Cartoon Of The Day: "HowYaBenn?"

 

 Taken at a party at Abnormality. How this guy really chose his name, who knows. But it doesn't take much to imagine it could have been something like this. 

 

By Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Cartoon of the Day: Procrastinator

 

 

Taken at Muddy's Music Cafe. Yes, that really is his display name. Why he got it, I could think of one reason.

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

EOTB: "The Most Requested" New Last Names Announced

 

Yesterday on Thursday May 15, Linden Lab announced their new last names for the month of May. But this was a list of 23 names instead of the usual several changed. 

 

Thank you to everyone who has submitted ideas through our Last Name Suggestion Form. While we always choose names from your suggestions, this time we gave special priority to those that were requested most often by many Residents. So if you’ve ever submitted your favorite name, you might see it on the list!

Today, we’re doing another big refresh by removing some of the older options and adding the following new ones.

The new names are: Burney, Rabbit, Zen, Rune, Doll, Sirensong, Pixels, Stanwyck, Seraphim, Puppy, Possum, Dust, Cheeks, Lagmore, Clover, Moonchild, Dreamer, Sunny, Nightfall, Windsor, Pawto, Boop, and Waggletail. 

Which means about half of the current list are new names. 

As a reminder, changing one's account name isn't done for free, but costs $49.99 USD for Basic and Plus accounts, $34.99 for Premium Accounts, and $14.99 for Premium Plus. People are also free to offer suggestions for last names (here). 

 

To read the blog post in full, Click Here. 

 

Cartoon of The Day: Dead Horsley

 

 Taken at the Fantasy Faire. Someone had a name that's a play on an expression. But an avatar as musclebound at that, he probably doesn't have to worry about  beaten hard.

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

 

Cartoon of The Day: It's A Riot

 

 

 Taken from the map. The name of this sim certainly made me think of what some would think of the name.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Cartoon of The Day: Shell Yeah

 

 

 Taken from the Second Life inworld map. A number of the Bellisserian sims have funny names. Naturally a cartoon about this one was in order. 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Cartoon of The Day: What's In A Name?

 

 

 Taken at Club Scorn. Yes, that really was his name.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Cartoon of The Day: The Sim's Name

 

 

 Second Life is full of interesting and funny sim names. Bellisseria has a number such as "Doodah" and "Wackamole." Coming across this one on the map, it made me think of Abbot and Costello's "Who's On First" routine.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

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

Cartoon of The Day: Bitey Name

 

 

 Taken at "The Guild" sim of Abnormality. Among the Halloween-themed last names is "Bitey." This guy changed his name so it was both his first name and surname. No word on how "bitey" he really is, though I had some idea of what could provoke him.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of The Day

 

 

 Taken at London City. Another "cleverly named" avatar.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day: A Name "JustinCase"

 

Taken at the Relaystock. So why this particular name? One's imagination can think of some possibilities.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Limited Edition Last Names Available For Mother's Day

 

Linden Lab has a few new last names available. But these are available for only a few days. Just in time for Mother's Day weekend, the Lab announced three limited edition last names available only until April 10.

To celebrate Mother’s Day and all the mothers in the Second Life community, we are releasing new limited edition last names today, only available until May 10th: 
Mama
Matriarch
Mum

These names are seasonal and may come back around this time next year, for a limited time.

When the Lab has made a last name available before, in it's early days it was available for several months, then dropped and never available again. Recently, it could be available for longer sometimes, but still never available again once dropped. This would be the first time that the Lab has considered the possibility of a last name available for a second time. 

On April 1, Linden Lab announced two other limited edition last names which were around for only a week. It was never stated whether or not they will be available again.
  
Source: Linden blog
  

Cartoon of the Day: Names With Meaning

Taken at the Gen Con

By Bixyl Shuftan

News and Commentary: Mixed Reaction to The Return of Last Names

For years, Second Life's users have asked for Linden Lab to bring back account surnames. Although display names were an option, some continued to call people by their account names. Finally in March 2018, Linden Lab announced they were working on finding a way to bring them back. To the Lab's credit, they were looking for a way to allow those with "Resident" as their surname to change it, which was the hard part as the Grid had been built with the assumption one's name would never change.

