News and Views on Social VR, Virtual Worlds, and the Metaverse
Tonight I wanted to show you all of the saved outfits of my “Sansar supermodel” Vanity Fair—all 31 of them! This is like a history lesson in Sansar costuming, and these are some of my favourite costumes since the official launch of the fashion market in Sansar on December 18th, 2017. (Click on each of the images to see it in a larger size.)
One of the often-heard complaints in Sansar is that there is no designated central meeting area. Sinespace has their Welcome Centre with greeters, AltspaceVR has their campfire where you can chat and toast marshmallows, and for a while High Fidelity used a Welcome Wagon concept, rotating between six different HiFi domains every two hours (I think they’ve replaced that with a single location now, though). Some people felt that having a common gathering spot would make it easier for avatars to meet each other.
Jenn, the Community Manager for Sansar, and Ebbe, Linden Lab’s CEO, both rightfully pointed out that there was nothing stopping any of us from creating such a space ourselves. And so David Hall has decided to create the Avalon Lounge, a comfortable, spacious lobby with helpful teleporters to other popular fantasy and sci-fi Sansar experiences.
It’s a large circular space on three levels. Flying cars arrive and depart from the uppermost level (these are actually teleporters to two of C3rb3rus’ experiences, 2077 and Darkwood Forest).
On the two lower levels, there are teleporters to other experiences located around the perimeter. Each has a sign indicating the destination.
And these are some wonderfully creative teleporter portals that David has made! Check out the video of them in action:
A nice touch is the addition of various objects around the lounge which remind you of other popular Sansar destinations, such as a statue I recognized from the Urban Art Experience, and arcade games from 2077. Thoughtful additions, and evidence of the care that David took in pulling all this together.
Vanity Fair is wearing an appropriate astronaut outfit created by the talented Nya Alchemi:
C3rb3rus, the grand prize winner of the Sansar Scariest experience contest last year, has completely outdone his previous work with the stunning achievement called simply 2077. Never have I been in any VR experience that feels so much like the world of the classic sci-fi movie Blade Runner!
I was actually able to get an early preview of this wonderful new Sansar experience, when I took most of these pictures. I added several more photos taken when Drax and C3rb3rus conducted an exclusive first tour of 2077.
You actually spawn in the subway station, where a subway train that C3rb3rus showed us how he made takes you on a ride in a circle. Gindipple was the first one who stepped into the train, complaining (as usual) about not being able to sit down, and then, suddenly, whoosh! It took off like a bullet! And he was gone! It was never so peaceful 😉 and even better, Torley Linden got video:
One of the funniest moments of the whole tour!
C3rb3rus led us up to street level, and then down again into a funky underground club. Here you can see Drax interviewing Strawberry Singh:
The attention to detail of the entire experience is absolutely astounding.
To match the experience, I decided to style Vanity Fair in a suitable sci-fi outfit:
Vanity Fair is wearing: