EOTB: Linden Lab To Raise Premium Account Price, Lowering Linden Dollar Buy Fee, Sim Monthy Fees

 

Yesterday on Monday June 8, Linden Lab announced some price changes. Good news if you keep buying Lindens or own one or more sims. But if you're a Premium Resident, some bad news. 

 

First the bad news, which the Lab called the reason for "adding more value to paid membership plans." The cost of Premium will be going up from $11.99 USD a month to $12.99 a month. If you pay by the quarter or year, the price will be a little less. If you pay every three months, the price will be going up to $11.99 USD a month or $35.97 per quarter. If you pay by the year, the rate will be going up to $9.99 USD a month or $119.88 annually. There was some fine print at the bottom of the announcement saying that the option to pay quarterly is no longer available "for new purchases."

 

The last time Premium accounts went up in price was over seven years ago from $9.50 a month, in May 2019, which the Lab then called "the difficult decision to make our first Premium price increase in over a decade." Their language back then was more direct than the wording in Monday's announcement. 

 

The price increase is not immediate, but will take place thirty days after the announcement, on July 8, 2026.  

 

The costs for Plus and Premium Plus level accounts. $5.99 and $29.99 USD a month respectively, which were introduced after the previous price increase, are not changing.  

 

Not all of the news was bad. Linden Lab announced that the minimum fee to purchase Linden dollars would be going down from $1.49 USD to 49 cents. 

 

But, there was a catch. The Lab would announce the ceiling rate, the maximum buy fee, was going up from $14.99 USD to $29.99.  The benefit of making fewer purchases of more Linden dollars instead of more smaller ones is being reduced. 

 

The fee changes Linden Lab wanted to emphasize the most is what will likely affect the smallest number of residents (albeit so much of the Grid as we know it depends on them).  The price of maintaining a sim will be going down from $209 a month to $199 a month. Sims whose prim capacity has been expanded to 30,000 will drop in monthly maintenance from $239 USD to $209. For a sim with an education discount, the monthly rate to maintain it drops from $129 USD to $105. This is a decrease of almost a fifth. So good news for those paying for education areas. The setup fee of $349 USD will not change. 

 

Linden Lab would justify it's increase in Premium accounts by saying they were "adding more value to our plans. In the past month alone, we’ve added two valuable new benefits - exclusive early access to some of the hottest shopping events in Second Life and at least 12 exclusive gifts monthly, which is the largest collection of exclusive paid membership monthly gifts ever!" They also stated they were offering "Expanded access to Linden Homes, Premium customer support benefits, more subscriber-exclusive virtual gifts than ever before," and "New partnerships offering early access to some of Second Life’s hottest shopping events and experiences."

 

A thread opened in the official Second Life forums on the announcement.  While there was some praise for making land more affordable, most of the comments were grumbles about the greater cost for Premium accounts. "They're getting greedy again and want to milk Premium a little more if they can, or push more people to go for (Premium Plus)." "'Expanded access to Linden Homes' ... so what, in fact, what does that even mean?" "Given that just about everything in real life has gone up a lot in price in recent times, it's hardly surprising that LL has put its fees up."

 

To see the blog post in full, Click Here.

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

The Vanishing of A Continent: Gaeta 1 To Be Phased Out By End of 2026

 

 For the first time, Linden Lab will be doing away with one of the Mainland continents. 

 

On Wednesday, the Lab announced "A new chapter for Mainland."  The plan was to open 90 sims on the Zindra continent, which has not yet been finished, while the residents of Gaeta 1 are being asked to move. The reason the Lab gave was that "Adult mainland continues to operate at very high occupancy and shows consistent demand. At the same time, some General and Moderate mainland areas, including Gaeta 1, have seen lower overall use over time." And so rather than simply just raise the number of sims on Zindra, they made the decision to adjust "existing capacity to better reflect where Residents are most active today."

 

The Lab went on to say the change will start this month, April, expected to finish by "the end of 2026," and there are no plans to close other Mainland areas. They did say the change was to start "early April," but it was already the 15th when they made their announcement.

