UPDATE: I am now on a new block called Witchcraft and my daughter BigRigChick is the senior block deputy at Native Lore. Join either of us if this is an interest of yours. Otherwise there are a huge number of blocks for every sort of interest. So, if you are a music lover, a film buff or a new ager, there will be a place here for you. Remember, I am here to help you, irrespective of whether you want to move to my neighbourhood or not. Just e-mail me at Linda.Little@thelittle.freeserve.com if you need any help at all.

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Right, so you do like 3D chat and you want a little more. Well Cybertown – www.cybertown.com has a lot more to offer you, though it is not without some quirks.

Cybertown is a virtual community online. Here you can build and furnish your own home, talk to other residents, visit their homes, have them visit your home, get a job or simply bum around talking to everyone you meet. The avatars can move and talk. You simply type up what you want to say and the avatar will speak your words to your companion. You can even have pets (bots) whom you can programme to welcome visitors. Let me run you through what you will get here.

3D MEMBERSHIP

If you have a relatively fast computer, a lot of memory and like seeing things in 3D then this is the membership for you.

BENEFITS

You can:
1. Own your own 3D home online, which can be decorated according to your own taste.
2. Decide who is to visit this home.
3. Make friends and visit these friends in their own homes online.
4. Have your own avatar - a moving, talking person/animal/alien/robot which represents.
5. See other people online as avatars and chat to them face-to-face.
6. Have access to over 100 other Cybertown members online at virtually any time of the day or night.
7. Leave messages at other people’s homes and receive messages at your home
8. Programme cyber pets to welcome people into your home.
9. Visit public areas in Cybertown and chat to the people there.
10. Join special interest Cybertown clubs.
11. Create your own clubs at Cybertown.
12. Do virtual jobs which give you virtual cash so that you can get better houses and furnishings etc.

How do you get started?
1. Go to www.cybertown.com and click on the “immigrate” icon.
2. Register as a member. (Remember to say that Ecolinda recommended you.)
3. Wait for your email confirmation.
3. Log in.
4. Click on the 3D icon on the right hand side of your screen.
5. Follow the prompts to download the latest version of blaxxun Contact - which is entirely FREE.

2D MEMBERSHIP

If you are not that crazy about 3D, you have an old and rather slow computer or you simply haven’t got the space to download another thing, then become a 2D member here. The benefits are more limited but you can still do virtually everything a 3D member can do.

BENEFITS

You can:
1. Set up a 2D home online and use it as a personal chat centre.
2. Decide who is to visit this home.
3. Receive messages from other Cybertown residents and visit them at their homes.
3. Visit the public areas and speak to the people you meet there.
4. Join various clubs at Cybertown.
5. Set up your own clubs.
6. Do virtual jobs at Cybertown.

How do you get started?
1. Go to www.cybertown.com and click on the “immigrate” icon.
2. Register as a member. (Remember to say that Ecolinda recommended you.)
3. Wait for your confirmation email.
4. Log in.

SO WHAT IS IT LIKE?

So what is it like?

Well Cybertown is very much like an ordinary rather large town. It has a lot of public areas where people wander about and chat to each other and lots of residential blocks where people have their houses.

Do not be put off by the quality of this chat in some of the public areas. It may sound rather inane to you, but remember a lot of people here will be beginners and practicing – including you perhaps. All your speech is typed in on the little chat box at the bottom of your screen. Try saying something to one of the people here. (As I said, don’t worry if it sound a bit inane. This is just practice.)

JUST PUSH THE BUTTON

Now look at the Control Panel on your right hand side. Here you will find the most important button in the whole game. It is called “How do I?” If you want to build your own home, see your avatar, change your avatar, etc you will find instructions here. It is all simply written and will walk you through all these processes step by step.

SETTING UP HOME

The first thing to do, whether you are in 2D and 3D, is to set up your own home. This will give you a base for all your explorations in Cybertown and a way for people to contact you and visit you. (Check out the appropriate section under “How do I?”) Choose your colony, neighbourhood and block, then give your house a name.

If you want to move to my block - Witchcraft -e-mail me and I will arrange to make sure I am around to introduce you to the block leader and help you set up home with us. If you would like to join Native Lore, my daughter's block, then email me and I will arrange for her to do likewise.

If, however, you prefer to join another block, but still need a little help, there is no reason why you should still not contact me.

