Drax Radio Hour Ends After Seven Years

 
Noted Second Life media personality Draxtor Despres is noted for many shows. Nowdays, he's known for hosting the Second Life Book Club, and the Second Life Destinations videos he does for Linden Lab. But there was one show he'd still been doing after over seven years and over 300 episodes: The Drax Files Radio Hour. But a few days ago on October 24, he aired a brief five minute episode announcing "This Is The End."

"I'd sad, but also relieved," he stated in the final show, saying his listenership for this particular show had dwindled to a tiny few, "It makes no sense to continue this podcast with this lack of interest. ... That's totally fine. ... It's a very saturated marketplace. And truth be told, I am extremely busy on other fronts that are very gratifying. People know that I come from radio. I love radio. I love the podcast medium. I love audio. But I also love making videos and profiling Second Life people. And I love making documentaries. ... We are very busy with an upcoming documentary about virtual cultures in Pandemic times ... I produce a minimum of about 140 videos per year for the official Second Life social. ... we're extremely productive. The podcast is just not catching on. I'm sorry, but there is enough media, enough stories, enough art, and reportage documentaries from yours truly. I think I'm overexposed as it is."

On the webpage, he would post the following:

My friends: I decided to end this podcast. we started way back in 2014, shortly before Ebbe Altberg came in. We had over 2000 listeners per week. We are down to 9!

I don’t mind. I am happy that i can cancel myself in fact because we churn out over 150 videos with second life stories per year, not counting the feature length work.

That should be enough should it not? listen to my short announcement and tell me what you think. Thank you for making my second life awesome every day!

The Drax Files Radio Hour first aired on Friday January 10, 2014. At first he did the show with Jo Yardley, best known for her "1920s Berlin Project." The first few episodes would go into topics like supposed NSA investigations of Second Life, other platforms such as High Fidelity and Cloud Party, and the resignation of then CEO of Linden Lab Rod Humble. More recent episodes were about subjects of Second Life Book Club airings. The second to last episode, Show 320, aired on August 16. So the Radio Hour had been on hold for a while.

For those wanting to keep in touch with Draxtor, "Befriend me inworld, join the book club, ... follow me on Twitter." One can also email him at draxtor@draxtor.com, or madeinsl@draxtor.com if there's a story about Second Life to tell

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Linden Lab's Buyout Now Official, Second Life Listed As Part Of Waterfield Network

 
Almost unnoticed at the end of Linden Lab's announcement that the move of Second Life's data to Cloud servers was now complete was an announcement of another kind. When the Lab announced the agreement with a group of investors to be acquired in July, it was mentioned the deal required the approval of the US Government. At the end of Tuesday's announcement, it was stated the approval was finally granted after a review. The big reason for the approval was Linden Lab's money service Tilia.

 Another noteworthy development for the new year is that Linden Lab has new owners! As announced in mid-2020, an investment group led by Randy Waterfield and Brad Oberwager signed an agreement to acquire the company subject to regulatory approval by financial regulators in the U.S. related to Tilia Inc.’s status as a licensed money transmitter as well as other customary closing conditions. We are pleased to share that the regulatory review has been completed and Linden Lab is now under new ownership.  

On the Waterfield Holdings webpage, Second Life was listed as part of the Waterfield Network, alongside other companies such as Goldman Sachs.

And what does this mean for Second Life and it's residents? For now, not much. It was earlier stated that the investors plans were to pretty much let Linden Lab continue to run Second Life as they see fit. In this latest announcement, they hinted the investors would be sending over some money.

While the owners may be new, things are “business as usual” in Second Life. Last year saw strong growth for our virtual world and, as a result of this acquisition we expect even more resources in 2021 to further improve and grow Second Life in the future.  

Hamlet Au in New World Notes would have a few things to say on the topic. Among them, that over time Waterfield would likely send the Lab some directives over time to keep it's profit margin. This likely includes higher fees and more incentives to go Premium.

Hat Tip: Hamlet Au

Bixyl Shuftan

Update on "The Search For Magellan"

Taking a look at the rules for the updated "Linden Realms" game, I was unsure about whether or not accounts that hadn't bought or sold Lindens, such as alts, could collect Linden dollars from finishing "The Search For Magellan" quest for finding the pieces for the amulet. "You must have a payment method on record with Linden Lab, and you must have used it at least once," the rules stated. Well, in the case of alts, it seems the answer is they can. I finished the quest, brought back the pieces of the amulet, and got a small Linden dollar reward for my efforts.

