Category Archives: NEWS

Save Second Life!!!

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The most important thing is…. Nobody Panic! The last thing we want to do is crash the SL economy!!

As a companion piece to the blog post I just did about the new Second Life 2 planned for 2016, I am reposting, in it’s entirety (cut and paste) a wonderful blog post by Jessica Lyon, Firestorm Viewer’s Project Manager. Please click on the link here to see the post in its original form.

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(I will do my best to keep my opinions out of this post while promising I will voice it sometime soon in some other more appropriate venue. For this I will stick to the facts. JL)

SECOND LIFE NEEDS YOU!!

New Second Life platform to come from Linden Lab

Many of you have heard by now that Ebbe Linden (CEO @ LL) slipped news at Friday’s Third Party Viewer Meeting that LL is moving resources to developing a new platform, a next-generation platform built “in the spirit of Second Life.” I will provide links to related media and articles at the bottom of this post, and I highly encourage you to read them to form your own opinions. But for now, here are a few facts as we know them.

  • The current plan is that the new platform will not be open source at least initially. (This means there will be no Third Party Viewer alternatives at least initially, and there will be a new viewer built by LL.) This could change over the course of time.
  • LL intends to continue maintaining and developing Second Life while they develop the new platform and will operate them in parallel even after the new platform is launched. SL will remain as long as it is profitable for LL to continue operating it.
  • The new platform will be built “in the spirit of Second Life” and will put focus on content creators as the primary customer. LL wants to make it so good SL users will want to migrate to it.
  • Assets (inventory) from Second Life will “likely” not be transferable because they do not want to constrain what is possible by maintaing backwards compatibility. This wasn’t said with complete certainty, though, which suggests some content may be permitted.
  • Second Life will continue to be improved, albeit on a smaller scale. Oz Linden is now Technical Director and in charge of a small team who will keep development in SL going.
  • This new platform is still in very early stages, and it is unlikely even a beta will be seen before next year.

Reaction

For some, this will be very exciting news and for others it will come as very scary news. For most it will create a level of uncertainty toward the future of our current virtual world. I’ve read and heard some people stating they will now stop buying content, stop building, sell their land, etc., wondering what’s the point. Please don’t do this! Whether you are on the side of keeping SL alive and well or not, this type of action/reaction is the worst you can do for all of us.

Personally, while I would love to see a new platform succeed I would also like to see Second Life thrive well into the future, but it is going to need a boost! Here is where you come in!

Where you come in!

Your opinion matters more than ever! Think of one thing, whether a feature, fix, improvement or whatever, that you feel will achieve the following goals best and drop it in a comment on this post.

  1. What will add the greatest value to existing users?
  2. What will attract new users to Second Life?
  3. What will improve profit margins for LL by encouraging spending among all its users? This can include anything from Premium signups to land sales to user-generated content sales.
  4. What can do these things without breaking existing content and without requiring changes in LL policies?
  5. THINK BIG

We are looking for a magic silver bullet to give Oz that can be introduced to SL to make it bigger and better than ever before!
Lets hope you have it! Good luck, and in the meantime keep doing as you always do! Also, don’t panic!

 

Related media and informational links:

 

Sincerely,
Jessica Lyon
Project Manager
The Phoenix Firestorm Project, Inc

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Let’s follow Jessica’s lead and do everything we can to save Second Life!!

I remain respectfully yours,

~ Suzanne Piers, ZI Social Media Manager

Breaking News! Second Life 2 in 2016??

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Ebbe Alberg RLWe interrupt your regularly scheduled perusal of our website to bring you the some breaking news.

The interwebs are abuzz with the latest news leaked from the headquarters of Linden Labs. After cagily sidestepping any questions about the future of SL, and stating staunchly that he is 100% behind growing SL, the grid has exploded with rumors of a “Second Life 2” that is set to be launched in 2016.

Rumors? or Fact? Or a giant marketing scheme?!? You make the call.

