Google Plus to Close! Opensim Virtual comes to Minds.

It was a sad day to learn that Google plus social media platform will be shutting over the next ten months. This really was a bitter disappointment and a blow to the Opensim community that has come to rely on it to reach a wider public than just Second Life alone. I saw the potential to reach existing and new Opensim users as soon as they launched G+ back in December 2012. It wasn't perfect but it had an easy names policy and I just went for it and created the Opensim Virtual community which everyone knows has been a great success. I think it was the first and grew quickly to lead the field with over 2000 members while others opened their own communities for services and in support of grids. Opensim Virtual turned into a popular community for news and promotions as well as help, plenty of friendly advice and social exchange.

Okay, for those who don't know what Opensim is let me point out that Opensim is just short of Open Simulator which is an open source virtual worlds platform based on Second Life protocols. Surely everyone has heard of Second Life?

No? Well, Second Life has been around since 2003 and was the first virtual world to have an economy with currency and tools that enabled users to create all manner of virtual products from Avatar appearance, clothes and accessories to buildings and vehicles of all types including cars, boats and planes - even spacecraft! A user can terraform a region, or space, in the world and invite other users to come hangout, socialize and roleplay.

Well, Opensim is basically the same but not owned by a company. The software is open source and the product of an enthusiastic community of part-time developers. They basically cloned Second Life and made it possible for anyone to set up their own world or grid on their own server. Thus, Opensim is a decentralized network of grids where a user can teleport from one grid to another with their full appearance and a suitcase folder to buy products and collect freebies for their own grid. All the grids connect across, what we call, the Hypergrid which is the nearest thing to a 3D internet.

Okay, so much for what Opensim is, let me get back to why I set up a group in Minds to support of the Opensim community. As I said, we enjoyed Google plus and most of us hated Facebook partly because they kept banning our friends for using their avatar names while Google plus accepted them. But also because most of us objected to Facebook's data mining and selling it like we were cattle to be herded and force fed the Facebook world view for the benefit of the paying advertisers. Moreover, we all know what the giant tech companies like Facebook are up to now. We know that we are entering a new dark age where a cloud has descended upon free speech and history is being re-written. We want no part of that Orwellian future the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and those other billionaire elitists plan for us so I hope very much Minds will offer us the best option for our social media going forward. Fingers crossed.

Come join the Opensim Virtual group in Minds to learn more or, if you prefer the Adult side of social media then join The Adult Metaverse.

Opensim Virtual: https://www.minds.com/groups/profile/899989169831641088

The Aduult Metaverse: https://www.minds.com/groups/profile/900390197974441984

Metaverse Traveller blog: https://metaverse-traveller.blogspot.com/