In Brief ...

 

There's a lot going on, and only a little time to write. So, some things that would otherwise have been reported on earlier will have to wait for a larger article. For now ...

 

There's been a lot of talk about Discord Age Verification, and more than a little suspicion. That Discord lost data some months ago in a hack has not helped with peoples' confidence, and a number are talking about jumping ship and heading to another platform. 

 

The Premier Business Center has a Black History Museum. There was a grand opening party on Sunday February 8. The museum honors a number of Black Americans from musicians, civil rights activists, politicians, scientists, inventors, and others. 

 

And of course the mystery of the three strange boulders.

 

These and other stories when we have time to write.  

2024: Year In Review

 

2024 is over, and not only are we starting a new year, but a new quarter century. But before we say goodbye to the old year, let's take a look at its triumphs and tragedies,its wins and blunders, and other interesting moments. 

 

Sadly one of the more consequential events was someone writing a slanderous article accusing a number of Lindens and Moles of ageplay. It had no real evidence of the accusations, but enough residents were talking about it to the point Linden and Mole chatter on Bellisseria group chat quieted down for a while, and Patch and a number of other Lindens and Moles were scarce for a while. The Lab announced they would investigate the accusations. But they would also make some changes in child avatar policies, notably they could no longer be nude and could no longer be in adult sims, even if there was nothing sexual out in the open. The later got some complaints as some residential areas were rated Adult only out of worry the Lab had a problem with couples being intimate behind closed doors, and there were events, notably Burn 2, where nudity was okay but allowed child avatars to be among the visitors and volunteer staff. 

 

Probably the development Linden Lab was talking about the most was it's Mobile Viewer, available for newer smartphones powered by Android and IOS. At the start of the year, it was available only as a "private alpha" for Premium-Plus residents, and they had to be on a waiting list. In June, Premium and Premium Plus accounts could get it on "early Beta." In November, it would be released officially, and available for all residents to use. But there was one detail that complicated going about on it. Since it was available through Google Play and the App Store, their terms and conditions meant that it couldn't be used to access adult regions. Firestorm announced it had no plans to make it's own mobile viewer.

 

Another development for Second Life was PBR, or Physical Based Rendering, technology. This made possible reflective surfaces off metal and water, and allowed for actual working mirrors.  Introduced in June, it would take off in popularity when introduced into Firestorm viewers later in the month, which got people using it and content creators making items such as furniture mirrors. But, some residents experienced technical glitches and crashes, leading to the opinion of some that the technology was rushed to be in time for the Second Life Birthday. One former Newser reported was saying the update make SL so bad, he was leaving and not returning. With the most popular viewer, Firestorm, having a "three viewer policy" in which older viewers were gradually phased out, those who were finding PBR features made SL almost unusable feared what would happen if the last viewer before the update, 6.6.17, was phased out. Finally in mid-August, the Firestorm team announced they were modifying their policy and 6.6.17 would be around "forever." The Lab would also acknowledge some residents were having issues and resolved to fix the bugs, as well as working closely with Team Firestorm. The bug fixing would go on into September and presumably later.

 

Other Lab developments, on WelcomeIsland, on January 30 there would be a new Community Exhibition where SL communities could place a display to advertise themselves to newcomers. JIRA support ended in February, it's operations transferred to a community portal.  In April, the Lab would lower the land impact, or weight, or mesh items. In September, the Lab would announce they were working on a combat system for those interested in taking part in battle games. Voice would change in Second Life, the servers moved to WebRTC.

 

In July, the Second Life Blogger Network was put on hiatus. A new one would appear in November. Also in July, Linden Lab would take a poll for it's next Linden Home theme. The results would be delayed, then in August it was announced the winner was the Tiki/Water Theme, with Alpine Style Theme (Snow) as the runner up. But for some reason, neither or any other new Linden Home would be made available this year. 

 

In October, Linden Lab would do a partial reversal of it's controversial Gacha Ban in 2021. Gacha machines can be made and sell items like they did before, but these items can no longer be transferable and able to be resold. While this made some happy, some longtime gacha fans complained part of the fun was being able to give away or trade them while some critics complained they were still bad.

 

There was some expansion of Bellisseria, notably early in the year. There would also be a new water connection between it and the Mainland in June. In April, Bellisseria would celebrate it's fifth anniversary. It would also have numerous events around the year on it's Fairgrounds, such as Bellisseria for Life in spring and it's own Mole Day in September.

