If uncharted territory excites you and you are ready to take on growing a global audience for Sansar, the world’s leading social VR platform, we are looking for you to help us build the future.
“Uncharted territory”, indeed! Being the community manager for such a fractious, demanding and restive bunch as us is not a job for the faint of heart.
If you meet the qualifications (ideally, Linden Lab is looking for someone with a B.A. in Marketing or Communications) and you’re interested in working in the San Francisco area, why not apply? I figure, it’s so expensive to live in the area, so the salary must be competitive, right?
Brody Stevens, a Los Angeles-based stand-up comedian, who had been very open about his issues with depression in the past, had confided in friends recently that he had taken himself off his medications because he felt they “dulled” his creativity as a comic. The news report from The Blast also says:
After hearing of his passing, comedian Patton Oswalt said, “If you are depressed or feeling suicidal please please please please please reach out to ANYONE. I never get to see Brody Stevens again I can’t stand this.”
I had this VR show we were doing live from my house. It was the second time we’d ever done it, but after a few comedians asked me about how it works, I invited everyone over to hang before the next show. Brody was one of the first people to tell me he was coming…
Brody somehow figured out that if you sat down in real life and pushed forward on the hand control[lers], your avatar runs around on its butt. It was hilarious. And he did that of the next two minutes, just crushing with how goofy it looked.
As somebody who has dealt with chronic clinical depression in his own life, and who has sometimes had to fight back against thoughts of suicide, this is heartbreaking. As Patton Oswalt says, you need to seek help if you are suffering. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. It is not a solution.
When you absolutely need someone to talk to online, one of the best places to try is The KindVoice subReddit and Discord channel, both of which are staffed by volunteers:
“Sometimes we need to hear a human voice on the other end of the line telling us that everything’s going to be ok. This subreddit is for people that aren’t in a suicidal crisis, but feel depressed, alone, or want someone to talk to.”
A similar service is called The Haven, another Discord channel for people who need someone to talk to. Both Kind Voice and The Haven are free, volunteer-run services.
Whatever you do, don’t give up. NEVER. Give. Up! There is always hope, even when things look their bleakest.
Sylvannas Zulaman has just posted a wonderfully detailed introductory guide for those new to Second Life, about how to get a job to earn some money. (And yes, there is no free money. Girl, you betta work!)
Here’s the link to her post in the official Second Life user forums. I think it’s a wonderful service to SL’s userbase. (I added my own comment about how to meet the requirement of many public-service type jobs such as host, DJ, customer service rep, stripper, escort, etc. for a modern mesh avatar without spending a fortune.)
UPDATE Feb. 25th: It would appear that there was a miscommunication from Altamura about when this promotion would end. I was told Feb. 27th and I originally wrote that in this blogpost. However, today I learned from the Altamura Design/Mesh Avatars discussion group that it actually ended at the end of the day yesterday, February 24th. George Stickler, their customer service rep, said:
I was wrong. It was until Sunday, last night.
SECOND UPDATE Feb. 25th: Due to the number of unhappy customers who believed they had until Feb. 27th and still wanted to pick up the Romeo and Juliet group gifts, Altamura has posted the following notice to their group late this afternoon:
Due to a miscommunication, Romeo & Juliet gift was removed. It WILL be back tomorrow until the 27th as was originally expected. So make SURE to bring yourself and friends along before they’re gone!!
ROMEO and JULIET fullbody GIFTS with NEW HUD are available again, in the main store. Turn on the tag ALTAMURA GROUP. Do not miss this chance!
UNTIL THE 27TH DAY OF THIS MONTH
Here’s a SLURL to take you to the Altamura mainstore, where you can find these vendors:
These are not the usual sort of freebie Altamura full-body (i..e head and body) mesh avatar which I have often blogged about before, which is limited to one skin tone and where you cannot remove the head. These are fully-featured, fully-adjustable, Omega-compatible mesh bodies, with Bento heads and Bento hands! Romeo comes in 4 skin tones and Juliet comes in 8 skin tones. You can also remove the included head. (Full details and pictures here.)
Romeo and Juliet are easily the equivalent of what you would usually spend L$4,899 on at the Altamura store (or L$7,750 if you spring for the standard-issue Maitreya Lara mesh body and a Catwa Bento head, and that’s before you buy skin appliers). All this is yours for just the group join fee of L$50 to join the Altamura Design/Mesh Avatars group, which is less than 1% of the Maitreya/Catwa combination.
Needless to say, THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING DEAL WHICH YOU SHOULD NOT PASS UP.
Even if you already have a mesh avatar with all the bells and whistles, why not pick up another full-featured mesh avatar at this price, as a backup? And the Juliet avatar is beautiful, as you can see in this picture I took of her and posted to Flickr:
Vanity Fair Wearing the Altamura Juliet Full-Body Avatar
In this picture, Vanity is also wearing the stunning Franceline gown, an SL Frees & Offers group gift from Brii (more details here).
