Category Archives: SL Closures
Star Wars SL Mos Espa sim closing down in Second Life
According today’s blog post by Inkline Media the well known Mos Espa sim which is a Star Wars Role-play sim will be closing down on Wednesday 28th November 2012. The sim owner says it’s due to real life and Second Life issues for the upcoming sim closure.
- Have you visited this Star Wars role-play sim before ?
- Teleport to Mos Espa
This is very sad news and the sim will be missed deeply. There is one last scheduled role-play between 28th November – 3rd December which details are still unknown for. “The roleplay will be about a sith betrayal in the city and the destruction of Mos Espa. This event will be open to all who wish to join”.
I went to visit and I received this message when I arrived in the sim.
Thank you for visiting Mos Espa, Daniel! Please be advised that the sim will close Wednesday, November 28th.
The welcome landing spot snapshot.
The star wars role-play town from above
Visit today before the sim closure tomorrow. Last chance to take snapshots and videos.
Pop Art Lab closes region after 5 years in Second Life in November 2012
It seems that Pop Art Lab region (SLURL)will be closing in November 2012 in Second Life, according to the Pop Art Lab Blog. After 5 years of having a Second Life presence it seems the Pop Art Lab group will be taking a break from regular activities. It’s sad to hear about the closure of the sim and i’m sure it will be missed alot.
Snapshot of inside of Pop Art Lab.
The main reasons….
- Streaming can in most cases be made using services like Spotify
- Mass adoption of virtual worlds lacks significant growth
- Barely no RL musicians or brands are willing to invest in SL
- Focus on Real Life and Real Life clients
What happens next?
- PAL will continue building up Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. and focus entirely on posting news about music and shiny new tech in social media (games, virtual worlds included).
- PAL’s inworld group will continue though most updates will be linked to above networks.
- Inworld streaming will stop but will be used on special occasions via above networks.
- Sim will be gone in November (unless we receive unexpected interest from new partners).
Snapshot from above of Pop Art Lab in Second Life looking really futuristic.
On the Pop Art Blog post mentions the following details about the break and closure of the sim below…
The time has come to step away for a while from virtual worlds. After spending 5 years testing and playing with Second Life and Virtual Worlds platforms, I have decided to take hiatus. It has been a fantastic ride but I don’t think we can push it much further without significant changes in the technologies surrounding these environments.
This is not a permanent farewell to Second Life from Pop Art Lab, more of an extended break of our activities and a chance for us to reflect on our past successes and future projects but without the day to day responsibility of changing streams, worrying about tier payments and constant promotion of our services.
We already accomplished more than I ever dreamt about (brief Google search list 490 unique hits: “pop art lab”= 204.000!).
Over the years Pop Art Lab have accomplished a lot of awesome things…
- Created the very first fully immersive music jukebox worldwide enabling avatars to meet in virtual environments and walk around exploring 4 separate music streaming channels
- 75.000-100.000 visitors
- 15-20 virtual TV shows/concerts
- 2000 new full length albums streamed
- Mentioned in Los Angeles Times (for creating designs for Craig Lyons RL/SL concert)
- Mentioned at The Swedish Internet Days conference 2011 (in Robin Teigland‘s speech, with huge viewership nationwide)
- Hosted 50+ digital events
- Creating influential designs (Torley Linden visited Pop Art Lab prior to opening his PAL “cube” inspired sim – see last pic in above slides)
- Met various RL music celebrities avatars praising our work
- Held presentations in San Francisco, Dublin (Ireland), Lahti (Finland) plus many more in Denmark
- Participated in various Linden Lab developer programs
- Participated in VW Sense-making and Innovation: A strategic research project at Roskilde University, Copenhagen Business School and partners project 2008-2012
- Helped translate the official Linden Lab viewer into Danish
- Set new standards for rolling out compelling machinima contests/eventscreating music videos for RL artists
- RL meetings with a variety of influential RL music tech developers incl.Alexander Ljung (co-founder of Soundcloud)
- Fronted secondlife.com Destination Guide numerous times and as first ever Scandinavian company
- Stayed in Destination Guide’s music section throughout 4-5 years
- Maintained and grown a huge network of valuable RL connections from across the globe
- Held RL seminar day with Henrik Bennetsen (Sirikata/Katalabs) on using virtual worlds in Danish public library sector
- Build a close relationship to national Danish/Scandinavian copyright institutions KODA, Gramex and NCB
- Build a close relationship to local music business and entrepreneurs
- Build an army of music lovers in a community with no physical border including 600 members from Bangkok to Aruba!