In June, the SL21B, the Second Life Twenty-First Birthday celebrations would take place with the theme "Elements." As always, there were numerous resident and community-created exhibits. Among those taking part was the Newser, with it's exhibit build by the talented Silvia Ametza and her team. There would be a few town hall events. At one, Patch Linden would announce 21 residents could upgrade their accounts to lifetime Premium Plus. One difference between this and earlier Birthday celebrations, all the official music events were in the first ten days, then no more.

Brad Oberwager, the head of Linden Lab, would confirm in October that there were some layoffs saying there were "changes across the whole organization, and some people got promoted, some people got moved into different parts of the organization, and some people, we had to say goodbye ..." Philip Linden aka Philip Rosedale, the founder of Linden Lab, would become it's Chief Technical Officer in October. One Linden, Strawberry, would close the blog of her private account, Strawberry Singh.

In December, Linden Lab offered a gift to the residents, six months free of the gaming company Madpea's Unlimited service. But it would also offer them to take part in an experimental AI character designer. After a few days of heated debate on the forums, it would pause the program.

One change in Linden Lab was the sale of it's virtual currency exchange service Tilia in May. It had been created several years ago in response to growing US Government scrutiny about virtual money.

 

In May, the Grid would experience a welcome milestone. The number of sims had gone up past the 28,000 mark for the first time in years. Sadly the number has declined by a few hundred since, due to the closing of some private regions. 

 

For Team Firestorm, founder Jessica Lyon stepped down as it's Project Manager in January after almost fourteen years of being in charge of the people behind Second Life's most popular viewer. She remains on the team as it's CEO, but is no longer leading in day to day matters. 

Second Life's largest fundraising organization, the Relay for Life in Second Life, would hold a number of events for this year's season, Decades of Hope: the SL Living Expo, Belliseria for Life, Fantasy Faire, Sci-Fi con, Fandom con, Making Strides, The Renaissance Festival, I Pink I Can, the Winter Expo, and of course the main fundraising season from February to late June, with it's high point the Relay Weekend in early June. Once again, hundreds of thousands of US dollars were raised, over $454,000 as of the end of the main Relay season. Mattie Carlton (Mattie Foxpaws) would do a song for the Relay in honor of a departed friend, "We Are Here." The team of the community hosting the Newser office, the Sunbeamers, would hold a number of events such as it's annual air show (with the Anemone Wing Walkers and Team Phoenix), took part in multiteam events such as the Relaystock and would reach Ruby level for the second year in a row.

There were numerous other events in Second Life. In March there was the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference. This year, it was noticed that when the Lindens had a meeting there, Patch Linden was absent. There was the Burn2 art and music festival in October, the Second Life version of the Burning Man festival in real life, which had spinoff events in Winter, Spring, and Summer. There were the monthly Homes for Our Troops benefit concerts at Veterans Island. Mieville would hold events such as Silk Road. There was Virtual Ability's events, such as the Annual International Disability Rights Affirmation Conference. Team Diabetes would hold fundraising events, such as Scare Me Silly and the Art Bazzar Bay City would have Mole Day in February, a Truck Food Festival, Oktoberfest, and many other events such as it's anniversary parade and party in May.  Team Firestorm, the people behind Second Life's most popular viewer, would hold their anniversary party in September, their fourteenth. Halloween was celebrated in many places around Second Life, notably on the Luna's Empire sim which brought back it's Ghostbuster-inspired free to play game.

While 2024 was a Presidential Election year, the Newser would have less coverage than in previous years due to the increasing amount of political drama and the increasing desire of some residents to get away from it. But there were some events such as the Red White and Blue Civic Awareness Party at the PBC. Much like eight years ago, Trump's victory was followed by numerous cheers and screams on social media.

Some Lindens would depart the team. In February, Mojo and Styfy Linden left. Alexa Linden, and an unknown number of others, would leave in October.

And sadly some residents would pass away. Among them, Lorivonne Lustre aka Lorraine Mockford of the VWBPE, Sylys Sable/Sylys Weezles, a regular at several clubs, including the Happy Vixen, Smoke Texan, the part owner of the Stagg Island 9/11 memorial, Kim (kimberleyalice1961 Resident) of Kim's Kreations, Lady Lovie Benoir of the Premier Business Center, Kara Foxdale, a tarrot card reader the Newser interviewed in the past. There was also Arabella Cinquetti of Lightning Video, her store closing just after her passing in March, and the servers for her videos going offline in April. Among the locations affected was the Happy Vixen, which had a movie theater with her videos. The Sunweaver community would say goodbye to Zorro Wurramunga, also known as the "Fisher Fox." 

