Greetings and Salutations

With Ning moving to include groups from sl and alternative grids, and Tatiana mentioning a thread on content for other grids, I thought I would mention some of my thoughts on all this. I would love to hear other experiences or opinions as well.

Recently, we opened an estate on the Kitely grid. We have started some building and soon will be able to start moving in. I have also started exporting some of my jewelry from SL to Kitely so that I can list on the kitely Market. Worth mentioning, now, if you are a creator, you can sell you items to multiple grids in one place. The Kitely Market has an Export Feature.

http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2015/05/kitely-markets-hypergrid-listings-grew-50-times-as-fast-as-other-items/

This allows you to sell to people in the Kitely Grid, where you upload your sale items, but it also lets you sell to other grids, such as OSGrid, Metropolis, Avination, Great Canadian Grid, FrancoGrid , 3rd Rock Grid, to name some of the more popular ones. Items sold can be bought in Kitely dollars or via paypal. kitely dollars are not able to be converted to dollars, but I do believe you can set it for paypal payment only. Permissions are pretty much the same but, Kitely market offers an additional permission on the webpage. Export. With Export, it will deliver to other grids, and allow them to use the items. It will still respect the regular permissions you set. Also, if you are selling jewelry or clothes, Export is the way to go. That way the person that purchases it can wear you gown to a different grid. If it is not export, you cannot hypergrid to another grid until you remove the non exportable item.

Getting your items out of Sl and imported to another grid can be done in various ways. There is a great video by Pathfinder that explains.

https://vimeo.com/111304760

These grids, compared to SL, are very small, but there is growth.

http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2015/05/opensim-users-regions-hit-new-record-highs/

As most know by now, SL2 will be entering closed beta sometime this summer, with the finished product opening up maybe by this time next year. This will have effects on our current world, no doubt about it. What those effects will be, is any ones guess.

Another thing worth mentioning is the OAR backups. Opensim runs on an opensource program. You can host your own grid on a personal server if you wanted. You can make a complete copy of your regions to save to your harddrive. If you wanted to move to another grid or host it on your own personal server you could.

I would love to work with other creators and people that might be interested in promoting our lifestyle and creations to a small but growing community.

Antiquity will always be in SL, and our location in Hypergrid is not meant to replace our SL estate. We hope to start a period presence. Many people in other grids still have SL accounts and do visit. There will soon be a host of other grids. SL2, InWorldz, Hypergrid, High Fidelity and a possible facebook virtual experience and others. Grid hopping will play more, as friends move back and forth from sl1 to sl2, or maybe to InWorldz, or hypergrid. I believe cost will also play an important part in any ones decision. InWorldz is priced much lower then SL right now by about 1/3. Opensim regions are even cheaper.

On our Kitely Estate, we have extra room and prims. I would be happy to share some land and prims for groups or creators that might want to explore other places or try out selling on the market. No charge. I am not looking to make money out of this, land is cheap and its more about having a safe place to base yourself while you explore and get to know how it all works and start to build a historical group of sims and try to reach more people.

I believe that InWorldz and Opensim are great places to expand. They are very similar to SL. SL2 will be all mesh. So if your not a mesh builder, that may limit building in sl2.

Virtual Worlds are changing fast. The media mentions of Virtual Reality of some sort is crazy. Once Oculus and Mophius, Samsung Gear really get going, the potential for growth is looking very good.

I would love to hear other thoughts on this. This is all kinda new to me, new grids and all, but i do think changes are coming and I think expanding and exploring may be a good thing.

--
His Royal Highness Jacon Cortes de Bexar Prince of Antiquity, Duke of Cumberland, Duque de Bexar, Duc de la Valliere, Marchese di MSB
updated by @jacon-cortes-de-bexar: 11 Jan 2017 01:50:52AM

Sorry....I had meant to include a link to the Kitely Market for anyone that would like to have a look

https://www.kitely.com/market

--
His Royal Highness Jacon Cortes de Bexar Prince of Antiquity, Duke of Cumberland, Duque de Bexar, Duc de la Valliere, Marchese di MSB

We are in the Equvellent of the early days of the Internet.

Early on, there was AOL, CompuServe, there was DELPHI, and 3 or 4 other pay servers with there own content, you could only access thee content by there software, calling in to and logging in to there servers.

