EOTB: The "Marketplace UI Overhaul"

 

On Tuesday September 16, Linden Lab announced on their blog they had done a "Marketplace UI Overhaul." The main purpose was to make the Second Life Marketplace easier to use on a smartphone or tablet, but there were other changes. 

 

We’re making some much-needed updates to the Second Life Marketplace. Our goal is to create a modern, unified experience that is more responsive and easier to use on any device. We’ve been working on the UI and UX, and these changes are rolling out across desktop, tablet, and mobile browsers. 

The Lab stated the changes are a work in progress and some adjustments are not yet finished or haven't been launched yet. 

 

Right now, the new responsive product, category, and search results pages are live, and we are still working on making the rest of the site responsive as well. You may have noticed that some other pages, including the Marketplace home page, have been updated with some of the new elements, but are not yet fully responsive. We are still in an awkward in-between phase as we work to unify the presentation of all the pages on the site.

 

This includes "Image Zoom" to help with crisp images when pictures are enlarged and "Page Gutters" that are thicker on wider screens but should be slimmer on thinner ones.

 

On some Discord threads, another change has been noticed. On some pages, inworld locations have been removed. Some called this desireable as on an outdated page one can find themselves plummeting down to earth or being thrown out of a yard by a security system as the store the inworld location that used to be there had been abandoned. 

 

For more information, chuck the Linden Blog (here). 

 

VR Chat Opens Avatar Marketplace

 

In Second Life, people have been buying avatars for almost all of it's history. In VR Chat in contrast, for most of it's history you could only get those content creators will willing to give away. But last year this started to change when an inworld economy finally came about. And several days ago the process was simplified with the opening of their Avatar Marketplace.

Read the story in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

 

Ad: Charlee's Gachas

 

Looking for a place to get some gachas? Well, for some at bargain prices, check out Charlee's Gachas. You'll find that the variety is large, and the prices are small. From companion pets like mice and pandas and bats, to jewelry, to furniture, you'll find plenty of products at bargain prices.  

To start browsing the Marketplace store, Click Here. 

 

Ad: Charlee's Gachas

 

 

Looking for a place to get some gachas? Well, for some at bargain prices, check out Charlee's Gachas. You'll find that the variety is large, and the prices are small. From companion pets like mice and pandas and bats, to jewelry, to furniture, you'll find plenty of products at bargain prices.  

To start browsing the Marketplace store, Click Here.

 

Ad: Charlee's Gachas

 

 

 

 

Looking for a place to get some gachas? Well, for some at bargain prices, check out Charlee's Gachas. You'll find that the variety is large, and the prices are small. From companion pets like mice and pandas and bats, to jewelry, to furniture, you'll find plenty of products at bargain prices.  

To start browsing the Marketplace store, Click Here.

 

Ad: Charlee's Gachas

 

Looking for a place to get some gachas? Well, for some at bargain prices, check out Charlee's Gachas. You'll find that the variety is large, and the prices are small. From companion pets like mice and pandas and bats, to jewelry, to furniture, you'll find plenty of products at bargain prices.  

To start browsing the Marketplace store, Click Here. 

 

 

"Eclipse Timer" On Sale In Marketplace

 

 There's been more than a little talk about the "Great Solar Eclipse." As it turns out, there's an "Eclipse Timer" that says it will allow owners to have their own eclipse in their sim. 

 

The Eclipse Timer brings the celestial dance of the moon and sun to your virtual world, culminating in a total eclipse at intervals you choose. Now featuring, garden dome and wearable, versions in the box, this elegant and realistic timepiece doubles as a decorative masterpiece and an interactive gadget. Control rotation, lighting (Basic, Local, Advanced, or Off), and timing with simple chat commands. Enjoy this cosmic display as a static piece on your land or a wearable accessory for on-the-go fascination.

 

There's no reviews yet, so not sure yet how good the product is. 

 

Ad: Charlee's Gachas

 

 

 Looking for a place to get some gachas? Well, for some at bargain prices, check out Charlee's Gachas. You'll find that the variety is large, and the prices are small.

 

For Halloween, there are a number of items you can get. You can find pet baby bats.  You can get a spooky cake. You can get a Black Widow top. Or perhaps get a trick or treat teddy bear. 

To start browsing the Marketplace store, Click Here. 

Press Release: Making Strides' "Outshop Cancer"

 

The 6th annual Out Shop Cancer event supporting Making Strides and the American Cancer Society is almost here.

