Remembering 9/11 in a Virtual World: 22 Years Later?

September 11, 2001, is a date etched into the collective memory of the world. The tragic events of that day left an indelible mark on humanity. As we approach the 22nd anniversary, it’s imperative that we continue to remember and honor the lives lost. In an increasingly digital world, platforms like Second Life offer a unique space for reflection and commemoration. This blog explores how even in virtual spaces, we can pay tribute to the victims and the resilience of the human spirit.

A Virtual Memorial: Second Life’s 9/11 Tribute Sites

Second Life, a virtual world where users can create and interact with immersive 3D environments, has proven to be a powerful tool for expression and remembrance. Over the years, many residents have built virtual spaces dedicated to commemorating 9/11. These spaces range from detailed recreations of the Twin Towers and Ground Zero to artistic installations that evoke the emotions and somberness of that fateful day.

One such location is the “World Trade Center Memorial” which features a faithful reconstruction of the Twin Towers and surrounding area. This space serves as a poignant reminder of the buildings that once stood tall, as well as a tribute to the lives lost.

Education and Reflection 

Beyond visual representation, Second Life also provides opportunities for education and reflection. Through virtual museums, galleries, and interactive exhibits, users can learn about the events of 9/11, the heroes who emerged, and the global impact it had on societies worldwide.

These immersive experiences allow individuals to gain a deeper understanding of the historical context and the human stories that emerged from the tragedy. By engaging with these virtual resources, we ensure that the memory of 9/11 lives on for generations to come.

Community and Support

Second Life also serves as a platform for community and support. Users can come together to share their experiences, thoughts, and emotions surrounding 9/11. In virtual meetings, discussions, and gatherings, people find solace in connecting with others who share their reverence for the lives lost and their commitment to promoting peace and unity.

Additionally, Second Life offers a platform for charitable events and fundraisers, enabling users to contribute to organizations that continue to support survivors, first responders, and families affected by 9/11.

A Space for Artistic Expression

Art has always been a powerful medium for processing and con veying complex emotions. In Second Life, artists have created moving installations and interactive experiences that invite users to reflect on the impact of 9/11.

From immersive soundscapes to evocative sculptures, these artistic endeavors serve as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of creativity to heal and inspire.

Conclusion

As we mark the 22nd anniversary of 9/11, it is essential that we continue to remember and honor the lives lost on that tragic day. Second Life provides a unique and powerful platform for us to do so, offering spaces for memorialization, education, community, and artistic expression.

By engaging with these virtual environments, we ensure that the memory of 9/11 endures, and we uphold our commitment to promoting peace, unity, and resilience in the face of adversity. In doing so, we honor the legacy of those we lost and continue to find strength in our shared humanity.

After visiting all the 9/11 sites that used to be in Second life I found only one place remains. Sadly “NEVER FORGET” was forgotten in Second life?

 

Please take a moment of silence and Remember this day as it changed the world and all of US within it.

 

Have a Great Week From All Of Us At Zoha Islands / Fruit Islands

SpeedLight Unlimited Online Experiment For All Users

In early July 2023 the SpeedLight team announced via Discord channel that they are experimenting with removing the online time limitation for all users. The SpeedLight team are excited to push the boundaries of the server capabilities and accommodate a larger number of Second Life residents online.

Hopefully soon the online time limitation will be officially removed. There has not been any further updates since the start of July 2023 from the SpeedLight team.

SpeedLight is a mobile viewer for Second Life for Android and for iOS devices. It’s lightweight, cross-platform viewer and it allows you to stay online, contact your friends using IMs and local chat, teleport across the world. The latest version of SpeedLight is v30 which is the mid of summer update.

SpeedLight V30

Glaznah Gassner posted this update on the SpeedLight Discord channel and on the Second Life Forums on 9th July 2023.

 

TL;DR: We’re experimenting with removing the online time limitation for all users. Feel free to login with SpeedLight, engage in your usual Second Life activities, and help us test our server capacity. Your feedback on missing features is welcome, except for voice support, which we plan to release later this month.

Details

Here at SpeedLight, we’re excited to push the boundaries of our server capabilities and accommodate a larger number of residents online. Currently, we have successfully handled thousands of users and are eager to take it further.

