"How Does Your Club Choose Its Themes?"

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

This is a question we hear once in a while, but not that often. Usually when we hear "How does that club choose it's themes?" it's a reference to some other club.

The Happy Vixen strives for a variety of events. But we also make an effort to talk on occasion to the DJs and hostesses for ideas. Over time, they've come with some great suggestions. We also take suggestions from you the fans. The majority, we (Snowy and I) come up with the themes for the next week every Monday night.

Our guidelines are not to repeat the same thing too often. So once we've had a theme, we usually wait at least two or three months before having it again. We keep track of what theme's we've done and when we last had them. Lately, we've also been making an effort to keep track of attendance to better help which themes are best liked. It's not perfect as some of our slots are outside "prime time" when not as many people are logged onto Second Life, but it does the job. Events with a lot of people are naturally more likely to repeated sooner.

As most of our regulars our furs, we often have avatar themes such as foxes and bunnies. Most weeks we have at least one color theme, such as Best in Red. Some any avatar can take part in such as Ears and Tails. Some are fun themes such as Videogames and Hollywood. Some are funny such as Tacky and Worst Superhero. Being a beach club, we occasionally have Swimwear and beach party, but we try not to overdo it. And some are on the teasing side such as Lingire and Cute & Sexy.

And we occasionally experiment. There have been times one event a week is a "Come As You Are" or CAYA. This saves those coming over from having to change outfits and avatars for one party.  

A few months ago, we were asked by the community chief to help run a second club, "I want a bunny club." And so the same minds behind the Happy Vixen were tasked with the Bouncing Bunny Beach Club, with two weekly time slots moved from the Happy Vixen to there. So what does this mean as far as theme choices go?  Not much, although an event that appeared in one club will occasionally be at the other the next month.

We know some clubs have something only they do. Club Cutlass has it's Wednesday "Alphabet" events. The Furry Fashion Lounge has it's Friday Late Night. We've heard of others having "Topless Tuesday" parties every week. What's special about us? Well, we try to be not just the beach club of the Sunweaver community, but a nice little place to relax and have fun in. And of course once the party is over, feel free to play a game or watch a movie. 

Addition: I originally finished this article a few weeks ago, but delayed publishing it when real life stepped in. While I can no longer be at the events as often as I could (at least for now), I still help choose the themes.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Second Life "Game Review" : "What Is Second Life" Part 2

By Nydia Tungsten

Most of you that have read my articles know I have done a “What is Second Life?” article. But this time, something very personal happened to me and it started me thinking, with everything I have said about Second Life, I have missed a LOT. Here is my chance to correct that.

It is 4 a.m. and I am unable to go to sleep so I sit here gaming and listening to my REALLY off the wall music as I play different games. I realized, out of every MMO I play or have EVER played, SL is the most in depth format of the MMOs. For example, when SL first came out, I remember hearing people laughing at those “idiots” that spend real money for virtual items, which I have to admit we do (land, homes, furniture, parties, ect…ect…). BUT, so do they. They pay monthly fees to play their MMO, some up to $20 USD a month AFTER they pay the $60 to $75 USD to buy it. THEN, they pay those little extra’s to give them an edge, i.e. that nice pay for only main battle axe or buy extra gold to get those better rounds for tanks in the MMO “World of Tanks”. And now some MMO’s are starting to offer a “home” that you can make and have it look how you want it, so you have people paying extra to decorate those homes.  Yeah, they look nice, but what can you do with them? Nothing except make them look pretty and never go in them again. But yet, you paid for them and continue to put money into a “virtual world.” Now, let’s flip the coin here. For the same money you put into the average MMO, you can get twice that in SL and do MORE.

  In SL, not only could you get a home and make it look the way you want it to, you can even make the items yourself so it is TRULY a one of a kind place that you can be proud of.

   A place you can take your friends to more than once or twice before they get bored of just standing in the same spot and just looking. In SL, you can interact with almost EVERYTHING in the grid INCLUDING other players.

