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:
➳ There’s been a small uptick in occupancy – the Equinox Land Sale compelled some current landowners to own a little more.
➳ At long last, Neo has created the Tier Leveler: a tool to make all your parcels due on the same day.
➳ It can also be used to pay one day of tier for all parcels at once so you can dial in your due date. Want to pay for everything on Wednesdays? Now you can!
➳ The tier auto-pay mailbox may get an upgrade soon to alert the user at a custom time, not just when the due date is three days away. And perhaps to pay all parcels through the same mailbox.
➳ Neo is investigating whether it could be possible to allow PayPal payments for land.
➳ Neo’s also working on a Discord integration that will display a list of all events for that day – pulling from a Google Calendar that could also be posted at the telehubs for easy inworld reference.
➳ The inworld Land Store will be worked on when Caledon’s land updates are finished: Neo’s still changing some parcels in its regions.
➳ The Northgate Community Gateway needs a few final touches, but Phase I will soon be open!
➳ A possible perk would be an exclusive last name, only available to new accounts that register through The Wastelands’ gateway. Have a last name idea? Suggest it to Neo!
GAME:
➳ Miasma code still needs to be applied to make the miasma flee to a nearby valid location, not a random one, and ideally to give it a few different flight options.
➳ New locations are still welcomed for Aeg’s Potion Quest! 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! (Already submitted your location? Please resend it; it was lost in the hard drive crash!)
Halloween Game Updates:
➳ Pumpkins start spawning on October 17! Their drop mechanics may be tweaked this year.
➳ Neo is resurrecting an old Halloween Quest; it will be available for the seven days surrounding Halloween (October 28 – November 3.)
➳ The Quest won’t require any resources or EXP; it’ll be throttled only by the cooldown.
➳ This year’s WL: Jack-o-Lantern is already made, and has fancy new PBR textures!
➳ There will indeed be a Fight Night variant for participants.
ROLEPLAY & EVENTS:
➳ Thanks to everyone who attended the rusted, rustic festival of The Rondyvoo!
➳ Dassina may host some more Learn How To Fight Nights in the future.
➳ Like tea? Neo has secured us a one-time, 20% Off discount from a friend’s tea shop – ships worldwide! (Not a sponsorship; Neo doesn’t get anything from it.)
➳ 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.
Halloween Activities:
➳ Trigger Treat, The Wastelands’ Halloween party, will take place on Saturday, October 26! The schedule’s already fleshing out – contact Apo if you want to perform.
➳ Its costume contest now has two categories: Creepiest Costume and Funniest Costume.
➳ Trick-Or-Treat scripts will work from October 30 through November 1.
➳ Give Neo a notecard with your Trick-Or-Treat dispenser locations so he can publicize them all.
➳ The Long Night, and the Black Rider, will also return on October 31.
➳ Neo is hosting weekly Saturday Morning Spooktacular films at the Drive-In.
➳ Gomi’s movie and musical choices this month are all spooky, as well.
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
Occasional Sundays at Dass’s Discretion: [RP] I’m Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today Trade Event – 10am
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; Fight Night – 3pm
Second Saturday: Barrelhead Bazaar [RP Event] – 11am
Third Saturday: Wasted Raiders’ Raid – Noon
Occasional Saturdays at Neo’s Discretion: Saturday Morning Cartoons / Saturday Morning Sci-Fi – 8am, Enjoying Other People’s Suffering – 3pm.
Occasional Saturdays at Apo’s Discretion: Wasted Karaoke – 5pm.
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’t be inworld, our Discord server is now public! The Unbridled Rage greeter bot can give a link.
I. THE ESTATE
NeoBokrug Elytis: IT’S… TIME.
NeoBokrug Elytis: As per the usual, we’ll speak about the three main categorys of the estate with time in between for questions and comments. We’ll start with estate and land first.
NeoBokrug Elytis: This past month saw a little bump in occupancy levels. A couple folks moving in and out mostly. The equinox land sale snagged a couple folks.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Mostly current residents.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I have also created a new tool that’s been requested for literal years.
NeoBokrug Elytis: It is the Tier Leveler. What it does is, if you have multiple parcels, it makes them all due on the same day.
NeoBokrug Elytis: The way it does this is it sees how far out the parcel you own with the most tier on it is, it adds one more day, then it calculates how much it costs to make all your parcels due on that day.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Once all your parcels are leveled, you can also use the tool to pay all your parcels by one day. This allows you to tweak what day of the week you’d like your parcels to be due.
Dassina Andel: It is a godsend
NeoBokrug Elytis: Any questions about any of that so far?
