The Return of Urban Furry

 

 A club the Newser has written about a few times in the past is coming back. On Wednesday September 3rd, Urban Furry had it's Grand ReOpening party. It started at 2PM, and was scheduled to go on to 8PM. It is owned and managed by Whiskey Ravenhurst. 

 

Urban Furry has been in operation a few times before, Whiskey reluctantly closing it when events in his real life require his full attention. This time, he feels he is able to keep up the place indefinitely. 

 

If the club looks familiar to some, that's because it is. Whiskey was missing the original version of the club. So he brought it back, with a few small alterations. Among the additions, a couple of framed articles from when the location was in the Newser. 

 

For the moment, the club has no regular events. Whixkey says he should have scheduled hours in about a couple weeks, with the times being determined when interested DJs can play.

 

Urban Furry is at Vector Valley at (193/43/2011). 

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

News and Commentary: More on The Return of Gachas

 

 It was almost four years ago on August 2021 when Linden Lab announced they were banning the popular method of shopping known as gachas. It was one of the Lab's more controversial moves that had a divided reaction among the residents. For those who don't know, gachas in Second Life refers to a method of selling items, transferable and no-copy, through a machine which delivers one of a set of goods at random, usually a number of common ones, and a few uncommon and rare ones. 

 

It's hard to say when gachas got started in our virtual world, but the method eventually became quite popular. If you got one you didn't like, you could try again and give the first one away, or sell it. There were groups for the purpose of trading gacha items. And there were popular events with hundreds of gatcha items available for sale, such as the Gacha Guild and the Arcade Gacha. 

But gachas were not popular with everyone. Because that what the buyer got was random, there were charges they were basically a form of gambling. And with people wanting that rare item, it wasn't hard to imagine someone spending hundreds, thousands maybe, just to get it. So there were allegations the way gachas were sold enticed people to spend and spend and spend. So there were people demanding the Lab ban them. 

 

Outside events however would eventually lead the Lab to take action. Some games began offering loot crates which could not only be earned by gameplay, but purchase, such as EA's Battlefront II, which soon prompted investigation and calls for action by Government officials. When Linden Lab announced it was banning gachas, it did so citing "a changing regulatory climate." A few days ago, they would say, "regulatory guidelines emerging globally at the time." While there were no complaints from the US Government, or any other government, about gachas, it's likely the Lab's lawyers cautioned them that the way the legal winds were blowing to expect changes in the law. 

The reaction from the residents was divided. Many cheered the Lab, saying things along the lines of "it's about time this addictive practice was stopped!" Others booed it, saying they loved shopping for them and trading them, or just thought the move was unnecessary.. Some builders were saying they depended on gachas to make their living in SL and felt this would cripple them. The two big gacha events, The Gacha Guild and Arcade Gacha, stayed active for a few more years. But the Gacha Guild, later renamed just The Guild, would announce it's closing on Deceomber 2022. The  Arcade Gacha is supposedly still going, but it's blog had it's last entry on Sept 2022. 

But over time, there was change. I began noticing some vendors in which had a selection of items offered at random, including a couple uncommon ones, but the next one after the current one available for purchase was displayed. It was clearly based on the gachas, though not a true one. And finally several months ago in October 2024, Linden Lab announced a partial reversal of it's gacha ban. The catch though was that the items couldn't be transferable. That action was greeted without enthusiasm, gacha fans saying part of the fun was being able to trade them. 

And now, as of Tuesday May 6, the Lab is allowing gachas back in full, transferable and all. 

We are excited to share some important news that will bring renewed opportunities and creativity to our vibrant virtual world.  Effective immediately, Gacha is once again fully allowed as a content creation and sales mechanic in Second Life.

Linden Lab would say, "The decision to prohibit Gacha in 2021 was following regulatory guidelines emerging globally at the time.  We have continued to evaluate what steps we can take to support creative freedom while also ensuring compliance with evolving legal frameworks, which led to the recent changes announced in 2024. Since then, the regulatory landscape surrounding Gacha systems has further shifted to the point where Gacha can be confidently reintroduced under current prevailing guidance."