 

 Of the Second Life Mainland areas, Gaeta 1 and Zindra are distinguished by each having unfinished look. Of Gaeta 1, the southeast and east central areas were never completed. It's north of the Mainland northeast of Bellisseria, but not connected to it by sea sims, and distinguished by it's small size, 141 sims, smaller than a few private sim continents, and large amounts of abandoned land. The SL Wiki describes the land as being created in June 2008, with the north added a little later. 

 

The Yavascript pod tours gave the reason for the unfinished business as,  "Much of the land around here was being prepared for sale, as SL was expanding, in 2009, but as land supply exceeded demand, it stopped. ... In more recent years, mainland has become more popular, especially alongside roads and by water. Nonetheless, this continent was still never finished, as can clearly be seen from the shape of the map."

 

One other detail, the SL Wiki described Gaeta as the most underpopulated continent.  

 

 

The other unfinished continent, Zindra, is more famous for being the Adult-rated Mainland continent: All the sims are Adult-rated. The first of its land appeared in 2009, "and continued a few years later" according to the SL wiki. But development stopped before the southeast was finished. 

 

Besides that the buildings and the signs on the map show residents are free to explore their sexual sides, other than the unfinished corner the land is distinguished by a larger size than Gaeta, 348 sims, and for some reason being placed *far* away to the right of the other mainland sims. 

 

And it's the second most crowded of the Mainland continents, second only to Heterocera, with little abandoned land and high land prices. 

 

Two threads appeared in the forums about the topic, one in the Land forums by Linden Lab, the other in the General Discussion Forum. Naturally, there were a number of objections. 

 

"... being a many year resident of Gaeta I's lovely north coast. Nukeing Geata to create an expanded area of adult regions (which is also disconnected) doesn't make any sense to me. None of Geata I is adult at the moment and it's not clear to me that there's a shortage of adult parcels, so I'm not sure what problem this is actually solving."

 

"I am one of two landscapers, developers, and managers for Bimini Falls, a growing community sim that currently spans over 14 regions on Gaeta. Bimini Falls has been a long-term project that has taken over a year and a half of continuous landscaping, design, and development to reach its current state. The owner has invested significantly throughout this time, purchasing additional land multiple times as the community expanded and evolved. It is also important to recognize that the foundation of this work began long before my sister (the other landscaper) and I joined the project a year and a half ago. In total, this represents years of creative development, planning, and ongoing refinement. The financial investment from the owner—covering land purchases, upkeep, development costs, and our compensation—has been substantial. What makes this situation especially difficult is that Bimini Falls is not something that could simply be rebuilt elsewhere. Starting from scratch in a new location would require another one to two years of intensive work just to reach its current level of development, and even then, it would never truly be the same. The unique character, flow, and history built into the current regions cannot be replicated. In addition, there would be a significant loss of income from renters during the entire rebuilding process, further compounding the financial impact on the community and its owner. This situation is incredibly heartbreaking and deeply upsetting for everyone involved, as so much time, effort, and passion has been poured into bringing Bimini Falls to life." 

 

"As a former Gaeta I tenant who still has affection and nostalgic memories of Gaeta I, I think its utterly shameful and a backwards move by LL that will have Residents in Gaeta I and the other Mainland continents worried and fearing for the future. Why not just keep Gaeta I as it is and where it is now? Why are LL being so heartless? Is it just a case of in order to complete Zindra, another entire continent must be sacrificed for it? Unacceptable. Just no." 

 

"So wrecking a G or M rated community in Gaeta1 (which had been there 17 years) is totally fine with you, if it benefits an Adult rated community in Zindra?"

 

"Despite what is said in the reading, it feels like a small scale tester for a larger scale version later. The writing appears to be on the wall for mainland change and not the good kind." 

 

Some were open to the idea, "Optimally it'd be better if LL could finish both continents, but idk if the demand is there for more M regions with so much abandoned land on M continents, meanwhile Zindra's basically full. So... yeah. IMO this is a no-brainer, as long as existing landowners in Gaeta 1 have some way of recovering their investment." '

 

"This action will not be taken because they have nothing else to do during their working days.
The Lab has to get rid of parts of the grid that are running at a loss month after month and try to keep SL appealing for the vast majority of users I recon." 

 

"Zindra is so fugly it baffles me what would drive a non-land hogger person to the point of insanity where they'd voluntarily buy and stay and use land there." 

