Press Release: Homes For Our Troops in 2018

Happy New Year folks!  And thank you all for a great 2018 regarding our efforts for Homes For Our Troops in Second Life.

We sent  just over $13500 to HFOT in 2018.  This was only possible because of the kindness of each and every one of you this past year. 

Our family of supporters is growing …and it is showing up in the total support for HFOT.

First of all let’s give that round of applause to all of our musician and DJ performers as well as their management for their help in 2018.  We could not have done it without you!  Just look at this list of devoted talent… we truly have the support of the best of the best of Second Life!

Waya Snowpaw DJ, Savannah Rain, Melenda Baptiste, Winston Auckland, Keeba Tammas, Taj and all the folks at Keys Management group, Wayne Rhodell, Hogan Baily, Cryptic Harmony, Amforte Clarity, Guitarhero Dougall, Chillee Hernandoz, ReggieSunset Rookswood and his manager Skeat Abonwood, Trav McCullough, Nina Bing, DirtyDee Sweetwater, KJeff Hohn, Acoustic Rhapsody/The Vinnie Show and Daallee his great manager, Erin68 Frog and Satin Galli, Austin Moores, SingerGirl Mode, Naughty, Lark Bowen, Clyde Barrow, Zak Claxton, Toxie Darkmatter, Savannah Coronet, Amber Lefarve,  Jorr Jarman, Keileigh Jarman and all the folks at Whispering Sands Promotions, Shaye Dezno, David Csiszer, Nyna Slate and Slate Management, Paul Nowles, Melenda Baptiste, Wolfie Moonshadow, Lark Bowen, Beccca Baxton, DJ BellaRose Restless and DJ Trin, Dimivann Ludwig, Ian Harrod, NeoMaximus Brandenburg and Badone Resident, Bono Fouroux, Laurie Alexis and the Key’s Management Group, Agatha Martin, Max Kleene and his manager Kat Vargas, Porter Paquot, Toxie Darkmatter, Cori Arkright, Jon Regent, Ganjo Mokeev, Arra, QuadRadiX (Noma Falta, Maximillion Kleene, DennyMac and Sabian Inglewood), Carol Greenwood (Dirval Greenwood Artists), Nina Bing, Lyndon Heart and his manager Maali Beck

And our family of regular supporters continues to grow. It is a family we can proud to be a part of.  Thank you:

Dahlea Milena and Veteran’s Isle, Gjackie Winkler, Waya Snowpaw, Eastbay47, Bri Mcmahon, Ladysmack gears, All the folks at Legions  of Vets and Lov MC, RGHangnLo Resident and all the folks and VIPs at Hangin's Hideout, Cayleen Linette (and everyone at Cay's at Woodland Lake, Ravencrisler at the Wellston SIM, Lezil1231 Resident at Kindred Spirit SIM, EdgeSteel Resident at Shadow Shore SIM, dirkdanger11 Resident (Sky Ranch), littlebit31okla Resident (Lumiya), Russell65 Resident (MISFITsNC), tbranno Resident (Andrew), All the folks at Tobacco Road Club, Bixyl Shuftan (Purrfection Estates), Grizzly Nightfire (Chaisuki), Hayanah Resident (Leto Yoshiro), Biker Sharkfin (Sacred Ground), BellamyLeggett Resident (Kindred Sanctuary), xcheetahglow Resident (Starlight Meadow), BellaRose Restless  and all the great folks at Midnight Cowboy, Curvslater Resident and all the folks at Shadow Shore, Zack221 Friller (Isolated Heights), Grim Berger (Olympus Island), Don Guapo, Jade Guapo and Victoria Kayor   (Club Vet), Catoh Oh (Sky Ranch and Pigra SIMs), Jaz from Full Throttle Radio, Jardasius Ecksol (Big Dog Customs)

Our extremely veterans needs are lifetime folks.  Let’s make 2019 another year of recognizing this by keeping up the good fight for Homes For Our Troops in Second Life.

It is an honor to work with all of you.

