InWorldz on the move

This weekend will see InWorldz move to a new hosting service. The move, after months of planning, was announced at the start of the month, and should take place over Friday 15th / Saturday 17th November, 2012.

Announcing the move, Beth Reischl (known as Elenia Llewellyn in-world), one on the InWorldz LLC co-founders, said:

As an international company, who deals with 1/3 of our customers being outside of the US, it has long been apparent to us that it can be very difficult for our global customers to connect and enjoy their time here. While we have striven to help each one that has had issues, we also realized a need to be able to scale our services globally for our residents. While scaling services globally is important, so too is our bottomline costs, and keeping those in line with what we expect our residents to pay for. We have always strove for keeping our costs down, so that we can pass that on to our residents. Combining these two pieces of information, along with the amount of asset storage we hold, we felt it was the right time to look for a company that could provide us with a long term roadmap that would benefit our global customers, keep our costs down, and do this at a time where our migration process wouldn’t be harmful to our residents.

As a result, InWorldz will be relocating to RackSpace, where their servers will initially be located at that company’s facilities in Elk Ridge, Illinois. However, an important factor in the move is that it will enable InWolrdz to expand their servers into target areas such as the UK, Hong Kong and Australia.

This move also brings to an end InWorldz relationship with CariNet, their current hosting provider, with who they announced a joint venture back in July 2011, and reflects the founder’s commitment to growing their business and their community.

The shutdown is scheduled to commence at 03:00 PST / IWT on the 16th November and, assuming all goes according to plan, re-opening at 03:00 PST / IWT on Saturday 17th November.

PhysX Deployment

Alongside the expansion notice, Reischl confirmed that InWorldz will undertake deployment of their nVidia / GeForce PhysX physics engine implementation across their entire grid as a part of the migration. PhysX has been under development for InWorlz for some time, and recent deployment saw it added to water regions in the InWorldz grid to enable some final testing and bug-fixing to take place, and well as allowing users to try the new engine out without impacting the entire grid.

Both of these moves should substantially increase both the appeal of InWorldz and its ability to manage growth in the coming years. Possibly in recognition of this, InWorldz LLC has contracted Pooky Media to develop machinimia films which will form the backbone of the company’s marketing  and promotion activities commencing in 2013.

With thanks to Hypergrid Business.

Relay for Life of InWorldz kickoff rally

August 25th will see the start of the first ever Relay for Life season held in InWorldz, with a special kick-off rally.

The three-month event will run through until November 17th and has the full support of the American Cancer Society.

Other key dates for the season include:

• Saturday September 22nd: RFL of InWorldz Half-way Event
• Friday November 2nd through Sunday November 4th: RFL of InWorldz Relay for Life Weekend
• Saturday 17th November: RFL of InWorldz Closing Party.

The theme for this inaugural season is Colour of Hope, as featured in the season’s banner, as seen in the video, above.

The kick-off rally will be held on Dreamscapes of Poseidon (IWurl), commencing at midday IW time (PDT). It presents a chance for participants to learn how their involvement benefits the American Cancer Society’s goal to save lives and create more birthdays and the opportunity to meet the Society’s IW representative as well as gain inspiration from DJ KyFire Oakleaf’s library of originals created by all those who have been involved in the fight against cancer, including survivors, caregivers and loved ones of those who sadly succumbed to the disease.

Kick-off Rally Schedule

• 12:00 pm KyFire Oakleaf – RFL Songs
• 12:15 pm Hairy Thor Chair
• 12:22 pm RFL Video
• 12:30 pm TIGGS Beaumont
• 12:37 pm KyFire
• 12:40 pm Sting Raymaker
• 12:50 pm KyFire Oakleaf- closing.

Following the kick-off rally, the season will comprise a number of events held within InWorldz, culminating in the Relay Weekend itself at the start of November. In it, individuals and teams will camp out, picnic, dance, play games and take turns circling around a track “relay” style to raise funds and fight cancer. The Relay Weekend will open  with cancer survivors leading the way around the track and being honoured in the Survivor Lap. They will be followed throughout the day by groups, teams and individuals participating in the track walk which will continue over 24 hours, and the weekend will include the beautiful, moving and silent luminaira ceremony, in which lights are lit in memory of a loved one who won the fight against cancer or in remembrance of a special someone who lost their battle.

Relay For Life represents hope in that those lost to cancer will not be forgotten, that those who face cancer will be supported, and that one day, cancer will be eliminated.

Related Links

• RFL of InWorldz media contacts: Bain Finch or Wildstar Beaumont at RFLofIW.PR@Gmail.com
• RFL of InWorldz blog
• RFL of InWorldz Team Registration form (also see team registration notes)
• RFL USA (American Cancer Society)
• RFL UK (Cancer Research)

Inworldz: Homes and Residences exhibition

Running throughout September, the Inworldz Homes and Residences exhibition covers four sims within InWorldz and provides some 42 exhibits to explore on foot or in the air. The exhibition offers InWorldz residents the chance to take a look as homes, pools, garden items and furniture  from some of the grid’s top creators.

