# Beach Party in Second Life



## VBH (Sep 30, 2009)

Calling all diabetic Second Life residents







DSFUK will be hosting a beach party on their island in Second Life on 15th October 2009 between 20:00 and 23:00 UK time.  This is open to all diabetics and is a chance for people from various online groups to meet, network and discuss diabetes issues.  It is being announced on various sites and various places in-world to bring diabetics together.

So for an evening of (virtual) drinking, dancing and chat, come along and meet us.  The BBQ and drinks are guaranteed carb-free.  Voice chat will be active but is optional.

DSF Island includes a bar, dancefloor, hot tub, diabetes infocentre and more.  Freebie clothes and other items will be supplied for new residents.

For those unfamiliar with Second Life, it is an online virtual world where people appear as human avatars, can chat through text or voice, build anything from chairs to skyscrapers, t-shirts to sports cars.
http://secondlife.com/whatis/

For new residents unfamiliar with Second Life, we recommend a visit to *Help People Inc.*
We suggest that anyone who has not spent any time in Second Life and plans to attend, to familiarise themselves with Second Life before the party.

DSF Island can be found at Miniard 230, 30, 21 or directly via *this link* 

We hope to see you there.


----------



## Northerner (Sep 30, 2009)

I think this sounds like a terrific idea! I'm not a second-lifer myself, I've never had the technology to investigate stuff like that in the past (dial-up and old pc!), but will probably drop in and see how it all works! And very handy for those people who are too far away to get to our birthday-bash London forum meet!

Thanks for inviting us VBH!


----------



## Tezzz (Sep 30, 2009)

You'll need the second life software and a broadband Internet connection for second life. 

My friend Dave is on it all the time....

The hippo open sim viewer is pretty good by all accounts. I'm not an expert on these things.


----------



## VBH (Sep 30, 2009)

Hmmm yes dialup is just not gonna work I'm afraid.  Not heard of the hippo viewer, so I'll have to have a look. Thanks for the tip.  Will probably stick to the standard one for the moment though.

To join SL, you need to register an account on their site (http://www.secondlife.com) and download the software.  But you can get to all that from the whatis link in the top post.


----------



## Pattidevans (Sep 30, 2009)

The Hippo viewer can be found  here  I've always found the normal Second Life software fine.  

I will be at the party in my best virtual dress!  It will be nice to chat to more diabetics socially in real time.


----------



## VBH (Sep 30, 2009)

I've had a look at the hippo viewer and I wouldn't recommend it except for SL veterans.  Certainly anyone going into Second Life for the first time should use the standard viewer, rather than the hippo if only because all the tutorials, books etc on Second Life include screenshots of the official one.

Anyway, so long as people can get there and have a natter, thats what its all about.....


....and the free beer and carb-free pizza of course 

Incidentally there's usually a few people kicking around the island most evenings so feel free to drop by anytime before (or after) the party


----------



## VBH (Oct 14, 2009)

Just bumping this thread to remind you all its tomorrow.

Feel free to drop by before and after the event too.  We have had some people from other forums, including international forums drop in recently and its always interesting to chat to a variety of people.

A quick note - don't be put off by the prospect of voice chat.  The chances are it won't be used much if at all, since some people will not be in a position to use it.  So most of the chat will be text based for the event.


----------



## Tezzz (Oct 14, 2009)

I found the Hippo viewer is far more stable than the official viewer when your operating system is *Linux.*


----------



## Tezzz (Oct 15, 2009)

Bump!

Don't forget!


----------



## katie (Oct 17, 2009)

how did the virtual meet-up go?


----------



## Steff (Oct 19, 2009)

Hi VBH how did it go??


----------



## VBH (Oct 23, 2009)

Sorry for the delay in replying.  I've not been online that much lately.

It went pretty well thanks.  Had about 20 in, mostly from DSF, DD and DT at various times through the evening.  All very relaxed and social.  We need to change our announcements for future events to include the US time, we discovered.

All very social and chatty without any heavy discussions, a bit of mucking about with Jetskis.  So a pretty good social event.

We were unlucky in one respect though since it happened to be on a day when a major software update came out and several of us had to download the new Second Life client before going in.  Not too bad tho.

So we'll be doing it again at some point, perhaps making it a regular event.  As it stands we have a few people in every evening whether its just to chat generally, discuss problems etc.  

Although we were giving away free DSF t-shirts, its been suggested we could knock up t-shirts for the members of other forums as well.  Might have to do a choice of colours in this case though, since some people may not want to wander around in a dayglo pink top


----------

