Today marks my 7th Rezday in Second Life

Wow, 7 years later!

Today marks my official 7th rezday since I first signed up to Second Life which seems so long ago now. It’s been a roller-coaster ride to be honest since 31st October 2006 with many highs and lows at times. I feel like I’ve done everything over the past seven years but I’m sure there will be more exciting adventures for me on the horizon in Second Life in the coming years. I’m really excited and looking forward to future adventures in Second Life/OpenSim.

My first ever snapshot taken on my first day back on 31st October 2006 back on the teen grid when I was 16 years old. In mid-December 2013 marks five years since I transferred from TSL to the Main Grid which is incredible because it only seems like yesterday I transferred between the grids. Wow, so much has changed since then!

Seven achievements that i’m proud off…

1. Became Group Manager and Estate Manager back in 2007
2. Became a SL Mentor in 2008
3. Volunteered with SL birthdays & Burning Man/Life/BURN2 events from 2009+
4. Became a resident judge for vetting committee for Linden Prize in 2010
5. Became part of the official SLCC 2010 Twitter team in 2010
6. Became a SL news reporter blogger from 2011+
7. Since October 2006 I’ve taken more than 23, 000 snapshots on Flickr 

My long term aim is to reach my 10th rezday in Second Life which will be in October 2016 which will be an amazing achievement and then that would mark a decade in Second Life for me.  Woooooot!!!

Wishing everyone a happy Halloween in SL/RL 

 

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Poll Results: Has Linden Lab Terms of Service affected you?

I started a new poll recently called Has Linden Lab Terms of Service affected you? on Sunday 27th October 2013 and since then the poll has received alot of votes with comments. In total so far there have been 108 votes so thanks to everyone that voted in the past few days. More than 60% say that the recent change to Linden Lab Terms of Service has affected them on the grid which suggests this recent update is having a big impact on the SL community for sure. Only 39.81% say that the recent SL TOS update has not not affected in any way so far. Hopefully soon Linden Lab will resolve the concerns and issues.

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Poll Results

Question: Has Linden Lab Terms of Service affected you?

• Yes – 60.19% < (65 votes)
• No – 39.81% < (43 votes) 

Total Votes: 108

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My BURN2 2013 review

It’s official that BURN2 SL 2013 is over for another year and wow it’s been great the past week on the playa. The last of the events finished last night and now everyone can rest for another year knowing that this year was a success. This year I managed to greet new visitors, dance around, explored artist builds and even capturing owl snapshots. We are now into the cool off phrase after the party.

The Press Day event was enjoyable and interesting again this year with many SL bloggers and SL media attending to get a sneak preview of the six regions. The grand opening was very popular and busy this year with hundreds of avatars exploring the regions. I’m glad there is still interest for the annual BURN2 event in Second Life after Linden Lab stopped funding it back in 2010. I do think more needs to done to get the word out to more people on the grid to let them know of this well known event. I think that OpenSim grids should think about hosting BURN2 event because that would be fun and interesting to see what they will come up with.

The Temple Burn

The good news is that the BURN2 regions will remain open until sometime between 11th-15th November 2013 when they will go offline. If you have not visited the sims yet then this is the last chance to do so.

• My BURN2 Blog Coverage
• My BURN2 snapshots on Flickr & BURN2 Flickr Set

The Mini-Man Burn

There was a high attendance this year around the playa this year which was good to see and the live music events rocked once again. I thought the burning of Mini-Man, The Man and The Temple were very good indeed this year and different to previous years overall. The balloon trip on greeters gate road was a fun adventure this year because of the nice views you get high up looking over everything. I did notice that lag was much better this year compared with previous ones which made the experience for me better.

NEW VIDEOS of The Man & The Temple burns filmed by Radioactive Rosca.

The owl enjoyed doing new things at BURN2 2013 this year like going on a balloon trip, eating breakfast, getting hot near during fire related events and greeting visitors above. S

^ Owl on the right of the hot air balloon touring the sims ^

^ Owl having a breakfast on the playa ^ 

^ Owl keeping warm by the fire ^

Thanks to all the volunteers, managers and rangers for making BURN2 2013 fantastic once again. Woooot!

What happens next ? 

• Event cool off – 28th October to 3rd November 2013
• GTFO – 3rd to 7th November 2013
• Skin Burn 2013 – 9th November (9am & 6pm burns)
• Sims go offline – 11th-15th November 2013
• Then the countdown to BURN2 2014 starts

What did you think of BURN2 2013 this year ? and do you have any suggestions for next year ? Please share your views in comments. 🙂

Poll: Has Linden Lab Terms of Service affected you?

Please vote Yes or No if the latest change in Linden Lab Terms of Service has effected you in anyway in Second Life. This poll open is to all and comments are most welcome.

Thanks for voting and please spread the word. Results will be reviewed and published next week.

• New Update > Designing Worlds announced today that there will be a special recorded show featuring panel guests talking about Linden Lab Terms of Service on Tuesday 29th October 2013. Don’t miss this!!!

Thanks! 🙂

Peter Gray from Linden Lab responds to Kylie Sabra about TOS changes

SL News Alert

At some point late yesterday night (24th October 2013) Peter Gray who is the Director of Global Communications of Linden Lab sent an email response back to Kylie Sabra regarding the concerns that the UCCSL (United Content Creators of SL ) group have. So far the UCCSL group inworld has 439 members and it’s growing on a weekly basis. This is a quick response from Linden Lab which always good to see happening when issues occur. Hopefully communications will continue in the coming weeks to work something out. 🙂

Summary so far:

• It appears that Linden Lab have declined the invite for a meeting inworld with the leaders of the UCCSL group to try to resolve this.
• Linden Lab are now currently reviewing what changes can be made to resolve concerns of content creators in Second Life, specifically protecting content creators intellectual property ownership.
• Linden Lab mentions “as an agent of content creators (such as yourselves), licensed to sell and re-sell such content”.
• Linden Lab are “optimistic” and working hard to provide a “mutually agreeable and beneficial way forward”.

