.

We also have been experimenting with 3rdRock Grid.  I know there are many worlds out there, but this one seems to be the most community based.  It is not like the others and it does seemingly have grown a bit slower.  Yet, they do know how to provide great customer service, the residents are awesome and its a bit like the last frontier in a way.

There is not much there by way of awesome clothes, hair or products.  The world is really still inventing itself.  Instead of items, they created a managing community that works together.  I truly believe the rest will come.  The draw back is the inability it seems to exchange your virtual world currency for real world dollars, but at this point it is not a big deal.  They have a currency system that works.

IEVL and I wanted to be someplace where we can be in on the ground level, be part of its development and create economic opportunities within the virtual world.  This will happen slowly.  There is a lot to get done.

We did not give up on Second Life.  I am excited about the changes there as well.   It just doesn’t make any sense in keeping all the land if it really is not necessary to have in order to accomplish what we normally do in that virtual world.  It has become somewhat of an obsolete item to own mainland, at least for now.  We will see what they do and what changes they make down the road.  I will still be adventuring in the various places that exist within Second Life and writing about them.  😀

You Never Know Where

You never know where a door will lead. In the Paradise there is a mysterious door set in stone.

Opening the door, the entry way has an ominous feel with it bright lights. Still, it is captivating, so let’s enter in and see where it will go.

We end up at the NVhe countryside. Peaceful, sweet feeling countryside. There are little meeroos running about the door. Possibly they know a few things?!?

These doors work only if you are in the associated group. If you need an invitation, send me a message. Residents of NVhe already are part of the group, so go on over to Paradise, enjoy the ocean water, the sea side breeze and the fun dances waiting for you. Find the secret underwater cave, done your merwear and swim about to your hearts content.