Category: Linden Lab

SL22B Meet the Lindens: Product and Engineering – summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
SL22B Meet the Lindens: Product Operations: (l to right): Brett Linden, Kali Linden and Grumpity Linden
On Tuesday, June 24th, 2025, Linden Lab held the second of the SL22B Meet the Lindens events, featuring personnel from the  Product Operations teams. The session was pre-recorded, but included a text-based Q&A session afterwards. The session featured:

  • Grumpity Linden – Senior VP of Product & Engineering.
  • Kali Linden – Director of Engineering, Web & Platform Kali Linden.
 Table of Contents

This is a summary of the majority of topics discussed at the session, and the official video of the session is embedded at the end of this article.

For ease of reference, timestamps are provided to the relative points within the video where specific topics are discussed, allowing readers who prefer to listen to the comments directly to be able to do so. Note this is not intended to be a full transcript, but rather covers those items discussed which are liable to be of the most interest.

A Little Background

[Video: 0:53-6:33]

Grumpity Linden

Grumpity Linden: joined SL as a contractor with The Product Engine and helping with the development of (the then) Viewer 2.0 in 2009, and formally joined LL in 2014. As the Senior VP of Product and Engineering she is responsible for coordinating both teams and overseeing their various projects, often in a hands-on capacity (as with SL Mobile).

Personal highlight for the last 12 months at the Lab: working more closely with the creator community and going to the 2025 Game Developers Conference (GDC).

Kali Linden

Kali Linden: has been with Linden Lab for ten years, working on Second Life directly for the last five. She heads-up the teams responsible for the Lab’s web properties, the account management and log-in services, etc. Her current focus is on improving LL’s technology stack, improving the user experience and supporting the overall SL infrastructure.

Her teams directly oversee: the SL Marketplace; Web Search; the Linden Homes web portal; the Destination Guide pages; region purchasing pages; transactional security and accuracy; liaising with AWS for maintenance and cost efficiency; support tooling, asset delivery and storage – managing the databases handling all the inventory of all of SL user’s.

Personal highlight for the last 12 months at the Lab: Agrees with Grumpity on the GDC, and finds the energy and enthusiasm for the platform shown by users to be “really infectious”.

Working Together

  • While Grumpity and Kali have different core focuses, they work together on matters of account security.
  • Working on developing the Premium Plus and Plus subscriptions and working to try to make all subscription tiers a value proposition for users.
  • They noted that not all the work that is carried out is necessarily user-visible (e.g. implementing new back-end tools in support of services, etc.), but often forms the backbone of keeping Second Life operations going.

Web and Tools

[Video 6:55-11:41]

Marketplace

[Video: 6:55 -9:29]

  • Mobile support:
    • Work is going into making the Marketplace more mobile-friendly and to display well on different screen sizes and from within the in-viewer browser without blotting out the entire scene view.
    • The hope is to have a fluid experience so, for example, a user can see an item on an external website (Primfeed was the example used) can tap on the Marketplace link and view the item on the Marketplace with ease for any device and, if they want to, purchase it.
  • CasperVend:
    • LL still plan to integrate CasperVend into the Marketplace.
    • Kali’s goal is to have the integration such that merchants can manage their CasperVend inventory and their Marketplace presence from the same place.
    • Would like to incorporate CasperVend capabilities such as coupon sales and gift cards into the Marketplace as well, and expand on them.
    • Further plans include making it easier for merchants to manage their Marketplace presence – easier inventory management, simpler listing import, and better reporting data.
    • Continuing to improve MP Search in response to feedback from shoppers and merchants.

Web Capabilities

[Video: 9:31-11:41]

  • Kali views the web as an extension to users’ in-world experience, and as such is constantly thinking about:
    • An ability to view and possibly manage inventory from the web.
    • A calendar system for events which also works in-world, and which can include maturity filters.
    • Options for managing Groups and Friends from the web.
  • Would like to see the web become a means for people to more easily be able to manage their Second Life without necessarily being logged-in to the desktop viewer.
  • Is aware of request for people being able to gift subscriptions to friends; for tools for creators and venue owners to promote their spaces; proving shareable Marketplace gift cards – all of these might be seen as making Second Life a more connected environment in which it is easier to share with people you care about.