There where also at that time, Thousands of BBS's (Bulletin Board Systems) run by Individuals, non-profit groups, and companies. None connected to others.

This is where we at to day in the VR world.

SL in many ways, is Great, it has a popular base, it has good content, and a good market and currency, but it expansive, and some of thee content creators agreements are not god at protecting content.

Some other grids have, 2 or 3 of the things that SL has, in some cases one or two of those may be better than SL, but none currently has the combination of all of those, but they are growing and improving.

This is good for us.

A. As the compittiion grows, the pressure from Competition will both cause increments in SL, and reduce cost. When and by how much is the question.

B. and this is the Inportant part, pressuer will be raising to interconnect all the Grids and allow for hopping from one to the other in a seamles way.

The historical sims provides legaitacyme to amy Grid, we produce rich content and attractive, engaging enviroments. But our work is truly the work of Amatuers, not in the curent meaning of the word, but in it true meaning, one who dose it for the love of it.

Our product is not created for Profit, and dose not make for the best commercial investment, but we do educate, we do entertain, and we do inspier , research, art, creativity.

We also learn to be encredable efficent in our creations, but still because the quality of our product, we need space and prims and it needs to be affordable to us.

So, it is exciting times.

Many thanks for your thoughts, Jacon!

Here are some of mine (transferred from another discussion ):

Skye has wanted me to expand to Inworldz for a long time now and I've always resisted.

Seems to me it's actually a very tedious job with very little financial return. You have to ensure that you have the right to move every prim, texture, sculpt, mesh & script to another grid. For those that you don't have rights to, you have to find/make/purchase a replacement & integrate it into the build.

As I understand it, you can't sell the resulting product for anywhere near the price you get in Second Life, plus the volume of sales is a lot lower.

Then there are the start-up costs, the ongoing costs and most of all the time.

Of course this is a very narrow perspective and only addresses the challenges of moving OLD content from Second Life.

Stephanie said "What I miss in all of opensim is the STUFF available in SL" and this is part of the reason why.

Having said that, if merchants are willing to change their business models to accommodate sales across different grids (from the very beginning) there seems to be some exciting potential there.

It's also exciting to hear about the different projects taking shape. Extending a community like Antiquity to (an)other grid(s) is very cool indeed.

As Curtis points out, most of us in the historical communities are not here for the profits but for the love of the activity

--
Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

Perhaps this is a silly question but I'll ask anyway

What type of clothing are you wearing? I just took a quick look through the KitelyMarket and didn't see any suitable period clothing. I'm probably just missing it or it's more prevalent inworld. Thanks!

--
Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

In open sim, folks make a lot of their own clothes. Which is why Freda of Kitely looks like crap.

As for pricing-- prices on Kitely Market do not appear to me to be lower than on SL Marketplace. I have an account in Inworldz and have not noticed a big diff there either. I am on LOTS of grids where everything is free. Mostly, for opensim, I use my Kitely AV though, cuz it's easy to just hyperjump all over the place.

It is a problem in Kitely right now, I yet to fine any historical clothing, either in the Marketplace or in world in shops.

If we are to build a Historical Roll play community there, we need to address this problem. I fine dressing for the era, the first step in stepping in to the mod of the era, the getting in to the charter..

( As to what I wearing right now, don't ask, it awful, I look like a 1970's Hippy in kitely, but I will soon remedy that.)

Hi everyone,

A few months ago I started an account in Opensim on the Metropolis grid and went exploring. It really was like being a noob again and kind of exciting. I did learn how to hypergrid and started visiting some of the other grids including Craft-World, Clonelife, Kitely and the OS Grid. The content is not quite what it is in SL but there are advantages to less cost overall. You definitely have to hunt around for 'good' (what you may be more used to in SL) items as far as clothing and hair.

What I really like about Metropolis is that many of the building sandboxes have tutorial posters set up and all kinds of building supplies and textures right there so you fiddle away to your hearts content and learn things.

Not long ago the friends from Metropolis (many of them are from SL also) went to the OS Grid so I started an account there. There were some issues with the OS Grid for some time from what I heard and they supposedly had been resolved. In the past month or so when I try to log into the OS Grid I keep getting an "Asset Loss" message and my avatar is de-rendered losing the shape and skin I have.

I love the idea of hypergrids but my main concern with the OS Grid is stability. This could just be my experience but I do know an estate owner in OS Grid who voiced similar concerns about his builds 'disappearing' overnight over and over again.

