Below is a short summary of the latest Community Meeting, followed by its chat logs – which have been gently edited for formatting, to put questions and answers in bold for easy skimming, and to omit greetings and farewells and other such asides. Meetings are hosted by Estate owner NeoBokrug Elytis at 2:00 pm on the first Saturday of every month at The Potato Farm in The Wastelands, and the discussion is typically divided into three main topics: Estate, Game, and Roleplay & Events. Everyone is welcome to attend!
ESTATE:
➳ Occupancy went up slightly in November, again defying expectations.
➳ Total occupancy is now higher than it was at the start of 2023.
➳ Remember: if you ever can’t pay your tier on time, contact Neo, let him know, and he’ll avoid reclaiming your land for as long as posssible.
➳ Neo is still working on a Sync-Pay tool to make all an owner’s parcels due on the same day.
➳ The Wastelands’ Discord Server has been boosted to Level 3, allowing for new custom emoji, stickers, and other features.
➳ The first phase of the Northgate Community Gateway should be complete on December 20, teaching basic navigation!
GAME:
➳ Foodmas has come and gone, and an anonymous benefactor has again left food-filled platters at landowners’ camps!
➳ Dassina has created a Manimal Guide To Fud to give helpful information on the relative fillingness of various foodstuffs.
➳ Miasmata still have temperamental AI, so Neo will have to make further tweaks before applying it to new critters.
➳ Limited-edition Giftmas collectibles should start spawning a week before Christmas, ending the week after Christmas.
➳ Neo wants new Potion Quest locations! If you’re a landowner and you’d like your location to be part of the task, see the relevant page of the Wiki for more details!
ROLEPLAY & EVENTS:
➳ WL17B, The Wastelands’ 17th Birthday celebration, will take place January 19 – 21, 2024! If you’d like to host an event, contact Neo or Apo with your preferred time slot and available time range.
➳ The first Caledon Crossover events were a success, and will continue: each month, Caledonians will be invited to a Wastelands event and vice-versa.
➳ Patreon Voice Chat events may return to the Discord Server soon…
➳ Reminder: The roleplay character template has been added to the Wiki – add yours today! Or review it to see who’s who and get some ideas for interactions.
Giftmas Celebrations
➳ The boiler “TREE” has appeared in North Yard! Help decorate it, and/or leave a freebie for all to enjoy!
➳ Irk has rolled up the beloved holiday horror, Bleedy The Dirtman at his place in The Great Fissure.
➳ Apo shall inflict a dread Burnt Oak Drive-In tradition on Friday the 15th.
➳ An extra-long onslaught of weird holiday music, The Apo’s Audio Atrocities Giftmas Craptacular shall be perpetrated at The N on Saturday the 16th.
➳ Giftmas collectibles will start spawning on December 18 – as will Giftmas Scrit.
➳ Gomi and Drifter both plan to show particularly festive films on their respective nights at Burnt Oak Drive-In
➳ The “TREE” and any game elements will likely be picked up again late on New Year’s Day.
Weekly Event Summary:
(All Times SLT)
Sundays:
– Storytime with Wasteland Drifter – 2pm
– Gomi’s Garbo Cinematic Expulsion – 5pm
First Sunday: [RP] Readings by the Oracle – Noon
Mondays:
– Mutant Drum Circle – 6pm
Tuesdays:
– Film Night with Wasteland Drifter – 5pm
Wednesdays:
– HOSTILE BROADCAST – 7pm
Thursdays:
– Unstructured Playtime w/ Dia – 5pm
– Booze & Blather [RP Event] – 6pm
Saturdays:
– Sandling’s Evening Madness – 1pm
– Apo’s Audio Atrocities – 5pm
First Saturday: Community Meeting – 2pm
Second Saturday: Barrelhead Bazaar [RP Event] – 11am
Third Saturday: Wasted Raiders’ Raid – Noon
Occasional Saturdays at Neo’s Discretion: Saturday Morning Cartoons – 8am, Fight Night – 3pm, Enjoying Other People’s Suffering – 3pm.
