Month: January 2019

Lab working on a Second Life iOS client?

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos © and ™ Linden Lab and Apple Inc

We’re in the early discussion stages, so Grumpity and I – Grumpity who heads-up Product here for Second Life – we talk quite a bit about what it would mean to invest in a mobile Second Life experience or product. So we’re trying to figure out how to validate the idea, and how much would it take to do it, and what could the value be to us and to customers to do it.

– Ebbe Altberg, April 20th, 2018 Town Hall meeting

I’m leading with the above quote because in the early hours of Wednesday, January 9th, 2019 (UK time), Whirly Fizzle directed me towards a Linden Lab code repository on Bit Bucket, which reveals that work has apparently started on an iOS client for Second Life.

The repository has been posted by Brad Linden, and shows some initial code segments Brad has been working on.

Brad Linden’s Bit Bucket repository for the iOS Client. Note I’ve redacted his given last name and some other information in respect of his privacy (although I understand it has also been posted to the forums)

That the Lab could start work on a mobile solution has in some ways been heralded over the course of the past 12 months, with Ebbe and senior SL managers openly discussing thoughts and possible options.

In his April 2018 discussion, for example, Ebbe pointed out that at that time, there were still issues the Lab wanted to address in trying to develop a mobile client, including what kind of investment it would be, both monetarily and resource-wise, and what the return on investment might be gained for the effort, as well as trying to figure out how such a client might be used.

I think the main question is if it would really primarily be a companion for existing users, so therefore increase the time spent in engagement and commerce. Or would it be an opportunity to actually reach users who don’t even have PCs and Macs, and would that be an addressable market, is something we have to wrap our heads around.

– Ebbe Altberg, April 20th, 2018 Town Hall meeting

By June, and the SL15B Meet the Lindens talks, it was clear that the Lab was thinking long and hard about the merits of both mobile and streaming solutions, with Grumpity and Oz openly discussing both.

– Grumpity and Oz Linden discussing mobile / streaming options at SL15B, June 2018

Both the question of how a mobile  / streamed solution might be developed and used was also a topic Ebbe returned to in his SL15B session in June 2018. Like Oz and Grumpity, he pointed to a previous streamed solution, SL Go (Grumpity and Oz referenced Bright Canopy, which was founded after SL Go had ceased to be available).

– Ebbe Altberg  discussing mobile / streaming options at SL15B, June 2018

Whether the repository indicates the Lab has now answered those questions and is ready to go ahead with an iOS client, or whether it is another aspect of testing the water and seeing what can be done, code-wise is unclear. I also freely admit to being insufficiently versed in code to guess whether this work is geared towards a dedicated iOS client, or part of a larger streaming option.

Turning to the man who is fronting the project, Brad Linden joined Linden Lab a the time of the Windlight integration over 11 years ago, and since that time has been focused on viewer development, specifically in the area of viewer stability.  Interestingly, the first indication that the Lab might be ready to move beyond talking about a mobile client came in December 2018, when Brad changed his Second Life Display Name from Brad Linden to Mobile Brad.

Brad Linden changed his display name to Mobile Brad in December 2018

I have contacted the Lab about the repository and what might be coming out of it placed with the Lab, and will update should a reply be received.

In the meantime, until such time as Linden Lab do clarify the work, it shouldn’t be assumed any kind of iOS client is about to be released in the immediate future. However, that the Lab is working on code would appear to be a positive sign, again given Ebbe’s words at the April Town Hall.

I hope will come to the conclusion to jump in soon; so more to come on that.

– Ebbe Altberg, April 20th, 2018 Town Hall meeting

2019 SL User Groups 2/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

Let It Snow!; Inara Pey, November 2018, on FlickrLet It Snow! – blog post

Server Deployments

As always, please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest updates and information.

  • There was no deployment wo the SLS (Main) channel on Tuesday, January 8th, 2019, leaving the channel on server release #18.12.05.522294, comprising a voice service adjustment and internal fixes. However, regions on the channel were restarted in keeping with the Lab’s 14-day restart policy.
  • On Wednesday, January 9th the RC channel updates are slated as being:
    • Magnum and LeTigre are slated for “no roll” and to remain on server release 18#18.12.05.522294, first deployed to it on December 12th, 2018.
    • BlueSteel should be updated on Wednesday, January 9th, 2019 with server maintenance package 19#19.01.03.522821, comprising logging improvements, including “logging to gather baseline information on simulator performance in various areas of interest”.
    • Snack should remain on EEP simulator version 18#18.12.14.522551, first deployed on December 17th, 2018.
    • All RC channels should be restarted, again in keeping with LL’s 14-day restart policy.

SL Viewer

  • Current Release version 6.0.1.522263, dated December 5, promoted December 13. Formerly the Spotykach Maintenance RC viewer – No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Estate Access Management (EAM) RC viewer, version 6.1.0.522564, December 19.
    • BugSplat RC viewer, version 6.1.0.522614, December 18. This viewer is functionally identical to the current release viewer, but uses BugSplat for crash reporting, rather than the Lab’s own Breakpad based crash reporting tools.
    • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.0.2.522531, December 18.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

Pathfinding Revisited?

