Yesterday, Thursday July 23, was the last day the SL23B sims were up for exhibitors, also known as "Takedown Day." If you left anything behind after Midnight, you might not get it back until next year. So naturally there was space after space empty of exhibits.
And so this meant the SL Newser's exhibit had to come down as well.
There will be one or two more articles about the SL23B, and at least one more about the Relay for Life, of which we had to all but cut off coverage due to The Birthday starting just after the Flood Party. And after that, the "Busy Time," which I often call the period of time from late May to mid to late July, finally slows back down. And August will see me catching up on a few things I put off while I focused on the big news. But if you have pictures, or a story, you'd like to share, by all means do so.
With the 2026 RFL season fast approaching, the Sunbeamers team held a planning meeting on Sunday, Jan. 25. Rita Mariner opened the meeting, attended by Cynthia Farshore, Shockwave Yareach, FluffyFoxy and Liska daLantros.
Rita will be sponsoring our (Relay Weekend) region, where we will be joined by Cure Chasers and Roos With a Dream. Cynthia will be in charge of campsite construction. We discussed tentative plans for the design, which will not be revealed yet, as we don't want to spoil the surprise.
Cynthia will also be running the highly successful Air Show again. Last year's event was well attended, with four aerobatic teams performing awesome maneuvers ovey rhe Roos. This year's tentative date for the air show is April 18, but watch the Newser or the RFL of SL calendar for updates.
Other topics discussed included the annual Relaystock concert, Shockwave's annual Easter Egg Hunt, and Bid-Mes. With off-season fundraising already putting the team at "Jade" level, it looks like the Sunbeamers are on target for another successful Relay For Life season.
Linden Lab currently has several job openings, including one of which one sentence has sparked a little speculation on the company's future plans.
Among the current positions the Lab is looking to fill is Senior Product Manager. This is a position in which one can work remotely from one of fifteen US states.
Role Overview
We’re looking for a Senior Product Manager(remote)
to elevate multiple facets of our Second Life product. This person
would also enable growth and scale by shipping features that improve our
customer experience. This role reports to the VP, Product. You will
have a direct impact on solutions that help us attract users, enhance
engagement and drive retention. This is a great opportunity for a
thought leader with strong technical acumen, exceptional communication
skills, and thoughtful execution.
What We’ll Offer You
The stability of an established company with new startup momentum. An
unparalleled opportunity to create relationships, systems, strategies,
and culture. An environment where your voice will be heard and your
impact deeply felt. A sense of belonging where your work is appreciated
and rewarded.
As a Senior Product Manager, you’ll utilize in-depth product
knowledge to successfully drive key projects on Second Life. You’ll work
alongside a supportive team of people across engineering, design, QA,
and other cross-functional teams to build products and new experiences
and play a pivotal role in shaping the future of the original metaverse.
And finally, the pleasure of seeing your solutions ship, scale, and
make a measurable impact on millions of customers' lives across the
globe.
* * * * *
"Millions of customers' lives." That's quite a comment, considering it's active userbase even if counting those who log on just once every month is just a bit more than half a million. Perhaps it's boasting. But in New World Notes, Hamlet Au suggested the words might reflect the Lab's hopes of how the upcoming Second Life mobile app will expand the virtual world's userbase. He stated that IMVU and Roblox experienced huge growth after they came up with mobile apps that allowed users to access their platforms from smaller devices and not just computers, in the case of IMVU expanding to seven million who log on at least once a month. Roblox tripled it's userbase from 14 to 43 million. While a place mostly for kids, two-thirds of it's userbase under 16, still numbers not to ignore.
With these numbers in mind, the Lab has reasons for optimism that when the mobile app is finally out, Second Life's numbers will experience similar growth. Time will tell.
For a list of Linden Lab's current job openings, some remote, some at it's San Francisco office, Click Here.
Last Friday's Lab Gab started with a video. Grumpity Linden, the head of
the Product team, talked about the upcoming SL mobile app viewer,
showing it off at the Kaleidoscope sim. "Yeah, it's true, it's so early,
but we're super excited to share a first peek at something new, Second
Life Mobile. Look it's me on my phone." She would say this wasn't the
first time they've tried to build a mobile viewer, "because of course we
want to have all the glory." But it was "the most exciting result we've
seen so far." They were starting with the more difficult details, such
as being able to view the "hardest" avatars and most detailed areas.
