October 2025 SL Web User Group

The following notes cover the key points from the Web User Group (WUG) meeting, held on Wednesday October 1st, 2025. These notes form a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. The official video is embedded at the end of this summary.

Meeting Overview

• The Web User Group exists to provide an opportunity for discussion on Second Life web properties and their related functionalities / features. This includes, but is not limited to: the Marketplace, pages surfaced through the secondlife.com dashboard; the available portals (land, support, etc), and the forums.
• As a rule, these meetings are conducted:
  • On the first Wednesday of the month and 14:00 SLT.
  • In both Voice and text.
  • At this location.
• Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
• Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Updates

• Bug fixes shipped:
  • MFA login issue.
  • Marketplace ANS delete issue.
  • The Apostrophes Break SL Web Map issue has been fixed via a simulator update.
• Removal of “What’s Next” Basics in dashboard menu.
• More results should now be displayed in Destination guide searches.
• Under-the-hood work including:
  • A Python library upgrade for internal services.
  • A security review of the Lab’s JavaScript packages.
  • Clean-up of the subscriptions services to prevent double-charging of PMEs.

New Premium Plus Subscription Option

For those not aware:

• Mid-October will see the launch of Premium Plus No Stipend.
  • All of the benefits of Premium Plus without the Stipend or Signup bonus.
  •  Monthly Cost of with stipend vs. no stipend: US $29.99 vs. US $15.99.
  • Annual Cost of with stipend vs. no stipend: US $249 vs. US $143.88 (US $11.99/month billed annually).
• For details, see my blog post: Coming soon: New Option to Reduce the Cost of SL Premium Plus-Subscriptions.

Questions from the Lab

• Why do you make all your items no transfer? Are most items no transfer?
  • Most items are created No Transfer (75%-90% in estimates), although the return of Gacha might be increasing the number of transferable items.
  • No transfer is preferred for multiple reasons. Those cited included: complexities of customer support with transfer items then have been passed from one user to another; the risk of object loss if an item is set to No Copy as a result of being set to Transfer (e.g. through accidental deletion & trash purge). Most users prefer to have Copy / Modify items over Transfer (/ No Copy) / Modify items.
• What would encourage creators to make items transferrable?
  • Largely a matter of personal choice, but Transfer was not seen as a popular need.
  • The exceptions to this were seen as items specifically designed to be gifted / intended for the Gacha units & the resale market.
• How do you attract new users to your stores? Gifts? Credits? Responses included: Group gifts; store credits / discounts; sales / special offers.
• Has anyone used the new Avatar Welcome Pack? Have you made items for it?
  • Unsurprisingly, mixed opinions on the avatars in the Welcome Pack, although it was noted that as the bodies are Legacy, many creators have clothing available for them, even if the clothing is not specifically created with the starter avatars in mind.
  • Complaints were raised over the fact feet are not posable (so high heel shoes won’t work with them), and the “dead face” expressions – with reminders that the Welcome Pack avatars are just that: for getting started, before moving on to more capable store-bought avatars.
  • This lead to a discussion on what could / might be included in the Welcome Pack – such as a limited AO system from one of the dedicated AO creators, just to again help people get started and not necessarily try to work out where they need to shop or immediately diving into the MP.
• For those who have helped new users create an avatar via the Welcome Pack, what have been the common problems?
  • Feedback ran from lack of variety in the avatars (e.g. all of them are human); lack of contextual / explanatory information.
  • General feedback on bodies / heads in general was the over complexity of things and the steps a new user must go through (even after exposure to the Welcome Packs), together with easily identifying what will / won’t work with a given body type / head type if the new user is not familiar with brands, BoM, using HUDs, etc.
• How long would you say an experienced user would take to create a really good avatar?
  • Estimates varied from “5 minutes” to “an hour”, depending on approach (e.g. having the necessary avatar parts – head, body, etc.), already in inventory and working from there, vs going out and shopping for a suitable body / head, etc., vs. using the Avatar Welcome Pack.
  • It was noted that helping new users build / customise avatars takes much longer, both due to the general learning curve and the need to overcome the technical / language barriers (e.g. explaining what “BoM” is, why only certain clothing will fit certain bodies, how to recognise what is needed from multi-body pack of clothing in order to wear the outfit on the avatar, etc.).
• What would you say is the average cost of a good avatar?
  • Just for a head, body, skin, hair and initial outfit: US $50, although cost is relative depending on what is being sought.
  • This also folded itself into people’s expectations / desires for their avatar and its looks.

General Points

• Sntax Linden noted that the Avatar Picker / Customiser found in Project Zero is now offered in the official viewer, but without the dedicated Avatar toolbar button, the Picker opening within the viewer rather than as a separate browser panel.
• It was pointed out (as I’ve done previously), that the official welcome hub is out-of-step with the Avatar Welcome Pack as it only references the Senra avatars.
• The Q&A session included a wide-ranging discussion on approaches to getting new users acclimatised to SL using a mix of web options / capabilities and in-world experiences.

Next Meeting

• Wednesday, November 5th, 2025.