Second Life, Linden Lab & OpenSim News
The sixth annual OpenSim grid survey is out where OpenSim residents can rank their grids and see how they compare to other OpenSim grids. This is a great opportunity for everyone to rank a grid’s content, community, support, technology and overall experience by filling out this survey.
The results will be published on 6th October 2015.
Bright Canopy came back online on Wednesday 23rd September 2015 after the service was down for almost a month. Bright Canopy service allows users to access Second Life through a user’s web browser. It offers you the choice of using the official Second Life viewer or the Firestorm Viewer interface when logging in.
The pricing scheme has been updated, see below…
It’s a fresh start apparently so that means that everyone will now have to re-register at brightcanopy.com even if you had an account in beta or during the pre-release stages.
If you have any questions about Bright Canopy, contact support@brightcanopy.com.
Draxtor Despres has released episode 32 of the amazing Drax Files World Makers series featuring Jayjay Zifanwe. This month it’s all about Machinima and this epsiode runs for 4mins/59secs.
In this episode JayJay Zifanwe and the University of Western Australia in Second Life helps people to express themselves through using machinima in Second Life. The UWA in Second Life is a great place for artists to come together and take part in many interesting projects.
I thought this episode was fascinating and informative giving a more in-depth look into machinima which is a great way of promoting. Here are some more details about this epsiode…
“The backbone of the our university’s presence in the virtual world is the art and the film. It keeps things alive at all times!” says Jayjay Zifanwe from the University of Western Australia in Perth.
With the blessing of his Dean Jayjay is actively promoting immersive art and machinima made by Second Life residents from all walks of life all the while emphasizing giving voice to creators with disabilities or chronic illness.
The relationship between UWA and the SL art scene illuminates how a major university can use the creative and social aspects of virtual environments to enhance their mission of inclusive learning on a global scale.
May this be a model for other educational institutions to follow?
With the resurgence of interest in VR JJ’s efforts may just be a template to emulate in the future…
More information on UWA in Second Life is at http://www.uwainsl.blogspot.com
Great job Drax and Jayjay 🙂
At 2pm PDT on Saturday 19th September 2015 there will be a grand opening of a new Pop Up Art Park over at Bay City in Second Life. The art park is set up and everyone is welcome to visit in advance of the opening to preview the new exhibits.
Here is the press release…
Derry McMahon and Bear Silvershade invite you to the opening reception for their latest exhibitions on Sat, Sept. 19 at 2 p.m. in Bay City, with Pippa Exonar as our featured entertainer.
This time though, it’s not in a formal gallery.
We’ve watched as galleries flicker in and out of existence, and had shows at several. Two things are consistent: nothing is permanent, and even with the most relentless, ongoing promotion, visitor numbers drop off dramatically after the opening and reach near zero long before a month – the usual length of gallery shows – is up.
Instead of fighting it, we’ve decided to embrace the ephemeral nature of Second Life and experiment with pop-up galleries. It goes like this: Rent a piece of suitable land, set up our work and open it to the public, but just for a couple of weeks.
The short time frame is key. For the patrons, it gives them more incentive to get out and see the show; no putting it off because “There’s plenty of time.” For us, it gives us the freedom to experiment and not feel tied down.
We can set up when and where we want, with whatever style we want. They might happen in different places once a month, or once every six months – whatever feels right.
This was Derry’s idea, by the way, so she’s the one to talk to about it. Our first location is in Bay City, on the Falconmoon sim. We discovered it quite by chance; we had been looking at several commercial properties all around SL, but when we randomly decided to poke around mainland, we found a property we decided would be perfect for a pop-up art park.
Derry is calling her exhibit Double Vision, and she’s paired up her images: one created in real life, one created in Second Life. In some cases, it’s difficult to tell which is which. (Frankly, that worries me a little. They look so alike, so does that mean that Second Life is actually a virtual copy of New Jersey?)
