Occasionally we all go to places that make us go 'wow'. Second Life is a place of immense beauty at times but what does it take to make something gorgeous and then to make it wow? Of course this depends on personal preferences. For me it's something that's constructed well and with the grid thought of. There is so much more to a good build than well aligned, well textures prims; it's forethought and awareness of the software limitations.

Today I got a tp to place described as "somewhere you will love" and oh my did I. The Abyss is essentially a shopping area. Having said this, it's not a big shopping area. There are little pockets of skins, hair and clothing scattered about but not immediately in your face. I spent my time wondering about and occasionally passing comments of 'wow' and 'its pretty' to my teleporter.


At 230 metres in the air, the build here uses the set SL fog level to it's very best advantage. My main admiration for this piece of beauty was the use of light. I am using windlight, a new first looker viewer and frankly its awe inspiring. The images are not post processed they are shots from the area.


I do have a major dislike of many shopping complexes, they do serve a purpose I accept that, however most are usually ill thought-out and put there to make money with no attention to any detail. Abyss on the other hand may have gone a little too far the other way. It is frankly stunning but if you are anything like me you might forget to shop!

You must go and look, take your friends, take a stranger - I don't care just go and experience it! Bask in the brainchild of someone with an amazing amount of lateral thinking.

I complain about them, along with a great deal of people on the grid, however I will also say I wouldn’t want any Linden job. Within any organisation, when something mal-functions it has a knock on wave for other departments and working in that environment is a tough one.

I watched the blog with reports on double billing recently and thought jeez ops. Well turns out upon checking my bank account and email I was affected in this double charge. Never fear though Linden would sort it and I would be refunded. Going along the lines of ‘well mistakes happen’ as long as its rectified to my satisfaction it will be fine, I closed the email and waited for a nice reimbursement of my over charged tier fees.

Few days later I got an email from Linden to say that the current months tier hadn’t been paid and that if that wasn’t rectified within a week my account would be suspended. So of course upon getting this email I double checked the banks end, nothing wrong absolutely fine.

I checked the linden lab site and subsequently the support portal where I raised a ticket about the matter. Finally I got a reply from someone who said he would look into things, would I mind checking with my bank that I could use my card and that linden labs were not blocked from them etc. He also asked me at this point to re-enter my details.

Off I went back to the site, re entered my details and got the update awaiting message. The message states if it still says that after an hour to try again. An hour later it said the same and I tried again. Waited a further hour..... same. I commented back to the original ticket. Stating that the card I was using was the same one I have used for over 18 months now, the account they double charged etc and that my banking provider did not suddenly randomly block Linden Labs.

/me sighs. I must say I find the whole process of the support portal rather tedious. Very much like call centres in the real world I find myself going round in an ever decreasing circle until I am about to disappear up my own ass. Like these call centres with “press option 1” for x,y,z the support portal offers about as many choices. Call me an old fashioned lass if you like, but I actually like being able to talk to someone. Either on the phone or in IM, real time replies make the whole process simpler and rectified quickly.

My helper replies to say the account needs to be manually reset and then my details entered again. He will organise this and contact me when to re-enter my details. Ok, so I’m not overly happy that its taken now 5 days to get an email that says Linden have messed up need to manually override their own system to allow me to input my details (again). I know to de stress I will log in and do some random Trin type things in world. GAH. They suspended me!!!!!! *Air goes blue for a few moments*

I go directly to sl.com and attempt to get into my account. Of course I get a message to say my accounts inactive. I heard towards the portal, which turns out I can’t get into because my accounts suspended! Oh ffs! I trawl through the web and find a phone number. Now being in the UK I now need to dig out the international dial code for the US, since I don’t tend to phone US.

I must say considering it was 4am for Linden telephone support, they did answer remarkably quickly, must have sensed the increasingly pissed off Scottish woman. Quite amusing when you get asked to verify who you are with RL details and the call continues with them calling me Trinity. The gentleman on the end of the phone, fighting off an occasional yawn, tells me that there is a department assigned to my account, however he will lift the suspension so I can at least get in world and into the portal etc. Not often I say this but nice man.

I comment again on the support ticket with the update and notice a worrying thing on my account. I am a premium member, I have been a premium member now for over a year. I pay annually and I paid my annual subscription in September of this year, hence its not due again until September 2008, however according to my account page its due in December 2007!

As things stand at the moment, I am awaiting a reply from the department dealing with my account. I have my suspension lifted temporarily. So who knows, I might be suspended again tomorrow.

While I still can I’ll take this opportunity to rant a little! I wouldn’t want your jobs lindens but sort your archaic systems and allow good paying customers a chance to have a relatively stress free experience. Between the constant lag and asset server problems the last thing ANY of us need are account issues.

Everyone remembers with a very keen fondness the first place they became a regular at in Second Life. The 2nd person I ever met in this game was a little alien called Lord Leafblower. We shared similar interests and thoughts on many things, turned out he had a club. Being a newbie, he helped me a great deal figuring how this pixel world worked.