 

Prokofy Neva would comment, "Watch Gaeta land prices go up so you can get a free transfer to Zindra which will go for a fortune if landscaped." 

 

 Derrick Linden would answer the concerns, "Given the sizable amount of unowned mainland, increasing our overall mainland footprint isn't really something that's in the cards right now. After careful review, this felt like our best opportunity to shift some of our existing mainland resources for the long-term health of the mainland overall."

 

The Lab anticipated there would be lots of questions, and scheduled a Town Meeting for Monday April 20 at 11 AM at Town Hall Island1 (241/15/29). 

 

Stay tuned foe more information on this developing, and major, story.

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Making The Upgrade to Windows 11

 

 Well, finally did it.

 

 It was last week on October 14 that after ten years of use, Microsoft finally ended support for Windows 10, which in the early days they were calling the last Operating System we would be needing. But as we all know, that would not be the case and Windows 11 was developed. Early on, I heard about some issues, and like many saw no reason to change.

 

But a couple years ago, Microsoft announced support for Windows 10 was ending in October of this year. While there was the option to extend Windows 10 support (article), it would be only for a year. So decided to just go ahead and make the change. So I figured out what to do, and then restarted. 

 

 

So far, things seem okay, just different. One driver had an error message, but that may have been temporary. Getting used to things and figuring things out. So the news will be a little late. 

 

For those who haven't updated yet, there are still ways to do so (article).  

 

Sources: Forbes, PC Magazine  

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Reflections

 

 

Yesterday was a sad day for me. It was a time to say goodbye. 

 

Farewell. I'll miss you. I hope you find happiness where you go.

 

Featured News Back on The Dashboard

 

 

 It was a few weeks ago that I wrote about something missing on the Second Life website dashboard page, (https://secondlife.com/my/), the featured news was no longer on it. But a few days ago, it was back. It was labeled "Blog Posts," but still back.

So thankfully the latest from the Lab is a little easier to come across. 

New Default Appearance In SL Forums and Blogs, Featured News Removed From Main Page

 

 

 

There's been a couple changes on the Second Life website. One is the appearance of the forums and blogs. They went from having a white background to a dark one. I wondered if it was something I clicked, then one post showed others were seeing it too. 

 

As it turned out, this was the new default appearance. To change it to another, head to the bottom of the webpage on either the forums and blogs, go to the middle bottom, and click on "theme." You can have it back to how it was, or something a little different. 

On another note, there's been a change to the Dashboard page on secondlife.com, at least when I see it. It used to be that the last few articles of Featured News had their titles shown and could be directly accessed. A few days ago, I noticed the Featured News was gone from the Dashboard. 

Featured News can still be accessed from the Dashboard by going to the top of the page, clicking on "Community," and then selecting "Forums." But as someone interested in the latest from the Lab, it was more convenient to see it directly on the dash.

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Palworld Update Includes Minor Change to Gameplay In Response to Pokemon Lawsuit

 

In September, Nintendo, the owner of the Pokemon franchise, sued Pocketpair, the makers of the Palworld, claming the much smaller company's game violated multiple patents. Because of some similarities, the game had sometimes been called "Pokemon with guns." Among them was how players summoned their monsters. Players could do so by aiming and throwing "Pal Spheres" to where they desired for them to appear. But after an update in the game a few days ago, this can no longer be done. Instead, summoned creatures will appear right next to the player.

It is unknown if this is the only change in response to the lawsuit, or if there will be others. Nintendo's lawsuit is still going on.

Sources: Polygon, Gamesradar

Bixyl Shuftan

Linden Lab Partially Reverses Gacha Ban, New Gachas Must Not Be Transferable

 

Linden Lab is changing it's policy on gachas. They're allowed again, but ...

Many residents will remember gachas, the popular items that were sold on machines dispensing one of a number of items at random and people buying them up, often to get rare items that could be traded or sold for quite a bit of cash. There were events based around them such as the twice a year Gacha Guild, and there were groups dedicated to trading and selling gachas. But as popular as they were, they also had plenty of critics, people complaining they had an addictive nature. And in August 2021, to the delight of their critics and to the shock and dismay of their fans, Linden Lab announced they were banning gachas "due to a changing regulatory climate."