   Yes, there are the sex beds, but there are also so much more! You have swings, movies, chairs, desks, you can hug other players, they can hug you (both with permissions asked and given). You can make true friends there from all over the world.  The other MMO’s have certain servers for certain parts of the world so you can’t ever meet someone from…say.. Russia. I used to go to a club where 99% of the members were Russian and another for Germans. You can travel the world in the space of five minutes.

    Now we come to my experiences. I had an accident; I tripped over two playful dogs and took a bad spill involving a concrete slab. And then family issues ensued, and then I woke up to find myself with “Bells Palsy”. For those that don’t know what it is (like me until I got it), it has a lot of the symptoms of a stroke where the right side of my face was paralyzed but this is caused by pinched nerves and not a clog in the brain. I even have to wear an eye patch to keep my eye from getting gunk in it or drying out so that is why I wear an eye patch in SL as well.

      When I was FINALLY able to get back into SL after being gone for a more than a week, I found candles on my mantel from my loving Angels to show me they were thinking of me and missing me. They are still there and I get misty eyed every time I see them. The people of Second Life have become a like a family to me. I don’t know of any other MMO you can get so involved with others OUTSIDE the grid like you can with Second Life.

   You can even marry that special someone in your life, no matter which you prefer, you can marry them here. I know this first hand because I married someone so very special to me. Brandi is a part of everything I do in SL now, and I know of many others that have done the same; some have taken it to the next level and hooked up in real life too.

   I am so proud of my accomplishments in SL. I have come a very long way since I was first “rezzed”. I have come to know and love each of my Angels, without whom I would be nothing and have nothing. So, let me publicly thank my family group “Nydia’s Angels”. Thank you, my Angels.

    I have been adopted by several people in SL as well, one of which is Skylark. She adopted me from almost the start of my life in SL. She taught me about clubs and how to run them, also a bit about land, and I have taken that knowledge and ran with it. At one point, I had 6 active clubs and administered over 14 sims, but those numbers have come down now due to a lot of factors. But one thing remains, it was so much fun to learn about it and make a go of it.  Let’s see you make money in your real life (legally) from any other MMO, then let me know so I can try that as well.

   SL is also great for those who have self esteem issues. In SL, you can look how you feel you deserve to look. I know of many that are disfigured for some reason or another but here in SL, they can look how they feel, be who they are. Like myself, I am a little white vixen that I think looks nice and I have adopted that fursona  in all my online dealings.

   Until SL, I never even had an email address of my own. With the help of my friends and family in SL, I opened and bloomed and grew and tried a lot of things I would never have tried in real life. I am becoming more of who I truly am.


 So, to sum it up, SL is not just a game, but also a wonderful tool that can be used by so many people in so many ways, because no matter what you’re into, you will find it in SL.

    As soon as I am over this Bells Palsy, I will try and do more stories about more games, but….until then
GOOD GAMING TO YOU!

Nydia Tungsten

Minecraft: Building Around Angels Villiage

Since the new Angels Village in Nydia's Minecraft servers was built, the place has taken shape, with walls going up and buildings inside the walls. Then the building began going outward, such as the SL Newser office building there. But the building didn't stop there.

Jasmine's a fan of the "My Little Pony" show, or a "pegasister" in pony fan slang. So she built this tribute, "Luna Sleeping."

How many of you have heard of "Hogzilla?" Well, he just showed up in Minecraft, or rather, this statue of him did.

Another build was this double tribute to the mob Minecrafters love to hate: The Creeper. There was this creeper statue, and a creeper temple built.

And if mobs weren't enough to scare someone at night, we started spinning yarns about what else might be out there, such as the Minecraft legend of Herobrine, the ghost miner who supposedly digs all those tunnels we find underground. Note the arched bridge and the beach picnic areas.

 The building wasn't just out from the village, but also down. Inspired by the Dwarven City in the "Lord of the Rings" Minecraft map, Valkyrie was inspired to build her own. And it was quite an impressive sight. Just ask first before digging in the mines next to the place. Dwarves aren't keen on strangers digging on their turf.

There was one other building outside the village build, a horse track, presumably in case we ever decide on a horse race. But I was waiting until daylight to take a picture, and had to go before sunrise.

