Review of October

Review of October at Sunshine Realm

Now it is already for some months in such a way that I write a backbick on the past month. That's what I want to do today. And, I wrote last month that the time flies so fast. And now its again time to write a monthly review. We have finish the golden month fall month october and the halloween season and slowly the winter come closer. Its finally time to take a warm blanket and candles and seek a seat close to a comfy fireplace. The nights are longer as the days and the next month will be a dark month at the northern hemisphere. Maybe a little more time to spend time in Secondlife. But before we start in the new month a last view back at the month which bygone.

We started the month with a new event. We all play somehow even if most of us don't understand SecondLife as a game and many real friendships have formed. But some of them are really gamers. So we organized a Gamer Night on 1th of october. We prepared the Sunhiner's Pub and DJ Yezika entertained us together with the Nightwish family. It got very crowded in our clubhouse, a total of 70 visitors came and we already thought about sending everyone out on the street and partying there. Thanks to donations we were able to double the usual jackpot.

The following weekend was our Oktoberfest. It was also the Day of the German Reunification. Unfortunately we had to struggle again with technical problems during this time. Our Sim is always burdened, and our many event places also consume a lot of resources. But we had arranged ourselves normally again and again very well with the neighbours. But that doesn't always work, and here came a new one who apparently lacked any feeling for neighbourhood. This was shown by the black back wall of a stage that was completely over-dimensinated for a 1/8 sim and was also high up on our border as black wall. But also on permanent effect fireworks in an empty sim. These were not only annoying for all neighbors, but also hungry for resources. 

So it came once again to extreme lag problems in our sim. And unfortunately, managers often don't see the obvious. And really sadly as at the end of the month Chant Lyrics leave and gave up here in the Sim, but our clubs never competed for resources and both sides tried to build harmoniously. So we never needed border walls and often both Sims complemented each other.

On the 4th of October we were on the festival place next to the Realm of Shades for our 1st event of the Octoberfest. We had already celebrated the Woodstock weekend here, and had rebuilt it for our Reeperbahn Festival in rain. Now it was the first festival place on our Oktoberfest weekend. It was a nice event, and despite the massive problems 43 guests came. DJ Valantine entertained us well, and for the after-party Polpeta took over and made her stream available.

On the 2nd day of Octoberfest we went to the place in front of the Trails End Music Hall Club. We mostly called it Camp Sunshine because we opened it with a summer camp. The Sunshine Garden with the park and the Trails End Music Hall Club is really well complemented by our Camp Sunshine. DJ Yuimetal entertained us with a spontanous set of german music. Also the 5th of October was marked by technical problems. We had 2,500 L$ in the jackpot, but a voting seemed almost impossible. We then stopped and reset everything, asked all guests to reduce the number of scripts and complexity. Guests, who had noticed by ruthless behavior, were again warned by us. 

Since it was already time for the after-party, many of us also took off our clothes. So we were able to do the voting with some delay. DJ Polpeta entertained us with a set of german music witch ou could listen at a mountain hut to a "Alm Party" or on Majorca in one of the big clubs. I said it, God Thanks the most didn't understand the lyrics of the songs. So the Oktoberfest weekend ended and we were looking forward to the Halloween time at the Sunshine Realm.

This was the start of our Halloween time at the Sunshine Realm. We had planned 10 events, and these on very different topics and at different venues in our Sunshine Realm. For this time it was also more our Counter-Earth "Realm of Shades", which ran like a red thread through the events. And somehow red was also the color at that time, not only my hair was mostly colored red. So we tore away the festival place and the farm and created a swamp in front of the castle gates. There was not only a Celtic sacrificial place, which should remind of Samhain, the origin of Halloween, but also an haunted manor in the middle of the swamp. 

On the 8th of October it started. But we started with a simple, more general Halloween event "Monsters of Rock" at our Trails End Music Hall Club. It was the only event here for the month, but it didn't stop us from decorating the barn for Halloween. Under the name "Monsters of Rock" we opened the Halloween time and DJ Yezika and the Nightwish family took over the entertainment program. Since all costumes that somehow fit to Halloween were allowed, there was also a colorful mix of creative ideas to see and it was a good start into the season. 

Fortunately, the problems of the weekend hadn't hardened further and everything went relatively well. However, there were many guests and we had to take some out of the contest because of disrespectful behaviour.

It was also Misty's rezday that we celebrated that day. It's a nice custom at the Sunshine Realm that we spend such days together.

