Just like real life, there are certain days that everyone marks with a blissful smirk like joyful, white Christmases and tender, warm Valentine Days. In the same way as those holidays, we virtually celebrate meaningful lifetime occasions on 3rd Rock Grid with close friends and some delightful music. A few week ago, there was a spectacular virtual surprise birthday party for our boss Butch. It was the first time on 3rd Rock that I realized that is important to share these exceptional moments online as well as in real life because it’s extraordinary moments, like birthdays, that we are able to connect with special people in our lives.
Obviously, everyone wearing mustard yellowish colored cone birthday hats and sincerely cheering “happy birthday” is a smaller fragment of the bonding time. It’s about sharing the merrymaking preparation responsibilities of gathering enough brightly covered chairs and tables, trusting each other to achieve the common vision of creating an oversized party banner hung between two bouquet of flowing balloons, having group conventions about the next big invention by your favorite company, snapping a handful of photos to capture the life of the party, and other smaller details before finally celebrating the last minutes of birthday boy’s or girl’s day. Essentially, personal relationships and communities are built on these “good old” moments transforming into peaceful memories whether it’s a virtual or real life setting. In the end, the main thing that matters is being with special online or real life friends and family during the times that mean the most to you.
“Where’s the best hang out spots?,” you asked. Well, finding popular places on 3rd Rock isn’t as hard as you’d like to think on an up and coming grid. Essentially, there are three methods to finding hot spots on the grid. Option one is maximizing the potential of your viewer, whereas the other two options are going to recommended places and exploring the 3rd Rock grid.
Being the social beings that we are as humans, it only makes sense to seek out lively places to talk and have fun by simply going to events. Most clubs, live performances, and special fair celebrations can be discovered in the search under the “events” tab. Thankfully, the events usually list the dates as well as times of the events along with a landmark to teleport your avatar to the correct spot. Unfortunately, every viewer isn’t created equally as far as user friendly layouts are concerned. From the information that I gathered as a reporter, certain viewers aren’t recommended for this task such as Cool VL Viewer which some users have difficulty finding landmarks. Although selecting the right viewer for you is important, there is always the back-up plan of bookmarking the 3rd Rock Event Calendar (http://3rdrockgrid.com/new/event-calendar/) to stay up-to-date on any nearing events.
On the other hand, the option of visiting recommended places can be achieved by asking seasoned friends or even the welcome greeters for popular landmarks to places like The Monkey Bar and Lounge. Indeed, this is a place that was recommended to me as a newcomer. From my experience there, I found that I enjoyed using recommended places because it seemed to correspond with my personality better than searching for random events and finding other avatars gathered in the same place was almost an instantaneous affair. Still, nothing beats exploring the 3rd Rock world. For the adventurous type of avatars, this can be an one of kind chance leading to the discovery of a cool zombie role playing sim, a fancy beach retreat region, or something that you might not have found otherwise in the remaining options.
To sum it completely up, one of these options will help you find the perfect hang out spot. So, try one the next time you login 3rd Rock.
Handing over your unique individuality to form an avatar in a new virtual community has a few challenges. Of course once you find the sign up page (http://3rdrockgrid.com/new/get-started/), there is always the extra moments used glaring in to the air and back to the computer screen because the first significant choice is determining a name that absolutely symbolizes your avatar. Then, there is the typical information regarding settling on a starter avatar, confirming your email address, verifying your age, and releasing the top secret to your discovery of the grid. However, 3rd Rock stops similarities here.
3rd Rock actually sends an email to activate your avatar meaning you cannot login the grid without it. Hopefully, after clicking the link in the email, it directs you to a site with a green and circular “play” button. If the site refuses to load, then don’t worry. Likely, it’s your firewall or antivirus strongly blocking the access to the site which means that you have to allow the page to load. Once your avatar is activated, it’s time to get started on a trip to the 3rd Rock grid. Depending on your graphic settings, you will notice that your avatar is a puffy cloud or glowing egg before your avatar is uploaded in the system. Again, don’t worry if this process takes a minute or two minutes. In fact, don’t worry if you picked the wrong gender like I did on my time setting up an avatar. Thankfully, there is a welcome greeter to aid you with all the ins and outs of 3rd Rock. Remember, the welcome greeter is there to help you get started on setting up your custom avatar and any other beginner questions you may have about 3rd Rock. Other technical questions should be directed to customer support. Otherwise, let your greeter be your guide to your virtual life.
In the end, signing up for an extraordinary virtual life may have a few troubles but it’s worth trying to overcome them especially once you have the welcome greeter on your side.
Third Rock Grid would like to invite you to a celebration of the diversity of life on Earth, with a weekend of entertainment on, and including the 20th to the 22nd of September.
We are entering the phase of Equinox, where the seasons change as they have done since the planet came into existence. It’s an occasion that only happens x 2 a year on approximately the 20th of March and 22nd September. It’s when the Sun crosses the celestial equator from north to south. So in the North the days get shorter, as Autumn and Winter is on its way . While on the other side of the celestial equator, it heralds the beginning of Spring and longer days of Summer. It’s always been a reason for celebration since time began. So whichever side of the equator you are living on, join us is some fun events , top quality live music , and competitions to celebrate!
We have something for everyone this Celestial weekend and some big money prizes for some of our competitions… As well as our regular live musicians, we are adding more artists to entertain you, some you have heard before – some not . Starfleet is organizing a civilian mission which I am told involves ‘Klingons’. Now I got into serious trouble with the Admiral last year when he discovered I broke a Federation Starship… but it was fun, and gives you an insight into roleplay on the grid.