The Lab has asked gacha merchants to do three things, "Clearly communicate Gacha mechanics and contents," to price gacha items reasonably, and "avoid deceptive practices or 'pay-to-win' designs" that would damage trust of gacha shoppers. 

The subject quickly made the official forums on (this thread), and once again the reaction of the residents was divided, "Addictive gameplay is addictive gameplay." "This is excellent news." It may be this is one subject the residents will never really agree on.

 

But in any event, gachas are back. Now it's up to the residents to vote with their wallets.

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Featured News Back on The Dashboard

 

 

 It was a few weeks ago that I wrote about something missing on the Second Life website dashboard page, (https://secondlife.com/my/), the featured news was no longer on it. But a few days ago, it was back. It was labeled "Blog Posts," but still back.

So thankfully the latest from the Lab is a little easier to come across. 

Cartoon of The Day: Breakdance Fail

 

 

 Taken at a music event at Outshop Cancer. One guy was breakdancing. But I couldn't help but wonder that in years to come, in real life a guy wouldn't find it so easy after a while.

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Wedcot Center Is Back

 

 

 In October, the Newser reported that Wedcot Center Park, a tribute to the EPCOT Center owned by Disney, had closed down. For fans, some good news. The place is back. 

Disney Epcot tribute - Celebrate the season with Nightmare Before Christmas, and Haunted Mansion Holiday! Festival of the Holidays, Spaceship Earth, Test Track, with access to mini golf.

The place is still under Trevor Sleydon and is still in the Real Dreams sim. A look at the park's group showed no announcement's in the past month, so it's safe to assume the place came back before the first of the month. The place isn't quite perfect. The "Spaceship Earth" attraction isn't quite working. But some things such as the monorail are. 

The landing location is at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Real%20Dreams/42/4/105

Bixyl Shuftan

DJ Franny Dean’s Thanksgiving Parade Returns

 

For some time, FrannyDj Dean had been doing parades in Second Life, notably her Thanksgiving Day one. But in February 2023, she passed away. But for her fans, there is good news. DJ Franny's parade is still on! Gemma Cleanslate will have some more information tomorrow. But for those who can't wait, head to the Amazing World sim.

 

 

The Blues Furs Are Back In SL

 

Some people remember the Blues Furs, musicians who had a love of blues and other forms of music. But last year, they had to put their act on hiatus due to real-life. Recently Joilet Bandit (JBRaccoon), the senior member of the team, contacted me to say the Blues Furs will soon be making music once more.

 

"I am back into doing music sets in SL again," Joilet told me, three days a week, music and live singing I do, three different venues to try and help my hooman friends too." I asked what the three venues were. He answered they were Water Goddess Beach at Palmetta (43/210/21), owned by Whitewolf, one high above the Saoirse sim at (99/79/3939), "my friend Culli's region, and Lone Star County, in the Lone Star City sim at (245/105/23). The last one is Joilet's own location.

The other half of the Blues Furs is Jensen, "We are still a team for the show, with his new job it cuts into when we can do a show but I try my best to work around that." It was brought up that his name had been changed since the Blues Furs started, "He went by Biohazard however due to someone else using the same name and creating lots of trouble. He changed to Jensen to avoid confusion."

 

We ended talking up more about the Blues Furs' home location, which is based on the "Blues Brothers" movie. He send me a screenshot (left), "That's home, and where that photo was taken. And yes, the Chicago PD cars have Illinois Plates and the state car has an actual replica of the state PD plates used back then.

 

Joilet then showed me another, showing one of the police cars from behind, "The car number on the plate is a mismatch but those are hard to get accurate (laugh). That plate number is from one of the actual cars used in the big chase at the end of the movie. Still working on the final touches to my cars for The Blues Furs but almost done there as well."

 

Joilet would say that besides the three events each week, "Gonna also do a special Halloween show the Friday before, with a couple prizes. ... Friday the 27th, I will be hosting a Halloween Party  and if schedules allow, The Blues Furs will make a special appearance (laughter). It's a tossup between Wolf's place or home. I have to discuss with my event coordinator to see what she thinks will be best."

