For me and the House of Pips burning Life is over. I had great fun this week, not just at the House Of Pips but at the other great Kid avatar Built camps. If only SL was this fun ALL the time :) here is a video off The SLC bumble Bear race.
To see the House of Pips from Concept art to final Burning down visit MY BLOG
Burning Life is now less than a week away. From inside the fence, the sights to see and things to do are incredible. All the kids who have built plots on the playa have done an amazing job.
I wanted to relate a story, though, that I think illustrates a change in the way kid avatars are viewed at these big events. Certainly a change from the days of SL5B only a year and a couple months ago. It all starts with a wristband: the very one I mentioned in my last post here.
It was designed as a nod to the First Life Burning Man, and to the KidsVille camp at same. A freebie in the spirit of the real-world event. I have those available for free at Inner Child Camp on the virtual playa. I also told a Burning Life Ranger about them: he snagged a copy of the "Lost Child Procedure" from the real event, and put it up at Ranger HQ. All good fun.
I also gave copies of them to the head of the greeters, who was putting together a Kids' freebie pack for the entrance to the event. For those unaware, it really does behoove you to come in through the entrance, get the background on the event, and be greeted onto the playa. Its a part of the fun of the event, IMO.
Anyway, somewhere after it went to the greeters, something got miscommunicated. I don't know if it was me, or who, but it went from "here' a fun thing to give to kid avvies" to "child avatars must wear this to be admitted to Burning Life." In spite of it being very clear both last year and this, and with several builders on the playa who are also child avatars, rumors started to go around that kids were not given express permission to be at Burning Life. Yikes.
To the credit of the event organizers and others, however, they stepped in to quash this rumor within a half hour of its inception. A couple Residents heard it, passed it immediately up the chain, and notices went out o the Burning Life groups and the Second Life mentors group, making it clear that child avatars have equal access to the event -- same as anyone else in Second Life. 
This is a major change from previous events, but not unheard of with Second Life events since SL5B. Last year's Burning Life had a "maturity policy" that made it clear that all forms of avatars were welcome. SL6B included child avatars within their initial FAQ, again spelling out that our involvement was welcome.
Anyway, I felt this was important to note to all SLC members: if you have felt unwelcome in Second Life, or have felt that you are not on an equal footing, the organizers of Burning Life consider you a valid, valuable member of their family. So come on out and party with all of us on the virtual playa!
Burning Life 2009 is coming up from October 17-25.
I'm very excited to note that there's at least eight plots being worked on by kids, each of which is unique and wonderful. In looking at all the things being built, this will be a great year overall for kids to come out to the virtual playa and enjoy the goings on.
Burning Life is not a "role play" area, though it tends to fall into a certain level of role play naturally. It is set in a desert environment, and people are encouraged to treat the location as if it was the First Life Burning Man's location of Black Rock City, NV. As such, when you enter the event, you are greeted by folks at an entrance much like the one you'd be greeted at in Burning Man, etc. The RL event also has a sizable number of kids and families present at the "KidsVille" camp. You can see some of their world at http://www.blackrockkids.org/.
My own entry (created with the advice and prims of Pygar Bu, Robin Howe, Valla Griffin, and Johnathon Spad) is Inner Child Camp 2009. It takes a lot of designs and ideas from the "KidsVille" camp mentioned above. There's a lot of stuff there, including a small shaded area for stories, chilling or whatever and a stage area for shows an stuff.
Now is probably a good time to mention that I am looking for kids who want to make use of the space during the event, for shows, acts, or whatever. I'm sure that the other kid-themed camps and art spaces will also want good folks to DJ, perform, and do stuff as well. No shortage of venues this time!
There's also lots of volunteer positions for the event itself, including greeters, lamplighters, and even porta potty decorators. Look to the right of the Burning Life page for details on that 
As the event comes closer, I will be distributing a HUD to those on the playa, allowing them to quickly and easily find the kid builds and other points of interest. Even then, take the time to really get out there and explore all 34 regions. I recommend starting in Burning Life- Deep Hole at the "What is Burning Life?" area, and following it through to the main entrance.
The event is VERY kid friendly/positive (though you willl also find a fair amount of non-sexual nudity and stuff on the playa too), and a good place to show what we're all about. Even just being here puts you "in the show" really, and I look forward to seeing all of you on the playa. :-)
When visiting, I recommend dressing for the site. Wear clothes you (or your parents) would not mind seeing get dirty on the desert -- or dress up in something for the fun of it. You'll see both on our RL counterparts. Also, consider some goggles, a hat, and even a bandana for your face. The latter can be gotten free on site, including at Inner Child Camp. I'll be passing out some "Dusty foot prints" and an "Inner Child bracelet" (similar to the KidsVille bracelets all under-agers were on the First Life Playa) on the SLC group.
Anyway, I think you'll love what you'll see here at all the camps, including those being made by some of our talented an wonderful SL kid builders an stuff.
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