Sandling Honey slaps the stream : >
NeoBokrug Elytis: Heha
NeoBokrug Elytis: The tool took me a couple years of idle thinking on how to best approach it. I am very against moving tier around on parcels, mostly for logging reasons. Mathematically it is easier to do it the way it is done now, rather than trying to average all the parcels based on time, tier, or cost.
NeoBokrug Elytis: And while it may suck if you have one parcel that’s 3 months out there, and you want your other 5 parcels due a month from now, the tool will always be there if you let that run down.
NeoBokrug Elytis: A couple undocumented caveats:
NeoBokrug Elytis: If you have more than 50 parcels, it won’t work. That’s just a hard limit I put on.
The Digger (sandusky.kayvon): it’s great, thank you!
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Haha, has anyone ever had 50 parcels? And is that a challenge?
Dassina Andel: Anyone with 50 parcels just needs to buy a new region at that point. >.>
NeoBokrug Elytis: Another limit is it ONLY counts the parcels you have who have 83 days or less tier. I only support 12 weeks of tier.
Mutsumi (mutsy.kaligawa): hehe
NeoBokrug Elytis: About 50 parcels: Its true that no one has that amount, but I did it for testings sake. I think it craps out around 70.
Mutsumi (mutsy.kaligawa): I tried it today, it works great!
NeoBokrug Elytis: The tool is still new, so if you think there was a problem with cost, or anything like that, shoot me an IM.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Another undocumented feature is that it’ll pay up to the last second of that day. Right now due dates are all over the place on which hour and minute it is due, and frankly I don’t care for it. It just makes my life easier when I login in the morning, to just pull up a list of folks I need to notice, rather than try to see if they’re only overdue by a minute or ten.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Less ambiguity for me doing my morning kneecap collections.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Working on this has also reminded me that everything about the tier system is almost a decade old now. It’s not that the backend isn’t designed well, but I see lots of places for improvement. Especially since it is serving two estates now. I don’t know I’ll get to that anytime soon, but it is something I am aware of. I know it’s not broke, so I am going to let it slide.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: If it works, it works.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I do really want to update the tier auto-pay mailboxes though. This has been stewing in my brain for a couple years. I want to give folks options on what kind of tier balance they want to keep on standby, instead of just checking on 3 days until you’re due.
NeoBokrug Elytis: So if you wanted to keep a month on standby, you could.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Have people requested that?
NeoBokrug Elytis: No but,
NeoBokrug Elytis: More than one person has asked me about paypal payments to tier in the past month. NO PROMISES ON ANYTHING. But I have looked in to it, especially with the 10% in and 10% out from cash to L$ to cash again.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Ooh, that would be nice…
NeoBokrug Elytis: It is a spare cycle in my brain. Might save you folks 10% on tier, might save me 7% on earnings.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Once I start to really tinker with the idea, I will let you all know asap.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Of course, paypal will provide me with your billing details, but I honestly wouldn’t care to keep them unless I legally needed to. I’ll talk to my lawyer about that. I will be fully transparent if that is a requirement, and just reiterate that if I did have to keep it, I really don’t care.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Having thought about how it would work, I think at the very least you’d need to buy the parcel with L$ first, then use a tool at the parcel to set up the paypal subscription.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Kind of like the tier auto-pay cog, but doing it through paypal.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Any questions about all that?
Candide LeMay: i use the autopay mailbox and i get the notification IM that my tier is due about 30 minutes before the mailbox triggers the payment. is there a way to use the new tool to move that window so that i don’t get the notification about my tier being due?
NeoBokrug Elytis: I will keep that in mind when I work on the new tool. I will provide a way for folks to be notified via IM, or even email (I don’t need to know your email address with a new LSL function)
NeoBokrug Elytis: I am going to basically rebuild it from the ground up, and if I am going to do that, I may make a tool that can handle all your parcels.
NeoBokrug Elytis: 1 mailbox, all parcels.
Dassina Andel: Now that would be nice
NeoBokrug Elytis: I am pretty glad I didn’t use casper, and just built my own system with hookers and booze.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Haha
NeoBokrug Elytis: It lets me do weird shit that makes it easier for folks to pay tier on their own terms.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Any other questions before I move on to another estate topic?
NeoBokrug Elytis: This next bit is events adjacent, but is what I am working on in my spare time. I have an integration set up that post discord events into a google calendar, and it updates in real time. So if you have a google calendar you can subscribe to that soon. From there I am going to pull data from the google calendar, and hopefully have a “happening today” list of events at each telehub.
NeoBokrug Elytis: That way folks who don’t have discord, and/or want their events strictly in SL, can visit any telehub to see what’s going on.
Candide LeMay: are you still planning to do inworld land store/map?
