There's been some changes in the Second Life website's Destination Guide, which the official blog pointed out late last week. The Lab says it's the first major update on the page in over a decade.
The latest version of the Destination Guide offers a modern design
refresh (the first since 2010!), while also adding some useful new
features that enable easier discovery of Second Life events and
experiences. Web visitors may welcome the addition of a much-requested
Search bar so that you can better seek and find the places that interest
you, while category and search result pages now also have a “Sort by”
option in the upper-right corner that allows users to filter the
directory by “Newest” entries and alphabetically (A-Z or Z-A). Mobile
users will notice that the Destination Guide is now much easier to
browse and explore while on the go – which may come in handy to
accompany our forthcoming Mobile Viewer.
The Lab stated they could use some feedback about the changes, suggesting emails be sent to editor@lindenlab.com . They also reminded people to send them suggestions on what places to list, using this form.
Earlier this week, Linden Lab put an amusing event in it's Destination Guide, the Hamster Festival.
If you’re looking for some wacky fun, you'd be hard-pressed to find a virtual world that offers more of that than Second Life!
Azuran, owner of the Hamster Bar and creator of the incredibly adorable Hamster Festival, also runs a Hamster blog
all about the wheel turning activities taking place at the bar. The
blog may be in Japanese and most avatars may be of the furry kind, but
human avatars are more than welcome and many of the participants also
speak English.
This two week festival runs until August 20th and includes a live DJ
event and a shopping mall where you can pick up all your hamster
accessories. Follow Hamster Fest on Twitter for updates.
One of the Hamsters featured in the video is Sanny Yoshikawa,
who can usually be found in a squirrel or cat avatar but also enjoys
being a hamster. The Hamster Festival is one of Sanny’s favorite events
in Second Life.
Sanny has been a Second Life Resident for many years and tells us, “I
am Japanese and have lived in Australia for 20 years. I joined SL when I
saw the news about Japanese towns being created in SL. Now I live in a Sakura Linden Home.
For those who have spent little to no time at the Second Life Birthday sims, or a regular who wants to see the area one more time, today is the last day to do so. Late tonight, the grounds will close to the public.
A little more than a week ago, Linden Lab featured on Second Life Destinations a build inspired by one of the Seven Wonders of The Ancient World, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
* * * * *
Creator Patch Thibaud
is actually an architect in the physical world as well, and his years
of experience inform every detail of this majestic locale. After
observing some work on Patch’s Flickr, Resident Crista
reached out to him to build a region for her. Of the request, Patch
says, “I agreed to participate as long as I got to do The Hanging
Gardens of Babylon, which was an ideal subject; an evocative and
romantic concept, monumental in scale - and nobody has any idea what the
original looked like, if in fact it existed at all.”
Patch’s affinity for building in the metaverse is strengthened by the
fact that “there is no one in between me and the final result; I don't
have to deal with contractors, estimators, building codes, etc.,” and
yet there are limitless possibilities. Furthermore, Patch feels that “in
all 3D modeling software I am familiar with, you are working in an
abstract, gridded space. In SL I am used to working outdoors, with a
beautiful sky and perhaps with beautiful water, and the context of an
entire world.”
The concept of storytelling has been incorporated into many visual art
forms, and as a trained designer, Patch adopted an episodic approach to
the immense project. Patch created an extensive history for the estate:
“This build imagines a structure originally built in mud brick by the
Assyrians; later seized and rebuilt in stone by the Romans; {eventually}
acquired by a cardinal during the military struggles of Renaissance
Italy, who rebuilt the temple complex at the summit to include a villa
for him and pleasure gardens and pavilions; subsequent alterations and
additions by the cardinal’s family, including the ballroom and the
Moroccan Garden; and finally the current owner, who restored the whole
structure and its gardens, and inserted a gallery for art, built in the
modern style.”
Crista is also a longtime Resident, having started her inworld
adventures 14 years ago. For Crista, Second Life is “a part of myself…
part of my life and {it has} taught me many things that made me what I
am now, in RL and SL. I am one person living in two different worlds. A
wonderful SL can make a better RL. The Gardens were my SL dream for
years… A ton of thanks to Patch Thibaud, I am not sure if we have a
better builder. Sharing the beauty he makes, {as well as the} sensations
and feelings deriving from it, is the biggest pleasure and satisfaction
in this world.”
Designed by Ranchan Weidman, this destination is the main office of the
Second Life Newser, "Your source of news about the people, places, and
events across Second Life." Run by Bixyl Shuftan and Gemma Cleanslate,
visit them at slnewser.blogspot.com .
The Newser's entry is one of eight in the "Media, Movies, and TV" category, along with Film Threat, and the Second Life Enquirer.