Second Life Mobile

[Video: 11:45-17:51]

  • Avatars and Performance:
    • At the start of the project, there would doubts about being able to get avatars rendering correctly on mobile devices – and it has proven to be hard.
    • However, the team has made great strides in this area [Please refer to my April and June and / or watch the video below].
    • Currently, work is focused on further performance improvements to further benefit avatar rendering and the app.

  • Currently have a platform that allows existing users to do a lot of the things they can do on the desktop, stay in touch with friends / customers, etc.
  • At the same time, what is available at present is not really enough for those new to SL to come in to it through the Mobile app and really get what Second Life is about.
  • Work is therefore about meeting both sides of the coin: making Mobile a meaningful and useful companion for those already engaged in SL, and on making it a meaningful route for on-boarding those new to Second Life and giving them a clearer understanding of the broader “SL universe”.
  • What the Mobile team is not doing is to try to force all of the desktop experience into the app – the aim is to translate what Second Life is into a more compact experience that meets the needs of new and experienced users.
  • On the short-to-medium term roadmap are plans to work with the server team to provide this like:
    • Persistent chat between Mobile and desktop, without loss of chat history when moving between one and the other
    • The ability to use Mobile whilst logged-in to the desktop, so allowing people to leave their desktop (e.g. to get a drink or something) and still continue to chat, see group notifications, etc.
  • Direction for development is often the result of taking feedback from users. Such feedback is gathered via the Feedback Portal, including the Mobile Alpha Features section, through the monthly Mobile User Group meetings [Note: summaries of Mobile User Group meetings can be found here].
  • Feedback can also be gathered by a physical presence at new user starting locations.
  • Data has shown a lot of Mobile users are in fact new to SL, heightening the desire to make it a great experience for them.

Server and Viewer

[Video: 17:52-20:29]

  • The last 6+ months has seen a concerted effort to improve the performance of the viewer.
    • This work has seen a number of performance gains, although it is in part to compensate in a loss of performance seen in late 2024.
    • These performance improvements have been made across different platforms and for different chipset.
  • Work is continuing on performance, looking at crash rates, FPS, as well as having a focus on quality of life improvements in the hope of making the viewer more a tool to allow people to “get to” their second life, rather than being a product in and of itself.
  • ;The viewer team has also been working closely with Firestorm to help them get their most recently release out the door, which contains all of the features and improvements LL have released over the last 6+ months, as well as including WebRTC (new Voice service) support.

glTF Importer

[Video: 20:30-21:38]

  • The aim with the glTF importer is to make things like importing meshes and materials as simple and straightforward as possible.
  • The initial alpha release of a viewer with the importer can be found on the Alternate Viewers page.
  • Mesh content creators and encouraged to try it out and offer feedback and to attend the Content Creation User Group to discuss the importer.
  • [Note: summaries of Content Creation User group meetings can be found here]. The more feedback given, the 9potentially) faster the importer can be stabilised and make its way through to a release viewer.

WebRTC

[Video: 21:41-24:33]

  • WebRTC (Real Time Communications) is the new Voice protocol for Second Life, replacing Vivox and the need for a Voice API plug-in in the viewer.
  • The WebRTC had been stalled as a result of the focus on performance coupled with a large (but now in substantial decline) number of users using a pre-PBR version of Firestorm (and thus without the necessary WebRTC support).
  • The current target is to have the entire grid running WebRTC by the end of summer 2025.
  • WebRTC voice quality should be superior to Vivox.
  • WebRTC also offers “practically endless” possibilities for feature development.
  • One of the first features to be included with WebRTC is that of moderation tools: these will allow land owners to set the rules for using Voice on their land and carry out Voice moderation – when people opt to be stupid in Voice.
  • Other options being considered for use with WebRTC included AI tools to allow things like instant translation, voice-to-text, text-to-voice, all aimed at expanding accessibility.

New Subscription Level

[Video: 25:06-26:47]

  • Pending a formal announcement, LL are thinking about how to make Premium Plus benefits accessible to a broader swath of users.
  • This includes the idea of offering a version of Premium Plus for creators [only?] without the weekly stipend payout, which would reduce the overall cost of having a Premium Plus account, whilst retaining all the other benefits.
  • This subscription might also be payable in Linden Dollars, although this may not be an option when it is initially launched.
  • Details will be made available on this once things are finalised / ready to be announced.