Plus they wanted the app to work on all platforms, "And so it is with
joy and trepidation that we share with you the early results of these
efforts." They did say things were still very much a work in progress,
so "you will see very little functionality or user interface for now."
Still, she spoke, "it is a vibrant Second Life on Android and iOS."
Mojo
Linden, the VP of Engineering who would later say he's been with Linden
Lab for about a year and a half, would say that he was working with the
development team "to make sure that the community can experience
everything they love about Second Life while on the go with our upcoming
mobile viewer," repeating they were starting with some of the more
difficult details first such as full rendering of avatars and the full
rendering of complex environments. The viewer is built on Unity and can
use multiple mobile phone and tablet platforms, including Android and
iOS. Mojo described himself as "blown away" by the ammount of detail
they can get on it, saying they haven't had to "compromise too much on
graphic fidelity." He did admit "there's much work to be done" before
the mobile viewer's ready to be launched.
Patch, the VP of
Product Operations, was next. "Imagine being able to connect to Second
Life from anywhere, chat with your friends, visit your favorite inworld
hangout spots, and later do pretty muchanything you do with the desktop
Second Life viewer without being tethered to your computer. ... We can't
wait to show you more in the coming months as our development progress
continues."
The scene then changed to the three seated with Strawberry Linden, and would introduce themselves, Grumpity musing she had no real power but was still responsible for a lot ot things. Mojo joked he felt tlike the "baby" in the group. Later on, Grumpity would say she wasn't in her usual stick figure as it wasn't rezzing properly in the mobile viewer.
Questions about the mobile started 6:45 into the video. Mojo would state development started in October 2022, saying that using the Unity engine "really helped with quick progress and portability to IOS and Android." He was condident they would be able to make a mobile viewer that could show "Second Life in all it's glory." A beta version "with some limited functuality" should be released sometime in the second half of the year, adding "our play is to layer more features over multiple releases after that." Later in the video, Mojo would call being able to work on the mobile viewer "such an honor."
At nine minutes, Strawberry brought up the price changes. The lower sim prices were talked about first. Grumpity would say since 2017, they've been working to lower the price of land and making it "more accessible for all our residents," saying it wasn't easy as Linden Lab's income had been built on land. So they had to find ways to make up for the income loss there, "We try to find the fairest way to do it ... and, um, we decided that Linden dollar fees were really the way to do it. ... We know your prices are going up, and our prices are going up, and the cost of everything up. ... We took as long as we could before raising fees. But it's happened. ... We're watching very closely to see what happens in the markets so far."
At just before 11 minutes, Strawberry would also bring up the new option to pay for a sim with Linden dollars. Patch called it an exchange being done "on the Lindex basically behind the scenes ... and so yes, the price is a little higher."
At just after 12 minutes, Strawberry brought up the concerns about bot activity. Patch stated the Lab has been working on a new policy, including some talk with lawyers, "We had to take some time and get it reviewed by our legal team ... that took several weeks to get all of the necessary reviews in place for it." Patch would say they were expecting to bring it out the following week (the week of this article). Grumpity would add they're planning on giving extra ability to estate owners to ban bots, "will be able to choose access levels for scripted agents going forward, and those should be rolling out soon." She estimate the time as "weeks."
Just after 13 minutes, the PBR (Physical Based Rendering) development was mentioned, that it will bring "more realistic lighting to Second Life," Mojo saying it brought that particular technology about ten years ahead from where it was, "It allows content creators to define materials based on how they reflect light in the real world." He added there was already a project viewer with the feature currently out and people looking at it and giving feedback, "We want to be sure we are not going to cause content headaches for people as we've been fixing bugs for quite some time." He wasn't giving a definite release date, "it might be another three months." When asked if people would beed higher-end computers to see the feature, Mojo would say no, saying they were working to better enable current computers to see the new featurejust fine. But if people had any kind of performance issues, they could simply "just turn off Reflections" to get lighting back to where it was. There will also be tutorial videos about it later. It was stated that while PBR puts Second Life on the way to having true mirrors, for the moment they're not around just yet, at least the (virtually) real deal, "You can sort of fake it now with PBR." The Lab plans on working on technology to allow mirrors next.
