Back before Google Plus
took off two years ago it was hard to say Opensim grids collectively had
much community. It was easy to point to the Second Life community given
it was all under one roof with a central focus but Opensim didn't have
that. There were numerous individual grids, some closed, insular and
fiercely competitive, while others were Hypergrid enabled but still not
reaching out as much as they could have. A decent social network was
needed and Facebook with it's real names policy and data mining was not
filling the void. That was when I thought G+ could make a difference and
the fact Google have no problem with avatar names it really has become
all that I hoped it would.
It was slow to start and I had to find topics to post every day to keep up interest so, naturally, my focus was on the many open grids, lots of pictures and a little praise for all their efforts. Gradually the members began to join, post new topics of their own and comment on things of interest. I decided right off from the start to welcome all grids whether closed or Hypergrid enabled. I was happy to have them post topics about what they did on their grids and what they were offering in terms of entertainment, free content and services. Event notices where especially welcomed. I believed that by allowing promotions both commercial and none-commercial we would start to see the extent of the Opensim community as it came together around G+.
Happily, it did start to take off and the membership was growing. I saw grids promoting their activities and members asking for help. New G+ communities started to appear as well which supported individual grids while others focused on Hypergrid tours and education. More opened to promote role play and services like content creation and where to find it. I don't think anyone would doubt the impact Google Plus has had on the Opensim community and the centralizing focus it has given us. I believe it has helped more than anything else to bring Opensim users together to show the world we really do have a sizable and growing community across many grids, both open, closed and even the hidden ones.
In the past I used to speak of the hidden Metaverse but today, two years after I started Opensim Virtual, I think we have become more visible as a collective community than ever before and that in itself has been attracting new people. There are more and more grids opening and the associated G+ communities just keeps adding to the promotion. That can't be bad!
The future is looking good for the Opensim Metaverse.
It was slow to start and I had to find topics to post every day to keep up interest so, naturally, my focus was on the many open grids, lots of pictures and a little praise for all their efforts. Gradually the members began to join, post new topics of their own and comment on things of interest. I decided right off from the start to welcome all grids whether closed or Hypergrid enabled. I was happy to have them post topics about what they did on their grids and what they were offering in terms of entertainment, free content and services. Event notices where especially welcomed. I believed that by allowing promotions both commercial and none-commercial we would start to see the extent of the Opensim community as it came together around G+.
Happily, it did start to take off and the membership was growing. I saw grids promoting their activities and members asking for help. New G+ communities started to appear as well which supported individual grids while others focused on Hypergrid tours and education. More opened to promote role play and services like content creation and where to find it. I don't think anyone would doubt the impact Google Plus has had on the Opensim community and the centralizing focus it has given us. I believe it has helped more than anything else to bring Opensim users together to show the world we really do have a sizable and growing community across many grids, both open, closed and even the hidden ones.
In the past I used to speak of the hidden Metaverse but today, two years after I started Opensim Virtual, I think we have become more visible as a collective community than ever before and that in itself has been attracting new people. There are more and more grids opening and the associated G+ communities just keeps adding to the promotion. That can't be bad!
The future is looking good for the Opensim Metaverse.
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