Want to host an event? Let Neo know the event details by Wednesday night and he’ll add it to the weekly group announcements, Discord announcement, and Plurk feed!
If you want to keep in touch with other Wastelanders when you can
I. THE ESTATE
NeoBokrug Elytis: IT’S… TIME.
NeoBokrug Elytis: As per the usual, over the next hour we’ll discuss the three main aspects of the estate: Estate/Land, “The Game”, and then an open floor discussion for RP & Events.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Up first: Occupancy, which initially had a dip, but then a small gain as these winter months wear on. This is … I believe the second year in a row where occupancy had gains over November/December, and I am unsure how to deal with that. The expectations are inverse.
Sandling Honey screams global warming!
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): It’s the Giftmas spirit moving people in!
NeoBokrug Elytis: Since this is the last community meeting for the year, overall with the additions of the new regions occupancy is higher than at the start of the year. There still looks to be a lot of yellow, but — a good chunk of that is folks migrating to the new regions AND new folks moving in, and old folks expanding.
Sketchkat Blackflag: ah neato ^^ good to hear
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Keen!
NeoBokrug Elytis: Folks here have been really good about paying tier on time this past year too. The new RL economy makes things suck, but I am thankful you guys are on the ball here about it all.
Sketchkat Blackflag: ♥
RM Beedit (rmarie.beedit): (hur hur, sort of!)
RM Beedit (rmarie.beedit): <—
Verity Goodnight: I have a recurring appt in my calendar to buy more L$ ahead of when tier is due :D
NeoBokrug Elytis: And as a reminder — if you are ever going to be late with tier, just shoot me an IM and I can usually hold off on reclaiming land as long as I know what’s up. If you don’t let me know, I’ll default back to the tier grace period formula in the covenant.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I hate to reclaim land, but it is a necessary procedure for estate operation. I can only assume the worst if I don’t hear back from folks.
NeoBokrug Elytis: And, there’s always the backup tier auto-pay mailboxes. As long as you have L$ on your account, they’ll pay for you. So if your GPU died, you could still log in to the SL website and buy some L$.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Any questions about occupancy, tier, any of that?
Sketchkat Blackflag: all pretty straight forward still, yup ^^ <3
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Oh dang. I’ve only ever bought L$ inworld; never even thought about being able to buy it on the website if that happened!
NeoBokrug Elytis: Haha yah!
Sketchkat Blackflag: yes’m, though does require some grey matter on when that emergency level is met XD
NeoBokrug Elytis: A link for thos: https://secondlife.com/my/lindex/buy.php
NeoBokrug Elytis: *those who need it.
NeoBokrug Elytis: You can even use a limited buy to get a few more L$ for the dollar.
xrrawva: =o
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): =o
Verity Goodnight: that’s why I have my calendar reminder – to do that haha
Sketchkat Blackflag: :D
Sandling Honey: How peculiar that Xrra just joined during this song
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): hehe
NeoBokrug Elytis: This month with regard to estate stuff, is for me to get Northgate to a point where we can bring avatars in, AKA open. It won’t be fully done as I like it, but enough to give people the capabilities to use SL.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Basically, I have until the 20th. So a little over 2 weeks. A great deal of it is done-ish, but I really need to flesh out a few things. I may have to bumble my way through GIMP to get things done, but I’ll get it done.
Tristan Kuramoto: woo excited to visit
Sketchkat Blackflag: north gate? :3
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Same!
Aposiopesis Fullstop: What I’ve seen has been looking good.
Tristan Kuramoto: The sim North of Wastelands
Sketchkat Blackflag: ooh neat :D
Sketchkat Blackflag: didn’t even notice where it’s so far away :P
Tristan Kuramoto: we have to take a janky boat to get there :D
Tristan Kuramoto: or swim :D
NeoBokrug Elytis: And I guess this falls under “estate”, but it wasn’t until I was setting up the Caledon Discord server, that I realized that out Discord server is something special. I belong to a LOT of SL related servers (which I mostly ignore). Of all the servers very few have boosts, even to level 1. Somehow, collectively, folks have boosted ours all the way to the max level of 3.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: wooo!