At just after 18 minutes, they talked about inventory updates. Grumpity would say one project they were workiing on was "Inventory Thumbnails." They would also add a single folder inventory view. Of updates to the viewer, they were working on an "emoji viewer" that Grumpity called "a third party contribution from Catnip" amd that they've been "trying to make sure everything works." A project viewer should be availablt in "weeks."
Just before twenty minutes, Strawberry asked if there were plans to make Second Life "VR ready." Mojo's response was "probably not this year" saying the render rate would have to be at least around 60 frames per second. Of the possibility of a Linux viewer, Mojo did say there were internal tools that benefit from a Linux viewer. But for now what they have can run through Wine and Proton. But an outright official Linix viewer isn't in the Lab's plans for this year.
At 21:30, Strawberry brought up Marketplace saying there's been "a lot of changes." Grumpity would say a week earlier, the Lab released an update to Marketplace search. She would go on to say they were "taking your feedback, we're making changes." The fifty-page cap on search results has been removed. Strawberry asked about inworld office hours. Grumpty's response was, "We have user groups for all sorts of topics ... choose your favorite and come talk to us."
Just before 26 minutes, Strawberry would ask about the upcoming New User Experience (or NUX) avatars, which one was shown off at last year's Second Life Birthday. Patch answered they were "quite a ways along in their development." The avatars themselves are done, he stated, and the work at the moment was getting them a line of clothing and attachments. They will also be "PBR ready." The avatars, he reminded, were to help new users have "better simpler easier fun," and there should be an update about them soon.
Around 27:30, Strawberry brought up Linden Homes. Patch stated there would be some information coming soon. They were working on the homes for Premium Plus resident accounts, which were "nearing completion." They were also working on expansions and additions to current themes, Victorian being named. Of Second Life's upcoming 20th anniversary celebration theme (which was announced Thursday March 16), Patch would only say "It's really, really, really big" and that they would have an announcement soon.
Before the Lab Gab ended, Patch would say they might make a "blooper reel" of errors made during the filming of the movile viewer video.
This Friday, Patch Linden and two others from Linden Lab will be speaking in an Episode of Lab Gab. The topic will be upcoming changes and other plans for 2023.
Want to learn more about upcoming Second Life features, changes, and our roadmap for 2023?
Second Life’s VP of Product Grumpity Linden, VP of Product Operations
Patch Linden, and VP of Engineering Mojo Linden will be in a
pre-recorded Lab Gab on Friday, March 10th at 9am PT.
As this is a pre-recorded video, questions will have to be sent in advance. Those having questions are asked to fill out a Google-document (link). The deadline to submit a question is tomorrow, Thursday at 9AM SL time, and there is no guarantee of it being accepted for answering.
The show will be at Friday, March 10, at 9AM SL time. It will be on the official Second Life Youtube channel (link).
"We're now looking at and reporting on our business as two different segments, one for our family of apps, and one for our work on future platforms. And as part of this, it is time for us to adopt a new company brand to encompass everything that we do, to reflect who we are and what we hope to build."
Besides having several social medias under it, including What'sApp, Instagram, and Facebook, Zuckerberg has plans to build the "Metaverse." This would be a huge virtual world, “We believe the metaverse will be the successor of the mobile internet. We’ll be able to feel present – like we’re right there with people no matter how far apart we actually are.”
The move comes after the company has faced a string of bad publicity from it's platforms going down for hours twice in one week to accusations it ignored findings that it's products were not good for the mental health of teenagers and that it wasn't doing enough to stop the spread of disinformation. So naturally there are criticisms that the move is to distract people from the incidents. There were also charges that the company planed to expand to the point of hiring tens of thousands of workers while ignoring it's problems "just goes to show how out of touch Facebook is with real people.” And of course came concerns that Facebook had it's sights on new territory to monopolize and become even more powerful.
Finally there was one detail pointed out by Daniel Voyager. The term "Second Life" was trending on Twitter searches "Probably for the first time." He reasoned that Zuckerberg's move was drawing comparisons to the virtual world that was already around, and expressed hope that the extra attention would result in a few more people becoming residents.
