Summary:
Instead of having special Friendly Beacons and registered locations, we're turning Friendly into a grid-wide social discovery system.
When someone becomes Friendly (by choosing the mood or eating Friendly food), they automatically join the Friendly network. Their HUD reports what region they're in and how many avatars are there.
We're also making a free wearable
Social Compass
that players can pick up at the Everlife Store, next to the Adventure Chest. They can use it anywhere in Second Life!
The Compass will have three features:
  1. Find Friends: Shows the three regions with the most Friendly players, like "3 Friendly / 12 Avatars."
  2. Happening Now: Shows the three busiest regions observed by Friendly players, even if most people there don't play Everlife.
  3. Friendly Ping: Shows the names of other Friendly players currently in your region, so you can find people to socialize with.
Everything will appear in private chat with clickable SLURLs so players can easily travel to those regions.
When someone leaves Friendly mood, they automatically leave the discovery network.
The idea is to make Friendly an actual social gameplay mechanic that encourages people to explore Second Life and meet new people, rather than just using the mood just for stat bonuses.
And as a bonus, we can remove the huge Find People display and all the Beacon infrastructure from the store! 😂