Frets Nirvana

2018: Year in Review

2018 is gone. And as we head on to a new year, it's time to look back at the old one, which had it's share of triumphs, tragedies, and tripfalls.

Probably the most notable event this year was the fifteenth anniversary Second Life was officially declared open and operational. Despite all the things that had gone wrong from glitches, bugs, griefers, Linden Lab's occasional heavy handedness, and more, the virtual world defied predictions from naysayers that it was a fad that was destined to be shut down. While the Lindens have been increasingly involved in the anniversary celebrations, such as the Musicfest and the "Meet the Lindens" events, as in the past several years it was handled by a group of volunteers. There were exhibits by dozens of communities, businesses, and groups from around the grid in the 24 sims, as well as many musicians and other performers.

Linden Lab would also make some changes to the grid this year. Late in the year came the Animesh update. This new ability has the potential to allow for better and less resource-heavy animated objects, including something like the NPCs in games. Linden Lab would also update the Linden Realms game with "The Wrath of Ruth" and "The Search for Magellan." In August, a new land mass appeared on the map. Labeled the SSP continent due to the names of the sims. While it's suspected the land will be for new premium account homes, it has not yet been officially revealed what purpose the sims will have. The Lab also started testing themed Learning Islands entry areas for new residents. Linden Lab also announced this year that they planned to "bring back last names" for newer accounts and allow established residents to change theirs for a fee. Originally planned for late 2018, it has been pushed back to at least spring 2019.

There were also some changes in how much Linden Lab would charge it's residents. In March, the Lab cut the tier of Mainland sims by ten percent and doubled the amount of free land for Premium accounts to 1024 square meters. In June, the tier for many private sims would also be cut fifteen percent and the setup fees for a sim also were cut. But not all sims could be counted for the tier cuts, notably those which had theirs reduced to "grandfathered rates" two years earlier. And to make up for the lost revenue, the fee to buy Linden dollars went up by fifty percent to $1.49. The tier reductions seemed to have a somewhat positive effect as the overall drop in private sim numbers seemed to stop, but how this affects land ownership in the long term remains to be seen.

Linden Lab would try to keep in touch with the residents though Town Hall meetings, as well as the "Meet the Lindens" event at the Second Life Birthday and CEO Ebbe Linden speaking at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education event. At the Relay for Life, a number of Lindens took part in a "Bid the Lindens Bald" fundraiser. Besides those, residents got to interact with the Lindens at the "Hug a Linden/Dunk a Linden" Valentines Day event, two Lindens vs Residents snowball fights, and the "Creepy Crawl" venue crawl on Halloween. The Lindens would also have two "gift grab" events for the residents in the Summer and Christmas season, posting a clue on their blog where the gift of the week was and residents could figure it out and get it.

There were no shortage of events this year inworld. Besides the Second Life Birthday, there were the events held by the Relay for Life, notably the Relay Weekend and the Fantasy Faire. Second Life's largest art and music festival Burn2 and it's spinnoff events took place in spite of the founder of Burning Man, of which the inworld event is the virtual counterpart of, passing away. Communities such as Bay City, the Confederation of Democratic Simulators, and Caledon would hold a number of events. This included two elections by the CDS as they chose their new leader for the year. Luskwood, the oldest active community, turned fifteen. There would also be fundraiser events by Creations for Parkinson's, Team Diabetes, Homes For Our Troops, and other charities. One fundraiser however was marked by trouble, an event had someone tricking supporters into giving money to them instead of the charity. This would be the Newser's most controversial series of articles this year as some parties involved responded in denials or anger. The charity however expressed it's thanks.

The neighbors of the Newser's office, the Sunweaver community, would distinguish itself at the Relay for Life with it's Sunbeamer team's fundraising events such as "Bid Me Pantsless" and "Bid Me Goat" and reach the Jade, Sapphire, and Emerald fundraising ranks for the first time ever. There would also be the opening of a railroad through the community estates. Cynthia Farshore would move the Goblin Cave to Caledon, where it would find new life as the location of special events and have a Christmas train ride for the community.

