I’ve decided to start this kind of chronicle. Not really “news articles,” or a magazine, but since I am now, once again, running the city Neo Machina in Second Life, and at a rate that is more affordable, I think it’d be neat to write about it. To write about the happenings, updates, what’s going on, or what-have-you.
Earlier in the year (about two months ago), I decided it would be best to take Neo Machina offline. I did this due to the fact that a full region, with 30,000 prims (relating to land impact of items placed) costs around 250 USD per month to keep running. This is a bit much for someone who is not rich, even though I had lots, and lots of space to grow and build.
So I did what I thought would be an “okay” replacement. I bought up some mainland and built what was basically just a single street of the city, and continued business … which lasted almost two weeks. And I must apologize to the Linden Labs employees for being so finicky, specific, and restless about my creation.
It had to be the full sim, or nothing.
Following that, I wrote to support and asked if it’d be possible to downgrade back to a homestead (a much more affordable option, but with way less space for expansion). They wrote back, and they gave me the okay, and even a few days grace period to bring my land impact (item placement) down to a “homestead” level, which I did!
Again, I have to thank the Linden Labs employees for constantly working with me, no matter how annoying I am, specifically, with Neo Machina.
So, as of right now, Neo Machina is back. Just, with a bit less space for placing items and builds. Which is fine! I’ve been working tirelessly since the weekend to bring land impact down considerably, and in doing so I was able to keep the newly added street on the east side of the city, plus the consolidated landing zone.
Not only that, but I have been subsequently contacted by the creators behind the store brand Madpea for participating in their month-long scifi/cyberpunk item hunt. So far they have gifted me two full packs of hunt items to place in the city, and many people have come to see the area, and find the vials. It’s been very surprising, especially considering I’ve never even spoken to anyone at Madpea before!
On top of bringing the city back online, I’ve replaced the public bathing area with a public pool with 3D water that splashes and moves with your avatar.
And for my secondary store (a branch of [REVOSA]), I’ve built a Backrooms themed section onto the side of the store that sits along the road east of the nightclub.
Surely, if I cut my store down considerably and axed the newer street to the east, I’d probably have more land impact to work with, but! I value my creations, and I’ve decided not to kill off work I’ve done. The city itself took me months to build, and the new additions were meant to be new things for people to see. And even with a downgrade to the sim, to keep it within affordable levels, I will not remove significant portions of it.
Can Neo Machina ever return to a full region? That depends entirely on my offline job, and whether my store within Second Life gets bigger, or if people simply sign up on my Patreon, or at the subscription page via this very website.
Yes, if people subscribe to what I do, working towards a re-upgrade is 100% entirely possible. But like with everything I do and create, this isn’t required.
I pay for my Mastodon instance out-of-pocket, as do I this website, and Neo Machina, and I am fully prepared for it to stay that way for the considerable future. Monetary support would be a happy and welcome surprise, but I do not expect it.
I am, like I always have been, in it for the joy of creation.
Until next time, chooms!
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