All Hallows at Moochie

 

 

By Gemma Cleanslate

 

“The veil grows thin and [All Hallows is ready to welcome you into its ghoulish embrace. May your month be filled with flickering lanterns, crisp leaves, and a touch of haunted magic. Happy October, everyone! “ Yay! One of my very favorite places to roam among the brilliant foliage and discover all the attractive hidden places for sitting and talking or for taking photos. Bring you honey or your family and wander in the forest. This is not the scariest Halloween places I will visit but one of the most enjoyable.

At the entrance pick up a map to carry with you and postcards to send to your friends . Couples will find a rezzer for walking together. Turn on the shared environment and be sure to turn on your music for eerie sounds, stories, and music to accompany you on your travels. I had to brighten the environment for photos . If you check the railway car you will see a map of the whole region with indicators of scenes you don’t want to miss. There are those who rent certain areas to celebrate the entire month. You will be warned if you wander onto those properties so you can just turn around and leave. They are mostly along the west side of the region.

From the large circle surrounded by hay bales and pumpkins and hundreds of candles and other expressions of Halloween there are paths that go in all directions making it easy to find your way to all sites. Find a dance ball(candles) above the center décor and enjoy. Before you take a path check out the “snow angel”, and the gallows. Or become part of the décor in the hearse. Walking along the paths little scenes to sit or touch will give you a chance for a great photo. I think a whole family will enjoy the areas with carousel, monkey bars , other toys to play with.

Along the water of the small harbor goulish servers, Cressida Wretched and Henrietta Hagwort and offer drinks and Halloween food to try. Henrietta has a terrible story , check her profile..sad. I did eat and survived so go ahead. Out on the water there is a cute game, Trick or Treat Trail Game. I did not try it but think I will when I return with friends. Take a swan boat ride. On the other side of the harbor is a charming restaurant to try also.

I did not stay on the paths but wandered into the woods to enjoy autumn colors At one point I did find the little outdoor theater showing an old black and white movie fit for the season. I have visited about four times so far and still have not found all there is to be found so shall plan on coming back during the month that it will be there I did not get to the church yet!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Moochie/170/182/23

Gemma Cleanslate 

 

Luna's Empire Ghost Hunt For Halloween 2023

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

 A year ago, the Newser reported on the Ghostbusters-themed Ghost Hunt in the pony-themed Luna's Empire sim. A year later, the game is back. It's gotten some improvements, which make for more interesting gameplay. 

As before, the game isn't just for ponies, but open for just about all avatars to play (the very large and those smaller than tinies will likely have trouble). A board in the entrance room gives some instructions on how to play.

Just outside are more instructions about how to use the HUD, and explaining one change to the game: classes of ghost hunters. You can choose to be a "Binder" whose shots slow down ghosts. You can be a Hunter, whose capture of a number of regular ghosts can bring on a boss ghost. And finally you can be a Cleaner, whose shots can clean slime off other players.

Clicking the instructions outside, you get a hud, a map, two guns (one for ponies and the other made for human and anthro avies) and an emitter.

One other change in the game this year, the ghosts can slime you. The slime bar on your HUD goes up, and your screen appears streaked with good. Besides feeling icky, this can reduce the candy you get for busting ghosts. The more you're slimed, the less candy you get. To clean off the slime, you need to either bathe in the fountain near where you get the HUD and gear, or another player on "Cleaner" mode uses his gun to zap it away. Sometimes there's always a cleaner around to help you, and other times you wait for a while and end up walking to the fountain to wash up on your own. 

Most of the ghosts are regular ones, with one or two circles over their heads. 

 

They just take several seconds to zap, weaken, and trap. Just don't be too close so they won't charge, touch, and slime you. A typical reward is ten candies.

Some of the regular ghosts do look like "Slimer" from "Ghostbusters" (hard to see in this picture).

Less common are those with three, four, or five circles over them.

These boss ghosts are tougher, and will need multiple people to take down. Fortunately, you can call for help, and others will see a red "X" on the map where you did. The result will be people closing on the boss ghost to bust it to get a share of it's greater candy prize. 

 

About every couple hours, a much more powerful boss ghost will appear. You can't just simply zap him, but apparently one will need to take out some pillars around the pond he appears in first. 

It also throws splotches of slime around, which hunters will need to zap and clean up. 

Taking down this bad boy takes effort, and likely getting slimmed and cleaned up a lot. But the rewards are great. For helping out, I got 1000 pieces of candy.

 

 What to do with all that candy? One can use it to buy prizes. The majority of them are for ponies, but not every single one.

There is a scoreboard for the top players. Some guys and girls have done a lot of 'bustin. 

 

Going around, there's a variety of players.

There's also plenty of Halloweenish scenery (G-rated) in the sim.

Have fun ghostbusting.

 

 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunas%20empire%20events/215/26/14

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Reader Submitted: Digital Farm System

 

 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.

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.

