One item that must be in every single one of my Second Life homes is the cookie jar from a whimsical shop called Magic Nook. Recently I had the honor of spending a bit of time with the creator Ayumi Cassini and I would like to introduce her to our readers! We love to start with everyone’s newbie days all of that free bling shoe goodness is too good to pass up! Ayumi explained she found Second Life “in late 2006 I was browsing an IT magazine when I noticed a small feature about Second Life. It caught my attention and after a little bit of hesitation I registered. Second Life was quite different back then - less stable, with database issues, inventory loss and stale transactions happening all the time. It didn’t have mesh or sculpties, flexi prims were a ‘new thing’ and the population was much smaller - but it still was a great place to explore and discover, and fighting technical obstacles was just a natural part of in-world activities.” Our world is much like the real one unique in that part is based in memories created and for Ayumi her “early moments in SL were somewhat lonely. After I finished tutorials on the Orientation Island I was a little bit lost and confused, but once I learned ‘how it all works’ I was amazed at SL possi-
bilities. For me the most exciting thing was that SL connected people around the world. I could log in and enjoy my time with people from any country. Then later came building and scripting and my own store, and that’s probably the thing I miss the most: the beginnings. Everything was new; every new thing learned was a thrill. But I like it where I am now, and wouldn’t change it, wouldn’t want to go back in time. I’ve got memories if needed :)” Life evolves the more creative people in a small space the brighter it becomes and our ideas refined. Ayumi agrees that “Second Life improved significantly since then - both in stability and features available for residents. If I had to choose one improvement, I’d say windlight. It changed everything the way Second Life world looked, the way we experienced it, the way we immersed into the virtual environment. Most residents don’t remember that water used to be just a box of blue colour. Thanks to windlight we have sparkling reflections of sunlight on waves formed by wind. How truly amazing, fantastic and wonderful is that? It definitely turned SL into a delight for photographers, and with dynamic shadows SL became an incredibly unique and beautiful place.”