SL Universe Forums To Become VirtualVerse

Many if not most longtime Second Life residents have heard of the SL Universe forums. Sometimes factual with discussions about some of the latest developments and events in Second Life, and sometimes irreverent with some "peanut gallery" discussions, it has been pretty much anything but boring. It's also moved beyond Second Life in topic discussions going to various real-life matters such as politics. Turning 15 years old this November, owner Cristiano Midnight posted on Thursday September 20 that SL Universe was undergoing it's "Third Major Act" in it's history.

So a lot has happened in the past 24 hours. I nearly lost 2.4 million posts and obliterated SLU, got them back, perhaps may have cried a little, then made some decisions about what to do about SLU.

I detailed what I was going through my mind in this post, so I won't repeat it. However, since writing that, I made some rapid decisions that are already in motion.

First of all, I am launching a new site - VirtualVerse, which expands the scope of SLU to all things related to virtual worlds, whether it is Second Life, Sansar, other VR worlds that are gaining in popularity, or game related worlds like MMOs and open world games. I've wanted to become less SL centric, but it has been hard to do that with SL as part of the name.

The SLU forums will be closing within the next few weeks, depending on how long the transition takes. These forums will be archived - they may be unavailable for little while but will come back as a read only forum.

The new site domain is VirtualVerse.one - http://www.virtualverse.one

Why .one? There has been a significant number of new top level domains added, and I considered .cloud, .site and even .ninja, but .one appealed to me the most, since this also is starting over in many ways.

Cristiano's near-loss of so many posts was presumably because of trying to save them as they had become corrupted, according to the post he had made the day before, in which he had pondered the future of SL Universe.

Taking a look at VirtualVerse, the topics were grouped in three categories. "VirtualVerse Related" has topics such as "Site Announcements." "Virtual World Discussion is where you can find the "Second Life" group of threads, other virtual worlds and MMOs being the other two categories. "Off-Topic Discussion" is about everything else, such as "Politics, Religion, and Society." This has the most groups of threads.

Again, thank you for your patience while I've been dealing with all of this - and while I know it is a bit scary to move to an entirely new forum and site, the move ensures that this can all continue. I'm extremely excited by it. I'll go into more detail about why I made this change soon.

Image source: Ryan Schultz

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Universe in Ark

When it comes to games and Second Lifers, there's no shortage of them inworld, as "Tiny Empires" demonstrates. Outside of the grid, "Ark Survival Evolved" continues to be the favorite among the "Furry Gamers," the group of Second Life residents whom love playing games. But as it turns out, they haven't been the only ones in the Ark game lately. Another group of Second Lifers has given it a try: the Second Life Universe Forums.

Read more in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

News and Commentary: New Terms of Service Spark Questions Among Residents

By Bixyl Shuftan

Logging into Second Life last night, I found myself presented with a new updated terms of service. The choice was pretty simple, sign if you want to continue logging on the Grid. Many of us just automatically sign without a thought. Myself, I read it, noticed a few things, and expected to hear about more before long.

So what was the result of this new TOS? In a couple groups, worried residents expressed their concern, as well as some IMs aimed at me. A few people asked me if Linden Lab would be doing away with Adult content. While it is true some people are jumpy every time there's a change, the recent blunder with third-party Linden exchangers has rightfully shaken the already shaky confidence residents have with the Lab.

There are two lengthy forum threads discussing the TOS, in the official Linden Forums, and Second Life Universe. Among the changes noted was the line "You are not our employee." Was this to limit the Lab's liability of the behavior of it's employees when on SL off the clock, putting in writing that they owed content creators and others who benefited Second Life nothing, or a possible defense against people who were tricked by residents pretending to be Lindens?

The general idea, at least among those not confused as hey, is that the changes were a "cover your butt" move to protect the Lab from additional possible legal complaints. One commented, "LL has a really good TOS in the sense that they have it in mostly proper order along with a lot of legalese that scares most people. There is always that one who isn't scared with money to either burn or feels strongly enough about something that will push it to the envelope (right or wrong) through the courts. But at the same time, loopholes galore all through out it because they just can't CYA everything."

There were no shortage of comments, including a proposed TOS by the former Pathfinder Linden.

If only if it were that simple.

Sources: Linden Forums, SLU Forums

Image credits: Daniel Voyager, Pathfinder 

Bixyl Shuftan