For many people in Second Life, the past month has been unsettling. Changes in the pricing of Open Space sims, reclassification of some to Homestead and a sense of injustice have led to talk of leaving SL, closing businesses, lawsuits and more. The angst has permeated the chat channels, blogs and forums.
It is a hard time in SL. Add to that the economics of first life, and spirits around the grid seem bleak indeed. It is important to remember what makes SL special, different from other virtual worlds and MMORGs is the community. It's the people.
In recognition and celebration of the enduring nature of community in good times and bad, some dedicated Second Life residents have proposed a "Grand Tour." For 24 hours, (or more!) the weekend of November 22, 2008 revelers will enjoy the special culture of participant sims in a progressive party that will travel from sim to sim. I'm proud to announce that the CDS was one of the first communities contacted to participate.
We are still finalizing times and participants, but as of yesterday commitments for 19 hours were firm, including CDS, New Toulouse, Orcadia, Victoriana, Winterfell, Caledon, New Babbage, Steeltopia, Steelhead and Al Andalus.(Several other sims have been contacted as well but haven't committed yet.) CDS will (probably) take two time slots, one which will definitely be 12-2 pm on November 22. We will also probably kick off the celebration at 4 am. My thought was to highlight the roman sims with a toga party and dancing along the lines of the LA opening party, and then to do a more formal ball in the Schloss highlighting the great German composers. (Al Andalus will focus on Arabic/flamenco music and dancing, and will most likely occur in the wee hours of Sunday morning.)
I hope you are as excited about this opportunity to show off our sims as I am, and need help in pulling it together. I'd REALLY appreciate someone on a European time zone to help with what will be middle of the night parties for North Americans.
At any rate, please mark the date and try to stop in for as many of the progressions as you can. I'll post the specifics on the Events page when I have them.
