METAVERSE

Grid Keys...

Here I am listing as many grids that I can find. I do visit some of them myself but experience is the best judge. I am giving full treatment with picture and short description of the larger grids but all of them have their own unique perspective.  Here are the keys to basic information:Key: OS=Open Sim; AU=Aurora Sim; IWC=Inter World Connector; HG=Hypergrid; COM=Commercial; EC=Economy; ED=Educational; RPG=Role Play Games; SF=Sci-Fi; DEV=Develpment Grid; OSF=Open Sim Fork; CL=Cloud; CV=Civic; SM=Social Mature; AC=Adult Content; AL=Alternative Life-style: COOP=cooperative; NP=None profit.
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Recent News from around the Free Metaverse...

Date: Dec 2012; As the year ends I must say it was an interesting one. Second Life has been going through some quite big changes but unfortunately the rate of decline continues with no let up. A total of 2863 regions have been lost which represents 12% of the grid. User traffic is also down.

 The Opensim grids have done marginally better in so far as many new grids have come on line. Traffic was up during the summer months but has declined quite a bit leading up to Christmas.

 I might add here that I have been working on a php/MySQL script to build my own grid list and maintain it and I hope to have it finished and published here to replace the existing list soon. Basically, you will be able to search the database to find grids rather than just listing them out as I have done until now. What will be useful about my new grid search is that it will be maintained daily by an automatic web crawler program that scraps usage statistics directly from each grid's web site. It should also be able to swtich a grid's listing to ONLINE or OFFLINE so users can avoid them. Finally, as well as using the grid search here on this page users will be invited to use the web address to find grids and and gain a login and welcome page inside their viewer - which is something I have wanted for a long time. Nothing like building your own, eh?

 Here is what it looks like in Teapot viewer so far...

Teapot viewer is used here to open a web page to Grid Search. Here you can search for grids by category and display them according to traffic popularity. Then just click the link to get the welcome page up in the background and set up grid for login. Most welcome pages do have an option to register for the grid so that makes it so much easier for people using Opensim grids for the first time.


UPDATE: 21st April 2013...
Due to all the work I have been doing in world and running the successful Opensim Virtual Google plus community I have not had the time to continue work on the grid search page I was working on. I do try to pick it up when I can but the web scraper program really does require some serious attention to detail and I need to stop and get my head into it. So, sadly, it has not been made available yet even though the php search functions work well but, because I don't have the scraper yet and I don't have the time to manually add grids and statistics on a regular basis which is time consuming, I really can't make it available yet.


The Old Grid List...
On the grid links below  I do actively check the list for broken links but some grids do open and close so their link may appear broken at times. Where I know a grid has closed or the link appears too often down I will remove it from the list.

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Grid List...
OSgrid

OSgrid is the original developers world and anyone may connect their sims. There is a very active community of builders and developers as well as merchants running stores offering all you need to fix up a virtual home and make your avatar ready to meet the community. Both freebie goods and items for sale are on offer so come join the largest of the Opensim grids.  [OS:DEV:HG]



3d Rock Grid [OS:COM:EC:RPG:ED]  Visit
AvWorlds  [OS:COM:EC:SM:AC]  Visit
Fleep Grid  [OS:COM:EC:SM:AC:HG] Visit
Craft World [OS:HG:COM:EC:SM] Visit

AVINATION

Discover Avination, one of the fastest growing grids on the internet today. Avination's unique blend of content, technology and people will be sure to capture your imagination and provide an environment in which you can rediscover virtual worlds as they were meant to be. [OS:COM:EC:SM:AC:RPG]





Metropolis Grid   [OS:COM:SM]    Visit
New World Grid  [OS:COM:EC:SM]     Visit
Oasis Grid  [OS:COM:EC:SM:AC]    Visit 
Reaction Grid  [OS:ED:COM:HG]   Visit

InWorldz  


Welcome to InWorldz, a user created Virtual World! Explore beautiful regions, shop for your avatar, meet new avatars to hang out with, or discover your own talents with your own region to build your dreams! Become a pioneer and help shape the world YOU want, join today, it's free!
[OSF:COM:EC:SM:AC:RPG]
Go to web site



 
Sciencesim [OS:ED:DEV]  Visit
UFS Grid [OS:RPG:SF:COM]  Visit

Alpha Towne [OS:COM:EC:SM]    Visit
lnfinite Grid:[OS:SM:AC:COOP]    Visit
Logicamp [Belgian:OS:NP:EC:SM]  Visit
Curiosity Grid [OS:COM:EC:SM]  Visit
Grid Nirvana  [UK:OS:SM:AL:COOP]  Visit

