EOTB: "SL Video Creators Group’s Best of 2025 Nominees"

 

 In the Linden Blog, there's been two updates in the past few days. On Wednesday January 14 was an announcement for video fans. For the rest of January, there will be special showings of highlights from videos nominated for The SL Video Creators Group Best of 2025 Award at the Cinema at the WelcomeHub area. This will be followed by an awards show at the Cinema on February 7.

 

Calling all machinima fans! The SL Video Creators Group is kicking off the new year at the Second Life Cinema with a special showcase celebrating the Best of 2025 Award nominees.

Founded by Jordan Rizzo in 2020, the SL Video Creators Group brings together Second Life filmmakers to share resources, collaborate, and highlight outstanding machinima. Each year, their awards recognize exceptional work across multiple categories, including short form, long form, vlog, music video, and short film.

Throughout January, the Second Life Cinema will feature a nominees reel, giving you the chance to watch highlights from this year’s nominated videos in a shared, inworld theater experience. It is a great way to discover new creators, revisit standout moments from 2025, and start forming your predictions ahead of the awards show. 

 

The awards show at the Cinema will take place February 7 at Noon SL time, and for those who can't make it inworld, it will be streamed live on Youtube.  

 

For the list of nominies, check the SL Creators Group website.  

 

For the blog post in full, Click Here.  

 

"Machinima Monday" by Chantal Harvey

 

 Longtime residents will likely remember Chantal Harvey, known in Second Life's Golden Age for her work in machinima, films done within virtual worlds and MMOs. Chantal is still around, holding a weekly event around these kinds of videos called "Machinima Monday."

 

We welcome filmers, writers, musicians, actors, movie-fans - hey - everybody is welcome.
This friendly machinima group holds weekly meetings at 1pm - every monday.
You are welcome to join us. 
Newcomer welcome, we chat and show our work, share tips and tricks, on fb too: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MachinimaMondays

 

I dropped by the other day, in time to see a couple well-done videos. Chantal herself was there in a "camera" avatar, looking like a robot with a few treats on her belt. The others present would share videos, and the others would comment. One was for Madpea, the other a music video. The people thought both were well done. 

 

Machinima Monday is every Monday at 1 PM SL time at Samandiriel (209/225/1797) 

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

EOTB: Linden Lab Asking For Content For Tik Tok, Instagram

 

For those using social media and making videos, Linden Lab is asking residents to get on a couple of their pages. A few days ago, the Lab posted an announcement requesting content for their Tik Tok and Instagram pages. 

There were two forms to fill out, one for the Second Life Tik Tok page, the other for it's Instagram. There is no contest or reward, other than to "your chance to show off and shine."

To see the blog post in full, Click Here. 

Second Life Tik Tok page: https://www.tiktok.com/@secondlife? 

Second Life Instagram; https://www.instagram.com/secondlife/ 

Interview With Draxtor Despres

 

Draxtor Despres is among the best known video producers in Second Life, if not the best known, for his work going back more than a decade. He first became widely known through his "Flufee" videos, then his "Drax Radio Hour," "Drax Files" videos, and his documentary "Our DIgital Selves." Today he hosts the weekly "Second Life Book Club" events, and continues to do videos for Linden Lab's "Second Life Destinations." Recently I met up with Draxtor, and he had a number of things to say about how he got his start in Second Life and his productions.

Read the interview in People.

Man of the Year: Draxtor Despress

 
There's been plenty of news this year in Second Life, and plenty of men and women behind it. In real life, the Coronavirus Pandemic cast a dark shadow over the world, and more people than before found themselves looking for things to do online. To bring them to Second Life, there had to be something to advertise the virtual world, and show them what was going on.

Someone helping out with both was Draxtor Despress, (Bernhard Drax in real life). Not just this year, but for the past several. Originally known for his "Flufee" videos made with Pooky Amsterdam, in 2013 he started a new series of informative videos about Second Life, "The Drax Files." This was followed in 2013 with "The Drax Files Radio Hour." In 2018, he produced a documentary film, "Our Digital Selves: My Avatar Is Me," which was about 13 Second Life residents whom overcame their various disabilities and made a home for themselves here. His work continued with the Second Life Destination videos in 2019, and this year he began hosting the Second Life Book Club.