NeoBokrug Elytis: And maybe, JUST MAYBE, I might be able to offload some of that to help me make the social media posts.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yes.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I gotta get Caledon a bit more “in shape” before I can do land store stuff. Things are a bit messy there still. Having all the data being a bit more uniform is a prerequisite.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Thanks for the Tunes Sandling. :)
Sandling Honey: Thankees :D
NeoBokrug Elytis: Nortgate got some good work this past month. I have a few things to finish, then tidying up stuff this week I hope, before opening it.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Let me ask this real quick, I think I asked it last month; If you were signing up for a new SL account using Northgate registration; and we had a custom last name that was unique to that registration — would you pay for it, and how much?
NeoBokrug Elytis: It must be specific to that account, and not accounts that already exist.
Candide LeMay: aren’t custom names like 500USD/year?
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yes.
Candide LeMay: so yeah, NO
NeoBokrug Elytis: Well, the cost is for ME.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: I don’t think it would cost YOU that, Candide.
Candide LeMay: i think it’s 500USD/year per name though?
NeoBokrug Elytis: But if 50 folks sign up a year at $10, or 25 at $20. It is a unique name you can only get there, and it would pay for itself.
Tintosha (tayasha.tammas): What is this Northgate thing?
NeoBokrug Elytis: A custom landing point when you register for SL through the soontobe join.the-wastelands.org
NeoBokrug Elytis: It is like Caledon Oxbridge, but exploded.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: And an educational community gateway.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: I’m unsure if a brand-new user would be invested enough in it to sign up with one. If I were rolling up an alt for some reason, maybe $25 at most, if I liked it? It’s a very “it depends”
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yeah. To take advantage of it, you’d have to know about it when you sign up. That would require you to be in SL already, or just be aware of it when you sign up.
NeoBokrug Elytis: But you know, that’s an option.
Krzysztof Clip (krzysiek.clip): but is year for oprening name or to sustain?
NeoBokrug Elytis: Last name changes are $50 a pop for basic accounts, and as cheap as $20 i think for premium plus?
NeoBokrug Elytis: Preium is 35, and premium plus is 15
Krzysztof Clip (krzysiek.clip): funny i did freee on radegast?
Krzysztof Clip (krzysiek.clip): or site aha anyway
NeoBokrug Elytis: Once you have the lastname it is yours forever, even if the gateway shuts down.
Krzysztof Clip (krzysiek.clip): i may thonk that new users will less laikelly jhear aboout place anyway
Tintosha (tayasha.tammas): Hm!
Krzysztof Clip (krzysiek.clip): so mor e liklelly will be us rejoining
NeoBokrug Elytis: Anyway, just a thought, and only available for alt accounts.
Candide LeMay: i mean if it was a name i really like i’d pay maybe 20-30 bucks for it, otherwise not really
The Mutant Witch of the Wastes (ccindy.pfeffer): Is it any last name, or is it the same everyone has to agree on?
NeoBokrug Elytis: Send me IMs with names you like. :)
II. THE GAME
NeoBokrug Elytis: MOVING ON TO GAME STUFF.
Krzysztof Clip (krzysiek.clip): smae one
NeoBokrug Elytis: Pumpkins will start spawning on the 17th
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Hooray!
Tintosha (tayasha.tammas): Do they bite?
Mutsumi (mutsy.kaligawa): wooot!
NeoBokrug Elytis: The quest will run from the 28th through the 3rd.
Dassina Andel: Please for the love that is the Fire King, don’t restrict WL: Pumpkins to Rare Crates only this year. x.x
NeoBokrug Elytis: I think I put them in the general “food” spawn that applies to all crates last year.
NeoBokrug Elytis: That seemed to work well.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Er.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: So a crate would have a 20% chance to be Food, and then a 1/however-many-foods-there-are-in-that-rarity chance to be a Pumpkin?
Aposiopesis Fullstop: On top of that 20%.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Plus a few other metrics and options.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Not metrics, configurable things.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Brain holes.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: I think it might have been last year where they were incredibly hard to find.
Dassina Andel: It was last year
Dassina Andel: Before that it’s been what Neo said, more or less.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I’ll figure it out. :)
Dassina Andel: Let us stock up on tasty gourds. :3
Dassina Andel: Pies need to be made.
Katie (katie.canningham): that’s a gourd idea
NeoBokrug Elytis: Haha
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Yeah. Like, just make it reasonably possible. RL sucks hard, we’re lucky if we can make half an hour a week to run.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I am going to see about converting an old quest into a “universal” old quest that is easily deployable, and doesn’t require anything to play — other than the quest cool down.
Dassina Andel: Sping = Egg hoarding, Fall = Pumpkin hoarding.
Krzysztof Clip (krzysiek.clip): i was looking hard last year got none
Aposiopesis Fullstop: …Wait. Didn’t you do that?
NeoBokrug Elytis: There are many old quests.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Right, but the universal thing.