According to Jo Yardley’s blog, she says, “In an interview with ‘The Next Web,‘ Ebbe Altberg (CEO of Linden Lab) says that a beta of ‘Second Life 2′ (no official new name yet) is expected to be launched in 2015 while the final version should be ready in 2016.”

Cue the record needle scratching across the vinyl.

You can see the entire interview here.

“A new version of Second Life is being built from the ground up, with a little help from the Oculus Rift” screams the headline, in giant red letters.

With help from Oculus Rift, Linden Labs plans to create a whole new world in an attempt to go mainstream. Linden Labs CEO Ebbe Altberg says that Second Life has plateaued.

“It’s a massive project to do a new virtual world. To start from the ground up we’re hiring 40-50 more people,” Altberg told TNW.

“With technology, market interest, hardware and software available, now is the time to give it another big shot. We have the experience to do it more than anyone else,” says Altberg. The new Second Life will offer more robust tools for creators. Games, designs, goods, all the things that make the current incarnation of Second Life the go-to place for current users will be part of the new world. When asked why not just update the current world Altberg said, “We’re not going to constrain ourselves with backwards compatibility.”

The new version of Second Life is still a ways off though. A beta is expected to be launched in 2015 with the final version expected in 2016. In the meantime, Linden Lab has already told its users that a new version is coming, according to the TNW website.

There are two virtual reality frontrunners — Oculus Rift and Sony’s Project Morpheus, meaning that virtual reality is finally hitting the mainstream. The reasoning behind the change is that SL must change with the mainstream, and the original grid is not built for it.

While I can certainly understand the need to create an entirely new grid based on the latest technology, I have to wonder what this means for the countless residents and content creators who have tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of RL dollars tied up in inventory and real estate. What happens to landowners whose investment in their real estate is suddenly valueless? The thought of having to start over in a new virtual world and not being able to sell their old real estate because it is no longer of any value in the abandoned world, may not be palatable or even do-able for many.

While this cutting edge technology is exciting, and possibly necessary, there has to be a way that Linden Labs will make this right by business owners, content creators and landowners in the current SL platform.

I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers
ZoHa Islands Social Media Manager

Firestorm Viewer: The most popular TPV

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Recently the SL TV show Designing Worlds produced a show about Firestorm by interviewing the Firestorm team, including Jessica Lyon, Project Manager and Founder, Lette Ponnier, the English Support Lead, and Ed Merryman, Support Manager and teacher.

I have been a huge fan of TPVs (third party viewers) in general, and Firestorm in particular, since the Emerald Viewer. I remember when Linden Labs blocked the Emerald viewer in 2010, because the first day that it was no longer approved for use, was the day I got married in SL! You can imagine trying to have a wedding with an unfamiliar viewer! And from the ashes of Emerald arose Phoenix, which I used until it morphed into its present form — Firestorm. I am so glad that Linden Labs open sources their code so that these TPVs can be created.

You can download the viewer on the Firestorm website.

This is very interesting. Listen and you will learn a lot.

Firestorm Viewer | Treet TV.

I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers
ZoHa Islands Social Media Manager

Ebbe Altberg Speaks!

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Ebbe Linden

Ebbe Linden

I was very fortunate to snag an interview with Ebbe Altberg, Linden Labs new CEO. I sent him a list of questions, and he quite graciously answered all of them. Linden Labs has many things “in the works” that they are not able to address, but I am excited about the direction he is taking Linden Labs and I am hopeful that under his guidance, we can continue to make Second Life a fresh, exciting place to be. It’s so easy to get jaded, after being in SL for awhile and feeling ripped off by people and griefers alike. But after watching my RL friend’s awe and wonder at all SL has to offer, I believe that we can regain a fresh perspective and that sense of excitement once again.

Take a look at what Ebbe had to say. I’ve cut and pasted his responses here and have not edited or altered them in any manner. Many, many thanks to Linden Labs staffer Peter Gray for facilitating this interview.