Out Shop Cancer is a main store and marketplace shopping event and a signature Strides Campaign in Second Life in support of the American Cancer Society’s breast cancer programs and research.

The 2023 Out Shop Cancer event includes main store and marketplace shopping, a grid-wide hunt, an Out Shop Cancer Pop-up Market, and a special Gala event. Along with the many shopping opportunities, there will be several special raffles during the month, including raffles for eBody Reborn bodies, Belleza bodies, LeLutka heads, skin packs and much more.

In addition to the shopping, hunt and raffles, there will be an art walk and photo contest this year. The Easthaven Art Walk will also run Oct. 1 through Oct. 31 and feature the creative work of artists and photographers with proceeds benefiting Strides. A photo contest with the theme, "Season of Hope" will be held at Easthaven and open to everyone to join in the fun!

With more than 70 stores participating ranging from clothes to decor to breedables, there is something for everyone. Sandie Slate, founder of Out Shop Cancer, says “The response from designers this year has been tremendous and the amount of support for the event has exceeded expectations. With the inclusion of the Pop-Up Market and the Gala event, this year’s event is jam-packed with shopping and much more.”

Slate continued: "By hosting events throughout the month, there's plenty to see and do -- all while helping to raise funds for a great cause."

The Out Shop Cancer event runs from Oct. 1 to Oct. 31. Shoppers will be able to pick up a shopping hud inworld at the Out Shop Cancer office. A list of contributing merchants with a shopping directory and the official bloggers can be found on the Out Shop Cancer website at https://www.outshopcancersecondlife.com/. Information about the Hunt, Pop-Up Market and Gala event will be available on the website as well.

All proceeds from this event go directly to the American Cancer Society’s breast cancer programs and services.

 

Once again, for more information, check out the website at outshopcancersecondlife.com 

 

About Making Strides

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer or MSABC is the largest network of breast cancer awareness events in the nation, uniting more than 300 communities to finish the fight. Every breast cancer walk and event is an incredible and inspiring opportunity to honor those who have battled breast cancer, raise awareness about what we can do to reduce our breast cancer risk, and raise money to help the American Cancer Society fight the disease with research, information, services, and access to mammograms for women who need them.

 

"Unscheduled Maintenance" Offlines Second Life For Hours

 

If you tried to log into Second Life yesterday and couldn't get on, you were far from alone. For much of the day, residents couldn't log in, or access secondlife.com, or the Marketplace. The Grid Status Report first mentioned there was a problem at 11:14 AM SL time. 

We are currently seeing intermittent issues with Profiles, Marketplace, and Log ins, and we are currently investigating this. Please watch this blog for updates.

Posted * ***** ***. Aug 31, 2021 - 11:14 PDT

Unfortunately, the issue was not resolved quickly. Hours would pass, and the Lab's finest were still working on the issue.

We are still working on resolving this, and we thank you for your patience! Please watch this blog for updates. 

Finally at 3:57 PM SL time, the Lab stated they were on their way to fixing the problem.

All services should be recovered, and we continue to monitor their performance. If you're having trouble getting to some of the websites, please try clearing your cookies. Thank you for your patience, and we hope the rest of today is going to be all smooth sailing. 

Still, it wouldn't be 5:54 PM SL time before the Lab would say with confidence, "This incident has been resolved," over six hours since they announced their was a problem. When residents tried to get on the website, sometimes all they got was a blank page. At other times they would get the "Uh oh, it's buggy" 500 error message shown at the top. A few residents would look back to earlier times when Linden Lab was more willing to poke fun at itself and post a picture of apes armed with bones gathering around a monolith, "The grid is down while we bang on things." A few more irritated residents wondered if the glitch was a result of the Cloud Servers, and something they could expect time to time for the forseable future. 

In any event, the glitch has been fixed, and all is well again, for now.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Magician Productions Sale

 

There's a sale going on at Magician Productions. Some of it's products have been discounted. M*P

 All my rainbow avatars are discounted for the month of June, and since I put these out so late, I'll let it go through into the next month some... because who doesn't love Rainbows? 

One can check out the store at Montecito Bay (22/111/724), or check out the Marketplace Page (caution, a few NSFW images when the adult maturity level on MP is set).

Magician Productions is owned by Becky Nosferatu.
 

More Merchandise Available In Second Life Redbubble Store

 

In September, Linden Lab launched a Second Life merchandise store through Redbubble. Earlier this week, the Lab announced some new items had been added to it. There's now winter-themed shirts and coffee mugs in the selection, as well as April and Coyot Linden bear themed t-shirts. 