Pathfinding is a capability deployed to Second Life in 2012. For those unfamiliar with it, pathfinding was intended to provide a means to allow a range of automated characters – people, animals, monsters, mobile objects (“mobs”) to be created and set into motion within Second Life with greater ease than had been possible.

Using various tools and LSL commands, together with the “navmesh”- a representation of a region’s geometry generated and used by the Havok physics engine to determine paths for pathfinding characters – these characters would be able to navigate their way around obstacles, follow roads, climb inclines, etc. Yoy can read more about it in my 2012 Pathfinding overview.

Unfortunately, and due to a number of reasons – not all of which were entirely fair – Pathfinding never really gained significant use (in fact, many region holders disabled the capability out of fear concerning performance issues.

With the arrival of Animesh, however, there is potentially a new opportunity for Pathfinding to find a use. However, in the time that’s elapsed since the original deployment, there are things that need to be looked at – the wiki documentation, for example, appears to be somewhat out-of-date (and was always a little confusing). Also,Pathfinding itself can also be somewhat unpredictable, while some of the capabilities could possibly do with update.

Whether or not Pathfinding will be revisited by the Lab or not is currently an open question; however it has been a topic that has been raised at a number of user group meetings (Simulator can Content Creation), so it is something the Lab is aware of as being of potential interest to users / creators.

One Billion Rising in Second Life 2019

Posted on by Inara Pey
One Billion Rising in 2018: the #MeToo Forest

One Billion Rising in Second Life will once again be taking place in Second Life on Thursday, February 14th, 2019. Over the last couple of weeks, work has been progressing on putting the event and its regions together – and having had the good fortune to be able to tour the event’s four regions, this year promises to be stunning in the range of art on offer, together with a beautiful setting in which people can come together.

When launched on Valentine’s Day 2012, One Billion Rising (OBR) was the biggest mass action in human history; a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than one billion women and girls who are at risk. OBR aims to bring people together, raise greater awareness of the plight of those at risk the world over, and bring about a fundamental change in how vulnerable and defenceless women and girls are treated.

This year, One Billion Rising in Second Life is especially saluting the work and courage of the joint Nobel Peace Prize winners in 2018, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad “for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict,” according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee announcement on 5 October 2018 in Oslo, Norway.

Nobel Peace Prize winners Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege, whose work will be saluted at OBR 2019 in Second Life

Starting at midnight (00:00) SLT on the 13th/14th February, 2019, OBR in Second Life will run a full 24-hours throughout February 14th, closing at 23:59pm SLT on Thursday night. Throughout that time there will music and dancing at the central main stage area, with poetry, dance performance and live performers also part of the overall event, together with art displays across the four regions.

Event Support, Artist and Press Applications

Applications are now being taken from those wishing to support the event. Please follow the links below for details:

Fracture Facture in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Club LA and Gallery: Joss Floss

Now open on the mezzanine level of Club LA and Gallery, curated by Fuyuko ‘冬子’ Amano (Wintergeist), is an intriguing exhibition by Joss Floss.

Fracture Facture (or possibly just Fracture) is an unusual curio of a piece that defies attempts to quantify it – which I tend to think is intentional. It is also very cleverly presented, mixing 2D and 3D elements that I suspect in places are both slightly tongue-in-cheek whilst simultaneously intended to challenge perceptions.

Club LA and Gallery: Joss Floss

What amounts to eight individual pieces are arranged around the walls and on the floor, each presenting a very specific vignette, starting with (in terms of being nearest to the stairs up to the level), the titular piece Fracture. No liner notes are provided to the exhibition or to the individual pieces, so interpretation is purely in the eyes of the beholder.

For my part (and given the way my mind works), I felt several of the pieces perhaps carry a subtext on the subject of identity, which rage from how we perceive our worth in life, to the manner in which some may objectify others, unable to see them as individuals, through to a need to reinforce ego, with (perhaps) a metaphor for our lives always in a state of flux (or perhaps “repair”). Another of the pieces struck me (whether intentional or not) as gently mocking the more highbrow approach to art, as it put me in mind of the over-inflated view taken of a certain English artist’s “autobiographical” work. However, I do emphasise that there is absolutely no objective reason why this should be so, in terms of the piece by Joss.

Club LA and Gallery: Joss Floss

But this is the real charm of the items in little exhibition. Like the artist, they defy being put in a box, but instead ask to each be seen and judged on the basis of how it presents itself to us, without a broader constraint of exhibition theme, or stated ideal on the artist’s part.

SLurl Details

A quiet corner of Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
-Paradiso-/Cor meum; Inara Pey, January 2019, on Flickr
-Paradiso-/Cor meum – click any image for full size

Update: The parcel on which -Paradiso-/Cor meum sits is not longer open to the public. SLurls have therefore been removed from this article.

I’m not sure quite how -Paradiso-/Cor meum came to be on my list; I have a feeling that I received a poke about it late in 2018, but beyond the region and sim being noted in my list of places to visit, I don’t have an original note card to reference as an aide-memoire to give me a name; so my apologies to whoever it might have been, particularly if the tip came via IM.

