Netera Landar Returning

 

Some good news. Longtime readers may remember Netera Landar, who besides running her Coffee Lounge to help aspiring writers and musicians would also write articles for the Newser. Contacting one another, she will once again be writing for the paper, at least for a while. Expect an article from her soon.

 

Welcome back Netera.

 

 

 

The Return of Urban Furry

 

 A club the Newser has written about a few times in the past is coming back. On Wednesday September 3rd, Urban Furry had it's Grand ReOpening party. It started at 2PM, and was scheduled to go on to 8PM. It is owned and managed by Whiskey Ravenhurst. 

 

Urban Furry has been in operation a few times before, Whiskey reluctantly closing it when events in his real life require his full attention. This time, he feels he is able to keep up the place indefinitely. 

 

If the club looks familiar to some, that's because it is. Whiskey was missing the original version of the club. So he brought it back, with a few small alterations. Among the additions, a couple of framed articles from when the location was in the Newser. 

 

For the moment, the club has no regular events. Whixkey says he should have scheduled hours in about a couple weeks, with the times being determined when interested DJs can play.

 

Urban Furry is at Vector Valley at (193/43/2011). 

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Return To VR Chat

 

 It's been a while since I was last on VR Chat, and several days ago, I finally went there and joined a couple friends who have come to spend more time there than Second Life. Some things haven't changed, such as avatars not able to be dressed like they can be in our virtual world and any attachments need to be constantly held in your hand, dropping if you take your finger off the button. But some things have such as the potential size of some regions. One was so huge, my friend told me over a hundred kilometers across, you needed a car to go across, and it took a while. 

 

So I may write more about VRChat in the months ahead. I say may as I have my hands on a few projects. Time will tell.

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Gemma To Resume Writing Soon

 

For those who have been wondering, Gemma took a leave of absence after her hand was injured, taking a break from the break to complete an almost finished article with her other hand. She also spent time at the Second Life Birthday as a greeter, again using her good hand. 

 

Talking to her, she says her hand is better, and she should be good to write something in a few days. 

 

Stay tuned. 

 

 

 

News and Commentary: More on The Return of Gachas

 

 It was almost four years ago on August 2021 when Linden Lab announced they were banning the popular method of shopping known as gachas. It was one of the Lab's more controversial moves that had a divided reaction among the residents. For those who don't know, gachas in Second Life refers to a method of selling items, transferable and no-copy, through a machine which delivers one of a set of goods at random, usually a number of common ones, and a few uncommon and rare ones. 

 

It's hard to say when gachas got started in our virtual world, but the method eventually became quite popular. If you got one you didn't like, you could try again and give the first one away, or sell it. There were groups for the purpose of trading gacha items. And there were popular events with hundreds of gatcha items available for sale, such as the Gacha Guild and the Arcade Gacha. 

But gachas were not popular with everyone. Because that what the buyer got was random, there were charges they were basically a form of gambling. And with people wanting that rare item, it wasn't hard to imagine someone spending hundreds, thousands maybe, just to get it. So there were allegations the way gachas were sold enticed people to spend and spend and spend. So there were people demanding the Lab ban them. 

 

Outside events however would eventually lead the Lab to take action. Some games began offering loot crates which could not only be earned by gameplay, but purchase, such as EA's Battlefront II, which soon prompted investigation and calls for action by Government officials. When Linden Lab announced it was banning gachas, it did so citing "a changing regulatory climate." A few days ago, they would say, "regulatory guidelines emerging globally at the time." While there were no complaints from the US Government, or any other government, about gachas, it's likely the Lab's lawyers cautioned them that the way the legal winds were blowing to expect changes in the law. 