One noted longtime resident, Xavier Thiebaud, known for his work in the arts and founding a popular group, would announce he was departing Second Life for personal reasons, having a farewell party in August following the last showing of his plays.

 

Of locations in Second Life, Wedcot Center would be back in March following being offline for a few months. But another tribute to a Disney park, Magicland, would close in April, though the builds would remain on the sim for a while. Also in April, the last of the University of Western Australia sims closed, noted for it and it's sister sims holding art and machinima contests with some large prizes. Oahu, the home of the Pearl Harbor Memorial, would close and then reopen after it's original owner stepped in to revive the island. In December, Club Furzona, which the Newser wrote about a few years ago, announced it was leaving Second Life, but no destination was mentioned. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial would move to Veterans Isle. 

For the Sunweaver/Angel community, there would be the return of Nydia Tungsten's KVXN Radio in August.

Draxtor Despress had been working with Linden Lab for ten years. But in March it would come to a close. He would continue with his Book Club a little longer, but it would soon have it's final show in November. He would restart his Drax Files videos. 

 

Ryan Schultz, who blogged about Second Life and other virtual worlds, would announce in November he was having to cease updates on it. 

On the Internet, Facebook would go through an outage in March. In October, the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine would be hacked.

In gaming news, in January a private server for the discontinued game "City of Heroes" got the go-ahead by the game's owner NCSoft to operate in an official capacity. In September, Nintendo, the owners of the Pokemon franchise, sued the owners of Palworld on the grounds the game infringed on some of it's copyrights. Later, gaming updates would make a change with one detail people thought made the game resemble Pokemon a little, but the lawsuit remains.

2024 was an eventful year, and hopefully 2025 will be a great one.

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Newser

2023 Year In Review

 

 2023 was a year in Second Life full of triumphs and tragedies, accomplishments and pitfalls, and a number of other noteworthy happenings. 

 

Probably the top news story of 2023 was Second Life's Twentieth Anniversary.  It was in June 2003 in which the virtual world officially went online, and there was plenty of talk about how much had changed over time, as well as defying expectations of critics. To celebrate, the Lab had a contests with a number of computers as prizes, and one lucky winner got a new car. Some real-life publications took a moment to write about the virtual world for the first time in a while, in some cases many years. There were numerous exhibits, some were encores that had appeared in past SLB events, while others reflected the theme "Our Fantastic Future." This included the Newser's exhibit by Silvia Ametza, who made a depiction of a near future astronaut base on a moon of Jupiter. As part of the celebration, Draxtor Despres had a movie-length documentary "Made in Second Life."

It didn't take very long for the year to come up with a burning issue. In January, the Bonniebots suddenly became an issue of controversy as they went from sim to sim gathering information. Some considered them harmless, some simply annoying, and others a threat to privacy, the latter group demanding the Lab do something about them. The owners of the bots were saying they were not trying to spy on people, but the calls for action persisted, notably on the official forums. Linden Lab's initial response was to close down a thread on the issue, but a second quickly popped up, followed by another. Eventually the Lindens stated they were looking into what they could do on the matter. In late March, the Lab would announce they were introducing new tools for residents to deal with unwanted bots, as well as a new policy about them. 

In March, Linden Lab would lower sim tiers, but raise Linden Dollar purchase and sell fees. This would be a continuation of the Lab relying less on money from sims and more on income from transaction fees. In June, they started offering Premium accounts for life with a onetime fee. They also started offering certain Linden Homes reserved for Premium Plus residents, first the Ranch style homes, then the Mediterranean. They would prove highly popular. The Lab would also create a new line of Mesh starter avatars: the Senra. It invited merchants to make products for them, and some did. In November, Linden Lab launched the PBR update to the Grid, which promised residents reflective surfaces in Second Life soon, including eventually working mirrors.

For years, many residents had asked Linden Lab to come up with a mobile viewer. While the Lab had partnered with others in the past to develop one, it had yet to come up with one that was truly it's own. In March, it finally released footage of it's own viewer. In December, it announced it was finally ready to offer a "private alpha" version to Premium Plus residents, but warned users to expect glitches.

 

Belliseria would see more additions, with the Ranch and then Mediterranean Linden Home areas for Premium Plus residents. The Fantasy Linden Homes would also get a treehouse option. The continent would also see the addition of the Bellihub from Linden Lab, a way to encourage residents to move to the continent. Bellisseria would also see it's Haunted Neighborhood and Trick or Treat event for Halloween. With Bellisseria in the news so much, eventually the Newser would open a satellite office there. 