Check out the full email below from Peter Gray…

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What do you think about this response and what should happen next ?

The Blackened Mirror Season 2 returns in December 2013

A new video trailer has been posted for a brand new Season 2 of The Blackened Mirror filmed in Second Life which returns in December 2013 for six episodes. The trailer runs for 46 seconds featuring The Blackened Mirror crew and a quick inside look. You really don’t want to miss season 2 because it’s going to be fantastic and ten times more exciting. The repeats of Season 1 can be found here.

Trailer details for Season 2 of The Blackened Mirror

The popular series, The Blackened Mirror, is back for Season Two! The story will keep you on the edge of your seat through all six episodes! The twists and turns this season will keep all of our loyal fans thrilled! Enjoy this small taste of things to come!

Will you be watching Season 2? – please comment. 🙂

Times for the burn of The Man and The Temple at BURN2 2013 in Second Life

There are many important events happening this weekend and other exciting events happening at BURN2 2013 in Second Life which is worth attending. The biggest events to attend is the burning of The Man and The Temple events where hundreds of SL avatars will be attending on the playa to watch the show.

Every year these are very popular events at BURN2 and it’s been a tradition since the start of Burning Man inworld way back in the early days of Second Life.  It’s a fantastic experience for sure and fun one each year I think. I’m sure everyone will agree that the BURN2 team do an amazing job at running the annual event each year. 😀

Mark these events and times on your calendars… 

The Man 2013 burn times for Saturday 26th October 2013…

• 4am SLT
• 12pm SLT
• 8pm SLT

• Teleport SLURL > http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Burning%20Man-Elko/17/249/24

The Temple 2013 burn times for Sunday 27th October 2013...

• 4am SLT
• 12pm SLT
• 8pm SLT

Teleport SLURL > http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Burning%20Man-Opal/9/194/25

2013 Lamplighter Processions on the playa…

• 7pm SLT – On Friday 25th October 2013
• 4am, 12pm, 8pm SLT – On Saturday 26th + Sunday 27th October 2013

Teleport SLURL > http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Burning%20Man-Opal/30/173/24

• Check out the BURN2 Events Calendar for full listings.
• Which event is your favourite at BURN2 events in Second Life ? 

Philip Rosedale left Linden Lab board in early 2013

New World Notes reports that apparently Philip Rosedale the founder of Second Life left Linden Lab board in early 2013 which is rather interesting. As many know Philip Rosedale officially stepped down as CEO of Linden Lab back in October 2010. Since then Philip Rosedale has been involved with new projects such as: Coffee and Power and now High Fidelity.

Philip Rosedale sends email to Hamlet Au saying…

I left the board around the start of the year [as] I was starting High Fidelity, Philip tells me by e-mail, but on great terms — both Mitch [Kapor] and Linden are both investors in High Fidelity, and I’m still a big shareholder in Linden.

This means that Philip Rosedale can no longer input on future “management decisions, overall direction, or policy formation” for Linden Lab. Check out the Linden Lab leadership page for management roles.

Second Life Mobile Beta Invites

It appears that Linden Lab are sending out beta invites this week to selected members of the SL community to try out a new mobile version of Second Life. The program will need to receive good feedback over the next few months and if it does then I would imagine Linden Lab will announce/release it to the whole SL community sometime in 2014/2015. It’s another step closer!

We’re looking for enthusiastic beta testers to evaluate a version of Second Life designed for mobile devices.

Sound interesting? Then simply…

We’ll email those selected when the program begins and check in periodically over the next couple of months to get their feedback. 

This is your opportunity to be among the first to try a new mobile version of Second Life, and we hope you’ll help us to make it a great product with your input.

Thank you for your consideration!

Linden Lab

For years I have been hoping for Linden Lab to bring out a official Second Life app on the Apple app store and also on Google Play on Android. Linden Lab does have competition I think with the popular SL/OpenSim Lumiya app running on Android smartphones/tablets.

We will have to see what Linden Lab will come up with and I really hope the new mobile version of Second Life will work out in the long run.

 

UCCSL group sends letter to Linden Lab

The latest development this week relating to the recent TOS change that Linden Lab made is that The United Content Creators of Second Life group council has sent a letter email to Linden Lab to request a meeting to work things out. The letter has been to sent to Rod Humble and to Peter Gray. Hopefully soon they will respond and they will start to resolve TOS related issues/concerns that the SL community has.

Here is a copy of the letter below…

October 22, 2013

Rod Humble, CEO

Peter Gray, Director, Global Communications

Linden Lab Headquarters

945 Battery Street

San Francisco, CA 94111

VIA: Certified Mail, Email & SL Forums

Dear Sirs:

The United Content Creators of Second Life is a group of residents and content creators, in

both the commercial and artistic communities, who share concerns regarding the August, 2013

Terms of Service, specifically Section 2.3. To resolve these issues and concerns, we ask that you

sit down and meet with the UCCSL Council.

Please contact Kylie Sabra in world to set a time.

Warm regards,

The UCCSL Council

Kylie Sabra, Council Facilitator

More updates soon.