The reaction from the residents was divided. Many cheered the Lab, saying things along the lines of "it's about time this addictive practice was stopped!" Others booed it, saying they loved shopping for them and trading them, or just thought the move was unnecessary.. Some builders were saying they depended on gachas to make their living in SL and felt this would cripple them. The two big gacha events, The Gacha Guild and Arcade Gacha, stayed active for a few more years. But the Gacha Guild, later renamed just The Guild, would announce it's closing on Deceomber 2022. The  Arcade Gacha is supposedly still going, but it's blog had it's last entry on Sept 2022. 

But over time, there was change. I began noticing some vendors in which had a selection of items offered at random, including a couple uncommon ones, but the next one after the current one available for purchase was displayed. It was clearly based on the gachas, though not a true one. And finally several months ago in October 2024, Linden Lab announced a partial reversal of it's gacha ban. The catch though was that the items couldn't be transferable. That action was greeted without enthusiasm, gacha fans saying part of the fun was being able to trade them. 

And now, as of Tuesday May 6, the Lab is allowing gachas back in full, transferable and all. 

We are excited to share some important news that will bring renewed opportunities and creativity to our vibrant virtual world.  Effective immediately, Gacha is once again fully allowed as a content creation and sales mechanic in Second Life.

Linden Lab would say, "The decision to prohibit Gacha in 2021 was following regulatory guidelines emerging globally at the time.  We have continued to evaluate what steps we can take to support creative freedom while also ensuring compliance with evolving legal frameworks, which led to the recent changes announced in 2024. Since then, the regulatory landscape surrounding Gacha systems has further shifted to the point where Gacha can be confidently reintroduced under current prevailing guidance."

The Lab has asked gacha merchants to do three things, "Clearly communicate Gacha mechanics and contents," to price gacha items reasonably, and "avoid deceptive practices or 'pay-to-win' designs" that would damage trust of gacha shoppers. 

The subject quickly made the official forums on (this thread), and once again the reaction of the residents was divided, "Addictive gameplay is addictive gameplay." "This is excellent news." It may be this is one subject the residents will never really agree on.

 

But in any event, gachas are back. Now it's up to the residents to vote with their wallets.

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Wedcot Center Is Back

 

 

 In October, the Newser reported that Wedcot Center Park, a tribute to the EPCOT Center owned by Disney, had closed down. For fans, some good news. The place is back. 

Disney Epcot tribute - Celebrate the season with Nightmare Before Christmas, and Haunted Mansion Holiday! Festival of the Holidays, Spaceship Earth, Test Track, with access to mini golf.

The place is still under Trevor Sleydon and is still in the Real Dreams sim. A look at the park's group showed no announcement's in the past month, so it's safe to assume the place came back before the first of the month. The place isn't quite perfect. The "Spaceship Earth" attraction isn't quite working. But some things such as the monorail are. 

The landing location is at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Real%20Dreams/42/4/105

Bixyl Shuftan

Classic Cartoon: St. Patrick's Day Fun

 

 

Originally posted March 16, 2016. St. Patrick's Day is associated with not only with wearing green, but also drinking. For some, falling into enough beer to swim wouldn't be a nuisance, but a dream come true.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

The Blues Furs Are Back In SL

 

Some people remember the Blues Furs, musicians who had a love of blues and other forms of music. But last year, they had to put their act on hiatus due to real-life. Recently Joilet Bandit (JBRaccoon), the senior member of the team, contacted me to say the Blues Furs will soon be making music once more.

 

"I am back into doing music sets in SL again," Joilet told me, three days a week, music and live singing I do, three different venues to try and help my hooman friends too." I asked what the three venues were. He answered they were Water Goddess Beach at Palmetta (43/210/21), owned by Whitewolf, one high above the Saoirse sim at (99/79/3939), "my friend Culli's region, and Lone Star County, in the Lone Star City sim at (245/105/23). The last one is Joilet's own location.

The other half of the Blues Furs is Jensen, "We are still a team for the show, with his new job it cuts into when we can do a show but I try my best to work around that." It was brought up that his name had been changed since the Blues Furs started, "He went by Biohazard however due to someone else using the same name and creating lots of trouble. He changed to Jensen to avoid confusion."