As always, Derry’s images are filled with bright colours so the park setting highlights them beautifully.
Mine, of course, are not so colourful. (You’ll note another difference – I just drove in some fence posts to hang my images from, but Derry insisted on having hers prettily arranged on easels)
The work I am showing this time grew out of my Lonely Streets of Second Life project (which I showed at my former gallery in Avalon). I call this exhibit Solitudes.
Like Derry, I’ve included — for the first time ever in Second Life — a few of my real life images, though I haven’t matched them one-to-one. I am a photojournalist in real life, and the images I have included here are tiny vignettes or scenics, often made on assignment while I am waiting for something else to happen.
The little art park is mostly set up, and you are welcome to drop by in advance of the opening to preview the exhibits or gather images for your blog, but we are hoping you can also make it to the reception on Saturday.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bay%20City%20-%20Falconmoon/210/201/25
Spread the word about the new opening of the art park happening tomorrow. 🙂
On Friday 18th September 2015 from 6pm to 8pm PDT there will be a special Project Sansar Preview Workshop going on at the headquarters of Linden Lab in San Francisco. This event will allow the early users to preview Project Sansar for the first time.
This interactive virtual reality workshop will provide a hands-on preview of the new 3D virtual experience platform, code-named Project Sansar, being developed by Linden Lab, the makers of the popular virtual world Second Life. This new platform will enable people to virtually walk through 3D
At the moment Project Sansar is in the closed Alpha phrase with early users under heavy NDA. I am not apart of the closed alpha yet but i’m pretty much looking forward to the launch of the new generation platform next year.
There is a new screenshot of the Project Sansar login page that I found on Echt Virtuell’s blog which is rather interesting. This login page shows a wallpaper from Sansar I think and the login area saying Project Sansar by Linden Lab. The page is animated showing some creations that appear every few seconds or so.
What do you think of the Project Sansar login page ?
Are you excited for the launch next year ?
Linden Lab have announced this week that Second Life is transitioning to a new payments processor for credit cards and that they want you to update your Second Life Payment Info today.
The lab mentions in the blog post that you may notice small authorization charges made to the credit card linked with your account. “These charges are made to confirm the validity of the billing information on file and will be automatically voided by your bank or credit card issuer.”
It’s not known yet when the new payment system will be completed but this is a good time to update your Second Life info.
The blog post explains more…
Second Life is transitioning to a new payments processor for credit cards. If you use a credit card for Second Life payments and have not added or updated your billing information since July 7, 2015, we strongly encourage you to re-enter your information to avoid any potential disruption of services. If you use PayPal or Skrill for Second Life payments, no action is needed.
Adding billing information to your Second Life account is as easy as 1-2-3:
- Login to your Second Life account at SecondLife.com
- Click “Account,” then “Billing Information”
- Under “How You’re Paying” just click to Add the payment method of your choice*
To learn more about the benefits of adding billing information on file, the many supported payment options, and how to add or update your billing information, please visit this page in the Second Life Knowledge Base.
We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your attention and help in spreading the word throughout the Second Life community.
*Note: You may notice small authorization charges made to the credit card associated with your account. As is common when new payment processors are initialized, these charges are made to confirm the validity of the billing information on file and will be automatically voided by your bank or credit card issuer.
Happy 3rd Birthday!
On 15th September 2015 The Arcade reached its third birthday in Second Life and it’s time to celebrate this amazing milestone. The Arcade was founded in September 2012 by Octagons Yazimoto, Katharine McGinnis, Emery Milneaux and Umberto Giano. The Arcade is OPEN during September 2015 and it’s really worth visiting this month.
Wow 3 years!
Three years ago today, The Arcade opened its doors! We’re so honored to see that the event continues to be well-loved by you, our patrons. Thank you for your continued support!
We’d also like to thank our vendors and sponsors. The Arcade would not exist without your love, dedication and loyalty. We so appreciate your help in bringing our vision to life!
Here’s to many more years of gacha fun!
