Many of you may know Thirza Ember who is very active around the decentralized Hyperverse sector of the Metaverse. Thirza tells us, “I got my first few opensim avatars in the spring of 2009, and soon rented regions on different grids, landing up on Craft Grid. I loved it, and it confirmed for me that opensim is a great place to create and have community.”
Thirza was around for at least one of the earlier gatherings called AvatarFest between 2015 and 2018 succeeded by Opensim Fests in 2019 and 2020. During the global COVID19 pandemic, the festival was missed in 2021 but this year we renew the tradition with OSFest 2022 and Thirza jumped right back in the deep end to help. She commented, “This is my first OSFest! I attended AvatarFest just as a guest but was not ‘in-world’ for the last two summers so missed the OSFest experience, I'm looking forward to it.” For those who are wondering what ‘in-world’ means, that’s what we call it when we are present as avatars within these virtual worlds that are the foundation of the Metaverse.
When asked about her main interest in using OpenSimulator (OS), she said, “I run a Hypergrid tour group called HG Safari and each week the group goes to a couple of different destinations. The idea is to promote HG travel, help people make their grids and regions better known and more HG friendly.”
Like many who reside, create, work, and play in OS grids, she experienced early generation virtual worlds in SecondLife(SL). She notes there is a distinct difference between them, “Yes, sure, I sometimes have time to go to SL but not often. There is a 'Safari Embassy' in SL, built to help Second Life people learn about what opensim is like.”
When asked about her role as a lead promoter at OSFest2022, she mentioned she plans to do even more, “I have done a little bit of publicity, and I'm going to be a greeter! (Practicing my wave).” Often our skills learned in offline life, sometimes called real life(RL), influence our experiences ‘in-world’. It was no surprise when she commented, “Well, I have been known to go camping in RL, if that answers your question.”
Fun-loving and community-focused, Thirza says, “OSFest is a great way to discover what other grids are doing and I'm looking forward to discovering places I haven't yet visited. Unlike corporate monoliths, Opensim is made up of a huge variety of independent worlds. Despite our many differences, we generally try to get along with one another. That's worth celebrating.”
She doesn’t have much time to make things being so busy with HG Safari but says if she could change one thing in the OS Hyperverse, it would be, “the impatience of newbies. As in the real world, travel is fraught with unexpected delays and things aren't 'just like home' - once you embrace that, it all makes sense.” She hopes people will benefit from their experience attending OSFest. She shared some final thoughts. “I hope people will make new friends and learn about places they haven't yet visited. To the readers of this article - volunteer, exhibit, perform, be part of the experience! You will be glad you did.”
For questions about #OSFest2022, you can reach Thirza in our OSFest Discord community or on the OSFest 2022 grid from July 8-25, 2022. Be sure to follow her blog at https://hgsafari.blogspot.com/