SL Breaking News – Page 2

Relay For Life Of Second Life 2023 Season Dates

Published on September 25, 2022 by Daniel Voyager2 Comments

The 2023 Relay For Life of Second Life season dates have officially been released for next year. The theme for 2023 is Hope Floats. Relay For Life is the “signature event of the American Cancer Society in Second Life and has been active, and continually growing in Second Life since 2005”.

Check out the history of Relay For Life of Second Life here

2023 RFL of SL Key Dates

Registration Opens: 15th January 2023
Kick Off: 18th February 2023
Relay Weekend: 10th & 11th June 2023

Please spread the word to your friends in Second Life.

The 2023 RFL of SL season will be amazing with huge support ! 🙂

Linden Lab Acquires CasperTech

Published on September 15, 2022September 15, 2022 by Daniel VoyagerLeave a comment

On Wednesday 14th September Linden Lab announced that CasperTech is being acquired by Linden Research, Inc. This new acquisition will “ensure ensure that all of the existing CasperTech services in Second Life will continue to operate without interruption into the foreseeable future, but it also opens up brand new opportunities”.

See the FAQ here for more details via Reddit

This is interesting news and it makes me wonder how many more new acquisitions the lab will make in the years to come. From what I am hearing is that there are mixed responses already to this news and it’s raising concerns already across the grid. The lab says this acquisition will be a positive change for Second Life residents and CasperTech customers moving forward.

“CasperTech has provided various business related services within Second Life for 13 years. Over that time, CaperTech has proudly provided continuous service for tens of thousands of Second Life businesses, and it has remained steadfast in its commitment to the merchants who have depended on those services”.

“You can expect to see the same great services that you know and love continue on, with all of the same functionality you enjoy today, but with closer integration into the Second Life ecosystem – and as such, an even more reliable and convenient experience.”

There is active discussion going on in this forum thread on the Second Life Forums. Check out the Lab Gab episode (full video above) for more details about the acquisition featuring Patch Linden and Casper Warden.

Here is the full blog post…

Greetings Second Lifers!

Today is a really big day for all of us together and we are excited to share that the Second Life portion of CasperTech is being acquired by Linden Research, Inc.

CasperTech has provided various business related services within Second Life for 13 years. Over that time, CaperTech has proudly provided continuous service for tens of thousands of Second Life businesses, and it has remained steadfast in its commitment to the merchants who have depended on those services.

This acquisition will ensure that all of the existing CasperTech services in Second Life will continue to operate without interruption into the foreseeable future, but it also opens up brand new opportunities to vastly improve the experience for our users as our next step in the CasperTech and Second Life journey.

You can expect to see the same great services that you know and love continue on, with all of the same functionality you enjoy today, but with closer integration into the Second Life ecosystem – and as such, an even more reliable and convenient experience.

We wouldn’t have gone forward with this move if we weren’t absolutely confident that it will be a positive change for all Residents and CasperTech customers.

We hope that you are as excited about this change as we are, and we thank you for your continued support as we all step boldly into the future together!

We have started a forum discussion here for anyone interested in participating with questions.
You can also watch Casper and I on a special pre-recorded Lab Gab today at 10:30am SLT!

What do you think of this acquisition announcement from the lab ?

Second Life Daily User Concurrency Drops Slightly Since May 2022

Published on August 28, 2022August 28, 2022 by Daniel VoyagerLeave a comment

The Second Life daily user concurrency has dropped slightly since May 2022 it appears. At the start of 2022 the maximum for online users was averaging around the 55, 000 mark and during the past month or so it’s been averaging around the 51, 000 mark.

I don’t think we will see the daily user Second Life concurrency reaching 60, 000 this year unless something big happens. I think the maximum peak levels could average between 54, 000 to 57, 000 in the winter months.

August 2022 Update

Maximum (average): 49, 000 – 51, 000
Average (average): 38, 000 – 40, 000
Minimum (average): 27, 000 – 32, 000

It’s nothing much to worry about at the moment as this is the 2022 summer period where the yearly average drops abit until the winter months where the daily concurrency numbers normally start rising again.

I will be keeping a closer eye on the Second Life user concurrency levels during the last four months of 2022 and I will certainly blog again if any noticeable changes happen.

Past Year

Past 60 Days

The past 60 days seem to be following the same trends between 27, 000 (min) to 51, 000 (max) for the daily user concurrency levels in Second Life.

I will publish my next Second Life Statistics blog post in October 2022. Stay turned for that.

SSP Development Regions nOW sHOWING Up aS “oFFLINE”

Published on August 12, 2022August 12, 2022 by Daniel VoyagerLeave a comment

SSP Development Regions – 12th August 2022

For most of 2022 there has not been really much activity going on over at the SSP development regions which is mainly used for the Moles to work on the next Linden Home theme (closed to the public). Almost all of the regions when clicked says invalid location so who knows what’s going on.

This week 98% (at least 60) of the SSP development regions are now showing now showing up as “offline” which is a huge development change I think. There is a small amount of SSP regions left in the area now and in nearby areas. It looks like the Moles may have a new plan for the future of SSP development regions.

It’s unclear what will happen to the SSP development area going forward and if they indeed go offline in the days ahead it would be a small decline in total regions for Second Life for this week.

For the rest of this week and next it’s worth checking these SSP regions to see if they remain on the grid or go offline.

More updates soon! 🙂

Newbrooke: New Land Mass Arrives

Published on August 12, 2022 by Daniel VoyagerLeave a comment

Within the past 12 hours or so at least 12 new SSP regions have arrived just north of the Newbrooke sub continent. They are not showing up on the world map yet but they do show up on the Mini-Map if you expand it. The region names do appear if you put your mouse over it for a few seconds or so.