The Homes and Residences sims

The setting is somewhat rural in styling, with exhibitor plots neatly laid out in plenty of greenery, while the central area where the four sims meet incorporates a grid system of roads and foot paths.

Each exhibition plot has a large sign out front for displaying the creator’s logo / image, and which includes a giver for both the creator’s notecard and a landmark to their main store / sim.

A typical display

You can wander around the sims, or fly on your own or – in a marvellously refined option – take a hot air balloon around each of the sims, with up to three fellow passengers. The balloons can be flown, rather than running on a scripted route, with PAGE UP / DOWN controlling height, and the ARROW keys controlling direction. You can even get a glass of champers to enjoy during your flight. When you’re done, simply STAND UP and the balloon with auto-return to its start-point, leaving you free to roam on foot.

Drifting over the exhibition

There is a slight caveat to taking a balloon, however, Currently, InWorldz doesn’t support scripted objects crossing sim boundaries Twhich might or might not still apply when you visit. During my preview visit (September 1st,) the balloons were scripted to stop at sim boundaries. An explanatory notecard stated this was to do with issues with scripted objects crossing sim boundaries. As you can see from the comments at the end of this piece, this is apparently no longer the case, but the balloons within the exhibition sims had not be updated with revised scripts, etc. Hopefully, this will be corrected now it has been noted.

There are a few “special” landmarks to visit as well, including a live events stage and dance area, and the Bates Motel of Psycho fame (once a common find within Second Life many years ago, and thus something of a memory-jogger).

Sim crossing may be an issue with scripted objects, but they don’t present any problem when on foot. InWorldz has some of the smoothest sim crossings I’ve encountered, and this was certainly true wandering around the exhibition.

The exhibits themselves demonstrate a range of styles and approaches, from “traditional”  house designs through to the more esoteric – tree houses, etc., – and the futuristic.

A more futuristic build

Overall the exhibition presents a good opportunity for InWorldz content creators to showcase their wares, and for residents to take a look at what is on offer and gain landmarks to stores to check-out more. The balloon rides are a pleasant experience, and there are some well thought-out plots in the sims that encourage exploration.

Why not take time out and go see for yourself?

Sim Landmarks

• InWorldz Events A
• InWorldz Events B
• InWorldz Events C
• Inworldz Events D

A personal favourite

InWorldz announces Joint Venture

InWorldz LLC, operators of the fast-growing InWorldz grid have today announced a significant joint venture with CariNet Inc. a quality-oriented service provider in the USA, to build a redundant 3D virtual world grid.

The Press Release from InWorldz reads in full:

InWorldz, LLC and CariNet Inc. To Power Virtual World Technology and Hosting Through Joint Venture

Venture to focus on quality of service, scalability, and core software to
promote growth and technical innovation

NY and SAN DIEGO, CA , July 30, 2011 – InWorldz, LLC a leading provider of virtual world services and CariNet Inc. a quality-oriented provider of dedicated servers, server clusters, and cloud computing announce plans to form a joint venture to build a redundant 3D virtual world grid capable of high performance and fast growth.

The venture builds around the original vision of the InWorldz founders. Known to their customers mainly by their pseudonyms, Elenia Llewellyn (real name Beth Reischl), Legion Hienrichs (real name John Arnolde), and Tranquillity Dexler (real name David Daeschler) have supported the continuing vision that everyone should be able to experience virtual world technologies and services in a way that enhances their lives and their own vision. Since it’s inception in February of 2009, InWorldz, LLC has listened to customer feedback and demand to provide it’s residents with the software, hardware, and tools they need to create dramatic simulations ranging from vast and mystical oceans, to artistic  depictions of real world cities. Building on a strong customer community and a solid technical background, the InWorldz grid has grown to over 800 customer owned regions on word of mouth alone.

CariNet Inc. has been a hosting leader since 1997, offering a wide variety of hosting options including dedicated servers, server clusters, public and private cloud offerings as well as server virtualization hypervisors. CariNet Inc. builds, owns and operates all of their datacenters and are capable of handling customers and demands of any size. CariNet Inc. currently services 7500+ customers around the globe.

CariNet Inc. provides a strong background and expertise in all things hosting. The CariNet team consists of a dedicated group of individuals willing to go the extra mile to make sure they have a quality product their customers can rely on. From power, to network, to hardware and software, CariNet Inc. has created a strong backbone for any business to tether their dreams to and let them run.

Enablement is the shared theme that has brought CariNet Inc. and InWorldz, LLC together. The joint venture will provide InWorldz with access to the latest in hardware and software technology available to support efficiency and scalability. Powered by this venture, InWorldz will have access to systems and expertise that will increase the effectiveness of their business processes, free up development resources, and increase profitability. The joint venture will provide both companies with the opportunity to continue to explore the growing virtual world market and provide the services and support that enable the individual as well as organizations who will use virtual world technologies in the future.

For further information contact:

Beth Reischl: Tel. (630) 504-8449; Email: press@inworldz.com