And The Surprise From the Lab: 10 L

Yesterday on the Linden blog, the Lab told readers that those logging in Second Life by 7:30PM would be getting a "surprise" gift. Unless your account had few to no Lindens, or you checked your transaction history, you probably would have missed it unless someone told you. The surprise gift was not a Valentines Linden bear or any other object. It was ten Linden dollars added to your account.

10L. That's a small amount to established players. And in both the official forums and the SL Universe forums, longtime residents expressed their disappointment, some saying they felt insulted. One resident commented, "It's not about the gift or $L. It's about the complete lack of even a little last minute imagination." Some residents did express some support, saying newcomers would benefit a little from the gift, especially since there was no shortage of near-free items costing just one Linden. One resident felt Linden Lab was in a no-win situation. No matter what they did, he commented, there would be no shortage of complaints.

On the blog, Linden Lab did offer suggestions on how to spent the 10L, as well as some suggestions on where to go for Valentines Day.

We hope you’re all having a lovely Valentine’s Day in Second Life! If you logged in during the period to be eligible for the special gift from Linden Lab, today you’ll find an extra L$10 from us in your account by midnight (PT) tonight - it’s just a little something that we hope will brighten your day.

Looking for a last-minute gift for someone special inworld? There are lots of options for less than L$10 in the Valentine’s Day category on the Marketplace - you can see them all here. And, of course there are thousands of items in the entire Valentine’s Day category, which you can browse here.

If you don’t yet have any plans for Valentine’s Day inworld, we’ve got you covered! The Destination Guide team has been sifting through the many and varied recent submissions to highlight a few things you might want to check out today:


The Lab then listed several locations, a shopping hunt, a club, a romance area, the Nortre Dame Cathedral, and the One Billion Rising demonstration.

There were numerous suggestions on the forum posts on what else the Lindens could have done, such as offer a deduction from landowner's tier, one commenting ten Lindens would pay for his land for just seven minutes. But over and over, the "Kiss a Linden" Valentines Day events that went on to 2011 were also brought up, several residents saying the return of the event would have been a much better surprise gift. 

Linden blog, Linden forums, SL Universe