This is a special blog post looking back at what happened in Second Life between August 2021 to December 2021. The last half of 2021 has been busy at times for big news pretty much and here is what happened below. So much has happened this year including many good memories and some not so good ones.
I hope 2022 will be another great year for Second Life in general terms and that it continues to grow in size. The new management team have recently announced the 2022 roadmap for Second Life which sounds very promising.
August 2021
On 2nd August Linden Lab announced the end of the use of gacha machines within Second Life and they must be discontinued by content creators by midnight SLT on Tuesday 31st August 2021. There was huge discussion about this news on the Second Life forums for some time. The lab put together a useful FAQ on the main blog post soon after.
- The Arcade cancelled the September 2021 round due to this announcement
In early August Linden Lab rolled out the new look join Second Life page with new gender selection options. New users can select the GENDER-VARIANT/NON-BINARY tick box for their starter avatar when they log into Second Life for the first time. The new look join Second Life page has the usual required details to fill out including username, password, email, date of birth, security question/answer and starting avatar gender.
On 13th August the new Fantasy sub continent got released and a handful of regions were released. The Moles are working on the coastline orbit adding new homes and new areas.
Andrew Kertesz (Mojo Linden) became the new Vice President of Engineering at Linden Lab from late August 2021. Andrew has more than 20 years experience in the games industry and he is an expert in building teams and launching ground-breaking games across genres that push respective platforms.
On 20th August marked three years since the first SSP batch of regions arrived on the grid. Back in August 2018 there was just 80 SSP regions and since then thousands of regions have been added to make up the Bellisseria continent we know today.
September 2021
The Firestorm Project reached it’s 11th anniversary in early September 2021. The Firestorm viewer is one of the most popular and most used third party viewers out there today.
In late September 2021 Linden Lab announced an additional way for Second Life residents to protect their accounts. The Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is available to all residents and it provides an extra level of security.
October 2021
Linden Lab announced new Halloween limited edition last names in early October. The lab was very pleased to see the responses to the limited edition last names.
The Arcade hosted it’s October 2021 mini pop-up round featuring Halloween treats and a new way to play.
BURN2 2021 opened to the public in early October featuring a whole lot of events on the playa. Once again the event was a huge success. More events are planned for 2022.
Linden Lab paused development of the Second Life mobile app for iOS and Android. The team is still actively working on a new direction which will be talked about during 2022.
After reviewing the current state of the SL Mobile Viewer and the helpful feedback from residents, we have decided to pause development on this branch. The team is actively working on a new direction to take from here. We should have some news on that soon.
Avi Arrow in Second Life sadly passed away at her home on Saturday 23rd October 2021 surrounded by her family. Avi Arrow was the administrator of the Ivory Tower in Natoma. Avi primarily managed the property and the Ivory Tower of Prims group. Avi Arrow was my friend in Second Life who has been a resident for over 15 years now. Avi was talented, generous and very clever I think. Avi helped so many people over the years on how to build in Second Life and much more.
Second Life trended on Twitter in late October from the Facebook Meta announcement. Facebook is focused on moving away from social media to the metaverse.
On 31st October marked my 15th Rez Day in Second Life. Read more here about my journey so far. I still think Second Life is the best virtual world out there today and as the lab has said many times Second Life is here to stay for many more years to come.
November 2021
In early November April Linden departed Linden Lab after 8 years. April Linden helped moved Second Life to the cloud (Amazon AWS). Good luck April.
The new Fantasy community centre was open to the public in early November. It’s worth checking out if you have not been so far.
The Drax Files ended after seven years as viewers declined over time. Drax produced many amazing podcasts over the years covering a huge range of Second Life topics.
Linden Lab gives Second Life search a facelift after many years. The lab have not changed the algorithm that the search feature uses in any way. More changes are due to happen in 2022.
December 2021
In early December the 2021 SL Christmas Expo opened to the public featuring over 150 stores spread over 15 Christmas regions. On 6th December the new Linden Home theme was revealed to the public. Modern homes was showcased on the Linden Reveal region in the north east corner.
Linden Lab announced email preference changes which involved receiving group notices in email. Receiving group notifications went live from 15th December and there is a option to opt-in or out.
Linden Lab announced new Winter last names which are still available until 5th January 2022.
- Snowflake
- Kringle
- Yule
- Fruitcake
- Ninnymuggins
- Humbug
- Hollyberry
- Jinglepaw
On 8th December 2021 Patch Linden confirmed that the old Linden homes will be phased out and/or repurposed. Patch Linden at the moment does not know the timing on when that will be.
My Second Life 2022 Predictions
- Linden Lab will allow for more groups
- Larger 2048 m² parcel sizes
- There will be at least two new Linden Home themes announced/released
- Land Prices lowered slightly
- Announcement about old Linden Home continents closing down or possible upgrade instead
- Avatar 2.0 to be rolled out
- More user group hours introduced
2022 Events Ahead
- One Billion Rising in Second Life – 14th February 2022
- Home and Garden Expo – 26th February 2022 to 20th March 2022
- 15th Annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference – 31st March 2022 to 2nd April 2022 – (Phoenix Rising)
- Relay Weekend (RFL of SL)- 11th/12th June 2022
- SL19B – Mid-late June 2022
- And more!
I can’t wait for 2022 to arrive. I will blog about the news and events along the way as I have done in previous years. I have no idea what the new year will bring but I am sure it’s going to be a good one.
2022 is almost here 🙂
Daniel Voyager 