The Shelter

From Second Life Wiki

The Shelter first opened its doors on August 20, 2004 - with land owned by Travis Lambert and Lars Bismark in East Central Fudo.

Unfortunately, the Fudo sim became increasingly laggy - and on December 1, 2004, the decision was made to move the Shelter from Fudo, to its current home in Isabel - where it stands today.

In the Summer of 2004, much of the social scene in SL was centered around a couple of 'large' clubs - all with a strong sexual content, and some blatantly taking advantage of residents.

Travis and Lars had been turned off in their own newbie experience with the major clubs at the time, and decided to open a spot that was friendly to both new and Mature (over 30) residents - and made everyone feel welcome, regardless of the sub-group in SL one belongs to.

One of the unique things about the Shelter is the friendly people, who seem to breed more friendly people. If you walk in the Shelter during a busy time, it's not uncommon for you to be barraged with a chorus of "Hi <Avatar>".

The Shelter is referred to as a "lounge" rather than a "club" because even at slow times, you'll nearly always find someone sitting around the table doing some scripting--or a couple folks dancing by themselves, pumping song requests into the jukebox--or a newbie experimenting with their first creation.

As long as folks can visit the Shelter and gain a positive SL experience, we're doing something right.

In October of 2006, Lars Bismark and Travis Lambert parted ways. While the dust was settling, a group of Shelterites broke away and formed "The Shelter in Exile", located in the Swinside sim. After lengthy group discussions, it was decided in January 2007 that the two locations should function as a unit, rather than separate entities. Ultimately, Swinside gradually faded away - with some folks migrating back to the original Shelter, and some going off on their own.

In 2007, Travis found it increasingly difficult to actively participate in Second Life due to RL issues. A Coordinator Board was formed to run the Shelter, consisting of all officers. The current leadership as of August 2008 is FireEyes Fauna and Reina Quine, along with Sumar Morgan and Hildeguard Psaltery as alumni officers. While Travis pops in occasionally to say hello, and participates in the Shelter forums, routine operations are led by FireEyes & Reina with little input from Travis.

also check out New Citizens Inc.