Tag: Sinespace Regions

Take a Look at the Stunning New Localhost Connection Café and Hangout in Sinespace

ArtemisBane and Carsten Stark have just opened one of the most visually stunning places that I have visited in any virtual world, a hangout and café for the cyber crowd that is intended to form part of a much larger project. Artemis tells me via email:

The main goal is to slowly move an active community from Discord to in-world. And also to integrate two groups that used to meet in real life to meeting in Sinespace, many of whom have zero virtual world experience. So, this region is to be a community gathering place and new user tutorial area to get people up to speed quickly. You’ve caught us at the coffeehouse experience only. And prior to all interactivity that Carsten is still coding.

This evening, I paid a visit to Localhost Connection, and I took a few photos.

The Localhost Connection Café

The list of goals for this project (from the project proposal Artemis and Carsten shared with me) are quite ambitious, including hosting a Toastmasters group:

1. Create an atmosphere that is cyberpunk/sci-fi, but also cozy/warm and inviting. Color scheme is neon purple and teal instead of traditional blue and orange.

2. Provide a place for technical minded individuals to hang out. Often in real life I have dual monitors, one where I am working on a project with my head in software, and one where I have a virtual world. So the main idea for Localhost came from my initial wish to be social with other geeks/developers. By being together in a virtual space,great collaborations can happen.

3. Lots of interactivity and immersion: working arcade machine, spatial audio with falloff, voice zones, interactive NPCs/quests.

4. Host events beyond simple DJ sessions, ie: Bookclub, vehicle outings, live podcast (with a studio audience?), informative tutorial/build sessions/tips and tricks.

5. Expand to multiple buildings all serving the community of Localhost.

6. Provide an alternative new user walkthrough. Not to replace the Sinespace welcome center, but to build on servicing the needs of our community, specifically.

7. Provide resources for people interested in developing. Being newcomer and newbie friendly. Feature tutorials, recommendations for software, Sinespace blogger/vlogger websites, etc.

8. Create an object that would allow a person to subscribe to the localhost group announcements by allowing touch to sign up for newsletters. By touch, you enter in your email, with another touch allowing unsubscription. This would have to be hosted on our own server. An alternative is to have announcement group signups on a terminal that goes to our website.

9. Host a Localhost calendar for our own event promotion and with a notification function for members.

10. Extensive utility of the Sinespace questing system.

11. Hidden areas, achievements and collecting of hidden objects.

12. A story behind the region, themed environment, and interactivity strictly within theme for fullest immersion, as the main idea behind the region is creating an experience that helps show the magic that one is capable of within a virtual world,
when you don’t have to mimic the real world.

13. Registration with Toastmasters International for inclusion in their virtual chapters directory, holding meetings monthly in the coffeeshop.

Here are a few pictures I took of the coffeehouse interior. Carsten and Artemis have clearly achieved the first goal on their list! The interior is inviting but stylish.

This is a tastefully and beautifully decorated space, easily a place I could see myself having technical discussions with fellow geeks! There are all kinds of inviting nooks tucked away in various corners of the café, perfect for casual conversation and private tête-à-têtes, such as this quiet spot tucked away under the stairs:

Gently waving drapes separate the space into smaller conversational areas
The lighting in this coffeehouse is superbly done

To pay your own visit to Localhost Connection region, click on the Explore button in your Sinespace viewer, and search for “localhost”. Here is the region page on the Sinespace website, with some more snapshots.

And if you haven’t had a chance to explore Sinespace yet, I would strongly encourage you to drop by the Localhost Connection and experience it for yourself! Here’s a handy step-by-step guide to getting started in Sinespace.

This blogpost is sponsored by Sinespace, and was written in my role as an embedded reporter for this virtual world (more details here). 

How to Set Up and Change Your Free Region in Sinespace Using Pre-Built Domains

Did you know that everybody who creates an account in Sinespace automatically gets a free region for their home? If you set up an account a long time ago, you received the following small modern home, surrounded by a twilight forest and a white picket fence:

And if you set up your account more recently, your default region is a huge, spacious modern home on a beautifully landscaped open lot:

Today I am going to talk a little bit about your home region, and how you can change it. The following aspects of your region depend on what level of user account you have in Sinespace:

  • Maximum region size (in megabytes of storage);
  • Maximum number of regions you can have active at one time;
  • Maximum number of guests you can host at one time.

To find out what your current account level is, sign into the Sinespace website, and click on the pink Sign In button in the upper-right hand corner (or, if you are brand new, click the Sign Up button below):

Once you are signed in, click on the My Account button up top, as shown by the red arrow:

You will be taken to your account display, which tells you what level of account you have, and includes a button to change it:

Here is a link to all the available account levels. Your basic free account gives you 128 MB of space, for 1 active region that can support up to 10 visitors. Moving up to a Premium account gives you more room (512 MB) and more visitors (up to 25).

Please note that both Basic and Premium accounts allow you to create more than one region. However, only one region can be active at a time. To change your home region, click on the Home button in the line of blue buttons along the bottom of your client. You will see a listing of all the regions you have created:

You can use the Enable and Disable buttons to select which region you want to use as your home region.

To shop for regions, just click on the Shop button in the line of blue buttons along the bottom of your client, then select the Region tab:

You can sort the display by price by clicking on either Silver or Gold (sorting either by cheapest or most expensive as you prefer). Here’s an example of a lovely free domain you can get for zero Silver:

To change your region, all you have to do is click the pink Edit Room button when you are in your home region:

Then click on the pink Inventory button along the bottom:

Then, in the Inventory window, click on Regions and then click on the thumbnail of the region you want to use:

You will be asked to confirm your choice:

So here is the front and back views of the wonderful free Bighouse by La Livene, located on a small island with lonesome pine trees, with plenty of room to decorate and landscape as you please!

So, don’t be shy! You can shop for many other pre-built domains in the Sinespace Shop to use as your starting point for the virtual home of your dreams!

This blogpost is sponsored by Sinespace, and was written in my new role as an embedded reporter for this virtual world (more details here).