Rock Report Sep 7, 2010
by Lets Rock
Thanks to the 3RG Community
In the last couple of weeks 3RG has seen a marked increase in new citizens, they are arriving, and most are finding a warm and welcome greeting by a 3RG citizen. I am certain many of you new folk are looking at this newsletter for the first time, so let me welcome you to 3RG. Our community is dedicated to making our grid a special place for all of you. For those of you who are new, and for some of you that have not had a chance to learn about the 3RG community, I offer the following information.
3rd Rock Grid, by OpenSim standards, is one of the oldest. Butch Arnold first put our grid together in the Spring of 2008 and it has operated since that point. The grid has changed ownership in the fall of 2008, spring of 2009 and again in Summer of 2009. Many of the people that have contributed to its success have moved on, not an uncommon event in virtual worlds.
It was in February of 2009 that the idea to have a Community based grid came to be, and officially became such at that point. The agreement between the 3RG citizens and the owners was that the owners would give control of land in 3RG to create a community core, an area that the community would use to create an area that could be used by the entire community, where no one person would benefit from the land, and that would be used for the introduction of new citizens to 3RG, with continuing educational opportunities, citizen events and activities, entertainment and recreational areas, and a visual space that would be both inviting and functional created by the community, for the community. Below is a graphic showing the community core and the surrounding water regions.
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Kawthar
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Lynn
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Chelsea
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Brimland
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Aedre
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Nadah
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Rocker
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Aero
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Holo-Rock
Western
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Morgana
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Newfar
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Vector
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Landing Rock
(Our Town)
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Riot
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Muriel
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Arexie
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Digit
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Hunter
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Rally
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Nahla
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Jennifer
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Nadia
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Vivane
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Ran
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Darya
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Over the many months the main community core area of 9 regions has had many faces and many contributors, it is a constantly changing and growing space, as it should be. Surrounding the community core are 16 water/transportation regions, used to create an appealing space for people to enjoy as they move in and out of the 9 region core. It was anticipated that these water regions would be lightly built, having only 1,000 prim ability compared to the 15,000 prim available in each of the 9 core regions. In the future, once vehicles are fully able to cross region boundaries, it is anticipated that the water regions will also be used for other transportation options. Outside of this 25 block of regions is an additional ring of regions owned and managed by 3rdRockGrid.
The partnership that has been forged between the management of 3RG and the citizen population is strong and mutually supportive. As part of the original agreement, the citizens of 3RG will endeavor to meet all new citizens as they arrive, and provide assistance, education, and grid information to them. We are about people and relationships - so what better way to encourage strong relationships than to begin the process of community building by the initial offering of assistance and friendship upon the first arrival to our grid?
The excitment of watching the 3RG citizen base grow and to see how the citizens of 3RG are creating a fantastic space to share with each other is like watching a dream come true. The possabilities for the future of 3RG present a beautiful canvas of creativity that is like a living piece of art that anyone can watch take form on a day to day basis. I would not even guess as to how the work will complete, if ever, but I can guess that whatever the community does together will be greater than any of the individuals could do by themselves.
It is also fantastic to see the citizens who have offered to be 3RG greeters recognize the importance of that first impression to the new citizen, I see themn dropping anything they are working on to come and share their experience of 3RG, to assist the new person with the information they need. I have recieved the following message from many of our new visitors, that 3RG is the friendliest Grid they have ever been to. This reputation comes form a simple understanding that people matter, we don't push people into buying anything, but will provide them with information if they ask, we offer them a safe and fun environment, include them in our activities, and above all invite them participate as a 3RG citizen. 3RG is testing money and getting ready for a viable and robust economy, but most agree, that 3RG must be about people, and not money. Proof that happiness is about family, friends, and community.
I would like to take an opportunity to extend a public thank you to a person who was instrumental in the beginning of the 3RG community effort. Throughout most of 2009, the community was led by Citizen Rock (a.k.a. Zarta Vargas) who did her very best to lead but not control, to suggest and not demand, to ask for ideas and suggestions instead of formulating her own message or plan for the community. We all owe her a big thanks , not only for her community efforts, but for helping 3RG to grow and become better for her efforts. She and the Star Gate roleplay area are missed, and we all wish her the best in whatever activities she chooses to pursue. Also thanks to Nichodemos for his technical assistance to our grid as well and hope your studies are going well. We miss all of the Star Gate folk, wish them all well. Hope you all can find time to come back and visit!
There are many other people that have contributed to 3RG, and without mentioning names, we just want to say Thank You to all of you who have contributed in the 3rd Rock Grid effort past, present, and future!
LETS ROCK THIS WORLD!
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The Hokey Pokey "Thats What It's All About!"
By Hokey Pokey
Date: Sat & Sun Oct 23 & 24th
Purpose: Fun and Fundraising for Dr's Without Borders! Internationally known as Médecins Sans Frontières
Oh boy Oh boy! I just can't wait! I really want to see all our little avies dancing around the grid doing the Hokey Pokey! And raising money for this great charity!
We have DJ's and entertainers lining up to play and sing! Know someone that might wish to join us, please let us know!
Our next meeting for interested people and volunteers will be right after the community meeting on Sat. (Think 2 pm grid time), I so hope you can attend!
