Month: June 2022

Friday, June 24th, 2022 saw the final Meet the Lindens special events take place for the SL19B(irthday) celebrations, featuring Patch Linden and the Moles of the Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW).

Unlike previous articles in this series, this is not a detailed summary of the session, but focuses on information relating to the New User eXperience (NUX) and the upcoming new Starter Avatars, and on plans for Linden Homes for Premium Plus and Premium accounts. Also provided is information on who the Moles are, and how to apply to become one, if you believe your skill sets are suitable.

New User Experience / Starter Avatar Project

[Video: 12:27-20:56]

• NUX is a multi-phase, multi-faceted project that is fairly constantly in motion.
• Currently, the focus is on the new user starter avatars, given the current avatars are a mix of the original system body and mesh attachments.
• This project is intended to replace all of the starter avatars with fully mesh offerings. These will utilise the Bento skeleton and sliders, support Bakes on Mesh (BoM) and be an all-in-one, head-to-toes avatar, complete with new animation overrides.

• These avatars:
  • Will be provided with an “array” of outfits/looks/ethnicities from which new users can choose during the sign-up process, with everything being an unisex as possible, so as to work across the full gender spectrum and the avatars themselves also available through the system Library.
  • Won’t necessarily be as robust and extensible as some of the “best-in-class” bodies and heads, but are seen as a means to help those coming into SL get started and ease them into the wider creative ecosphere.
  • Will be supported by developer kits so that creators can produce clothing and accessories for them, and again further encourage new users into the broader commercial ecosystem.

• The work is still very much at a pre-release status, with the preview shown at the event not necessarily represent the finished product; there is a lot more to come with the project before it is ready for release.

Linden Homes – Premium Plus and Premium

[Video: 36:31-44:55]

• At the time of the Moles MTL, 34,845 Premium Linden Homes had been made available and 1,913 regions released, with a further 172 “under construction”.
• Premium Plus Linden Homes:
  • Entirely new “ground up” themes with a new approach to implementation.
  • The “ranch” theme Patch mentions at his MTL session [video ; blog summary], is one under consideration, although exact style, etc., is still TBA.
  • The fact that ideas are still in development is why Premium Plus Linden Homes will not be appearing until the end of 2022 “at the earliest”.
  • The increased land offering (2048 sq m) means more opportunities to use different parcel sizes.
• Premium Linden Homes:
  • Both the Traditional and Victorian theme will be getting a refresh with “open-plan” variants on their styles.
  • Houseboats to get four new floor plans.
  • Updates will include a pass to bring the control panels up-to-date with the most recent home releases.
  • All of this will be rolled out before the end of 2022.
• New large-scale community centres for Bellisseria are also in the works.
• No plans at this time for a “city style” theme with apartments and the like.

About the Moles

Who or What are the Moles?

• Officially called the Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW), originally formed in 2008, Moles are residents from all over the world hired by Linden Lab as independent contractors to undertake specific tasks.
• Their work was originally focused on the Mainland, adding the infrastructure – road, bridges, etc., and the landscaping, as noted in the official LDPW wiki page, although they actually do a lot more than this.
• Notable major projects carried out by the Moles include:
  • The infrastructure within Nautilus City.
  • The development of Bay City.
  • The Linden Homes continent of Bellisseria (including all topography, flora, infrastructure and housing).
  • The facilities for events like Shop & Hop, the Second Life Birthday, town hall events, the turn-key regions available for businesses, starter avatars, etc.
  • The Lab provided games such as Linden Realms, Paleoquest, Horizons and the grid-wide Tyrah and the Curse of the Magical Glytches – all accessible via the Portal Parks.
• They also provide support / input for / to technical projects (e.g. Project Bento and the avatar skeleton extension), and work with marketing, QA and other LL teams.
• In keeping with their name, Moles were originally given a mole avatar, complete with hard hat. However, over the years, most have moved to having a more individual and personal look, although some say with their Mole look.
• As well as being paid for the work they do, Moles also receive and allowance from the Lab, which is primarily intended to go towards the cost of uploads (texture, animations, mesh objects, etc)., but which can also be put towards developing their individual looks.

How to Become a Mole

• Positions in the LDPW are open to application by residents who believe they are qualified to work in the team, and the team may also approach specific residents and ask if they would consider joining them.
• Applications are made by dropping a résumé (note card or email) of qualifications / experience (including links SLurls, Flickr, You Tube, etc.) to Derrick Linden (derrick.linden-at-lindenlab.com) or to Patch Linden (patch.linden-at-lindenlab.com).
• Applicants have to go through a former interview process.
• Successful applicants get to pretty much choose their hours of work – providing agreed tasks are completed on time.
• As they are from around the world, this can allow some projects to move forward on almost a round-the-clock basis.
• Those who are more fully-rounded in skill sets  – content creation, scripting, etc., – are encouraged to apply, but LL will also take on specialists.
• Motivated, outgoing, communicative people with a passion for SL and willing to self-teach themselves new skill sets are particularly considered.

 

Thursday, June 23rd, 2022 saw the fourth in the SL19B Meet the Lindens events, this one featuring Grumpity Linden, the Lab’s Vice President of Product and Mojo Linden, the Vice President of Engineering. The following is a summary of the session covering the core topics raised. The full video is located at the end of this article. Note that this is a summary, not a full transcript, and items have been grouped by topic, so may not be presented chronologically when compared to the video.

Table of Contents The TL;DR Summary A Little Background Platform Improvements and the Roadmap Viewer Performance Improvements Environmental and Lighting Improvements Dealing with Technical Debt – Bugs, and “Incomplete” Features The Marketplace Event Regions Update The Product Roadmap NUX – New User eXperience Mobile Update Looking Ahead – Aspirational Aims Second Life and the “Metaverse” SL and the Metaverse Standards Forum General Q&A

Also, information given in braces ([ and ]), has been provided by myself and does not form a part of the conversation.

The TL;DR Summary

• Platform Improvements and the Roadmap:
  • Viewer performance: Graphics team working to overhaul the viewer’s graphics performance, with updates already released (Performance Improvements viewer) and more (at the time of writing) on the way (Performance Improvements Floater viewer).
  • SL environmental work in development / testing: reflection probes; glTF materials support; moving towards “full” PBR support [progress on this work available via my CCUG meeting summaries].
  • Managing technical debt: dealing with long-term issues; re-visiting features; under-the-hood improvements.
  • The Marketplace: recent small-scale improvements; the Styles project to add variances(e.g. colour options) to listings; future considerations.
  • Event regions update: new products released with revised pricing – see: Lab announces updated Event and Event Elite Regions + pricing
  • Roadmap: search relevance overhaul; Group Chat.
• New User eXperience: overview of new starter avatars and hopes, but see the Meet the Moles session for more details.
• Mobile Update: not a lot to report; LL still has mobile / web ambitions; a streaming solution is in development.
• Second Life and the “Metaverse”: being a part of the discussions of “the metaverse”; being aware of the challenges;
• thoughts on joining the Metaverse Standard Forum.

A Little Background

[Video: 0:00-4:00]

Grumpity Linden

• Heads up Second Life Product team, where she has overseen a shift to growth, a stronger, more balanced economy, movement towards better community cohesion, and an overall forward-looking approach.
• Originally came to Linden Lab while working for The Product Engine, a company providing end-to-end consulting and software development services, and which supports viewer development at the Lab, and she was initially involved in the development and viewer 2 (as designed by 80/20 Studio).
• She became a “full-time Linden” in 2014. Her current position involves coordinating the various teams involved in bringing features and updates to Second Life (e.g. Engineering and QA), liaising with legal, financial and compliance to ensure features and capabilities meet any specific requirements in those areas, etc. This work can involve looking at specifics within various elements of the overall SL product, such as UI design and layout, etc.
• Prior to working for Linden Lab, she was involved in a number of industries, including technology, higher education, and oil & gas. She enjoys exploring worlds both virtual and physical and takes pride in building bridges – personal and professional.
• Holds a Master’s in Computer Science and a Bachelor’s from same in Computer Science & Psychology, both from Johns Hopkins University. She finds leading the Second Life product a joy because it allows her to draw on both areas of study.

Mojo Linden

• Joined Linden Lab in August 2021.
• Has overall responsibility for managing both the viewer and the simulator engineering teams at the Lab.
• Holds a degree in Computer engineering from the University of Washington.
• Has over 20 years experience within the games industry, and he has worked on iconic franchises such as Halo, Forza, Motorsport, Fable, Crackdown, and Wheel of fortune.
• His expertise extends across multiple platforms: PC, console, mobile, cloud and web.
• Prior to joining Linden Lab, held senior positions at Level EX, Zume, Doubledown Interactive, IGT, and Microsoft.
• Since joining the Lab, he has demonstrated an intuitive understanding of the platform and the viewer, and has sought to make himself available at in-world user groups such as the Content Creation User Group, the Simulator User Group and the Third Party Viewer Developer’s group.
• Loves being a part of Linden Lab, finds the users “dynamic” and enjoys working with his colleagues.
• Is grateful the the move to AWS was largely completed before he joined, as it has opened a lot of opportunities.

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Platform Improvements and the Roadmap

Viewer Performance Improvements

[Video: 4:11-5:39] – Mojo:

• Performance has always been important to him as an engineer, and is aware of how poor performance can spoil an immersive experience.
• The Graphics team has been working on performance improvements over the last six months, with Runitai Linden’s work in particular leading to a near doubling of FPS on the official viewer [see: Looking at the SL Performance Improvements Viewer).
• Further viewer-side changes to come include: performance auto-tuning [within the Performance Improvements Floater RC viewer], texture streaming improvements; and using all available video memory.
• [Note: several of these improvements are covered in my CCUG meeting summaries.]

Environmental and Lighting Improvements

[Video: 9:51-15:11]

• Mojo:
  • Global illumination / bounced lighting [a form of radiosity lighting]  is “on our minds”.
  • Currently in development is support for reflection probes, which could be used to approximate global illumination and bounced lighting.
    • [In short: reflection probes will exist / can be added to a scene or build, and used to generate a cube map of a defined area, and the cube map used for generating illuminations / reflections on other surfaces within the specified volume. ]

• • Reflection probes are an adjunction to implementing support for physically based rendering (PBR)
    • [The first phase of this work is to allow the import of materials to Second Life as inventory assets which can be applied to object faces. This work is following the giTF 2.0 specification – specifically metallic roughness; and will go on to provide better support for tools such as Substance Painter (aka Adobe Substance 3D)].
  • This work is being carried out in direct collaboration with members of the Second Life creator community and developers working on TPVs to ensure as many use cases as possible are considered.
    • [This work is continually summarised in my CCUG meeting notes.]
  • This might be seen as a step towards mirrors in Second Life.
• Grumpity:
  • In terms of weather effects, points out the the Environment Enhancement Project (EEP) carried general environment rendering in SL significantly forward, but at a resource / time to implement [it also moved SL further away from the Windlight baseline code].
  • As such, “weather” is something that is going to have to wait whilst the focus is on other aspects of the platform.

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Dealing with Technical Debt – Bugs, and “Incomplete” Features

[Video: 16:15-20:09]

• Technical debt does get constantly addressed; however there are constraints on what can be done, due to both legacy code and legacy content + the risk of breakage.
• A lot of what is addressed is not necessarily user-visible: updating to more modern code languages and libraries to run systems and services and the viewer, updating to more capable database systems, etc., all of which directly benefit users.
• In terms of users providing input on bugs and ideas for improvements, there are the following options:
  • The Second Life Jira.
  • The SL user groups. (dates and times via the SL Public Calendar).

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The Marketplace

[Video: 27:32-29:30] – Grumpity:

• Marketplace improvements tend to be rolling over time. Recent small-scale improvements include:
  • The ability to sort by orders you’ve reviewed.
  • Some initial improvements to search results and improvements to the back-end of MP search, with more to come.
  • Improvements to the speed of order recipients search.
  • Major project to implement “Styles” (e.g. thing like colour variance in products) to product listings. The back-end work is now done and the front-end work should become visible “in a few cycles”.
• Still thinking hard about the Marketplace, up to and including a potential complete re-build, which will be “quite a project”.
• [Note: on-going work on the Marketplace are reported via my Web User Group summaries.]

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Event Regions Update

[Video: 31:45-37:08] – Grumpity:

• LL have noted that while Event regions tend to run best in a “standalone” mode, rather than connected to other regions (particularly other event regions), where child agents¹ can become an issue. This has yet to be resolved, and is being worked on.
• In the interim, the tier tier of Event product are being made available – Event Regions Pro (at US $449/mo) and Event Region Elite (and US $599/mo) with no set-up fees for either.
• LL believe the revised product offering and pricing will “hit the spot”.
• [Please also refer to  Event Regions: New Pricing and Offerings – Linden Lab and Lab announces updated Event and Event Elite Regions + pricing – this blog.]

