Next Island

"Personally, when I play MMOs, I’m a woman playing a female avatar. I want my character to be pretty,..."

Fri, 11 May 2012 13:19:53 -0400

“

Personally, when I play MMOs, I’m a woman playing a female avatar. I want my character to be pretty, I like skirts and pretty shoes, and many hair options, but I don’t want to fight dragons in a battle bikini and stilettos. I know plenty of players of both genders, who enjoy playing in pure fantasy outfits, and I understand the pure character customization and the implied escapism in this.

As a female player, I always feel sidelined in my hobby when my character’s only fashion choices are skimpy miniskirts, chainmail bras or other items designed for the male gaze. As a designer, I value virtual items that contribute to the atmosphere. When Crystal Center is full of avatars in tropical shirts, sunglasses, and so forth, it makes Next Island feel even more like an island paradise. Many players seem to agree, importing things like sundresses, hats and sandals from the others planets to wear on our beaches.

”

- Meg’s Blog: Thoughts on Jungle Shorts | Next Island Dev Blog (via thatmeggirl)

thatmeggirl: Hey, OldToBegin, guess what I wrote today?!?!

Tue, 08 May 2012 11:55:09 -0400

thatmeggirl:

Hey, OldToBegin, guess what I wrote today?!?!

Next Island Content Release Notes, EU 12.6 | Next Island Dev Blog

Tue, 01 May 2012 09:24:47 -0400

Next Island Content Release Notes, EU 12.6 | Next Island Dev Blog:

Next Island Content Release

May 1, 2012 / EU Release 12.6

Today’s content release introduces Dark Lysterium, offers new missions, and introduces new blueprints, including the Hoplite Gloves and the long-awaited tropical clothes!

New Mineral

Dark Lysterium Common mineral lysterium, in the alternate dimensional reality of Next Island, sometimes takes on strange properties.

Missions

Axonic Diodes At the end of Samuel’s mission, he says he’s still missing a small but vital piece of his logical circuits, so Crystal Center’s crafter Malcolm Campbell has decided to make a workaround for the very last part Samuel needs.

Arthur’s Secret Crush Arthur, the Official Island Greeter reveals a not-so-secret crush on a special lady.

Helen’s Super Epic Hunting Adventure! Huntress Helen Venture sends the player on a super epic, very dangerous hunting mission!

Beachside Fashion Sara Murray is showing off a cute new tropical shirt down at the Crystal Bay tiki bar. Do a favor for her, and she’ll show you how to make one too.

Blueprints

Lesser Elysia The Elysians developed this synthetic fabric to stay cool in the jungle and stay warm on cold island nights. You can purchase this blueprint from a technician to get started crafting clothes.

Island Shirt

Elysian’s Tropical Top

Hoplite Gloves

Many new components like Campbell’s Basic Framework, Helen Venture’s Walking Stick and Chrysoberyl Fasteners.

Fixes / Modifications

To Infinity and Beyond! For new arrivals to the island, we’ve changed Mary’s challenge to unlock Greece. Instead of choosing the correct argument in favor of time travel, 1314-Mary now wants players to prove themselves in the Elysian virtues before she’ll judge them worthy of the secrets of time travel. This introduces more of the Elysian backstory, and makes travel to Greece more epic and exciting. Don’t worry, existing time-travel crystals and the existing cave location have not been changed, so existing player won’t be forced to re-run this mission.

Loot Revisions We have made some changes to the locations and frequency of island loot. We plan these revisions to make sure items are dropping as designed, and specifically to make starter missions and blueprints easier to complete.

Shepherd’s Beach Tom Shepherd’s mission, Inventing A Color, and Bess Mackenzie’s first mission, Genetic Research 1, are now daily repeatable missions.

Enchanted Village These scenic spot is no longer home to a backwards, flying river. We built a dam. Just kidding, we remodeled the river.

Upcoming

We have one more piece of island clothing on the way, but we encountered last-minute difficulties. We expect this to be available in a patch next week.

"Hey Meg, After the slight stutter start this morning (which I can’t say didn’t benefit me in some..."

