Day: June 17, 2020

Summer Sailstice in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Summer Sailstice in Second Lfe

We’re used to hearing news about physical world events being cancelled – and some attempting to relocate to virtual spaces, including Second Life (see: Balticon 54: a real world sci-fi convention using Second Life, and MuseWeb: utilising Second Life in support of a global conference as two examples in these pages, for example).

One real-world event is still going ahead this year – one that can make fairly good use of social / physical distancing – is the annual Summer Sailstice, which marks its 20th anniversary in 2020. However, because the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic can sill have an impact on sailing in the physical world – particularly for crews who may not all be in the same household – a special partner event is also being held in Second Life.

Coordinated by Second Life resident and sailor in both the physical and virtual realms, Dale Irata, and involving the Second Life sailing community, under the banner of Sailors in Second Life, the in-world event has offered physical world sailors an open invitation to come in to Second Life and share a weekend’s sailing and events at marinas across the grid and within popular sailing areas such as North Sea and Blake Sea – and the Second Life sailing community can get involved as well.

The Sailstice Expo Centre

To help engage sailing enthusiasts from the physical world to both understand Second Life and potential get involved in the virtual event, a number of on-line resources have been made available over the last couple of months, including:

The core event  – as with the physical world one – takes place on Saturday, June 20th. However, supporting it in-world an in-world exhibition celebrating 15 years of sailing and boating in Second Life, featuring trade stands by some of the platform’s top marine designers and brands. Having opened on June 13th, the expo run through until Sunday, June 21st.

Folkboat racing: one of the many forms of sailing in Second Life

The events scheduled for Saturday, June 20th comprises (all times SLT):

Time Event
 Location
24-hours Camping event – rez your boat for free all weekend

Malolo Island Marina
05:00

Cruise

 Rainbow Sails Yacht Club
07:00

Cruise – More info

 Flying Manta Yacht Club
09:00 DJ Dance Party Flying Manta Yacht Club
10:00

Bandit 25R racing

 Triumphal Yacht Club
Corona Cup SRV210 motorboat racing Starboards Yacht Club
11:00 Nacra 17 Race Nantucket Yacht Club
Noon

Queen Tribute Concert and Second Sailstice Novice Regatta Kickoff Party

 North Sea (Merfolk TP)
Shields Class Racing Triumphal Yacht Club
13:00 Bandit race preparation time North Sea

Party at Wicked Good Beach

 Nantucket Yacht Club (Merfolk TP)
14:00 Second Sailstice Novice Regatta – see below for more North Sea
16:00

Second Sailstice Novice Regatta Afterparty

 North Sea
17:00 Sails and Tails Party (all sailors and merfolk invited) with DJ Night Nantucket Park (Merfolk TP)

Note also that all events are Merfolk friendly!

The Novice Regatta is especially for new SL sailors, and a free boat – the brand new Bandit 22 LTE – will be provided for eligible sailors! You won’t be on the course with folks who’ve been here before, so come out and have a really fun time! More details can be found in the SL Novice Regatta web page.

Follow the links above the event schedule for more information.

Meet the Lindens at SL17B – who and when

Posted on by Inara Pey
Meeting the Linden (and the Moles) at SL17B

The 17th anniversary of Second Life’s opening to the public at large – SL17B – is just around the corner (official starting on Friday, June 19th, with a preview for members of the SL17B group on Thursday, June 18th). And, as has been the case with SLB events over the last few years, the celebration will feature a series of Meet the Lindens sessions featuring individuals and teams from the Lab discussing their work and Second Life.

The two-hour sessions run from Monday, June 22nd through Friday, June 26th, each one commencing at 14:00 SLT. They will be held in the SL17B Auditorium (SLurls at the end of this article), with the schedule lining up as follows:

Day (14:00 – 16:00 SLT) Lindens
Monday 22nd June  Ebbe Linden (Altberg), Linden Lab CEO
Tuesday 23rd June Patch Linden, Vice President of Programme Operations
Wednesday 24th, June Oz Linden, Vice President of Second Life Engineering
Thursday 25th June The Marketing Team
Friday 26th June Meet the Moles!

For those who may be unfamiliar with some of the above names and their areas of expertise:

  • Ebbe Linden, as the Lab’s CEO since 2014, really needs no introduction. Open and honest, he has always endeavoured to keep SL residents appraised of business at the Lab – and on the management perspective of running Linden Lab and its products (SL and Tilia Pay). Should anyone want a potted biography on him however, I offer the one I pieced together when he officially joined Linden Lab.
  • Patch Linden oversees the content development teams, the Mainland Land Team, and the Linden Department of Public Works As such, he oversees things like the development of the new Linden Homes continent, the Lab’s games and experiences such as Linden Realms and Horizons, and so on. He is also responsible for managing the Second Life team, and the account support team.
  • Oz Linden oversees the engineering side of Second Life – this encompasses viewer development, simulator development and a lot of the back-end services required by SL (e.g. the asset service, the appearance and baking services, etc.). This includes managing the development and implementation of SL projects and features.
  • The Marketing Team comprises: Brett Linden is the Lab’s Senior Director of Marketing, who has been with Linden Lab for over a decade; Darcy Linden, Senior Marketing Manager, Maveric Linden, Tara Linden and Strawberry Linden. Key facets of their work include promoting and marketing Second Life and the acquisition and retention of new users.
  • Meet the Moles! introduced at SL16B, and gives Second Life residents a chance to learn more about the Moles – the Linden Department of Public Works – other residents who work in support of Linden Lab and Second Life in a variety of ways (such as building the regions for SL17B) and are paid for doing so.
SL17b: Meet the Lindens (top l-to-r): Ebbe, Patch, Oz (bald as a result of the RFL Bid a Linden Bald event); (bottom l-to-r): The Marketing Team and the Moles (images courtesy of Linden Lab)

The sessions will be hosted by Saffia Widdershins, and will be streamed via the Lab’s channels on YouTube, Facebook, Mixer, and Periscope. If all goes according to plan, I’ll have a written summary of each session for those who find watching video / listening to audio difficult. These summaries will also likely include audio extracts of any key comments made.

Additional information can be found in the Destination Guide Meet the Lindens pages.

Auditorium SLurls

Note that all SLurls will not be operational until the official “soft” and “hard” openings of the celebrations.