Second Life would also say goodbye to some places. The Yosemite sim and park made by Jadyn Firehawk shut down this year. Gallery Graine would close down, as did the campground sim Copacabana. In Caledon, the Middlesea sim vanished and took the noted Iron Cloud airbase with it. Caledon Llyr also closed, though the land in the noted steampunk community remained to be redeveloped. Some closed places would find new life in other grids. The Luxembourg historic area would close down, the owner opening a similar place in Sansar. Aero Pines would also close down, it's creator earlier having made a place based on it in Sinespace. The closing down of one automaker, Axtel Motors, temporarily resulted in the vehicles available for free for anyone who wanted them. Second Life would also say goodbye to some residents who passed away. Among them were Phoenix Psaltery, the founder of the inworld newsletter the Metaverse Messenger which shut down several years ago, Nemoen Magne, the owner of Club Furnication which closed shortly before his death, and Akea Grommet, one of the neighbors of the SL Newser office.

Outside Second Life was some news that caught the attention of residents. InWorldz, the virtual world that was second only to Second Life in the number of users, shut down in July. The reasons why are less than clear, though apparently involve a company the owner borrowed money from taking out a lien on her. The Gofundme started by the owner added to the confusion, her saying at first they were to save the grid, then she started saying it was to help form a new grid. The virtual world shut down after only a week of warning, leaving hundreds, maybe thousands without a virtual home. Later in the year, the former owner came out with a new virtual world, Islandz. But by then most of the former residents of InWorldz had found places in other virtual worlds, or had given them up altogether. Also in news outside Second Life, the best known online newsletter devoted to Opensim coverage announced it was "winding down" after several years of operation, though not yet truly closing.

Linden Lab would also continue to promote and update it's next-generation virtual world Sansar. There was talk about a "cultural shift" in Linden Lab to Sansar and away from Second Life. Two users would also develop a couple game areas, but by year's end they would be gone. One historical area in Second Life, 19th Century Luxembourg, would close down and reopen in Sansar. But so far, very few are using the next-generation virtual world compared to Second Life. An study in April showed only fifty to ten people were using it each day on average. In contrast, VR Chat, another next-generation virtual world, was getting several thousand users a day, and Second Life getting about fifty thousand a day. Later in the year, Linden Lab announced it would be making Sansar accessible through Steam. When it was finally launched on the gaming service, at first reviews were mostly positive, and usership went up some. But a month later, the reviews are mixed and the number of active users has been going back down.

In computer and Internet news, this was the year Net Neutrality officially came to an end in the United States. Some companies have reportedly been throttling customer's traffic already, the most glaring example being in August when they made it difficult for firefighters to communicate while combating a huge wildfire. In Europe, the European Union approved legislation that threatened to "break the Internet" with bills that would require websites with news content to pay a "link tax" and require websites that allowed feedback and open virtual worlds to install "upload filters." For Linden Lab, this would mean a stark choice if the legislation was ever signed into law. Microsoft's Windows 10 had some of it's early bugs ironed out, but still continued to annoy users. It would "warn" people not to use Firefox and Chrome and try to get them to use the much less popular Microsoft-owned Edge browser. One update late in the year was delayed when it was found to be deleting the files of early installers.

The movie "Ready Player One," which was about a virtual world in an imagined near-future, came out. It was hoped it would attract attention to Second Life (and Sansar by Linden Lab), but the movie wasn't a big box-office draw and the real virtual worlds didn't benefit much from it. Probably more influential was the documentary "Our Digital Selves" by Draxtor Despres, which showed the virtual world as being of great help to the disabled and not the X-rated playground big media has sometimes portrayed it in the past.

In gaming news, Fortnite was clearly the big game this year. Subnautica also attracted attention as it was a survival game that took place mostly underwater. A favorite of some Newser fans, Ark Survival Evolved would get what is believed to be it's final expansion: Extinction. But other games and some game developers weren't doing so well. The MMO Wildstar was shut down by NCSoft, the second non-medieval fantasy game to be closed by them in several years. Trion, the company behind several games, and the publisher of the MMO Archeage, was bought out by a German online game company best known for browser-based games. One game that came out late this year, Atlas, an anticipated pirate MMO developed in part by Instinct Games which helped come out with Ark Survival Evolved was largely seen as a disappointment due to repeated delays in it's release and shoddy content, some of which was obviously copied from Ark files. Fallout 76, an MMO based on the Fallout series of games, was also largely seen as a disappointment.

For the Newser, it's been a great and exciting year in Second Life and beyond. And we'll be continuing to report the news of this great virtual world for 2019. We thank our sponsors Farshore Radio, Montecito Bay, Lorena Chung Estates, and our neighbors the Sunweaver community. And of course you the readers.

Bixyl Shuftan
Editor, SL Newser

Man of the Year Runner-Up: Draxtor Despress

Much like the Newser's Persons of the Year, the Second Life Birthday Group Volunteers, the runner-up is known for his accomplishments in previous years as well as this one. Draxtor Despress (Bernhard Drax in real life) Originally known for his "Flufee" videos made with Pooky Amsterdam, in 2013 he started a new series of informative videos about Second Life, "The Drax Files." This was followed in 2013 with "The Drax Files Radio Hour." Last year, he did some Sansar preview videos to help promote Linden Lab's next generation world.



This year, Draxtor produced a documentary film, "Our Digital Selves: My Avatar Is Me." The movie, "tells the story of 13 global citizens and their avatars as they transcend their various disabilities through artistic expression and making a home for themselves in the VR Metaverse." The video has been viewed almost 50,000 times, and no doubt has changed some minds on what Second Life, and other virtual worlds, are all about.

So for his work past and present, Draxtor Despress make's the Newser's Runner-Up for Man of the Year of 2018.

Other noteable people included Luskwood for still being a noted community after fifteen years, the former residents of the closed InWorldz Grid, the Relay for Life volunteers, and of course the Lindens for keeping Second Life up and running for fifteen years.

Bixyl Shuftan
Editor, SL Newser

Persons of the Year: The Second Life Birthday Volunteers

Second Life had it's share of people making the news this year, as well as people behind places and events making the news, and those making an impact behind the scenes. Finding someone who both stood out and made a difference was less than easy. But we did find someone.

Every year since it's first, there has been an anniversary celebration of some kind within Second Life, the Second Life Birthday. With one exception, the first eight were handled by Linden Lab. But in 2012, the Lab announced it would no longer be organizing one. What happened was that a number of residents took it into their own hands to organize the event, and these volunteers saved "The Birthday." Had the Newser been giving out it's "Man of the Year" award then, it would have gone to them.

This year came a milestone birthday, Second Life's fifteenth. It would me more than just the usual crowd of Second Life residents, but people coming back after taking a break for a few years as well as a few from tech blogs and magazines whom would be seeing the event as an example of the best of what Second Life has to offer, and giving their critical eye of what they saw. While Linden Lab has been taking a role in anniversary celebrations lately, such as the Musicfest and the "Meet and Greet" with noted Lindens, "The Birthday" is still up to a group of hardworking, and mostly overlooked volunteers.

Any Second Life Birthday is a challenge to undertake, the planning, the exhibit inspections, greeting and guiding visitors, watching out for griefers, finding people to fill in for musicians who can't make it, and more. And occasionally mistakes are made. But as always the Second Life Birthday volunteers rose to the challenge, and they tackled it well.

Many of the SLB volunteers have been mentioned in the Newser a number of times, such as Marianne McCann, Faust Steamer, Treacle Darlandes, and others. Our own Gemma Cleanslate was an SLB greeter for a few years. But many others have done their (unpaid) jobs practically unnoticed outside the volunteer group.

So for their hard work this year, as well as previous years, for this high-profile event, the Second Life Newser names the Second Life Birthday volunteers as it's Persons of the Year.

Stand by for our runner-up on Monday.