As far as appearance, many of the items that you find in the other virtual worlds are 'exportable' meaning that you can go from grid to grid and they will remain with you. So far my Metropolis avatar can travel from grid to grid without losing my hair, skin and clothing and pick up things along the way. I believe that the OS Grid has some restrictions on items being exportable. Since my OS Grid avatar is a pile of goo right now, I'm not 100% certain of that, LOL.

I'm Leena Fandango in Metropolis and OS Grid (isn't that an original name? :P). This is my Metropolis avatar and I think I took the photo on a sim in Kitely. My OS Grid avatar looks the same, when I can see it, LOL.

I don't really go into Metro and OS Grid very much, I love Second Life. The people in SL and all the creative things that have happened. Aldo said it best once ... "It's the people that make this place." He's absolutely right

Just my two cents, if a bit long winded, LOL.

Dear Jacon, I'm using Opensim since 2011. In 2014 I opened a very limited project (to some friends and spanish people) Now I'm preparing a new RP, having costumes, furniture, and vehicles. Perhaps we should speak about it, because OSGrid was my first choose but can change to Kitely.

I wanted back to SL but I have problems until upload the mesh physics and make it run. In Opensim it is not a problem, also, the land value is still too high, and the future of our projects always depending of money.

If you wish to know something like a work board, perhaps is good idea look my blog.

http://virtual18th.weebly.com/blog

Finally this is a first step about the appearance of my next project:

About SL and other grids, my opinions are still the same...Sl is too expensive and the

alternative is not so "laggy", the most part of courtiers (roleplayers) are here to play,

to create and I'm convinced that the money is more a limit than a inspiration to "create,

sale and earn money". I prefer sale my models in 3D virtual market (Turbosquid, Fallingpixel, etc) to show who is the real creator or my content and protect it from be stole and sold in virtual worlds.

Well, you can count with me!

Kind regards.

Clothes are an issue. There is nothing I have found in period. I have 3 terribly made suits, when I was testing clothes making, and figured out, it was way too difficult for me. Twelfthnight will eventually be bringing in some clothes, but rl will not allow her to do it for a few months. until then. it seems, clothes are very limited.

--
His Royal Highness Jacon Cortes de Bexar Prince of Antiquity, Duke of Cumberland, Duque de Bexar, Duc de la Valliere, Marchese di MSB

good evening Louis. I am glad to hear you are working on a project in OSGrid. it is good to know that there are other places to visit and work with. Your welcome to visit our estate any time and look forward to seeing how we can work together to promote our period lifestyles.

:))

--
His Royal Highness Jacon Cortes de Bexar Prince of Antiquity, Duke of Cumberland, Duque de Bexar, Duc de la Valliere, Marchese di MSB

Curtis' post makes excellent points. All the closed systems--CompuServe, The Source (Reader's Digest), DELPHI, etc., etc. have gone the way of the horse and buggy.

And it's always been the creativity and innovation of the amateurs (in the real sense of the word as Curtis has used it) that has pushed the envelope and provided the impetus. It was the "amateurs" back in the mid-80s who created the very first inter-system mail systems and got around the lack of universal domain addressing that brought the need and the possibilities to the attention of the "corporate players." And so it goes. What people create in today's historical sims is the best and most lasting legacy for the current generation of "VR" implementations.

Curtis, I agree. Clothes do make the avi on many levels.

No, not long-winded. it is the people that make the place. Period.

P.S. - great looking avatar!

Gorgeous facade. Kudos.

Yes, I'm wearing something I found in a Kitely freebies area and then retextured to my taste. Nothing exciting - modern shirt and pants, dressed up with a nice brocade texture, a bit of Jacon's jewellery, and a pair of heels that I actually had to purchase and don't fit quite as nicely as my SL footwear. I was able to tailor my avatar to pretty much twin Tiamat's SL version, though (perhaps the skin gives her a slightly more South Asian cast of countenance but that merely adds interest.)

--
Antiquity Hedgewitch

I might be a bit long winded in my reply as well.

So there was a time when I resisted Opensimulator. I was selfish because of my inventory and appearance and friends in SL. A few years ago when mesh came out I started to dabble in modeling. This led me to my current feelings on SL and opensimulator/other worlds.