When I asked if there was anything else he wanted to mention about the Lone Star Country location, he chuckled, "That's where we [The Blues Furs] were last reported being, hiding out still hahahaha local PD [LSCPD] is following some leads. I'll get some more pics as I can, I need to check-out the LSCPD cars so we can set them in various places with the ISP. Hehehehe."

 

So the Blues Furs are back and determined to make some fun in Second Life, "especially with a live singing huscoon."

 

Bixyl Shuftan

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

Saturday, May 20

 

    ~*~

    

    At 10 AM PST   

    The Benefits of Getting Back To Nature

    By Phil Youngblood

    Part of the Healthy Aging Conference

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/back-to-nature/

    Inspiration Bay

 

    Inspiration Bay (210/123/21)

      

    ~*~

 

    At 9 PM PST   

    Milanchovich Cycles

    By Jes Stannard , Keith Eric Grant

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/milanchovich-cycles/

    SC Meeting Spot

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

 

    ~*~

    

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝

 

Happy Vixen Back, Cause of Incident Uknown

 

 

On Tuesday March 7, The Happy Beach Club in Purfection Estates vanished aside from some scattered pieces. But a day later, yesterday Wednesday March 8, it was announced the club had returned.

Great news everyone. The sim was rolled back, and our club is back to normal. Events are on schedule as before. As to What The Fornication happened, we don't know yet.

But the important thing is the Vix is back in business.

 

While it had been thought that the cause of the club's vanishing was a glitch as a result of the rolling restart that Linden Lab does with sims on Tuesday. But a couple people have come forward saying this might not be the case, suggesting it might have been another cause. But with items not related to the club in the sim, and quite some distance away, having vanished, a simple alternative explanation is hard to find. Still, the venue is back and the affected areas in the residential sim are back to normal.

The club, owned by Nydia Tungsten,  is located at Purrfection Estates (236/219/24), and the schedule can be read in SL Clubbin'. 

Bixyl Shuftan

New Version of Radegast Viewer Available

 

It was announced in the Blind Users Support Group (and Virtual Ability) yesterday that there was a new version of the Radegast Viewer, version 2.40, available for download and use.

I am proud to release Radegast 2.40 the first major update in quite some time. Containing up-to-date LibreMetaverse, the HTTP client has been fundamentally rewritten for speed and better resource management. You may notice things like Inventory and Map Tiles downloading much faster than they have in the past. Radgast now is built against .NET Framework 4.8, the final version of .NET Framework which is the best I can do for now to keep Linux and Mac support, such as it is, until a complete UI rewrite.

 It was also announced that the website had been down for a while, partially due to the datacenter being in the Ukraine and not having power for months. But they were back.

 Radegast is a text-base viewer that has gotten a following among blind and visually-impared users of Second Life. One can read Mermaid Celine Highwater's article from 2014 about it (here). 

Bixyl Shuftan

Rita Mariner Back Online

 

For about three weeks, the Sunweaver community has had it's leader, Rita Mariner, in the hospital. Finally yesterday, Wednesday April 20, she came back online. At Club Cutlass that night, there was a banner welcoming her return.

As luck would have it, Rita would have to leave toe party a bit early, so I wasn't able to take a picture of her as a "roller derby rabbit." She still has some healing to do. But in the meantime the party, "Best in Q and R," went on, a little happier now that the bunny chieftess was back.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Tempura Island Back - Update: Will Be Preserved By Linden Lab

 

It was several days ago in which the Tempura Island sim closed following an announcement in the group a few days before. But it seems the sim has returned. A reader alerted the Newser the place was back and open to the public to explore: Tempura Island (124/46/33)

Exactly what happened as of the writing of this article is unknown. There was no announcement in the sim's group. The area remains owned by it's longtime owners. The person contacting the Newser hoped both the sim and the recent Tempura Project would remain up. 

Update: At 7AM, it was posted in the Tempura group that the sim would be maintained by Linden Lab under it's Preservation Society.

Dear Tempura Island friends, lovers and visitors.

