i get asked a lot (well, a few times a week) about what i recommend for a Second Life alternative. i don’t consider myself an expert and actually consider myself just persistent (maybe if i was an expert i would get to bed earlier!)

at least i alternated the colours =p

i’d like to think of myself as pretty average for virtual world stuff. now i do have the perspective of having had sims in Second Life but a fool and their money are soon parted, so that is not a reflection of expertise! but i do have loads of everyday experience – just doing those things that many of us do in the virtual world – just being a resident =)

i love to terraform and build but am horrible at making clothes (i will be in my current outfit forever i think!). i did get all crazy and dump my leather bracelets for some neon coloured wrist bands! talk about lack of originality! just a tiny torus duplicated and coloured with solid colours!!!  that kind of proves that point!  =D

but as an “average” avatar, i think my perspective can help others see a bit through my eyes and maybe learn from my mistakes (and sometimes successes!) \o/

when i do make recommendations, they are from my heart and truly what i think fits the person’s needs who is asking

like most people, i have loads of opinions on just about anything – but like most people,

they are just blah, blah, blah =)

one thing i get asked is what to get as a single OpenSim sim. if i was clever enough, i’d install it myself on my own machine, but techy stuff like that makes my eyes roll into the back of my head. i do find it very interesting but don’t have the aptitude to do it (read –> ener gets frustrated, throws tantrums, and has a cow!) good thing i like beef . . . .  =D

so if you are even a bit techy, try installing it yourself. Maria has great instructions on how and the Diva Distro is also well documented. at least with your own installation you won’t be out any money and can get a sense of what OpenSim is like

okay, for the rest of us . . .

a hosting company is a great alternative and what you look for depends on what you want to do. since i am doing the virtual world stuff for a set end goal, my purpose is strongly defined. i am to build 50 plus activity points for science education stuff. so we need multiple sims that can handle 20 concurrent people to start (it probably will not need to handle that many because these are self-paced activities). but who knows, maybe subQuark will want to rent out this stuff to teachers, but that is a ways down the road. for a mini grid of nine to 16 sims, i don’t see any deals out there that even come close to what we have with SimHost. i’ll beat that horse later in another post . . .

many people don’t need something that robust, but they also want something that is close to a Second Life experience

if you want a sim where you can have a home, an art gallery or store, make cars and vehicles, and have a few friends hang out in a residential/workshop setting, then you need something very similar to a Second Life sim

Snoopy Pfeffer is an uber OpenSim expert and has a strong Second Life background (plus she has an MBA from URoc, so she is no slouch). i mention this because she has an excellent online reputation and does not BS about this stuff

she understands that many people looking to try OpenSim are just like me – coming from only knowing Second Life. if you read this blog, you know that i had a really hard time making the transition. had i understood the differences better or had my expectations better matched the reality of what i was getting into, it would have been way smoother

it seems that Snoopy really gets that part. her services include groups (omg, you have to have groups), money (PayPal), voice, hypergridding, and even a search that works! sounds minor eh? but that stuff is not always there or as smooth as you think it should be. Second Life does run very well, despite all the moaning and groaning

for a single Sim, Snoopy seems to have something that would be very close to Second Life and for a heck of a price! $45 a month and no setup fee! that is pretty cheap by SL standards and i would trust Snoopy enough to say that what she claims on her website is true (she is not a short timer by any means). see her hosting details here

i base this on looking around online, reading lots of blogs, the actions Snoopy takes, and keeping in mind my past experience. for $45 it’s a pretty safe way to try what should be representative of a good OpenSim experience

if you want to try to judge her with one click, take a look at her twitter stream – she is pretty hardcore about what she does!

shop around, this is just based on my observations and Hypergrid Business has an up-to-date hosting directory that sums up services very well – good luck! =)