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12 There in 2009
Feburary 2009
2-27-09 in a tie in with Hush Puppies There releases a specialty Hush Puppies dog!
March 2009
New partnerships included Spin Magazine (with some clothing and magazine covers) and Viz.com with Bleach anime gear!
Coke added more specialty itemws to thier store.
More island hoods off Aurora were released.
There offered a contract position for writing a basic help tutorial for developers.
March 2-8 There holds a neighborhood fair. 50 spaces were provided, and many were filled in time for the start of the fair at a neighborhood with remarkably flat land! There Fair Grounds!
3-11-09 The new MAB ( ) is introduced officialy - after several members are mentioned at a developer meeting acccidentaly.
Delonya
dj_tam_urradio
DLMcKenzie2004
FemmieD_GayGrrl
Lynn88588
MeadowAngel
nikidaeman
Pressleigh
softlydreaming
Spookie
Trent7
Wabbs
3-19-09 Brings a new Beta Test
-- card game MotuMotu (based off the card game MauMau) which allows 2-4 players.
-- updates to the Welcome Walkway - new blimp exit area. Removal of building models.
-- 4 new hairstyles for women (without hats!)
-- verification of the Cards and Quests functionality prior to the upgrade of those servers in production
-- Real Estate functionality verification
The card game causes many people to seg violate upon starting a new games. The Hairstyles look fantastic and are well approved of. The Blimp on the welcome walkway meets with some confusion. While many agreet that showtinging the walkway was a good thing, several are upset over the loss of the beautiful cruise ship. The replacement blimp features the frist new rotating obejct animation seen in there since the introduction of the flying hot tubs.
3-26-09 VIZ Media partnership starts with There.com selling colthing inspired by the Bleach anime series. There hosts a special event to celebrate at Tropical Adventures theme park.
3-27-09 SPIN magazine beings it's partnership with There offering posters of magazine covers, clothing and more.
3-28-09 The MAB holds it's first Meet The MAB event at the MAB Boardroom.
There auctioned off even more fizones (auctions ended on March 30th)
Red Bowl HoverBoard Park - nor relaly a race track, but the description makes it seem like it is!
http://webapps.prod.there.com/funzone/funzone?op=view&id=535447164
Pinnacle Hill - Paintball Zone
http://webapps.prod.there.com/funzone/funzone?op=view&id=40001010
Spice Slope Stage - Trivia enabeled stage
http://webapps.prod.there.com/funzone/funzone?op=view&id=108911628
And causing a bit of minor forum controversy the Sleepy K Memorial Racetrack
SleepyK
http://webapps.prod.there.com/funzone/funzone?op=view&id=535294293
Also on March 30th Vertex announces "Alpha Testing" of the new Unser Interface. At first There is looking for 20 volunteers in the following post. Screenshots which came with this shoewd a UI that allowed for a new IM window that could be displayed outside of the clent and an easier way of configuring some settings via a checkbox sheet.
Hello,
As many of you may know, we've been updating the client everyone connects to There with. One of these areas is the "User Interface" or "UI". By this we mean the menu bar at the bottom, buddy windows, chat windows, everything you see which isn't part of the 3D world or a web page. The system we have in production is a mish-mash of different technologies each designed for a single purpose. Needless to say, it's quite difficult to expand them. So we've uprooted most of them and replaced the UI with a software framework from Nokia (formerly Trolltech) known as "Qt", which has been developed since the early 90s. Along with all of the other niceties Qt brings, work done on developing the Qt UI will be supported on Macintosh OSX and other operating systems. This doesn't mean we'll be releasing an OSX client soon, but Qt has already simplified the complex process of porting.
The major goal in this release is not to improve the way the UI functions but to replace the technology behind it so our eventual redesign will have many more options available. It may not seem like a large improvement, but we've specifically tried to retain the original There design until we can take a proper look at designing a UI that's accessible and inclusive to new members as well as old. That being said, some of us frankly couldn't help ourselves in trying out some of the new functions Qt gives us and we've included some small tweaks which we think you'll enjoy.
We're now ready to start a very limited alpha test of this new technology. By "limited", we mean that we're going to start with 20 very brave volunteers from the community, and go (slowly) from there.
We know (from previous testing endeavors) that many, many people will want to help us test, but we believe that by going slowly we'll be able to deliver an incrementally better product as we expand the program, as opposed to delivering a less good product to more people.
So those that are still interested in being squeaky guinea pigs, here's what to expect:
1. This is ALPHA software. In addition to having nearly every interface for controlling your avatar reworked or at least touched, we've moved to a different compiler. Please keep in mind that this client may not work at all for you. We certainly hope that isn't the case, as we've done quite a bit of testing internally, but we can't guarantee anything for our first release into the wild.
2. Installing this will probably mess up your ability to patch your normal client. Patches may stop this client from working correctly. We may block everyone from being able to enter There with this client if we find a major issue. Upgrading to new versions of either the production There client or this UI client will likely require a full reinstall.