- Supervised and tech setup of mixed reality Metanomics TV-show held in Denmark 2010
- Supervised and designed the 4 sim complex for MMIF Machinima Festival 2010
- Received praise and kudos by Mark D. Kingdon (M Linden), ex Linden Lab CEO during above MMIF (see blogpost).
What do you think of the closure of the Pop Art Lab sim & the team taking a break from Second Life?
ABC Island closing down on 22nd September 2012
According to the Metaverse Journal blog post ABC Island in Second Life will be closing down on Saturday 22nd September which is very sad news to report and I’m sure ABC island will be missed deeply by the SL community. ABC Island officially opened back on March 16th 2007 and since then there’s been thousands of visitors exploring the island. Best wishes to the ABC island team/owners for the near future!
The reason why ABC Island has decided to leave Second Life is still unknown at the moment. Please comment if you know more including farewell parties etc.
Snapshot of the whole ABC Island.
Closure notice posted in the sandbox area.
Snapshot of the ABC island map.
What is ABC Island?
ABC Island in Second Life is a dynamic and distinctively Australian destination providing visitors with opportunities to design, create and showcase objects, discover a hidden underground music club, listen to Indigenous stories, wander round an environmentally friendly eco house, experience ABC audio and video in a social environment and attend live screenings and concerts.
Farewell ABC Island
ReactionGrid closing down
According to the latest blog post on Hypergrid Business it appears that ReactionGrid is moving away from Opensim and closing down the grid within the next 24/48 hours or so. ReactionGrid has 81 regions with 105 active users (active within the past month) with 11, 555 total registered users apparently via July 2012 Opensim Grid Statistics. It’s sad news that ReactionGrid will be closing down it’s public opensim grid this week and i’m sure it will be missed by it’s userbase.
In the comments section Maria Korolov posted this…
A ReactionGrid customer just forwarded me an email from the company, which provides a bit more information.
Excerpt:
“By the end of the month of July, we will be closing ReactionGrid’s public OpenSimulator grid.
“We understand some of you may have islands with us that have been paid through to a certain date and we will work with you to prorate any time left on that pre-paid contract.
…“To help you migrate all your content, we can provide you with a final OAR file for every region you maintain on our public OpenSimulator grid before we close your regions.”
The ReactionGrid website has been inactive for many months.
I signed up to ReactionGrid on 19th December 2010 and attended a christmas party back then. I logged at various times to explore ReactionGrid and attend Pathfinder Lester office hours on ReactionGrid which were always interesting.
View my ReactionGrid snapshots!
1000+ Avatars project end of an era on 3rd June 2012
Gracie Kendal has recently announced that the 1000+ project in Second Life will be closing down on Sunday 3rd June 2012. There will be a fun party from 12pm to 3pm SLT on Sunday 3rd at Coyote and Seraph City. The 1000+ avatars project started a few years ago and had amazing support by the Second Life community. It started with 100 portraits then accelerated to 500, 1000 then 2000+ avatar portraits. You can still purchase autographed copies of the books and prints apparently. Contact Gracie for more details.
The tiger avatar is me on the 1000+ avatars project wall. YAY!
Visit today before the closure in the next few weeks.
The 1000 Avatar Project, created by artist Gracie Kendal, is a documentation of avatars in Second Life. The portraits explore the idea of the avatar as a constructed online identity and deals with concepts of anonymity, personality, and diversity.
This project is very unqiue, special and amazing I think in Second Life. Gracie Kendal made a notecard about the 1000+ avatars project coming to a end. See below!