We'd like to announce that we've added a couple wintery items to our official merchandise store on RedBubble. A wholesome and humorous play on our logo, we hope these can bring some lighthearted joy to kick off a hopeful and positive attitude for the start of 2021.

We've also added the Linden Bears of April and Coyot to our collection of pocket tees.

To get to the store, Click Here.

Linden Lab: "We Apologize For Recent Service Disruptions"

Glitches are more or less a part of the Second Life experience. But if it seems they've been getting worse lately, it's not your imagination. And even Linden Lab is admitting things are buggier than usual. In the Tools and Technology blog on Friday October 16, Oz Linden stated in the "Uplift Update" that while there's been overall improvement in the Second Life infrastructure, "it’s the bumps in the road that are most noticeable to our residents. We apologize for recent service disruptions ..." He would point out several "rough spots."

Region Crossings
One of the first troubles we found was that region crossings were significantly worse between a cloud region and a datacenter region. We did a deep dive into the code for objects (boats, cars, planes, etc) and produced an improvement that made them significantly faster and more reliable even within the datacenter. This has been applied to all regions already and was a good step forward.

Group Chat stalls
Many users have reported that they are not able to get messages in some of their groups; we're very much aware of the problem. The start of those problems does coincide with when the chat service was uplifted; unfortunately the problems did not become clear until moving that service back to the datacenter was not an option. We haven’t been able to get that fixed as quickly as we would like, but the good news is that we have some changes nearly ready that we think may improve the service and will certainly provide us with better information to diagnose it if it isn't fixed. Those changes are live on the Beta grid now and should move to the main grid very soon.

Bake Failures
Wednesday and especially Thursday of this past week were bad days for avatar appearance, and we're very much aware of how important that is. The avatar bake service has actually been uplifted for some time - it wasn't moving it that caused the problem, but another change to a related service. The good news is that thanks to a great cross-team effort during those two days we were able to determine why an apparently unrelated simulator update triggered the problem and got a fix deployed Thursday night.

Increased Teleport Failures
We have seen a slight increase in the frequency of teleport failures. I know that if it's happened to you it probably doesn't feel like a "slight" problem, especially since it appears to be true that if it's happened to someone once, it tends to keep happening for a while. Measured over the entire grid, it's just under two percentage points, but even that is unacceptable. We're less sure of the specific causes for this (including whether or not it's Uplift related), but are improving our ability to collect data on it and are very much focused on finding and fixing the problem whatever it is.

Marketplace & Stipend Glitches
We've had some challenges related to uplift for both the Marketplace and the service that pays Premium Stipends. Marketplace had to be returned to the datacenter yesterday, but we'll correct the problems that required the rollback and get it done soon. The Stipends issues were both good and bad for users; there were some delays, but on the other hand we sent some users extra stipends (our fault, you win - we aren't taking them back); those problems are, we believe, solved now.

So why all of the glitches and bugs? Oz called the Uplift to move Second Life's data to cloud servers "a massive, complicated project that I've previously compared to converting a steam-driven railroad to a maglev monorail -- without ever stopping the train." He would later try to reasure the residents, "While this week in particular has seen some bumps in the road, it's actually going well overall. Lots of the infrastructure you don't interact with directly, and some you do, has been uplifted and has worked smoothly." He would go on to say almost all of the Beta Grid's sims were in the Cloud, and "we've uplifted around a hundred regions on the main grid. Performance of those regions has been very very good, and stability has been excellent." He would go on to say more sims would be uplifted over the weekend and that "Uplift of the Release Candidate regions, which will bring the count into the thousands, will begin soon."

Oz would say the Uplift to the Cloud should be completed, or at least be close to it, by the end of the year.

To read the blog entry in full, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Linden Lab Launches Second Life Merchandise Store Through Redbubble

Numerous companies sell, or grant licenses, brand-name merchandise of products of theirs. This includes multiplayer games, such as World of Warcraft. But there's been no merchandising of products with the Second Life brand. That is until now. On Friday September 25, Linden Lab announced they had a Second Life merchandise store, through the global online marketplace Redbubble.

We heard your requests, and we are very excited to announce the launch of the Official Second Life Merchandise Store, which will be available through RedBubble. The store offers Second Life and Linden Lab branded clothing and accessories, with a very inclusive range of sizes. Don’t worry, we will have both the classic and new logos, so everybody wins.