Suzanne: What do you see as your biggest challenge in the next 12 months?
Ebbe: Overall, our biggest challenge is with ease-of-use. Second Life is incredibly powerful and complex – it’s a 3D object creation tool, a communication platform, a user-to-user marketplace, and much more, all in one – and making it truly easy to use is a massive challenge and an area we need to improve in order to take virtual worlds to the next level.

Suzanne: How do you plan to address the ongoing problem of copybotting and content theft in Second Life?
Ebbe: Creators are essential to Second Life, and we want to do everything we can to support them and help them to be successful. The fact that users can profit from their creativity is part of what makes our virtual world unique, and we’re continually looking for ways to thwart those who copy and steal content while keeping it easy for users to create and profit from their unique creations.

Suzanne: This is a four-part question about mainland:

a)What are your plans for the Mainland? Will more mainland be offered, developed or expanded upon?
Ebbe: There are currently no plans to expand the Mainland, but we are always looking at our current offerings and making small developed areas to enhance the Mainland experience.

b) Would Linden Labs ever consider allowing landowners to drop a sim in the sailable water on Blake Sea? Currently our problem with providing sailable waters is that we have to sink a sim in order to do so, which is quite expensive as we cannot rent out that land and simply becomes an expense.
Ebbe: We’re not looking at expanding the Blake Sea, which is currently composed of fully sailable regions. If you’re interested in providing water space around your region, we do offer low-cost alternatives to Full Regions and Homestead Regions, called Openspaces that could be used for this.

c) How are the Linden homes working? Are people using them and liking them? Are there any plans to expand them?
Ebbe: Linden Homes are a very popular product, and an account benefit that our Premium Subscribers enjoy – they are always near full-occupancy. We currently do not have any plans expand them, but we are working on an update to the product for the near future, which will enhance the home models, and bring them up-to-date with today’s content creation standards.

d) Why does the mainland not allow terraforming?
Ebbe: Actually, the Mainland does allow terraforming. Most Mainland regions have the ability to be terraformed to +/- 4m, and this restriction is a product feature difference between our Mainland and Private Island region products.

Suzanne: Does Linden Labs plan on any pricing structure changes for privately purchased sims?
Ebbe: We have no plans about this that we could share at this time.

Suzanne: What, if anything, does Linden Labs have planned to help strengthen the economy in SL, and assist businesses in gaining a foothold in SL?
Ebbe: We’ll certainly strive to maintain the amazing strength of our vibrant economy. Today, Second Life has the strongest and largest virtual economy based on user-to-user transactions in the world: the price of Linden dollars has been very stable, tens of millions of dollars have been paid out to users, there are more than a million transactions between users every day, and right now, creators are selling more than three million virtual items on the Marketplace. Starting a successful business – in the physical world or the virtual one – isn’t always an easy endeavor, but there are no shortage of opportunities or success stories in Second Life today, and that absolutely will continue in the future as well.

Suzanne: We feel that the search feature in SL needs serious improvement. In order for residents to find businesses in SL, they must use search. Is Linden Labs working on improving that?
Ebbe: Yes. We completely agree that search is in need of improvement, and we’re putting in some work to do just that.

Suzanne: One of the biggest concerns to business owners and land owners in SL is keeping people in SL. What plans, if any, does Linden Labs have for partnering with Philip Rosenberg and High Fidelity? It would be a huge draw to SL if we could embrace the oculus rift and the ability to have immersive experience in SL.
Ebbe: We have a good relationship with Philip Rosedale and the High Fidelity team and we expect that to continue, but there are no real plans to establish a partnership at this time.

As we said in our blog post about integrating the Oculus Rift with Second Life, we’ve been very happy to see all the recent activity and interest in the virtual reality space – it’s a sign of progress and innovation in the industry and helps validate the space Second Life has led for more than 10 years. Developments like the Oculus Rift hold great potential for Second Life, and we’re very excited to bring the virtual world into the future with new technologies and partners. We have already embraced and integrated the Oculus Rift in a Project Viewer available to everyone now, and we plan to continue to support relevant new technology as it progresses.