VISITING

Now try visiting.

You are lucky because you can come and visit my home. I might not be there or I might be busy, but it will give you good practice. Simply type: http://www.cybertown.com/home/Ecolinda into your browser and go there. If the place you arrive at is called Magick Forest, you are in the right place.

If you have any trouble doing it this way, simply type the following into your browser and hit return: http://www/cybertown/com/cgi-bin/cybertown/property?ID=0105050505040408 as this is the ID of my home. Don't forget to leave a message in my Inbox when you get there.

WORKING AT CYBERTOWN

I have been in and out of various jobs in Cybertown, having been a block deputy twice and a block leader once and now only being a resident. For a great personal account from someone who has made it to nieghbourhood deputy, though, you should read Tye_Sabdford's opinion called "Everything was very new and exciting" which can be found at:

http://www.uk.ciao.com/opinion_view.php?OpinionId=5127303&SortOrder=0&sortedReverse=0&xid=edec2d66314c5903243646e33785782f

or simply pick up his name and go straight to his profile page.

That is about all for you 2D members, so go immediately to CYBERTOWN NIGHTMARE and if this does not put you off, have a go.

NOW FOR 3D

Hands up who is in 3D. If you have not already looked at your avatar, do so now. How? Remember the button?

That blue thing is you. It looks a bit like a blue ghost and it is how every newbie arrives at Cybertown. Not nice is it? Want a better avatar? Then using click “How do I?” again and follow the instructions to change your avatar.

There is a good choice of avatars here, though if you are female you may have to choose between librarian look-alikes and spandex horrors. (Give me the ‘horrors’ anytime. At least they are interesting.) If you are more adventurous go for aliens, robots or animals

FURNISHING

Now for personalisation. You have a home, much like anyone elses. As a beginner it will be fairly small. You can, however, make it truly your own by furnishing it in your own unique way. How do you do this? (Do I really need to tell you again? Just push the button….) Not got enough money for that particular item. Well you have two choices. Live simply and bum around enjoying yourself or get a job and acquire lots of cyber-dosh to do up your pad. How do you get a job? (Just push the button….)

CYBERTOWN NIGHTMARE

And now for the not-so-good bits. During the time I was writing out this opinion I was also messing around in Cybertown trying to remind myself of all the information I would need for this article. I have been around Cybertown on and off for over 2 years now, so I needed to check out how a newcomer would experience the site.

PROBLEM ONE -a small one.

If you do not visit Cybertown regularly, then your house will be removed. Don’t panick, it usually takes quite a while, but watch out for special rules on some blocks. (If your block operates such rules, you should be informed.) Generally, you can go on a long holiday without much happening. Also, your account is not removed, so any entitlement you have in terms of cybercash is still there when you return. You will simply have to set up another house, and the space you used to inhabit might be occupied.

PROBLEM 2 - this one is WEIRD!

During the time I was writing this I logged on as a visitor. You can log on as a visitor and see if you like Cybertown before registering if you like. Later on, I reloaded my own avatar and somehow managed to get the blue man (visitor/beginner avatar) and my own spandex horror permanently welded together like rather unfortunate siamese twins. This was a little embarrassing. I also could not move. By logging on and off a couple of times things sorted out, but it was a tad embarrassing.

PROBLEM 3 - this is irritating.

Cybertown is such a huge database that logging on is inevitably slow. A slow computer will find it virtually impossible, but then it depends what you mean my slow. My own comp is 450 and the download speed is a bit irritating but not critical. If something does not appear to be happening here, give it plenty of time and DO NOT try and give a different order. Giving multiple conflicting orders will be very likely to crash the programme. You have been warned.

PROBLEM 4 - unexpected quirkiness.

This is new-tech and as such it is quirkey. Some things will not work well, some will not work at all. This may be that the coding has not been completely worked out, or that your computer cannot handle what Cybertown is doing. When I had a pet, I was continually trying to get it to work the way I wanted it to. Sometimes it would speak, sometimes remain obstinately silent. Sometimes it would even appear as a blue avatar - like those newbie ghosts. There are other small quirks too, after all, this is breaking technology. If you have any real difficulties, get in touch with the tech help that you will find under feedback.

OVERALL

Overall, I have found that the benefits of Cybertown membership, especially in 3D, vastly outweigh the occassional problems, so do give it a go.