While I think SL is still, and will still be, viable (current and the new platform) I cannot (and I see so many others) justify the monetary value of the cost of land. Its a shame. I would love to run a RP in SL and build a beautiful full mesh city/village...but this is a hobby and I cannot afford $300/mo for 1 sim. I am FOREVER grateful for those that have built such strong fun RP environments for us all to enjoy. The thing i love to do most in SL is explore and see other builds. (one time I used to give guided tours back in like 2007 lol)

So for the past few years I have taught myself to run my own opensimulator standalone (I even have a rp money module!) This has been a huge learning experience that I am actually very grateful for. I can build to my heart's desire...but yes it is a bit lonely. I have held off sharing it with other because it is not finished. My goal is to maybe launch a RP from my current standalone to see if there is interest... but Its not near finished. I know how frustrating it is to get to opensim and feel like you have nothing...or not feel like your are not in your "own skin"...so I'm working to make a fully functional personal grid. Mesh avatars (with changeable skin), RP mesh clothing provided....housing, furniture, RP huds....basically everything provided but not exportable. ..that our sell via kitely marketplace...

I want to share my creations on other grids if people like them...this is such a large learning experiment that I'm not sure how to approach yet.

I am VERY interested in getting together with other world builders and creators. If it would be possible to start a group here on Royalcourts so that we can share thoughts and idea or hold inworld meetings that would be awesome.

I really want to connect with those that are fluent in LSL and C# and skin designers...this is where I lack the most (see my hack job below on making skin by myself lol). I'm willing to do trade or purchase for these talents to share in my standalone. I know I can't do it on my own but I feel strongly about sharing to make opensimulators a more likely place.

There is so much I am still uncertain about though and I would love to have more conversations on it.

I continue to be amazed that we all keep paying what linden asks for land. I am doing it myself, so no accusation is aimed at anyone. I just keep thinking there is NO reason to keep doing this. If enough of us moved to OS and -- here is the key -- worked TOGETHER on building community there, it would be ideal.

Problem is, in OS, we all have our own worlds. Most of us have many worlds and we are not all that interested in cooperative efforts. I mean, we say we want cooperative projects, but do we really? The one thing accomplished by the land costs in sl is this-- we are forced by financial necessity to work together at least some of the time. There is a reason SL has stronger communities than any other grid-- we are forced to share. SL mainland is, in some ways, the best example of what can be done in a shared and commonly built virtual world.

I have land in sl. But it is shared land because I cannot afford a sim of my own. The result is that I work with the folks with whom I share land and we have a great time.

I have land in OS -- 30 sims in Kitely and 1 elsewhere. I am only using 9 of the 30, having shared the rest with friends and my husband. Most of the time, I am alone on my 9. Other folks are alone in their worlds. We are literally islands unto ourselves. But it does not have to be that way. How do we work toward shared projects that are truly shared? Or are we all interested in having our own fiefdoms?

It is a catch 22 at times. Many of us have a RP community we have in our minds as ideal so we want to create that in our own world/sim. Some people are not interested in RPing by the standards set in a community or find them lacking (by that I mean there are aspects they want that aren't offered in that community) and then you have a group of friends/like minds that come up with something they all contribute and agree to. I guess that's where hypergrid comes into play. Connected communities where people can come and go as they please.The Ning network that Tatiana has created here can be a great starting point... Many people go to different events within the historical communities via the events pages..Some choose residence in one SL sim or another... Providing information on connecting to new communities is an idea to start with. Let people explore... Some might choose to stay for a bit and play. Others just want to attend an event and "go home" at the end of the night. For my world I would just consider these friends as foreign travelers. (People from other "cultures" lol). Also why I'm wanting to make a RP that centers around a town/city with lots of RP options and things to do.I don't think requiring everyone to be on a certain grid would ever work (only kitely or only OS etc).. But who knows... One day there will probably be an actual "metaverse" that EVERYONE uses lol.Drawing people to a new communities might be more of drawing new people to virtual worlds in general... And letting them explore even further...(hypergrid and such). If i get serious and launch my standalone I plan to really advertise and market to gamers and RL reenactor/history buffs via a website/social media. The launch of VR headsets I would imagine draw many people into places like SL and Opensimulator. And we might see a new platform all together soon (non SL).Exciting times! If anyone has a place to visit let me know! Lol I have a kitely account I think but not active and OSGrid