In the official Second Life blog this week, Linden Lab had a Valentine's Day themed entry, highlighting several topics. Among them, the Isle of View.
The Isle of View
is our annual tribute to all-things-romantic via four regions filled
with forested walks, cozy nooks for cuddling, and romantic swan boat
rides.
Visit one of the Love Pavilion gift kiosks to browse through a variety
of gift selections that you can send to your friends and loved ones on
Valentine’s Day. This year’s selection includes heart lollipops and
balloons, an adorable teddy bear, a chocolate box with rings, cutesy
cupcakes, love lanterns, and, of course, romantic roses. To select and
send your free gifts, follow the directions on the sign adjacent to the
kiosk.
And they mentioned Linden Lab's event at the Isle, the "Hug-A-Linden/Dunk-A-Linden" event.
Are you feeling “some kind of way” about the Lindens? Show your love (or
friendly aggression) for the makers of Second Life at our annual Dunk-A-Linden & Hug-A-Linden Event, held this year on February 12th from 1pm to 3pm PT. Come early or watch the live stream on our YouTube channel for some fun conversations and plenty of soaked Lindens!
Also mentioned was the Valentine's Day-themed "Shop and Hop" that starts in a few days.
Look out for a detailed blog post coming up on Friday at 9am PT (when
the doors for Shop & Hop officially open) with a full list of
participating Merchants accompanied by direct links to each store.
The Lab also announced the addition of new items to their Second Life merchandise store: mugs, masks, tote bags, and more with a teddy bear holding a heart with the Linden symbol.
This stuffed bear is emblematic of the warm connections so many
Residents find in SL. Give yourself a positive reminder that love comes
in many forms with a coffee mug to start your day, or a pin on your
backpack. Our furry friend will be available on a variety of custom
accessories for a limited time, so hop over to our official merchandise store today.
By all means, Linden Lab isn't the only one planning something special for Valentine's Day in Second Life. And in the Destination Guide, they're featuring a list of several locations, one that will grow as people add to it (after some delays, it's been fixed so people can add to it again).
Finally, we have dusted off our Valentine’s Day Destination Guide category,
too! You’ll find a few romantic Valentine’s-themed destinations in
there already - so grab a loved one and go on a romantic date or just
some friendly exploration.
On December 22nd I announced that the Second Life Destination Guide was being uplifted to the cloud. That process is still underway, however, we have run into some errors. For this reason, the web publishing tool that allows us to update the Destination Guide is still unavailable and will be for the foreseeable future until these errors can be corrected. I am hoping it won’t be much longer than another week or two. I will continue to update you on this status every Friday.
The submission form for the Destination Guide is also giving errors because of this, so please continue to email your submissions to editor@lindenlab.com and we will add them as soon as we have access again.
From the Bay City History Pavilion page on the Destination Guide. Looks like a certain fox reporter wasn't the only one taking pictures that day, and ended up getting a cameo.
The Newser can't show you any of our pictures from inside yet. But as the clock winds down for the preparations for the Second Life Sixteenth Birthday celebrations, there are some things that can be shown. The map shows a 19 sim area, for some reason SL16B Spellbound in the south was moved to some distance away to the south (presumably just temporary).
This week's Quicktips talks about using the inworld "Search" function, and the Destination Guide on Linden Lab's Second Life website.
Looking for something to do in Second Life? With thousands of places to
visit, how do you find the one you’re looking for? This week’s QuickTips
video tutorial provides tips on using Search, Events and the
Destination Guide to seek and find the cool places you want to explore.
Watch our newest QuickTips video tutorial here.
Every week our Destination Guide
editorial team pores through the many awesome submissions for new
locations and events. Below are a few of the newest Destination Guide
entries that stuck with us. They could be an alien invasion through
darklit corridors, an intricately detailed fantasy setting or even a
surreally romantic metallic swamp. So if you’re looking for something to
stimulate that creative spark, why not take a look below? Or join in
the fun and submit your own?
There are other ways to discover new places on the Grid. One can do a websearch ong Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. for the numerous Second Life realted blogs and websites. And of course there's the Second Life Newser's Places section.
"Visit famed fashion and skin store Egoisme for a day of partying and giveaways — where two people per hour will be treated to a total makeover including clothes, skin and jewellery. Music is provided by the award-winning BOSL Radio team and you can feed more than just your ego by helping to raise funds for the Feed a Smile Charity. The event runs March 24 from 9 AM to 3 PM"
"Join friends for this inspiring and fun fundraising event for The Terry Fox Foundation, held March 20 from 1-8 p.m. (Pacific). Event includes live music, a fashion show and more.
