Sunday, 22 June 2014

SL11B ~ Introduction The Press Tour


It seems only yesterday, although it is a month of rigorous preparation that the SL11B Team could come up with such an amazing presentation. A few weeks back, I had written an article inviting everyone for the Press Day Tour. Yesterday, on June 21st, 2014, three tours were organised at 2:00 pm, 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm respectively. On behalf of The Torch:Entertainment Guide and 4m my Eyes!; I attended the 3rd tour. Although as an active volunteer for the SL11B PR Team, I had an idea of what I am looking forward too, still the tour was an eye opener and a jaw dropping exploration. The reason can be understood just by looking at the photograph taken by Wildstar Beaumont, an awesome photographer, I met during the last few days.

When I reached, Lanai Jerrico, the famous SL journalist was also waiting for the tour. We were given a destination to land before hand. While waiting for others, I grabbed a few shots. The above picture is from the inside. As I zoomed out, I realized that we were all standing inside the brain of SL11B.


At 6:00 pm, Saffia Widdershins, head of SL11B PR Team greeted us with a warm welcome to the SL11B Community Celebration. As I had mentioned in my earlier post, that this time there are 11 sims for Second Life's 11th Birthday. Like 11 candles on a cake to celebrate an Eleven year old' birthday. With 243 exhibitors and over 120 volunteers, this is a mega event. Each exhibit may have upto 3 builders involved.

The actual Birthday is on June 22nd, 2014.

There will be performances until June 29th, 2014. After that till July 6th, 2014, the sims will remain open to visitors without any performances. This time can be dedicated to SL11B Hunt which is equally fun filled.

After the information was imparted to us, we moved down stairs walking through the Welcome Area (designed by Donpatchy who has been the building public areas for SLB events over several years. The Welcome Area has the teleporters to all the major areas around the sims. We then moved on to look at the time capsule, a build which has been the tradition for several birthdays of Second Life. Around the time capsule platforms with exhibits of older versions of time capsule are located and each contained the objects that people thought, defined each year's birthday celebration. This year too people like us can add what we think symbolizes Second Life in 2014. Each one contained the history of  each year.

Next we moved on to the Cake stage or the Main stage.
Teleport: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL11B%20Enchant/1/221/32
The outer looked exactly like the picture by Wildstar Beaumont above.The inside was jaw dropping. Golden particles like the Saturn rotated above the stage giving a true notion that its birthday party.


The best settings to view this place is if you turn on the night vision or the midnight settings. The build with projecting lights was prepared by Loki Eliot, the designer, who created the fantastic dinosaur from last year's SL10B and a fantastic recreation of Linden Lab in SL9B. There are platforms above the build hidden with secrets yet to discover.  The place will host a DJ and Live events.

Our  next stop was the Auditorium.
Teleport: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL11B%20Fascinate/204/70/24


By the size of me in the picture, it is not hard to guess the size of the Auditorium. This place will host a wide range of activities and events over the week. There will be dance performances, fashion shows, marching bands and cheerleaders among other events. Talks, lectures and presentations on many topics will be held at the area behind. This place is one of my favorites.


The place was built by the very talented builder, Pygar Bu.


The Live stage was out next stop.
Teleporter: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL11B%20Astonish/11/94/22
The designer is Aki Shichiroji, who is well known for her landscaping details.This time her view was parallel to the theme of this birthday. "The Empires of Mind is the Empires of  Future" ~ Winston Churchill. The performers have a unique stage for themselves. They will stand on palm hands as a gesture of humbleness and generosity. One needs to go down to reach there. An amazing form of art is the sunken build.



The last of big stages, was the DJ Stage.
Teleporter:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL11B%20Impressive/111/138/39
The place was build by Kazuhiro.Andian. If you zoom out to the maximum draw distance, you can see it looks like villain's lair hidden in mountains. There are secrets to be discovered here and they have secret entrances too. If you look hard enough, you will find the device that is designed to take over the whole world.


Our second last stop was at the Two Gift Centers.
One of them is at the Wonderous sim and the other is at the Fascinate sim
Teleporter: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL11B%20Wonderous/176/217/22
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL11B%20Fascinate/220/193/23

The place is full of goodies like the SL Bears created by Sway Dench and a special birthday KittyCats is also available. There will be more gifts that will be placed out throughout the week until June 29th, 2014. You will also find gifts in individual parcels. In addition, there is a Hunt going on with 4 separate trails. The green hunt signs are located all over the sim giving you the information about the Hunt.

Our last stop was at the Podcar Stations with Linden Gifts.
Teleporter: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL11B%20Pizzazz/5/236/22

This is the place where the Lindens have set out their gifts and the podcar stations is build by Yvanna Llanfair. There are four Linden lab vendors scattered with the gifts over the sim. This podar stop will take you through the whole sim and is an amazing way to look at it all without having to walk and wander what's next. The podcars adapt to roads, waterways and airspace. They transform themselves into cars, boats and hot air balloons.

The SL11B Guide will be released too for the public in general. This guide contains the pictures of every build in 11 sims, public builds as well as individual builds. These are also given with teleporters in the inworld SL11B Guide. The SL11B Guide will also be published on a website, which is also thoroughly linked with each landmark.

As a member of the PR team, I had the priviledge of working with the moat awesome crew. We have knitted a special bonding with other over the part few days. We worked together for hours flat out and also helped each other. We have performed well as a team. I would also like to thank the photographers for volunteering at the last minute to help us all. Each and everyone's contribution have brought forward the amazing work.

As the birthday goes on for the entire week, so will my articles will go for the entire week. Stay tuned for the next one tomorrow. 
Come and sing along with us Happy Birthday!!

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