Reader Submitted: "The Party's Over"

Submitted by Marianne McCann of Bay City, here she looks over the empty landscape of SL9B that was once a bustling region of exhibits and people seeing them.

SL9B: Reflections

Would it be the fragmented ”Look for something to do that somewhere on the grid" kind of celebration, or nothing at all, was in my mind when the LL put out the announcement they were leaving the birthday to us. Well, I figured what would be would be and went along as usual in SL, until I heard from Honour McMillan. Would I be willing to help as an exhibitor assistant for a birthday bash? I said yes I would.

At that time I did not know the extent of what was going to become an amazing success from beginning to end. The time passed so quickly it is hard to remember it all. We were all so busy settling builders on their plots. It is a blur. Then calls for streams and names and landing points went on for days. Everyone was so nice .The builders were so cooperative with the rules and thankful for any help. A couple tried to kidnap me, LOL, and it was great compliment. It was an experience. Loved that job!

Next I settled into security mode. Although there were some issues regarding rules of the party most were cleared up easily. Yes, the usual griefers appeared as expected and off they went . This was my first time involved in a SL birthday event. I loved it!!!

The leads of the event are to be congratulated for their support and wisdom:

Senior Lead, Performance Lead and Grumpy Old Man – Doctor Gascoigne
Land and Exhibitor Lead – KT Syakumi
Land Goddess – Diana Renoir
Volunteer Lead and Cruise Director- Budster Bashly
PR and Advertising Lead – Saffia Widdershins
Greeter Lead – Honour McMillan
SL9B Troll- Crap Mariner

The sponsors are to be thanked for their expense in donating 20 sims for the event.
Dream Seekers Estates, KittyCats, Fruit Islands Estates, and NEO Streams, who donated all the streams used in the sims.

All the volunteers did a wonderful job through out it all . At this time we are in withdrawal, which I think will take a few weeks! I hope you got there and I hope you loved it. Take a look at Loki’s video when you want to see it all again. With all the time I sent in the sims I never got to see 300 exhibitors . I know because up to the last day I was discovering new fascinating builds.

See you at SL10B. Plans are already under way!

Gemma Cleanslate

SL Machinima: "The Last SL9B Video By The Angel Of Death"

Filmed during the evening of the cleanup on Thursday June 29, this was the last of Crap Mariner's SL9B "Prim Reaper" videos in which he gives his farewell.

Crap invited those in the SL9B chat over before filming (you can see the fox reporter in there too). As for the final scene, well, next time you hear the Prim Reaper belch, well, hold your breath.

Weekend at the SL9B

The Second Life Ninth Birthday event was well-attended all week, with the most attendance and some of the most popular events on the Weekend. Bixyl Shuftan takes a look at some of exhibits, as well as attending a few of the events near the end of the SL9B.

Read more in Events.

SL Youtube: SL9B Hydra Power Plant Party

Video by Qwark Allen as he DJs for a party at the SL9B. The London exhibit is somewhere nearby.

SL Youtube: "SL9B - The Cake Explodes "

Posted by KT Syakumi, "If you didn't see it, just before the sims went offline, Mikatis beautiful cake exploded! I videoed it for all to see." Asked "if anyone got hit in the noggin by a flying piece of cake," KT answered, "I did, repeatedly, and she left it all for me to clean up." KT explained this was her first try at a SL video, as Mikati was going to get someone else to film, "but they didn't show up. So five minutes before she exploded it, I downloaded Fraps and learnt how to film. I did almost everything wrong." Despite her lack of confidence, others in SL9B chat cheered her on, and RacerX Gullwing invited her to join in the filming of the next Cross-Sim Giant Snail Race (today).

Thank You SL9B Community

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the Second Life 9th Community Birthday Celebration for all your hard work and volunteer spirit. True community spirit in the face of short time, insane deadlines and with all the team work that you could muster. Amazing!!! I was humbled by your efforts and collective energy.

We would like to thank our sponsors http://sl9b.wordpress.com/our-sponsors/ for the sims and services that were donated and delivered to us without a moments hesitation.

This year’s gathering expressed what true community is about. Community is not just a word it is an entity; a living, breathing entity. An interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location. Our common location is Second Life. It was truly humbling for me to see so much collaboration that the Second Life community shared for this event.

If you enjoyed the event and want to be a part next year, keep an eye on this blog and stay in the SLB Community Group for notification of next year’s festivities.