 And a statuesque tribute to four of the players of Angels Village. From left to right: Jasmine (vixen with diamond minepick), Kryxia (wolfess with diamond sword), Skye (horse with diamond sword), and Phy (pony with golden carrot).

 Jasmine however wanted to build one of me. So she took a few screenshots, with my armor off, and got to work.

 Not a bad likeness ... of my 8 bit self.

So what would my statue carry? Well, others had picks and swords. So what else did I use a lot? My compass and map (ask a girl how often men will speak up and ask for directions). So Jasmine made one on the statue's hand.

The building continues around Angels' Village. There was a subway entrance made, with plans to connect it to somewhere. Then people started digging down and then out. Looks like if there's nothing in the distance to connect to, we'll dig and make something to connect it to when we surface.

That's all for now from Minecraft. Until next time, happy digging.

Bixyl Shuftan

"Feed The Beast" and The Minecraft Building Contest

By Bixyl Shuftan

Since the Minecraft "Angels Village" server was updated, and it's contents wiped away, the attention of the game's players in the Sunweaver and Angels groups switched to the FTB, aka "Feed The Beast," servers set up by both Kit Repine and Nydia Tungsten. Kit's initial server went from a shack set up near the spawn point for anyone unfortunate to drop in at night to a small stone fort with an ever-expanding underground chamber and tunnel network. Valkyrie McGil built an impressive build on the cliff next to the fort.

Jasmine quickly noticed the wide variety of tools the FTB version of Minecraft offered, from robot miners that could clear out sections of underground for stone and ores, to better suits of armor, including one with limited flight ability, and some nifty gadgets. One I found useful was a mechanical arm that acted like a combination diamond pick and gun. One could use it against zombies and creepers, but it had a strong recoil. Another was a pair of boots that kept one from getting hurt when falling from a great distance. It's a safe bet most Minecrafters ended up back in their bed after making a misstep at least once. One gadget some players had fun with was the "Portal" gun, which acted like the one in the game. One fun thing that came later were the funny hats that one could collect from mobs they appeared on at random.

But building these tools and toys required machines, machines that required energy. Exploring around, I came across a few oil fields some distance away. Those were one source of energy. But Jasmine's bigger machines required more. One interesting feature of "Feed The Beast" was accessing other worlds, or overworlds in Minecraft jargon, besides the Nether and "The End." Some of these places were quite strange, such as one in which players could end up damaged from sunburn if not wearing certain types of armor, which put us in the same position as a zombie or skeleton. These worlds could be accessed through portals, but they could also be traveled to and back via special books, leading to this part of the game being called "Mystcraft," after the popular computer game Myst in the 1990s. Besides places to explore, Jasmine used them as a source for mass quantities of energy-supplying lava and lots of ores.

All these features were certainly a contrast from the Minecraft we'd first set foot it, and it came with a price. Lag began to become a problem. And then, the servers would start to occasionally crash. This became quite frustrating to players and server owners alike. As it turned out, "Feed The Beast" was the combined result of over a few hundred Minecraft modifications cobbled together. Little wonder it could get unstable at times. And then came the server updates, which would sometimes wipe out what was made.

Despite the bugs, interest in Minecraft persisted. Nydia took some time to clean up her new FTB server before inviting her friends over. Once she thought it was ready, she wondered how it could be tested.

"I wanted to test the latest FTB server, see if the problems were solved," Nydia told me in a conversation, "so … I thought what a better way to test it than to have my friends go NUTS with their builds." Nydia decided to hold a competion to see who could come up with the best build, "So I turned them loose with OP powers and kept an eye on the server." The rules were fairly simple, build a town a small group of players could reside in, " purposely left the build requirements vague, I wanted to see how they would be interpreted, and I must say I was NOT disappointed in the creativity that was generated. (I wasn't the) only one impressed either, the builders were as well when they got to see each other's builds."

The competition attracted a number of players, "We started with over eight builders, but due to their real-lives, some had to drop out, which was a shame really. The beginnings of their builds looked so promising. We had futuristic to medevil and even fairy tale fantasy. We even had some Anime thrown in, but unfortunately that one wasn't finished. … This will sound obscure to those not familiar with the series 'Girls und Panzers' it was going to be a city ship," a ship with a city built inside, "It qualified for the contest (laughter)."