The Lava Pit was on the mainland in an area called Bradmoor. It was a proper club, the first time I had seen something like it in sl. Wonderful atmosphere, wonderful people and a jolly good time. You could go shooting or take a dip in the Lava Pit hot springs. At Bradmoor I first met Lord Leafblowers partner Aava Jeego, Eximus Hin & antenna stricken Voodoo Buwan here. From this mainland the Lava Pit progressed to its very own island, called Kiva.

Lord asked if I wanted to work at the pit, and since I had seen it grow on the mainland and then move of course I wanted too. It was a truly wonderful place that I spent 95% of my time at (there was no reason to leave) so work there? Genius idea!

THE Lava Pit really was the place to be at the time, I met so many brilliantly colorful people here. Ranging from Big Brother winner Madlen Flint, JamesT Juno & Dana Vanmoer CEOs of sl-newspaper.com, Allasandra Santos, Jenni Briggs, Santanna Suyra, Mama Norfolk, Hajduk Pieck, Eximus Hin, Soulie Steeplechase and of course my initial meeting of a certain Ms Trescothick. At the time The Lava Pit did like no others did, it was a wonderful place to be that also had dancers available, Yes there was sex, the biggest seller in SL, but unlike all places before & after it didn't ram it down your throat (pardon the pun). It was a popular place to be and even made it into the unofficial SL published guide.

The Pit was about the here and now, it filled a huge gap and was a genuinely fun place to be, the owners were there with a friendly greeting but were subtle with it. The staff all friendly and helpful, it was an extremely unique place to work and chill-out however like most good things though, it came to an end on April the 1st 2007.

Really for a great deal of people it was the end of an era, the culmination of months of work. There was no place like it and there will not be again. The mix at the pit was just perfect and perfection is a hard thing to grasp. The Lava Pit went out with one hell of a bang at the final event. Like most other events regularly pulling in 70-90 people at any one time. While The Pit was on a high it closed its doors, in my opinion the only way to do things.

Many of us original pitters have wandered since then, it is an irreplaceable club and experience.

Then, along comes Durell Celt, who makes enquiries into having the pit rebuilt. Upon speaking to Lord Leafblower who explains his SL commitments extend too far to rebuild, however he suggests Aimee Trescothick who takes up the task.

The challenge of recreating something that you were so close too obviously would be a hard one, Aimee however did a wonderful job. The recreated shell of the new lava pit was like stepping back in time. You could wander onto the dance floor and imagine yourself once again surrounded by your friends at a pit event. It was a beautifully spooky rendition.

The build itself was faultless and transferred once finished to Durell's hands. From here on in its his work. I have been in a few times and witnessed with distress the descent of the pit into its own fiery depths. I will not allow my memories of this wonderful place become tainted by this place. The shell might be the same, but the atmosphere, the people and the times are not even close to it.

Obviously you can tell from my article the love that was felt for THE pit, its like that for the regulars not only me. Trying to follow that would be virtually impossible and I am afraid to say the new pit falls very short of the mark.

The location of the new lava pit is on a tropical island surrounded by palm trees and pretty sand. Left standing open, raw and looking like a wallflower without its natural volcano. The inside has changed somewhat too, with less camping stools. The dancer areas have changed and is no longer subtle about the sexual offerings here. When somewhere is empty the greetings are also empty. I NEVER walked into the original pit to find no-one there. It simply never happened. It does here. The open access teleporter to the upstairs dancing room is a little 'tacky' in my opinion and the rooms themselves leave a lot to be desired. Pictures of rl models with mouths ajar are by no stretch of the imagination subtle.

Obviously parts of the original pit are there in prims but never in heart and soul. I am afraid to say you should never go back. It all makes me feel extremely sorry for the poor lava pit fish.

I watched with interest as people reported about RMS Titanics arrival into second life. Being from a generation of "My Heart Will Go On" I am fully aware of Titanic and her story. Personally not a fan of the film, I never was, however I found the research and construction of the replica for the movie brilliant. It pushed me into looking more into Titanics journey into our world and subsequently her departure from it again.

I watched the release movies for Titanics launch in SL, and like most was intrigued to see how the transition worked. Today I went along to have a look.

You arrive on a tropical beach with teleports in front of you. Found this concept a little odd, Titanic was sunk by an iceberg and set sail from Southampton, don't think there's many palm fans in these places.

I cammed out to get her on my screen, must say she does look pretty special, chimneys pumping out smoke and portcullis style windows along the hull. Time to take the tp's to many locations. I wander through her halls, seeing the ballroom, grand staircase and of course the flying pose-balls on the front.

From a build point of view she is well constructed and thought out, I would think the challenge to bring Titanic into sl would be a large one and building wise she is good. I run into a major problem for me in the 'grand staircase' personally I didn't think it was very 'grand'. Also the ship is essentially a shopping mall, so upon arrival at the staircase of dreams you are surrounded by fashions and toys to buy.

I understand projects in SL must be financed however I personally will put my neck on the line here and say RMS Titanic should never have been made and turned into a shopping complex. The ship itself does have a small area dedicated as a museum, pictures of the ship along with facts and figures. I personally find it a hard bone to swallow when this 'museum' and launch marketing is around Titanic and what she stood for when the main aim inside this marvel is to shop.I think people should see this area, seeing what is possible in SL is of course always wonderful, I am also sure many out there don't have a problem with this being a shopping complex. Visit Titanic Here.