We, the SLN staff, are creatures of habit. While Areola and Pookes have long since embraced a mesh enabled viewer, Harry and I have been stuck on Phoenix. My decision to stick with Phoenix is probably less important from your, the reader’s, perspective. But Harry has long been a Phoenix viewer, and has stuck with it. However, Phoenix’s decision to discontinue development has forced our hand. As usual, although there has been little apparent activity on the blog since Christmas Eve, we’ve been working away in the background, and for Harry and I that has been on the most basic level, simply playing the game with new viewers, Firestorm for both of us.

As we’ve popped on line, Harry has been an apparently permanent fixture, playing with and apparently liking Firestorm, as it offers a wider range of light for him to take photographs with. I’m still feeling a little like a noob, finding controls no longer being where I expect them to be, menus hiding in different spots. However, I’ve taken time to experiment while modelling for Harry, who has been photographing the staff as an exercise in experimenting with his new viewer.

I expect that 2013 will see a whole new visual perspective applied to the blog, as well as, on occasion, mesh playing a role in how we demonstrate items such as naturist accessories. Areola has already long since grasped mesh, and you can look through back posts to see her wearing a bath robe as just that, as a mesh naturist accessory.

I think I need to buy one of those G&N robes now that I’m all meshed up!

Expect at least some mesh items to be reviewed in 2013!

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Another change, one we’ve already trailed, is the Moonella Group, which will provide inworld notices and occasional gifts. More to follow on this. We’re also going to be much more pro-active in getting news from the various sims, so that we can trail all the naturist news from SL throughout 2013.

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And finally, a further change will that we’re going to embrace real life naturist photos more readily. Hitherto these have only been ‘faceless’ photos which Harry has tried to replicate in the context of SL and SLN. While we aren’t going to become a naturist photos site, I’ve agreed that Harry should have greater freedom to utilise RL photos to better illustrate a world of virtual naturism in SL. This doesn’t necessarily mean naked bodies either, but could just as readily mean location photographs. I shall let Harry explain all in due course.

So, finally, those photos of SL in a different light.

Have a Happy New Year, wherever you are, and we’ll see you in 2013!

Ella.

(Ella adds: (2nd January 2013) ‘I’ve been wrestling with Firestorm for a few days, and I don’t like it. It appears, from the Phoenix website, many others don’t like it either. While Phoenix remains live, I’m stating my intention to return and stick with it, regardless of its ‘degradation over time’, in the hope a decent Phoenix alternative arrives at some point. I know that this means that mesh, for me, is not a possibility, but I really don’t care at this point. I’m finding Firestorm very, very user unfriendly.)