Lomgren Smalls, Second Life's Smallest Avatar, Back Inworld

 

Last week, the residents of the Sunweaver community had one of their noted members return after a long hiatus: Lomgren Smalls. For more recent residents, Lomgren started getting attention in 2007 for his six-inch high avatar. That was the smallest anyone had made that could still move about more or less normally, and it is believed to still be the smallest. 

His being a member of the Sunweaver community helped give it a reputation for having talented members. Besides is avatar, he would work on other projects, such as some exhibits for the Passionate Redheads Relay for Life team. In a 2009 interview, he confirmed that his tiny avatar had helped him get a job in real life when the interviewers saw what he could do. 

Since 2016, Lomgren had been on break from Second Life for personal reasons. In finally ended on Tuesday June 22. Appearing at the Happy Vixen, and Club Cutlass the following day, he was greeted by old friends and curious newer members of the community alike, "It's good to be back." Lomgren was curious to hear what had been going on in Second Life for the past few years. Bento and animesh in particular interested him. Seeing an animesh bot dancing on it's own, he commented, "I have some catching up to do."  

It should be interesting to see what the Sunweaver's smallest resident comes up with.

Welcome back to Second Life and the Sunnies, Lomgren.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Is Second Life Experiencing an "Oldbie" Resurgence?

On the Second Life section of Reddit, a "Neuromancer72" posted on Wednesday September 20 that after dropping out from the Grid around 2010, he had returned last year, and come across "many people" who had done the same. Which left him wondering, how many residents who had dropped out were coming back?

Mine is a familiar story - very active in SL from 2006 to maybe 2009-10, then dropped off for years only to return in the last year or so. I've met many people since my return who followed a similar route - left years ago and have now come back. Posts to this sub show others doing the same. I can't help but wonder if this is really a widespread thing, or if I've just been more aware of it because of similarities to my own history. If it is a thing, any ideas what might be driving people to give SL another go?

There were several responses, including one by "Jadziyah":

I think a majority of residents take long 'breaks' at one point. Why we all come back is harder to nail down. Linden Labs has actually had several positive changes lately such as land prim increases and the addition of bento bones, so those generated a lot of excitement. And there will always be the social aspect.

Hamlet Au thought that this very well could be the case, suggesting "if a few thousand oldbies are jumping onto the grid more regularly, it might not show up in the data, but still be significant." He felt there were two reasons for such a probable resurgence, One was social media, as many Second Life residents use Facebook and former residents would continue to keep their former virtual neighbors and friends on their friend list and continue to communicate with them, and hear about new content and goings on. He also felt the talk about Sansar would get former residents wondering "Whatever happened with Second Life" and come back to see what's been going on here.

So what do you the readers think? Have you seen numbers of former residents returning? Or perhaps you are someone who left and returned? What's getting people to come back?

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Music Video: "Unchained Melody"

(Click here if the video fails to play)

From Calaval on May 2013, "A Second Life movie inspired by Ghost. I hope you enjoy it! Music is by Les Baxter."

Fuzzball Ortega Planning to Reopen Steelhead

In November 2015, the Steelhead Community's sims closed down, a result of the real life financial and personal difficulties of the landowner TotalLunar Eclipse (as well as Linden Lab locking our the account in a dispute). Since then, the community has existed in a kind of diaspora, many finding new homes in the Caledon and New Babbage areas. But they never quite forgot their old home. Especially not it's appointed sheriff Fuzzball Ortega. As time went on, he eventually would reopen the community's steampunk club Club Gearz, and hold a Steelhead reunion. But it wasn't quite the same.

But on Monday, Fuzzball made an announcement in the Steelhead Facebook group.

So, here's the deal. Since Steelhead closed. I had been researching on sim ownership and Mainland ownership. Caledon is nice, but it was not quite home.

At the job that pays the bills, I got a promotion, with a nice pay raise. Also, did my taxes and, despite paying a penalty for a brief period of time of not having insurance last year, I'm getting a good chunk of change back. I'm not in debt, I don't have rent or any huge bills to pay, so I decided to purchase my own sim, soon as the refund comes in. And I would still have plenty of money from my refund check left over to hold on to.

I also wanted to use it as a tie in of sorts for a future project that I'm working on for Krypton Radio. The name of the sim will be Steelhead Bay.