It's hard to say how successful Facebook's effort into virtual reality will be. Two years ago, they announced their upcoming virtual world "Horizons," and the platform has yet to fully open. It was also joked about as the avatars were legless, people going about as floating in the air with nothing showing below the waist.
People make all sorts of plans for unexpected situations, and this includes Second Life. For instance, a DJ might ask a buddy to take his place at a venue in case the Internet goes bad. Or if you can't make a meeting, you might ask someone to take notes. But what would happen if you were sick or injured for days, weeks, or months? If you had a home, would it still be here? If you had a club or other venue, what would happen to it? Suppose for one reason or another, you couldn't come back. Following a close call for his real-life community, and with the country facing a deadly epidemic, Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich) ponders the question. Is it time for all of us to have a contingency plan in case something happens?
Earlier this month, Linden Lab hit it's Sansar staff with it's second round of layoffs in two months, raising questions about the future of the virtual world. At Strawberry Linden's "Lab Gab" show today, the first thing CEO Ebbe Altberg / Ebbe Linden brought up was their plans for it. They were "looking for a plan B ... for Sansar to continue."
Yeah, so as you might have heard, sadly we have
decided that we, as Linden Lab, couldn’t continue to sponsor the project
financially, so we’re looking for a plan B for Sansar to continue. I
can’t say much, but we’re having very interesting conversations with
several parties to help that project move forward, which I’m really
excited about. But no deal is done yet, so people will just have to be
patient and see what happens with it, but yes it is true that Linden
Lab going forward will focus entirely on Second Life and Tilia. I’m
still busy making sure that Sansar finds a great home and that the great
work that that team has started can continue.
So that’s where things are at. Hopefully, we can be more specific
on what’s going on in the next couple of weeks or so. So lots of
conversations going on.
The "conversations with several parties to help that project move forward" could very easily mean that the Lab is looking to sell Sansar. But it could also mean they're looking for a company to partner with to keep the next-generation virtual world running. In either case, they're still in the middle of negotiations. So it will be some time until a decision is made.
There was much more discussed at the Lab Gab, which will be covered later.
Most Longtime residents are familiar with YadNi Monde. For eleven of Second Life's first twelve years, he ran "YadNi's Junkyard," the best known freebie place back then. But in June 2015, he had to close it down. The place is still fondly remembered, and some of the items can still be found today. YadNi himself went into a "3D personal enterprise" and then drawing, not going back into Second Life much.
I recently came across YadNi in Second Life, and we had a few words. He had put his artwork on hold for a few months. Hewas focusing more on virtual worlds, but it wasn't Second Life that was his main focus. "I am setting my foot on another grid, coming here to grab my stuff," he told me with a smile, "I'm going to TAG with all my old stuff." I asked if he meant The Adult Grid. He laughed, "Hahah! Well, there's nothing offensive on that grid (smile). It's only a name. It changed owners years ago. So, I dunno what it was before. But now, I could take my kids there if I had any."
I asked YadNi what he found so far in TAG. He called it a "cool place, a warm welcome. And I do know Constanza Amsterdam since quite a long time too. She is the owner, with her husband. ... I have an infinite number of prims ahead of me," he smiled, "One single sim can go up to 50 000 prims, and (I) have my OAR s from InWorldz." After I brought up that his Junkyard is still well remembered in Second Life, he told me, "my plan is to revive my junkyard there. It won't have all the freebies and all, but it will be the place." He did say the TAG grid did have it's own freebie sim, "with awesome quality. And some nice sims to visit too with little details everywhere, hidden places, easter eggs."
Other plans of his included building Mont Saint Michel, "we're going to revive my most beautiful child, as well as InWorld's Jackson Square that used to be IDI. I'm also building the whole timeline of all the sims I ever built on all grids. I'm reaching year five and it's already a quarter sim long. ... Wait 'til I reach my actual 15th year."
So a few years later, YadNi is keeping himself busy.
The Gofundme set up by it's owner Beth Reischl has raised most of the money it needs to stay afloat. As of the printing of this article, it has raised $16,506 of the $17,000 USD goal.