The gacha events have been really popular over the years and I have to say that the arcade is a great destination for shopping. The build is incredible and it’s a really lovely location for snapshots. 🙂
Here are some of my high rez snapshots that I took today of The Arcade to mark it’s third birthday in Second Life.
Today I went to visit the Grand Canyon in Second Life and I have to admit it’s a really nice location to visit. I have not been to the real life Grand Canyon yet but I hope to in the near future.
The scenery is lovely if you have the right windlight settings I think. There’s quite a bit to do and see in the Gran Canyon. It’s really huge that you could spend so many hours exploring it all. I enjoyed going on the viewing platform which is transparent and worth going on.
Fun adventures at he Grand Canyon.
There are 3 regions to explore Grand Canyon North, Grand Canyon and Grand Canyon South. There are balloon rides, zip lines, skydiving, go on a hand glider tour, sports activities along with so much more to enjoy.
There are dirt bikes and quad bikes on stand by to explore the rugged areas of the canyon. If you love challenges then I recommend this. Again there is so much to explore and do here.
Explore the gorgeous, rugged beauty of the Grand Canyon — a place of beauty that also offers SL skill-enhancing activities and sports, including balloon rides, dirt biking, zip lines and more. Adventure, contemplation, relaxation and discovery await you at this majestic, peaceful destination.
Come and check out the Grand Canyon in Second Life.
At the start of 2015 I posted a update on the grid numbers for Second Life and here are the latest statistics for September 2015. Back then on 4th January 2015 the total number of Main Grid regions was 25, 611 regions, for private estates there were 18, 579 regions and for Linden owned regions there were 7, 032 regions.
Here are the latest region numbers as of 13th September 2015 via the New SL Sims in past week thread on the SLUniverse Forums.
So far the year to date for net private estate region loss now stands at 502 regions = (2.7% loss). As you can see the total number of Main Grid regions have declined further during 2015 and private estates have declined too. Linden owned regions have been increasing this year which is rather interesting I think.
I would imagine if rates continue as they are, the total amount of main grid regions will drop under the 25, 000 mark and the private estates to drop under the 18, 000 mark before the end of 2015/early 2016. I hope things will change soon for the better soon and it will be very disappointing if it were to go below these marks above.
As many know already the lab are working on the next generation platform and it will be interesting to watch the grid numbers for Second Life & OpenSim grids when the next generation platform launches.
The daily concurrency seems to be averaging around 53, 000 at max and 27, 000 at min. These graphs can be found on the Second Life Grid Survey.
Check out this interesting historical daily concurrency graph going right back to 5th December 2009 through until September 2015. As you can see from the bigger picture interest has been going down hill since 2009 with some peaks over the years.
Here are graphs showing the maximum and minimum for the daily concurrency since 2009.
As of 13th September 2015 there have been 43, 249, 078 to date. On average there are 8, 000 to 10, 000 new signups for Second Life everyday.
My next Second Life statistics post will be published in late December 2015.
The 4th annual Hot Bay City Nights event starts Saturday 12th September through until Sunday 20th September 2015. The event will be happening over at the Bay City Fairgrounds area in the North Channel region in Second Life.
Hot Bay City Nights main focus is on the top Second Life classic car makers and vintage showcasing many vehicles between 1940 to 1965. There will be many exciting events taking place including charity car washes and the winner of Miss Bay City 2015.
The funds go to support Child’s Play which is a charity providing games and toys for children in hospitals around the globe. Please spread the word about Hot Bay City Nights and everyone is welcome to attend.
Bay City is a mainland community, developed by Linden Lab™ and home to the Bay City Alliance. The Bay City Alliance was founded in 2008 to promote the Bay City regions of Second Life™ and provide a venue for Bay City Residents and other interested parties to socialize and network. It is now the largest Bay city group, and home to most Residents of Bay City.
For more information, contact: Marianne McCann
Daniel Voyager 