"The way it was judged was very unique as well," Nydia explained,  "I have never heard of (Minecraft) being done like this at all. I left some of the judging be done by the builders themselves. The only reason I did it that way was I knew all the builders and knew they would be fair. They would judge the others, but not themselves. And I had 2 people here with me in real life that don't play MC (yet) to help me with the judging. And yes I did the live broadcast the event to help." Nydia put a live feed of what she saw into her video channel on the day of the judging.

One problem the contest had was the unstable nature of FTB Minecraft, and the contest was suspended and extended a couple times due to the server crashing, " I run it off my same system I use I thought it could maybe it could handle it this time, unfortunately...it cant. … I wish I could invite everyone on to view the builds, but itwas just too hard on my system, I have 8GB of RAM with the server and (with) Second Life running, it would climb up to the 80% used area. If I was linked a video....it would go into the 90s. More than once it got to 98%, if it went higher I would crash." Still, she persisted, "But we were able to finish the contest and have a lot of fun in the process."

Of the winners, Skylark's village came in third place. Valkyrie was second "by only a few points." Her village was near the server spawn point, and had crop and berry bush areas, with miniature golems gathering the fruit. For first place, it was "a tie between 2 good friends and Angels Jasmine and Shion (Winkler), it was so close it was almost a 3 way tie!"

Jasmine's place was a treehouse village with buildings set up on super tall trees, "t was a fully function town any elf would DROOL over with all the tech any mage would envy and then it had the walk ways between the massive trees to count as a city in itself." Jasmine tapped into another overworld via "Mystcraft" for the lava to power it, "Val went into the Nether to power all of her computers and tech as well." Jasmine's village had a diner in which automated machines could dispense a variety of foods with the press of a button. Kryxia Silverfall helped her out during the building.

Shion's town was build around a cathedral, as were some Medieval cities. It was the most detailed building, both inside and out. It had a harbor with ships, and a balista and a number of cranes around, to give it the look of a place still in construction.

For the winners, Nydia had a prize, "I kept the prize secret until the day of Judging I was able to offer the winner $50 USD or split it as it turns out, but they both turned it down. Sooo, I donated it to 'The Furry Gamer' group to help some of our members get into the rest of (the games we play). They wanted me to use it for my Angels, which I will do if it is needed. But I think it could do better for a group dedicated to having some fun. Thats what this was all about, having fun."

As good as the builds were, Nydia had to take the server back down. The FTB was just too much on her systems to keep up without crashes. But her new "vanilla" server, updated to Minecraft 1.62, was available. This newer Minecraft is commonly called the "horse update" due to its now including horses. They can be fitted with a saddle and "broken" for riding.

So how to build a place for the Angels there? Nydia soon had her answer, "that night when I finally had all the votes, I brought them all to my office at home (in Second Life) and told them who won, well, they started talking about each others builds, and before I knew it I had a build crew on my hands for the new Angels Village. … once in and started they met up with 'Hojo' another builder from the last world we had and he joined in"

Dropping in for myself at Jasmine's invitation, the place wasn't too far from the spawn point. Just walk down the road for a few minutes, and one would soon see the place, encompassed by walls. Inside, they had built a barn for horses (by Jasmine) and other critters, a town hall, an inn, an outdoor market, a mages tower (by Valkyrie), a cathedral (by Shion), a harbor with ships (also by Shion), and more. When Nydia saw it for herself, "I can sum it up with one word: 'Whoah …' "

So what was next for Nydia and her Angels & friends in Minecraft? She does have some plans, "in the future I am planning on having adventure maps for group play. I have a bit to learn still before I can start hosting events but it IS planned for in the future. We have had 'End raids' in the past and those were a LOT of fun."

So despite "Feed The Beast" acting a bit beasty, the action in Minecraft from residents of the Sunweaver and Angel's estates continues.

Nydia has a video of the villages during the contest judging donwloadable in the following link (here - 498MB).

