Graelwyn

Got a notecard in sl from someone having a sale due to moving over to this new looking grid.

I note some well known sl designers are already in the welcome area, very much like a young sl there, and full prim sims selling for $40 with $40 a month tier. I must admit, it is the first non sl grid that has appealed to me, albeit mainly due to the low price of land, and the ease of buying it.

Anyone else in this grid, or know how long it has been around?

Chalice Yao

Grid List/Avination - OpenSim

I think I remember when the predecessor was being worked on..I think we had an SLU post about it too. hmmh..

EDIT:

Has anyone heard of Avination?

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Graelwyn

Ah cool, I didn't realise it was opensim. It is looking promising either way and I am itching to get my hands on my own sim, lol.

Kabalyero

I checked Avination out and it's kinda empty right now but I did get some free hairs though.

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Marcel Flatley

Took a look at their website, where the latest news if from September 2010. The forum is empty. The management shows 1 person, that is about it.

Anyone knows how many residents are actually there?

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Kabalyero

I was in Avination City today, which is their Roleplay Welcome Sim, and there was an Avination staff hanging around. I didn't talk to her because she was kinda busy with something.

Candace Morgwain

I'm currently setting up shop there. So are a few of my friends. They've attracted Vista Animations, Akeyo Mocap, Redgrave Skins, Nikita Fride, Gothicatz, Xcite has a presence (no store yet)...it's looking promising, more so than others.

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Belaya

I'm pretty surprised to see a place so openly hostile to creator freedom and openly holds the average user in contempt.

Within moments of a friend asking where she might find some free clothes to spruce up her starter avatar, a 'helper' said rather snidely that 'they don't support copybotted content' and proceeded to lecture my friend. Apparently on this grid, 'freebie' == 'copybot'. The grid owner was then teleported in by this staffer to share her idea that apparently the average person is, and I am quoting:

Melanie Milland: the kind who never contributes anything for as long as they live

She then made a big deal to insist that their policy is that people are never to give out their own creations unless they sell more than they give away and never with full permissions. This sounds like someone's pet economic dogma being forced upon everyone else. Fantastic.

Not to mention, the welcome area apparently thinks having trash all over the place is welcoming.



So what we have here is a grid that isn't 1:1 feature parity with SL, but fosters this sort of rather hostile attitude and thinks an economy is going to spring forth because... WELL BECAUSE. I personally wouldn't go near this place with a ten foot pole because this very much screams 'THIS IS MY PRIVATE RANDIAN KINGDOM' from the one and only official staffer.

Oh and it was a ghost town, too. The End.

Schwartz G

I checked it out today.

The new resident experience is actively hostile. Upon login, you're dropped into an empty Welcome island with absolutely no information or guidance about where to go next, just a couple of dance balls and an empty plaza. There's a "real" welcome area, but it's a dilapidated lot surrounded by stores and vendors, as part of Avination's "spend money or get out" policy. The one staff member I found didn't reply to any questions, and there were no other groups of people I could find on the map, just a lot of unpopulated store sims.

You're strongly encouraged to buy Avination currency (C$); you're given one set of non-mod clothes to start with and absolutely nothing else, and the management actively punishes people who hand out items for free. Prices are roughly at parity with prices in SL, and you can buy C$1000 for US$4, but suspiciously I didn't see anywhere on the website where you could cash out.

It's a virtual dead mall. Skip unless you've got delusions of selling your internet clothes for Beenz to the handful of people who aren't scared away by the hard sell.

Han Held

Holy hell...normally I like to go sign up and check out new[ish] grids when I hear about them but after reading you and Belaya's accounts I'm going to give those assholes a wide, wide berth.

Thank you both for telling us what's up with them!

Anonymous Resident

I feel so strongly about AviNation i registered here just to reply to post...

I am not here to cause drama so i will not comment on my own feelings, but have a few honest truths/facts about AviNation that can be checked and verified, they may help this discussion...

The owner of the grid calls herself a Goddess and likes to play that role to the full.

She is dictating to merchants there that they CAN NOT offer freebies to noobs or anybody else for that matter un-less they can sell more of that item that they can give away...

She requires payment information on file if you want to be able to transfer items! (not quite yet but told by her it is coming soon)...

She is a D.J. and un-professionally spams EVERYBODY logged in the whole grid with a drop down box when she is playing to go and join her at her gig...

The "big names" that are supposedly there have empty or near empty sims with very little for sale on them, probably offered for free so that Avination can claim they are there... eg. Redgrave - a handful of skins, Akeyo Mocap - 5 dances, Gothicatz - empty sim, Vista Animations - basic A.O.s nothing else, Xcite - empty sim...

Instead of uploads being free as is normal in other new/starting up grids, you have to apply to the Grid Owner for upload Credits! (this is probably so that she can enforce her no-freebies rule and keep a tab on the other stringent rules and guidelines she enforces on merchants, but that is just my opinion)...