On Tuesday October 10, Linden Lab announced they had updated their policy, saying they were lifting the "general prohibition" on them. But, there was a catch. People can set up gacha machines that gave out items like they did before the ban, BUT, unlike the goods before the ban, they can not be transferable. New gacha items can not be resold. 

In 2021, we implemented a general prohibition on gachas to align with global regulatory concerns. Starting October 7, 2024, we are lifting this prohibition. Residents can once again engage in gacha-based sales, but with a key new rule: gacha items, including the boxes or containers they come in, must not be transferable. This means that once you purchase a gacha item, it is yours and cannot be passed on to other users.

Linden Lab would go on to say breedables and games of skill were unaffected by this policy change, the latter as long as the prize was not transferable. They would also post an entry on the Second Life Wiki about the change (link). In the FAQ, they would state the reason they were doing a partial reversal was because "he latest changes in the legal climate related to gachas and loot boxes have given us an opportunity to lessen the formerly more restrictive policy."

In the forums, reaction was mixed.  Some were happy to have Gachas coming back. Others felt this was a disappointment, that allowing gachas back but not transferable was like allowing trading cards but banning the ability to trade them. And others felt any gacha was bad, transferable or not, as they were still addictive. One interesting comment was that this partial reversal of the ban "significantly harms the secondary resale economy."

So how does this affect the machines that resemble gachas but show what item is up for sale next, and the stores selling old gacha items. People in SL chat and the forums have been telling yours truly that this new policy doesn't affect them and they can continue as they have been, that the policies affect only gacha items created after the ban lift. 

To read the Lab's announcement in full, Click Here. 

Bixyl Shuftan

Last Pre-PBR Firestorm Viewer To Be Around "Forever"

 

For years, Firestorm has had a three-version policy. Besides the current and latest version, they had available for download the two previous versions. All older versions would be no longer available, or be supported. So with recent trouble some have been having with the PBR update, there's been some worries that when the last Firestorm viewer made before that, version 6.6.17,  gets too old, it will be removed and a number of residents will find Second Life almost unusable. 

Several days ago, it was announced on the Firestorm blog that version 6.6.17 would not be going away and it would be available "forever." But, there would be a catch.

I am pleased to announce that, as part of a more comprehensive review of the so-called “three-release policy”, we are going to ensure that the 6.6.17 release is never blocked; we will also cease blocking in general in the short term pending a longer-term review to decide how we manage our ability to give our users support.

 

I hope that this will come as a relief to those of you who have been stressed and worried about potentially losing access to Second Life.

There will be no deadline to update now ...

So people who are having trouble with the PBR compatible viewer will not have to worry, for the moment. For those who use Voice, that option will soon be unavailable with the upcoming changes to it.

Linden Lab will launch a new WebRTC voice service in the next few weeks to replace SLVoice. These changes are entirely outside of our control and as this new system is entirely different to and incompatible with the old one, SLVoice will be turned off on the backend shortly after the launch, and older viewers will lose voice support.

And the problem with older viewers is they become more and more outdated.

 

The last non-PBR viewer will remain available for any users who are unable or unwilling to make the update. However, it will not be maintained, and we will not be able to fix bugs or retrofit new services, so the choice does carry a price tag; ...

As a non-PBR viewer, it will already fail to render PBR textures on objects and clothing, and any terrain that uses the new PBR terrain will show grey or white. You will also not have access to other post-PBR features such as Emojis.

They would also explain why their "three viewer" policy was changing.

 

The “three-version” policy for Firestorm allows only three active releases at any time. The oldest release is typically blocked three weeks after a new one comes out. This policy was established years ago to provide a degree of stability and certainty for our users who had made it clear that they would not readily accept the automatic updater employed by the Linden Lab viewer but satisfied the Lab that outdated viewers would not hold back progress.

Even though. at the time of this writing, almost 60% of Firestorm users have already upgraded to the latest version and while Linden Lab is busy developing further improvements for low-end machines, these will take time to get right and expected to be delivered over the remainder of this year. At the same time, major infrastructure projects, such as the imminent move to WebRTC voice, will mandate more Firestorm releases.