Finally on April 13, Linden Lab felt confident enough that they could release the option to change one's last name. And the reaction from the residents has been, mixed, some of which can be seen in a thread in the official forums. A few cheered, "Awesome!" "Woot!" Some grumbled along the lines of "It's about time." Some laughed at several of the choices, notably "Covfefe" which was seen at a poke in the ribs by the Lab at a certain President whom doesn't always correct his spelling before sending out a comment on Twitter. And a few were seen as clever, "I'm delighted to see 'Bellisserian' on the list, that was a genius decision."

But overall, I've noticed two reactions that are more widespread and/or louder than most. One is an overall disappointment of the choices of surnames Linden Lab gave. There were some early signs of this in February when the winners of the Last Names Contest were announced, "Please tell me they will go through another batch?" "Most of these are horrible in my eyes." So it was no surprise when there were reactions like, "I'm blocking anyone with the last name Covfefe, PERIOD!" "This one is a bit of a disappointment but then again, my expectations have become so low by now, they're practically flatlining."

Personally, I feel Linden Lab was a bit hard-pressed on the matter as they've committed themselves to the old process of a list of surnames being available for a limited time and never used again. And over time, thousands have been used. By 2010, some Lindens tasked with the job of finding new surnames were finding themselves at wit's end, supposedly one just grabbing a list of dessert names. And being a writer of fiction before my time at the Newser, I've had people tell me that my choices of names for characters can sometimes, leave something to be desired.

But the biggest criticism fired at the Lab was the money that residents would have to fork over. A few such as Hamlet Au called the $39.99 / $51.98 charge "a small price to pay." But far more common were reactions like Ryan Schultz whom called the fee "an outrageous price. ... I knew that it would cost me, but I am shocked at just how much it did actually cost me. ...  approximately double what I was expecting to pay for such a feature. This is outrageous." He would go on to say that thanks to the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus crisis, people overseas were suffering from currency devaluations, and many US residents as well were suffering, and that Linden Lab was morally obligated to keep this in mind, "these fees seem particularly harsh, tone-deaf and out-of-touch." Some residents also felt Linden Lab should have at least made the first change free for residents, especially those who had to live with the generic surname the longest.

One person responding to Ryan offered one possible reason for the high fees, guessing "they were worried about being hammered with name change requests, so they made it expensive enough that people will think twice. I have no idea how much of a burden large amounts of name changes would be on their system ..." So it could be that the high fees were not done out of greed, but a calculated move to deliberately keep the number of people changing their names low. Oz Linden is on the record as saying they wanted to charge enough to discourage people from changing the name a lot, "Not something you want people to do too frequently. It creates trouble. One of the ways to slow down things we don't want to go too fast is charging people for it."

So will the Lab lower the fee in the future? Probably not any time soon as it's easy to imagine that with the complaints coming in now, there would be more from those who paid early. As the Lab has lowered the price of sims gradually in the past, I imagine after a while as they're more confident of they're system holding up to more people doing so, or few people make the change, they will lower the fee for changing names. Considering right now, some early changers have had trouble with games like Tiny Empires, there are already reasons to wait a little to change.

Of the economic crash caused by the Coronavirus Crisis, this is something Linden Lab couldn't have forseen until just as it was finishing up the feature. Assuming the decision on the fee was a done deal, should they have waited until the economy recovered? Considering it took years for the world to bounce back from the crash of 2008 (and some feel we never really did), probably not. As one of the unofficial rules of Second Life since the beginning has been "real life comes first," those whom have had to tighten their belts due to finding themselves out of a job will have to wait before making the change, even if they like the current list and by the time they have the money the Lab will have gone over to another one they feel is bad.

When the Lab ended last names, it affected Second Life society by creating a dividing line between residents whom signed up before late 2010 and those after. Those with surnames were instantly recognized as longtime residents or "oldbies." As old habits take some time to change, most will probably still assume those with surnames are from 2010 or earlier, at least unless it's one of the more recognizable new ones such as "Covfefe," until they bother to check the profile and the rezz date. Should a lot of people decide to open their wallets and pay the fee, this assumption may start to fade away among most. But if residents hesitate due to the high cost and/or economic troubles and few make the change, many users will likely continue to make this first assumption for some time.

