DankoLand

subtitle:

SoaS Is The Mos’ !!!

About a month ago I downloaded Sim-on-a-Stick. I’d read plenty about it but hadn’t considered using it myself because I’m not a builder and, more importantly, I’m not tech savvy, so I figured it wasn’t for me. Wow, was I wrong! SoaS has changed my life! Both VL & RL. Really. It is sooo easy to use.

For a week I spent most of my time in (on?) SoaS. Downloading all four versions for the different size worlds. Uploading OARs and IARs. Experimenting.

And then I started building. I started one project, then another. I wasn’t spending any money to do this as I would be in Second Life. I wasn’t spending any minutes as I would be in Kitely. This was all free in every sense. I could take my time. No pressure because there was no reason to rush. It didn’t cost me anything and no one could see what I was doing. And my building skills improved quickly. Hmmm. Then I got an idea for another project and I started on that. Then I got ideas for three more. Whoa! This is a whole new ballgame! I had to stop and prioritize.

While I was taking my time out, I read some more about SoaS. And I tried out a couple of things I read about. Just for laughs, I took a photo of my avatar sitting on the deck of a beach house, looking at the sunrise on a tropical island. I used it to replace the default DivaDistro photo on the wifi administrative pages. Then I made it so the page says “DankoLand” in the content box above the photo. There it is…my own virtual grid! I laugh at it every time I log in. (Now, if I could only figure out if there’s a way to put a splash photo in my actual viewer, that would be the icing on the cake.)

So I figured out my plan on how to use this new tool. I wanted to write something about it but I wasn’t sure where to start. Then, the other day on the Kitely Forums, Marstol Nitely started the topic, “What do you do in Kitely that you couldn’t or wouldn’t in other grids?” As my new plan intertwines the use of SoaS with Kitely, I answered the question. I’m reprinting it here…

Hi Marstol,

Good topic.

Here’s what I’m planning to do in Kitely…this is something I never thought of before Kitely and Sim-on-a-Stick came along…

I’m working on several projects right now in SoaS. I will mention two of them here. One is a 4×4 that I started in Kitely and then took it offline and put it in SoaS. When I have it somewhere around 50 to 60% done, I’m going to put it in Kitely again. But it will be for a limited time, say three months. I will continue to work on it, take it down from Kitely, work on it some more, and put it back on Kitely. and so on.

The other is a theme and variations. At the moment it is a single region in SoaS. When it is ready I will upload it to Kitely, again for a limited time. When I take it down, I will then upload the first variation. It is a 2×2 that uses the one-region and expands on it. The 2×2 will be in Kitely for a while, then it will come down…and be replaced by another 2×2 that also uses the original one region sim as its base and expands on it in a different way than the first 2×2. Currently in SoaS I am working on all three of them!

I’m going to treat my sim/world ideas as exhibits. Work on them offline in SoaS, upload to Kitely when it seems ready – not necessarily ‘done’ but ready, take it down and put something else up, etc. I will ‘publicize’ which one is available at a given time and explain on my world page the process of what I am doing.

I am a writer and to me, these sims are stories I am telling…with prims. In the Devokan Storytellers group we have been discussing a concept that Ruby O’Degee calls ‘Storybuilding.’ That’s what I am engaged in here. I used to write music…and combining the theme and variation idea with sims hit me a while back. I’m finding my way. Who knows, maybe it won’t work at all…but it sure is fun trying!

Prior to Kitely and SoaS I would never have thought to do this. I am very excited to have these tools, these ‘exhibit halls’ to show what I am doing, to not just illustrate stories but to create them with prims.

Thank you for asking, I’ve been wanting to tell someone! LOL

DankoLand