Day: December 17, 2019

Name Changes: $40 per change(?), some thoughts and a poll

Posted on by Inara Pey

Name Changes  – the ability for Premium members to change their first and last names, with the first name being free-form, and the last being selected from a list – is due to be launched around January / February 2020.

As has been previously announced, Name Changes will be offered for a US dollars fee, and there has been some speculation over the last couple of months as to the the size of that fee (one prominent rumour surfaced at some User Group meetings has claimed the fee will be US $20.00, for example – see here).

However, with the announcement of the Name Changes contest (see Name Changes Contest is Upon Us! from Linden Lab and my own blog post Linden Lab launches SL Name Changes contest), we now have a prominent indicator as to what the fee will likely be, and it comes to us via the contest rules:

5. PRIZE.

A. Description of Prizes. One free Last Names change (estimated value at US$39.99 plus $11.99 to represent the value of a month of Premium Membership) on an account of Winner’s choice.

B. Estimated Total Prize package value: US$51.98. Exact value dependent on account status.

(Emphasis mine.)

Of course, the fee still has yet to be finally confirmed, but it’s fairly safe to assume that it is likely to be the  $39.99¹ mentioned in the contest rules. This raises some interesting thoughts about the capability and its potential uptake.

On the one hand, a fee is to be expected, if for no other reason that that re-introduction of names changes has required extensive changes to many of the back-end systems and services that support Second Life (hence the time taken for the capability to be introduced). Also, given the impact of making a name change will have an extensive impact on those systems, the Lab needs to limit how frequently such changes might be made to avoid unintended impact.

There’s also the the fact that in order to meet demands from users for the Lab to reduce land tier (which they’ve tried to address over the last few years through the likes of the 2016 buy-down offer and the reductions to mainland (March 2018) and private region (June 2018) tier), there need to be ways in which the revenue can be made up (see Thoughts on Second Life fees, tier and revenue ) and Name Changes is one more option by which this might – in time – be achieved.

BUT … the potential for revenue generation needs to be balanced against the level of the fee: if it is set too high (and leaving aside the inevitable shouts about “gouging”, etc., from some quarters), then it could be self-defeating. Simply put: if users feel the fee is too high, they’re not going to run with it, particularly given Display Names will remain available. As such, there is something of a risk that Name Changes may take a good deal of time to recoup the costs of implementation – if it can.

There’s also the overall level of interest in the capability: while a lot of noise was made following the removal of last names in favour of “Resident”, the fact is that those who have been around long enough to have a last name (like myself) may well be so attached to it, so changing it may hold little interest. Even those partnering or with the “Resident” last name might prefer to stay with using Display Names rather than forking out for a Name Change.

Time will tell on both of these latter points – and there will likely be much debate on the fee as well as the capability in general. As such, I thought I’d try a straw poll of feedback on the subject from readers – make sure you vote in each box; once for interest, the other for the fee.

Update, December 28th: this poll is now closed.

Related Articles

  1. Note that Linden Lab has indicated the fee will be lower for Premium Plus once it has been launched. However, Premium Plus pricing has yet to be confirmed, and the option will not be launched until some time after the release of Name Changes.

Out of Mind – Inner Galaxy in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Out of Mind – Inner Galaxy

Open now through until December 29th is an ensemble exhibition organised by ViktorSavior. Entitled Out of Mind – Inner Galaxy, it features the work of a dozen Second Life artists.

The art is offered alongside the poetry of Alena Witt, who is also one of the artists, alongside of ViktorSavior. The remaining ten artists are: Amethystreignn, AngelinkaNega, jessamine2108, OrpheusofDarkness, RichardGrataineSuoh, Sleksanas, TaraAers, Ava Jhamin, Lanka Milligan and Vita Theas.

Out of Mind – Inner Galaxy

The setting is somewhat ethereal: a temple-like structure with columns of which hold aloft a sky of blinking star-like lights over which clouds pass, mirroring the mist the issues from the base of the columns and above a marble floor, two sides of which are limned with tear drops of light.

The art is set between the columns, alternating on each of the “walls” with poems by Alena. The latter are presented in Russian, but touch a poem to receive a note card with the poem in both Russian and English. The art – up to three pieces per artist, is displayed vertically – again, touch a picture for a note card on the artist responsible.

Out of Mind – Inner Galaxy

With the images focused on avatar studies, the exhibition offers an interesting insight into different styles and approaches to avatar art, with fantasy perhaps taking centre stage among the majority of the images presented. The theme stands as a excellent companion to the idea of expression of how we perceive ourselves and projection that inner self outwards and create a world around us we project through this virtual realm.

Small, rich with colour and presentation, this is an interesting and expressive exhibition.

SLurl Details

Second Life: Name Changes contest launched

Posted on by Inara Pey
via and © Linden Lab

After reading this article, please also check: Name Changes: $40 per change(?), some thoughts and a poll.

As promised in a November 21st, 2019 blog post from the Lab (see: The Return of Last Names and Changes to Marketplace, Events & Premium), Linden Lab has launched a competition for users to suggest the first batch of Last Names for when the new service is launched in 2020. 

Once available, Names Changes means Premium members can change their First Name, Last Name, or both.

  • There will be a one-time fee applied per Name Change.
  • First names are entirely free-form, while Last Names will be selectable from a list (“old” Last Names will not be eligible for re-use).

It is in this last regard that the contest is being run, as noted, with the Lab commenting:

We want your help coming up with the first batch of Last Names! 

Three submissions per entry … From all of the suggestions, we’ll pick five (5), and those five lucky Residents will be able to change their names completely free of charge (or designate another account for the name change).

Again, previously-available Last Names (e.g. Pay, Voyager, Sideways, Starr, Young, Silverweb, and so on), cannot be suggested and will not form a part of the new Name Changes service. A complete list of previously last names is available here.

Please refer to Name Changes Contest is Upon Us! for further information, and note that entries must be made via the official contest form, and must be submitted before 15:00 SLT on January 6th, 2020. Full rules for the contest can be found here. These appear to suggest the cost of a name change will be US $40.00 – see section 5 Prize, of the rules.

You can also catch up on my coverage of Last Names here: