My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

 

Today, the SL Newser turns sixteen. But what did people read before it? While there were tablods such as The Herald, there was also the Second Life Newspaper, owned by JamesT Juno with Dana Vanmoer as editor. It started small, a blog with occasional glances at the virtual world, but soon grew into a respectable newsletter with a good sized staff. I would join it in October /November 2007, and become a respectable member of the team. This was a different time, the Golden Age of Second Life when it and not social media was talked about as the future of the online world and it would be mentioned on the news and even prime time TV, while we the residents made all content entirely inworld in these pre-mesh days with only a small amount of the content created by the Lindens. So what was covering the news in these times like?

 

Read the 2015 article in Extra. 

 

Happy Easter

 

 Originally posted in 2015, Valkyrie Ice was a choco bunny at the party one night, but someone bit off her hear.

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

 

 

My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

 

Yesterday was the thirteenth anniversary of the SL Newser. But before the Newser, there was the Second Life Newspaper. It was founded by JamesT Juno as a simple blog with short entries in 2006. But he would soon bring Dana Vanmoer and a number of other writers into it as a full-fledged newspaper, with yours truly joining up in November 2007. This was considered the golden years of the virtual world, when it was the darling of the tech media and talked about not just by computer nuts but was mentioned in mainstream news and prime time TV shows alike. So what was it like to cover the news about Second Life then?

Read Bixyl Shuftan's article from 2015 in Extra.

My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

 

Yesterday was the twelfth anniversary of the SL Newser. But before there was the Second Life Newser, there was the Second Life Newspaper. It started out as a simple blog by JamesT Juno with short entries in 2006. But he would soon bring Dana Vanmoer and a number of other writers into it as a full-fledged newspaper, with me joining up in November 2007. This was considered the golden years of the virtual world, when it was the darling of the tech media and talked about not just by computer nuts but was mentioned in mainstream news and prime time TV shows alike. So what was it like to cover the news about Second Life then?

Read the article from 2015 in Extra.
 

A Marine's Story (2011)

 

Memorial Day has many stories. One would first be told one Veterans Day in 2011. At the Second Life Veterans Tribute, Laken Titanium, a US Marine in real-life, was introduced to me. He had a story to tell, not of himself, but rather of a number of his platoon whom sadly never made it home. 

Read the story from 2011 in People.
 

SL Video : "Christmas SecondLife 2015"

 

From PurpleCows Photostudio in Dec 015, "Merry Christmas to all! This is how much fun, crazy, cute, warm, cosy, sexy, loving and beautiful SL can be..."

 

My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

The SL Newser is having it's anniversary this week. It should be pointed out that before there was the Second Life Newser, there was the Second Life Newspaper. Starting as a simple blog by JamesT Juno in 2006, he would soon bring Dana Vanmoer and a number of other writers into it as a full-fledged newspaper, with me joining up in November 2007. This was considered the golden years of the virtual world, when it was the darling of the tech media and talked about not just by computer nuts but was mentioned in mainstream news and prime time TV shows alike. So what was it like to cover the news about Second Life then?

Read the article from 2015 in Extra.

My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

On this seventh anniversary of the Second Life Newser, we look back to the days of the newsletter that preceded it: the Second Life Newspaper. For three and a half years, this publication founded by JamesT Juno and managed by Dana Vanmoer, covered the news of Second Life until it's closing on June 5, 2010. In 2015, Bixyl Shuftan did a write-up about his time at the publication from Fall 2007 to it's closing day.

Read the 2015 article here in the archives.

My Time At Second Life Newspaper (2015)

When the Second Life Newser was celebrating it's fifth anniversary last year, part of it was looking back at where we had come from. The original staff, including myself, Bixyl Shuftan, had gotten our experience in virtual journalism through another newsletter: JamesT Juno and Dana Vanmoer's Second Life Newspaper.Writing for them was a journey that would last for two and a half years, taking me through much of a Second Life that was quite different in many ways then from how it is now. So I wrote an article about my time as one of their writers.

Read the 2015 article here in the archives.

2015: The Year in Review

2015 is gone, a year that had it's triumphs, tragedies, and tripfalls. But before we leave it behind, time for a look back.

2015 could be called "The Year of the Linden Screw-Up." Some high profile areas were closed or almost closed by Linden Lab locking out the accounts of the owners, or refusing further customer support despite years of teir payments. The largest build on the Grid, the cruise liner SS Galaxy, the scene of regular events and passengers thanks to an active crew, in April was hit hard by griefers, wrecking the structure of the ship. When contacted, Linden Lab told they would roll back the sims once to correct the damage, but there would be no more. Seeing they could no longer give their customers the relaxing cruise ship experience they once could, the owners of the SS Galaxy made the decision to close the ship after over eight years. Linden Lab would take ownership of the build and reopen it in September with the help of the Department of Public Works. But gone were the events, and no more could one book a cabin. While newer residents could still see the vessel and admire the build, to those who were once there it was basically a museum piece, a reminder of once was.

Linden clumsiness would continue. The owner of the Steelhead Estates, TotalLunar Eclipse, found his account locked up despite years of steady teir payments. As Lunar had a number of real life problems, this pushed him into reluctantly making the decision in September to close the sims. Despite the closure, the community behind the sims held together, and one resident managed to save one of the sims. Another sim owner's account shutdown, that of Flea Bussy, almost led to the closing of the noted Grendel's Children Shopping mall in July. It would take the combined efforts of many of it's fans to get the Lab to unfreeze his account. For Grendel's, it was a far cry from earlier days when Linden Lab offered several Grendel's freebies as a gift pack, and Philip Linden once commented "As goes Grendel's, so goes the Grid."

Trust in Linden Lab by those relying on Third Party currency exchangers was shaken when the Lab announced it was ending the deal they made with them two years earlier, and ordering them to shut down after the end of July. Despite complaints from some overseas that the official Lindex currency exchanger was less than reliable for them, and two petitions to allow the independent exchangers to continue, Linden Lab would not listen. By the first of August, the independents were gone from Second Life, either doing their business in other virtual worlds such as Inworldz, or shut down completely. Among these was Podex, Second Life Newser's longterm sponsor for five years.

Other places would close, or be in danger of closing. Forgotten City, a Steampunk-themed sim praised for it's detail and ingenuity, was shut down. So was the popular "YadNi's Junkyard," which had offered freebie items for thousands of newcomers for over eleven years. Other places retired included the tribute to 8-bit gaming Electrobit City, The Ponyland sim after several months, MIC Island, which was an unusual case as the Lab delayed closing down the sim despite the owner telling them she no longer wanted to keep it up, the Podex Exchange building, and other locations that escaped the attention of the media. One sim that was threatened with closing, the popular Mont Saint Michel, remained up at year's end despite the owner announcing in September that she could no longer keep up the payments.

One thing that was never too far away from the minds of the residents wasn't part of Second Life itself was the development of it's possible successor. Called by the somewhat awkward title of "The Next Generation Virtual World" by Linden Lab, "SL 2.0" by the residents, it was finally given an official name, or rather a temporary one, in May: Project Sansar. The chatter so far has been mainly speculation with the occasional face. Currently in a "Closed Alpha" state of development, the target date for it's full release was pushed back from "sometime in 2016" to "by the end of 2016." So it seems residents have a while before they need to worry about how it's presence will affect Second Life.

One problem that was outside Linden Lab's control was the SL Go service that enabled users to access Second Life through tablets, and enabled slower computers to run it much better. As it was developed by OnLive as part of a partnership with Linden Lab, it was closed in May 2015 following OnLive being bought by Sony. Fortunetly in August, the Bright Canopy Viewer was announced as ready for release. There would be some technical difficulties, but in a few weeks they were resolved.

Despite Linden Lab's problems with customer service, there were some efforts to interact with the residents. There was the "Linden Inworld Meetup" at Basque and the "Meet and Greet" at the SL12B to answer questions and concerns, which led to the monthy "Lab Chat" in December. Besides the Linden snowball fights in February and December, there was another event in which Lindens and residents interacted for fun, the Halloween "Creepy Crawl" in October. They also organized the "Music Fest" as part of the SL12B. Also in time for the SL12B was the "What Second Life Means to Me" video project, in which numerous residents, and a few Lindens, made youtube videos about their experiences in the virtual world. Linden Lab would also introduce it's "Paleoquest" game in July. Last year, Linden Lab had introduced new starter mesh avatars that proved a bit glitchy. The Lab work work more on them, fixing the glitches, and re-introduce them in November. Linden Lab would raise the maximum number of groups for premium accounts from 42 to 60.