Then came the first highlight. With the event "Night of Witches & Warlocks" on 11th of October we reopened our redesigned Realm of Shades and the swamp in front of the castle gates with a scary night of witches and warlocks. It was really a special night. 

The first beings from the beyond have awakened, and the rift that connects the shadow world with our world begins to open slowly. Since there is a portal to the afterlife at the cemetery opposite the church ruin in the Realm of Shades, the witches and sorcerers gather in the church ruin and organize a witch meeting and prepare the arrival with a witch dance. Their goal is to have the portal and cemetery appear on the surface of the Sunshine Realm for Halloween, so the undead can enter the street in front of and into the Sunshiner's Pub to take control of the Sunshine Realm.

DJ Valantine entertained us with a good mix of music and almost 70 visitors came to our church ruin. Through donations there was a jackpot of 4,000 L$ and although we had to fight again with the technical problems in the Sim, in between there was probably also an attack so that almost all crashed, we could manage the event. Thanks also to Valantine, who did everything possible to ensure the entertainment that evening. So it was a very difficult event, but also a very nice one. And it made you want to come to the next eight events this month.

On the 12th of October we went to the event "Costumes & Cocktails" in our Burlesque Palace. We wanted variety and a challenge for our friends. So we decorated the place for a steampunk event. Again only for one event, but spinning gears, steaming pipes and technical artefacts gave a good backdrop for our first Steampunk night at the Sunshine Realm. 

It was a lot of fun, and again more than 55 guests accepted our invitation. We will certainly do more Steampunk events soon, it's a nice and exciting topic. And we ourselves are always surprised when our ideas become concrete pictures and how adaptable our locations are. That our Burlesque Palace could become such a place. DJ Yuimetal and DJ Polpeta had put together good sets and we really had a lot of fun.

Every year we also had a Zombie Apocalypse event. So on the 15th of October we invited to the event "Night of Walking Dead" and fenced the place in the swamp in front of the Realm of Shades. The zombies should stay outside. I always have a lot of fun preparing these events and I came every year as a huntress. Again this year. It was funny that all our friends and Sunshine Girls also came as hunters, but the guests almost without exception as zombies. One could imagine something about it. But so I took out my zombie cages, which I had built in the weeks before, and used them to lock up most of the zombies in them and to provide security on the fairground.

It was a wonderful event and DJ Yezika was wonderful again. There were 50 guests again and that's a good result on a Tuesday lately. 

Half of the month was already over. Over the summer our Caribbean beach played a big role. And also for Halloween we wanted to do an event here. The 18th of October was the day and with our event "Ghoul's Night at Beach" we dared the mix of a beach party and Halloween. Be it ghouls or enchanted pirates, witches in bikini .... everything that connected the two themes was allowed. 

DJ Valantine was our DJ for the night again, and it was a nice evening with after-party, and we all had a lot of fun. In total there were more than 50 visitors.

On the following Saturday the 19th of October we went into the swamp again. It should be a college party for Halloween. We called it "Blues, Boos & Brew" So combine the relaxed atmosphere of college time with Halloween. So the topic was a bit broader, many costumes possible. But it should also stay youthful. Our DJs had exchanged the sets at short notice, so DJ Polpeta started this evening with a Halloween set. 

For the after-party DJ Yuimetal came, who followed the original music theme Blues. Also for our DJs our constantly changing themes are a challenge. Sometimes it's easy to find suitable music, but often it's also very difficult. With the addition "Blues" we wanted to help our DJs. But the Halloween time also showed that the more general and open topics were less visited. Maybe because we didn't show the simplicity, or because the tension for the guests was missing. I don't know. So despite Saturday only 41 guests came here. Certainly one of the disappointments of this month.

This continued the next Tuesday. We had the topics fitness and Halloween combined and invited on 22nd of October to the event "Work Off that Candy". We hadn't changed much in the Sunshine Gym, just added some bloodstains. DJ Yezika entertained us. 

Some really surprised us with creativity on this topic. But it was supposed to be a breathtaking event. And that was punished by only 38 guests. But the finale was still open. And it didn't hurt the fun on this evening either. Ultimately, we do the events for our friends, not the guests.

Then it was time. The last weekend before Halloween. One of the most difficult times in Secondlife with many decorations and events, and with it technical problems again and again. And that was no different this year. Already on Friday there were problems, they continued on Saturday and on Sunday Secondlife was disturbed for hours. Fortunately we had our most important events of the season on Friday and Saturday.