For his work this year and in years past, Draxtor Despress is judged to be the Newser's Man of the Year.

Bixyl Shuftan
Editor, SL Newser

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

SL Video: "Railroads Made in Second Life - Part 5"

(Click here if the video does not play)

Part Five of the "Railroads Made in Second Life" series from Draxtor Despress and Hrdtop75 Deluxe, "The series concludes in episode five featuring an interview with VP of Product Operations Patch Linden, who discusses the important role of railways within the expansive infrastructure of the massive Bellisseria continents (where thousands of Residents reside within Linden Homes)"

SL Video: "Railroads Made in Second Life - Part 4"

(Click here if the video does not play)

From Draxtor Despress on June 23, the fourth in a series of videos on Second Life railways. The episode, "highlights the communities surrounding the ZZR (Zany Zen Railway), which was built by Zen Swords-Galway. As you travel the ZZR, you’ll discover a variety of quirky communities and unique attractions including the small Welsh seaside town Little Coverston."

SL Video: "Railroads Made in Second Life - Part 3"

(Click here if the video does not play)

Part three of the "Railroads Made in Second Life" series from Draxtor Despress and Hrdtop75 Deluxe. Here, "both Drax and Hrdtop75 explore the ONSR (Okemo Nakiska and Southern Railway), located in the snowland regions of the Sansara continent. The ONSR spans across 13 regions and serves 10 stations for a roundtrip averaging about 22 minutes."

SL Video: "Railroads Made in Second Life - Part 2"

(Click here if the video does not play)

Part two of the "Railroads Made in Second Life" series from Draxtor Despress and Hrdtop75 Deluxe. Here, they look at the Short Line in Bay City.

EOTB: "Railroads Made In Second Life"

On Tuesday June 23 on the official blog, Linden Lab announced a series of videos: "Railroads Made in Second Life." There are five videos, all produced by Draxtor Despress.

This year’s theme for our SL17B celebrations is “vacations and road trips” - and, in this spirit, we are pleased to debut today a five-part mini-series dedicated to the unique history, culture and communities surrounding one of the most popular modes of travel in our virtual world - railroads in Second Life. 

Our virtual journalist Draxtor Despres recently took a ride on the rails of SL to travel across miles of virtual railroad tracks spanning across the grid. Along the way, he makes multiple stops to meet a wide variety of colorful characters and creative communities. 



(Click here if the video does not play)

In Episode One, Drax gets together with Hrdtop75 Deluxe to discuss some of the history of the Second Life RailRoad, which goes back to 2003 when the virtual world was new. 

The next three episodes deal with three rail lines, the Bay City Short Line, the Okema Nakiska and Southern Railway, and the Zany Zen Railway. The fifth has an interview with Patch Linden, "who discusses the important role of railways within the expansive infrastructure of the massive Bellisseria continents." On Wednesday, there was also a "Railways Made in Second Life" special at the SL17B.

For more information, check out the Linden blogpost Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

News and Commentary : Looking Back at Torley Linden

Torley is gone.

If you were a resident in Second Life from 2007 to 2010, Torley was one of the Lindens you heard about the most, if not the Linden you knew about the most. He was the Linden who did various videos for Second Life residents, both tutorials with basic information and tips for more experienced residents. They often started with the cheerful opener "friendly greetings," which became an unofficial trademark of his. So was his going about in bright green and pink avatars, his "watermelon" look.




When interviewed by Saffia Widdershins in 2016, Torley stated he joined Second Life in 2004, "I was in a really hard place in my first life, and I discovered Second Life through various sources ... and I was reading a lot of cyberpunk and transhumanist literature at the time, thinking about a brighter future for my whole life. And I soon found myself – well, there’s no nicer way to put it than I was utterly obsessed with being here every day." After several months, "I basically sent this crazy,  rambling note card to Char linden at the time." She and a few other Lindens "gave me the opportunity to apply. So I went through that. Guess it turned out OK."