Sadly, Second Life would say goodbye to a some of it's residents. In May, Plurker ScarletCSkylac passed away. So did Kat2Kitt, also known as Matt "Cyanotype" Shapoff, known for his work with Pookymedia, who died suddenly at 42. In August, the Creator of the Ivory Tower of Prims, which provided lessons on how build and script to numerous residents over the years, was dead. His passing was soon followed by an inworld memorial service. In September, Salem De White (Selene Spellhunter), best known as part of the Giant Snail Racers, had passed away. Also part of a community of roleplayers, both groups organized a memorial service for her shortly afterwards. The Newser's neighbors, the Sunweavers, also suffered a loss when one of their own, Rhypanthian Abilene, suddenly passed away.

Some happenings in real life were reflected here on the Grid. Leonard Nimoy, following his death in February was honored in ways large and small in Second Life, such as the Star Trek Museum and the Science Fiction Convention, as well as in the Star Trek MMO. When Paris was the scene of Islamofacist terrorist attacks in January and November, residents gathered in the Paris 1900 area at the Eiffel Tower to honor those killed. There was also a Charity event to aid those affected by an earthquake in Nepal.

Other events would take place in Second Life. The Second Life Twelfth Birthday was noted for Linden Lab taking part in the celebrations (though not sponsoring the cost of the sims as they had in the past). The Relay for Life would have another record fudnraising season as hundreds of avatars took part in the various teams. Burn2 would continue as the biggest art and music festival in Second Life. Other noted events included the monthly "Homes For Our Troops" veterans bennefit concerts, the Madpea charity auction which paid for the cost of a countryside school in Africa, and Team Firestorm, the people behind Second Life's most popular viewer, celebrated their fifth anniversary, teaming up with Madpea to open a "Community Gateway" for newcomers to the Grid.

In the gaming world, the online newsletter "Massively," which in the past covered Second Life durring it's heyday, was shut down by order of it's owning company, despite increasing readership over the years. But ut would soon be reborn as "Massively Overpowered."  Among the games that got the attention of the staff and fans of the Newser were "World of Warships," from the makers of the popular "World of Tanks," and "Ark Survival Evolved," a survival game on an island full of dinosaurd and other prehistoric creatures. But other games would see upgrades, such as new mods for Minecraft. The sci-fi MORPG "Wildstar" went from subscription-based to  "Free to Play." One game that had seen better days in terms of popularity was World of Warcraft. With a membership once over twelve million players, had dwindled to 5.5 million by November, and the company announced it would no longer publish the number of active players. One development of interest to some Second Life users was Steam setting up, then taking down, it's modder payment system.

For the Newser, it's been a year of successes and setbacks. The loss of Podex has meant the departure of our loyal longtime sponsor since almost our begining. And some of our team has had to depart due to real life developlents. But the paper reached it's five year anniversary this year. Considering most businesses on the Grid last only months, quite an achievment.

2015 had it's triumphs, tragedies, and pitfalls. And we at the Newser was there to cover them. And now in 2016, we'll be continuing to cover what lies ahead.

*Editors Note* Added Team Firestorm's fifth year milestone and it's Community Gateway with Madpea.

Goodbye 2015

As we say goodbye to 2015, each of us has had their share of experiences in the past hear, large and small, happy and sad. From the Relay for Life, to shopping hunts, to community events, there was no shortage of what to experience.

So what have you the readers been through this year? What stories do you have to share about what you went through in 2015?

Who Should Be Second Life Newser's "Man of the Year?"

Time Magazine recently chose it's "Man of the Year," who was actually a woman this time, Germany's Chandellor Angela Merkel. So with this in mind, the Newser will soon be choosing Second Life's "Man of the Year" for 2015, the person, persons, or thing that had the most impact on the virtual world, for good or bad.