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The Product Roadmap

[Video: 20:40-26:38]

• Grujmpity:
  • A lot that has been on the roadmap has been, and is being rolled-out, including Premium Plus; Event regions; performance improvements (with more to come, as this is a constant focus).
  • Further work encompasses the New User eXperience (NUX), with a current focus on Starter Avatars and customising avatars – with discussion of this to be found in the Meet the Moles session [+brief notes below].
  • Web properties [the secondlife.com dashboard, the various SL Pages, the Marketplace, etc.] are a focus of update and improvement.
    • Land ownership – buying regions, obtaining Mainland, choosing a Linden Home, etc.,  is the next major focus for this.
• Mojo:
  • Group Chat is a current area focus (responsiveness and reliability).
    • This is something that has been complicated by the raising of Group limits for Premium Plus, so more people are liable to be in more Groups, which places a great load on the Group Chat service.
    • LL recognise the importance of Group Chat, so it will continue to be an area of focus and improvement.
  • Search relevance: a major project to overall search (web, Marketplace, etc.) in terms of relevance and accuracy.
    • This includes work to track search results so that if a result that appears will down a list is the one the vast majority of people go to, it will be moved up to the top of the list.
    • At the time of writing, this project is still in progress so it will take time to be fully deployed to properties like the Marketplace.
• [Note: on-going work on projects such as search relevance, land ownership, Marketplace improvements and updates, etc., are reported via my Web User Group summaries.]

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NUX – New User eXperience

[Video: 30:02-31:10]

• Mojo:
  • Making it easier to on-board new users.
  • Major current focus, easing the process for new users to customise their avatars. This includes a new body type and clothing that “just works”.
  • Hope that there will be an opportunity for creators to test their clothing against this new body type.
  • Wants to encourage creators to cater for the new body type and sell good for it to new users.
• Grumpity:
  • More details in the Meet the Moles session.

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Mobile Update

[Video: 40:08-42:09]

• Mojo:
  • LL was working on a chat app [initially iOS] but has “shifted gears”.
  • Appreciates third-party solutions such as Speedlight “filling the gap”.
  • LL still has ambitions in the mobile / app environment, but is not ready to discuss everything as yet, but there are initiatives being examined, including using web functionality in the mobile space.
  • Wants to be able to give users the power to managed inventory, shop, find things to do, manage their accounts, etc., via mobile and on the web.
• [Video: 47:47-48:34] Grumpity:
  • Also working on a streaming solution (again).
  • Believe LL has found a sweet spot for a streaming solution in terms of pricing.
  • This cannot be free as it is running on some server, somewhere.
  • May offer a better option for 3D viewing of Second Life on mobile devices than dedicated apps.

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Looking Ahead – Aspirational Aims

[Video: 42:19-48:34]

These are not things that are about to be shipped; they are “R&D projects”, some of which may be in progress.

• Grumpity
  • Puppetry [aka “Avatar expressiveness”]
    • Controlling an avatar via wbecam – e.g. so if you use a webcam and roll your head, the avatar mimic by rolling it’s head; if you smile, your avatar smiles, etc.
    • Sees this as an a alternate, more cost-effective means of bringing emotional expression to avatars than using VR headsets.
    • A future step is to put a demo of this work together and present it for input from the community.
  • “Chat Roulette”: improving the ways in which people can meet, converse, find answers to questions and generally feel a greater sense of engagement.

• Mojo:
  • Performance improvements, notably in the area of fidelity.
  • Increasing a sense of presence within SL by removing / overcoming the limitation of draw distance in being able to see vast open spaces like on Mainland, when exploring or whilst flying.

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Second Life and the “Metaverse”

[Video: 5:43-9:35] – Grumpity:

• The hype  / interest has allowed her to represent Linden Lab / Second Life through various mediums – printed, television, etc., and to participate in various discussion and panels (e.g. the “metaverse” and the law, hosted by Stanford University with the likes of Lawrence Lessig).
• Thinks it is “fantastic” to see this resurgence of interest in virtual worlds, although there is a lot to consider carefully.
• Notes that a lot of the discussions around the “metaverse” – inhabiting digital selves, engaging in digital transactions – are things that have been occurring in Second Life for almost two decades, allowing the Lab to be a strong player in such conversations.
• In terms of business models for “metaverse” platforms:
  • Reiterates that LL is “very proud” that it does not monetise users’ personal data, in keeping with comments from Brad Oberwager and Philip Linden [video here and my summary here],
  • Notes that LL believe that moving an adverts-based monetised model from the 2D social spaces into immersive environments could be “dangerous”, even though it does allow the virtual world to be “free” in terms of direct cost to users.
•  It has presented LL with the opportunity to innovate, notably with the initiatives noted above.

LL and the Metaverse Standards Forum

[Video: 1:02:47-1:04:15] – Mojo

• LL has started a discussion to join.
• Feels that as the OG among virtual worlds, it makes sense for LL to be in the forum.
• Believes it will be interesting to see if common standards can be developed in terms of information exchange, presence exchange (possibly even avatar exchange), etc., so could be beneficial in having a seat at the table.

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General Questions

This section covers the majority of questions that were responded to in some detail. Note that questions specific to the topics given above are included under those topic headings.