Hi my friends,
I want to thank you all so much for your love and support in following and being part of the 1000+ Avatar Project. I am so very proud of the work I have created here and I am glad I have been able to share it with the Second Life community. I think the work speaks for itself in showing the wonderful diversity that we all share here. The lives we create and live and the imagination that you all have shared shows that Second Life is much more than… well the media makes it out to be. I am proud to be a member of the Second Life community and I will continue to pass on its wonders, its capabilities and I will continue to forge ahead as one of the pioneers of this new media art form.
The project has gone through so much since it started in October 2010. I have published 2 books, the installation itself has moved several times and most recently I created a mixed reality installation/performance using a selection from the project in an exhibit in Los Angeles and Second Life.
The whole experience of shooting the portraits, working with my great friend Nikki on publishing the books, putting together the RL/SL art installation and standing back to see what I have done is something I will never forget. I have met so many amazing people along the way. more then 2000 of them
)
Some people have asked me, why I don’t go for 3000 or 10,000 avatars now. At first I kind of laughed it off and said… we’ll see. But as with my paintings, I know when I am finished. It is just a feeling you get. You look at the work you have created and you just know. It is done.
The 1000+ Avatars project has had an amazing journey the last couple years.
On June 3rd from 12-3pm slt we will have one last grand party in which you are all invited… then I will be taking down the installations at Coyote and Seraph City and they will go in my inventory. It is time.Thank you again so much for your love and support!!
Gracie Kendal/Kristine Schomaker
http://www.1000avatars.wordpress.com
I would like to personally thank Gracie for all her hard work and dedication she has put into the 1000+ project during the last few years. The project will be missed!
The Yard at Honie Isle closing down on 27th April 2012
Yesterday evening (SLT) there was sad news posted in White Tigers Mentors group via group noticea and inworld group chat that The Yard at Honie Isle will be closing down in Second Life after 7 years. It’s sad to hear about closures in general in Second Life and it sometimes brings a tear to my eye when well-known locations shut down.
Closure dates
- Public access to Honie Isle will stop on Saturday 14th April 2012.
- The closure for The Yard at Honie Isle is Friday 27th April 2012.
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Freebie,lucky chair,free avatars,mythical,gods,statues, Ladies,jewellery.boots,shoes,hats,Goth,belts,,flexihair,home,skins,shapes huds.textures, sexy,clothes,BDSM,furries,sounds.wings.party. Liberty. Meeroos, meeroo
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Dear friends.
It is with great sadness, that we are writing this notecard to u.
As from the end of April. The Yard at Honie Isle, will be gone. 27th April 2012
The reason for this is……..both Min and I feel that the island is governing our lives, in more ways than one.
Plus we are no longer enjoying SecondLife anymore.The years of dedication is beginning to take its toll on us. Its been 7 years, and in that time….we have helped countless newbies and residents, get started in SL. We personally feel over the years, we have provided an excellent service to the programme. Plus, we feel it is time that we start enjoying the time we have in SL instead.
Saturday the 14th of April. Public access will be removed from the island. This will give us time to collect up all the freebies and personal items. Then the island will be gone before the end of the month. Please would u remove any LandMarks to the island in ur folders.
Both Min and I have worked hard to provide everything a resident could possibly wish for. We set out 7 years ago, to make the greatest freebie place we could. WE feel that we have achieved this. Now its time for us to relax a little more .
Thank u for all ur support over these years. Both Min and I appreciate it. We have forged good friendships here and hope we shall continue to hold those friendships.
Real life is taking over much of our time now, and we cannot be here as often as we wish.
I do hope u will try and understand.
Thank u so much
Love Min and Till
Check out this kind message from Orange Planer.
Till Pierce said this via group chat yesterday evening…
The Yard is closing because after 7 years. The island has dominated both Mins and My life. We have put in many hours of work to provide a good service for SL. We have achieved wot we set out on SL to do. But there comes a time when the hard work and dedication becomes too much and we need a rest.
The last part Till said yesterday was this…
Yes it has been. I love the island that we have worked so hard for. But we cannot be here 24/7
When I logged inworld this morning and teleported over to The Yard at Honie Isle Till and CallieDel was there.
