Some time ago, the Shadowbane Community Team was working on the prospect of having a fan gathering around the same time as the Austin Game Conference. Due to the fact that Wolfpack Studios will be closing on May 15th, 2006, this will no longer occur. With less than a month until that date becomes a reality, it would be near impossible to coordinate and publicize such an event, much less work on a zero budget for it.
Of course, we would like to have kind of final farewell to all of our players. We are contemplating doing something in-game but Sachant came up with the crazy, yet fantastic idea of doing a little get together in another virtual world with a game called Second Life. Second Life is a privately owned, subscription based (although you can have a free account with limitations; I’ve been playing on the free account for a month and having some fun) massively-multiplayer online real-life game. Second Life gives its users tools to add to and edit its world and participate in its economy. The majority of the content in the Second Life world is resident-created. It is basically an interactive chat room crossed with Sims and can be highly addictive.
Why in Second Life? Well, we want to do something more like a fanfest or gathering and not have everyone crammed into Sea Dog’s Rest. In Second Life, we can play music, hang around and talk with people, and just be somewhat our normal selves (at least normal for some of us, heh). And, I must point out, it’s for free (unless you upgrade to a premium account). We have already made some Play 2 Crush and Shadowbane T-Shirts (also the mysterious Meridian Throne of Oblivion shirt). It will basically be a social gathering and our target date is May 13th since some of us will be out on Friday night and Sunday we hope to do things in Shadowbane.
If you are interested, check out and download Second Life here [link removed]. If you sign up, feel (more than) free to refer either myself (ashen at ashentemper.com – fixed to repel nasty spiders!) or Sachant (Sachant at gmail.com – fixed to repel nasty spiders!). If you’re into making your own art and animations, Second Life might be right up your alley.
If you are interested or want to know more, feel free to post a reply to this thread. Also, make sure to check out my crazy question of the week here [link removed] (sorry, only registered users can access this).