3. We'll need to get detailed bug reports when you find an issue. The phrase "Organizer is freezing my client" may also apply to the case of "I have 2000+ items in my inventory, and any time after the first that I open Organizer my client freezes for half a minute." but the former is relatively useless in reproducing and fixing the problem described in the latter. And yes, that is a bug that we recently fixed in the production client. So we'll need you to follow the following guidelines when submitting bugs.
1. What client version number you're using (it's printed on the title bar of the client in windowed mode)
2. A detailed description of the issue:
2.1. Include screenshots to help describe the issue if appropriate
2.2. In the case of an error or crash, what you were doing at the time it happened. If you can consistently reproduce it those instructions are very helpful.
3. Please provide the log files from C:\Makena\There\ThereClient [ There.log and any crashdump files ].
4. In the case of an unexpected result, describe what you did, the actual result, and what the expected result was.
5. To help us reproduce what you are seeing, please provide a dxdiag report of your computer:
5.1. From the Windows desktop, click the Start button. Choose Run... type in dxdiag and run
5.2. Click Yes on the dialogs that come up, wait for the application to finish (there's a progress bar it the bottom left), click the Save All Information button and sent it to us.
4. Please don't pass around or host this software. Screenshots, tours, first looks and the like should be fine, but we can't accept bugs or offer support for anyone but those we give the software to. It makes our lives simpler, which in turn makes the next phase of testing come sooner.
5. If you aren't in the test group and use super black ops ninja skills to get the Alpha software (or someone sent you a link, see #4), then all bets are off. Please keep in mind that this software will likely mess up your current There installation and if your avatar turns into a goat or something equally unpleasant, we can't help you.
If, after all that, you're still interested, post your name here. We'll begin selecting our first 20 victims.
Let the games begin!
April
4-13-09 Michael Wilson announces there will be no official real life gathering this year.
Hi folks,
Over the past weeks, a number of you have asked whether Makena plans to host an official real-life gathering this year. According to the schedule of past gatherings, this would be considered "our" year to have one.
We have decided /not/ to proceed with a real-life gathering in 2009. We know that many of you enjoy attending these gatherings (as do we) and will be disappointed by this news. However, we also hope you will understand that in this economic climate, travel - both for us and for our members - has to be far more carefully considered.
As many of you know, when Makena hosts a RLG, we feel compelled to make it as complete as possible, and this year, we even felt we should have it other than far-away-a-fornia. When we added it all up, and compared it to that cost of, say, an CS or Community or Engineering staff member, we decided you'd rather see us spend the money there than on a RLG this year.
Even though we won't be seeing you in person, there will be opportunities for you to meet and mingle with each other and with staff in world. For example, next Wednesday (April 15th) is the Makena Anniversary party, a special event to celebrate our 4th year as a company. You can sign up here:
http://webapps.prod.there.com/eventmgmt/eventmgmt?op=view&id=667758844
Also, we hope to have another special in-world event later this summer, around the time we would usually be doing the RLG and/or State of There address.
We hope we will see you at next week's Anniversary party. And where possible, we also encourage you to organize your own mini RLG events, so you can meet and connect with other Thereians in your area. It's always great fun to get to know the people behind the avatars.
And, as always, you'll continue to see the staff and I in-world, in the forums, and via email. Since we won't be seeing you in person this year, we'll make sure we spend more time staying in touch.
P.S. BTW, if you're about to say "Well, michaelwilson, I don't see _you_ in world for more than a few minutes", it's because I'm helping out on the OSX / Mac client, and it's not quite ready for long visits or voice yet :-).
In late April as part of a spring event a differen thandheld item was given out for free at special locations and on arrivial island via the new despenser tiki signs. The itmes included
A special spring time drink
Animated swarm of butterfiles
Animated pinwheel and popcorn
Animated kite ( a second version was given out at the Makena celebration on the 15th)
Animated bubble bottle and wand blower
4-15-09 Makena Technologies hosts a celebration of the fourth years. Several layers are set up and decorated. There is a special Spring Kite that was only avalible at this event, and only to participants in various events. Two of the layers had no prior setup and lacked many of the events.
May
5-2-09 Voting begins in the Super Hero Designer Challenge
Disky won first palce for Insecta Alien, Virtual Vikki took second for Super Proto Vixen and the beautiful Pink Violet took third place.
5-4-09 Inactive club deletions are announced to be coming soon.
5-14-09 Multip layered prom event proves to be a huge draw! With the theme Fly Me To The Moon" this event was something speical. There were meny free items to collect including a limited Coke Can, some lipstick and hair, and a moon shaped chair. Members could have thier pictures taken and posted on Flickr. There was dancing and more!
5-15-09 Spring Gardent contest Winner announced
We're pleased to announce that Aradriel has received 1st place for the Smugglers Grove garden.