As the store grows, we will also be adding various collections of designs, some of which will be limited time seasonal offerings. Our first collection will feature Linden Bear-themed merchandise, and will have new designs trickling in throughout the year. Stay tuned for Halloween!

 

We are so excited for our diverse spectrum of Residents to be able to show their Second Life pride IRL, as well as thankful for the opportunity to let people know that SL continues to grow, adapt, and evolve. 

Taking a look there were a number of products available, from t-shirts, to backpacks, to bags, to logo pins, masks, and more. What was on the front page wasn't all that was available. The water bottle could be in either the Linden Lab logo, the Second Life logo, or have a picture of one of several Linden bears. 

When ordering, one should keep in mind the shipping charges. Ordering both a mask and a water bottle comes to 32.15. But the shipping charges on them are $8.82, more than a quarter of their value. There's also increased charges for getting the items shipped over faster.
 
The idea of a Second Life merchandise site isn't new. It had been suggested on the forums a few years ago. The thread was promptly revived on the sight of the blog post. Comments were somewhat mixed. One criticism was the size of the shipping charges. The reviews confused some people, thinking they were for this particular kind of cup and brand instead of the cup regardless of brand. Another observation was the lack of any actual real-life Linden bears. Prokovy Neva commented, "The thing I'm puzzled by are all those 'bear collector' items. Why wouldn't they then have the bears themselves? Imagine if you could get little Linden bears in RL!"

The blog entry asked residents to keep an eye on the online store as there would be new items for Halloween. Will there also soon be Linden-themed teddy bears for real life? Time will tell.

Bixyl Shuftan

Breaking News: Linden Lab Says Last Names Available Again By Jan 31, For Premium Residents

Earlier today, Linden Lab posted on the official blog a date on one of the more persistent questions of residents, the return of last names. The Lab stated it is "working furiously" to have the option to get or change a last name. However, the option will only be available for Premium Residents, and there would be a fee for it.

Soon it will be possible to change the name of a Second Life account. This is one of our Residents’ most requested features and we’re working furiously to make it available by the end of January.  Name Changes will be exclusively for Premium members at an additional fee. Changing one or both of your First and Last Name will be available as a single transaction. Last Names will be picked from a list, which you can help us curate.

It was also announced the Lab would soon hold a contest for suggestions on new last names. Five of the people who submit suggestions will get a free name change, regardless of their being Premium accounts or not. The contest will run for a month from December 16 to January 15.

At the SL16B this year, Oz Linden stated that the reason it was taking so long for last names was, "every part of Second Life, absolutely everything, was built with the assumption that your name can never change.  ... we have to go back and find that assumption everywhere in Second Life. And that's a *lot* of code."

The Lab would also announce a new level of Premium membership, Premium Plus, "an additional choice for Residents who want to get even more value from their Second Life."

Also announced were changes in Marketplace, including the fee to list an item as Featured reduced ten percent and "commission rates on Marketplace sales will become 10% of the item price." There was also a reminder about the Linden Home at the Christmas Expo.

To read the blogpost in full, Click Here.

Commentary: Second Life Is Dead, Long Live Second Life

Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich) recently wrote a  commentary. In it, he asked himself why do people still come to Second Life. Social networks seem to come and go. And in the virtual world, clubs and hangouts seem to last only a few months. So why does Second Life continue to last? Cyfir believes he knows the reason why.

Read Cyfir's commentary in Extra.

Review of Lab Gab Episode Two With Reed Linden

Last week, the new Second Life show hosted by Xiola and Strawberry Linden, Lab Gab, had it's first guest: Reed Linden. As Second Life's Product Manager, Reed talked about a few things recently developed, and a few things in the works such as some upcoming changes to Marketplace.

Read the review in Design.

More on M and M's Sales Cancelation, Lindens Taken, by Linden Lab

A week ago, we wrote about Marcthur Goosson and his "M and M Creations" having two sales worth a toral of 42,000 Linden dollars being canceled by Linden Lab and the money taken. When he asked Linden Lab for an explanation, they didn't say very much other than the sales, made through M and M's Marketplace page were "done with Lindens acquired from another source." So he turned to us, and our readers, for answers.

Marxus Lefevre was the one person who answered through the Newser's article comment section, saying:

It does happen a lot actually... when I was working for an estate, which shall remain unnamed, LL would take regularly L$ from the estate owners account with above explanations. Due to close contacts with the support we eventually figured, that there were rental payments done with money acquired, i.e. from stolen credit cards etc., often from Russian or Arabian accounts. If the money was stolen from another account, which happens to often sadly too, LL would return the money to the person it was stolen from, independent of the purchases made through the offenders. I always thought it was the right thing to do though, but I understand, that it comes disturbing to Marcthur or anyone who's not aware of these things.