 

We ended talking up more about the Blues Furs' home location, which is based on the "Blues Brothers" movie. He send me a screenshot (left), "That's home, and where that photo was taken. And yes, the Chicago PD cars have Illinois Plates and the state car has an actual replica of the state PD plates used back then.

 

Joilet then showed me another, showing one of the police cars from behind, "The car number on the plate is a mismatch but those are hard to get accurate (laugh). That plate number is from one of the actual cars used in the big chase at the end of the movie. Still working on the final touches to my cars for The Blues Furs but almost done there as well."

 

Joilet would say that besides the three events each week, "Gonna also do a special Halloween show the Friday before, with a couple prizes. ... Friday the 27th, I will be hosting a Halloween Party  and if schedules allow, The Blues Furs will make a special appearance (laughter). It's a tossup between Wolf's place or home. I have to discuss with my event coordinator to see what she thinks will be best."

When I asked if there was anything else he wanted to mention about the Lone Star Country location, he chuckled, "That's where we [The Blues Furs] were last reported being, hiding out still hahahaha local PD [LSCPD] is following some leads. I'll get some more pics as I can, I need to check-out the LSCPD cars so we can set them in various places with the ISP. Hehehehe."

 

So the Blues Furs are back and determined to make some fun in Second Life, "especially with a live singing huscoon."

 

Bixyl Shuftan

Frets Nirvana Performs at Veterans Isle HFOT Benefit

 

 

 At Veterans Isle yesterday, September 17 at 2PM SL time, a noted performer came out of his hiatus. Frets Nirvana, known best for his help in organizing fundraisers for Homes For Our Troops, was once again picking up his guitar and singing after a break from performing. 

It has been quite a while but I am happy to inform you that inspiration has hit and I will once again climb the stage in Second Life today September 17 @ 2 PM.  I will be performing at the Veterans Isle hangar and all tips/donations are going to our efforts for HFOT in Second Life.  You can expect a new repertoire of tunes and hopefully my music has gotten better with age.  Rest assured that it has still been a big part of my life even though I have not been performing it in SL for quite a while.  My intention is to once again inspire you and put a smile on your day with music.  I hope to see you today at Veterans Isle.  We will see where life’s musical adventure takes us after this!  David Steel has been kind enough to offer his DJ talents at 1 PM prior to my performance so come on out early and have a great Sunday afternoon.

 Frets performed for a moderate though enthusiastic crowd, which dropped money into two house-shaped kiosks on either side of the stage. Bri McMahon, who was assisting, would thank them, "tysm for your generous donations to HFOTS! ... tp in your friends, don't let them miss out on Mr Frets being back for a special concert, or miss out on helping us Build Homes and Rebuild Lives along with Homes for  Our Troops!" She would continue to say more, "365 homes built, 74 current projects going, and 90 cents on the dollar goes directly to the program. ... Homes for Our Troops is a BBB Accredited Top Rated Military and Veteran Charity that will never cold call you asking for donations. ... Their mission: To build and donate specially adapted custom homes nationwide for severely injured post-9/11 Veterans, to enable them to rebuild their lives.... Since its inception in 2004, nearly 90 cents out of every dollar spent has gone directly to our program services for Veterans. HFOT builds these homes where the Veteran chooses to live, and continues its relationship with the Veterans after home delivery to assist them with rebuilding their lives. ..."

There was also some musing during the event, "Sorry xxxxxxx, didn't mean to kick ya like a can can girl." "I can't feel my avi butt." There was someone using the  "LEEROYYYYY JENKINS!!!!!" gesture. And there was someone with an unusual name, "Welcome, ThisPainsme."

At the end of the event, a total of 40,000 Linden dollars had been raised. Frets kept his promise, and donated an additional 40,000 L, bringing the total to 80,000 Linden dollars.

Fundraising events at Veterans Isle are usually on the first Wednesday of every month. But there have been occasional additional ones. For more information on Homes For Our Troops, click here: https://www.hfotusa.org/.