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted: My Journey in Second Life by Skylark Lefavre

Way back when I started on Second Life I was but just a newbie. Everything was new and fascinating. I saw a new world worth exploring, yet I knew how to do nothing. Someone I made friends with on a website got me to sign up for Second Life. I met him on my most favorite hangout then named Beat Island. This sim I remember was education and full of musical entertainment. My friend lived and worked here. It is here where my journey started.

I eventually caught up with my friend who is a New Zealander. I thought "how cool is this?" and after getting voice to work learned to build and move lickety-split. Still using the freebie white winged wolf angel av I picked up from Help Island, I looked for avatars different than I saw as mainstream. "What could these be called?" From time on furry websites I knew they were furry avs. I did a search and low and behold I found a place called Rocket City Furmeet.

Knowing this to be a real life furry convention center I thought "what the heck?" I walked into the structure and into the vendor room. Back then it was small and in the Second Life building instead of where it all is now. I found the Aventity vendor which back then they sold a few avs. I bought an orange fox after realising where to buy it from. I was still under the Linden Currency buying cap being new. Now I needed to wear it. How do I wear it? I wore it and dragged the contents from the box it was in to a new folder in the inventory. Then a resident says it's easier to use a sandbox. Hmm sandbox, well something to use for a later day. Well back then I didn't know it was inappropriate to not have clothes so I searched for clothes. I found Bare Rose in 2007. This was nice, good looking clothes at affordable prices. I bought as much as I could. Back then Bare Rose wasn't laggy not did it have the sheer volume of what it does today nor selection. I this time used a sandbox.

I hung out with my new friend and his friends which led me to a medieval RP sim called Alchera. This was a very noteworthy RP sim that had alot of possibilities had it not gone under with the time and rising costs of land. It was this magical place I met two other friends where all three would become my oldest and best friends. Later on I wanted a dragon av, and at the time I still had trouble purchasing Linden currency through lack of experience. I had purchased enough to get an Isle Of Wyrms Fire Wyrmling of what was then known as Xstreet, a Second Like marketplace offline of Second Life. Well I was proud of my new avatar. I wore it all over I even danced with a Second Life elf from another medieval RP sim called Avalon a sister island to Isle Of Wyrms. I became Dragon of the Mist with the help of someone I would know only for a short time and miss everyday. He was already a Dragon of the Mist there. We dated some hung around shopped for things teens liked like Superheros stuff. Me and him were flying in a sim that was a wasteland of rock and caverns that was supposed to be like the place bad people go when they do evil in life. Me and him flew around having fun we felt right at home. Two humans were on the ground below us. A New Chapter unfolds.

The two humans bought a sim it had a glorious mountain with a waterfall and grotto, there was a cave for me and my love. on the other side cottages. The two humans adopted us as Pet Rider Dragons . We were the first and last to be in this pet rider dragon group they called Climbing Rose Rider Dragons. Time passes, and two more were added to the group, our daughter and son dragon hatchlings. The RP fell apart misunderstandings and wrong assumptions led to the selling of the island and to the end of the RP. I was heartbroken. I had lost touch with my lover due to things beyond my control. My handler thought I wanted to quit.

I went to Exterminatus Labs and got me a Black Therion av and had Black Demon Rot Wings and an aqua Green gown, 'cause Avalon rules then were if you walked on two legs you wore clothes. I met a Portuguese elf that took me in as his dragon lady. I helped him with lots of things off of SL and been best friends with him. I left Avalon and headed to Isle Of Wyrms. This place was a place where I am accepted and loved. I learned important life lessons, and my first taste of keeping order to chaos was here. I bought me at their Cathedral a Storm Hatchling. I joined the group Hedgies Hatchlings and Tinies and became a Tiny. I later rented my first home in Hatchie Haven.

I lost contact with my Portuguese Elf friend but I met two other Portuguese kids. One loved me with a kind and happy heart. We went to a water sim that had a road. On the side was the entrance to a Water Dam. Inside there were freebie Transformer avies that transformed from the transformer movie. He got me a free black cat av from a sim that now is a werewolf RP store. Things changed though. The breakup and loss of my home and family and friends at the RP and a plethora of troubles associated with this first account. I made this account. This account became my primary. My journeys were not over. I had gotten more work hours and found a better way to buy currency and make currency. I knew how to do more. I started collecting avs and making cute and beautiful avatars. I met a horse avie and we hit it off. Thus a memory entails our meeting and a legacy never dies.