[03:47] V””V: aw ty for ur messages
[03:47] CallieDel Boa: Thank you for doing this, I hadn’t realized it was 7 years for you
[03:47] V””V: I have a message from Orange to put out too
[03:47] V””V: Yes Its been a long time
[03:48] V””V: I am tried of it all sis
[03:48] CallieDel Boa: Longer than I’ve been here, I hope you’ll still drop in.
[03:48] V””V: Yes, I need to find a new home
[03:48] V””V: somewhere for me and my roos
[03:48] CallieDel Boa: I can understand that. I haven’t been in-SL much myself this last year.
[03:48] CallieDel Boa: 5 years for me too
[03:49] V””V: Yes, its saddens me, but I have nothing left to give the programme anymore
[03:49] V””V: It used to be a joy to come online
[03:49] V””V: Now its a chore
[03:49] CallieDel Boa: When it’s no longer fun it’s time to move on.
[03:50] V””V: Yes
[03:50] V””V: I cant remember the last time I went out dancing
[03:51] V””V: I cant remember the last time I went exploring
[03:51] V””V: and if I did
[03:51] V””V: someone would call me back here for some reason or another
[03:51] CallieDel Boa: That can get old.
[03:51] V””V: I have been a prisoner here
[03:51] V””V: No more
[03:52] V””V: I have had my parole
[03:52] V””V: Out this month on a good behaviour bond. lol
[03:52] CallieDel Boa: I’d say you have, now it’s time to relax, explore, come and go as you wish
[03:52] CallieDel Boa: lol
[03:52] V””V: Yes it sure is
[03:52] V””V: I have enjoyed it
[03:53] V””V: But its time for the new ones to do their bit
[03:53] CallieDel Boa: Good point
[03:53] V””V: I have to go. Treacle wants me
[03:53] CallieDel Boa: Ok Huggggsss
[03:53] V””V: Hugs and ty for ur support and friendship
[03:53] V””V: both of u
[03:53] CallieDel Boa: Always Sis
[03:54] V””V: Dont be a stranger
[03:54] Daniel Voyager: thats ok
[03:54] CallieDel Boa: No way, yoiu either
[03:55] CallieDel Boa: I understand how she feels, but still sad
I know the SL community will appreciate the work Till Pierce and Min Ixtab the owners of Honie Isle have done over the years and I think many will understand the hard decisions they had to make. I wish them all the best for the future!
ISTE Island closure on 1st March 2012
It’s been officially announced that ISTE Island will be closing down on Thursday 1st March 2012, which is sad news for educators in Second Life. It seems the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE Island) is closing because of financial reasons and so the decision has been made to shut down the island sadly. Oh! Virtual Learning! blogs about the closure happenings here which is worth reading.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/109/66/30
As of the last day of February, 2012, payments will no longer be made to maintain ISTE Island, and ISTE Island will no longer be.
Its been said ISTE content will be moved to a smaller space on Eduislands 9 island starting on 1st March 2012. There’s also plans to set up a new ISTE region on the Jokaydia Grid. A new home is in the works for the ISTE team to continue their excellent work.
Second Life home of the International Society for Technology in Education.
Visit us online at http://www.iste.org
ISTE has been a special place for many residents in Second Life in recent years and been a popular hit with SL educators on the grid. ISTE hosted a farewell celebration party celebrating ISTE through the years in Second Life shown below.
Farewell ISTE island! 
Spaceport Alpha, Spaceport Bravo & NASA CoLab sims closed down
UPDATE
According to Katherine W Prawl there is good news about the ISM project in Second Life. Because of a recent accepted donation, the ISM team should be able to bring back the sims online when payment issues are resolved. ”ISM is coming back (as soon as we get the account straightened out)”. This is really good news and I’ll look forward to visiting ISM when it returns. YAY!
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It seems like Spaceport Alpha, Spaceport Bravo and NASA CoLab sims have already closed down this year. I was planning to visit the space sims again in Second Life this week but I found that the main ones I wanted to visit are no longer on the grid which is really sad news. I searched for the regions on the weekly New SL Sims in past week thread on the SLUniverse Forums and all three were listed there.
