The Second Links Traveler

A great conversation with Chelsea Malibu from TrueGolf and some really exciting news for the future!

After seeing a picture of something that I might not have been supposed to, my little blogger brain sought out Chelsea Malibu, the designer behind the TrueGolf Virtual Golf System, to see if she could explain it to me. Chelsea was kind enough to sit down with me at Rainbow Links Hawaii and tell me all about it.

(I’m giving away a L$500 gift card to YOUR CHOICE of SL fashion designers – any one you like! Check out and leave a comment on my Golfy Fashion post!)

Keyli Daltrey: I guess my first question is, “what am I looking at?” What is TrueGolf VGS Open World Golf Simulator?

Chelsea Malibu: It’s where we are now. An open world in gaming terms is any game where you can go where you want, non-linear and not forced. World of Warcraft is an open world…, and so is Second Life.

Some can be video games, others virtual worlds like here. (TrueGolf) is a game within an open world simulator.

Why do I use these terms instead of SL terms? Well, when you are marketing outside SL, you need to use gaming terms gamers understand, and not just SL terms only we use.

KD: How does ‘TrueGolf VGS Open World Golfing Simulator’ with the Fiber Gaming Network’ differ from, say, TrueGolf here at Rainbow Hawaii in Second Life?

CM: We are about to start marketing through the Fiber Gaming networks. It’s an accelerated ISP for gamers. One of the games they will be offering on their games dashboard is access to TrueGolf golf courses.

And if that goes well, we will be adding more courses and a hub for them all.

KD: This might sound like a bit of a daft question, but let’s say I’m not a resident of Second Life. What would this portal through Fiber Gaming do for me?

CM: It would take you to our SLURL. From there you would be prompted to download SL and then register as a resident, then…taken to a landing spot we’re creating to get you started. If you’re a member of SL (that clicks on the Fiber Gaming portal) it will take you directly here. If not, you’ll be prompted to join.

KD: So it is a true portal to both Second Life and golfing in SL – that’s kind of awesome. This sounds like a way to really grow the golfing community.

I know a fair bit about golf in Second Life and enough about TrueGolf to knock a ball around, but Fiber Gaming is new to me. I poked around a bit about them and found their gaming hub. They have some triple-A games up there, including one or two I’ve played. It’s got to be pretty exciting to have TrueGolf up there.

CM: When Philip (Rosedale/Philip Linden, founder of Linden Labs) started Second Life, the design was supposed to be a gaming platform where people could build their own games. It didn’t work too well in that area, but it did something no one expected: worlds got created…As exciting as it was, I think Philip was always disappointed.

When he saw what we’ve done, he was blown away to see some of his initial vision being done here.

The president of Fiber Gaming Network played with me here at Hawaii and was really impressed. He said we need to add you to our networks.

So here we are.

KD: Without being able to solidly forecast any numbers, do you think you can safely say this could increase the number of golfers we see in Second Life?

CM: I’m hoping for 1,000 new golfers over the next six months and hopefully 5,000 over the next year.

(It was about this time Sadiya Snow stopped by to sit down and keep us company. Sadiya, Chelsea’s sister, hung out and we all had a great chat after.)

KD: That is freaking AWESOME. Even if you just accomplish 10% of that it’s awesome!

CM: We also have some RL golf companies coming in…and some (future) tournaments may offer RL prizes.

(( I don’t want to go into the specifics of what we talked about over the next ten minutes or so. Nothing has been signed and there are still talks going on between TrueGolf and these other organizations. I just don’t think it would be responsible of me to talk about it yet. Suffice it to say my eyes popped RIGHT OUT OF MY DAMN HEAD when she told me what they were working on. I mean…I just couldn’t even. ))

(That’s the way my niece would say it; she’d be proud of me.)

KD: That would be just wild! Can you imagine how many people would participate in a tourney if there was an RL prize of that scale on the line?

CM: It takes this from being just a casual game inside SL to (being) a real golf simulator.

KD: Is there any kind of timetable for the discussions you’re having with RL golf designers or is it still too early to tell?

CM: They’re ongoing now. My partner, RacerX, is at a conference talking to them all starting today. (March 26, 2025)

KD: Could we see RL prizes for golf tournaments in Second Life by the end of the year?

CM: (Our goal) is as soon as this summer.

KD: I have just one last question, and it’s the one I always have: is there anything on the drawing board for TrueGolf that you can talk about?

CM: Nothing major. Still waiting to see if any RL companies join before I start making any new clubs. If anyone sponsors us, we will make replicas of (their products).

Oh! And I will be changing the rating on Rainbow Valley from A to M.

KD: What’s the reasoning behind the change?

CM: Several reasons. One is a better listing in the destination guide – you currently have to have Adult (locations) enabled to see us, but moreover, I don’t want new users to have to adult verify.

KD: You read it here, folks, no more shagging behind the greenskeeper’s shed at the 14th tee!

Thank you so much for talking to me, I really appreciate it!

CM: You’re very welcome, Keyli, looking forward to reading your blog.

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Once again, I clipped out a fairly substantial part of the interview because it wouldn’t be right of me to blab about it when it’s currently still in the works and nothing’s signed. That said, I can’t emphasize enough how gosh darn excited I was to hear about it, and how amazing it’ll be when they are able to make this happen.

In the meantime, however, I think we should all be on the lookout for new avatars joining SL through the Fiber Gaming portal to come golf with us! Our community really is awesome and I think all of us are looking forward to new folks renting some clubs and coming to play with us.

Fairways and Greens!

Keyli