By Serenity Herold (SerenKitty Resident)
No matter where your interests lie, there are a lot of fun activities to do in Second Life. One of those SL activities that has been garnering a lot of interest is farming. Enter Digital Farm System (DFS), which started way back in October of 2016. DFS isn’t just farming, though. It is so much more.
DFS requires the use of a HUD, which is free at the DFS Main Store. The HUD keeps track of your energy. Most of the activities in DFS use a little energy. It’s easy to replenish the energy in the HUD by consuming DFS foods. Foods can be made by the HUD user by having the ingredients necessary for the recipe they’d like to make, or by purchasing the food they’d like to eat from one of the many DFS users that cook and sells their goods.
Those items can be purchased easily in one of the many DFS markets or at one of the many DFS auctions.
The HUD has an area that drops down when clicking the ‘Craft’ button of the HUD; this allows for recipe ingredients to be loaded. Recipes can be found directly on the DFS website at digitalfarmsystem.com
As far as farming goes, DFS has been masterfully set up to allow you to be as involved or apart from the farming aspect as you prefer. Would you like to raise animals, plant crops, and sell your harvest? You can do that! Would you prefer to buy the ingredients you need from farmers and just cook and bake? Done. Maybe you have always wanted your own vineyard and wine line. You can do that too. You can even focus on crafting and making dyes, rugs, and woodworking projects. The system is set up in such a way that you can really customize it to your own personal tastes. You can even role-play in DFS or choose not to. It’s all up to you.
For the sake of trying to fully understand this expansive system, let’s imagine that you wanted to role-play as a farm-to-table restaurant owner that is world-renowned for your desserts. For this example, we’re going to imagine that you prefer to do as much by hand as possible.
On this particular day, you plan to make some cakes for a special cake-tasting event that you’re holding at your restaurant later this week.
For this scenario, you tend and water your animals, harvest some milk and eggs from them, then draw some extra water from your well. Moving to your crops and trees, you gather some wheat, vanilla, and oranges. You realize that you’re out of butter, so you decide to churn some. Then, you get ready to start making cakes. Realizing that you’re out of one of the ingredients that you need, you decide to TP over to one of the many DFS markets in order to buy it. While at the market, you spot a bottle of wine with a beautiful wine label, so you pick that up too.
Heading back home, you make a couple of cakes, and then decide to start working on decorations. You make some dye and use it to dye some wool, which you then weave into fabric. You then take that fabric and a few more ingredients and turn it into a beautiful rug.
Your best friend comes over to visit. Your best friend enjoys DFS, too, but prefers to have just a couple of specific crops and to focus mainly on producing alcohol in their stills, making wine in their fermenters, and taking part in fishing tournaments. They also enjoy collecting DFS collectibles, such as some of the specially designed equipment that is only available at special events.
No matter where your interests lie, there are a lot of fun activities to do in Second Life. One of those SL activities that has been garnering a lot of interest is farming. Enter Digital Farm System (DFS), which started way back in October of 2016. DFS isn’t just farming, though. It is so much more.
DFS requires the use of a HUD, which is free at the DFS Main Store. The HUD keeps track of your energy. Most of the activities in DFS use a little energy. It’s easy to replenish the energy in the HUD by consuming DFS foods. Foods can be made by the HUD user by having the ingredients necessary for the recipe they’d like to make, or by purchasing the food they’d like to eat from one of the many DFS users that cook and sells their goods.
Those items can be purchased easily in one of the many DFS markets or at one of the many DFS auctions.
The HUD has an area that drops down when clicking the ‘Craft’ button of the HUD; this allows for recipe ingredients to be loaded. Recipes can be found directly on the DFS website at digitalfarmsystem.com
As far as farming goes, DFS has been masterfully set up to allow you to be as involved or apart from the farming aspect as you prefer. Would you like to raise animals, plant crops, and sell your harvest? You can do that! Would you prefer to buy the ingredients you need from farmers and just cook and bake? Done. Maybe you have always wanted your own vineyard and wine line. You can do that too. You can even focus on crafting and making dyes, rugs, and woodworking projects. The system is set up in such a way that you can really customize it to your own personal tastes. You can even role-play in DFS or choose not to. It’s all up to you.