Congratulations to Jeli for winning 2nd place in the 2009 Spring Garden Contest for Catalina Island Gardens!
Congratulations to Tumble_Weed for winning 3rd place in the Spring Garden Contest for TumBlin Garden Pond!
5-21-09 Town Hall Meetin with Michael Wilson and membes of the MAB.
http://www.therefuntimes.com/ThereTownHallMeeting052109.mp3
Mr. Wilson mentions the words "Black Friday" at one point.
5-27-09 FUNimation specialty shops opens with some ubber cute cat and mouse hats for women and men!
June
6-1-09 Michael Wilson announces the reevaluation of realestate products, while some There House prices went down, some fuzones rent increased by over 200%
__________________________________
Members,
Over the past few weeks, we have been reevaluating the lineup of Real Estate products we offer you, our members.
Many of you may not know this, but there are over twenty different kinds of real estate offered in There if you count the sizes and varieties of Lots, Neighborhoods, PortaZones, ThereHouses, FrontierZones, FunZones, etc, etc. On top of that, we discovered we had at least that many price points, some of them apparently set without rhyme or reason many years ago.
The goal of this review was threefold: Establish a framework for the introduction of new features, simplify the pricing structure where possible, and, finally, make sure we cover our costs in developing and operating various offerings.
The ?new features? I mention is that the drop counts for many zone types will be upgraded on July 1, 2009! We know that this has been one of the ?Top Ten? member requests for many years and we?re happy to (finally) make this available. In fact, there is already a 100-drop zone in world (There Community Gardens) which you can drop by and visit if you like.
I will provide a link at the end of this post to a Help Central article where you can see a breakdown of the new drop count increases.
Now, adding this functionality was not free. Contrary to urban myth, we just didn?t go into the There code base and change all occurrences of ?50? to ?100?. This work required significant work from engineering (we had to add support for ?64-bit support? for one thing, for all you geeks out there), we had to QA it, and we had to upgrade the operating systems and, in many cases, the servers to support it.
So, after reviewing everything, we decided we needed to makes some changes, and, for the first time in several years, will be adjusting the monthly rental pricing for Neighborhoods, ThereHouses, ClubHouses, FrontierZones and FunZones starting July 1, 2009.
In some cases this means your rent might go up. For others it might stay the same or even go down. In all cases, you?ll have more drops to play with.
Some of you might ask why we updated some areas and not others, or only updated zones on request to use this technology. We looked at that and decided this wouldn?t be in line with our goal to simplify things.
We have just posted a Help Central article that contains more details about how each type of zone will be affected.
A few things to keep in mind:
? If you currently own a Lot or PortaZone, your rental rates will not be affected. Instead of retroactively upgrading and changing the existing Lots and PortaZones, we will be offering new 100-drop PortaZones and Lots in large decorator-friendly sizes.
? If your rent is changing and your next rental due date is in June, you will not see the changes yet. If your zone is affected, the change will take place on the first rental due date after July 1.
Because these are some pretty big changes and adjustments in pricing are involved, we wanted to give everyone a full month?s notice ahead of time. We also plan to send a follow-up reminder of the impending increase 1 week before the prices actually change.
After reviewing the Help Central article, please post any questions you might have to the forums. We will also hold a special Town Hall meeting where I will answer questions about the upcoming changes.
Help Central Article
http://www.fuzeqna.com/makenasupport/consumer/kbdetail.asp?kbid=1560
Michael Wilson
CEO, Makena Technologies
There were several quick revisions to this plan changing prices to make the break even point possible for hood owners whi say inside there's guidelines for neighborhood drops.
6-9-09 Beta test for:
--Golden Ticket Skill Reward system
--New Installer & Patching
--Updates to the Useage Hud
--Changes to There Forums
--Motu Motu and Gin fixes
6-10-09 Special Town Hall meeting with Michael Wilson - Vash_community, Alex, Spiritus, Helper_Yoko and There_RealEstate were on hand to answer questions as well. Listen to the recording here: http://www.therefuntimes.com/TownHallMeeting061009.mp3
Mr. Wilson used the opportunity to explain to the community why these rent increases were necessary as well as to answer concerns.
6-17-09 There encourages developers to pitch thier developer items to Coca-Cola in a second round of these developer items.
6-17-09 _emma challenged the members of there to look for the hidden tiki idols and upload pictures of them to Shutterbug.
6-18-09 There partner, Spin magazine, unleased a prop guitar in thier specialty shop today.
6-19-09 There decides to release 100 drop PAZ's and lots BEFORE hood owners can take advantage of thier 50 foot additional hood drops on July 1st. Themed hood owners were hurt the most by this unexpected change.
6-26-09 There reorganizes realestate products, and deeds into one section on the auctions, as well as getting rid of the Build-a-Zone section of the shop, by placing many items under Home and Garden.
6-29-09 There gets brand new forum software!