It was and always has been an honor and my pleasure to once again work with all of you.

Cya next time.....

Doctor Gascoigne

Submitted by Gemma Cleanslate

SL Machinima: SL9B - Give Us Feedback aka "The Angel Of Death #30"

Crap Mariner's 30th video on the SL9B. It was made on Monday June 25th, the day after the last official event. The self-professed "Wackadoodle" invited the others in SL9B group chat over (including a certain fox reporter, whom can be seen near the front), and congratulated them on a job well done before and after the filming of this video, in which the "Prim Reaper" asks for feedback on the Second Life Ninth Birthday, "Tell us what we did right! Tell us what we did wrong! Tell us what you want us to do next year! Tell us you want to join us! GIVE US FEEDBACK OR GIVE US PIE!"

Crap clowned around a little with the Prim Reaper voice, but not much once the filming was done. All those "Angel of Death" videos as the raspy-voiced specter had been a little hard on his voicebox.

"Boogie boogie boogie"

News and Commentary: Goodbye SL9B

Wednesday June 27 was the last day to see the SL9B, Second Life Ninth Birthday Exhibits. So went out on the field one last time to see what I had missed. I took a few freebie souvenirs, played a couple games, and of course saw a lot and took lots of pictures. Most of which will probably never see the light of this paper, though I'll probably add a few to my Flckr when things quiet down a little.

Why the Lindens refused to even so much as contribute a single sim, we can only speculate. There have been numerous suggestions from cutbacks due to the recession, worries about bad press due to drama, and of course "corporate ADD/Dilbert Symdrome." Or perhaps it was a little of these and more. As with so many other things, the Lab isn't talking, and many of us have come to the point it's futile to ask.

Bur what did happen was the residents of the Grid did not take the Lab's decision lying down. People came forward to offer resources, time, or both. We had twenty sims of land and water, with hundreds of exhibits constructed on them. Second Life Newser's own Gemma Cleanslate spent many hours as one of the staff in first organizing "The Birthday," and then guiding people around as they came.

Daniel Voyager had some interesting statistics about the event. The total number of visitors is still unknown, but there were over 300 in the first hour alone, despite it happening when much of the user base was at their real life jobs. The Cake Stage alone is believed to have gotten over 6000 visitors throughout the event. Besides the 20 sims, there were 357 exhibits, 318 performers and DJs, over 1200 pictures posted on the SL9B Flickr Community, and about 69,000 hits on the SL9B blog. Despite the Lab officially having nothing to do with the event, several stopped by, including Philip Linden himself.

It is true SL9B was not completely free of drama. There was a 9-11 memorial exhibition showing an airliner about to collide with the Twin Towers. The staff was approached by people whom felt while well intentioned, this wasn't the place for it. Chatting with KT Syakumi, she told me, "I think the people who made it were sincere in the sentiment behind it. … They built a new exhibit in it's place … and we featured it on a pic of the day. … We have rules to follow, but I'd rather work with someone to get their build to meet the rules rather than just delete it and boot them. … I understand that most Americans feel strongly about 9/11. But it's also very emotional. … Maybe there is a place for that, but not at a birthday celebration."

The only other example of drama was much simpler. Crap Mariner's version of the story was someone added a "pornographic" picture to his exhibit, and when asked to remove the picture in question, the result was a "ragequit," getting mad, removing the whole build, and up & leaving. But the empty space was soon filled with a replacement, Tateru Nino's "Second Life: The Game," an amusing parody of monopoly.

There were other things that went on and off the Grid that Second Life Newser hasn't or hasn't yet been able to report on. From a forecast of the Grid losing ten percent of its private sims in the following year, to Gez Linden leaving Linden Lab, to an early look at Linden Lab's text adventure game "Dio." South Korea also made the decision to "ban trade for commercial game items." Habbo Hotel is in trouble after a sex scandal. And of course there is the "Cloud Party" that's gotten some attention.

We'll do some work on these, don't worry. We just need a free moment after getting some rest.

I could go on and on about "The Birthday," and I'll try to write a little more on it in the near future. After that, maybe some pictures on my Flickr account. So I'll leave with these final words by Christopher Organiser.