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:32:45 -0400

“

Hey Meg,

After the slight stutter start this morning (which I can’t say didn’t benefit me in some strange fashion), I have to say I think the storytelling you’ve introduce today has to be some of the best story content I’ve seen on any planet so far. I’ve been wondering what you meant by “special” for these last few months and I had a BLAST figuring out the little puzzles (the last one was my favorite and I got it on the first try). It all felt very serendipitous and sneaky and explained some questions that had been nagging at me.

I have more to say but will save them for my post that is in the works. I took records of my journey and will eventually share them with the world but for now, I won’t ruin the surprise.

If people are interested in checking it out, they know where to find me!

Again, solid work. And please keep it up. I like where things are going and hope I can continue to play a role in the future of my home planet.

”

- Next Island Life » March 13th Content Release (via thatmeggirl)

Team Valkyrie FTW: Many Links for a Friday

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:20:17 -0400

Team Valkyrie FTW: Many Links for a Friday:

teamvalkyrieftw:

Hooray for linkspam! Stuff you should see!

GAMING

It’s Not Okay — Sexism isn’t okay, and we got a dude here to tell us this. As much as it irritates me that many men won’t listen until a man tells them it isn’t okay (did I rant about WFC 2011 yet?) I’m glad there are men willing to do this, very publicly. Thanks, guys!

Women in Gaming: Next Island’s Meg Stivison (Interview)

Why We Need Immoral Women — Basically the Madonna/Whore thing is kind of stupid and it would be nice for there to be more women who are still awesome despite their flaws (regardless of if those flaws are honest or are simply traits perceived as flaws a result of dumb social constructs).

Gaming as Women — A blog about, well, gaming as women. Specifically the non-video-game type of gaming.

Also, these slides happened in a panel at GDC about why initiatives to “get women in game design/programming” kind of miss the point. Which they do. I am a woman engineer who wanted to go into gaming and was really passionate about it — until I started hearing horror story after horror story about what the environment was like. You want minorities involved in gaming? When they complain about bullshit, stop telling them they’re “hypersensitive.”

COMICS

Support the Good — Taking a moment to focus on things done right.

An Open Letter to DC Comics, from Lois Lane — Avoid the comments, IMO.

TV and FILM

Doctor Her — A blog analyzing Doctor Who from a feminist perspective.

Strong Female Characters — Basically “strength” too often means “masculine” when it really shouldn’t. There are many ways to be strong.

Emily Blunt on Superhero Films and Female Roles — “Usually the female parts in a superhero film feel thankless. She’s the pill girlfriend while the guys are whizzing around saving the world.”

Jane Espenson on Women TV Writers

GENERAL

How to Talk to Little Girls — Maybe a little less “look how cute you are!” and a little more “what are you like as a person”

Internet Harassment and You: A Guide

The Wolves, the Pig, and the Retarded Bunny — A simple story you can link to people who do not understand what ableist language is and why it sucks.

A Subject for Debate: Are Women People — I normally try to avoid straying from the geekosphere, but well, we’ve come to this.

!Entropia Universe Guide!: PRESS RELEASE: Next Island Mutant Boar!!!

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:33:18 -0500

!Entropia Universe Guide!: PRESS RELEASE: Next Island Mutant Boar!!!

"I would like to add that the flow of information from NI is great. Regular updates, previews,..."

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:35:20 -0500

“

I would like to add that the flow of information from NI is great.

Regular updates, previews, screenshots, etc.

And most important: It’s easily accessible for everyone and it’s pure information.

Professional!

There are several EU companies who could learn a lesson from NI…

”

- Next Island: - So, what’s up with Meg? | EntropiaPlanets.com - Entropia Universe forum, wiki, media, tools

(via Sword of Courage Discovered! | Next Island Dev Blog)

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:06:58 -0500

(via Sword of Courage Discovered! | Next Island Dev Blog)

One of the changes being made for next week’s release is that...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:14:05 -0500

One of the changes being made for next week’s release is that the mission Sebastian’s Find from November’s Release will become repeatable. This is essentially a patch, a little implementation so the mission works as originally planned, but don’t let this small change go unnoticed in all the brand-new content in January’s release. This mission adds a bit of Elysian storyline to the player experience, even while a player’s doing a more economically-focused task, like hunting boar for crystals or anatomical parts. Instead of grinding for loot, players are assisting our friend Sebastian and making the area around Crystal Center safer for Newlanders. When players complete Sebastian’s Find, they acquire a stack of Broken Elysian Technology that sharp-eyed Sebastian has found in the jungle. So, now if you don’t feel like searching the jungle for Broken Elysian Technology yourself, you can acquire the chips that someone else has found. Broken Elysian Technology is refined into Elysian Tech Chips, which are a key piece of several blueprints we’re releasing at the end of the month. I expect the ability to repeat Sebastian’s Find will have a nice impact on Next Island gameplay. (via Meg’s Blog: Repeatable Sebastian’s Find | Next Island Dev Blog)

"Achievements: OverdriveThree Friends1000 Experience Points1 year registered Corey..."