If we retained the three-release policy we were concerned that we’d be having to block the last non-PBR release well before all the improvements were ready and the maximum number of users felt able to update.

For some users, the problem is not technology but aesthetics; the lighting changes required for PBR have meant that many established custom environments and day cycles no longer appear as they should. It will take time for creators and communities to recreate those settings. Already, we are seeing a rapid growth of PBR products in the marketplace, and replacement environments (EEPs) are available, but the concerns from our users that they’d be locked out of Second Life or that their beloved way of life would be lost were clear.

While discussing the last release and the forthcoming Voice updates, we shared our concerns around our release strategy with Linden Lab. They were very willing to review the policy with us; and everyone is in agreement that while it might have been right back in the day, it is no longer appropriate.

So, with a big thank you to Linden Lab, we can now look to find a much better way to manage things.

They would also add that the promise not to block viewer 6.6.17 was not applicable to other viewers.

We will review how we manage our releases, including access to beta and alpha builds, to see if we can improve the timeliness of updates and if we can interest more of you in helping us test forthcoming updates to get feedback early and often. We will need to ensure that anything we do is aligned with the needs of the Second Life platform and, thus, is approved by Linden Lab. This is new territory for everyone, should it be found that this is not working out then we may by necessity have to revisit some form or retirement process, I would hope that anything we need to impose is still markedly better than the draconian three version limit.

 

For the blog post in it's entirety, Click Here.

 

Bixyl SHuftan

EOTB: Voice In Second Life Is Getting "Big" Changes

 

 

For those in Second Life who use the Voice option, expect some changes. On the official blog on Tuesday August 20, Linden Lab announced some "Big Updates" were coming. 

Voice services in Second Life are getting a big upgrade and we are excited to share an update on our progress with you! We are introducing a modern protocol - WebRTC and will be transitioning away from our current voice services (Vivox) shortly thereafter. You can try out WebRTC Voice right now and enjoy the higher quality audio, stereo audio, noise reduction, automatic gain control, echo cancellation and improved security.

 

The Lab acknowledged there were some issues, such as "Conference/Group/P2P" not yet available in Web RTC areas. "An occasional popup regarding voice server incompatibility can appear" - which would require restarting Voice, voice-morphing not yet available in WebRTC areas, and switching to another device while in a conference call may drop it. 

 

For more information, check the Linden blog.

Bixyl Shuftan

Tilia Changes Terms of Service

 

 

For those who have yet to buy or sell Linden dollars in the past few days, you may want to be prepared to read some fine print. There have been a few changes in the Terms of Service of Tilia, the platform which handles purchases and sales of Linden Dollars for real-world currency. 

 

 In a thread in the SL forums, Tjay Wicken explained the differences, "Brought to you with the help of Claude AI."

• Effective Date:
  • Old version: November 20, 2023
  • New version: July 29, 2024
• Section 9.2 Termination for Cause:
  • Old version: Included a paragraph about providing notice and reasons for refusal of transactions, and procedures for correcting errors.
  • New version: This paragraph has been removed entirely.
• Section 9.3 Termination for Convenience:
  • Old version: Included a paragraph about lifting suspensions and completing transactions once reasons for refusal no longer exist.
  • New version: This paragraph has been removed entirely.
• Section 9.5 Termination - General:
  • Old version: The paragraph about re-completing identity verification procedures was in the middle of the section.
  • New version: This paragraph is now at the end of the section.
• Section 12.4 Limited Liability:
  • Old version: Mentioned "service Publishers" in the list of parties not liable for certain types of losses.
  • New version: The term has been corrected to "service providers".
• Section 13.1 Notifications of Dispute:
  • Old version: The mailing address for dispute notices was "Tilia Inc., 548 Market St. PMB 59201, San Francisco, California 94104-5401 US".
  • New version: The company name has changed from "Tilia Inc." to "Tilia LLC" in the mailing address.
• Throughout the document:
  • Old version: Referred to the company as "Tilia Inc." in several places.
  • New version: All instances of "Tilia Inc." have been changed to "Tilia LLC".
    

Edit: To sum it up (my interpretation):

1) Before they had to give you notice and reason for refusing a transaction and tell you how to fix it. Now they no longer need to.