I kindly invite you to participate in our experiment by logging into Second Life using SpeedLight and carrying out your regular activities, such as IMing, exploring in 3D, and managing your virtual endeavors:

In browser: https://speedlight.io
Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/speedlight/id1519467733
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.speedlight.viewer

Your input is highly valuable to us. I appreciate any comments or suggestions regarding missing features (except for voice support, as we have plans to release a preview version later this month). Thank you for participating! Your contribution is greatly appreciated. ^_^

More updates will be posted on my blog soon on SpeedLight.

Have A Great Week From All Of Us At Zoha Islands /Fruit Islands


New Scavenger Hunt & Art Exhibition Debuts in Motown

New Scavenger Hunt & Art Exhibition Debuts in Motown


 
 

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The Swaginator hunt has hit Motown! Now’s your chance to embark on a soulful journey in search of hidden prizes in the nostalgic streets of virtual Motown.

Bring your friends and follow the clues that will guide you in your quest. As you unravel each clue and edge closer to the treasure, not only will you be rewarded with the joy of the hunt, but there are also a limited number of extra special prizes waiting to be claimed for early hunters.

Stop by Motown at 12pm PT today to meet and party with VP of Product Operations Patch Linden and other Lindens as we kick off the hunt together! 

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The excitement doesn’t stop with the Swaginator hunt. Motown in Second Life is soon opening an Art Gallery with art from one of our talented Residents, JudiLynn India. Meet the artist inworld this Saturday, August 26th from 2pm to 5pm PT. Whether you’re a music enthusiast or an art lover, Motown promises something for everyone. Watch out for more events coming soon! 

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The virtual world of Second Life is a melting pot of experiences, and the Swaginator hunt at Motown is just one of its many gems. So, whether you’re joining for the hunt, the upcoming art gallery, or just to soak in the Motown ambiance, this destination is set to create memories that will linger long after you log off. 

See you at Motown! 

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Motown

Experience classic and current Motown hits in an entirely new way! Meet new friends and dance in a music-filled virtual world that features multi-station radio streams of classic and contemporary Motown songs, animated gestures, and much more!

More Info Teleport
Have A Great Week From All Of Us At Zoha Islands / Fruit Islands

Watch: Philip Rosedale

Watch: Philip Rosedale “Philip Linden” & Wagner James “Hamlet” Au About the Rise of AI, VisionPro, and Making a Metaverse That Matters

UPDATE, July 28: Bumped up for weekend watching! And be sure to check out the interesting, somewhat ranty reader comments, and add some of your own.

Recorded at Linden Lab last week Friday, I’m honored to be the latest guest in Philip Rosedale’s new YouTube vlogast, where we do a deep dive on the past, present, and future of Second Life and other metaverse platforms. I have not seen Philip in person since the pandemic, so it was great to catch up, get a glimpse of his upcoming projects (more on those soon) and delve through Making a Metaverse That Matters and related topics.

It was a thorough chat, much of it dwelling on What We Might Have Done Differently with Second Life, and touches on famous SL personalities like Blueberry, AM Radio, and Bettina Tizzy. Here’s some other highlights:

  • 0:00 – Prologue
  • 1:50Will AI’s replace Actors?
  • 6:00 – Journalism in virtual worlds vs. IRL ?
  • 10:00 – Communicating with both text & voice
  • 11:58 – Would you say that you ‘lived’ in SL?
  • 13:50 – Walking through every SL sim
  • 14:45 – Second Life Mainland versus Islands
  • 16:50 – Would you have done SL teleporting differently?
  • 20:15 – What game does everyone want to play?
  • 25:15 – What did SL get right?
  • 28:14 – Are virtual worlds like Roblox good for kids?
  • 31:50 – Most interesting people and things in SL
  • 35:18 – What would you have done differently?
  • 43:34 – Can SL work on mobile?

More after the break!

 

  • 46:29 – The State of Play conference and getting past the Metaverse Age Cliff
  • 50:20 – Can virtual worlds make us better people?
  • 55:58 – The Love Machine
  • 58:45 – VRChat
  • 1:03:20 – Body movement without VR headsets
  • 1:05:00 – Why it’s very hard to change features on metaverse platforms, and the Tao of Linden
  • 1:10:03 – Web3 in virtual worlds?
  • 1:13:40 – Why curious generalists are good at creating virtual worlds
  • 1:16:15 – How Bitcoin vending machines in Second Life helped launched the cryptocurrency
  • 1:17:00 – Vision Pro?
  • 1:22:45 – What it was like for Philip to watch Facebook become Meta
  • 1:25:10 – ChatGPT and BunnyGPT
  • 1:27:00 – Why the Metaverse still generates more interest over ChatGPT
  • 1:31:35 – Advice for entrepreneurs

Disclosure: SF to LA travel costs and a nice sandwich generously provided by Philip and Linden Lab.

