General Update on Stuff and Things

So! Here's a rundown:

    Yesterday, I released my Arcane Market mod, at long last. It's got most of what I wanted, and I learned a few things making it, including just a little about scripting--begrudgingly, unwillingly. I'm glad it's out and done, at least the releasable version, so I can work on some of my other mod projects.

    I mentioned I wanted to do a new modded Stardew Valley playthrough. Well, the 1.5 update ended up dropping in the middle of it, lol. I kept going for a while, but since not every mod updated right away, I had to keep my run on 1.4.5. Eventually the momentum just petered out. I have yet to have a save that lasts the whole two years until Grandpa's evaluation (though I was cruising for an easy four candles anyway). Oh well, it was still fun while it lasted. You can see my forevially in-progress farm below. Notable mods include Vibrant Pastoral Recolor, Seasonal Japanese Buildings, Lungs, Mermaids, and Element Spirits.

    The 2021 Fantasy Faire in Second Life ended just a bit ago. Was fun as always. Shopped, explored, caught some performances, did the quest. The usual. There's some other events going on now that I want to check out, including the Raglan Shire Artwalk.

    Fun stuff. 

Fantasy Faire Trip Report in Second Life

Yesterday was the final day of Second Life's Fantasy Faire, a charity event benefit for the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life. For two weeks, a special group of fantasy-themed sims host shopping, concerts, performances, literary and roleplay events, a special quest, and probably even more things I'm forgetting about. Point is, there's a lot going on.

I always enjoy visiting the Faire. This year, I did the Quest, caught a fun performance from the Misfit Follies, shopped a little, and found lots of new designers to follow and people to watch on Flickr. Of course, there's also the sims themselves, which are always beautiful and creative. On the one hand, it feels a shame they're only around for two weeks, but on the other, the limited availability motivates me to take it all in when I can.

The standout this year had to be Queensgarden, a lovingly detailed sim gorgeous at practically any angle.

Like most Second Life events, this one is organized and put on by the users, which makes it doubly impressive to me. You can see a lot of passion for the cause- after all, who doesn't know someone who has struggled with cancer? I found it impressive that even in the midst of a pandemic, people ended up giving the equivalent of ~$73,000 to RFL, according to the website.

This hot take has been expressed many a time already, but in the middle of a quarantine, I can really feel the power of Second Life as a platform. I don't think Corona is some opportunity for a new golden age of renewed interest in SL as some have suggested, but it does make me value the scraps of social gathering I can have there more highly. The fairies and fantasy landscapes are a nice bonus.

Status: Always Modding

Even if I'm not blogging about it very often, I'm still always modding my games. It's just how I am- something integral to my experience of playing PC games. In the last couple months, I've bounced around between a few:

-In Ark: Survival Evolved, I played for a time on a small private server with my partner. We were on the Ragnarok map and had a fair few mods going. One of the standouts was Castles, Keeps, and Forts, which let us build suitably grand castles that fit the style of the map quite nicely.

-In Minecraft, I puttered around building a new modlist for a magic/exploration themed playthrough. Still waiting on a couple of mods to update to 1.12 before I get going (including Thaumcraft, assuming the author doesn't quit again), but so far I'm liking the direction of the pack. Open Terrain Generator makes some gorgeous worlds to explore, and mods like Ice and Fire add cool new magical beasts to fight and tame.

I'm also planning new playthroughs of Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim... eventually, and probably not in that order. Morrowind especially will be a lot of work, as it's the game I'm least familiar with in terms of modding. I watch a pretty neat Youtube channel called Morrowind Modding Showcases; he does a great job showing off a lot of cool mods the Morrowind community has produced over the years. Even if you're not looking to mod Morrowind, the love and dedication of that community is pretty incredible- and for a game that's 17 years old!

I've also spent some time in Second Life, trying to find interesting and beautiful places. I recently went to an art installation called Eidola- a fascinating exploration of vision and perception. I really liked the tone of the build, a mix of informative and artistic, grounded and spiritual. There was so much to take in that I definitely think I'll need subsequent trips to really get everything out of the experience.