Unlike last year, there was no new CEO taking the reins of Linden Lab. So it might be a little trickier for people to come up with one person whom truly stood above the others in their impact on the Grid. But there are no shortage of candidates. Ebbe Linden, last year's winner, continued to make an impact with his interviews to both Second Life and Internet media. But he wasn't the only Linden making news as Xiola Linden often was the friendly face of the Lab in events organized by them. Others in the news were the Crew of the SS Galaxy and the Steelhead Community as their respective sims faded away. There was Chaos Priestman and Bethsael Robbiani, the team behind the Bright Canopy viewer which took the place of the discontinued SL GO which allowed Second Life to be played from a tablet once again. There were the teams behind major events, the Second Life Birthday, Burn2, and of course the Relay for Life. And there was Project Sansar and it's team, that while outside Second Life certainly was never far from it's collective mind of the residents with the speculation about it.

So who do you the readers think deserves the title of Man (or Woman) of the Year? Please give your thoughts in the comments below.

Bixyl Shuftan

Winter Scenes 2015

Gemma Cleanslate has been on the lookout for places residents can have Holiday-themed fun. Today, she has an article about two places full of Winter and Christmas activities. The first was Winter Scenes 2015 in Hazelnut, the second Mrs. Santa's Christmas Market in Kikai. So what did she think of them?

Read Gemma's article in Places.

SL Video: "Second Life: SL12B: The calm before the builds"

(Click here if the video fails to play)

From Inara Pey, "This year, Second Life marks its 12th anniversary, and once again there will be a week long celebration in-world featuring the rich creative and artistic diversity present in this virtual world. On offer will be live entertainment, DJs, talks and presentations, incredible builds by users; games, and more. All at the SL 12th Birthday Community Celebration. Come join the fun 21st- through 28th June, 2015. "

Event blog: http://www.slcommunitycelebration.info/

Press Release: Second Life Sci-Fi Convention

The 2015 SL Sci-Fi Con blasts off on February 20th through March 1^st, 2015. This annual event, is in support of Relay For Life of Second Life, an official charity of the American Cancer Society.

Enjoy a Science Fiction Resort fantasy like you can only find in SL, our eighth convention since 2009 we'll chase away the Winter Blahs in Sci-Fi Paradise! Over 100 exhibitors from across the Grid and Galaxy, 10 days of activities and adventures, with Live Music Events, Theatrical Presentations, Parties and so much more!

Join in the Scavenger Hunt, visit the Amusement Park, see the sights & shops, and explore the six sim estate including orbital Space Experience.  Help us celebrate the launch of the 2015 RFL Season, The Future is Now!

Registration is currently open and you can choose from a variety of booths and packages.  Registration information can be found at the following link: http://slscificonvention.wordpress.com/booth-information/

About Relay For Life of Second Life:

Relay For Life of Second Life (RFL of SL) is an annual activity that takes place in Second Life in July each year. Volunteers form or join teams to have fun while fundraising and raise awareness from mid-March through mid-July. In July teams build campsites and walk a track that spans more than 40 virtual regions.

In 2014, Relay For Life of Second Life reached a milestone of having raised $2,500,000 since its fundraising beginning in 2004, for the American Cancer Society.  Relay For Life has become an international movement in RL and in SL. In 2013 participants from over 80 countries took part in Relay For Life of Second Life.

About the American Cancer Society:

For more than 100 years, the American Cancer Society (ACS) has worked relentlessly to save lives and create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. Together with millions of our supporters worldwide, we help people stay well, help people get well, find cures, and fight back against cancer.

For more information and updates:

http://slscificonvention.wordpress.com/

http://relayforlifeofsecondlife.org/

http://www.cancer.org/involved/participate/relayforlife/second-life

Hat tip: SL Enquirer, Daniel Voyager

Happy New Year Second Life

As the hours ticked away on the last day of 2014, various places in Second Life celebrated the arrival of the new year. For some such as Bay City, they rung it in a big way with a tower drop. Other places, such as Club Cutlass, had more local events.

See more pictures in Events.

New Year's Eve Party at Club Cutlass

Many of us will be celebrating the ringing in the New Year at a party in real life. For others, we'll be celebrating at home. If you're among the latter (or have SL GO on a tablet and want to check up on your inworld buddies during a break in the party), among the places you can say goodbye to 2014, and welcome in 2015 in Second Life is Club Cutlass as it throws it's New Year's Eve bash.

And just for coming, you get free party favors. Just click on the platter on the right side of the DJ booth, and pick either a hat, tiarra, or a horn. All three come in a choice of gold, silver, and changing color.

Happy New Year from the Sunweavers.

Sunweaver Space (176, 62, 125)