For the sake of trying to fully understand this expansive system, let’s imagine that you wanted to role-play as a farm-to-table restaurant owner that is world-renowned for your desserts. For this example, we’re going to imagine that you prefer to do as much by hand as possible.
On this particular day, you plan to make some cakes for a special cake-tasting event that you’re holding at your restaurant later this week.
For this scenario, you tend and water your animals, harvest some milk and eggs from them, then draw some extra water from your well. Moving to your crops and trees, you gather some wheat, vanilla, and oranges. You realize that you’re out of butter, so you decide to churn some. Then, you get ready to start making cakes. Realizing that you’re out of one of the ingredients that you need, you decide to TP over to one of the many DFS markets in order to buy it. While at the market, you spot a bottle of wine with a beautiful wine label, so you pick that up too.
Heading back home, you make a couple of cakes, and then decide to start working on decorations. You make some dye and use it to dye some wool, which you then weave into fabric. You then take that fabric and a few more ingredients and turn it into a beautiful rug.
Your best friend comes over to visit. Your best friend enjoys DFS, too, but prefers to have just a couple of specific crops and to focus mainly on producing alcohol in their stills, making wine in their fermenters, and taking part in fishing tournaments. They also enjoy collecting DFS collectibles, such as some of the specially designed equipment that is only available at special events.
They have brought a beautiful DFS bouquet of flowers, a box of candy, and a nice meal to replenish your energy, all of which they picked up last week at a DFS auction in order to celebrate your special cake-tasting event.
As this scenario demonstrates, DFS is truly customizable to the interests of every single person that enjoys DFS.
Now to touch on the most important aspect of every system: support. I have found DFS support to be unmatched.
From the creator, Ice Dover, to the multitude of CSRs that are ready and able to answer your questions, whether that be via the incredibly active group chat or directly over IM.
The DFS team also goes out of their way to encourage farmers. From the monthly cooking contest, to promoting DFS markets on the main sim, to special events, to keeping the prices of equipment and collectibles low in order to keep DFS affordable, this team is top-notch.
DFS is also friendly with creators that have utilized DFS to build their own businesses. There are outside systems, texture packs, and rezzers that all work alongside the DFS system in order to make selling, crafting/cooking, and animal organization easier.
Now to touch on the most important aspect of every system: support. I have found DFS support to be unmatched.
From the creator, Ice Dover, to the multitude of CSRs that are ready and able to answer your questions, whether that be via the incredibly active group chat or directly over IM.
The DFS team also goes out of their way to encourage farmers. From the monthly cooking contest, to promoting DFS markets on the main sim, to special events, to keeping the prices of equipment and collectibles low in order to keep DFS affordable, this team is top-notch.
DFS is also friendly with creators that have utilized DFS to build their own businesses. There are outside systems, texture packs, and rezzers that all work alongside the DFS system in order to make selling, crafting/cooking, and animal organization easier.
DFS is also kept fresh by readily adding new and fun recipes to make. Cooking contest winners and specific Patreon backers even have the option to create their own special recipe.
One of the things that really stands out with the DFS team and community is their support of causes that are working tirelessly to help others have improved lives, such as the American Cancer Society, The National Breast Cancer Foundation, and Doctors Without Borders. Go around to the main DFS sim or any of the markets and you’re sure to find kiosks, special auction boxes, and events aimed at showing their support.
It’s easy to get started with DFS. The DFS community as a whole is extremely friendly and open to questions. It is not uncommon to see people starting out in the DFS system by offering their assistance as farm hands, volunteers, and hired cooks. It’s also common to meet new people learning about DFS by visiting some of the many auctions that are held each day.
All in all, DFS provides an exciting and customizable way for users to enhance their Second Life experience.
Serenity Herold
Design
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