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

The Return of "The Wall," Vietnam Veterans Memorial Rebuilt

 

Longtime readers may remember the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Second Life, also known as "The Wall." Built in 2007, it stood for four years until it vanished in 2011. But after over ten years, it's back, or rather rebuilt. This wall is high over the Heavens Sunset sim.

This version of The Wall appears to have all 58,000 names. There are some differences as the Three Soldiers Memorial statue isn't there. Still the return of "The Wall," is good news.
 
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Heavens%20Sunset/65/106/953

 Bixyl Shuftan

 

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
 

Nydia Tungsten's Youtube Channel Is Back

In November last year, Nydia Tungsten took down most of the videos in her Youtube channel. Or rather, made them inaccessible to those whom didn't have the links to individual ones. The reason for this was the COPPA controversy in which many Youtube content creators feared bankruptcy over perceived violations.

But over time, there had yet to be a single instance of this happening. So Nydia came to the conclusion there wasn't any trouble. So she made the decision to make her Youtube channel completely accessible once again.

I have decided to open my youtube back up, and I am looking forward to doing more Videos to put on there, you can find them here  

https://www.youtube.com/user/NydiaTungsten/videos

WE'RE BACK BABY!

The Newser looks forward to when the machinima/music video artist comes up with more.

Bixyl Shuftan

Tiny Yosemite

Longtime readers may remember Jadyn Firehawk's Yosemite park in Second Life. The place  remained up for some time until sadly real life made her unable to keep it up. Following her setting up of her Coronavirus Survival Store, she found she had a number of people still in the sim group. Inspired by these fans, she recently brought the place back in a smaller form, Tiny Yosemite. Gemma Cleanslate heard about it and decided to check it out.

Read Gemma's article in Places.

Interview With Guitarist Jon Bazar

A musician has returned to Second Life after a five year hiatus: Jon Bazar. A guitarist in both real life and Second Life, he had to take a break due to real life. The Newser recently had a chance to set with him, and he had a few things to say about how he came here and doing music in real life and in virtual reality.

Read the interview in People.

Nydia Tungsten's Music Videos Going on Vimeo

It's been a little over a month since Nydia Tungsten made the decision to take down her music videos from Youtube due to concerns about vague new rules that could have meant bankruptcy. In an update on the situation she announced some of the videos were going back up, on Viemo.

As you all know Angel Productions was pulled from youtube due to Coppa and the FTC and the parents wanting everyone else to take care of their children. But our heart and our Spirits have NOT been broken. All your hard work, putting up with my silences as I make you dance, not even sure what song I am using most of the time. It is a new year, and new beginnings, of everything .... https://vimeo.com/382152792 ... yeah.. I am trying this again. 

But remember, this site charges it's users if you want anything over the VERY basic, so I am only allowed to upload 500MB per week, and there is a total cap as well, but I will do my best to make it work and continue to have fun with all of you! I may start a patreon acct to try and get the monthly amount in order to open up more and more. let me know what you all think but most of all... WE'RE BACK BABY!

Once again, Nydia's Viemo channel is on https://vimeo.com/user107043726 .

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.

New Santorini

One group of sims the Newser keeps writing about year after year is Calas Galadhon Park. The sims are always well-designed, and there's something new every few months. Sadly, in the past a few of the sims had to be shut down due to real-life finances. But recently came some good news. One of the lost sims, the Greek-themed New Santorini, is back. Gemma Cleanslate went there to look around.

Read Gemma's article in Places.

Garden of Absentia Memorial Pond Reopens

In July 2018, the Newser reported about the Garden of Absentia, which was closing after being online for about ten years. But, we have a happy update. Part of the place, the pond, is back in a new location.

Dear friends. I am happy to say that the Garden has reopened. It is a much smaller parcel, but it is cozy and beautiful. I do not have words to express my gratitude to Dee Andel and Typo Cobalt who made this opening possible. Here is your transportation to the Garden of Absentia Memorial Pond.