So what do I personally think of the names? On the whole, not a bad choice. There are some that resemble real-life ones such as Takeda, Timmerman, and Ravenhurst. Many are amusing ones, such as Jazzhands, Puddles, Float, and Whimsy. Yeetly and Doge sound like names for meme fans. Melodious and Heartsong sound like a name that someone from the music scene could use, or perhaps a bard in a roleplay community. Mainsail sounds like a name for someone from the Blake Sea area, or perhaps a pirate or Colonial Age roleplay. Littlepaws and Alpha could see some use among the furries, the former among tinies as well. Bellisserian will be popular among fans of the Linden Home continent. Nimble sounds like something one thinking of himself as quick would use. Mercury could end up being used by fans of the late musician of the name, or perhaps space fans thinking of the Mercury Seven. Hexem could be used by someone seeing themselves as a magic user. Of Covfefe, I know a number of opponents and supporters, both enthusiastic and reluctant, of the current President, and can see people of both affiliations using it to poke fun at the other side. As for including "Resident" among the list, I can only call it Linden Lab's sense of humor at work as it's very difficult to imagine a longtime user changing their surname to that.

For better or worse, Second Life's residents since late 2010 now have the option to get a real surname. Like so many things in real life and virtual life, it comes with a catch. So will large numbers open their wallets willingly and reluctantly and pay up, or will most continue to rely on display names? It will take a little time to tell.

Sources: Second Life forums, New World Notes, Ryan Schultz,  USA Today

Bixyl Shuftan

Breaking News: Last Names Are Back

Good news for Second Life residents with "Resident" as the last part of their account name, which is everyone who signed up after late 2010. Linden Lab just announced that after months of development, users can now either get or change their surnames. Or in layman's terms, last names are back. At least if you have a Premium account.

Given the ongoing interest in “last names” among our community,  we’ve reinstated “last names” effective today as a new option for Second Life Premium Members. If you have a Premium account, you will be able to visit https://secondlife.com/my/account to change your first, last or both names. In the true spirit of the original “last names” option last seen in 2010, participating Residents will once again be able to choose from a rotating list of available last names. Some names may only be available for a limited time, so if you see one you like then you might want to claim it quickly!  

Already changed your name and want to go back to one of your old names?  You can do that too!  After you have changed your name once, you will see a list of your previous names below the list of available last names.

To begin with, the option is available only to Premium accounts, which are $11.99 USD a month. Also, one will need to pay a fee to have their name changed, $39.99 USD. So someone with just a basic account will need to pay $51.98 USD.

The Lab has made available a Frequently Asked Questions page.

Stand by for further details in what is clearly a long-anticipated and big development in Second Life


For the blog post in full, Click Here.

Linden Lab Announces Contest For New Last Names

Last month, Linden Lab announced they would soon be making last names, or changing one's existing last name, an option for Premium residents (provided they pay a fee). On Monday, the Lab announced a contest for suggestions for new surnames.

Sharpen your quill! Get your wits about you! We are happy to declare the Last Names contest is officially open.  What contest, you say? What name changes?

We will make Name Changes available to Premium account holders in early 2020.  It will be possible to change First Name, Last Name, or both. There will be a one-time fee per Name Change. Just like in the olden times, First Name will be freeform, Last Name will be from a list - and here is where this contest comes in: we want your help coming up with the first batch of Last Names! 

To take part in the contest, fill out the contest form (here).  Residents are allowed to make three suggestions for new last names (existing ones cannot be reused). Those who think they have a clever idea should check the list of existing last names, as there are a LOT of them. The five residents coming up with what the Lab sees as the most original and clever names will be allowed to change their account names for free, or choose another account for the change. It wasn't specified on whether or not this could be someone else's account if the winner wanted to give the name change to a friend.

Taking a look at the page for the contest in the Second Life Wiki, there was an estimated price of what the upcoming price would be to change one's surname.

estimated value at US$39.99 plus $11.99 to represent the value of a month of Premium Membership

So it appears the price to change one's name in Second Life will be $52 dollars USD, or $40 for those who already have Premium accounts.

So if you think you have a particularly clever idea for a surname, go ahead and enter the contest.

To read the blog entry in full, Click Here.

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.

Cartoon of the Day

Taken at Veterans Isle. Why this guy chose "Badmeat" for part of his name (I blocked out the number part), I never asked him. Still, it leaves one to wonder what the reason was.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day: "What's in A Name?"

Taken at Virtual Ability

By Bixyl Shuftan