But will the money be used for it's original purpose? At Update Number Three, Reischl seemed to be saying instead of saving the grid, the money would be used to create a new one.
Wow! Everyone has been amazing! So here's where things stand. I asked in
discord this afternoon, once we hit our goal, then what? What about
next month? After much agonizing and upset, it was suggested by the
residents that we use these monies to start a new grid. We'll be able to
move OARS, profiles, groups. Inventory can only be taken that can be
put in a box to be OAR filed. We'll be opening the sandbox for people
who have no region to place their items and can get them back.
If you are NOT ok with this, I urge you to please withdraw your support
on the page. I do not want to take anyone's money who is not ok with
this! Otherwise, please start boxing your items up on your region or ask
a friend or tomorrow I'll be opening the Sandboxes up for people!
Every single one of you simply amazes me!
There were some unhappy comments following this announcement.
Toysolider Thor: I thought this was to save Inworldz. Why now still abandon Inworldz and
force everyone to change to a new grid? I am lost. Inworldz has a lot
of invested brand recognition and many have an emotional affinity to
it. I dont get it.
Lin Stamos-Valentine: So the $17,000 was NOT to pay the loan and set up a new payment platform
then (as we were told)? You are using it to start a new grid and we
only have a few days to save 8 years (in my case) worth of work? Even
though you HAD to know long before now that InWorldz was a lost cause?
Jim says no matter what the grid was closing, but I thought we could
save it, but now we aren't. Did I donate to start a new grid? NO! I
donated to save InWorldz. I am asking for a refund. Go ahead and get mad
at me, but I feel very betrayed at the moment.
Elpida Tisagapi: Ok STOP! the fund raising was to safe IW not to make a new grid! IW is
special and its the ppl and the community there that makes it special.
The goal is nearly reached and will give Beth a month to sort the
problems with the loan people. Moving to another grid is NOT solving
anything at all! Never mind there are no full perm creators, in their
right mind, who will ever give their permission to move to a new grid
with NO control what so ever. I know I speak for Tao Dreamscape in this
matter too. There is NO way she will agree to that. I look after Tao's
store on both IW and SL (the customer service side) and please take
this as if Tao herself stated it. For me its IW or nothing. Fight for IW
instead of taking the easy road.
Gillian Holmes: It was not 'suggested by the residents' that you start a new grid, it
was decided by a small clique of people who rudely refuse to listen to
the views of others. Most residents don't even know about this yet. I
think you have taken money under false pretences. The initial 'cause'
has been replaced by totally different one. You should refund all
donations and start again clearly stating exactly what you are raising
the money for. As it stands this could be viewed as fraud.
Others were more supportive.
Hypatia Emerson: They are doing what they have to with what they have to work with. They
didn't come up with the idea to start a new grid. The people on IW
suggested it and talked Ele into it on Discord. She could just tell you
all to go take a leap. She didn't she set up a go fund me to save our
homes. The timing is too short to save the grid so she asked what to do
and IW people said make a new one and transfer us over.
Tom Minor: Inworldz isn't the grid, it's the people.. and the creative spirit they share. That is what's worth preserving. Frand Lupschen: The current discussion and I have been brought up to the current
situation. InWorldz as a business has been killed by the loanshark
company. It no longer has any business assets. The account is empty. So
the business is really dead. What is happening now is that everyone is
to put out the content they wish to keep in their regions and oars will
be made of the regions. For those who do not have land, several sandbox
regions will be made available. The oars, user list DB of active
accounts will be retained and used to build a new grid that will use the
saved content as the starting point for a new world.
So while it looks like the Gofundme will succeed, some new questions have arisen about the long-term future of the virtual world. Stay tuned for further details.
Update: As of 10AM PST, some people have withdrawn their donations, lowering the total raised to $16,211. Also, comments have appeared to have been disabled.
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."
While it originally started out as a hangout for occasional parties, Erik Mouse has recently made an effort for "Surf's Up" at Sunny Beach to have events once a week every Saturday afternoon. But the best laid plans of mice and men can go awry, and one party not long ago ended rather abruptly. Although things were soon cleared up, Erik felt that it was still necessary for him to explain what happened. So he recently sent in a reader submission about what happened from his point of view and his plans on what to do in the future.