3RG Community Council Meeting Summary
September 4, 2010
From 3RG Community Council
Members present: MileHigh, Sunny, Dart, Cyn
Member of management: Gail Kilara
Items Discussed: Gail discussed the continued progress toward having a money system in 3RG. Testing occurred this past week and it was determined that the grid is not quite ready. More work will be done and further testing in the near future. Management is working hard to get the money system in place as quickly as possible while not compromising quality. It was also noted that approximately 20 new citizens are signing up per day. The issue of having these new citizens greeted when they first rezzed was discussed. It was suggested that a schedule for greeters might be a solution. Council members did not come to a unanimous agreement on the issue and it was decided this should be presented at the Community Meeting. Cyn contacted Margaret Dashwood and requested the issue be addressed in the Community Meeting.
Community Meeting Notes
September 4, 2010
Provided by Margaret
Condensed by Cyn Canada
Margaret Chaired the Community Meeting
Suggestions for the Community Core regions (those not taken by the University) were discussed. There were over 20 suggestions noted but no vote taken at this time. Skyler suggested that one region be completed before moving on to other projects. Those present agreed.
In regard to the suggestion of volunteers to greet new citizens at a welcome center: Oronoque suggested training and proposed the idea of the University giving tours once in a while. However, it is suggested that citizens do signup to be greaters and take 10-30 minutes a day to sit in the welcome center to greet new citizens. Cyn, Sunny and a few others are working on new welcome packages for the new citizens. Most present at the meeting did not object to this suggestion but have made it clear that they can not commit to a standard schedule. For that reason we suggest to help whenever possible.
Marcus will create a board to signup to be a greeter. You may also email support to signup.
Featured Citizen: Acadia Wickentower
By Cyn Canada
Acadia first rezzed in 3RG on August 25, 2010. She was first greeted by Ricky Indiawood and was quite impressed with the personal nature of our grid. When land plans fell through in a larger, more commercial grid, Acadia ordered a region in 3RG. She came back to 3RG to check out her new land and was greeted by Rekbarel Turkel. That was the icing on the cake for Acadia - she knew this was the home she needed.
Acadia plans to purchase an add-on region as well and built a region that will be an asset to 3RG and its citizens. She wants to get to know the people in the community and be actively involved. She says she can do a lot of little things such as: building, some scripting, textures, Machinima, Al/Pandorabots...
Acadia has been in virtuals for three or four years. She started out in the large, commercial grid but did not stay long the first time. She returned some time later and met Virtual Bacon through some classes she took. Virtual Bacon is also a citizen in 3RG and suggested Acadia check it out. Thanks, Virtual, perhaps I can feature you in the near future!
Acadia says the main difference with 3RG besides the obvious friendliness of the grid, is the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) nature of the grid. By this she means that 3RG does not have all the fancy gadgets and tools of the more commercialized grid, so a lot of the building must be done the old-fashioned way - with your own sweat and blood! Virtually speaking, of course. Actually, Acadia says it forces one to use his or her own skills. That sounds like a good thing to me.
Acadia's immediate personal goal in 3RG is to build her region to host her PhD dissertation study. She is in the process of defining that study and an initial build. She is hoping it will be underway by early Spring 2011. For the grid, she hopes to see sustained but manageable growth. She is pleased that 3RG is educator friendly and hopes that continues.
In closing, Acadia has added the following: "My real world name is Jen. I'll answer to Jen or Acadia in-world. I am fairly transparent with my RL here. I work for a large international humanitarian aid organization running the Global Knowledge Management and Learning department. My goal is to shift into teaching more and spending time in some of my creative pursuits after my PhD is completed. That is how I came to my region name, Mad Professor Studios. At times, I feel a bit "mad" (as in a bit crazy) because of all my interests that I try to do at the same time and I hope to be a real professor soon. I am open to being IM'd in world or to be friended."
PLACES TO SEE IN 3RG:
Have a place you want others to see or explore! Let us know and we'll post it here!
The Waterloo Maze by Rekbarel Turkel Waterloo Maze, Waterloo (161, 5, 401)
(make sure you have plenty of time to visit this maze!)
Currency Testing
Our techs are continuing to work on the money module for our grid. They are working dilligently on setting it up to work with our current OpenSim version. It is expected to begin testing this week on a couple of regions to finish up their work before going grid wide.
TIDBITS: News and Information
Viewer "Search Places"
To have a Parcel Appear, The parcel MUST have a Name
To have an object appear in Search, it must be Tagged with "Show in Search"
Special Characters such as ! @ * ? cannot be used in ANY Name field
Vehicle Scripts:
It is asked that 3RG Citizens refrain from testing LSL vehicle scripts they appear to be causing huge error logs and are a major cause of region crashing. We reccommend working with OSL scripts as an alternative
Avatar Not Showing or Grey?
If you are having problems with your avatar not showing, bring up the advanced menu in Imprudence by
going to View > Advanced or typing Ctrl / Alt / D Then you can use Ctrl / Alt / R to rebake or right click on your avatar and enter appearance, wait a moment then exit. Or one other trick, go into Advanced, Character, make sure Debug Character Visuals is on. Also going into and then closing "Edit Appearance" will help the appearance of your avatar.
3rd Rock Grid Support
It is requested that all citizens report any issues or bugs by filling out a bug report from the website, restart requests from the website and all other requests to support. Please do not contact 3Rg management and tech support for help when in world as we need to document the problems and issues so we may better resolve ongoing issues.
support@3rdrockgrid.com For any support issues and questions.
newsletter@3rdrockgrid.com Items for or questions about the Citizen Newsletter.
cynthiacan@gmail.com For contributions or questions to the newsletter.
website@3rdrockgrid.com Events for calendar, ideas, and comments about the 3RG website.
paypal@my3rdrg.com For land holding payments.
community@3rdrockgrid.com For contacting the community council.
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