July
7-24-09 New beta test for:
- Our newest card game Habanero Holdem - Habanero Holdem is kind of like Texas Holdem. You can purchase chips, place bets, and even set up and play tournaments. Unlike Texas Holdem you can't actually win $ by playing. To help ensure compliance with online gambling laws, Habanero Holdem winners will simply get the honor and glory of winning and will "skill up" along the way.
- Update_There Patching <bugs fixed>
- High capacity sectors <bugs fixed>
- Dropping from altitude <adjustment made on member request/feedback>
7-?-09 Several staff members are lad off including three greeters and _Emma. Emma's job will be taken over by Mackie (who returned form VMTV shortly before it closed) many members of the community are upset.
August
8-1-09 New house rents, and clubhouse prices go into effect lowering the price on the second largest tiki houses in there to 14 while adding 10 additional drops, and raising the small 'birdhouses' rent to 18k! Many large houses (which were at 21k and higher) were lowered to 18k. The tyr houses droped even lower in price!
8-13-08 Two funzones were openly avalible for the cost of rent at the same time.
8-14-09
There Summer Games 2009 starts with a day long opening ceremony. Free gifts included a There Games t-hisrt and a special summer Coke can free from dispensers. Skill gifts his year included a green There games branded watter bottle at the first skill level. __________ at the second skill level, and hand held gym bag at the third skill level.
8-24-09 MAB disbanded
In a surprise move There ended the MAB in the following announcement:
____________________________
More Ways to Meet with Staff
8-24-09 There Summe Games 2009 end
Gold Medal - Peach
Silver Medal - Olive
Bronze Medal - Yellow
2-27-09 in a tie in with Hush Puppies There releases a specialty Hush Puppies dog!
March 2009
New partnerships included Spin Magazine (with some clothing and magazine covers) and Viz.com with Bleach anime gear!
Coke added more specialty itemws to thier store.
More island hoods off Aurora were released.
There offered a contract position for writing a basic help tutorial for developers.
March 2-8 There holds a neighborhood fair. 50 spaces were provided, and many were filled in time for the start of the fair at a neighborhood with remarkably flat land! There Fair Grounds!
3-11-09 The new MAB ( ) is introduced officialy - after several members are mentioned at a developer meeting acccidentaly.
Delonya
dj_tam_urradio
DLMcKenzie2004
FemmieD_GayGrrl
Lynn88588
MeadowAngel
nikidaeman
Pressleigh
softlydreaming
Spookie
Trent7
Wabbs
3-19-09 Brings a new Beta Test
-- card game MotuMotu (based off the card game MauMau) which allows 2-4 players.
-- updates to the Welcome Walkway - new blimp exit area. Removal of building models.
-- 4 new hairstyles for women (without hats!)
-- verification of the Cards and Quests functionality prior to the upgrade of those servers in production
-- Real Estate functionality verification
The card game causes many people to seg violate upon starting a new games. The Hairstyles look fantastic and are well approved of. The Blimp on the welcome walkway meets with some confusion. While many agreet that showtinging the walkway was a good thing, several are upset over the loss of the beautiful cruise ship. The replacement blimp features the frist new rotating obejct animation seen in there since the introduction of the flying hot tubs.
3-26-09 VIZ Media partnership starts with There.com selling colthing inspired by the Bleach anime series. There hosts a special event to celebrate at Tropical Adventures theme park.
3-27-09 SPIN magazine beings it's partnership with There offering posters of magazine covers, clothing and more.
3-28-09 The MAB holds it's first Meet The MAB event at the MAB Boardroom.
There auctioned off even more fizones (auctions ended on March 30th)
Red Bowl HoverBoard Park - nor relaly a race track, but the description makes it seem like it is!
http://webapps.prod.there.com/funzone/funzone?op=view&id=535447164
Pinnacle Hill - Paintball Zone
http://webapps.prod.there.com/funzone/funzone?op=view&id=40001010
Spice Slope Stage - Trivia enabeled stage
http://webapps.prod.there.com/funzone/funzone?op=view&id=108911628
And causing a bit of minor forum controversy the Sleepy K Memorial Racetrack
SleepyK
http://webapps.prod.there.com/funzone/funzone?op=view&id=535294293
Also on March 30th Vertex announces "Alpha Testing" of the new Unser Interface. At first There is looking for 20 volunteers in the following post. Screenshots which came with this shoewd a UI that allowed for a new IM window that could be displayed outside of the clent and an easier way of configuring some settings via a checkbox sheet.
Hello,
As many of you may know, we've been updating the client everyone connects to There with. One of these areas is the "User Interface" or "UI". By this we mean the menu bar at the bottom, buddy windows, chat windows, everything you see which isn't part of the 3D world or a web page. The system we have in production is a mish-mash of different technologies each designed for a single purpose. Needless to say, it's quite difficult to expand them. So we've uprooted most of them and replaced the UI with a software framework from Nokia (formerly Trolltech) known as "Qt", which has been developed since the early 90s. Along with all of the other niceties Qt brings, work done on developing the Qt UI will be supported on Macintosh OSX and other operating systems. This doesn't mean we'll be releasing an OSX client soon, but Qt has already simplified the complex process of porting.