Philip Rosedale Wagner James Au metaverse book youtube podcast

Have A Great Week From All Of Us At Zoha Islands Fruit Islands

Comics Made in Second Life

Diavkha

 

Meet Diavkha, a set designer and storyteller who has taken their passion for world-building to the next level by creating a unique and immersive series of comics using Second Life.

Learn more about Diavkha from this short interview and video as the next installment in our Made in Second Life series!

What is your name and how long have you been in SL?
My name is Diavkha, people have told me it sounds Slavic but it’s an original name that I came up with. I like to have something unique and catchy! I’ve been in Second Life since 2018.

How did you get started making comics?
In the beginning, I just did photography, sometimes I would write short stories or descriptions of what the picture was about to give it a bit of context even though the picture might not show it. 

Last year I thought it would be an interesting project to create a deeper and expansive narrative and flesh out my writing skills. SL is perfect for that because of the sheer amount of content available within the platform to build worlds and characters.

There was also another reason that inspired me to create Beyond Star and that is my nephew, he loves things about outer space and adventures.

Where do you get the avatars and the sets from?
Most of our avatars wear the mesh heads from the store BeSpoke, they are wonderfully designed, unique, and different from what’s available. Because I wanted to have non-human characters I specifically saw a lot of potential in their options. 

We also use other outfits, poses, and building kits from stores like: Process of Elimination, Contraption, SKNK, Unholy Duality, Fanatik, and more. 
I’m very thankful for these creators and their work that allow us to build imaginative worlds and characters.

How many episodes of Beyond Star are there?
At the moment we have 6 Episodes completed and are working on number 7 right now which is almost finished. The idea is to have 9 Episodes total for the first chapter/season of the project.

It was important to build the characters, themes, and worlds with a sense of pace and to let the story grow.

Each Episode can take a few months to be completed as there is a process: beginning with a script, then building sets and characters, taking the photos, and finally editing.

Can SL comics compete with “real” comics made the “traditional” way, in terms of visual fidelity and storytelling?
I don’t see a reason why they couldn’t. While some people might think illustrating traditional comics is a more valuable endeavor, the items used in SL were also created by real humans who put a lot of love and effort into making them. 

The tools might be different, what’s important is to have a good imagination and use the potential of the platform to create a compelling story.

Are you self-taught? What is your background?
Since I was little, I always loved creating my own worlds and stories, sometimes I would write these stories for school and plays. I studied Graphic Design and Animation and I have a lot of interest in history, politics, science, and religion. 

My RL job allows me a certain amount of flexibility to devote to the arts and to other projects like Beyond Star.

What tools outside of SL do you use for making the comics?
Primarily a web-based editor called Pixlr, it’s similar to other picture editing software and has enough tools to work with. I always try to do everything within SL, so that the editing process is less outside of it.

We are using Blurb at the moment for the printed comic, if you’d like to support us you can purchase a copy here: Beyond Star on Blurb  

What does SL mean to you?
Second Life means a lot of things, to start, it feels like an open canvas for creators of all types. It also means connections with other people, even though the boundaries of reality prevent you from seeing them. In SL, you can share moments that feel just as real and unique as they would be in real life. Sometimes those moments are more powerful just because you don’t have the weight of the real world upon you.

Do you have a place that you call home? Rent/own?
My partner and I rent a small piece of land, we’ve had it for over a year now and it’s our happy corner. We use it as our home and work area for the comic and other projects.

Please mention your collaborators. 
The project started originally with my partner Elarik Nokturne and myself, later our friend Ayumi Suki joined in. They both have contributed to the project with ideas, sets, and even the title of the story.

Any final thoughts?
My hopes are that with this project, people can see SL in a positive light and see its potential.

 

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Video Production by Draxtor Despres
Logo by Marianne McCann

Have A Great Weekend From all of us at Zoha Islands / Fruit Islands

Second Life Spotlight – Hamlet Au

Today we are shining a spotlight on Hamlet Au, also known as Wagner James Au. Hamlet is a journalist that has been diligently reporting about Second Life for two decades on New World Notes, and has just released his latest book, Making a Metaverse That Matters!