Torley would say of his time in Second Life, "I’ve mostly been a nomad explorer. I have had homes, and I have had full regions. I still do in fact. But I think the prime thing that always drives me is really the force of discovery, and to share those discoveries, and I really get curious, and I love asking people 'where did you get your avatar?' or 'did you make these parts of your avatar?' or comment on a cool build they’re making. And finding the connections. I love introducing wonderful creative minds in Second Life to each other, and we’ve had so many over time."



Torley would make his Tips and Tricks videos from 2006 to 2009. They can still be found on his Youtube channel. In February 2010, he would announce there would be new Second Life tutorial videos on their own channel. He would do a few of these newer tutorials, which were not as numerous as the ones he did before. He would explain in the 2016 interview there had been a "shift in focus" at the Lab for him to promote newer features and his time was more limited, "I wish I could clone myself." He did feel that numerous bloggers had helped fill the role he had earlier.

Despite no more of his "friendly greetings" videos, Torely was still around. He would appear at events such as Burn2 and the Linden Snowball fights, either as a Linden or in a "civilian" avatar. And he would appear at the Second Life Birthday as well. Although obviously male in real life, his avatars were often female. He would also post thousands of screenshots on his Flickr page.

In 2017, he would be among the Lindens moved to the Sansar team. There he would remain until last month February 2020, about the time of the layoffs in which the next generation virtual world's staff was reduced to a skeleton crew.

Exactly why Torley was apparently let go, one can only speculate. His old position on the Second Life staff had long been filled by others, but he could have been given a position in public relations, which the also popular Xiola Linden left after stepping down from in January with her leaving Linden Lab. Perhaps he wasn't dismissed, but like Xiola decided it was time to move on. But this is all speculation. Linden Lab isn't talking and neither, at least for now, is Torley.

In any event, the "watermelon man" will remain a part of Second Life history. Whereever he goes, we at the Newser wish him well.

Source: Modem World

Bixyl Shuftan

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 .

News and Commentary: More on Youtube And COPPA

Youtube has long been a staple on the Internet. It was a place that people could post videos, as long as they weren't porn or graphically violent, for friends and anyone else interested in watching. Over time, there were changes. There were the ads, there was monetization, there were the takedowns of videos that were seen as infringing of copyrights, and others. But one recent change has scared many video makers: the new rules concerning COPPA. Second Life music video maker Nydia Tungsten ended up removing most of her videos as a result, and many others are doing or considering doing the same. So why are they worried? The new rules in question are just too vague to trust.

Read the commentary in Extra.

SL Videos: "How Big Is The Map of Second Life, Walking Across the Map"

There's a man on Youtube who calls himself "How Big is the Map?" What he does is record himself walking across various gaming worlds such as "Ark: Survival Evolved," "Player Unknown's Battlegrounds," "Elder Scrolls Online," and many others. Most take a half hour to ninety minutes, though "Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall" boasts the biggest map he crossed, which took him about 70 hours in total.



Recently, WATM decided to take on crossing Second Life., in an avatar appropriately named "HowBigistheMap." But he ran into one complication obvious to it's residents: most of the place is private regions by themselves or in groups that are isolated from one another and accessible only by teleporting. But there were the continents. So he decided to talk across those, starting with Sansara. The journey took him an hour and a half. So crossing just this continent alone took more time than crossing most of the game worlds he'd spanned.



HowBigIsTheMap didn't stop there. He would go on to cross the continent of Jeogeot, which took him slightly less than an hour and a half. Then came his third and longest challenge, traversing the triple continent region of Corsica, Nautilus, and Satori. That took him almost three hours, which got him wondering how long would it take to walk across the whole Grid if it was possible.

Luca Grabacr came up with a kind of answer in her video in November 2015, in which she stated if all the sims were lined up end to end, it would take over 23,000 days to walk across them. Obviously that's not the same as crossing the map from one corner to the other. But these videos from these two people show when it comes to ground area, especially ground area with unique content, Second Life has the MMOs beat hands down.

Hat Tip: Hamlet Au
Bixyl Shuftan

University of Western Australia's "Final Chapter" Annouced: "Transformations"

It was on October 2016 that the University of Western Australia area was given a reprieve from three of it's five sims closing down. But a couple weeks ago, Curator FreeWee Ling announced that they would be holding one more event, their "Final Chapter" before the sims (save SJSU Atlantis) are shut down, which is scheduled for the end of July. The theme of the event is "Transformations." In the past, the UWA would offer prizes for the best displays and videos for it's events. This time, there is "No prizes. No judging. Just warm memories and hopes for a brighter tomorrow."