The region of interest is SSP Tiedown Inlet because it’s got a deep channel facing the Stromberg region (possible connection point soon) which is located west of the Satori continent. “Satori is linked to the North with Nautilus and to the North-East with Blake Sea”. I think the Belliseria continent linking up with the Satori continent is a good move in the right direction. Hopefully the connection region will come online in the days/weeks ahead.

You can expect to see active new development in these new SSP regions in the days and weeks ahead. More Linden homes are coming really soon and further expansion in terms of new land is expected before the end of 2022.

Stay tuned for development updates on my blog soon.

New Second Life Forum Guidelines

Published on August 8, 2022August 8, 2022 by Daniel Voyager2 Comments

At the end of July 2022 the lab announced new Second Life Forum guidelines which is being talked about alot recently it seems. As many have already noticed the lab have added “some clarity to the sections” on the Second Life Forums to “enhance everyone’s participation”. It’s more structured now when you visit today with pinned sub sections along with the updated guidelines.

It appears many are finding these new forum guidelines very unpopular. During the last two years there has been a rise in concerning threads etc relating to non-related Second Life topics.

The lab wants to help the Second Life community understand what type of topics belong in each category of the forums.

Allowed: “We encourage you to participate by posting anything related to Second Life discussions that don’t quite fit in our other sub-forums. These are just guidelines, so please use your best judgment when posting if it is not explicitly stated here!“

Not Allowed: “In addition to adhering to the @Community Standards, please refrain from posting content discussing inflammatory content (Politics, Social Justice issues and Interpersonal disputes), Anything that doesn’t relate directly to Second Life/Linden Lab, Generic posts (like “Post a random animal picture!” versus an acceptable “Post your Second Life pets!”), etc. These are just guidelines, so please use your best judgment when posting if it is not explicitly stated here!“.

Keira Linden is open to feedback about the new guidelines announced recently and the best way is emailing her at keira-at-lindenlab.com.

Hopefully things will calm down now with the new guidelines in place on the forums.

Northern Newbrooke: 20 New Regions Added

Published on August 2, 2022August 2, 2022 by Daniel VoyagerLeave a comment

This week 20 new regions have been added in the northern part of the Newbrooke sub continent which is apart of Bellisseria. I have outlined in red the new batch of Newbrooke regions in the north east corner and the yellow line is the new deep water channel which has formed. It is predicted that more new houseboats/Newbrooke Linden Homes will be placed in the surrounding areas in the days and weeks ahead.

I think more Newbrooke regions will be added soon heading up northwards is my guess. We will have to wait and see. It’s possible that there may be new connection region points along the west side of the Satori continent merging with the Newbrooke sub continent.

I will post more development news soon. Stay tuned for that.

2022 Second Life Renaissance Festival

Published on August 2, 2022 by Daniel VoyagerLeave a comment

The 3rd annual Second Life Renaissance Festival opens on September 23rd through until 2nd October 2022 which will be supporting Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. The teleport link to the festival will be available closer to the event opening. The theme for 2022 is The Silk Road which reflects a vast trade network connecting Eurasia and North Africa via land and sea routes.

The Second Life Renaissance Festival will be spread over four regions this year. Everyone will be able to find a range of home & garden items, breedables, medieval stuff and there will be daily tournaments to participate in from Archery, Jousting or Melee. There will be special roleplaying and themed instructional classes. Medieval guilds, contests, auctions, raffles, hunts and much more will be happening during the festival.

The good news is that the Merchant registration is open.

Spread the word and feel free to blog about this big festival happening soon in Second Life.

Second Life Region Statistics – July 2022 Update

Published on July 26, 2022 by Daniel VoyagerLeave a comment

Since the start of 2022 Second Life has been growing steadily showing positive net growth for Private Estates and Linden Owned regions. At least 300 new regions have been added since the start of 2022 which is amazing and hopefully hundreds more will arrive in the months ahead.

The growth again has mostly come from the expansion of the Bellisseria continent (Linden owned regions) which still having a positive effect on the overall grid numbers (Newbrooke expansion etc). More Linden Owned regions are expected to arrive on the grid between now and the end of 2022. It will be interesting to see the total amount later in the year to see the overall growth for 2022.

Since the start of 2021 there has been roughly 2, 000 new regions that have been added on the grid which is pretty cool. By the end of 2023/early 2024 at the current rates I estimate it may reach the 28, 000 regions mark. The big issue would be if the inflation rate goes up the grid may suffer in the winter months ahead (a recession hits or something major). Anything is possible and it’s not clear what impact it could have.

Here are the latest Second Life region statistics as of Sunday 24th July 2022.

Total: 27, 575
Private Estates: 18, 326
Linden Owned: 9, 249

Here are the region statistics from 2nd January 2022…

Total: 27, 231
Private Estates: 18, 332
Linden Owned: 8, 909

Here are the region statistics from 3rd January 2021….

Total: 25, 555
Private Estates: 17, 024
Linden Owned: 8, 531

One thing is for sure is that Second Life is growing after 19 years being online and hopefully this growth trend will continue for some time yet.

SciFi Expo 2022 Applications Open

Published on July 25, 2022 by Daniel Voyager2 Comments

The SciFi Expo 2022 applications for merchants, performers and bloggers are now officially open. The SciFi Expo starts on Friday 14th October and runs through until Sunday 23rd October 2022 fundraising for Making Strides Against Cancer and The American Society.

The SciFi Expo (Voyage Through The Stars) brings together designers, roleplayers, performers and supporters from across the grid. The 2022 SciFi Expo is made possible thanks to the great support from the region and event sponsors. More details see the press release here.

Apply Here – make sure to read the guidelines before appying…

Please spread the word about the SciFi Expo 2022.