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Can you give us a brief overview of your background and how you got involved with virtual worlds, especially Second Life?
Back in 2003, I was a young San Francisco-based freelancer writing about games as an emerging cultural force for Wired and Salon. The PR firm of an oddly-named startup called Linden Lab invited me to see a new online game world they were creating. (Yes, Lindens called it a game back then!) 

After Philip had taken me on my first tour of Second Life, his head of marketing at the time, Robin Harper, suggested that I could write for them — as a journalist embedded in their virtual world. My first avatar, Hamlet Linden, was born, as was my blog: New World Notes.  

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After I left Linden to write my first book, The Making of Second Life, I moved my avatar identity to Hamlet Au in a transfer ceremony. I’ve always worn a white suit, sort of my silly tribute to legendary “New Journalist” Tom Wolfe.

One of the very first Residents I interviewed was Catherine Omega, an amazing scripter who casually mentioned she was temporarily homeless in real life. So I quickly realized an amazing community was developing, and that it was the story of a lifetime. I’ve been writing about SL culture whenever I can ever since!

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For instance, I recently interviewed BunnyGPT, one of the first SL bots wired up to ChatGPT

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I even still have an office space in Waterhead kept from my Linden days. Come visit! There’s an official shrine to Snow Crash there, approved by Neal Stephenson himself.

Your first book, The Making of Second Life, was published in 2008. How has Second Life evolved since then, and how did that evolution inspire your new book Making a Metaverse That Matters?
Second Life’s visual quality and backend reliability have greatly improved since 2008 for sure, but to me, the most important evolution since then happened with everyone else: In the last five years or so, metaverse-type virtual worlds have finally become mainstream. And what’s exciting is that Second Life is not only still thriving, but is an important role model for these newer platforms. As I noted a while ago, Second Life creators make about as much money from the virtual world as Linden Lab itself. No other metaverse platform can say that!

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The Making of Second Life (2008)

So that’s what inspired me to write Making a Metaverse That Matters: I want to take all the lessons we’ve learned from Second Life over the last 20 years and apply them to new metaverse platforms so that we can finally realize the best and largest virtual world possible.

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Making a Metaverse That Matters (2023)

As someone who has worked for Linden Lab, what insights can you provide into the challenges and successes of maintaining and evolving a platform like Second Life?
The biggest and most amazing challenge is that the community is basically an equal collaborator with the actual company. This is both a blessing and a curse! When I was a Linden, the team would often stop work to marvel at the latest user-made project which included technical workarounds the engineers never anticipated — and then realize that they couldn’t easily patch that workaround since doing that might break the user’s creation.

With your blog New World Notes running for over 20 years, how have your thoughts and insights about virtual worlds changed? Can you share a particular event or moment that was a turning point for you?
During a conference where I was speaking about my first book, I randomly visited a virtual Bayou bar, where I saw an avatar playing blues guitar. His appearance was customized to look like a tall old Black man, which I assumed was just his roleplay character. 

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Mr. Bristol photo credit: Russ Roberts/Etherian Kamabuko

But clicking on the user’s account, I realized that in real life he was Charles Bristol, an 87-year-old Bluesman and the grandson of once enslaved people who lived long enough to play live music in Second Life.

Wow, I thought to myself — if people as amazing as that are in SL without me knowing, who else is in there? So I’ve never really left. Even if Second Life is not the largest virtual world, it’s definitely the most interesting and inspiring — and the best role model for making the Metaverse.

Tell us about some of the Residents in Second Life that have left a lasting impression with their work in the virtual realm.
There are so many! But I’m very grateful to Cajsa Lilliehook for covering SL’s incredible Flickr community every week, and Sanny Yoshikawa for translating New World Notes to SL’s large Japanese user base. And to all my regular New World Notes readers! 

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I should also mention metaverse artist AM Radio, who is not as active in SL in recent years but still keeps his eye on the virtual world, and whose work has been so influential. I recently wrote about how his real life son is helping keep his art alive.

Where can people see your work? Please share links to your books, websites, and social media accounts.
New World Notes
Making a Metaverse That Matters
Facebook: Hamlet.Au
Twitter: @SLHamlet
Plurk: Hamlet_Au
Discord: WJA#3523

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Thank you, Hamlet, for all your years of reporting the metaverse news! We especially enjoyed your recent article in The Atlantic: There Will Never Be Another Second Life.


Have A Great Week From All Od Us At Zoha Islands/Fruit Islands