Get to Know Your Neighbors!

We think it would be great if everyone got a chance to get to know some of the volunteers in the community and to find out why they love AW so much.

This month we meet Lady Pippin also known as PK16 and Einga who may be better known to some as PK37.

Courtesy of the Peacekeepers

PK Safety Tip: NEVER download any program executables, screensavers or other miscellaneous files that you may or may not recognize unless you have positively identified the source as a reliable one. If there is any question as to a program's validity, point your query to the AW newsgroups. There are programmers there who may be willing to help you check the program to determine its credibility. (From KeithB PK54 SRT)

Lady Pippin discovered AW in late 1997 when she, by mistake, discovered Microsoft's Comic chat. She heard people often say, "Try AW try AW". Early in 1999 (yeah, it took her that long) she downloaded Active Worlds and in April she became a citizen. "In the beginning I was a tourist as I didn't have a credit card at that time so it took 6 weeks to get the money order through. I was a Tour guide in real life (she lives in Europe) and I wasn't able to be online as much as I wanted".

Asked why she joined the Peacekeepers she replied, "I joined because m0e asked me and he told me it would be a good thing for me if I wanted to be in a community. Also I remember a certain PK that was involved in a land controversy I had with another citizen. My impression of how that situation became resolved gave me a good feeling about the PK's. I like to helping people with their personal problems or their online situations as well as answering building questions."

Lady Pippin does not have a regular patrol time and is a floater PK.

Lady Pippin is more than casually involved with the PK organization and performs the extra duties of a Peacekeeper trainer in PKA (Peacekeeper Academy.

She was, until recently, actively involved in AWEC but her real life as a job (Photographer) necessitated her resignation from AWEC. She is also involved in AVV(that what she thinks it's called) Her exceptional rivers and swamps can be seen in av02 world.

Lady Pippin is a prolific builder and has two worlds that citizens and tourists can visit. Vision2, her main world, is built in celebration and spirit of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. She won a Cy Award for Vision2. The other world is Bridge1 which is a theme world or season world. "The 2 first years in AW I was in solitude so to speak. I found out how to build and then I started Pippinville in Alphaworld (aw 1952.0S 2568.0E 0.0a 269)." Pippinville is a must see.

Asked what her interests outside of AW were she replied,"My primary interests? Well I am an artist besides my job as a photographer, I paint (primary watercolor) and play with the computer where I produce graphics. You can see my work at www.pippin2.com/PippinGraphic.html

"The message I have for the citizens and tourists is: Have fun first of all, and always remember there are real persons behind the screen, as are you ^¿^"

Einga discovered Activeworlds back in 1990. She was using regular 2d chats like paltalk and odigo but felt that out there, there could be something much better than just chat. Like many of us she went to goggle.com, typed the word "chat" and saw 3d Active Worlds. She gave it a try. Upon landing in AWGate she was so amazed that a chat be so neat - seeing people walking and chatting while being seen as a little character.

When asked why she became a citizen Einga replied, "I couldn't resist too long, so I became a citizen in a week. I was having too much fun and I wanted to get rid of tourist clothes and be able to whisper. I didn't want people to keep asking me to take a picture of them; I also wanted to visit different worlds that a tourist can't. I also wanted to learn to build and keep my builds on my name. Finally, I wanted to create a good name and be creative. My name means a lot to me and it is in honor of my real sister who passed 3 years ago. I only got to introduce her to the program (AW). I was so excited I wanted to buy her a computer so we could find each other in AW but, unfortunately, God took her with her and she didn't have the opportunity to participate long. Her name was Ingrid and people used to call her "Inga", so I added the first letter of my name, "E" for Enid.... I will always keep Einga.

Einga joined the PK's in February 2003; she is coming up on her first year anniversary as a PK. Einga said about becoming a PK, "I love to help people. Always been a people's person and I enjoy it. I think that is my number one goal in ActiveWorlds, to make others happy, bring a smile to their lives by teaching them what's fun in ActiveWorlds." Eniga likes it most when a user asks for help, for example, finding someone a spot to build, ect. She doesn't like when people argue so she strives to help people understand that it is better to have fun, get along and make things easy. She feels that she draws strong support from, as she says "the great people in the PK organization who are willing to help me and others when is necessary."

Einga is PK 37 and her patrol time is Tuesdays at 10:00am vrt, very early morning. When she is on, everyone using AW gz is probably drinking their morning coffee.

Currently, Einga is a simple PK but hopes to expand her service to the organization some day. "Since I started the PK's my goal is to be part of the group of coaches within PKA (Peacekeeper Academy) team. I love to teach others how to use the program and be part of our organization. I want to be part of assisting new PKs to understand how important our job is. I would like to experience the excitement of a new PK trainee experiences when learning how to use the special PK tools. Each day I try to prepare myself better and better to be part of it."

Besides being a PK Einga has other AW activities. She has a world called Angelic. It is dedicated to heaven and angels, it you want to experience heaven Angelic is the place to go. The main idea of Angelic is to help the user feel a bit how she imagines heaven. Building there makes her feel very close to her sister. She has several of her own places in Alpha World as well as building for birthdays.

Einga volunteered these coordinates for her builds and would like all citizens and tourists to visit. "I have many builds, but I do have a city called, "Einga's Fashion City" since that is what I do in real life. Anyone can visit it at AW 980.00S 4630.00W 0.00a 0, there is a lot to see around. What I want to do is to help people with my city. I help them by teaching how to feel good about themselves. I create buildings with information about self confidence, personality, dressing for success, communications skills, organization, etc... I hope someday I will finish it - it is a work in progress. I take it slow because I don't see a day that I will leave AW and I don't care if they raise the prices! I have a build where many users participated. This build was named "Plant - A - Tree", it is at WildAW 362.69N 360.89W 0.00a 300. This was an event/built where users planted a tree and dedicated it to someone that wasn't around anymore or dedicated a tree with inspirational verses. More than 100 users participated and Goober King featured a nice article in AWNews back in January/2003. Feel free to drop by and plant yours."

Einga's primary interests outside of AW are dedicating her time to a new house and her husband. She can't wait to move in to it in February. She wants to start a beautiful garden of roses and sunflowers and dedicate it to her sister and mother. Also, she has a regular job. She lives in Florida, the sunshine state. She thinks it's a good place much to do and the perfect place to live (Beautiful beaches and weather.) She has lived there 24 years. Einga came from Puerto Rico. She speak Spanish fluently and, as she says, "I like to help and teach other speak Spanish and translate. It is fun. I've also been teaching modeling/acting to kids and adults for 12 yrs." She plans to start her own business teaching and assisting aspiring models and actors to getting into a fashion career.

Her message to the tourists and citizens of AW is: "Visiting Active World is fun, but don't wait too long to become a citizen. There is so much to see out there in the other worlds. Tourists are very limited and can not enter many of the fantastic worlds in AW. If they want to keep their builds, or build an entire city, they need to immigrate. Hopefully they can join me in my world Angelic someday."