The welcome area has no information, no help, no freebies, you are just given no-mod outfit and have to buy everything else...

The majority of sims on there are owned by merchants (most empty) not residents who buy products but creators who make products (probably not an economy that would promote a healthy income for a merchant)...

The showcase is full of un-heard of stores and most of those are near empty when you get there, search does not work well either...

one other thing to remember is that the second you upload anything to a grid of any description, that grid owner has your creations full perms on their server, all you have is their word that they will not abuse this and steal your creations, that is not directed at Avination itself more a point to think about before you spend your valuable time and energy on any new grid...

I am not asking for drama, just giving you the facts so that you can be more informed and make up your own minds...

In my opinion it is an un-welcoming grid that does not appeal to customers, it is easy as a merchant to be swept along with the idea that this is the next big thing, but when you look at it from a normal residents perspective it is in fact a very un-welcoming and un-friendly place to be with very little there that is any good and nothing there that you can have without needing money STRAIGHT AWAY! lets face it, it is these people we need to attract to any new grid to keep the economy on that grid stable, i believe the answer to the SL economy is not running away to another grid, but staying and fighting, after all the people who ran to in-worldz have now learned it was a waste of time and effort...

sorry for the long post especially as it is my first, but i just don't want to see anybody else suckered in & waster their time, money and talents...

Autumn Osterham

There are two welcome islands, Avination Welcome and Welcome. Avination Welcome is the roleplay (it's dark roleplay, you know dirty?) and Welcome is more the mainstream pretty building type welcome area. I got a choice of where I wanted to land when I made my account.

I'm still on the fence about it but the fact they discourage freebies and chronic freeloaders is appealing to me

Argent Stonecutter

Sounds like someone is trying to create a Blue Mars experience on OpenSim.

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Gaga Gracious

I haven't been to Avination yet so I reserve judgement but it sounds to me like they are taking a strong line against content thieft which, in my view, is no bad thing. However, it also sounds like the grid managers are not exactly tactful which can't do them a lot of good.

Johnnytreadlightly Nightfire

Hard to make a judgement about any grid you haven't been to personally, so one day I'll probably give it a shot. The reviews here are pretty intimidating though, so I'm not getting in any hurry. Doesn't sound great so far. There's a difference between taking a hard line on content theft and being hostile to creators. I'd be interested to hear from people active on the grid.

If anyone is interested, Ayla Holt wrote a blog entry and discusses some of the names involved (both business and avatar names). I've never had any experiences with any of these people or grids so don't really have anything to add. Maybe they'll be familiar to some of you or maybe someone can verify/deny.

Aliselia Aeon

I've heard other stories about hostility from these people, but one never really knows if this kind of thing is true without experiencing it oneself. The more I hear the more hesitant I am about checking it out, though. Especially after my bad experiences with 2 other grids. For now I'm just sticking with SL and one other.

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bcsiszer

OK. I logged in just so I could see for myself. I was a victim of Legend City and the person who runs this grid is indeed one of the core staff of legend city. There were absolutely NO freebies that I could find on the whole grid. My avi was uglier than one on a freebie roleplaying game i have. One person was at the mall, where I arrived at to instruct me on how to buy credits after acknowledging i looked like crap and needed to fix myself up. I am not someone who lives off of freebies, but I just didnt want to buy credits til i decided if i liked the place or not (especially since i had over 100 usd worth of credits in legend city when they went poof i never got refunded for!) . I am not an approved content creator yet so I cannot upload my own stuff.....so basically, don't waste your time imho!

Lance Corrimal

does that mean that after two years of getting nowhere they will move to the mobile market and die?

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Han Held

I'm in the same position, and I don't even know who Ayla Holt is -but there's a grand total of two articles on her blog, both about how bad the Avination people are and how she's staying with Inworldz.

She may be right, or not -but that raises a red flag with me.

Aliselia Aeon

All I can tell you is that I know Alya from InWorldz and she is a very sweet person and she is going through a lot in RL. I know that probably doesn't tell you about what you want to know about her, though. I know nothing about Aviation except what I have heard here, so I am no help in that area.

bcsiszer

I know her and know she did extensive research. If you do not believe what it there, Google it. Its there for anyone who wants to see. I always research things before I believe them as well. That is why I logged in. I wanted to see if people were describing the experience correctly. You may have a different take on it.

Han Held

I see her latest entry is a hatchet job on Meta7 -so apparently she doesn't have time to blog except to do take-down pieces on competing grids?

The smell of bullshit is getting stronger...

bcsiszer

Sometimes the truth stinks. Feel free to do you own research.

Han Held

People who throw poo rarely have clean hands.

And that's the truth.

Aliselia Aeon

Meta 7 is one of the grids I left. I had...issues....with the place and the people who owned/ran it. I won't go into it more than that. If you don't believe Ayla I suggest going and checking things out on your own instead of sitting back and throwing "poo" in her direction.