Sketchkat Blackflag: oh ok, proper waterworld journey x3
Tristan Kuramoto: woo
Sketchkat Blackflag: \o/
Verity Goodnight: we just need fish noises in the soundboard
NeoBokrug Elytis: And that’s without asking for it. So I want to take a moment to thank everyone who’s boosted us. I’ll start leveraging the perks we have there. If you want to join, we have a custom URL: https:// discord [ dot ] gg / thewastelands
Verity Goodnight: and to like, be in vc to use the soundboard :D
NeoBokrug Elytis: Many folks have requested voice chat, and I think it should be a regular event.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: It used to be one, after all!
NeoBokrug Elytis: So I will look in to making that happen.
Tristan Kuramoto: that would be cool js
Tristan Kuramoto: few other servers im in they have chat rooms in them
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yeah, I am just shy tho.
Tristan Kuramoto: lmao
Tristan Kuramoto: I have heard you once long ago lol
RM Beedit (rmarie.beedit): ((TUNE ))
Verity Goodnight: We could hear Chav being Scottish!
Tristan Kuramoto: :D
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yeah, I have a preference for “not”, but I am not opposed to it. I use it frequently for work / estate planning shenanigans.
Tristan Kuramoto: I miss Chav D:
NeoBokrug Elytis: While I review notes, does anyone have any questions or comments about estate stuff?
Sketchkat Blackflag: I don’t voice in here, but yeah, the option for those who do is welcome :D
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Is that Sync-Pay system still in the works?
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): “Yah fucking Bolshevik displacer!”
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Or is that gonna be a 2024 thing due to Northgate?
RM Beedit (rmarie.beedit): lol
Sketchkat Blackflag: XD
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yes. I have been poking around at tier internals for Caledon this past month porting over same-ish features we have, so it is still fresh in my brain. Once January hits, I am going to do my darnedest to make it real. Because — Caledon is overwhelmingly asking for the same thing.
Verity Goodnight: yesss
Sketchkat Blackflag thumbs ups.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Nice!
RM Beedit (rmarie.beedit): ^^^
NeoBokrug Elytis: The way it will basically work, and needs to work.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Is it will find out which of your parcels that has the furthest away due date. Then it will add one day. All parcels including the far out one will be calculated for tier up to that day. You will be presented with a paybox for it. And everything will be synced.
NeoBokrug Elytis: IF all your parcels are on the same due date, it will pay all of your parcels one day.
NeoBokrug Elytis: That way, with the pay-all one week/month, and this new tool you can fine-tune your due date to what you want.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I should say 4 weeks instead of month.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Does that seem simple, or confusing?
Sketchkat Blackflag: just about~?
Verity Goodnight: seems straightforward
Peanut (peanut.salty): ★_★
NeoBokrug Elytis: Maybe I should say: “It just works”
Verity Goodnight: sorcery!
NeoBokrug Elytis: ;)
II. THE GAME
NeoBokrug Elytis: Movin’ on to game stuff!
NeoBokrug Elytis: Foodmas came and went for current residents of The Wastelands! An anonymous person has left folks some game food to get through these harsh months. And if you haven’t logged in, you’ll get it when you log in.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: \o/
NeoBokrug Elytis: For those reading on the press blog. ;)
NeoBokrug Elytis: Giftmas is coming, beware sandy claws!
Sketchkat Blackflag: 83
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Yaaaaay!
NeoBokrug Elytis: The new move AI for miasmas is not doing what it should be doing, so I get them returned all the time. I still need to fix that before I can apply it to other things.