 

Linden Lab would make a place consisting of several sims that would both show newcomers what Second Life had to offer but still appeal to longterm residents: The WelcomeHub. It would open in June with a party at the Motown sim, which was a partnership with two music groups. It would have a lasertag arena, the Cinema, and some shopping areas. It would be connected to Bellisseria by a rail line. Later in the year, Motown would hold another large event, a trivia party. In November, the WelcomeHub Cinema would show a short film by Saffia Widdershins inspired by the Fantasy Faire, "Harland Quinn and the Omega Hex." In December, the Cinema would show "Scrooge: A Second Life Christmas Carol," a faithful rendition of the Dickens classic made entirely in the virtual world done late last year by Caligula Aquila and AVTV.

 

One part of the WelcomeHub was a little controversial, the Social Casino. It had appeared on it's own a few months before. Offering blackjack tables and slot machines for which players could use Linden dollars to buy (nonrefundable) chips, there were charges of hypocrisy a couple years earlier the Lab had banned gachas as they resembled gambling.

While glitches have always been part of Second Life, there was an especially bad day in February with numerous sims offline and many people clouded for hours. In March, the Purfection sim had a major glitch which wrecked the Happy Vixen club, but thankfully a rollback fixed the damage. In August was some "Unscheduled Maintenance" that had people unable to rezz, log in, or put things on the ground for hours. 

Besides the Second Life Anniversary celebrations, there were many other events. Probably the biggest among them was the Relay for Life in Second Life, which officially went from February to June. Various teams big and small held events to raise money for cancer research and treatments and have fun doing so ("putting the fun in fundraising"). The high point would be the Relay Weekend in June in which hundreds walked along a track along American Cancer Society and almost 40 other sims, described as the most intense 24 hours in Second Life.

The Relay for Life would have a number of spinoff events. There was the SL Living Expo, which replaced the longtime running "Home and Garden Expo/" Sci-fi Con (which had Slime A Linden). In the spring was the Fantasy Faire that had many detailed sims to explore and many events such as the Childrens' Roleplay. In fall, there was "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer," which ran alongside events such as "Outshop Cancer" and the SL Renaissance Festival. The Lindens would appear at the later, in a bidding event in which the losing team got pilloried. And for December there was the Christmas Expo.

 

There was the VWBPE conference in the spring, which brought attention to how Second Life could be used for education. Burn2 would have it's "Animalia" event in October and several spinoff events across the year. The Seachai Library would hold the Bradbury event in October and the Dickens Project in December.

One annual event, One Billion Rising, was canceled for the first time since it started. The Sci-Fi Expo, a Relay event, would announce further seasons would be "indefinitely postponed."  Virtual Ability would have a number of conferences to educate and inform about the disabled. "Bid The Lindens Bald" at the Relaystock would raise almost three-quarters of a million Linden dollars. There was the Fandom Con, which took place in late July a few weeks after the SLB. Raglan Shire would have it's Artwalk and Wootstock. Team Firestorm would hold it's thirteenth anniversary bash. Halloween would see a number of events. Veterans Day would see the annual Veterans Tribute and "Tracks to Trenches."

Besides the Relay, there were numerous other Fundraisers. In February, there was a fundraiser for an earthquake that hit Turkey, and one for Ukraine in it's war against Russian invasion. In the summer, there was the "Forget ME Not" fundraiser for "research of ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis), Long Covid, Fibromyalgia and related chronic conditions." In August was a fundraiser to help the people left homeless by a devastating fire on the Hawaiian island of Maui. It would raise about two million Lindens. There was the Spoonful of Sugar event to raise money for Doctors Without Borders. Luna's Empire would hold a Ghost Hunt event for Halloween.

 

Veterans Isle would hold benefit concerts every month to raise money to keep roofs over the heads of vets. Creations for Parkinson's and Team Diabetes would have a number of events, such as "Scare Me Silly" for Halloween.

On April Fools Day the Lab pulled on on Bellisseria with UFOs all over the island. The April Fool the Newser would pull was a playful poke at Patch Linden. There were also shopping events such as Abnormality, and Linden Lab's "Shop and Hop" events.

Besides Linden Lab's new starter avatars, one other body made the news. The popular Maitreya mesh body would get it's first major update ever, the Laura X. For owners of virtual pets, there was one less company as Biobreeds shut down in February due to a dispute between the co-owners.