- Spaceport Alpha – been offline since mid January 2012
- Spaceport Bravo – been offline since mid Janaury 2012
- NASA CoLab – been offline since early February 2012
Today when I looked at the map it shows the remaining active space regions without the three Second Life space sims listed above. The teleports and SLurls failed straight away which is a real shame to be honest. To see these historical Second Life space locations disappear from Second Life completely is heart breaking.
- http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport Alpha/47/82/23
- http://slurl.com/secondlife/Spaceport%20Bravo/42/75/27
- http://slurl.com/secondlife/NASA%20CoLab/244/110/23
The snapshot belows shows a map of the space regions back in July 2011.
Check out my blog post called Space exploration places in Second Life 2011.
The snapshot belows shows a map of the space regions back in July 2010. Since then various regions have been disappearing and it’s very alarming to see it so empty in the (above map).
There has been no explanation as to why these space SL sims have suddenly gone from the grid. If anyone knows why? Please feel free to comment. Thanks!
Cartoonimals closing down in Second Life
It’s been announced that the much loved Cartoonimals destination in Second Life will be closing down in about a month’s time. This is really sad news to report about another closure in Second Life and sims are shutting down at alarming rates it seems.
The last open day for Cartoonimals is 14th February 2012. If you have not visited Cartoonimals yet then I highly suggest that you should because the whole region is full of great looking animal products. This is your last chance to visit Cartoonimals before the sim gets closed down!
The reason that Cartoonimals is closing down is due to real life projects that have been taking up Duggy’s time and attention. Duggy Bing is a Second Life creator and owner of this memorable sim called Cartoonimals. Duggy started in Second Life in 2007 and during the past few years he released many amazing products which was an big attraction for many residents in Second Life. Cartoonimals appeared on Treet.TV on 27th January 2009 which can be watched here at http://treet.tv/shows/shopping/episodes/shop-cartoonimals.
The good news is Cartoonimals products will still be available on the SL Marketplace after the sim closure next month. Duggy released this notecard below about the situation.
Hello wonderful friends and customers!
I’m dropping you a note to let you know that I’ll be closing Cartoonimals in about a month. Real life projects have been taking increasing chunks of my attention and I simply haven’t had time to devote to creating new products and attending to marketing (never was too good at that). It was a terrific couple of years and a very rewarding experience. Not a single customer issue that could not be easily resolved….in SL that’s saying something! I want to especially thank those of you who helped with ideas, scripting, building and support.
I’ll continue to offer my stuff on Marketplace, as well as through affiliates. I will be inworld at least once a week to assist customers and replace missing items. As always satisfaction guaranteed.
So again, thanks so much. If I ever find a Third Life I hope you are all there!!!!
—Duggy
p.s. I’m selling my sim…full sim, 15,000 prim….please tell anyone who may be interested to IM me
p.p.s. Anyone who would like a Cartoonimals vendor set can pick them up at the TP point in my shop
Another significant loss to the SL community in 2012.
CNN island farewell gathering
On Wednesday afternoon I heard the news that CNN island in Second Life will be closed down by the end of month/year. CNN entered Second Life back in November 2007, where the first in-world training session took place on 13th November at the I-Report Hub. Since then there have been a number of great i-report stories about Second Life over the years and weekly inworld meetings. Will you miss CNN island in Second Life ?
More snapshots of the CNN farewell party can be found on my Flickr stream.
On Thursday afternoon I went to the CNN inworld farewell party where many of my friends and CNN I-Reporters gathered to discuss various topics for a while which was really good. I arrived about 15 minutes before 2pm SLT and then more folks started started to arrive.
Around 2:50pm SLT there was live music from the DJ (Grace McDunnough) for the farewell party at the dance floor area. More than 20 avatars attended the CNN farewell party which was great fun. There was a special fireworks display at the end around 3:30pm SLT to dance the night away.