We like to inform you, that after our decisions to close TEMPURA, we have been reached by LL and made decision and accept to maintain our region by joining "The Second Life Region Preservation Society" provided by Linden Lab. We have received so many messages from SL residents about closing TEMPURA and we are very happy that TEMPURA will still exist.

Please enjoy TEMPURA sim as you have been for all these years.  We like to express our grateful to Linden Lab who recognize and decide to keep TEMPURA as part of SL existence.

Thank you everyone who love TEMPURA sim!  

　　　　　　　菊之介王子 (kikunosuke Eel) / Tempura Island team

So it seems Tempura joins the ranks of The Shelter, Chouchou, The Lost Gardens of Apollo, Mont Saint-Michel, the SS Galaxy, and Svarga as places (mostly well-designed sims) that will be maintained by Linden Lab.

Hat tip: Eliza Cabassoun, Spiffy Voxel

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Breaking News: Philip Rosedale Returns to Linden Lab

Good news to fans of Philip Rosedale, the founder of Linden Lab and Second Life. He's back at the Lab. There was an announcement today that High Fidelity, the company Rosedale would found after leaving Linden Lab, had "acquired an interest" in Linden Lab. Some people from High Fidelity will be joining the Lab, including Rosedale, whom is back as a "strategic advisor."

The transaction will help Second Life further scale its operations and strengthen its commitment to growing an innovative, inclusive, and diverse metaverse where its inhabitants’ ingenuity drives real-world value for themselves and others.

"No one has come close to building a virtual world like Second Life," says Second Life founder and High Fidelity co-founder, Philip Rosedale. “Big Tech giving away VR headsets and building a metaverse on their ad-driven, behavior-modification platforms isn’t going to create a magical, single digital utopia for everyone. Second Life has managed to create both a positive, enriching experience for its residents — with room for millions more to join — and built a thriving subscription-based business at the same time. Virtual worlds don’t need to be dystopias.”

“Since Philip started Second Life in 1999, its visionary approach has not only stood the test of time, but positioned it for the future,” says Brad Oberwager, chairman of Linden Lab. “He and the High Fidelity team have unmatched experience and I can’t wait to capitalize on the vast opportunity in front of us.”

The Lab would state both Philip and Overwolf Linden would appear on a special edition of "Lab Gab" in a couple weeks. Residents are invited to submit questions using (this Google doc), but have until Midnight Sunday January 16 to do so.

Click Here to go to the Press Release.

Click Here to go to the announcement in the Linden blog.
 

The Return of "The Wall," Vietnam Veterans Memorial Rebuilt

 

Longtime readers may remember the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Second Life, also known as "The Wall." Built in 2007, it stood for four years until it vanished in 2011. But after over ten years, it's back, or rather rebuilt. This wall is high over the Heavens Sunset sim.

This version of The Wall appears to have all 58,000 names. There are some differences as the Three Soldiers Memorial statue isn't there. Still the return of "The Wall," is good news.
 
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Heavens%20Sunset/65/106/953

 Bixyl Shuftan

 

Lomgren Smalls, Second Life's Smallest Avatar, Back Inworld

 

Last week, the residents of the Sunweaver community had one of their noted members return after a long hiatus: Lomgren Smalls. For more recent residents, Lomgren started getting attention in 2007 for his six-inch high avatar. That was the smallest anyone had made that could still move about more or less normally, and it is believed to still be the smallest. 

His being a member of the Sunweaver community helped give it a reputation for having talented members. Besides is avatar, he would work on other projects, such as some exhibits for the Passionate Redheads Relay for Life team. In a 2009 interview, he confirmed that his tiny avatar had helped him get a job in real life when the interviewers saw what he could do. 

Since 2016, Lomgren had been on break from Second Life for personal reasons. In finally ended on Tuesday June 22. Appearing at the Happy Vixen, and Club Cutlass the following day, he was greeted by old friends and curious newer members of the community alike, "It's good to be back." Lomgren was curious to hear what had been going on in Second Life for the past few years. Bento and animesh in particular interested him. Seeing an animesh bot dancing on it's own, he commented, "I have some catching up to do."  