 

The Mieville community was facing an uncertain future following the confirmed death of it's founder Perryn Peterson in later 2022. Fortunately Linden Lab intervened, in February offering residents the chance to take over the sims. So the community went on, celebrating it's 15th year that summer.

 

Caledon would celebrate it's 17th anniversary in March. The next month it was announcing it was closing a few sims, though it had many more. It's founder, Desmond Shang, would step down as leader later in the year, with NeoBokrug Elytis taking his place.

The Newser would check numerous sims this year. Some were old favorites such as Calas with it's great scenery and Montecito Bay with it's stores and arcade. There were others we came across for the first time such as the New Genesis Bay sim with a riding track that was so long it took hours to finish. Echovets would create a gateway sim aimed at US Military veteran newcomers. Besides sims, we would check out groups, such as Drivers of SL.

 

Outside Second Life, one other world that was making mainstream headline news a couple years earlier, Facebook's Horizon, after months of being heavily promoted by it's owner was quietly "left behind" as it made little money compared to what had been invested in it, and Mark Zuckerburg turned his attention to other projects such as AI.

Among those lost, Palomma Cassanova, the owner of the Free Dove freebie store which had been helping newcomers for years. There were worries the place would be gone, but it was saved. Bree Himmel, noted for being one of Raglan Shire's "Basement Kitties of Doom" had passed in January as well. Xzavia Yifu of Timeless Textures passed in February. Ariel Loonie of Luskwood was gone. FrannyDJ, the lady who brought a tribute to Macy's Thanksgiving Parade to Second Life, and other parades, had died. Fans who enjoyed her parades would keep the Thanksgiving one alive. Allian Blackwell, a Commandant of the Second Life Coast Guard, was gone. New Citizens Incorporated lost Beverly Montgomery. 

Among the places that closed down was the WEDCOT Center Park, a tribute to Disneyland and Disney World. A couple years earlier, it got attention as Patch Linden held a Christmas music event there. But sadly the sim would close after ten years of operation. 

Live performer Keeba Tammas, the singer of the "Keeba Tammas and The Tiny Maniacs" band would retire from live performances, though the band would go on, renaming itself as just the Tiny Maniacs. Music video maker Furrex ended up banned from Second Life, and it seemed his days of making videos were over. But he was soon making them once more. 

For the Newser office's neighbors, the Sunweavers, it was an eventful year with a number of events. It was especially so during the Relay season in which there were events such as the annual Air Show and Ren-Faire, in which people dropping by had a chance to play games and courses set up by Cynthia Farshore and Shockwave Yareach. There were the Bid Me events in which team captain Rita Mariner went skunk, one team member became a clone of Luskwood's founder Michi, new team member Charlee Shuftan went panda for a few weeks. At the Relaystock, they would make over 100,000 Linden dollars at Cynthia's set alone. And there was Cynthia's weekly Moon Dance. The team would reach the one million Linden mark in May. Encouraged, the team reached further and hit Ruby Level (1,250,000 Lindens) for the first time ever. It was a record year. At other times of the year, "A Little Odd Place" at Sunweaver Bay would change for the holiday at the time. For Linden Lab's Halloween video contest, Nydia Tungsten would send in an entry. And one certain fox would find love and after a courtship they would be husband and wife.

For the Newser, it's been quite a year covering events here in Second Life. And we'll be continuing to cover it for 2024. Special thanks to our sponsors at Montecito Bay, Lorena Chung Estates, The Safe Waters Foundation, and Farshore Radio.

Bixyl Shuftan
Editor, SL Newser

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

 

Saturday, April 29

 

    ~*~

    

    At 10 AM PST   

    Living On Earth And Living On The Moon

    By Tab Scott (Terry Beaubois in SL)

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/living-earth-moon/

    Auditorium

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

      

    ~*~

 

    At 9 PM PST   

    Water

    By Jes Stannard

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/water/

    SC Meeting Spot

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

 

    ~*~

    

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

 

Saturday, April 22

 

    ~*~

    

    At 10 AM PST   

    Second Life Scripting

    By Robert Lawson Brown (Scire Gaea in SL)

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/vwbpe-2

    Auditorium

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

      

    ~*~

 

    At 9 PM PST   

    Friendship Online

    By Jes Stannard

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/friendship-online/

    SC Meeting Spot

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

 

    ~*~

    

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝

 

 

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

 

Saturday, April 15

 

    ~*~

    

    At 10 AM PST   

    Recap of the 2023 VWBPE conference on Second Life

    By Dr. William Schmachtenberg (Dae Miami SL) and Linda Morris Kelley, BA (Delia Lake SL)

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/vwbpe-2023/

    Auditorium

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

      

    ~*~

 

    At 9 PM PST   

    ChatGPT and AI

    By Jes Stannard

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/health/

    SC Meeting Spot

 

   The Science Circle (72,129,30)

 

    ~*~

    

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝

 

 

2022 Year in Review

 

 2022 saw it's share of triumphs and tragedies, breakthroughs and pitfalls, and other things that stood out. Before closing the door, it's time for a look back at what happened.