The UWA presence in SL is scheduled to cease the end of July 2017. (Details about that will be posted later. Contact FreeWee Ling if you have questions.)

Before that happens we want to have one more show! Starting immediately, we are accepting entries for the literal UWA show to end all shows. We are hoping all our old friends from the past seven years will want to be part of this last hurrah. But we also welcome entries from those who have never shown here before. It will be a regular exhibition, similar to the current IMMATERIAL show. No prizes. No judging. Just warm memories and hopes for a brighter tomorrow.

Our final chapter is  open to anyone as usual. Entries will not be judged and no prizes are offered. This is NOT a competitions, but an exhibition/celebration. As a small incentive, the show will be documented and an exhibition catalog will be published online as part of the UWA Studies in Virtual Arts (UWA SiVA) journal series.

Our final show is to be titled "Transformations" and is about beginnings, endings, transitions, change. The theme is deliberately vague in order to allow for the broadest possible interpretation.

The University of Western Australia has has a presence in Second Life for many years, since October 2009, and became known for ir's art and machinima (videos done in virtual reality or computer games) contests for cash prizes. For Second Life residents, especially fans of art and those who value the presence of universities and colleges, while they can take a little comfort there is some time to prepare for one more event, the announcement that the reprieve the UWA sims were given was just a temporary one and that the sims are set to close later this year is a sad one.

Source: UWA blog

Bixyl Shuftan

Eye on the Blog: New "QuickTips" for Second Life Newcomers

Longtime residents remember Torley Linden and his turorial videos from about six to three years ago. He'd greet watchers with the expression "Friendly Greetings!" Then he would proceed to give instructions about a particular topic, such as editing textures or adjusting preferences. Well, it seems Torley Linden is back and narrating a new series of instructional videos.


Over the next few weeks, you’ll see several new “QuickTips” clips that are designed to help new and existing users learn the basics of Second Life. Forthcoming tutorial clips will help teach the basics of shopping, socializing, connecting with communities, finding interesting places and more.

The first video tutorial in this new series focuses on customizing your appearance in Second Life. One of the first things most Second Life users do upon arriving inworld is to personalize their digital identity to reflect their own style.



The blog post then encourages readers to visit the Knowledge Base's "Controlling Your Avatar's Appearance."

Watching the video, I noticed a few things. It certainly sounds like Torley's narrating it, though it doesn't say who is. It's also noticably shorter than most of Torley's video's, which could go on for ten minutes or longer. This one was exactly one minute long. And of course the "Friendly Greetings" opening was gone.

The Youtube had several comments. People were glad that Torley was back, but to some viewers, the video just didn't seem right. The lack of the "Friendly Greetings," the push to visit Marketplace, it just seemed a bit forced some.

But most everyone feels that the return of these videos is a good thing. The big thing many miss is Torley's "Friendly Greetings" remark.

Bixyl Shuftan

2012 Machinima Expo Awards Announced

Machinima Expo Jury Prize Winners: "The Last Syllable of Recorded Time" by Tutsy Navarathna, "Metasex" by Tutsy Navarathna, "Unfinished Paintings (Dreaming in New Orleans) by Miron Lockett, "Wulf and Eadwacer" by Hypatia Pickens

Machinima Expo Jury Prize goes to "The Chapelside Deception" by IceAce (Iain Frair)

Peter Rasmussen Award goes to Kinte Ferguson

Open This End Award: "The Last Syllable of Recorded Time" by Tutsy Navarathna, "Wulf and Eadwacer" by Hypatia Pickens, "The Chapelside Deception" by IceAce (Iain Frair)

Audience Choice Award goes to "Unfinished Paintings (Dreaming in New Orleans) by Miron Lockett

from http://www.machinima-expo.com

Press Release: The Machinima Expo 2012

From www.machinima-expo.com, "The 2012 Machinima Expo will take place on November 16-18 in Midnight Manhattan Reverie in Second Life and simultaneously at this website via Livestream.

View our Program Schedule and List of Screeners."