For the more competitive we have a Speedbuild event, some Orca racing, as well as the famous 3RG Walkway Race ,Treasure Hunt and Grid Explorers Club all taking place in the Community Core. Just a tip off – we have a series of underground passages you may know nothing about. Laz is the only person who knows them all . Don’t worry we will TP you out if you get lost. Stay alert , somebody may still be down there from last year!
We have Art events. Elvodar Lamilton is going to read us a short story during the ‘Literary Hour’. He’s not saying what yet, but I am told its probably science fiction and humorous. He does this in voice, but also has text on display for translation . So don’t worry if you have English as a second language, or if you can’t hear well in voice.
So all in all we have a really interesting weekend on 3RG , packed with things to do, places to visit and explore … as well as some competitions and some Geodes looking for a home in your pocket. Or you can kick down a gear and listen to our top quality live musicians, visit some galleries and arts events. If you have an idea for some entertainment, or are a singer who wants to take part give Sunny ,Tommy or me a shout. Things are filling fast but we can always find room for something new.
So get it in your diary …. 20th to 22nd September inclusive, and if you have anything to add let’s get it on the calendar. Let’s make it a fun weekend for everybody!
The place – http://3rdrockgrid.com/new/
and our events page
http://3rdrockgrid.com/new/event-calendar/
Hope to see you there.
Zinnia ( Bourne2 Rock) for the 3RG Entertainment Team.
During the summer months, we have decided to hold our gatherings on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays. They will still be held at 1pm and the location posted on the calendar and send in notices in-world. We know how RL can have an impact on in-world time but we feel these get- togethers are important to give our citizens and admins a time to discuss different aspects of things that impact the grid. We strongly encourage everyone to attend and participate!!
Copies of the community meeting minutes and chat logs are now available in 3 locations: in ‘Our Town’ on the main lower deck, in ‘Welcome’ on our new pager/info board located by one of the ramps, and also at the 3rd Telehub office, located in ‘Commerce’. It is recommened that our citizens take a copy and familiarize themselves with the previous weeks minutes from the meetings. The meetings have also been reduced from every Saturday to the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month, at least through the summer. Meetings are held to bring together citizens and admins to discuss many grid related items and ideas. Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend and contribute. There is also a new suggestion box in Welcome for our citizens to drop a notecard in with any suggestions you might want to share with the grid.
Hello there. I did not know how to start this small text , so opt for the obvious and begin saying that this is all about: I am the user (mostly) the avatar known as Filemina Quinzinio, and this text below is a summary of my experience on 3rd rock grid
People in RL sometimes thinks that what happens within the grids is false, an illusion that has us all captivated on unattainable dreams and fantasies . But I’m faithful to the idea that sometimes it through the ilusion when we learn most of our reality.
Before, I was the girl who sat up the back of the room , hoping not to be noticed … And when I was noticed, I didn’t feel that I should be taken for consideration, because in my point of view, I did not deserve it . In the past I hardly made eye contact with people I was talking to, and it was even harder to have me on an active role in the conversation. Before the grid , I had only had a boyfriend , which (making a big summary on that issue) was a complete moron. Sounds sad, but the truth is that I used to be like that, and I didn’t feel so bad about myself.
The town at Virreynato
I entered the grid because a person I admire outside the grid (known in there as Juana deAsbaje ) was “experimenting” to be “baroque” in the computer. On the night of October 6 , knowing nothing more than how to move and talk ( old skills obtained in SL) , I got in… and in the few moments I was there with Juana, I realized I wanted more. My first achivment was joining the project Virreynato, of course, I was not as bright as Aldo and Juana. Surprisingly, one of the nights I was working in the grid , a classmate asked me which was the trick to “be different” inside. I changed my way of being inside the grid… and I had not even noticed, so I decided to do a series of experiments.
Have you ever heard of “The Hero with a Thousand Faces“ of Joseph Campbell? It is one of my favorite book since high school (not much time has passed since then…), in it, Campbell talks about a 12-step path in which people go through to have a change on their lifes. Well , I decided that the grid would became my path of adventure, and a change actually happened, because I let myself being carried away by the experience.
Within a few months I felt I should complicate the experience because somehow Filemina is my way of being , so I made Eduardo. It was when I was him that I behaved in a more extroverted way, and I met even more people through being him. After Marina came, the complete antithesis of Filemina, I set her as exclusive avatar of Virreynato (by its nature , be careful not to get her out… And indeed there were few people with whom I had contact).
Well, what resulted from all this? My life changed , and I just not became the most extroverted person in the world… But I have made many new friends , I have improved the relationships already had, and I’ve even gone out with several guys since I started my experiment on the grid more consciously . I’ve learned to be a leader , to propose my own ideas, to become more involved in different projects in RL … I learned to use Photoshop , Illustrator , Blender , and I grew curious to learn new tools ( I liked both of these tools to learn , I’ve begun to take college classes to enhance what I’ve learned ). It is true that I might not have returned to the grid as I used to on the first months, but I always have it on mind (it is so deep on my thoughts that I have made my thesis about the aesthetics of the Metaverse, how cool is that?). Whether I login with Filemina, Eduardo or Marina; I try to learn something new from them (my alter egos) and the people I know (the other users), to learn more about the arts-and-crafts in there, and the most important thing for me: to understand me better.