In real-life, Europe would see it's bloodiest conflict since the Second World War with the invasion of the Ukraine by Russian dictator Putin's forces. People would protest across the world, and many in Second Life would show their support with demonstrations, fundraisers, flying Ukrainian flags, and the wearing of it's colors. Although there were less flags and people wearing blue and gold over time, moths later some places and people still were. When Britain's Queen Elizabeth passed, a memorial was set up in London City. Dana Vanmoer, the editor of the closed SL Newspaper, would make real-life news when her mailbox "toppers" were mentioned in the Daily Mail website.

Twenty years ago, Second Life was in beta. And this year, the oldest objects on the grid would start to turn twenty. On January 25, the first prim to be created (and remain) turned twenty. On February 11 came the oldest textured object's 20th anniversary. In July was the 20th anniversary of Second Life's oldest existing structure, "The Man."

 

Linden Lab and Second Life would see some developments. There would be two new levels of accounts in addition to Basic and Premium. There was Premium Plus which offered perks such as fewer fees and higher weekly Linden dollar allowances. Later in the year, Premium Plus residents could get a low-capacity homestead sim without getting a full one first. The Lab also stated there would eventually be Linden Home lots in a new 2048 square-meter size just for Premium Plus residents, though they hadn't arrived by year's end. There was also a Plus account option, which basically allowed people to get land for cheaper outside the Linden Home area. 

 

The price of Mainland was lowered. Europeans no longer had to pay VAT tax. Name change fees were changed so one no longer had to get a Premium account to do so. High Capacity sims announced in April, offered to residents in May, the initial high price of $999 and $899 a month after lowered the following month to $499. Linden Lab announced Puppetry feature was being worked on for avatars. It was also announced new starter avatars, NUX avatars, were in development, but six months after the SLB have yet to be released. In January, the 360 snapshot feature available already in the Linden viewer was accessible to more when it became part of the Firestorm Viewer. Not all changes were for the better. Sim rollbacks would no longer be free, but cost $25, each. 

The Grid has always seen glitches. But in late January there were so many that on January 31 the Lab felt compelled to issue a statement apologizing for them. Linden Lab would get it's founder Philip Rosedale/Philip Linden back in January as an advisor, and would add a Chief Marketing Officer and Information Security Officer in May. In September, Linden Lab would acquire Caspertech, an inworld company best known for it's rental-fee vendors. In October, a deal was worked out with the makers of the Speedlight text viewer, making it free for those with Premium Plus. 

 

Also in October, a deal was worked out between Tilia and JP Morgan bank, in which it would get a cash investment in exchange for a share of the profits. Tilia had been created by Linden Lab a few years ago, but was now separate though still controlled by it's owners the Waterfield Network.

The Bellisseria continent would continue to grow. In May, a new type of Linden Home, the Asian-themed Sakura, would be released in a new area with a tall, snow-capped mountain in the middle. In April, around the time of it's third anniversary, there would be more of the Newbrooke (suburban style) homes made available. Expansions in August made it possible to not just sail from Bellisseria to the older mainland, but continue traveling up the shore.

A couple feature-length movies made in Second Life would get attention. Draxtor's "Virtual Cultures in Pandemic Times" depicted people going to SL and Animal Crossing as ways to socialize while it was unsafe to do so in real life. In December came "Waarheid," a science-fiction cyberpunk film made entirely in Second Life. Both were featured at the Film Threat theater. 