On the Friends of Second Life Facebook page, there were more comments. While there were accusations of "shady business practices," others confirmed Marxus' story. " This has been done for years and even on almost on daily basis. It relates to their procedure on how to handle stolen accounts. And perfectly legal. Credit card comp, banks etc all do the same by reverting payments when accounts stolen. ... This a normal buisness practice and nothing shady." "it's just a nice way of saying 'stolen lindens'."

So why didn't Linden Lab just up and say that they were returning stolen money to it's owner instead of giving vague and cryptic explanations? The only responses I got were from the Facebook chatter, "They just can't give more details than (they) did due to privacy right issues of account holder. ... by law they can't."

I don't know where to look to confirm this explanation. But if this is true, it seems this isn't simply Linden clumsiness at work, but also the law. Still, couldn't the Lab find some way to give a better explanation to a confused content creator trying to make a few dollars only to find his sales canceled and the money taken? There is also to consider that if dealing with stolen cash is a frequent problem, Linden Lab may be naturally reluctant to talk about it. In any event, this seems to be the best explanation there is for Marcthur's missing money.

Bixyl Shuftan

Merchant's Sales Canceled, Lindens Taken, by Linden Lab

Longtime readers may remember "M and M Creations," run by Marcthur Goosson. For years, he has been making quality items for sale, such as his cottages. But he recently came to the Newser after an incident that concerned the sale of some of his cottages.

Besides his inworld store at the Isle of Paradise, M and M also has a Marketplace page. Sales there were routine until December 30 when Marcthur discovered the Lindens had taken away 11,000 Linden dollars from his account, "without any warning or explanation." A few days later on January 4, he found 31,000 Linden dollars were gone. So he asked Linden Lab what was going on. They gave the following answer

Thank you for contacting support. We'll be happy to explain! We discovered the Marketplace purchase on your store was done with Lindens acquired from another source. The transaction was cancelled and the Lindens that were used were subsequently removed. We do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Let us know if you need any further assistance!

Marcthur messaged them again for more details, and his money back. He was given this answer.

Unfortunately we are not privy to the specifics on which Marketplace purchase was actioned against, you do have our apologies! Our Accounts Review team discovered the issue and made a determination which resulted in the removal of the Lindens spent. For security purposes we cannot reveal the source of the Lindens or who spent the Lindens through your store.

Exactly what Linden Lab meant by "acquired from another source" they never stated. Marcthur wondered if it might be "fraud or stolen Linden dollars." But with the Lab not saying more, he could only turn to the Newser. Of the items involved in the canceled transactions, "I do not know cause they do not tell me. But given the amounts ans transactions in my overview it must be mainly cottages. So my cottages are in the wild now, and who-knows-what other items (I mainly sell full-permissions only). ... I am still in conversation with Linden Lab so they might compensate me or tell me more (or give me the LL finger)."

So far, Marcthur has yet to tell me of any additional information Linden Lab might have given him, or any of the lost 42,000 Linden dollars. If anyone knows of any similar incidents, please contact the Newser about it. In the meantime, M and M Creations remains open for business.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Isle%20of%20Paradise/217/158/22

Bixyl Shuftan

Eye on the Blog: Wishlist, Share Options in Marketplace

You see a cool item on Marketplace that you'd like to have, but you don't have the Lindens you need to get it. In the past, you'd write down the name on a piece of paper somewhere and hope you don't lose it. Now there's another option: Marketplace Wishlists. This was added in an update last week.

The "Add to Wishlist" option is in the lower right corner. To view your own wishlist, go to https://marketplace.secondlife.com/wishlist . You can also add an item to your favorites to show to others later. To get to your favorites page, head to : https://marketplace.secondlife.com/favorites . You can also follow a certain merchant by adding them to your favorites on their store page, and return to the page quickly by going to your favorite stores page : https://marketplace.secondlife.com/favorite_stores . You can also "Like" an item for Facebook (this feature may not be brand new), and there's a button to quickly share the item on social media.

More on the Marketplace update here: https://community.secondlife.com/blogs/entry/2431-your-favorite-marketplace-update-the-wishing-edition/

Hat Tip: Matoazma Kazyanenko

Bixyl Shuftan