So once again, the garden is back, a memorial pond with floating candles lit in honor of many who did not survive their battle with cancer. The place is located in the middle of some relaxing countryside scenery. To find out more, check out it's Facebook page, or head over to it's location at:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Celtic%20Harbor/19/233/23

Hat Tip: Annie Oh (AnnieBrightstar Resident)

Bixyl Shuftan

SL16B Applications Now Open, "We Are Excited To Return to Being More Involved" Says Linden Lab

Last Friday, Linden Lab announced on the official blog that applications for the Second Life Sixteenth Birthday Celebration, the SL16B, were now being accepted. They also announced that they would "return to being more involved in the organization of all the events."

As we blogged earlier this month (Announcing “SL16B” - Second Life’s Sweet Sixteen!) SL16B is coming this summer - and part of the celebration means we will be opening applications for Volunteers, Exhibitors and Performers. This year, we are excited to return to being more involved in the organization of all the events. In addition to the official Music Fests, costume parties,  and Shopping events, of the last few years, we’re also returning to our roots and participating more in the development and planning of the main SLB celebration.

Except for the SL3B, Linden Lab ran the first eight Second Life Birthday events. Then on April 2012, they announced they would not be organizing one that year. It was up to the residents to organize one, and eventually a team led by Doc Gascoigne did. "The Birthday" was saved. Although the Lab would slowly get a little involved with the Music Fest and a shopping event, Doc's team would continue organizing the main event up to the SL15B. The Newser would declare them "Persons of the Year" for 2018.

Exhibitor Application  - Applications close on May 15th, 2019  (Exhibitor Policies)
Performer Application  - Applications close on May 15th, 2019 ( Performer Policies)
Volunteer Applications  - Applications close on May 15th, 2019
Merchant Application - Applications close on June 1st, 2019
The applications to audition for the Music Fest are not yet available.

So after several years, apparently Linden Lab will once again be running "The Birthday." It should be interesting to see how things go.

News in Brief : Possible Viewer Trouble, Updated Linden Game, Google Plus Shut Down

 Once again, there's a lot more news than there is time to go over it in detail. So here's more brief descriptions of several things that have been going on.

Is Animesh Update Causing Viewer Trouble? - Has your viewer been having problems lately? A couple people have come to me, saying they've been crashing a lot lately. My attention was directed to JIRA BUG-225584 done by the creator of the Black Dragon viewer, saying ever since the Animesh update to Second Life, his viewer has had "massive performance loss" with frame rate. The problem isn't limited to Black Dragon, but could hit any Second Life Viewer. Linden Lab is investigating the issue, and people with problems, are encouraged to discuss it on this thread in the official forums.

Source: New World Notes

New Linden Realms - On the Linden Blog, there was an announcement that one of the older Linden games has been given a new twist. Linden Realms is now "Linden Realms: The Search For Magellan."

New Sunweaver Halloween Attractions - The Sunweaver community has two new Halloween-themed attractions. These are Shockwave's Haunted Maze at Sunweaver Eclipse (102/39/2201) and the Happy Vixen Haunted Manor.

Google Plus Shut Down After Data Breach Exposed - Google announced on Monday October 8 that it would be shutting down it's social network Google Plus. This announcement came shortly after a Wall Street Journal article that there had been a data leak affecting a half million users, and Google made the decision not to warn people fearing disclosure might mean bad press and possibly increased regulation as a result.

Source: Ars Technica 

Dysphoria to Euphoria. The Newser was alerted to a sim that had been recreated by it's fans. Dysphoria was an Alice-in-Wonderland style sim that it's owner announced would be closing due to her changing real life. When an attempt to save it failed, fans made the decision to rebuild it, under the new name Euphoria.

Source: Euphoria Wonderland

More on these stories, and others, when time permits.

Bixyl Shuftan