If you downloaded the latest Onrez Second Life client, you will notice that there is a new "The Loop" icon in the upper right corner of the nav bar. Clicking it brings up the new website "The Loop" which is billed as "your place for all things cool and new in Second Life." I was involved in some of the planning of "The Loop" while I was at the Electric Sheep Company, so it’s kind of neat seeing it come to fruition.
Basically, "The Loop" is an aggregation of very subjective picks by
OnRez staff of "cool" events and places in Second Life, grouped around
the categories of Art, Destination, Event, Music, Nonprofit, Sale and
Shopping. Posted blog style, you can subscribe to an RSS feed of "The Loop" picks. And you can submit your own suggested events and locales for the site.
"The Loop" is another attempt to help residents new and old who are
daunted by the thousands of possible destinations and happenings that
are available. "57,000 sims but nothing is on," Bruce Springstein
should sing. "The Loop" is similar to The Avastar’s event and sim picks and my own "Event Picks" on New World Notes, the difference being that it is sponsored by a metaverse development company.
From my own experience in choosing events every week for the past year, I know how many tough judgement calls there are:
- Do you list major corporate sponsored events or tiny "grassroots" efforts?
- Do you feature exclusive parties that will only accommodate a handful of avatars or open events that anyone can attend?
- How do you list "sponsored" events? Events organized by your competitors?
- How do you handle the growing internationalization and multi-lingualism of the grid?
So many fun dilemmas to navigate. That said, I look forward to
being clued into new events and sims that I wouldn’t have encountered
any other way. Good luck, OnRez folks.