Sketchkat Blackflag: oof
NeoBokrug Elytis: Dass made a guide to food with with vague descriptors about how beneficial food could be, it is available for free at her shop./
Dassina Andel: “Manimal Guide To Fud”
Tristan Kuramoto: I need to snag one
Sketchkat Blackflag: definitely picking that up ^^
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Yaaay, a Sandusky! :D
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Didn’t see you sneak in!
NeoBokrug Elytis: I specifically asked for vague descriptors, because I do not like to publish exact numbers. My reason being is that we as players aren’t able to grok that.
The Digger (sandusky.kayvon): Hello!
NeoBokrug Elytis: Sandman has been here since before the meeting, just a wallflower. :)
Tristan Kuramoto: I just now saw him lol
Verity Goodnight: like a ninja
Tristan Kuramoto: Like he walked out of the wall there
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Haha, yeah, my inventory window was right over everything there.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Sandusky: Expect him.
Tristan Kuramoto: or crawled out from under the arena lol
NeoBokrug Elytis: That’s about it for game stuff, any questions about any of that?
The Digger (sandusky.kayvon): :D
Second Life: Your snapshot can now be viewed here.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Will there be collectibles this year?
Dassina Andel: Alden seems to be giving only/most food rewards for Crate Tasks.
Dassina Andel: At all ratings from “Easy” to “Hard.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I haven’t changed anything, that’s just your luck. :)
NeoBokrug Elytis: OH. I almost forgot:
NeoBokrug Elytis: Since I will be rebuilding the potion quest locations here very soon: Let me copy paste something from the wiki. I want more locations basically.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Gird your chat windows…:
NeoBokrug Elytis: Be Part of the Task
I would be happy to add your location to the task if you can meet the following requirements:
You own land in The Wastelands and your claim date for that particular parcel is at least a year old, and you plan to keep that parcel for a long time.
This task is all about creating a questionable potion from rare-ish things he’s found. The destination on your land should lead to some sort of liquid, some sort of interesting dirt, a unique plant or fungus, or some other sort of strange but interesting alchemical thing.
Your proposed destination should be relatively easy to get to.
You must have and maintain a clear ban list on your land, and be chill enough to allow people whom you may not get along with, to poke around and explore your land.
I’m not opposed to name dropping your RP persona if it’s fitting and you can justify it. There’s already a few RP personas who’ve been name dropped into the task destinations.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I will make an exception for Malady Bog, as it is brand new.
NeoBokrug Elytis: And extend that to Bitter Ridge.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: An exception to the “year old” requirement, you mean?
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yes. Sorry, half composed thoughts...
Sketchkat Blackflag: I’ve been meaning to do that x3 just picking the “right” cool looking canon thing is tricky :P
Tristan Kuramoto: that sounds cool
NeoBokrug Elytis: I think 1/4th of the old quest locations were resident spaces.
Sketchkat Blackflag: aww neat ^^
III. THE ROLEPLAY & EVENTS
NeoBokrug Elytis: Movin’ on to events & RP discussion, but let me interject into that category before it is an open floor discussion.
NeoBokrug Elytis: The cross-over events for Caledon were quite the hit, everyone had fun. No complaints at all. :)
Sketchkat Blackflag: awesomes :D
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Hooray!
Drifter (wastelanddrifter): Good news
NeoBokrug Elytis: The way I am going to continue them, is 1 per month for each community. It can never be the same host for an event twice in a row.
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): They all seemed really clean, but nice.
Tristan Kuramoto: hehe
NeoBokrug Elytis: And I will ask for volunteers during the first week of the month with a group notice. I am sure several folks from each community will “apply”, but I can only pick one. So please don’t be upset with me if I don’t pick you that round. My preference for events when I am choosing things, are established events that we know work well. Occasional (quarterly or longer) but regular events are typically cooler than weekly events, so I’d pick those first.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Sorry that took so long, it was full of fat-finger.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I’m going to try to get a group announcement out after Fight Night for both communities.
