It’s been quite a year for Second Life during 2010 with a lot of memorable events and big news. This post is my SL 2010 Year In Review looking back on the highlights month-by-month.
In early January 2010, Wallace Linden became the new Conversation Manager of Linden Lab. M Linden talked about experience improvements including viewer 2, discovery tools, social tools and new resident experience in his looking ahead blog post for 2010. On 25th January 2010, Linden Lab launched Linden Homes for all Premium members.
On 23rd February 2010, Linden Lab launched Viewer 2 Public Beta which was a major transformation of the interface and features. There was a lot of reactions on forums, blogs and inworld office hours when it was announced by Linden Lab.
On 7th March 2010, M Linden opened up HQ in Amsterdam. On 9th March 2010, Pathfinder Linden who worked in the education sector left Linden Lab. On 22nd March 2010, Linden Lab decided to end the SLim beta program.
On 14th April 2010, Metanomics hosted it’s Metanomics 100th Episode Spectacular. In late April users raised class action against Linden Lab over virtual property. We also saw Linden Lab decided to no longer support Woodbury University in Second Life which become big news during late April 2010.
On 5th May 2010, there was a phishing attack through the Private Messaging system of the Second Life blogs and forums. Linden Lab disabled the Private Messaging system completely. On 16th Bay City celebrated its second anniversary in Second Life with the parade celebrations. Many Lindens attended the parade celebrations including M Linden, Blondin Linden, Hyper Mole and Garden Mole.
On 1st June 2010, The Tech Virtual won the Linden Prize 2010 award receiving US$10,000 prize. On 10th June 2010, The Lily Pad Lounge closed its doors. Also on the 10th of June 2010, Linden Lab made a 30% cut back on Linden Lab staff. Mark Kingdon stepped down as CEO and Philip Rosedale returned in late June 2010. Philip Rosedale stayed until October 2010 when he announced he was moving back to LoveMachine. Bob Komin became interim CEO until 23rd December 2010 when Bob Komin announced the new CEO of Linden Lab. On 21st June 2010, Second Life had its 7th birthday where Philip Rosedale did a live speech inworld about Second Life. Greenies Home Rezzable in Second Life closed down on 23rd June 2010.
Between 17th – 18th July 2010, Relay for Life was hosted in Second Life which raised a grand total of US$222,804 for the American Cancer Society’s fundraising event. On 21st July 2010, Philip Rosedale announced that the yearly Burning Life in Second Life would be renamed for BURN 2.0 after seven years of support by Linden Lab. On 30th July 2010, Philip Linden and Bob Komin hosted the first inworld live voice meeting about Second Life’s future.
On 4th August 2010, Qarl Linden left Linden Lab which saw large news coverage and large reactions to his departure. Between 13th-15th August 2010 SLCC 2010 was hosted in Boston. Philip Rosedale told everyone about his roadmap for the rest of 2010, including Mesh uploads to go into Public Beta before the end of 2010, Teen Second Life to be closed down, Display Names to launch in late 2010 and the launch of the new Project Snowstorm which will be working on viewer 2 developments. In late August 2010, there was a Emerald distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack, which was followed by a restructure of the team and the collapsed Emerald viewer. The team launched a new viewer called the Phoenix Viewer which was good news for the Second Life community.
On 2nd September 2010, Kim Salzer became Vice President of Marketing for Second Life. In early September 2010, Mitch Wagner had a chat with Philip Rosedale saying that Second Life should be more iPhone-like. On 9th September 2010, we was informed that Adric Antfarm sadly passed away in real life. Catherine Smith (Marketing & Communications Director) left Linden Lab through announcing it on her Facebook profile during late September 2010. In late September 2010, Linden Lab decided to shut down Avatars United, Aimee Linden, Tofu Linden and Spike Linden departed Linden Lab.