Located in the south-east quarter of a Homestead, this is something of an idyllic setting of the kind I tend to like: shallow waters to wade through, little “islands” of trees and flowers scattered across it, and a little dry land to stand upon or wander over for those who prefer to keep their feet as dry as possible. Designed by 髙橋ヒロム (CainAbel), it is the kind of place that can be explored in minutes – and appreciated and enjoyed for hours.

-Paradiso-/Cor meum; Inara Pey, January 2019, on Flickr
-Paradiso-/Cor meum

The landing point sits close to the eastern edge of the region, where a lone tree rises from the water, branches devoid of leaves but attracting butterflies. A rowing boat sits beneath the bare boughs, resting among a gathering of translucent roses.

Not far away, sitting between the eastern and southern region boundaries, lies a circle of whitened trees protectively standing around an ancient ruin. The broken walls and arches speaking to a presence long past, a single aged fountain at their centre. Like the rowing boat, the ruins sit within a sea of translucent roses under which waves gently shimmer.

-Paradiso-/Cor meum; Inara Pey, January 2019, on Flickr
-Paradiso-/Cor meum

A tongue of land twists a path over the water from this mystical copse, passing under arched trees offering their raised branches as if trying to keep the sky from collapsing on whoever passes beneath them. This path leads to a raised area of grass sitting no more than a metre above the waters, but high enough to trap a large pool fed by a waterfall within it.

Here the trees are lush and green, more of the mist-like roses around the feet of those near the inner pool, which has attracted its own ghost-like butterflies. Rising from this pool is the stump of what must have once been a mangrove tree of huge proportions, and which still throws out sturdy roots, even though it is now little more than the foundation for a ramshackle hut sitting upon its hewn neck. Reached via a rickety little board walk and  crooked ladder, the shack hides a romantic little vignette within.

-Paradiso-/Cor meum; Inara Pey, January 2019, on Flickr
-Paradiso-/Cor meum

Follow the land west and south from the shack, and a cosy bed-like swing awaits discovery, another place for visitors to relax, still more roses lapping around its wooden frame. Behind it, willow-like trees twinkle with lights, while a line of telegraph poles march their way to and from nowhere in particular.

There are no ambient sounds within the setting (or at least, none were playing during my visit), but the audio stream provides a gentle flow of music, so those who wish to can use the umbrella-like dance system close to the landing point to twirl their way over the water to the gentle beat and romantic lyrics.

-Paradiso-/Cor meum; Inara Pey, January 2019, on Flickr
-Paradiso-/Cor meum

With a Flickr group available for sharing photos, -Paradiso-/Cor meum is a perfect place to escape stress and worry, and one ideally suited to playing with windlight options and settings when taking photos. As the parcel is part of a residential region, do please keep all explorations to within the parcel boundaries.

Burn2 Winter Burn 2019 announced

Posted on by Inara Pey

The BURN2 team have announced the dates and theme for the BURN2 Winter Burn event – and with them comes an invitation for people to get involved.

Winter Burn this year will take place on the weekend of Friday, January 25th through Sunday January 27th, 2019, and takes the theme, Seasonal Perceptions.

Perception – the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.

This is particularly important as we move through the seasons, especially the holidays. However, our perceptions are affected by our environment, the things and people around us; even the weather! At this time of year, one person might be shovelling the snow off his driveway while another might spend the day surfing the waves off the coast of Australia.

But it is also influenced by our imaginations. Michael Whelan, a world-renowned artist, once did a painting of his young daughter who loved playing in the sandbox. What he did differently is depict his daughter wearing a spacesuit and playing in a lunar sandbox.

Our perceptions are a driving force in how we interact with the world around us. But imagination is also a strong influencer. Given all that, how would you perceive the seasons? Would you reflect the environment around you or imagine something completely off the wall and different? Show us your “Seasonal Perceptions!”

– Burn2 press release

Those wishing to participate in the event can do so in a number of ways.

  • Builders: can participate by building individually (with an invitation to be a part of a Ten Principles Hunt), or by being part of a collaborative team of up to six people to create an art installation. Builders are invited to apply via the Seasonal Perceptions Builder sign-up form.
  • Performers: are invited to use the main stage or, if a performance troupe with a stage set, space provided near the main stage. A sign-up form will be made available via the Burn2 website soon, and in the meantime, interest in being a performer can be passed in-world to Cuga Rajal.
  • Fashionistas: are invited to bring their style and skill to Seasonal Perceptions. see the Be A Fashionista! Burn2 page, and contact Vickie Maidstone in world,

General questions concerning the event should be addressed in-world to Event Lead Cuga Rajal.

About BURN2

BURN2 is an extension of the Burning Man festival and community into the world of Second Life. It is an officially sanctioned Burning Man regional event, and the only virtual world event out of more than 100 real world Regional groups and the only regional event allowed to burn the man.

The BURN2 Team operates events year around, culminating in an annual major festival of community, art and fire in the fall – a virtual echo of Burning Man itself.

Related Links