The major goal in this release is not to improve the way the UI functions but to replace the technology behind it so our eventual redesign will have many more options available. It may not seem like a large improvement, but we've specifically tried to retain the original There design until we can take a proper look at designing a UI that's accessible and inclusive to new members as well as old. That being said, some of us frankly couldn't help ourselves in trying out some of the new functions Qt gives us and we've included some small tweaks which we think you'll enjoy.
We're now ready to start a very limited alpha test of this new technology. By "limited", we mean that we're going to start with 20 very brave volunteers from the community, and go (slowly) from there.
We know (from previous testing endeavors) that many, many people will want to help us test, but we believe that by going slowly we'll be able to deliver an incrementally better product as we expand the program, as opposed to delivering a less good product to more people.
So those that are still interested in being squeaky guinea pigs, here's what to expect:
1. This is ALPHA software. In addition to having nearly every interface for controlling your avatar reworked or at least touched, we've moved to a different compiler. Please keep in mind that this client may not work at all for you. We certainly hope that isn't the case, as we've done quite a bit of testing internally, but we can't guarantee anything for our first release into the wild.
2. Installing this will probably mess up your ability to patch your normal client. Patches may stop this client from working correctly. We may block everyone from being able to enter There with this client if we find a major issue. Upgrading to new versions of either the production There client or this UI client will likely require a full reinstall.
3. We'll need to get detailed bug reports when you find an issue. The phrase "Organizer is freezing my client" may also apply to the case of "I have 2000+ items in my inventory, and any time after the first that I open Organizer my client freezes for half a minute." but the former is relatively useless in reproducing and fixing the problem described in the latter. And yes, that is a bug that we recently fixed in the production client. So we'll need you to follow the following guidelines when submitting bugs.
1. What client version number you're using (it's printed on the title bar of the client in windowed mode)
2. A detailed description of the issue:
2.1. Include screenshots to help describe the issue if appropriate
2.2. In the case of an error or crash, what you were doing at the time it happened. If you can consistently reproduce it those instructions are very helpful.
3. Please provide the log files from C:\Makena\There\ThereClient [ There.log and any crashdump files ].
4. In the case of an unexpected result, describe what you did, the actual result, and what the expected result was.
5. To help us reproduce what you are seeing, please provide a dxdiag report of your computer:
5.1. From the Windows desktop, click the Start button. Choose Run... type in dxdiag and run
5.2. Click Yes on the dialogs that come up, wait for the application to finish (there's a progress bar it the bottom left), click the Save All Information button and sent it to us.
4. Please don't pass around or host this software. Screenshots, tours, first looks and the like should be fine, but we can't accept bugs or offer support for anyone but those we give the software to. It makes our lives simpler, which in turn makes the next phase of testing come sooner.
5. If you aren't in the test group and use super black ops ninja skills to get the Alpha software (or someone sent you a link, see #4), then all bets are off. Please keep in mind that this software will likely mess up your current There installation and if your avatar turns into a goat or something equally unpleasant, we can't help you.
If, after all that, you're still interested, post your name here. We'll begin selecting our first 20 victims.
Let the games begin!
April
4-13-09 Michael Wilson announces there will be no official real life gathering this year.
Hi folks,
Over the past weeks, a number of you have asked whether Makena plans to host an official real-life gathering this year. According to the schedule of past gatherings, this would be considered "our" year to have one.
We have decided /not/ to proceed with a real-life gathering in 2009. We know that many of you enjoy attending these gatherings (as do we) and will be disappointed by this news. However, we also hope you will understand that in this economic climate, travel - both for us and for our members - has to be far more carefully considered.
As many of you know, when Makena hosts a RLG, we feel compelled to make it as complete as possible, and this year, we even felt we should have it other than far-away-a-fornia. When we added it all up, and compared it to that cost of, say, an CS or Community or Engineering staff member, we decided you'd rather see us spend the money there than on a RLG this year.
Even though we won't be seeing you in person, there will be opportunities for you to meet and mingle with each other and with staff in world. For example, next Wednesday (April 15th) is the Makena Anniversary party, a special event to celebrate our 4th year as a company. You can sign up here:
http://webapps.prod.there.com/eventmgmt/eventmgmt?op=view&id=667758844
Also, we hope to have another special in-world event later this summer, around the time we would usually be doing the RLG and/or State of There address.
We hope we will see you at next week's Anniversary party. And where possible, we also encourage you to organize your own mini RLG events, so you can meet and connect with other Thereians in your area. It's always great fun to get to know the people behind the avatars.
And, as always, you'll continue to see the staff and I in-world, in the forums, and via email. Since we won't be seeing you in person this year, we'll make sure we spend more time staying in touch.
