2010 in Review in Second Life

2010 is behind us, and with it an eventful year for those of us in Second Life. It was a year in which we found our virtual world tested as never before, with the Restructuring, the Emerald controversy, and other problems. But just as there were problems, there were many happy developments as well.

Two events dominated the news in Second Life. One was the Emerald Viewer controversy. For months, Team Emerald were the makers of the most popular third-party viewer, highly respected, even adored. But in August, their fortune changed. Following the departure of one developer saying the team was deliberately making their viewer vulnerable, a rival of Emerald was subject to a mass denial-of-service attack caused by computers using Emerald, hijacked to cause the attack. The controversy went on for a few weeks, ending in some of the team leaving and developing a new viewer: Phoenix, and the viewer and some of the key team members banned from Second Life.

The big news from Linden Labs itself in 2010 was the layoffs of one third of their staff. Many of those let go had been popular with the residents, such as Blue and Teagan Linden, and some were saddened to see them go. Before the mass layoffs, a few had been let go such as Pathfinder Linden, and after a few were continued to be shed such as Qarl, whom was noted for his enthusiasm for Second Life.

The Restructuring was not the only move by Linden Lab to make the news. In January, they bought the social networking site “Avatars United,” a move seen as an attempt to compete with Facebook, which was attracting the attention of the general public far better than virtual worlds. It didn’t catch on with residents, and in September Linden Lab closed it down. In February, they published a policy on third-party viewers that was confusing and poorly written. It was replaced within weeks. They also officially released their Viewer 2.0, though people complained it was still buggy and not easy for older residents to adapt to.

Philip Rosedale returned to Second Life as “Interim” CEO two weeks after the Restructuring, the previous head of Linden Lab M Linden stepping down. Many residents reacted with glee. M Linden had never been as popular as Philip, and was easy to blame for Second Life’s recent ills. Some held parties and parades in celebration, others were more reserved, reminding things weren’t perfect when Philip was previously in charge. But the majority was hopeful things would get better for Second Life.

But controversial moves would continue to be made. In August, Philip Linden announced a merger of the Teen Grid and the Main Grid of Second Life. This sparked a debate that would have remained vocal longer if it wasn’t for the Emerald controversy days later. But at the end of September, Linden Labs announced that besides those from the Teen Grid 16 and 17, those 13-15 would also be allowed in, albeit restricted to lands owned by groups they were in. Despite this restrictions, and that older teens would be limited to PG/General lands, a vocal minority of residents expressed worry that Linden Labs letting in the adolescents was a huge mistake that one day residents would be paying for, either in the form of stifling new restrictions that would take the fun out of Second Life or arrests of residents by angry parents for accidents.

Linden Lab would also cut more than just its staff. In October, their office in England was closed. Following the closing of their office in Amsterdam, this was the end of their physical presence in Europe, and any phone calls from Europe would have to go to America. There were comments that this was a sign of how Linden Lab regarded it’s European clients. Also in October Linden Lab announced that their fifty percent discount of Educational and Non-Profit land tiers would come to an end at the end of the year. This doubling of prices was a huge shock, especially as Philip Linden once promoted Second Life as a place for education. Now, Philip and Linden Lab seemed to be turning their backs on what they once believed in. To further confuse matters, Philip Linden announced he was stepping down as interim CEO a couple weeks later (exactly one day after the results of a contest for his new look).

Some residents wondered if the Lindens were suffering from “corporate ADD,” that they were unable to see how their decisions would affect Second Life in the long term, or if they cared. Others thought these were signs of a company setting itself up for sale, and in October rumors floated around that Microsoft was interested in buying Second Life. Some residents became increasingly discouraged, wondering about the future of the grid. Detractors were saying it was headed for collapse. “The Herald” went as far to say Second Life was in its “death throes.”