"On behalf of the SL9B staff team, we would like thank each and every one of you for celebrating Second Life's 9th birthday with us this past week! It truly has been a blast. On June 23, 2003, Second Life was launched with only 16 sims. Now there are thousands! It was, indeed, disappointing to hear the news that Linden Labs would not be sponsoring SL9B this year; however, it is astonishing to see how the Community can join as a team and create a birthday party bigger than Linden Labs themselves can!

"Second Life is our home, real life getaway, a place for entertainment, hangouts, connecting, chatting, and loving one another as a whole Community where dreams come true and nothing is impossible. Thank you to the participants, staff, and performers for your dedication to make this celebration possible. Thank you to DreamSeekers Estates for sponsoring this occasion and providing the 20 sims! Let's all celebrate and party one last time at SL9B! Second Life's birthday only comes once a year, but our Community sticks together 24 hours a day for 365 days.

"We will see you all again next year when SL10B comes around! Good night, all, and have an enjoyable Second Life!"

Sources: New World Notes, Dwell on It, Daniel Voyager

Bixyl Shuftan

Loki Goes to SL9B

Chatting with KT Syakumi, she recommended this video of the SL9B by Loki Eliot, "My Machinima documenting this years SL9B community expo in Second Life."

SL Youtube: SL Newser Office "Meeting" at the SL9B

Filmed by Qwark Allen Sunday June 24 sometime in the afternoon. Qwark, his partner Gemma Cleanslate, and I have an office get-together with a few friends of ours. Most of us loved it, but Gemma had mixed feelings, "Hey! My mouth's open! I look like I'm yelling at the boss!"

No she wasn't, and I was there as her witness. But it's still a great souvenir for us from the SL9B

Funny Picture of the Day: SL9B Humor

Picture from Val Kendal, she attributed this joke exhibit of the SL9B to KT Syakumi. The staff of the Birthday sure didn't forget their sense of humor.

It could be easily seen as a parody of Marianne McCann's "History of Prims" exhibit.

SL9B Ends, "We Made it the Best SL Birthday"

Late Sunday night, after a week of events, it was time for the Second Life Ninth Celebration to officially end.

Next up on the Cake Stage is THE SL9B GRAND FINALE WITH FIREWORKS BY BEWLL ORMEGA ACCOMPANIED BY DJ LAZ DRESLER FROM 11PM TIL MIDNIGHT!!! Join us at the Cake Stage as we celebrate Second Life's 9th Birthday with this outstanding finale!!!

And so people from around the Grid gathered at the four-sim Cake Stage, for the final Event, "The last performance at SL9B is here!"

The event was attended by dozens of people, in many heights and types of avatars. Laz Dresler told everyone, "Thank you all so much for hanging with me tonight. I hope you had a great time." She played a number of songs, such as "You're Poison," and "Running Down a Dream."

Running down a dream
Never would come to me.
Working on a mystery.
Going wherever it leads.
Runnin' down a dream.

Among those at the party was the Cake stage creator, Japanese pop artist Mikati Slade. Her huge build got complements, "Mikati, I love your cake!" "Thank you!" Other compliments and cheers went around, "Thank you everyone for your hard work this year! You guys rocked!" "Awesome display and a perfect final for SL9B, Congratulations for a fantastic event!"

Someone remarked that for those who missed the event, a smaller show of fireworks would be going on "24/7" in the Celebrate sim. The sims themselves would remain up for a few more days so people could continue to see the exhibits, but would be coming down as soon as Wednesday.

Before the final event, people were thanking and congratulating one another for the event. Marianne McCann remarked during chat, "this event wasn't even supposed to happen. Instead, we made it the best SL birthday. I think we beat SL 3rd for the best title." "And Mari should know 'cause she's an old kid," someone seconded her. Crap Mariner after a few jokes told, "just wanted to thank everyone in here for giving it your all and then some. And I hope you got more back from it than you bled, sweated, and cried into it."

When someone asked what the record number of exhibits at an Second Life Birthday event was, KT Syakumi answered, "there are 357 exhibits, not counting the stages, infrastructure and events. Marianne McCann added, "I know we've not had 350± at any previous SL birthday."

There are numerous pictures taken of the exhibits, which can be seen in the Sl9B Flikr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sl9b/pool/. Crap Mariner had several hundred up, "I'm not sure how many I've go snapshots of." Marianne McCann commented "I have been shooting a few things, but I know it's gonna be about impossible to see it all."