Steelhead chat had at least one lively discussion, "Steelhead will rise from ashes!" "Promoted from marshall to mayor - dat's not too shabby." Jimmy Branagh mused, "Does that mean I'm promoted to Marshal?" "Only if you rent a parcel." He was told by someone. Jimmy responded, "Ah, buying high office is still an art in Steelhead." Fuzzball finally broke in, "Calm down, everyone. It ain't gonna happen right away. Still have to procure the funds. But it will happen, I promise." "Well, you seem to have a bunch of willing renters Mr. Fuzzy." he was told. "I'll explain everything in due time."

So it would seem Steelhead is finally coming back. Most likely this time there will be no Mount Saint Hellens eruptions. But perhaps we'll see more of characters such as the Sasquatch, and Jobias Barthelmess, and events as only Steelhead could do them like "Hot Cocoa."

Bixyl Shuftan

Linden Lab to Reopen SS Galaxy

It seems that the SS Galaxy won't be gone forever, but will be back. At least it will be in a limited manner.

On the Galaxy blog, the ship's managing director DBDigital Epsilon posted some new information concerning the ship. Specifically that it will be back, but under a new owner. Linden Lab is taking ownership of the sims and the three sim ship. While fans of the ship will be glad to hear it's still around, the enthusiasm of some is likely to be dampened by that there are no plans for further events aboard the ship.

Dear Supporters and Friends of the SS Galaxy,

There have been many rumors cycling regarding the Galaxy and what really happened.  I can’t release that information as of yet.  However, I can now say that the SS Galaxy has been acquired by Linden Labs and will return.  She is currently undergoing retrofitting to sail under the Linden Labs flag.  I have been tirelessly converting all the transferable prims I personally owned to Linden Lab ownership, and my part of the project is now complete.

Sadly being under Linden Lab’s flag also means that none of the previous management or crew will be aboard in any sort of capacity.  I have also been told there will be no rentals or events.  This means she will not quite be the Galaxy you know and love.  But she will still exist in a museum state and be open for visitation in the near future.

More information will be released as I can.  I wish to thank everyone again from the guests, to the staff, and beyond.  You all made the Galaxy the special place she was, and no one can take that from us.

Further news will be posted as it is made available.

Tuna Oddfellow to Resume Performances in Second Life

For most of Second Life's history, Tuna Oddfellow has been performing his unique "Odd Ball" performance. Last September, he and his close friend Shava Suntzu closed down their act in Second Life citing Linden Lab's new Terms of Service in regards to content creators. For several months, one had to travel to the InWorldz grid to see their events. Earlier this week, Tuna announced his artistic exile would soon end, and the Odd Ball would be resuming in Second Life.

Read more in Extra.

Spaceport Alpha/International Space Museum Sim Goes Offline, But Will Return

Some sad news hit Second Life recently when Spaceport Alpha, the home of the International Space Museum, went offline. On the Grid since 2006, the place was a favorite of space fans. However, thanks to some help, the sim may not be gone for long.

Read more in Extra.

A Message From Daaneth Kivioq

Earlier today (Sunday May 1st), I was contacted by Daaneth Kivioq, by way of a voice chat. He asked me to teleport to Southern Colorado, saying there were a few things he wanted to explain.

Getting there, still in voice, he told me he wanted me to pass a message on, "I'd like to thank everyone. I can't begin to express how grateful I am to have to have such a bunch of friends. I couldn't have gotten through this without Sabine (McGettigan) ... I am so grateful to have her here. ... I'd like to thank Shockwave for his kind offer to pay for the sim. Southern Colorado is not going anywhere. It has automatic payment set up."

"I'd like to explain what happened. The stroke, it was a complete shock. The hardest part, you don't know what you really lost. The ability to type, that's a hard problem. There's no way to describe it. It hits you like a hammer without warning ... I had the presence of mind to stay conscious, call for help. One of my good friends was around to help me. ..."

The connection began to go bad, and Daaneth told me he had to go, saying he was very much looking forward to meeting up with everyone.

I couldn't see Daan's av at all, and he himself told me he could only see a cloud. But the important thing was our friend was on his way back.

"Getting stronger, every day."


Bixyl Shuftan