A few people had already been heading to other virtual worlds such as OpenSim and Inworldz before 2010 out of curiosity or frustration with Linden Lab. When Rezzable announced they were closing their classic “Greenies” sim on June 15th, the timing after the Restructuring certainly looked to some that more creators were losing hope. And after the Educational & NonProfit discount ended, some educational groups began making plans to move out of Second Life, or at least were seriously discussing it.

But the majority of residents seemed to be taking a “wait and see” attitude. And near the end of the year, Linden Lab’s choice for a new CEO, Rod Humble raised some hopes Linden Lab was starting to straighten itself out. Humble’s background in gaming was seen as an encouraging sign by some Second Life could be seeing some more technical developments (and fewer bugs) soon.

Not everything done by the Lindens drew hackles from the masses. The development of Mesh was seen as a potential breakthrough for the creation of content in Second Life. It’s initial appearance was a bit puzzling, as it required users to log into a separate Mesh Grid with a Mesh viewer. Still, the majority were fairly optimistic about its future.

Breedable virtual pets continued to be popular in 2010. Ozimal’s bunnies took the grid by storm early in the year, and for some months sold very well, people willing to pay tens of thousands of Lindens for rare breeds at auctions. But by summer, the market for the bunnies crashed. Of the new breedable pets, horses from the Amaretto company proved to be the most popular. In December, Ozimals and Amaretto ended up in a legal fight, the Ozimals claiming the makers of the popular horses had ripped them off and filing a notice with Linden Lab, and Amaretto filing a counter-notice and copyright lawsuit. Amaretto itself called it a sad development for fans of breedable pets. Despite the suit, the market for virtual pets in Second Life continued.

Besides the Ozimal/Amaretto dispute, Second Life had other legal situations. In November, Linden Labs was urged by Universal Studios to remove content with the names of it’s “Battlestar Galactica” show, saying it infringed on it’s copyright to them. Also, the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum closed down, with plans to reopen later under a new name, after the estate of the famous late architect ended their licensing agreement and issued a cease-and-desist order.

Second Life had a number of farewells in 2010. As mentioned before, a number of Lindens found themselves looking for another job, and the noted Greenies sim closed. Loco Poco Island, the charming island owned by the Tiny avatar company was closed as the business was put up for sale. Tragically, some resident passed away as well. Most notably was Delinda Dyrrsen who died suddenly at 32. A lady who devoted herself to giving music in Second Life exposure, numerous musicians honored her in tributes.

But Second Life had new things to show, as well as some returns. Tyrehl Byk wowed numerous residents with his highly colorful “Particle Phantasmagoria” that impressed some who had earlier thought they had seen it all. The hit movie Avatar inspired people to recreate the planet of Pandora within the Grid for both visitors to admire and a roleplay (it also inspired an advertisement campaign by Linden Labs). There were other fascinating new sims, from the whimsically cartoonish Lunamaruna, to the steampunkish Nemo, to the historically grand China Tang. And one sim which had vanished made a return to Second Life: Svarga. The sim built years ago as the first one with a working ecosystem of sorts that disappeared to the sorrow of fans, the rights to the content had been purchased by Linden Lab, and the sim restored.

Second Life again and again proved to be a worthwhile place to raise funds for charity. Autism Awareness in January raised over 200,000 Lindens for Autism research. As the year went on, there were more events for charity. The Haitian Earthquake and Gulf oil spill sparked a number of events, but disease and illness attracted the biggest fundraisers. And the biggest among them was the Relay for Life for cancer research, with the high point being the Relay Walk in July. Other events included the Diabetes Bachelor/Bachelorette Charity Auction.

And for us in the newspaper, it’s been a year of transition. We started out as employees of JamesT Juno and Dana Vanmoer at Second Life Newspaper, but regrettably real life matters demanded the full attention of both of them, and after wishing their friends farewell closed the paper. But we were given enough advance notice to make plans, and so we made the decision to continue under a new name: Second Life Newser.

And so 2011, our first full year under our new banner begins. We began just in time to cover some of Second Life’s biggest stories. And whatever happens this year, we’ll bring it to you.

Bixyl Shuftan