2) Prior to the change, they had to lift your account suspension and attempt to complete the transaction once reasons for refusal had been remediated by you, but as they no longer need to notify you, they no longer have to attempt completing the transaction again either.

3) Moved a paragraph around, corrected typos as well as changing to Tilia LLC from Tilia Inc.

 Tilia was created by Linden Lab several years ago, but sold in April this year.

 

EOTB: New Last Names For Second Life Residents

 

 Yesterday, Tuesday April 9, Linden Lab announced twelve new last names as options for residents to change to.

Happy spring! Thank you for all the suggestions sent in for future last names through our Last Name Suggestion Form. 

Today we are doing another big last name refresh by removing some of the older last name options and adding the following new ones from your suggestions:

 

The new names are Firehart, Ravenwood, Zennor, Whisperwind, Starforge, Xochitl, Finchfield, Azalea, Seabrink, Pawprint, Morehead, and Osbourn.

 

 As a reminder, changing one's last name isn't free, but requires a fee, which can range from $49.99 to $14.99 USD, depending on the level of one's account membership.

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

 Saturday January 27

    ~*~

    

    At 10 AM PST   

    Is It Still Allowed To Stand Up For Your Own Culture?

    Organizer: Chantal Jager

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/cultures/

 

    The Science Circle (72,129,30)

      

    ~*~

 

    

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝

 

EOTB: Second Life "Moving From Jira"

 

 Most Second Life users are probably aware if JIRA, even if they themselves don't use it. This system for technical support has been used for reporting bugs and requested features for most of the virtual world's history. But, this won't be the case for much longer. In the official blog on Friday January 12, Linden Lab announced that they are in the process of moving away from the system. 

Unfortunately, Jira Server, the software and license agreement we use to host Second Life's jira.secondlife.com site, is being discontinued and its official replacement cannot handle the number of users (over 300,000) that Second Life needs. Long story short: we need to move off of Jira before support ends in early February, 2024.

 

The Lab announced they were opening "a new community portal," https://feedback.secondlife.com/ saying, "This site will host feature requests, bug reports and ultimately replace the public BUG project on jira.secondlife.com ." But for now, https://support.secondlife.com/ is still the place to report support issues, "We will keep using Freshdesk for all personal and content-sensitive tickets."

 

The Lab did post a timetable, which stated the process had started in December, and will conclude next month in February with the shutdown of JIRA. 

 

The Lindens stated the new system has a new software called Canny, "Part of the rationale for moving to Canny, the software behind feedback.secondlife.com, as opposed to alternative issue tracking solutions is that it is a very focused product that is tailor made for responding to user feedback and prioritizing ideas."

The Lab also reminded there are a couple differences between the new system and JIRA, "which may require changes to behavior." There will be limited attachment support, and no private posts can be done, "If your report contains sensitive information then please redact/censor private information. If this is not possible, because it is material to the issue being filed, then please file a support ticket if it is personal in nature or security report if it represents a vulnerability."

 

The Lindens admitted these changes will be a big thing to some residents, "Making a significant change like this is no small task. Staff and residents alike have grown deeply familiar with jira.secondlife.com through countless hours spent using the site. We hope you will have patience as we migrate data, build documentation, develop new muscle memory and smooth out wrinkles in tools and processes."

 

As the post was named "Part One," it's a sure thing more information is forthcoming.

 

Source: Linden blog.

 

Bixyl Shuftan

EOTB: New Last Names Available

 

It's no surprise that the limited edition Christmas/Winter last names for residents last month would be gone a few days into the new year. What would be a surprise to some is that Linden Lab chose to not just replace them, which would have been just ten names, but opted for a "refresh" by retiring twenty and replacing them with new ones. 

Today we are doing another big last name refresh by removing some of the older last name options and adding the following new ones from your suggestions ...

The twenty new names are: Eton, Harmony, Serenade, Ethereal, Celestia, Sable, Astral, Starling, Saccharin, Rizzler, Enthusiast, Pratchett, Elara, Cerulean, Onyx, Peridot, Winchester, Fluffington, Mainlander, and Wicken.

 

Of what yours truly thinks of the names, "Serenade" and "Harmony" sound like names musicians would like. "Mainlander" sounds like something for residents who prefer virtual life on the mainland. "Pratchet" sounds like something for a fan of the "Discworld" novels. "Winchester" sounds like something for Wild West, or firearm, fans. 