NeoBokrug Elytis: And, if you’re ever interested in hosting an event but don’t know where to start or how; you can ask me or Apo. We’re good at folks helping learn new relevant skills. :)
NeoBokrug Elytis: Hit me up with questions about any of that, and we’ll also have an open floor for RP and Events discussion starting now. Near the top of the hour I will ask folks to leave the arena so I can host Fight Night.
Peanut (peanut.salty): Ayeaye
Aposiopesis Fullstop: WL17B, The Wastelands’ 17th Birthday, is Friday, January 19 – Sunday, January 21! A three-day party gauntlet of music, movies, combat, games, and whatever other weirdness we can wreak! If you want to host something, let me or Neo know!
Sketchkat Blackflag: do we have feedback on what caledonians would like to see/are missing from their lovely steam-powered schedule? x3
Sketchkat Blackflag: wheee :D
NeoBokrug Elytis: Nothin’ especially so Sketchkat, I think the idea is we subject them to our insanity, and they subject us to their whimsy.
Sketchkat Blackflag: haha gotcha ♥
Irk (shannonwilsonbell): to breed whimsanity.
Dassina Andel: Steal their Coal. >..>
NeoBokrug Elytis: Ah yeah. How could I forget; The GIFTMAS TREE, Bleedy the Dirtman, and The Caledon Holiday Tree is here! Please open up your group notices and check out the announcement from yesterday for full details.
RM Beedit (rmarie.beedit): YAYYY
Aposiopesis Fullstop: \o/
Sketchkat Blackflag vibrates x3
NeoBokrug Elytis: Collectables question from earlier: Probably!
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Hooray!
Sketchkat Blackflag: \o/
Sketchkat Blackflag: aw yis, shiny loot
Aposiopesis Fullstop: For other holiday nonsense, The Apo’s Audio Atrocities Somethingth Annual GIFTMAS CRAPTACULAR shall be inflicted on all willing ears on Saturday, December 16! An extra-long set of weird and festive music from entirely too many genres – sometimes too many genres at the same time! :V
RM Beedit (rmarie.beedit): mm giftmas, spicy grubs and sticky brews
Aposiopesis Fullstop: And sometime this month – possibly on Sunday the 17th, or wherever it can be wedged in – shall be the dread Burnt Oak tradition of SANTA WITH MUSCLES. :D
Sketchkat Blackflag: ◔ω◔
Peanut (peanut.salty): Hawt
Aposiopesis Fullstop: I feel like there was another Giftmasian thing…. what was it…
Aposiopesis Fullstop: OH! Gonna deploy the Giftmas Scrit masheen, too, Neo?
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yes.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: wooo!
Tristan Kuramoto: off topic but has anyone seen the new Mad Max trailer?
NeoBokrug Elytis: We blaseted @everyone on the discord server with it. Haha
Sketchkat Blackflag: yasss ♥
NeoBokrug Elytis: It was like 1am
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Haha, yeah; it got posted in the Discord and we all promptly froke out about it. :V
Tristan Kuramoto: oh dang lol
Sketchkat Blackflag: saw the Fallout series trailer also
Tristan Kuramoto: yes im hyped for the fallout show
Sandling Honey: Oh awesome, I thought the new Mad Max things were basically in infinite hiatus
Tristan Kuramoto: defo hyped
Sandling Honey: so it’s actually happening?
Sketchkat Blackflag: looks legit
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Sure is!
Sandling Honey: Awesome :D
Tristan Kuramoto: I hope they dont mess up on some of the lore
Sandling Honey: thankeees Peanut :D
Tristan Kuramoto: some things seema bit out of place
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Release date is May 24 of next year. :D
NeoBokrug Elytis: Maybe we should have an ALL THE MAD MAX Marathon before that day
RM Beedit (rmarie.beedit): ^^^
Tristan Kuramoto: dang defo
NeoBokrug Elytis: Because I could easily waste 8 hours.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Oh yes. Time to leave the arena!