On 4th October 2010, Linden Lab announced two changes for 2011 land pricing in Second Life meaning doubling prices for nonprofit and educational organisations around the main grid. On 13th October 2010, Mesh Import Open Beta was launched on the beta grid which enables creators to bring models into Second Life. Improving “detail, complex, realistic and creative objects”. On 16th October 2010, BURN2 festival 2010 began till 24th October which was very successful. On 29th October 2010, Nemo Trilogy Sim closed down in Second Life which brought sadness to many residents.
On 11th November 2010, Linden Lab launched the web-based Beta access for Second Life. A small portion of residents were lucky to enough to try out the web based experience of Second Life where others could not even see a login screen or had other related problems trying to get it to work properly. On 19th November 2010, Linden Lab changed the registration page for Second Life to allow for only single usernames to be allowed for Second Life (due to launch of display names). On 20th November 2010, the beloved Second Life figure Delinda Dyrssen died in real life bringing great sadness around the Second Life community. On 26th November 2010, Battlestar Galactica content was removed from Second Life after a universal files complaint.
On 5th December 2010, Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum closed in Second Life, which was a decision by the management company. Many Second Life residents were saddened and shocked by the closure of the museum. On 15th December 2010, Linden Lab updated the TOS relating to under 18 residents moving to the Second Life Main Grid in early 2011. There was a lot of discussion about teens coming over on blogs and forums soon after when everyone had to agree to the new terms of service. On 16th December 2010, Jack Linden the land and community manager announced that he would be leaving Linden Lab in late December 2010. On 17th & 18th the yearly Residents Vs Lindens snowball fight was hosted at the SL Winterfest regions. On 23rd December 2010, BK Linden announced the new Linden Lab CEO called Rod Humble from EA will be starting in mid-January 2011. It’s going to be interesting what Rod Humble will bring to Second Life in 2011. Let’s hope 2011 is going to be a great year.
Here is a brief run down of the monthly news and events during 2010 in Second Life.
January 2010
- Wallace Linden joins LL
- Viewer 2 Public Beta Soon
- Second Life Contributions to Haiti Relief at $13K+
- Linden Lab Acquires Avatars United
February 2010
- New SL Forums launched
- SL Valentines Day
- Second Life Viewer 2 Public Beta launches
March 2010
- M Linden opened Linden Lab Europe HQ in Amsterdam
- VWBPE 2010
- RHN Fair 2010
- Nova Albion 6th Anniversary
- End of SLim Beta
- Spring Burning Life Weekend
April 2010
- Demo of Havok 7 in Second Life
- 100th episode of Metanomics
- SL Fantasy Faire
- Linden Lab has decided to no longer support Woodbury University
May 2010
- Mesh imports are coming
- SL Phishing Attack
- Bay City Second Anniversary
- 2010 Linden Prize Finalists
June 2010
- Linden Lab Layoffs 30% of staff
- Lily Pad Lounge closed
- Greenies closed down
- Second Life 7th Birthday
- Mark Kingdon quits as CEO, Philip Returns
July 2010
- AjaxLife is not feasible
- Relay for Life 2010 in Second Life
- Burning Life renamed to Burn 2.0
August 2010
- SLCC 2010 weekend
- LL ends the Community Gateway Program
- Second Life’s value plunges $100M
- Emerald Viewer DDOS Attack
September 2010
- From the ashes… the Phoenix has risen
- Metaverse Week In Review Turns 3 Years Old
- Adric Antfarm passed away
- 48 Hour Film Project
- Mesh Open Beta Begins
- Farewell, Avatars United
October 2010
- BURN2 2010 Festival
- Mesh Import Open Beta
- Linden Lab searching for new CEO
- New Second Life Advertising Service
- Viewer 2.3 Beta comes with display names
November 2010
- Imprudence Project renames to Kokua Project
- Vektor Linden fired by LL
- Visit Mexico sim shuts down
- New Single usernames for SL
- Delinda Dyrssen passed away
- Battlestar Galactica content removed from SL
- SL Web Viewer Beta
December 2010
- Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum closed
- New TOS Update (TSL)
- Jack Linden leaves Linden Lab
- SL Winterfest 2010
- New LL CEO Rod Humble
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Daniel Voyager 