P.S. BTW, if you're about to say "Well, michaelwilson, I don't see _you_ in world for more than a few minutes", it's because I'm helping out on the OSX / Mac client, and it's not quite ready for long visits or voice yet :-).
In late April as part of a spring event a differen thandheld item was given out for free at special locations and on arrivial island via the new despenser tiki signs. The itmes included
A special spring time drink
Animated swarm of butterfiles
Animated pinwheel and popcorn
Animated kite ( a second version was given out at the Makena celebration on the 15th)
Animated bubble bottle and wand blower
4-15-09 Makena Technologies hosts a celebration of the fourth years. Several layers are set up and decorated. There is a special Spring Kite that was only avalible at this event, and only to participants in various events. Two of the layers had no prior setup and lacked many of the events.
May
5-2-09 Voting begins in the Super Hero Designer Challenge
Disky won first palce for Insecta Alien, Virtual Vikki took second for Super Proto Vixen and the beautiful Pink Violet took third place.
5-4-09 Inactive club deletions are announced to be coming soon.
5-14-09 Multip layered prom event proves to be a huge draw! With the theme Fly Me To The Moon" this event was something speical. There were meny free items to collect including a limited Coke Can, some lipstick and hair, and a moon shaped chair. Members could have thier pictures taken and posted on Flickr. There was dancing and more!
5-15-09 Spring Gardent contest Winner announced
We're pleased to announce that Aradriel has received 1st place for the Smugglers Grove garden.
Congratulations to Jeli for winning 2nd place in the 2009 Spring Garden Contest for Catalina Island Gardens!
Congratulations to Tumble_Weed for winning 3rd place in the Spring Garden Contest for TumBlin Garden Pond!
5-21-09 Town Hall Meetin with Michael Wilson and membes of the MAB.
http://www.therefuntimes.com/ThereTownHallMeeting052109.mp3
Mr. Wilson mentions the words "Black Friday" at one point.
5-27-09 FUNimation specialty shops opens with some ubber cute cat and mouse hats for women and men!
June
6-1-09 Michael Wilson announces the reevaluation of realestate products, while some There House prices went down, some fuzones rent increased by over 200%
__________________________________
Members,
Over the past few weeks, we have been reevaluating the lineup of Real Estate products we offer you, our members.
Many of you may not know this, but there are over twenty different kinds of real estate offered in There if you count the sizes and varieties of Lots, Neighborhoods, PortaZones, ThereHouses, FrontierZones, FunZones, etc, etc. On top of that, we discovered we had at least that many price points, some of them apparently set without rhyme or reason many years ago.
The goal of this review was threefold: Establish a framework for the introduction of new features, simplify the pricing structure where possible, and, finally, make sure we cover our costs in developing and operating various offerings.
The ?new features? I mention is that the drop counts for many zone types will be upgraded on July 1, 2009! We know that this has been one of the ?Top Ten? member requests for many years and we?re happy to (finally) make this available. In fact, there is already a 100-drop zone in world (There Community Gardens) which you can drop by and visit if you like.
I will provide a link at the end of this post to a Help Central article where you can see a breakdown of the new drop count increases.
Now, adding this functionality was not free. Contrary to urban myth, we just didn?t go into the There code base and change all occurrences of ?50? to ?100?. This work required significant work from engineering (we had to add support for ?64-bit support? for one thing, for all you geeks out there), we had to QA it, and we had to upgrade the operating systems and, in many cases, the servers to support it.
So, after reviewing everything, we decided we needed to makes some changes, and, for the first time in several years, will be adjusting the monthly rental pricing for Neighborhoods, ThereHouses, ClubHouses, FrontierZones and FunZones starting July 1, 2009.
In some cases this means your rent might go up. For others it might stay the same or even go down. In all cases, you?ll have more drops to play with.
Some of you might ask why we updated some areas and not others, or only updated zones on request to use this technology. We looked at that and decided this wouldn?t be in line with our goal to simplify things.
We have just posted a Help Central article that contains more details about how each type of zone will be affected.
A few things to keep in mind:
? If you currently own a Lot or PortaZone, your rental rates will not be affected. Instead of retroactively upgrading and changing the existing Lots and PortaZones, we will be offering new 100-drop PortaZones and Lots in large decorator-friendly sizes.
? If your rent is changing and your next rental due date is in June, you will not see the changes yet. If your zone is affected, the change will take place on the first rental due date after July 1.
Because these are some pretty big changes and adjustments in pricing are involved, we wanted to give everyone a full month?s notice ahead of time. We also plan to send a follow-up reminder of the impending increase 1 week before the prices actually change.
After reviewing the Help Central article, please post any questions you might have to the forums. We will also hold a special Town Hall meeting where I will answer questions about the upcoming changes.
Help Central Article
http://www.fuzeqna.com/makenasupport/consumer/kbdetail.asp?kbid=1560
Michael Wilson
CEO, Makena Technologies
There were several quick revisions to this plan changing prices to make the break even point possible for hood owners whi say inside there's guidelines for neighborhood drops.
