A new name for "Demo" world

I can scarcely believe it's been two and a half years since I fired up a small demo server and posted it's access details to the internet.  Apart from a few episodes of forced downtime, it's been occupied ever since, and it's grown significantly.

I was part of a small group that attempted to write an independent WorldsAway server back in the late 90s, when this was all new and exciting - we started that because Fujitsu had stopped talking to us about licencing their software for a world design we had created, due to turmoil at their end.  In the end, changes in my personal life made me drop out, but it was already looking like it would be too big a task given the resources we had available.

It was a blast of nostalgia that caused me to look into it again, back in 2016, and see if it was possible to recreate a server using more modern technology.  At this time, there was no vzones, but Metro was around, and I was so pleased to see people used the technology.  I dug out my old code and packet captures, and produced a working prototype in just a few evenings, but it took another three years before I finally found enough time to write enough code that I could fire up something worth showing publicly! I created eight linked locales, with a body changer in one, a vendo in another, some seating, and a lot of empty space.  THIS was "Demo World".

Over the last 30 months, thanks entirely to you, the users, and especially Bonnie and Clyde, we've expanded to dozens of locales, forming a beautiful sea-front village, along with seasonal special areas, and even an (ok, I admit it, it's boring, I made it) island...

We have long outgrown the name "Demo" for out little world. The time has come where we need a proper name!   Not only because we are no longer merely a demonstration, but a full living world, but also because without a decent name, we've pretty much no chance of enticing new people to come experience what we have all created. What we have counts as "Retro" now, and makes it fashionable... Luckily, I think we skipped the period where it was simply "old fashioned and obsolete"!

I've been getting suggestions via the Unofficial Discord pages, and have compiled a list of all the names mentioned. Now it's your turn.  Join us in-world, visit the brand new Voting room within the town hall, click on the voting machine, to see the current suggestions.  If you have one that's not on the lsit, cluck the Suggest button and send me yours!  It will be added to the list as soon as possible.

Voting will open on Sunday 20th, server-time, and run for three days.  Please visit us during this time and pick your favorite. You only get the one choice per account, so please take your time to read the lit and pick the one you think best reflects the world we want to create going forward.

I would prefer a name that can reflect the whole world, rather than the name of the village/town, as there are potentially other localities we might want to establish. 

If there is no clear winner when voting closes, I'll drop those with no, or significantly fewer votes, and we'll go again.  Rinse and repeat.. Results will be posted to this blog as we go along.

This is your chance to make the world your own. Please take the time to read the list of names, and choose the one you like most.  You can click cancel if you can't immediately choose. The order of names in the list will be randomized to ensure no one name is picked simply because it's at the top!

If you have friends that have not visited for a while, let them know to come back, see all the new things we have going on, and let them have their say!

With the new name will come a new website dedicated to our virtual world, but don't worry, "AltAway" will not be going away; it will remain as the name of the project and software.  Only "Demo world" will be being renamed.