Looking Back At The Newser: The First Years, 2010-2013 (2022)

 

The Second Life Newser is a publication with quite a history, fifteen years. That's quite a lot to look back over. In 2022, Bixyl took a look at the Newser's first few years. Starting from a team of four reporters fresh from the recently closed Second Life Newspaper, the Newser would win the confidence of readers and advertisers alike and soon become a force in journalism covering the people, places, and events in Second Life (with occasional nods to our sponsors). But much of what it covered was a Linden Lab that seemed increasingly unable or unwilling to understand it's virtual world's users.

Read the 2022 overview of 2010 to 2013 in Extra. 

Looking Back At The Newser: The First Years, 2010-2013 (2022)

 

In a few days, the Newser will have an anniversary party to celebrate 14 years of reporting the news across Second Life. But one might ask how did things go when it first started? Well, we hit the ground running. Within a week, we had some BIG stories to report on, and the news kept coming. In 2022, we wrote on how it was for our first few years. Quite a bit had happened.

 

Read the article from 2022 in Extra. 

Looking Back At The Newser: The First Years, 2010-2013 (2022)

 

The Second Life Newser is a publication with a long history, twelve years. That's quite a lot to look back on. In this article, Editor and head writer Bixyl Shuftan takes a look at the Newser's first few years. Starting from a team of four reporters fresh from the recently closed Second Life Newspaper, the Newser would win the confidence of readers and advertisers alike and soon become a force in journalism covering the people, places, and events in Second Life (with occasional nods to our sponsors). But much of what it covered was a Linden Lab that seemed increasingly unable or unwilling to understand it's virtual world's users.

Read the overview of 2010 to 2013 (written in 2022) in Extra.

Looking Back At The Newser: The First Years, 2010-2013

 

The Second Life Newser is a publication with a long history, twelve years. That's quite a lot to look back on. In his article for today, Editor and head writer Bixyl Shuftan will take a look at the Newser's first few years. Starting from a team of four reporters fresh from the recently closed Second Life Newspaper, the Newser would win the confidence of readers and advertisers alike and soon become a force in journalism covering the people, places, and events in Second Life (with occasional nods to our sponsors). But much of what it covered was a Linden Lab that seemed increasingly unable or unwilling to understand it's virtual world's users.

Read the overview of 2010 to 2013 in Extra.
 

Creative Fiction: Second Life’s TV Commercial (2010)

  

Yesterday, we wrote about the Second Life commercial done by Linden Lab, in cooperation with Levitate Media. While the commercial's been in development for months, no doubt the idea of one has been floated about among the residents for years. In the days of M Linden in early 2010, for amusement I came up with a couple ideas that were part of a "creative fiction" story I did for JamesT Juno and Dana Vanmoer's Second Life Newspaper then. 

The fictional story can be found in Extra. 

So how do these two fictional commercials compare to the one that was made for real? Feel free to leave comments below. 
  

Reflections: Ten Years Ago ...

Ask most people what happened to them ten years ago this month on the first or second weekend, they probably wouldn't remember. For yours truly however, it was a fateful day in his Second Life, one that would set the stage for the end of one chapter and the start of another. Ten years ago, despite all the Coronavirus stories, despite everything going on in Second Life, I still think back to what happened.

Read the commentary in Extra. 

Looking Back at Emeraldgate

Yesterday, Team Firestorm celebrated it's eighth anniversary party. All were happy with the celebration. But eight years ago, the team was rapidly formed in the middle of a scandal that was sinking the team behind the most popular viewer at the time: Emerald. Known as "Emeraldgate," it started in August 2010 when a key member of the development team took advantage of a weakness in the viewer code to launch a Denial of Service attack on the website of someone he didn't like. The aftermath was a drama in which one woman brought people together to lead a new team, while others ended up banned by Linden Lab.

Read the story in Events.

SL Video: "DJ's Second Chance in Second Life" (2010)

(Click here if the video fails to play)

From CNN Money in February 2010, "Brad Reason, a real life DJ, finds that the virtual world offers more abundant and enjoyable work." This several-year old video is a bit dated, and Doubledown Tandino is a bit mistaken when he says there were few other DJs at the time he started out. Also, most of the DJs I run into don't usually make what he does. Still, it does describe how life for someone who enjoys DJing in Second Life can be, "I don't want to ever leave, because I know this is the future"

New Section: SL Newspaper Archived

When Second Life newspaper, the predecessor to the Second Life Newser was closed in June 2010, the front page remained up for a few years before being taken down. Many of the articles remained accessible through files in the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine. Over time, some notable ones have been reprinted in the Newser, often with some commentary of what's happened since concerning the subject.