Still for those waiting for a better last time, there might be something among this new list of twenty considering. As a reminder, it costs a $49.99 USD fee for regular residents to change their surname, $34.99 for Premium residents, and $14.99 for Premium-Plus.

Source: Linden Blog

Bixyl Shuftan

Caledon's Governor Desmond Shang To Retire

 

September 12th 2023 became a red letter day in Caledon history. Desmond Shang, Governor of the Independent State of Caledon since 2006, has announced that he will be stepping down. The position, fondly called by its citizens “Guvnah” will be assumed by NeoBokrug Elytis. It is understood that Caledon is not sold just placed into the hands of a new Governor. Desmond has known NeoBokrug for nearly 20 years and NeoBokrug is owner of The Wastelands which itself is 16 years old, thus clearly Caledon’s new Governor is well chosen. 

 

This does not mean that Desmond is leaving; it is only a retirement. He will still be a citizen of Caledon and will be present it is just that real life is even more demanding and can’t allow him to give Caledon the attention it needs. A Town Hall meeting is scheduled for September 16 at 2pm SLT at the Governor’s Mansion for the formal change of office and public introduction. Later within the week NeoBokrug will be sending out inaugural invitations so more information will be coming. 

Cynthia Farshore
Duchess of Caledon Downs

 

EOTB: Changes For The Destination Guide

 

 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.

 

EOTB: Large Number of New Last Names Available

 

On Tuesday February 28, Linden Lab announced a number of new surnames for accounts. Unlike previous announcements in which there were several, this time twenty new ones were announced, the largest change since the ability to change one's last name was announced in April 13, 2020.

Today we are doing our biggest last name refresh by removing some of the older last name options and adding the following new ones from your suggestions:

Jeon
Foxtail
Varela
Kealoha
Primdashian
Spicy
Costanza
Gupta
Softpaw
Vandervoort
Tordenskjold
Peabody
Whiskers
Quack
Pixelbottom
Blossom
Bork
Nightingale
Sausage
Fibble 

 

 

 Of the original list of last names, only "Resident" remains as an option to change to (which to my knowledge has never been done).

On a personal observation, some of these names look like they were intended for furries, tinies, and nekos, such as "Foxtail" and "Softpaw." Some such as "Primdashian" and "Pixelbottom" sound like funny ones. Not quite sure who would name themselves "Sausage," aside from someone trying to get laughs where he or she went. Will we end up seeing a "Pork Sausage" or "Beef Sausage?"

For those wishing to suggest a future last name, Click Here for the Google doc. For those wishing to read comments about them, chech this thread in the SL forums.

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Newser Archives Yearly Change

 

 

 It's this time of year the SL Newser Archives section on the front page go through something I don't quite have a word for. Normally people see a list of articles, cartoons, announcements, and other posts for the current month, followed by the previous months with the numbers of post next to them, followed by previous years. So the beginning of January is about as neatly compact as the section gets.

As you can see, Gemma and I, and the other reporters, and those posting reader submissions, have posted a LOT over the years, going close to or over a thousand most years, for a total of 12,169 on New Year's Eve. This year was, rough, so a few less than recent years. Hopefully in this fourteenth year of reporting for us, things will go smoother.

Bixyl Shuftan

EOTB : Second Life TOS To Update

 

On the official Second Life blog on Tuesday, October 25, Linden Lab announced it will soon be updating Second Life's Terms of Service. The change will take place on Monday October 31.

• We clarified certain functions associated with the LindeX as well as the terms applicable to orders placed on the LindeX.
• We added a section describing the terms applicable to your use of Stored Value Accounts, including your relationship with Tilia LLC. 

 In the  Terms of Service page, the LindeX is mentioned in Section 3.2 (scroll about halfway down the page). Stored Value Accounts and Tilia are mentioned from Sections 4.1 to 4.4 . 

Most likely, the changes have to do with the recently announced deal between Tilia and JP Morgan. They appear to be minor ones. 

A thread in the official forums has opened. A quick look showed reactions varied from worry to cautious optimism to humor. 

For the blog post, Click Here.