Announcement: Grand Opening of New Home of Survivors of Suicide

Please join us in celebrating what will be an exciting weekend for SOS. The unveiling of our new Forever Home on a full 20k prim region kindly given to us by our friends at Linden Labs at a nonprofit rate and lovingly built and landscaped by non other than our Director himself, Sebastien Bouevier.

Mental Health has faced a particularly difficult time during the Covid pandemic and, as a result, worldwide lockdowns. However, we have continued to support our peers and members throughout this time and now that we are, hopefully, nearing an end to the crisis - what better way to celebrate?!

The Grand Opening Weekend will commence Saturday the 21st of August at noon SLT - Sunday 22nd August. There will be 2 hours of live music and, of course, free snacks! It will also be a great opportunity for visitors to explore the new sim and check out all of our new facilities.

We really hope to see as many of you as possible at this exciting event!

On behalf of the entire SOS team, we would like to thank you all for your valued and continuous support.

Sincerely

Sherridon Mercury
Director of Events
Survivors of Suicide

 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Survivors%20of%20Suicide/75/122/25

 

Antiochia: A Sim and a Scholarship Trust

Last week, the Antiochia sim officially opened. By itself, the sim's design alone makes it an attractive place to visit with it's Greco-Roman-Byzantine builds. But the sim itself is backed by a real-life nonprofit group which aims to educate students from the Middle East in Canada. Second Life Newser was invited to visit the sim, where we got a chance to interview the man behind it and the group, Alex Olteanu.

Read more in Places. 

Benefit Concert for Dreams Sims

By Bixyl Shuftan



On Saturday February 8, there will be a music benefit in behalf of the Dreams Sims. Contacting Sophia Krell, one of the residents there, she described the area as "a group of non-profit Sims where avatars come for support group meetings, building contests" and more. The Dreams Sims lack the ability to allow for tax deductions, so the sims have been running thanks to donations. But with the real life economy in poor shape, donations have been dropping to the point something new is needed. So they decided to start holding benefit concerts.

A notecard about the Dreams Sims described them as " place where many things happen.  Started by The Sojourner (Soj) , Rick Kent, Amalthea Blanc and a few others, a sim was created to accomplish a number of dreams. To provide a base for creative interaction among people in SL. To provide an area for teaching, holding discussions, and holding events. To provide a support base for people who encounter strokes (brain attacks) in their own lives or in the lives of their loved ones."

Six groups make the Dreams Sims their home. Besides the Dream Builders, Dream Travelers, and Dreams Tringo Players, there's the ADHD Support Group, the Brigadoon Explorers (Aspergers/Autism Support Group), and ShockProof (Stroke Support Group). Among the events are Texture Building and Speed Building contests, support group meetings, building classes, Sock Hops, and Holiday parties.

The event is Saturday February 8th at 7 PM SL time. Riendra Taselian will be the live performer for the concert, which will be at Brain Island, The Sojourners Dream (88, 41, 31).

Bixyl Shuftan

Linden Lab Brings Back Educational & Nonprofits Discount

Yesterday on July 24, Linden Lab announced on it's blog "an update to Second Life pricing for educational and nonprofit institutions." To educational institutions and nonprofit charities that qualify, the Lab is offering a 50% discount to setting up private sims and maintaining them.


Effective immediately, any accredited educational institution or any organization with a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit tax status (or equivalent) is eligible for a 50% discount on private region set-up costs and a 50% discount on private region maintenance costs.

Longtime users will remember the half-off price and tier was standard operating procedure with education and nonprofit groups in Second Life until October 2010, in which it was announced they would be paying full price in January 1, 2011. After that, a number of sims owned by such groups shut down, such as ISTE Island. Hamlet Au put the number of closings at "hundreds if not thousands." In Spring of this year, Linden Lab began quietly offering "a select number of nonprofit and educational" groups that let sims go the return of the discount if they returned. Now, the discount is back for all.

The response seems to be a varied one. At the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference, which opened that day, those I overheard talking about the announcement were pleased, considering the announcement timed with their conference. Daniel Voyager considered this development great news. Hamlet Au, not so much. He felt in the years since the discount's end, education and nonprofit groups have moved on to other places online that are much less expensive. Readers commenting to Hamlet's article had mixed opinions. Some called it good news, or at least a step in the right direction. Others felt Linden Lab's move had ruined the trust education and nonprofit groups once had in them, "it's not just about price, it's about trust and stability," and saw the move was too little too late on bringing back the groups which had left the Grid. In the SL Universe Forum thread on the topic, some posters wondered if the abuses of a few had helped contribute to the discount's end.

But for education and nonprofits that remained in Second Life, such as Virtual Ability and the Relay for Life, this move is good news and will help ensure they stay.

Sources: Linden Blog, Daniel Voyager, New World Notes, SL Universe Forums  

Bixyl Shuftan

Reaction at Rockcliffe College to Linden Lab's New Policy

Linden Lab Says :

We will adjust how education and non-profit advantages are provided, effective Jan. 1, 2011. All education and non-profit private regions of any type, purchased after Dec. 31, 2010, will be invoiced at standard (i.e. non-discounted) pricing. All currently discounted renewals which occur after Dec. 31, 2010, will be adjusted to the new price at that time. To continue to provide entry-level, private spaces to educators just launching their programs, we will be providing Homestead and Open Space regions to qualifying organizations without their meeting the retail full-region criterion. Customer Support will be available to answer any questions that you may have about these changes.

We hope that these announcements help you effectively plan for the coming year. And, we’ll continue to update you well in advance of any additional pricing changes.

Non-profits in Second Life are beginning to react to the new policy of Linden Lab, which will double their present payments. Today I attended a meeting at Rockcliffe College where the President, Phelan Corrimal (in SL), addressed the throng of attending representatives of many educational leaders in SL. He presented the issue at hand and made a recommendation for collaboration in trying to address the problem. He explained the far reaching implications of such a drastic raise in the fee, which amounts to 100% . Many communities will be impacted, not just education. It is only a beginning of a process that appears will last for a while.

Many communities will be impacted, not just education. It is only the beginning of a process that appears will last for a while. There is a meeting of Non Profit Commons on Friday. We will be following the story for you. This could impact all of SL in one way or another.

Gemma Cleanslate

Linden Labs to Halt Discounts on Educational and Non-Profit Sims

In the latest Linden blog update, Nelson Linden made a couple announcements. One was that the price for private regions would stay the same at least until 2012. But the other was less than welcome news for those running certain places on the grid.


All education and non-profit private regions of any type, purchased after Dec. 31, 2010, will be invoiced at standard (i.e. non-discounted) pricing. All currently discounted renewals which occur after Dec. 31, 2010, will be adjusted to the new price at that time.


Nelson Linden did state that groups just launching programs would be giving the option of Open Space/Homestead sims. Still, the comments following the blog entry were full of disappointed posters. Some accused the Lindens of deliberately planning on pushing these places out of Second Life. Others pointed out this move would affect a number of well known places and organizations:

Educators (schools and universities) aren't the only organizations affected by this. Others include: museums like The Tech Museum of Innovation and the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum in SL, government agencies like NASA and NOAA, libraries, Relay for Life (the American Cancer Society), Virtual Ability (and) advocacy organizations like the National Space Society.

It is ironic that Linden Labs had made the decision to let teens in Second Life for the purpose of education. And now, some of the groups that were the reason the teens would be let in might not set up on the Main Grid after all. Also, Linden Labs had once touted Education as what Second Life might be the most useful for. And now, it is withdrawing the support for it.

For the blog post and comments: Click Here.