Second Life would see many events over the course of the year. The Lab would host some, including "Hug or Dunk a Linden," two Linden snowball fights, The Music Fest, and of course the Second Life Birthday - the SL19B. The theme for the anniversary event was Steampunk. Bay City would hold some, such as Mole Day, the Bay City Parade, the Bay City Christmas party, and the Prim Drop. There was also the One Billion Rising, the Bellisserian Valentine's Day boat cruise, the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference, Naturecon, New Babbage's Burning Barrel Race, and more. The Relay for Life would host many events, such as the Home and Garden Expo, the Sci-Fi Expo and Con, the Fantasy Faire, the Christmas Expo, the Renniasance Festival, and of course the Relay Weekend, in which over a thousand avatars braved the lag on an "H" shaped track that when through over a few dozen sims. Patch Linden would host a barbecue on the Relay track in the "Days of Relay" a few days before that. 

 

One notable location in Second Life, Tempura Island, closed down after 14 years. But a tribute place quickly emerged, and the Lab would bring the place back under it's preservation program. But other places would not be as fortunate. "The Dirty Grind," a music venue that featured numerous live musicians would close after over a decade. The East River Community sims in Sansara shunk in number after a major landowner left. A few were saved, but some were not. The Mieville Steampunk community faced a crisis when it's founder Perryn Peterson was declared missing and presumed dead. As there was no plan to preserve the sims after his death, the long-term fate of the estates and community remains uncertain.

Sadly, some people would leave Second Life. Live musician Bat Masters would hang up his microphone after many years of singing due to declining health. Siddean Munro, the maker of Slink avatars, would close down and leave the grid on December 31 after content creating for about 15 years. Many would also pass away in real life, Curei of Whole Brain Health, Jimmy Branagh of New Babbage, artist Indea Vaher,  DJ Fritter AKA Hakura the Pup who was an SL and radio DJ, JasElm Merte of the Safe Waters Foundation and Insilico & Jinx, Teal Freenote of Raglan Shire, Breezy Carver of New Babbage. musician Paul Nowles, Ktahdn Vesuvino of Mieville, Minirainbow of Raglan, Waya Snowpaw a DJ and veteran who distinguished himself at HFOT benefits, Jenn Chant of the Sunweavers, and others.

Virtual Worlds would get attention in real-life news with Facebook/Meta's "Horizons." While Mark Zuckerburg tried to depicted his virtual world as new and nothing else like it, anyone even remotely familiar with Second Life knew this wasn't true, and he was demanding a far bigger cut from what content creators made, and of course the lack of legs which were lampooned on both late-night TV and Linden Lab's own "April Fool" gag. Horizons would turn out to be a disappointment for Zuckerburg, bringing in few people and little cash, which added to Facebook/Meta's problems as it's net worth went downhill. Social Media would also make the news as billionaire Elon Musk best known for his Telsa electric car bought Twitter. Some conservatives and populists saw this as good news, feeling the platform's censors had been biased against them. But Musk's moves such as demanding that employees work "extremely hardcore" did not go well and was seen as unfair to single mothers. Many advertisers would leave, and Musk would end up losing millions on both Twitter and Telsa. 

Outside Second Life, VRChat in July had a security update that disabled mods, much to the anger of many users who over time came to rely on them, and bringing an end to an unspoken agreement between the platform's owners and what came to be an underground mod community. Microsoft would announce it's plans to buy Activision/Blizzard, hoping to complete the deal by the middle of 2023, but it would have to be approved by the US Government's FTC. In the meantime, Blizzard would launch the latest World of Warcraft expansion: Dragonflight, with a new placer race, the Dracthyr.

 

For the Newser's neighbors, the Sunweaver/Angels community, it was an eventful year. The estates would see new features such as new train stops, the new Club Squeaks, and the Christmas theme park. The Relay season would be an active one, hitting Platinum at the start. Cynthia Farshore would be behind or have a hand in many of it's events such as the weekly Moon Dances, the Renfaire, and the Sunbeamer & Roos Air Show. The Sunbeamers would raise over a million Linden Dollars, making Emerald-Level fundraising and come out number thirteen of 138 Relay teams. For her efforts, Cynthia would be honored with a community trophy. ShinyWhiteDragon, a longtime regular at Club Cutlass, and LilyBethPatterson would be married in July. December had a crisis when Perri Prinz and RECoyote Mindes faced a real-life eviction. But in what was called a Christmas miracle, their friends quickly organized a fundraiser that got them the rent money they needed. There was also some fun and games to be had by the community outside Second Life, notably in the Angels server in Rust with the players seeing what they could build and having a couple races and a base defense competition. 

As for the Newser team itself, it was a challenging time with the editor/head writer having to deal with personal tragedy. But the publication continued, and was gifted with a new office by Ranchan Wiedman. As Second Life approaches it's 20th anniversary, we will continue to report the news, large and small, of the people, places, and events across the Grid. Special thanks to our sponsors at Lorena Chung Estates, the Deathlands, and Montecito Bay, our supporters at Farshore Radio and the Sunweaver/Angels community, and of course you the readers. 