But lately, it seems the articles from before 2010 on the front page, and all but the latest one on SLN's "Community" have vanished even from there. So we're gradually recovering the ones remaining and posting them in a new section in the Newser: SL Newspaper Archived. Already, we're uploaded articles such as the return of the Svarga sim, the introduction of Viewer 2 and Ozimal bunnies, the closing of the virtual world "There" virtual world, and others. More will be uploaded over time, giving a look at our predecessor paper, and some writers whom were unable to go over with us.

To check out the archived articles, Click Here: http://slnewspaperarchives.blogspot.com/

Commentary: Who Else Would Have Gotten "Man of the Year?"

By Bixyl Shuftan

The "Man of the Year" will be an article we hope to be doing this time of year from here on. We've gotten a few complements on it (thank you). Though there was a question raised: Who would have won if the Newser had done this from it's first year?

For 2010, the winner would likely have been people whom sadly had lost their jobs. The news that Linden Lab had given 30% of their workforce, including some popular Lindens, shook the Second Life community like few things ever had. People began wondering if the Grid was on a downward slump it couldn't recover from. That some popular Lindens such as Blue and Teegan were given pink slips gave others the impression the people in charge were sending a message to the others: "No fraternization with the masses." So the title would probably have gone to "The 30%." Others whom would have been in the running include Jessica Lyon for organizing Team Phoenix which created what would be Second Life's most popular viewer, Team Emerald for demonstrating how *not* to run a Third Party Viewer team with their hacking of a critic's website and the outright defiance against Linden Lab that led to the banning of a number of members. and Philip Linden / Philip Rosedale for coming back for a few months as interim CEO.

For 2011, the probable winner of the title would have been the new CEO Rodvik Linden / Rod Humble. His arrival with years of experience in the computer gaming industry gave many residents hope that Linden Lab was back on track. Others whom figured large in the news included zFire Xue for his controversial RedZone that raised many privacy fears, and for being among the few whom went to prison as a result of his activities inworld, Battlestar Galactica roleplayers for successfully negotiating with the real-life Universal corporation and being able to continue their games and therfore providing a precedent for similar groups in future years, Ozimal and Ammaretto for the lawsuit filed by the former on the latter (pointless in the opinion of the writer) which Ammaretto would eventually win, and Second Life's "pony" fans for introducing a new type of avatar and a new community that despite their first sims being taken down due to griefers soon bounced back and was on the Grid to stay.

2012's most influential newsmakers, and therefore whom would have been the collective "Man of the Year," were probably the SL9B team. When Linden Lab announced that they would no longer be sponsoring the event and suggested the various communities hold their own celebrations, various residents refused to take the news lying down and instead banded together to organize it themselves. Second Life's Ninth Birthday proved that while Linden Lab may have provided the software and the sims, it was the residents that truly made Second Life what it is. Other newsmakers included Crap Mariner for his publicizing SL9B with his series of videos, Rodvik Linden for his decisions such as new games and platforms for the Lab such as the "Patterns" game, Qarl Fizz (formerly Qarl Linden) for his work on the mesh deformer, and the Star Trek Community for successfully negotiating with Paramount to be able to continue their roleplays in Second Life.

2013 was dominated by two controversies, both about Second Life's Terms of Service. One was about third-party Linden exchangers, which Linden Lab tried to ban. While most folded, the Podex Exchange headed by Jacek Shuftan remained open, saying they had a duty to their customers and tried to talk to the Lab. But the Lab would not listen to him and temporarily gave him the boot. It was ultimately up to the Second Life masses whom rose up at once in protests, many threatening to leave, who got Linden Lab to partially back down and allow third party exchangers to remain (but not buy Lindens back). So for his work Jacek Shuftan would have gotten runner-up. The second controversy was the longer lasting Terms of Service Content creator controversy, of which the opposition was organized under the United Content Creators of Second Life group, founded and headed by Kylie Sabra. Despite that Linden Lab wouldn't budge until the following year under a new CEO, Kylie Sabra's efforts would have gotten her "Woman of the Year" for 2013. Others in the running would have included Tuna Oddfellow for his protesting the ToS issue by moving his performances to the InWorldz Grid, which spurred numerous others to take a look at the alternative virtual world, the SL10B team for organizing the effort to celebrate the Grid's tenth anniversary, and the Relay for Life volunteers for their "100 Years of Hope" season which celebrated the American Cancer Society's centennial.

Just as we take a look back to see whom made a difference in Second Life in the past, the Newser team looks forward to spreading the news about who does so in the future.

Bixyl Shuftan

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