So, that's my little status update. I always say I'll post more, and I always forget. What can I say? There's just so many games, and so many mods, and so little time.

Pretending I'm Cultured in Second Life

Someone who only knows Second Life as a land of ugly people and Youtube troll videos might be surprised that it has a pretty robust art scene. I've enjoyed going through various exhibitions and artistic builds- some of which take advantage of the nature of the platform to offer an experience impossible in the physical world. I've stood in a desolate plain filled with figures prostrating themselves before an overhead UFO; another time, I was carted along in a miniature train through a world of floating, colorful child-like drawings.

One of my favorite places, though, takes the complete opposite approach. The Vordun Museum and Gallery creates an experience as close as possible to its physical counterparts. From the grounds outside, to the gallery itself, and even to the gift shop. 

I'd say the only thing missing is the loud tour groups blocking the view and snapping flash photos.

I'm impressed by the attention to detail in the whole thing- you can tell The Vordun is a labor of love. Besides the build itself, the exhibits I've seen have been high-quality. There's a variety on display- historical and contemporary alike. I feel this can be a bit disorienting as you move between exhibits- suddenly going from the European Masters to a modern solo exhibition based on psychological horror gives me something like artistic whiplash. On the other hand, I can understand that it's just not practical for the proprietors to keep the space purely in one theme or another.

One particular feature of this museum that I quite like is the audio tour provided for the main exhibit. For those unfamiliar with such in RL, these typically come in the form of small headsets that one can dial for voiced commentary on a particular piece or portion of the exhibit. This functions much the same at The Vordun, with the headset provided in the form of a HUD. It's quite charming and informative in a more immersive way than notecards or the like.

I feel that The Vordun is more than just a facsimile of a real museum; it stands on its own as a worthwhile experience. I'd go so far as to say that if it is not completely comparable to a physical gallery, it is very close in terms of artistic enrichment- and the self-satisfaction about how cultured you are.

Cozy Fall Feelings in Second Life

Exploring in Second Life has something of the feel of an archaeological expedition. Though the platform still has tens of thousands of people logging in regularly, the fact is that SL is far fallen from its heyday of popularity. The remaining userbase is spread out over a vast quantity of land- quite often when I'm exploring I don't see a single other person. You get the feeling that you're exploring some ancient lost civilization, one filled with strip malls and kinky sex dungeons.

Yet for all that it looks desolate and abandoned, there are still people out there creating things in Second Life. Today I went to a little place called Botanica that advertised a Thanksgiving-themed Hunt  (essentially a scavenger hunt type deal for those unfamiliar, usually with the goal of obtaining free or very cheap prizes).

The landing is in a festive little avenue bedecked with fall colors. There's a cafe, where the hunt takes place, as well as a handful of shops including a fortune-teller, working musical instruments, and gifts and sundries. I'm a sucker for the kitsch-y look, and this place was like the inside of a Hallmark store.

And I mean that in the nicest way.

Before doing the hunt I strolled around for a while, checking the various sights and shops. The turkeys running about gobbling away were a cute touch. We had turkeys around near the house I grew up in, so it was a nice bit of nostalgia for me (though funnily enough, they always seemed to go into hiding around Thanksgiving...).

The Fortune-teller's shop was fun. The magic mirror on the wall wanted to hear a yes or no question, and was kind enough to answer an honest "No" when I asked if it could really see my future. The Tarot reader was also interesting, having specific interactions in cutting the deck and revealing the cards. The cool things you can accomplish with scripting in SL are always surprising to me.

After this I headed back for the Hunt itself, located entirely in the small Americana Cafe. I searched for various objects which, when clicked, linked to websites and Wikipedia articles giving information on Thanksgiving traditions and Pilgrim culture. Thanksgiving goodies were the reward- though I also noticed a number of goodies about the cafe which were free and not tied to the hunt completion, mostly foodstuffs.

All in all, it was a very charming experience and a fun little diversion for an hour or so. The whole thing was very G-rated, and very kitschy and whimsical. It's things like this that I feel would be great for children to experience, if it weren't an incredibly bad idea for a child to be on Second Life. But for the childlike at heart (or at brain, like me), it's worth seeing nonetheless.