• [Video: 26:56] Will users get more Picks options in their in-world Profiles? It’s possible, but not being worked on at the moment. It may, however, be a Premium feature.
• [Video: 56:11-57:30] What is the status of VR support in SL? Re-visiting VR headset support has been discussed, but there should not be an expectations of anything being released in the foreseeable future, and it sits behind a number of other things in the “aspirational aims” pile.
• [Video: 58:01-59:31] What is the status of any move towards using the Vulkan API for graphics?
  • It is definitely on the docket for work, and is contained in the overall bucket of performance improvements, but no direct work has as yet started.
  • There is also a matter of timing to be considered – how much further can SL move along the OpenGL in respect of Apple’s plan to deprecate OpenGL support.
  • Also the concern as to how many PC users in SL can run Vulkan.
• [Video 59:42-1:00:57] What does the future support of Mac OS look like? There is “every plan” to continue to support Mac OS, including investment in a graphics API to move beyond OpenGL.
• [Video: 1:01:21-1:02:14] Would it be possible to have “lightweight” Groups, purely for notices? Interesting idea; would point out that Group issues are not so much the chat itself, but the presence updates (reporting to all other members when Group members log-in / out); so this is one of the possibilities that can be turned to.
• [Video: 1:04:25-1:06:22] Would it be possible to access and organise inventory via the web and without having to log-into the viewer?
  • This is a “passion project” for a Linden, and discussions have been held on how it might be achieved.
  • However, there are many caveats  / concerns about any implementation (e.g. risk of account hacking); so if done likely to be gated by multi-factor authentication; what happens if you make near-simultaneous changes to inventory from both the web and when in-world?
  • Even so, is something LL would like to provide.
• [Video: 1:06:37-1:10:21] Are there plans to improve the in-world building tools? Believes in-world, collaborative building is a core aspect of Second Life. Some ideas are being discussed internally, but would love to have user feedback on improvements and ideas [Feature Requests via the Second Life Jira].
• [Video: 1:10:49-1:11:40] What is the status of official Linux support in the viewer? Recognises there is an application for Linux support, and some TPVs do support it. However, from an official LL standpoint, it’s not something the company has been investing its time.
• [Video: 1:11:56-1:13:05] Will SL support the nVidia ray tracing functionality? If there is a demand, and it can be done without impacting performance or degrading the experience – possibly.
• [Video: 1:13:12-1:14:07] Can an updated FAQ on “lag” and ways to mitigate it be produced? It will be considered as will a possible Second Life University video on the subject.
• [Video: 1:14:15-1:15:37] Will SL move to a more off-the-shelf graphics engine? LL is currently investing in improvements to the existing engine (e.g. the updates noted above. Which is not to say they are unaware of engines such as Unity or Unreal; there are no current plans to move to a commercial engine.
• [Video: 1:16:14-1:17:12] Will sound in SL see any improvement? There have been discussions; there’s also the potential for improvement audio / spatial audio via High Fidelity, so again – Feature Request Jiras.
• [Video: 1:17:22-1:20:28] How is the Meta platform regarded? Meta has considerable resources to throw tat their platform, particularly as grasping at the “metaverse” concept is something of a Hail Mary for them. As such, it is the elephant in the room for virtual worlds.
• [Video:1:20:50-1:22:09] Will it be possible to “tag” inventory items for easier categorisation (clothes furniture, etc)? This has been a subject of discussion at LL. However, it is not easy to implement due to the impact on things like database schema, etc. As such, it is not as yet on the roadmap.
• [Video: 1:23:22-1:24:41] Will there be improvements to region crossings? There is a lot of complexity involved in both teleports between regions and physical region crossing (one foot or on a vehicle). LL has been, is continues to work on getting a deeper understanding of the complexities and making improvements.
• [Video: 1:25:05-1:26:56] When will there be a fix for regions removed from the grid still showing up on the world map? And when will the Mainland default EEP be brightened? The first is awaiting improvements to the map generation service, and a resource has been assigned to look at that service as a whole. The EEP issue is a LDPW issue.
• [Video: 1:27:29-1:27:57] Will residents be able to add graphics to the world map tiles in the same manner as seen with the SL19B regions? LL can do this, but it’s not clear if this is something that would be opened to users – but “maybe”.

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Footnotes

1. Simply put, a Child Agent refers to a secondary agent (avatar) presence associated with your own, then can exist in regions physically adjoining to the one you are currently in, allowing you to “see” into a connected regions (and have it render in your viewer).

Child agents are not physically rendered avatars but a simulator resource, as such they can directly influence region performance.