6-9-09 Beta test for:
--Golden Ticket Skill Reward system
--New Installer & Patching
--Updates to the Useage Hud
--Changes to There Forums
--Motu Motu and Gin fixes
6-10-09 Special Town Hall meeting with Michael Wilson - Vash_community, Alex, Spiritus, Helper_Yoko and There_RealEstate were on hand to answer questions as well. Listen to the recording here: http://www.therefuntimes.com/TownHallMeeting061009.mp3
Mr. Wilson used the opportunity to explain to the community why these rent increases were necessary as well as to answer concerns.
6-17-09 There encourages developers to pitch thier developer items to Coca-Cola in a second round of these developer items.
6-17-09 _emma challenged the members of there to look for the hidden tiki idols and upload pictures of them to Shutterbug.
6-18-09 There partner, Spin magazine, unleased a prop guitar in thier specialty shop today.
6-19-09 There decides to release 100 drop PAZ's and lots BEFORE hood owners can take advantage of thier 50 foot additional hood drops on July 1st. Themed hood owners were hurt the most by this unexpected change.
6-26-09 There reorganizes realestate products, and deeds into one section on the auctions, as well as getting rid of the Build-a-Zone section of the shop, by placing many items under Home and Garden.
6-29-09 There gets brand new forum software!
July
7-24-09 New beta test for:
- Our newest card game Habanero Holdem - Habanero Holdem is kind of like Texas Holdem. You can purchase chips, place bets, and even set up and play tournaments. Unlike Texas Holdem you can't actually win $ by playing. To help ensure compliance with online gambling laws, Habanero Holdem winners will simply get the honor and glory of winning and will "skill up" along the way.
- Update_There Patching <bugs fixed>
- High capacity sectors <bugs fixed>
- Dropping from altitude <adjustment made on member request/feedback>
7-?-09 Several staff members are lad off including three greeters and _Emma. Emma's job will be taken over by Mackie (who returned form VMTV shortly before it closed) many members of the community are upset.
August
8-1-09 New house rents, and clubhouse prices go into effect lowering the price on the second largest tiki houses in there to 14 while adding 10 additional drops, and raising the small 'birdhouses' rent to 18k! Many large houses (which were at 21k and higher) were lowered to 18k. The tyr houses droped even lower in price!
8-13-08 Two funzones were openly avalible for the cost of rent at the same time.
8-14-09
There Summer Games 2009 starts with a day long opening ceremony. Free gifts included a There Games t-hisrt and a special summer Coke can free from dispensers. Skill gifts his year included a green There games branded watter bottle at the first skill level. __________ at the second skill level, and hand held gym bag at the third skill level.
8-24-09 MAB disbanded
In a surprise move There ended the MAB in the following announcement:
____________________________
More Ways to Meet with Staff
Dear Members,
In September 2003, the There.com staff invited a core group of members from the beta community to form the first Member Advisory Board (MAB). Our goal was to create a point of contact with the members that enabled us to get regular feedback on all aspects of the There experience. While we knew that this group would be a small representative of the total membership population, we wanted to make sure that we included the most important aspect of the world (its members), during this important period of technical development.
Over the past 6 years, more than 150 members have served on the Member Advisory Board and demonstrated their passion and dedication for our virtual world. Their suggestions have helped us improve There by leaps and bounds. We've seen a significant increase in new members, and most importantly, the development of a loyal and passionate community that embraces and engages a diverse influx of new members daily.
With the MAB's help we've grown by leaps and bounds. But we've also listened to many of you discuss whether the MAB is still the best way for Makena to gather feedback from a growing and increasingly diverse community. After much thought and consideration, we believe that it's now time to shift the focus and the format of our conversations with you in a new direction. On September 17th, we will be formally retiring the MAB program, and moving forward with a new set of communication opportunities that will enable a greater number of members more ways to connect with staff.
First, we're excited to announce that starting next week we'll be introducing several new regular in-world events hosted by staff members. These will include weekly chats and social events with the VP of Member Experience (bsquared), the Director of Community (Alex), and our Community Manager (Vash). We'll do our best to accommodate different time zones so we can meet as many of you as possible. Since this group's area of focus is Community, we'd specifically like to hear your ideas for ways we can improve community events, get more people involved, and generate ideas for sharing your vast knowledge and expertise about everything from hosting to designing with new members. The goal is to make these events very casual, easy to attend, fun and social.
We'll also continue organizing the popular quarterly Town Hall meetings with our CEO, Michael Wilson. All members can participate in these meetings and Michael is able to address many important questions immediately in this format. We have been extremely pleased with the success of the Town Halls and look forward to having more of them, starting with this Wednesday's event.