So those with big friend lists who want to do the game without interruptions via an alt apparently don't have to worry about not getting a prize. But jumping from rock to rock in the slimy green river and the molten lava at *just* the right distance every single time, that's something you do have to worry about. Do you get to find Magellan? Do you find out what Ruth's next move is once she gets the amulet back? You'll have to find out for yourself. Happy Hunting

Bixyl Shuftan

Asheron's Call MMO Goes Offline After 17 Years

Yesterday, January 31 2017, was the final day for players of  "Asheron's Call." Developed in November 1999, close to the time of Everquest and Ultima Online, it was the third major Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game to be released. Developed by Turbine Studios and published by Microsoft until 2004, the game had a Fantasy theme in which players fought with swords and magic. Peaking in 2002 at around 120,000 players, it would eventually be overshadowed by "World of Warcraft." The game would see two expansions and eventually a sequel, "Asheron's Call 2," and was updated monthly. Originally needing a subscription fee, the game eventually became free to play. In 2014, Turbine announced the updates would be ending, save for bug fixes.



In December, it was announced the game would be closing on January 31, along with it's sequel, and no more new players would be admitted. A number of fans petitioned Warner Brothers, the last publishers of the game, to keep it running. But the company would not change their minds. On the last day, longtime players, and many whom had stopped playing years earlier but came back, gathered to share old stories and to say goodbye to one another. Eventually, the screen was full of players raising their arms in the air surrounded by pink energy, and vanishing, and each player getting the message, "connection with the server has been lost." Also going down would be the website, the forums, and the Facebook page.

Besides the video above by PC Gamer, many others would do their own recordings of the end, such as this one, and this. Others would post their comments online, "I locked the front door at work so I could go sit down and cry."

After 17 years, no more would the players log on.

Sources: Wikipedia, PC Gamer, 


Bixyl Shuftan

"Thanks Again To Everyone" "Sabrina Online" Internet Comic Ends After Twenty Years

For many of us, comics are a favorite part of the newspaper. So when the Internet and World Wide Web was coming of age in the 1990s, some artists began drawing and publishing comic strips on a regular basis. Most would last only a few years before the cartoonist either ran out of ideas or real life made it too difficult to keep up his/her schedule. But others would keep going. Among one of these first online comics to gain a following was "Sabrina Online" by Eric Schwartz. Starting off with a girl connecting to the Internet, the strip went through a number of plots and tales of Sabrina and her friends.

On September 15, twenty years to the month after the comics first went up, Schwartz uploaded the last of the strips, Sabrina marrying her boyfriend, followed by a message.

'Sabrina Online' first appeared on the web on September 15, 1996. It seemed fitting to bring the strip to a close twenty years to the day later, ending with a bang (of sorts) rather than keeping the strip plodding along month to month indefinitely without any focus or goal. I want to thank all of Sabrina's readers and fans out there, whether you've been there from the start or discovered the strip more recently. You all are the power that helped me keep the comic rolling as long as it has. While all good things must end, Sabrina, R.C., Zig Zag, Amy, and everyone else are not gone. It's only the regular monthly strip that is completed, but new stories and works from the Sabrina-verse will pop up from time to time. Just drop by for news and info, whether on this site, Furaffinity, or elsewhere. Thanks again to everyone. I can only hope you enjoyed the two-decade ride anywhere near as much as I did.

Over the years, the strip has gotten Schwartz a number of fans, inspiring a great deal of fanart and some fanfiction, and been translated into several languages. Some fans led by Cindy "Zig Zag" Babii, built in Second Life a "Double Z Studios," also called "ZZ Studios," named after the place where the title character of the comic ended up with a job as the webmaster. The place is still around today at Sheridan (64, 145, 2500).

 The comic itself can be found at sabrina-online.com. Be aware that the strip rates a PG-13 as while there's almost no profanity and no real nudity, it does touch on adult topics. That the strip got a bit edgy without going past a certain boundary (much), was likely part of it's appeal, along with the quality of the art and characters.

It should be noted Schwartz stated while this is the conclusion of "Sabrina Online," he will be doing more tales later on of the characters "from time to time." So fans should be hearing more about the Amiga and Transformer loving skunkgirl soon.

Bixyl Shuftan