Ansky Grid [AU:COM:EC:IWC:HG:SM]    Visit
Gay San Francisco Grid  [AU:COM:EC:IWC:HG:AL:SM:AC]  Visit
Dorenas World   [OS:COM:SM]   Visit
Flatlandia [OS:COM:SM]  Visit 
Franco Grid [OS:COM:SM]   Visit
GerGrid [OS:SM]   Visit
German Grid [OS:COM:SM]   Visit

GovGrid [OS:CV]   Visit
Island Oasis  [OS:COM:EC:SM:AC] Visit
New World Grid  [OS:COM]   Visit
North Grid [OS:COM]   Visit
One World Grid [OS:COM]  Visit
Opensim.RU  [Russian:OS:COM]  Visit 
Simvalley  [Dutch:COM:OS:SM:AC]  Visit  


Kitely Virtual 

Get your own cloud-based virtual worlds for training, education, collaboration or fun. Free access pay-as-you-go logging in with Facebook. Create an unlimited number of OpenSim-based sims. Choose which Facebook users can visit your sims. Log in by just pressing a button on their web page. See reports on how your virtual worlds are being used.   
[OS:COM:CL:SM:AC]  




NexXtLife  [OS:COM]  Visit
Open Neuland  [OS:COM]  Visit
Openvue  [OS:ED]   Visit
PMGrid [OS:COM]   Visit
Pseudospace  [OS:COM]   Visit
Savage Grid  [OS:COM]   Visit
Sim World [OS:COM]    Visit
Slack Dog Grid   [OS:COM]   Visit
Tertiary Grid  [OS:RPG:COM]   Visit
Twisted Sky  [OS:COM]   Visit
Virtual RP Grid  [OS:RPG:COM]  Visit
Virtual Worlds Grid  [OS:RPG:COM]   Visit
Wilder Western Grid  [OS:RPG:COM]  Visit
Your Alternative Life  [OS:COM]  Visit
Your Sim Spot  [OS:COM]   Visit

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Back News Items...

Date: Feb 2012; According tp Hypergrid Business, Opensim top 40 public grids gained 580 new regions over the past month, hitting a new record high of 23,231 regions. HB is tracking 120 grids now and saw 20 new grids added to their list in the past month. 

Nova grid which runs on Aurora sim closed this month without any prior notice. Acording to one Nova tenant who operated in OSgrid, her sim shutdown several weeks ago and she was unable to contact anyone at Nova for help. It is believed Nova hosted  Opensim regions for customers  on OSgrid as well as serving Aurora-based sims on the Nova Grid.

Date: Dec 2011; Role Play Worlds recently closed and went off line after 3 years. RPW started out as the Gor Grid but the owners failed to attract enough residents or rent out enough sims to stay in business. According to Hypergrid Business blog Island Oasis grid came out tops in rating which is good since the grid only opened this year.  Inworldz grid is currently top grid for traffic and community with daily averages around 200 logged in. OSgrid is a close second with daily averages in the order of 150 while Avination has fallen back from a one-time high at the beginning of the year approaching 300 to under 100. Most other grids still remain low with few getting above 30. Most are around 3 or 4 at best. But there are now so many small standalone mini grids and single sims connecting via Hypergrid to the bigger grids like OSgrid which are enabled that I can't keep track of them all. There has been many thousands of downloads of Diva Distro and Sim on a stick which makes it possible to run the Opensim platform from home PCs.
In other news AVworlds is said to be moving to a new server host so is currently off-line.
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I'm still adding links to the page but if you know of more or would like a new one added then please leave a comment with the site address.


Disclaimer:

Some Grids on the free Metaverse carry adult material and I can not vouch safe every one I list. I urge parents and educators to be aware of what the young persons in their care are accessing and take steps to block inappropriate sites. 

Some grids are run by hosting companies that may, or may not, actively provide inworld services, support and promotion. I don't actually distinguish hosting-only grids and fully supported grids so please check before making any decision which grid you might join if you plan to rent sims. Some of the hosting companies can actually provide better 24/7 service on the server side so if you plan to have a sim connected to grids like OSgrid or Nova this may offer a more cost-effective solution. However, if you want economy, content and the chance to meet more people then the regular dedicated grids like Avination and InWorlds may be a better solution for you.
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