CNN I-Reporters
The CNN inworld groups may still be intact when the CNN island shuts down but there’s no guarantee on that, says Nicole Ireport. Nicole mentions more information…
- [14:36] Nicole Ireport: e-mail me at nicole.saidi@turner.com if you have questions
- [14:36] Nicole Ireport: just want to let you know that we do care about y’all and we hope you will stay on board with us
- [14:37] Janey Bracken: We’d like to thank Henry and Nicole for teaching us so much and taking an interest in SL
- [15:57] Nicole Ireport: iReport works well in the case of Second Life
Farewell & Goodbye CNN SL!
CNN island will be closing in Second Life before 2011 ends
I have just heard that CNN island will be closing in Second Life before the end of the month (2011 ends). Apparently there will be a special farewell party at 2pm SLT at CNN island today (29th December 2011) in Second Life.
Janey Bracken posted a post called Farewell To CNN in Second Life about 19 hours ago which is really sad news to end 2011 on. Nicole ireport and Henry ireport the CNN producers (sl avatar names) will be going ahead with the closure of the island officially in a matter of days/weeks.
There is a free to join group called SL iReporters which was used for resident reporters who want to contribute to CNN SL iReport. There was special events and occasional announcements about CNN iReport in Second Life. Reqular meetings were hosted on the island by CNN staff where good discussions could take place about many topics virtually/real life. CNN inworld presence will be greatly missed by the SL community when it goes officially. The CNN SL submissions were amazing over the years and I enjoyed reading them.
Snapshots from CNN island today!
CNN report on the closure
It was with a little sadness that I heard the news from CNN producers Nicole ireport and Henry ireport (their avatar names! but CNN producers in real life none the less), that CNN Island will be closing in Second Life. It has come as no big surprise to be honest, as the hectic politics of today’s real world leaves CNN people with little time to cover everything, let alone a fun thing like Second Life.
It’s been great, I owe both Nicole and Henry a lot, as I started to write seriously by using the CNN ireport pages back in 2008 when they started the SL project. Today at a meeting at CNN Island Nicole said “We set up shop here in 2008 because we wanted to see what it was like to participate in a real-time community, in a virtual world no less. We didn’t know what to expect. The prospect was a little scary, to be completely honest.”
“We’ve realized that there’s a whole culture in-world, and we met so many people and acquired amazing threads and dance moves. Our comfort level grew, and we really feel like we’ve come to know you. It’s been a few years now and we’re thoroughly appreciative of this community we’ve had a privilege to be a part of. We are all proud of what we accomplished here and excited about the future. Just wanted you to know that.”
She added “We wanted to let you know that we’ll never forget our meetings, amazing hair and of course the incredible figures on our avatars. (lol!) We wish we looked like this in real life. It’s truly been one of my favourite projects at CNN, and I think others will agree.” It’s been fun for us too Nicole and I think I can speak for a lot of other ireporters too!
Nicole and Henry told us that there will still be Second Life Assignments, so nothing has really changed except their visits in-world. There are still some of the finer points to work out, but CNN will let us know very soon what else is happening. There will be a farewell party on CNN Island on Thursday at 2pm SLT and it would be nice if as many of the SL ireporter group could come along and show Nicole and Henry our appreciation for all the time they shared with us in SL.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/CNN%20iReport%20Island/128/128/2
Farewell CNN in Second Life!
Port Seraphine closing down in Second Life on 1st January 2012
Nephilaine Protagonist has announced that Port Seraphine will be closing down as of 1st January 2012. This is really sad news for the SL community and yet another piece of SL history will be gone. PixelDolls has been popular hit with the SL community over the years and many will be sad to see it go.
Port Seraphine will be shutting down as of Jan 1. This includes the PixelDolls main store, as well as the gallactic, romance, and chroma shops. All items have been set to L50 and will remain so until Jan 1st.
I’ve got a few things planned to commemorate this farewell, including a photo contest and a final LE item- the last PixelDolls will ever produce!- as well as a special something for all of you in the update group. Stay tuned, more info on that coming on Dec 1.
Nephilaine plans on doing smaller and more SL focused projects during the next year. I wish Nephilaine the best of luck on the next chapter.
