Hitch Hiking in the Metaverse

What? I haven't written anything for my blog in days,,, erm, over a week! I must try harder but actually darlings I have been writing. I wrote a piece for someone else's blog,,, actually.

The blog in question is Chapter & Metaverse and I wrote about Radegast, the light wieght text client that can connect with either Second Life or Opensim grids. You see I was fascinated by a certain plugin it sports and got all fired up with the idea it might serve as a greeter for my Second Life holdings. But do check the article because I wont go into it now. I will cover Radegast again later when I have had time to learn how to program the bot to say what I want it to say.

I have been getting around the forums some too when I was not busy scripting in SL and have been trying to educate myself on the in's and out's of Open Simulator and have fired off a few questions to forums in my wake. I found out there is no longer active support for MeerKat viewer which is a shame for it has some unique features I haven't seen in other viewers. I was intrigued by MeerKat's inter-grid teleporting method that actually makes it possible to TP straight from SL to an OS grid and back provided you have an avatar registered with the destination world. It strikes me as not just a useful feature but actually quite an important one if the free Metaverse is to expand and draw people from SL.

MeerKat features

It is hard to keep up with home life and waltz around the Metaverse at every given opportunity. Not to mention the fact I am actively engaged in scripting a role play and combat meter for my SL sims but somehow I manage it. I will go into meter project along the way but the main thing on my mind currently is shall I or shan't I invest in an Opensim holding. I have come a long way from my days in chat rooms and I really do want to make something in the Metaverse and, given that Second Life is grossly over priced for what is, after all, a hosting service, Opensim would give paupers like me the chance to build something much better. I mean, in SL I can only afford a Homestead with a meager 3750 prims, 20 avatars max' and limits on scripting. I need a full sim and the fact is I can get one hosted in OS for a fraction of the cost in SL. The down side, of course, is that OS is still beta and is likely to remain so through 2010 and beyond. But it has come a long way from my original splash in the pool eighteen months ago.

When I first went to OSgrid I found I couldn't get hardly any of my scripts to work and, while I could build okay, I really felt it was not ready to invite friends to come join me there. I did manage to get a door to open and one or two other things but, at the time, getting an AO to work would have been a luxury, and, I tell you what; I am so damn vain there is no way I was going to waddle around like a duck!

Fortunately, The AO problem is now solved since more functions have been added to the LSL programming and I can walk with grace again. And nice little wiggle too.

Talking of wiggles that brings me to the Emerald viewer and bouncing boobs and I am glad to see more and more functions are being added to the open source viewers. Particularly things that help reduce lag in the 3D world. Radar for example. I am a whore for viewer and I have to try than all but, while I still have a love affair with the very unstable MeerKat, currently I have found Rainbow viewer, Imprudence and Hippo are my mainstays. Imprudence may have inter-grid teleports in the next version but I am not holding my breath. Jacek, a dev at Imprudence did answer my question on the subject and did offer some hope it will be 1.3 but at least she didn't say no to it ever appearing. Seems there are some technical problems that need to be dealt with and just taking it from MeerKat as is can not happen. Fingers crossed!

Back to Chapter & Metaverse I will write for Rock's blog again and there are a few Opensim grids I would like to visit and review so I will probably write about those as I continue to hitch hike my way around the free Metaverse. Stay tuned.