The Mutant Witch of the Wastes (ccindy.pfeffer): elderquest
NeoBokrug Elytis: Yes. Each one has to be converted.
Dassina Andel: Every fall, i pray for new foods. >.>
NeoBokrug Elytis: The base system is there.
NeoBokrug Elytis: This years Jack-o-lantern is done, and it is PBR.
Dassina Andel: Ooooh.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Oh, okay. So you have the universalizing system, you just need to… apply it to one of the other old ones.
The Mutant Witch of the Wastes (ccindy.pfeffer): fancy
Dassina Andel: Is there a Fight Night/Warzone version of the Jack-O-Lantern? <.<
NeoBokrug Elytis: There will be.
Dassina Andel: Excellent.
The Mutant Witch of the Wastes (ccindy.pfeffer): make it the one where you have to talk to the ghoul first
NeoBokrug Elytis: We did that last year Cc
Dassina Andel: Guz is such a character.
The Mutant Witch of the Wastes (ccindy.pfeffer): the other ghoul
The Mutant Witch of the Wastes (ccindy.pfeffer): the one with the smelly .. well everything
NeoBokrug Elytis: hahaha
Dassina Andel: In Semi-Game related news, The Cinderblock Stew is ready wit the Renegade “Fightin’ Food” recipe. Be sure to fill up!
The Mutant Witch of the Wastes (ccindy.pfeffer): YUM YUM YUUUM!
Dassina Andel: Located in Doktor Aeg’s Cave in Cormac.
NeoBokrug Elytis: That’s it for game stuff.
NeoBokrug Elytis: Any questions about what I’ve discussed?
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Oh
Drifter (wastelanddrifter): Fightin’ Food
Aposiopesis Fullstop: How long will it be to upgrade the Miasma with the new code?
NeoBokrug Elytis: Not to be confused with Foodfight, the movies.
Drifter (wastelanddrifter): or field rations
Dassina Andel: I still want WL: Leafwater. >.>
NeoBokrug Elytis: The miasma is smarter, migrating its code to other things is the rub right now. I want to give it some sort of basic flight options
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Neo once had an idea for a drinks system, I think, whenever Hydration happens in earnest.
III. THE ROLEPLAY & EVENTS
NeoBokrug Elytis: Speaking of leafwater, we still have that code for 20% off real world tea. Let me dig it up real quick. Basically, friends shop, sells very fancy tea, I joked that we should have a discount for Caledon folks, and he basically called my bluff.
Dassina Andel snerks.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: It’s tasty stuff.
Candide LeMay: US based?
NeoBokrug Elytis: The discount code is 1 use and is: WASTELANDS At this shop: https://us.nannuoshan.org/ It works for the US store, and the EU / Worldwide store.
NeoBokrug Elytis: With 10 minutes to go, I am going to open the floor for Events & Roleplay discussion.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Neo- usual timing for the Halloween quest, one week before and after Halloween?
Aposiopesis Fullstop: And still planning the usual Long Night things?
NeoBokrug Elytis: 3 days before and after. The week of it’s surrounding.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Ah, dang, okay.
Dassina Andel: Once life isn’t so crazy for me, I’ll start doing “Learn How To Fight Night” events, to answer questions and provide basic guidance to WL: Combat.
NeoBokrug Elytis: I plan to be here for the long night.
Dassina Andel: *events again
Candide LeMay approves of the EU tea store
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Trigger Treat is happening on Saturday, October 26! Lots of folks have gotten back to me already, and the schedule’s shaping up, but there are still some slots amid the music, live performances, trivia, Fight Night, and karaoke!
Tristan Kuramoto: woo
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Also, this year’s costume contest is a hair different: L$2000 to each of two winners: Creepiest Costume and Funniest Costume.
Tristan Kuramoto: woo
Tristan Kuramoto: I have my idea already lol
Aposiopesis Fullstop: I always had a hard time comparing the two evenly, so, two categories it is.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Haha, nice.
Tintosha (tayasha.tammas): Contest on the 26th too?
Drifter (wastelanddrifter): Creepy, eh?
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Yup! I’ll try to declare the winner at 8pm SLT, and you don’t need to be present right then to win – just, y’know, have been there, in a costume, at some point.
Tintosha (tayasha.tammas): Hmm! /me brews up some ideas.
Drifter (wastelanddrifter): I’ll think about it.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Broadish definitions for “creepy” and “funny,” of course; this is still just Subjective Apo Bullshit and not a popular vote.
Tintosha (tayasha.tammas): I already have an idea in mind, just needs plenty of texture work.
Aposiopesis Fullstop: Ooo…
NeoBokrug Elytis: […] We’re about to start Fight Night here in 4 minutes, so if we could head a little east and out of the arena, that’d be swell.