And so, the Second Life Ninth Birthday, the SL9B, probably the most discussed Birthday event on the Grid in years, is over.

"Thank you all for coming to SL9B! On behalf of the entire staff at SL9B, we hope you had a fun and memorable time celebrating Second Life's 9th birthday!"

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Youtube: "Celebrate" SL9B Party

A video of a party at SL9B, by "Chaîne de Sliennedunord"

Cartoon of the Day

From Treminari Huet's picture of the build of Philip Linden.
By Bixyl Shuftan

Second Life Officially Turns Nine Years Old

It was nine years ago today, June 23 2003, that Second Life was officially made open to the public. As others such as Daniel Voyager point out, "It seems so long ago." Most of us didn't get on until later in it's history, and new residents keep joining. One of the people I ran into at the SL Newser exhibit had only signed up with Second Life a couple days before.

Second Life was a much different place back then. The virtual world was a lot smaller than the one today (link to map). And as the 2003 trailer below shows, it looked different too, the avatars and landscapes a bit simpler. There was no currency or the ability to teleport around. Linden Lab got money through the residents via a tax of how many prims a resident rezzed.



Second Life actually has some history before that. Linden Lab was founded in 1999 by Philip Rosedale (the future Philip Linden), and work began on what became known as "the Rig," which was given a limited release as an "alpha" in March 2002 as "Linden World."



It certainly looked a lot more gamelike back then with it's guns and grenades, and had a limited ecosystem and weather. Supposedly "The Rig" is still packed away somewhere in Linden Labs, "It was shoved in a box at some point and largely forgotten."

During the process of changing from this to start of the Grid as we know it, much of the staff wanted to keep the name "Linden World," but others convinced them a better name was needed, Robin Linden saying, "We believed a place name would give people a sense of destination, and possibly some added layer of meaning. And we thought a descriptive name would help people understand this new concept of a shared, 3D collaborative space." Proposed names with "Life" came up, leading to "Life2," and then "Second Life," which was ultimately the name chosen despite it supposedly "not popular among the Linden staff."

Since June 2003, the Grid slowly changed to Second Life as we know it. Later that year, Linden currency was introduced. Version 1.1.0 introduced telehubs, which residents could port around the Grid on. In 2004, the revenue model was changed to land tiers from property ownership. In late 2005, residents gained the ability to teleport to any place not blocked.

There have been a number of changes since then, Mesh being among the latest ones. And no doubt as Second Life goes on, there will continue to be more.

For more history, check out the "History of Second Life" on the Second Life Wiki: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/History_of_Second_Life . One can also check out a series of articles Tateru Nino did for Massively in 2010: "A Brief History of Second Life."

Image credit: Christopher Organizer, Second Life Wiki

Bixyl Shuftan

The SL Newser at SL9B Party

On Friday, June 22nd, SL Newser held a party at it's exhibit at the Second Life Ninth Birthday area, in the Kyuu sim. The party was held on a platform way above the exhibit. People began showing up at 1 in the afternoon, and it went on from there.

DJ Qwark spun the tunes, mostly 70s & 80s pop.

Gemma Cleanslate (green ball over head) was able to take a break from greeter duties. Bejita, a regular to Qwark's parties, had on some colorful armor.

Not usually one for parties, Xymbers showed up ... as a female werewolf in a dress and tiara.


Other guests included blogger Treminari Huet, DJ Kryxia and Hostess Miyuki from Club Zero Gravity, and a number of other friends. It could get a bit laggy, as shown by the grey avatars in this picture.

The party went on for almost two hours until a sim restart brought it to an end a few minutes early. Despite that and the lag, a good time was held by all.

Bixyl Shuftan.

SL Machinima: SL9B

SL9B from Freeta Kayo

Going About the SL9B

It's been quite a birthday event for Second Life, with the SL9B in full swing. Although a bit busy in real-life, On Wednesday I had a little time to explore a little. I saw a few exhibits in action, ran into a Linden while there, and even saw some of a question and answer session with Qarl Fizz, the former Qarl Linden about mesh.

Read the story in Places.

Come to Second Life Newser in SL9B for a Party

Today, Second Life Newser is having a party at it's SL9B location. The party will be on a platform over the office exhibit, and is open to all. DJ Qwark will provide the tunes.

The party will be at 1PM SL time at DreamSeeker SL9B Kyuu (80, 72, 152)