On the 25th we had invited to the bloody scary "Festival of Frights". It was our Horror Movie Night. We went again to the church ruin of the Realm of Shades. Due to the problems in SecondLife we had postponed the beginning by 45 minutes, so that everyone could log in and since the access to the inventories was disturbed, we had enough time to move. But even that didn't hurt the mood and the guests came. We had 60 visitors and it was really full in the ruins.

Of course there was also an after-party. Valantine had worked hard the evening to ensure the entertainment and keep her stream stable. Sometimes secondLife is really difficult. So we switched to the radio program for the after-party, but that was also good. 

We had planned to do at least one formal ball night every month. And we have the Sunshine Temple. So we invited on 26th to the "Witching Hour" in the decorated Sunshine Temple. There were some Greek statues on the stairs, new light and medieval statues at the top. DJ Yuimetal and DJ Polpeta entertained us once again. It should somehow remain Halloween, a reception at the royal court of the witches. So the rule was strictle formal and Halloween. Some had difficulties with it.

But it was really a rushing night on the Temple Mount with beautiful outfits. Even though we also kicked some guests out of the Sim and Contest. The expectations were high, and were not disappointed. More than 70 guests accepted the invitation, and without our expulsions it might have been 80 again. But we want sophisticated authentic events, and not guests at any price. And thanks to donations we were able to load L$ 5,000 into our contest this evening.

The last event of the month was our "Nightmare on Churchyard" on 29th. Actually we wanted to celebrate it in the street downstairs. But somehow the Realm of Shades was the center of our Halloween time and we wanted to end it here. And although this churchyard has been around since January, we never had the idea to use it for celebrations. Well, now we have tried it and were surprised how much space we have here and that it is a good mood. DJ Yezika entertained us again with the Nightwish family and it was a nice ending.

In total almost 50 guests came again. We had enough space. So the Halloween time and the month ended. It was an exciting month with many challenges. 

The month in numbers

I had already indicated it. We had expected more from this autumn after the strong summer. But that was also a wrong approach. Because while we were able to win many new visitors in the summer through our many interesting events, this turned around in September. I don't even have to speculate, on the one hand we ourselves scared off some guests by our demanding events and the consistent enforcement of dress rules. But that was also the key to our events not slipping into insignificance, but this special atmosphere arises and every week new challenges are mastered. On the other hand, many new event venues have opened up after the summer or others have returned from the summer break. And all of them offer Halloween events and lure with them. So there were many and certainly some exciting alternatives to our events.

And even if we expected more, the balance is not really bad at the end. So we also had 712 visitors in October. And we only just missed July (717). And apart from July, only August was busier, with 821 visitors. At that time by the furious finale with the "Venice by Night" and the "Heavy Metal Head Banger" events. So our visitor numbers are still on a very high level. Thanks to the Halloween themes we had a lot of donations for our contests this month and so the highest amount of jackpots was distributed this month. In total we distributed 23,750 L$ and winnings to our guests. There were 427 people in the voting who received more or less. That makes an average win per event of L$55. Oh God, I sound like my bank advisor today.

Also the number of members in our Sunshine Rocker group has increased again. Also here it stagnated in September and in the meantime the number even decreased. This is because the group is free and SecondLife only allows a limited number of groups. So new members join again and again, but others also leave us. And that even during the week, as some join our group for the weekend and then leave them for other groups. Only to join again the following weekend. We ended the month with 985 members, 10 more than in September. 

Now also the summary for the year so far. We've had 6,476 visitors at 129 events we've hosted so far. 196,750 L$ were distributed to the guests who hopefully used it to shop at the Marketplace and support SecondLife as a whole. In total we had 4,082 votes who received shares of it. I think it's clear to everyone that we want to have fun here and that the Sunshine Realm is not a project with which we end up making a profit. Our "win" or incentive is the fun our friends have and the enthusiasm. And we have that regardless of how many visitors come.

Maybe you'll come by one day. If you are already a resident of SecondLife, all you have to do is follow the landmark. If not yet, you can become a resident for free and create an account, and the software is also free. So nothing stands in the way of a trip into the beautiful, virtual world. And if you find friends and you come to us together, you can take part in the contest and win L$ and build your avatar step by step. On the page "Upcoming Events" you can find information about upcoming events and if you bookmark the page, you can always check it again, because we update the page regularly.