 

*Addition* I forgot to include the split in the Burn2 community, with some artists forming their own Burner group, Burn ONe, which would hold a "Renegade Burn" in October and a few other events that year.

Bixyl Shuftan
Editor/Head Reporter

Second Life Newser

May 4 Lab Chat Videos and Transcripts Now Available

For those who missed the Lab Chat some days ago, hosted by Saffia Widdershins and Jo Yardley, along with Ebbe, Oz, and Troy Linden, there are now videos and a transcript of the event.



(click here if the video fails to play).

The videos, the above, part two, and part three, were posted by Linden Lab. Inara Pey provided the transcript, in addition to a summary of the event: "Lab Chat #3 in 10-ish Minutes."

Sources: Lab Chat Blog, Modem World.

A Few Weekend Happenings

A number of events happened this weekend. On Friday April 1, Grendel's Children launched their "Trust Nothing" promotion, and Club Gearz (pictured above) had their Grand Re-Opening party. On Saturday, the Furry Gamers group had their "Cheesy" tournament at the Happy Vixen Club with a computer game as the prize. On Sunday, combat roleplayers, including some from New Bastogne, fought in a "Carrier Battle in the Gulf." There were also a number of Relay events across Second Life, including the last day of "Stand UP - Battle of the DJs." The Raglan Shire Tiny-themed community announced some rebuilding of their sim. And more.

More about some of these events later on.

Judge Issues Summary Judgement in Amaretto vs Ozimals Suit

It's been almost two years since Ozimals, the creators of the breedable bunny that was all the rage in Second Life for a time, ended up in court against Amaretto, known for it's horses that remain popular today. For those who don't remember, the trouble began in December 2010 when Ozimals filed a DMCA against Amaretto saying the scripts for Amaretto horses resembled those of Ozimals bunnies, and Amaretto responded with a counter-DMCA and copyright lawsuit. Later, the judge issued a temporary restraining order on Linden Lab against issuing a DMCA on Amaretto. The following month, he “granted an injunction that only applies to Ozimals' sending of takedown notices and makes no reference to restrictions on Second Life.”

The "bunneh versus horsie" lawsuit, which besides being a real life case involving virtual goods had the distinction of being presided by Charles R. Breyer, the brother of a Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (Hamlet Au mused that there's likely to be a few jokes about the case in family conversation over the Holidays). Following the injunction in January 2011, nothing was heard about the case until this month. Tateru Nino reported that on November 5th, Judge Breyer made a summary judgement on the case.


Ozimals lacks standing to pursue its counterclaim, and so the Court GRANTS IN PART Amaretto’s Motion for Summary Judgment as to the counterclaim. Because Amaretto has not established a reasonable likelihood of facing copyright infringement liability, the Court finds that Amaretto lacks standing to pursue its remaining claims; it also finds that the possibility of harm is so speculative that the Court would not exercise its discretion to rule on he declaratory relief claims even if the threshold standing requirements were met. Accordingly, the Court DENIES IN PART Amaretto’s motion for summary judgment as to the declaratory judgment and copyright misuse claims, and DISMISSES those claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.


Amaretto claims the ruling as a victory for them, posting the "ruling vindicates Amaretto and permanently prevents Ozimals from asserting its previously claimed copyright on Amaretto or any other entity." There has been no comment on the Ozimals blog.

Hamlet Au's article on the case got number of comments, including one by Pussycat Catnip, whom remarked, "Summary judgements are ultra rare. They only occur when the situation is so obvious, the court finds there is no need for a trial. That's something Courts normally cannot Constitutionally do. To get one, the other side has to have essentially conceded the floor. ... whatever evidence was put forth, was deemed worthless."

It seems that this case is all but over, Tateru thinking, "it doesn’t look like Judge Breyer is going to have all that much left to rule on to finalize this case. It may drag on a little longer, but not that much longer ..." The general opinion on the Grid seems to have been that Ozimals had started the mess to begin with due to its market crash after months of being wildly popular, and went after the new top breedable pet by trying to use the power of the Lindens.

Hamlet Au thought that this case would establish a precedent for similar cases. Though this was a case in which the evidence was "worthless." One in which the accuser has a more solid claim is likely to go in it's own direction.

Sources: Tateru Nino, Hamlet Au

Bixyl Shuftan