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:14:52 -0500

“

Achievements:
OverdriveThree Friends1000 Experience Points1 year registered Corey ‘GreyFox” is on a distinguished road
Corey ‘GreyFox“‘s Avatar

Avatar
Corey GreyFox
Society
Laudanum
Join Date
Dec 2010
Location
Saskatchewan, Canada
Posts
702
Points
3,971
Level
42

Fourth NOR

Pic is not working, I keep getting a database error.

The prizes will be
First=100ped
Second=60 ped
Third=40ped

Not going to bother with an agility cap on this one
Registering on forum is NOT required.
Looking for five racers again but I got a couple extra valks just incase to many show up
Race will be saturday Jan 28th, 3am EU time(that would also be Sunday the 29th EU time)
Some notes about the race,
Through the mountain area you will encounter pirate skeletons but not much danger.
The track around CND is twisting with lots of narrow areas.

”

- Fourth NOR

This is our new Island Slicer, one of the new weapons coming on ...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:59:51 -0500

This is our new Island Slicer, one of the new weapons coming on January 24th. This is a craftable melee weapon for hunting and defense in the Nesoi Makaron jungles. You can make your own with the blueprint, and the following Next Island crystals:

Refined Zoisite Crystal
Refined Aegirine Crystal
Refined Okenite Crystal
Refined Zincite Crystal
Refined Lepidocrocite Crystal

(via Work In Progress: Island Slicer | Next Island Dev Blog)

Work in Progress: Arrival Alley

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:18:53 -0500

Work in Progress: Arrival Alley:

January’s content release includes five tutorial missions — for six introductory characters if you count November’s Miranda — in Crystal Center. These island residents will help new…

There is still time to enter and win the NEWLANDER SWAG GIVEAWAY! Next Island has partnered with...

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:10:54 -0500

There is still time to enter and win the NEWLANDER SWAG GIVEAWAY! Next Island has partnered with iBuyPower to… http://t.co/jUBgVy3E

How It’s Going At Next Island | Next Island Dev Blog http://t.co/Cubshf6p

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 02:20:25 -0500

How It’s Going At Next Island | Next Island Dev Blog http://t.co/Cubshf6p

How It’s Going At Next Island

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 12:00:16 -0500

How It’s Going At Next Island:

After our last content release, intrepid Islanders went to Ancient Greece and unlocked both the Athenian Headscarf and the Athenian Tunic. (I checked these two items out myself, and I was…

How It’s Going At Next Island: After our last content release, intrepid Islanders went to Ancient...

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:57:27 -0500

How It’s Going At Next Island: After our last content release, intrepid Islanders went to Ancient Greece and unl… http://t.co/UPMzlXkA

Next Island has partnered with iBuyPower to grant one lucky gamer a TRULY EPIC gaming rig in the...

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:30:47 -0500

Next Island has partnered with iBuyPower to grant one lucky gamer a TRULY EPIC gaming rig in the NEWLANDER SWAG… http://t.co/yjki8XnO

Come to “Next Island 1yr Anniversary” Sunday, December 25 at 12:00 pm until <br...

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:12:43 -0500

Come to “Next Island 1yr Anniversary” Sunday, December 25 at 12:00 pm until <br />Saturday, December 31 at 12:00… http://t.co/yL1L0g6r

1000 Next Islanders on Raptr!: We broke 1000 followers on Raptr recently! Too bad I missed the...

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:00:34 -0500

1000 Next Islanders on Raptr!: We broke 1000 followers on Raptr recently! Too bad I missed the actual 1000 mark,… http://t.co/le6Q31li

Chip’s First Day.mp4 (by NextIslandVW)

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:05:06 -0500

Chip’s First Day.mp4 (by NextIslandVW)