Other opportunities to meet with staff include the monthly Island Guide Huddles with our First Visit Coordinator (Greeter_Josie), the weekly event planning meetings and social events with our Events Manager (Mackie) and the bi-monthly developer chats. These events allow members with specific skills and interests to talk directly to the staff members who specialize in these particular areas.
We're also planning some special social events with staff from other departments such as Real Estate and Engineering. Again, our goal is to be inclusive rather than exclusive to our rapidly growing active membership, and allow as many people as possible a greater number of opportunities to meet with us.
None of these events require time-intensive applications, selections, board meetings or administrative duties. We'll simply post a schedule of more than 20 staff-run events to choose from each month. Just find one that's convenient for you, come on in and talk to us!
If you're not able to come meet with one of us in-world, there are still plenty of ways to give us feedback. You've seen the changes to our new and better forums which help us find and track your comments more easily. You'll also see us start to make more frequent use of forums polls as well as Zoomerang surveys for members who aren't avid forums users. All of these things will help broaden the frequency and scope of our discussions.
We're really excited about the new plan and hope you will be too. As we turn toward the next phase of our history, we want to reiterate how helpful and valuable the MAB has been in helping the company and the Community get to this point. We know our esteemed MAB contributors will continue to lead the way sharing their expertise with us and with other community members. We sincerely appreciate the time, service and dedication of everyone who has served on the Member Advisory Board and look forward to continuing our conversations with you in a more fun and informal way.
Keep an eye out for more information about in-world staff meeting places and times and we'll see you in There!
______________________________ In September 2003, the There.com staff invited a core group of members from the beta community to form the first Member Advisory Board (MAB). Our goal was to create a point of contact with the members that enabled us to get regular feedback on all aspects of the There experience. While we knew that this group would be a small representative of the total membership population, we wanted to make sure that we included the most important aspect of the world (its members), during this important period of technical development.
Over the past 6 years, more than 150 members have served on the Member Advisory Board and demonstrated their passion and dedication for our virtual world. Their suggestions have helped us improve There by leaps and bounds. We've seen a significant increase in new members, and most importantly, the development of a loyal and passionate community that embraces and engages a diverse influx of new members daily.
With the MAB's help we've grown by leaps and bounds. But we've also listened to many of you discuss whether the MAB is still the best way for Makena to gather feedback from a growing and increasingly diverse community. After much thought and consideration, we believe that it's now time to shift the focus and the format of our conversations with you in a new direction. On September 17th, we will be formally retiring the MAB program, and moving forward with a new set of communication opportunities that will enable a greater number of members more ways to connect with staff.
First, we're excited to announce that starting next week we'll be introducing several new regular in-world events hosted by staff members. These will include weekly chats and social events with the VP of Member Experience (bsquared), the Director of Community (Alex), and our Community Manager (Vash). We'll do our best to accommodate different time zones so we can meet as many of you as possible. Since this group's area of focus is Community, we'd specifically like to hear your ideas for ways we can improve community events, get more people involved, and generate ideas for sharing your vast knowledge and expertise about everything from hosting to designing with new members. The goal is to make these events very casual, easy to attend, fun and social.
We'll also continue organizing the popular quarterly Town Hall meetings with our CEO, Michael Wilson. All members can participate in these meetings and Michael is able to address many important questions immediately in this format. We have been extremely pleased with the success of the Town Halls and look forward to having more of them, starting with this Wednesday's event.
Other opportunities to meet with staff include the monthly Island Guide Huddles with our First Visit Coordinator (Greeter_Josie), the weekly event planning meetings and social events with our Events Manager (Mackie) and the bi-monthly developer chats. These events allow members with specific skills and interests to talk directly to the staff members who specialize in these particular areas.
We're also planning some special social events with staff from other departments such as Real Estate and Engineering. Again, our goal is to be inclusive rather than exclusive to our rapidly growing active membership, and allow as many people as possible a greater number of opportunities to meet with us.
None of these events require time-intensive applications, selections, board meetings or administrative duties. We'll simply post a schedule of more than 20 staff-run events to choose from each month. Just find one that's convenient for you, come on in and talk to us!
If you're not able to come meet with one of us in-world, there are still plenty of ways to give us feedback. You've seen the changes to our new and better forums which help us find and track your comments more easily. You'll also see us start to make more frequent use of forums polls as well as Zoomerang surveys for members who aren't avid forums users. All of these things will help broaden the frequency and scope of our discussions.
We're really excited about the new plan and hope you will be too. As we turn toward the next phase of our history, we want to reiterate how helpful and valuable the MAB has been in helping the company and the Community get to this point. We know our esteemed MAB contributors will continue to lead the way sharing their expertise with us and with other community members. We sincerely appreciate the time, service and dedication of everyone who has served on the Member Advisory Board and look forward to continuing our conversations with you in a more fun and informal way.
Keep an eye out for more information about in-world staff meeting places and times and we'll see you in There!
8-24-09 There Summe Games 2009 end
Gold Medal - Peach
Silver Medal - Olive
Bronze Medal - Yellow
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