It should be interesting to see what the Sunweaver's smallest resident comes up with.

Welcome back to Second Life and the Sunnies, Lomgren.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Nydia Tungsten's Youtube Channel Is Back

In November last year, Nydia Tungsten took down most of the videos in her Youtube channel. Or rather, made them inaccessible to those whom didn't have the links to individual ones. The reason for this was the COPPA controversy in which many Youtube content creators feared bankruptcy over perceived violations.

But over time, there had yet to be a single instance of this happening. So Nydia came to the conclusion there wasn't any trouble. So she made the decision to make her Youtube channel completely accessible once again.

I have decided to open my youtube back up, and I am looking forward to doing more Videos to put on there, you can find them here  

https://www.youtube.com/user/NydiaTungsten/videos

WE'RE BACK BABY!

The Newser looks forward to when the machinima/music video artist comes up with more.

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: Urban Furry Reopens Today

After about a year and a half of closure, club Urban Furry is finally reopening.

Urban Furry is currently looking for both furry and human djs and hosts. newly redesigned, and reopened, offering great music, games store rental adboards and loads of fun stop on in and checkus out today and dont forget to grab an application!!!!! 

The grand reopening event is tonight from 8pm - 10pm, with DJ Squeaks playing the music. Besides Friday nights, the other two events scheduled each week are DJ Silver at 6-8pm Saturdays and DJ Ary at 10am-12 Noon Wednesdays. But club owner Whiskey (Thorrin Resident) hopes to expand the schedule.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Empire%20State%20Island/76/103/3549

Tiny Yosemite

Longtime readers may remember Jadyn Firehawk's Yosemite park in Second Life. The place  remained up for some time until sadly real life made her unable to keep it up. Following her setting up of her Coronavirus Survival Store, she found she had a number of people still in the sim group. Inspired by these fans, she recently brought the place back in a smaller form, Tiny Yosemite. Gemma Cleanslate heard about it and decided to check it out.

Read Gemma's article in Places.

"Bunny is Back" Rita Mariner Back Online

Good news for the Sunweaver community. After a few days of being locked out of Second Life with her main account, Rita Mariner announced yesterday she was able to get back on once more, "I was able to log in as of 2:30 CST (12:30 SLT)."

Rita's banning has raised more than a few eyebrows, at least one estate owner asking if something like this could happen to her as well, having her account frozen because she was sent a form that got lost in the mail or email. It was also brought up that the original Steelhead community closed down partially because the Lab had locked out the estate owner's main account (the bigger reason was numerous real-life difficulties). One person commented, "That's disturbing, and rather draconian. Something like this only reinforces the fact that FinCEN completely controls the Linden Dollar. What the hell happened to Linden Lab's spine?" Another responded, "US government regulations is what happened and LL is not going to go against it."

In any event the bunny is back, and life in the Sunweaver/Angel community can get back to clubbing and preparing for the Relay. Some though are glancing over their shoulders.

Bixyl Shuftan

Nydia Tungsten's Music Videos Going on Vimeo

It's been a little over a month since Nydia Tungsten made the decision to take down her music videos from Youtube due to concerns about vague new rules that could have meant bankruptcy. In an update on the situation she announced some of the videos were going back up, on Viemo.

As you all know Angel Productions was pulled from youtube due to Coppa and the FTC and the parents wanting everyone else to take care of their children. But our heart and our Spirits have NOT been broken. All your hard work, putting up with my silences as I make you dance, not even sure what song I am using most of the time. It is a new year, and new beginnings, of everything .... https://vimeo.com/382152792 ... yeah.. I am trying this again. 

But remember, this site charges it's users if you want anything over the VERY basic, so I am only allowed to upload 500MB per week, and there is a total cap as well, but I will do my best to make it work and continue to have fun with all of you! I may start a patreon acct to try and get the monthly amount in order to open up more and more. let me know what you all think but most of all... WE'RE BACK BABY!

Once again, Nydia's Viemo channel is on https://vimeo.com/user107043726 .