VZ History: Hotel Silicon

Hotel Silicon started life as Open Beta Hallway, a world that was used to test the capabilities of Dreamscape and Worldsaway Version 2. This world was free, but it was very small. There werent many locales, items or staff members there, but it was to be the start of a great virtual chat room.

Hotel Silicon Rares Vault Explore Hotel Silicon as it was in 1998 Hotel Silicon Gallery Silicon Soup (Hotel Newspaper) archives

The Hallway Beta world was an unfriendly, troublesome world with beggars, thieves and all round nasty people (there were some good people too, though!) There were many (bad) clans and groups in the world that tried to make the experience as unenjoyable as possible.
The worlds administrator, Whitewolf did put a stop to these, however and made the Hotel a great place to hang out. Where else would a punished avatar go straight to the void, or be given a permanently GLUED on, fat head bearing the name punished avatar? Only in Hallway.

When Hallway opened, Whitewolf did promise that the world would one day be shut down... and it was. This day was called "Black Friday" where everything and everyone was painted black. All the avies were also given guide powers to have fun with!

The Last Week Of Open beta - Party Schedule •Monday - Dressed to Kill (New paint and accessories will be provided) •Tuesday - Dance till you drop (MIDI music with Netscape/Explorer if it can be managed) •Wednesday - Pirate's Treasure Hunt (Solve the puzzles and collect the rare gemstones) •Thursday - Every Single Avatar will be an Acolyte (Amulets will be hidden all over the place and those who find them, will have Acolyte powers for the day) •Friday - The End ..... or the Beginning?

So, Beta was closed... but it reopened one week later as the reformed Hallway World. This world was still free, but it was no longer a beta test... meaning the world was here to stay! Or was it...

When Open Beta opened, new locales were added and new staff members were introduced in the form of Concierges (Caretakers) and Valets (Acolytes/Guides).

Hallway World had a few different rules, one of which being that only human avatar heads could be used, animals or objects were not allowed. Secondly, Whitewolf, the friendly administrator was moved from the Hotel project to make way for Concierge Antoinette, Concierge Jean Pierre and Concierge Jean-Paul! These new staff members changed the "world help" from acolyte to valet and employed a new group of staff.

Although small, the simplicity of the world got more and more people interested. Late 1997, a 'duping bug' hit the hallway, allowing members to duplicate items and tokens using a glitched table which had been placed in the vendo. This was corrected within a month, but by then the problem had already gotten out of hand and Hallway's (and Hotel's) token economy had been changed forever.

The duping bug in action. Members used to fight to unghost in this locale so they could create more tokens.

In a town meeting, it was announced that billing was to be introduced. Many people left Hallway because of this news, which was upsetting for those who had friends. Hallway World was renamed to Hotel Silicon once the change took place, and everyone converted their avatars to the new accounts. The staffing changed over time, as Concierge Claudette, Concierge Gisele and Concierge Robert became the new trio in charge of running Hotel Silicon.

Tito, Concierge Gisele and Concierge Robert

Hotel Silicon was far more civilized and a proper community grew inside the four walls. Many more events were introduced and new items were put into the vendos. The Hotel Silicon community was small, but nearly everyone inworld knew each other. It was like a soap opera every day!

There were some funny avatars, the moaning avatars, the jerks... Hotel had them all (yes I could name names, but I wont <g>).

However, once Club Connect opened up its gates things did not seem good for the Hotel. Cracks started to appear in the walls and messages such as "Very soon, you wont have to go far to get in to Club Connect" began to show.
Around November 1998, the Worldsaway Manager called a town meeting and it was announced that Hotel Silicon was to be closed down, remodeled and relocated to Silicon Valley, a city in an upcoming world "New Radio World" (the 'evolution' of Club Connect).

Before we knew it, this plan was put into effect and everyone was evicted... only to remmerge in New radio World (or as we know it... VZ Connections).

The Hotel Silicon server was later used for First Frontiers and is now used for Seducity.