Bixyl Shuftan
Editor, Second Life Newser

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

The noted TIME magazine recently issued it's annual "Man of the Year" edition, as it has for decades, the person whom it feels made the biggest impact in news events for the past year. It's not always a man, as women have won it. It's not always a good guy, as it's been awarded to dictators. Sometimes it's awarded to a group of people, as it was this year when it was awarded to a number of journalists whom have dealt with persecution, and in once case death, at the hands of authoritarian governments. Sometimes the choice stirs controversy, such as one year when it was awarded to "The Computer," and at other times when it was awarded to someone whom had obviously made the news for destruction and death.

So whom was the biggest newsmaker over the past year in Second Life? What man, woman, group of people, or even thing, made the most news here?

This will be the fifth time the Newser has given the title. In 2014, the new CEO of Linden Lab Ebbe Linden was the Man of the Year. In 2015, the residents of Steelhead were the Community of the Year. In 2016, the title was given to the Relay for Life in Second Life. In 2017, someone from outside Second Life was chosen for the first time with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai getting the title for the potential damage his Net Neutrality could have for the virtual world.

So who will be number five? For now, we're still taking suggestions. Feel free to list then in the comments below.

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: HFOT Donations, August 2018

It is time to celebrate!  On this Labor Day Holiday I am once again proud to announce that Second Life have pulled through for our extremely wounded veterans again.  During the month of August, 2018 we sent a little $1350 to Homes For Our Troops.  All because of some extra efforts from many giving people in Second Life. 

Special efforts were made by:
EastBayRay47 and all the folks of Legion of Veterans International and Lov MC at Cerrado
Russell65 Resident (MISFITsNC)
RGHangnLo Resident and all the folks and VIPs at Hangin's Hideout
Curvslater Resident,XxCH3LLZxX and all the folks at Shadow Shore
Cayleen Linette (Cay's at Woodland Lake)
ravencrisler Resident (Wellston)
dirkdanger11 Resident (Sky Ranch)

And a shout out needs to go to the following for their on-going support:
BellamyLeggett Resident (Kindred Sanctuary)
littlebit31okla Resident (Saddles Canyon Country/Lumiya)
tbranno Resident (Andrew)
All the folks at Tobacco Road Club
Hayanah Resident (Leto Yoshiro)
Bixyl Shuftan (Purrfection Estates)
xcheetahglow Resident (Starlight Meadow)

More and more kind people are becoming involved with this effort!

And once again we cannot forget Dahlea Milena and Gjackie Winkler that are always so dedicated and helpful with our monthly benefit at Veteran’s Isle.

Then we must finally say a great big thank you to the musicians who really give there heart and song to helping us with this effort.  A big round of applause goes out to the following performers and their managers:

Waya Snowpaw DJ
Zak Claxton
Toxie Darkmatter
Dirtydee Sweetwater
Savannah Coronet
Amber Lefarve,  Jorr Jarman, Keileigh Jarman and all the folks at Whispering Sands Promotions

It is really humbling to be a part of this effort.  Thank you all as well as all of the kind hearts who willingly continue to donate and support this cause. 

Frets Nirvana

Linden Lab Announces Upcoming Changes, Including Return of Last Names

In an announcement that they linked to Second Life's upcoming 15th Anniversary, Linden Lab announced there would be a number of changes this year. Counting a few earlier changes such as lower mainland tier, they listed a total of fifteen, one for each year the Grid has been around.

Among the changes are "more value for Premium members," which could mean more perks. The Lab also promises "more exclusive games and experiences," which could mean at least one more game like "Tyrah and the Magical Glitches" last year. Some interesting changes mentioned included "themed learning islands," "Linden Homes improvements," and "land auctions." They also plan to move Second Life's infrastructure to The Cloud, and officially release animesh in full.

But the change that's gotten the most attention, "The return of last names." Until about 2010-11, those signing up for a Second Life account gave it two names, the first whatever they desired and the second one from a list that varied depending on when the account was created. Then Linden Lab gave new accounts a different naming system. One was a display name that was whatever the person wanted. But for account names, they did away with surnames and on browsers all new avatars showed up as having a default last name of "Resident."