Suzanne: If there a plan for structuring the real estate in SL along the lines of creating a central grid, where you could go from one world to another, such as from High Fidelity to SL using Oculus Rift?
Ebbe: Our focus is on making Second Life the absolute best it can be and bringing the greatest value to our customers, not on building things like the ability to teleport your Second Life avatar to a separate platform.

Suzanne: Does Linden Labs have any plans to offer different real estate sim configurations, such as a “party sim” that could hold up to 400 avatars for instance, or have a sim that is between a full prim sim and a homestead sim (7,500 prims)?
Ebbe: No, we don’t have any plans to offer regions like this that we could share at this time.

Suzanne: Real estate owners are the number one business in SL right now. Would LL be willing to bring back the Land Expos? In the past, these expos were a huge event spread over 10 sims for 7 to 8 days, and is a wonderful opportunity for estate owners to get together and kibbutz. It would be a wonderful opportunity to have Linden Lab staffers attend and really get to know SL estate owners and help improve communication and create a dialogue.
Ebbe: We’re certainly happy to support and help promote community events and meetings – and to participate as appropriate – but this sounds like an initiative that would be best organized and hosted by estate owners, rather than Linden Lab.

Suzanne: In addressing communication, estate owners feel that there is a lack of communication and that the case workers at Linden Labs aren’t listening to their concerns. Are you aware of this problem and how can estate owners help facilitate a better exchange of ideas with Linden Labs?
Ebbe: Improving our communications with our customers and community at large has been one of my early goals since joining the company, and we’ve made significant strides in that regard. We’ll always be open to listening to concerns and ideas – in addition to direct conversations, meetings, emails, we keep an eye on discussions in blogs, forums, other social media, JIRA, for example – and we’re working to be as proactive and transparent in our communication with our customers as we can be.

Suzanne: Linden Labs currently does not provide support 24/7, and there is a gap between midnight and 8am SLT that is a “dead zone.” Since SL is 24 hours, and we have many clients and customers around the world that are only online during that time, this creates a huge problem for us in helping our customers and clients get their issues resolved. Does Linden Labs have any plans to bring back 24 hour support?
Ebbe: It sounds like you’re referring to our Concierge-level support, which does have a gap in shifts between 12am and 7am PT/SLT. However, we do currently offer live support for billing and basic assistance around the clock, and even during the hours that the Concierge team is unavailable, you should still be able to reach a live agent by phone or chat.

Suzanne: Will Linden Labs consider bringing back the community gateways, to help drive noob traffic to the estates and businesses?
Ebbe: I’m not ready to make a commitment saying we’ll bring back the community gateways program, but we would certainly consider an approach like it. I like the idea of empowering users themselves to bring in new Second Life users and help them get started inworld, as opposed to Linden Lab being the sole source of new users and pushing them all through our own registration and initial experience ‘funnel.’ The challenge is to do this in a way that’s scalable and makes the best use of our resources – i.e. provides a consistently high quality experience to new users, adds significant value for us and our customers, etc.

Suzanne: I know that Education and Nonprofits are going to start getting special pricing once again, to encourage virtual education. How can businesses like ZoHa Islands get involved with encouraging the influx of education and nonprofit organizations, and getting them started in-world?
Ebbe: The educational and nonprofit discount was actually reinstated and expanded last July, and we’re happy to see organizations like these continue to see great value in using Second Life. We don’t currently have a program to refer organizations that apply for the discount to particular businesses in Second Life, but certainly want to make it easy for inworld businesses to connect with prospective customers of all kinds.

Suzanne: Jump forward six years. What does SL look like in 2020?
Ebbe: In 2020, the virtual world will be incredibly immersive, and you’ll truly feel a realistic sense of presence as you explore and interact inworld. You’ll be able to participate across all kinds of devices, including tablets and mobile devices, laptops and PCs, virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift. Creators – from hobbyists to professionals – will be making an ever-more-diverse range of rich content and experiences that will be easily accessed and enjoyed by a massive global audience. Some of the experiences, creations, and uses of the virtual world will likely include very advanced and extremely high-quality versions of the kinds of things enjoyed in Second Life today, but I expect new uses will also emerge. The virtual economy will be operating at a scale many times what it is today, and we’ll see new records set for the profits that people earn from their virtual creations.