Me and my best friend forever and then my lover had an idea, a dream, a dream to bring something special to this virtual world. He was a crackpot telecommunications programmer. A Hatchling I had met that later created the Gadzoo line of furry avs helped build the final version of the building that started a legacy. My friend from Alchera was the DJ manager. I was the manager, but I preferred and was good mainly at hosting. Yes this was a club: Furry Desires. I was co-owner with it with my lover. We had a different way to do things. We never did adult themed things. We never allowed pole dancing, we never did event contests. The crowd we drew came for the music and a good time nothing more.

He lost his job and the payment for all the lots for the club, avatar mall, and other more adult themed items mall down the street was threatened. We sacrificed the malls but we never gave up. We payed monthly rent all on tips alone. I met up with the owner of a popular av making company and the owner came by in this small av and told me how much he enjoyed reading my notices to club gigs at Furry Desires. Well this was becoming a strain on the regulars. We shut Furry Desires down for a short time, sold the parcels. This would not be the end!.

My Lover was in a bad way and in poor health. We basically just parted without hatred anger or vengeful thought. Instead I did what I do a lot. I became best friends with him. Well I met a few others afterward I dated. I ended up in Wolf Valley. It was a little laggy and somethings like my diving Board and kiddie train I couldn't use. But my best times were spent renting there. I didn't know this, but the time I was there the one running the sim was teaching me how to be a sim admin which I will always be thankful to him for since later down the road I would be sim admin to three sims.

I eventually had some job hour cuts and had to sell all my parcels. Last I heard I rented just under the amount the gf of the one who was teaching me had and she had a good share of Wolf Valley rented. My second exposure to renting a home. I moved to Cape Suzette a Sunweavers sim owned by my now Second Life beloved mother owner of the Sunweaver Islands. Due to a failing economy in and off world, people could no longer afford rent. Before the final death of Cape Suzette, a place I wished I could have kept, I was lured to a place called Kitsuhana, Japanese Kitsune and forest themed. The owner there was fascinated with my landscaping talents and I made her Faerie Acre Forest. People came from all over Second Life to see it. With what I was taught I kept script lag down low while keeping it aesthetically pleasing with a faerie theme. I had finally found a place to set up my kiddie train and it worked the Christmas before I had to leave due to the owner selling off a big part iof it and my parcel was on the list of parcels to be sold.

I remet up with a person I met in Wolf Valley who had ventured to my giant 5 story castle. He is the owner of Mythica Woods. He asked me to adopt him, which I did. My Second Life Mother owns the homestead his place was on. So I became Estate Manger there. He asked me to make things. I far outdone myself in originality and creativity. I even created a community or mixed residents furry, neko, dragon, and human. Seeking a place I could call home I looked for a sim or part of a sim. I met a fur who later became my sister a pink bunny and fox mix or fennec. She took me in on her sim. I rented 1/5 of a sim on mainland. I had so many prims I didm't know what to do but build the first of the many space stations I would call home. I loved that place as well. The owner and the co-owner had a difference of opinion so I left that place before it wa shut down and moved to Mythica Woods. I finished most of my work there and kept everyone happy as I was the landlord as well and I made the rules on how to run it and I did banning, ejecting, and all that an officer and sim admin would do. Drama has followed me since I had a taste of running sims and my family had grown bigger. I got pulled into fights and war I didn't belong in and I got tired of it. Another life lesson learned, look out after yourself.

Well I sought a group access place or adult themed hideout for a home. I found it finally and no farther away from my Second Life mom's home. But along the way I met special people, been to special places, and found out things that will in turn allow me a more peaceful life in any life and last if not least a lover who I am now engaged to in real life I have been seeing 5 years. For me Second Life was more than a Virtual World. Its been a magical fairy tail full of memories I will never forget. Not everyone has had my luck or my kind of journey but there is no reason to give up hope of having it!

Cheers and hope your Second Life is as good as my own life.

Skylark Lefavre