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

Luna's Empire Ghost Hunt

 

 By Bixyl Shuftan

 

 Various communities in Second Life are having some Halloween fun in various ways. For the Pony community of Luna's Empire, they've set up a "Ghostbusters" style game: Luna's Empire Ghost Hunt. It's not just ponies that are invited to take part, but it's open to all.

 

To take part, head to the Luna's Empire Events sim. In front of you are a few panels explaining the game, and a map of the sim. Between the two panels on the right is a proton pack and ghostbusting gun giver. Touch it, and you'll get guns made for both ponies and humans/furs, as well as backpack units (the later are just for show). 

 

 

The ghosts come in two main varieties, normal level and boss level. Normal level ghosts come either slow, which look like sheets, or fast, which look like "Slimer" from the movie and cartoon. Both have a single star over them. Just aim the gun a little above them, or right at them if you're a pony, and fire. Before long the ghosts are captured and you get a few points. As the guns were originally made for pony avatars, those adapted for humans and furs may misfire if not aimed just right over the spooks.

 

Less common but tougher are the boss ghosts. A single proton gun won't be enough to stop them. They have multiple stars over them, which is the number of players it takes to stop them. The zombie ponies need just a few. But Nightmare Moon needs several players all firing on her at once to take down. When finally busted, both give all players involved a larger amount of points. 

 

The points are good for more than just bragging rights. In front of the town hall are a number of prizes they can be exchanged for. Most are made in mind for pony avatars. Unlike the Caledon Downs Ghost Hunt, there are no actual Linden dollars up for grabs. 

The sim itself has been decorated for Halloween, giving it a cartoony spooky fun (some use the term "spoopy") look. At night, a few glowing wisps move about. And oh yeah, occasionally you'll hear something shout "BOO!" behind you. But when you turn, there's nothing there ... nothing you can see anyway.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunas%20empire%20events/215/26/14

Bixyl Shuftan

Crystal Craze

 
By Gemma Cleanslate

One of my friends, RoxyLee Rayna , who owns the Requiem  region in Second Life told me about a new fun game that owners are using to stimulate traffic. She was having a great time trying it out and recommended that I take a look at it.

I went over to the Headquarters to check it out. It is called Crystalcraze and is mainly for raising traffic for owners who want that to happen. 

The greeter announced:

 “Welcome to CrystalCraze Headquarters, Gemma Cleanslate!
CrystalCraze is a new and exciting SL hunting game currently still in pre-release testing!
Did you know that there is a HUD for CrystalCraze?
You can get it from the sign on the wall to your left.
[08:49] Second Life: CrystalCraze  has given you this landmark:
CrystalCraze HQ
I'm going to send you a LM just in case you don't have one yet.”
 

The headquarters is walls are filled with information on how to play to make any new player feel secure. There is help also. I joined the group that turned out to be a very busy chat and notice group . To try it out I got myself a Hud and a basket for carrying my crystals. There was an area there for practice. Joining the group and starting the game give one a bonus of 200L to get started. It is fast moving and has unexpected events held randomly by the owners to give players a chance to grab crystal or clusters of crystals on their property.

I also met Aɴɢᴜs (anguschill), the creator of this game and found it is still in beta but moving along very well. He explained how it worked and we went off to check out an event. It is great fun chasing crystals. I am pretty good at it because I still run in the Linden Realms for their crystals at times and this game is reminiscent of the realms and yet different. I asked about the traffic aspect of the game and he told me “Yes, they do get traffic, pure traffic stats, but also visitors to their creations of course. I mean there are a lot of traffic games out there. But with CC the idea was to have very active traffic. people who actually engage with landowners builds while looking for clusters and collecting crystals instead of just camping or standing there fishing in one spot.”

With permission, here is an example of a call to an event ...

“09:37] CrystalCraze:
Arlequin Carter is hosting a 2X CrystalCraze event for 15 minutes!
Head over there and join in on the fun!
Teleport to FRANCE Entraide & Amitie - Build & Script"

Notices come fast and furious at times, one after the other

I know that the owners love it too. I checked with my friend Roxy who has been using it for a few months to see how she likes it and she told me ,, “oh  that's great  Gem .. All  good for me.. love the game too .. is  fun and rewarding . I have clusters and Crystals at my sim and is a good traffic booster more than the other games..100% quote me” and about the creator of the game she said “He works really hard  and is a nice friendly person too  which helps  with  games”

Watching the calls for 15min events I can see the other owners of the parcels feel the same way and have fun doing it. It is a great way to make lindens for all the participants “ Angus makes a low profit but I think he created it because it he has a lot of fun watching and engaging with the players and the owners . I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a way to get more traffic and also to avatars who are looking for a way to make lindens. Go try it! 

Check out the website to see the rules and places that have crystal hunting  and more information  https://crystalcraze.zeezeo.com/index.php  , and then visit the headquarters. Good luck and have fun!! Run!!  

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Eduisland%202/64/7/1000

*Update*  The web address for more information recently changed to : https://crystalcraze.net .

Gemma Cleanslate