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Once again, thank you, Ebbe Altberg, for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer my questions. I appreciate the time and effort very much.

I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers, ZI Social Media Manager

Linden Labs Announces Sponsorship of the Drax Files: World Makers

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Linden Labs has announced that they will be sponsoring The Drax Files: World Makers. In these videos, Draxtor Despres creates videos that highlight and present the stories of some of the many talented people who are creating incredible things in Second Life.

Contrary to popular opinion, Second Life is more than a bunch of depraved sex addicts and married people looking for a disease-free way to cheat on their spouses. Second Life is full of creative people with amazing things to offer. There are artists to educators, game makers, fashion designers, community builders, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, musicians, magicians, and more who are making and doing wonderful things in Second Life. I’ve enjoyed watching the videos that the Drax Files: World Makers produces.

“[Drax manages to present] their stories in a way that shows not only the creative power of the platform, but also the unique personalities that make up the global community of Second Life users.” says Linden Labs in their press release. “As compelling as the series is for those of us already familiar with Second Life and stories like these, it’s also extremely powerful in communicating the magic of Second Life to those who haven’t yet experienced it firsthand.”

Having been in Second Life for five and a half years, I see myself, as well as a lot of people around the grid, developing a kind of blasé attitude. You can’t be in world for more than a year or two without being touched by some kind of person who rips you off emotionally or financially, because just like in RL, there are people who use and abuse you, and who love to stir up and create drama. It is very easy to get jaded. I used to run a club in Second Life, and don’t get me started about temperamental artists…. ugh.

Recently I have had a really fun experience — introducing someone to Second Life for the very first time. I’d forgotten about how exciting this virtual world appears to someone who has never experienced it before. Her genuine excitement and awe about all that SL has to offer has been contagious. I’ve started looking at SL through her eyes, and remembering and enjoying that sense of wonder and amazement I used to feel in SL. My friend has been in world now for about a month and a half, and interestingly enough people do not believe she is a noob. They think she is an alt account, because thanks to me, she looks amazing. However, all you have to do is watch her try to manipulate her avie in world, and you will know she is a noob! She’s been coming over to my house in RL and using my computer while she becomes familiar with SL, and I sit over her shoulder and help her. We have laughed until the tears come over watching her try and move around SL. I had forgotten how difficult it can be. She falls off stairs, runs into walls, loses her camera inside things. and runs into people.

One of the things that the Drax Files videos do is remind us about all that is good and wonderful about SL. That there is more good than evil in SL. Second Life is amazing place full of marvelous and wonderful content creators of all types. Draxtor really looks for people to interview who contribute some of these amazing things in SL.  He focuses on the many talented people in SL, many of whom make their entire living from businesses such as estate owners, services such as wedding planners, and content creators who sell their items in SL and in the marketplace.

In order to ensure that the Drax Files continues, Linden Labs has elected to sponsor it. The Drax Files is a labor of love for Draxtor, but there are real production costs associated with creating something of this quality.  Linden Labs was quick to point out, however, that this sponsorship has no impact on Draxtor’s editorial independence. They do not plan on taking control or trying to dictate what stories are told or how they are presented in the series. They wanted to reassure the audience that their agreement does not have any impact on his other work (his podcasts, for example). All it means is that Draxtor will be able to continue to produce new episodes of The Drax Files: World Makers series each month, which we can all enjoy and which Linden Lab can use in support of their Second Life marketing efforts.

Below is a fun video entitled: The Drax Files World Makers: Stories from Second Life. It is self-described as: “In the digital universe known as Second Life, a vibrant global community transcends boundaries of cultural, ethnic and generational nature: with unlimited possibilities to explore, make or sell anything one can imagine, stories of individual empowerment abound.