While display names have been popular overall, the move to ditch last name choices for account names was highly unpopular. With every newcomer listed as having the surname of "Resident," many felt like second-class citizens. There were also complaints in the first few months that some clubs were banning everyone with the default name as it instantly identified them as newcomers and possible griefer accounts. People also looked for ways to make an account with a last name.

Linden Lab realized they had a problem, and in December 2011 announced they would study how to bring back surnames. But in March 2012, the Lab announced they just couldn't find a way to do so. While several years have gone by, the issue was never forgotten.

Exactly how the Lab plans to return surnames is unknown. It's also unknown if existing "Resident" accounts will be given a chance to get a real surname. Time will tell on both.

To read the Linden announcement, Click Here. 

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: Furry Fashion Changing Sim Rating to Adult

To Our Valued Patrons,

We have big changes coming to Furry Fashion and we want to make sure everyone is in the loop so things go smoothly!

2018 is bringing in a new Furry Fashion, we will be converting from a mature sim to an adult sim. So what does this mean for you?

It means more merchants, new themes, and new attractions!

Of course, it also means new rules. We want to be clear that we do not plan to be a "Yiff" sim, there are enough of them as there is. We will be welcoming adult attachments with some restrictions, and we will be having (private) adult attractions.

This also means we will be disallowing child avatars and products on sim as well. But fear not! We will have a separate FF branch for our merchants and patrons that enjoy these!

Thank you for taking time to read this, we hope 2018 will be a killer year for us and we look forward to working with you!

FF Management

Editors Note: Talking to owner Amethyst Crystal, she explained that the final decision was made only after lengthy discussion with the staff, including listening to the concerns of those with reservations about changing the sim rating. Certain behaviors are still not allowed, and the security personnel will still be enforcing those rules.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from the Second Life Newser.

2018 RFL Theme Announced, Changes Coming in "Project Relay Refresh"

Over the weekend, the theme of next year's Relay for Life season was finally announced: United We Relay." But this was only part of the news concerning the Relay for Life. There were some big changes announced as part of "Project Relay Refresh."

There are certain moments in your life when you realize that you have to change something about yourself if you’re going to continue to be the best version of yourself. For RFL of SL, this is one of those moments. Our event has a rich history that combines tradition with a desire to adapt.  The key to that combination is to make sure that our adaptations are appropriate for what our community and our world needs us to be. It also means that as we change, we have to be willing to let go of other things that we may never have considered. And we have to make sure that all of our decisions are aligned with our core values.

While the reasons for "Project Relay Refresh" have not been given, it may have to do with as successful as the Relay for Life in Second Life has been, it's best days have been in the past. The total amount raised this year was $213,004 USD compared to $415,000 USD in 2014. The total number of avatars on the Relay Weekend track was 966 compared to 2364 in 2014. The track itself has been smaller, 29 sims compared to 44 sims in 2011.

On the website, some changes for next season have already been announced. The most notable change is the Relay season will be shorter, going from five months to three. Also, there will be some changes with campsites, every team will be eligible to have a campsite, with some campsite areas being shared.

Another change will be team fundraising levels. Longtime Relayers will recall that over the years they've been going up. For instance in 2017 it took 75,000 Linden dollars, or $300 USD, to reach Bronze rank, 187,500 Lindens or $750 USD to reach Silver, 312,000 Lindens/ $1250 USD for Gold, 562,500 L/ $2250 USD for Platinum, and so on to five million Lindens or $20,000 USD for Purple rank.  For 2018, the fundraiser levels will be rolled back so it takes just 12,500 Lindens or fifty US dollars to reach Bronze rank, 50,000 Lindens or $200 USD for Silver, and so on up to 1,250,000 Lindens or $5,000 US dollars to get to Purple level. The "Rising Star" level that had been created as the new starting rank as Bronze level requirements kept going up and up has been eliminated, at least for this year.

Back to the Relay Theme, there is currently a contest for an official Relay theme season logo

We are now accepting submissions for the theme logo. Send a 512x512 image file of your design to stingray9798@gmail.com by Friday Nov 3.

Stay tuned for further news as more details come in.

Bixyl Shuftan