The Virtual Ability Executive Team is sad to share with you that our dear friend and highly valued, long time volunteer, Ladyslipper Constantine, has passed away in real life.
We are planning a memorial service for her soon, and will keep you updated on that process.
As Ladyslipper’s long time real life friend, I’d like to personally thank those of you who made an effort to show your love for her, and be present during her illness, via her CaringBridge site that her real-life family set up. And for those of you who could not, but loved her, all the same.
Thank you for the love; she felt it. She sent me an email a couple weeks ago, the last one I got; she said she loved me. That was all. It was enough. She also loved all of you, Virtual Ability, Second Life and all the other groups here that she was such a vital part of. Thank you for loving her back.
Treasure Ballinger
Virtual Ability,® Inc. Executive Team
* * * * *
UPDATE: There was a message shared inworld, sent from Virtual Ability, inviting residents in SL who knew and loved LS.
There will be a Celebration of Life hosted by Virtual Ability
for Ladyslipper Constantine on Saturday, Oct 1 at 11am SLT, on the
northeast lawn of Virtual Ability island.
The celebration will begin with some of her friends offering
memories in text+voice, because LS was part of the deaf community in SL.
A slideshow will display photos of the many events LS
participated in. If you have SL images, please send them to iSkye
Silverweb for inclusion. There will also be music and dancing. LS loved a
good party!
Celebrate Ladyslipper’s life with us. For more information,
please contact Gentle Heron, Eme Capalini, or Treasure Ballinger in
world.
September 11 had many stories. But what about those of those whom were disabled whom were caught up in it. On the fifteenth anniversary of the attack, there was a discussion at Virtual Ability. Shyla (KriJon
Resident) might have shown up in a comical-looking gecko avatar, but her message was a serious one. Many times someone whom was disabled was referred to as "the man in the wheelchair" or some other phrase that left out the identity. But there was something else she found more troubling. The evacuation plans of many places fail to take into account the disabled. Deaflegacy was there, and reported about the discussion.
It was a busy month of May 2015. Three new writers, and over a hundred articles, press releases, cartoons, and other posts.
So what's going on this month? We're almost done with our plans for two events. But we still have to iron out a few details. Stay tuned for the details.
Second Life's clubs are a fun place to go and listen to a little music and chat with friends. But they can also be a lot of work, finding DJs, setting themes and schedules, etc. And with so many clubs, sometimes some end up having to share audiences. The FCA club alliance has offered clubs where all types of avatars are welcome a chance to avoid conflicting schedules and an easier time for DJs and club owners to set up events. In recent weeks, the organization has gone through a busy time, and more than a few changes.
On her Google profile, Fleep Tuque announced there were some plans in the works for a new convention for Second Life residents next year. For several years, Second Life users would meet up at the annual Second LIfe Community Convention. But this year the event was canceled, Linden Lab refusing to support it and telling the organizers they were on their own. "SLCC11 was probably the last time we'll use that name" Fleep wrote.
The plans in the works include more than Second Life, but other virtual worlds as well. Fleep wrote that "AvaCon is planning to expand the convention to include Opensim and other
platforms in the coming years under a new name and we have volunteer
staff positions open if you're interested, see http://www.avacon.org/ for more info."
Fleep has expressed some disappointment on the directions the Lindens have taken the Grid lately, "In the last couple years, I've begun to feel that Second Life is moving
in a different direction than my own priorities and I'm spending less
time and tier there than in the past." It's residents, however, are a different manner, "Despite my feelings about the direction of the platform, the awe I've
always felt for the community of people who create the world never
diminishes."
Last names under active discussion. We are trying to figure out how to do it in a way which would be excellent rather than just ok. We want it intuitive with extra features. Hopefully we will roll out what we are thinking early January latest.
Identity is very important so as we touch it we need to make sure we are adding something great.
So far, responses, such as on the Linden blog, have been overwhelmingly positive. There have been some voices expresses skepticism, wondering just how easily can Linden Lab correct it's decision. But for now, most are cheering, and looking forward to the option for newer residents to have a last name like those before them.