Watch the video and remember the wonder and beauty that Second Life is meant to be. Look at it through the eyes of my noob friend. Don’t dwell on the negative; but rather focus on the positive. I encourage you to use the Destination Guide and visit some of the most amazing user created content in the Virtual Universe!

I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers, ZI Social Media Manager

Around the Grid with Suzanne

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It’s Sunday evening, and another weekend has come and gone. We are facing another Monday tomorrow, but meanwhile I thought I’d close out the weekend with some highlights of things that are happening around the grid, and that are coming up soon.

And here we go…

New Mesh Default Avatars

Mesh default avatars resizedOn Linden Lab’s blog, they posted about new default avatar options they are offering. Linden Labs has updated Second Life’s default avatars with 24 brand new mesh avatars. In the Second Life blog, it states,”These avatars are designed to give new users a more appealing set of choices as they start their time in Second Life. Based on the most popular avatars picked at registration, these new options are much better-looking and take advantage of technology incorporated into Second Life over the past year (like fitted mesh and materials) for a more modern feel.” Maybe noobs won’t look so noob-y anymore!

Even if you’re a current SL user, you can check out the new default avatars in the SL viewer by opening the Avatar Selector in the viewer. Under the People tab, you’ll see a great variety of male and female mesh avatars to pick from. They even have mesh Vampires, along with some other monsters like zombies, werewolves, and winged beasts. 

Project Interesting

Early in May, Lindens Lab announced the latest update to their viewer — Project Interesting. This viewer completes the series of improvements they began several months ago with a series of server updates. This update reduces the load and time it takes to draw objects in regions, meaning scenes appear more quickly and smoothly as you move throughout Second Life. The always-entertaining Torley Linden explains Project Interesting in the, well, interesting video below. Have a look!

SL11B is coming!

SL11B resizedAs I reported earlier, SL11B, SL’s 11th birthay celebration, is quickly approaching! June 22-29 are the dates. If you want to participate as an exhibitor, performer or volunteer, applications are due May 20th, so hurry and get those applications in! They are not accepting applications from commercial enterprises to promote business. Watch the Destination Guide as it approaches, because all of the events during this wonderful celebration will be listed there. Or you can follow their website here. This year’s theme is “The Empires of the Future.”

Relay for Life

2014 RFL SL Logo resizedRelay for Life, (or RFL as it is colloquially known in SL) is a huge grid-wide series of events designed to raise funds for cancer research. These events run parallel to the RL American Cancer Society’s “Relay for Life” fundraising events. All proceeds raised in SL at these events go directly to the American Cancer Society for their Relay for Life fundraiser. You can see their website here.

According to the Relay for Life Wiki, “Relay For Life of Second Life (RFL of SL) is an annual activity that takes place in Second Life in July each year. Volunteers form or join teams to have fun while fundraising and raising awareness from mid-March through mid-July. In July teams build campsites and walk a track, just like in a Real World Relay. Since 2005, Relay For Life of Second Life has raised over $1 million USD for the American Cancer Society. Relay For Life has become an international movement in RL and in SL.”

RFL has been active in SL since 2004, where they had the first volunteer driven fundraiser for the American Cancer Society ever in Second Life. Ninety-nine Avatars participated, and they raised a total of $2,000 US dollars. In 2013, the ninth RFL of SL saw 3,549 avatars participating, with 200 teams walking 2,898 laps. They raised $393,000 US dollars! This is a whopping $98,250,000 Linden dollars!! (based on an average exchange rate of $250L to $1.00 US). This is truly mind-boggling.

In 2014, the 10th RFL of SL will take place on Saturday, July 19 through Sunday, July 20, 2014. The Event Chair is Nikki Matheson and the theme is “A Journey of Promise.”

Please visit the RFL of SL website and take a look at how huge this event has become. This enormous effort raises hundreds of thousands of US dollars a year, and is a very worthwhile effort. Nearly everyone’s lives have been touched by cancer — either through their own diagnosis or a friend or loved one. Please consider participating, either with your time, or your linden dollar donations.

I remain respectfully yours,

~ Suzanne Piers, ZI Social Media Manager