 

SL22B Meet the Lindens: Product Operations – summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
SL22B Meet the Lindens: Product Operations: (l to right): Squeaky Mole, Missy Mole, Patch Linden, Keira Linden and Izzy Linden
On Monday, June 23rd, 2025, Linden Lab held the first of the SL22B Meet the Lindens events, featuring personnel from the  Product Operations teams. The session was a live event  and featured:

  • Patch Linden – Senior VP of Product Operations, Customer Support & Trust & Safety.
  • Keira Linden – Manager, Customer Success & Trust & Safety.
  • Izzy Linden – Creative Producer.
  • Missy Linden – Linden Department of Public Works.

This is a summary of the majority of topics discussed at the session, and the official video of the session is embedded at the end of this article.

 Table of Contents

For ease of reference, timestamps are provided to the relative points within the video where specific topics are discussed, allowing readers who prefer to listen to the comments directly to be able to do so. Note this is not intended to be a full transcript, but rather covers those items discussed which are liable to be of the most interest.

Linden Homes

Plans

[Video: 4:21-7:19 and as noted below]

  • LL recently released the Premium Aspen Ridge Homes and new styles for the Premium Log Homes.
  • As well as updating theme with new styles, the work also involves updating the back-end technology and improving the overall look of the Linden Homes.
  • The size of Bellisseria makes updating all Linden homes to things like PBR “a challenge”, but will be “chipped away at” as things progress. Updates will continue through the year.
    • [Video 16:19-17:52] Updates will be made on an ongoing basis, notably with PBR improvements, but it might not be possible to implement the seasonally changing landscaping across all of the Linden Home regions.
    • [Video 1:14:15-1:14:30] There have been requests from content creators to be able to hook-into the Linden Homes season changing capability, and this is being worked on.
  • By the end of 2025 the Linden Homes offerings should be: 10 Premium themes (with Trailers also supporting Plus); 5 Premium Plus themes and 1 theme of mixed Premium / Premium Plus.
    • This last mixed theme is scheduled for later in the year and will include “some exciting features”.
  • [Video: 1:16:57-1:19:39] Why does the Lab move on to a new theme of home before an existing theme is “finished”.
    • No theme is every really considered “complete”; while there is an initial map, the Lab is more driven by a mix of demand and diversity.
    • Demand: rather than deploy a “complete” build involving (say) 50 regions, only a handful might be initially released, and those then added to over time based on the popularity of the theme.
    • Diversity: additional themes are released whilst others are still available / not fully occupied to give users an broader choice of themes / styles.

Next Theme – Ridgewood Enclave

[Video: 5:37-6:40]

  • The next theme will be Premium Plus Homes and is “right around the corner” and will be offered under the name Ridgewood Enclave.
  • It will “be separate and kind-of its own thing” and be LL’s first foray into offering allowing commercial activities (which has long been requested).
  • Those obtaining a parcel within Ridgewood Enclave will have the option of devoting their parcel to a home, or splitting it between home and commercial.
  • The roll-out will likely be the homes first, followed by the ability to split parcels between home and commercial.

“Game of Homes”

[Video: 21:03-27:52]

  • Will the selection process for Linden Homes within a theme be improved to that the system does not re-select a parcel a user has already rejected in their current batch of searches (limited to 5 per 24 hours)?
    • Not really. The system is a) old; b) as random as it can possibly be.
    • However, it is recognised it will keep serving up specific parcels, even if far more are available, and may only move on when the parcels it keeps offering are all taken.
    • If a user finds they are constantly being re-offered the same parcel within one of their 5-picks periods, they can contact support, who can reset the user’s number of picks once for any given 24-hour selection period.
  • Premium Plus users have the ability to place a ticket with support to obtain an available Linden home parcel they would particularly like to claim (outside of the initial 24-hour after the release of a new theme).

Land

[Video: 7:43-14:30]

Discounted Homesteads for Premium Plus

  • There are no plans to offer discounted Homestead regions to Premium Plus account holders.
  • As a reminder, it is possible for Premium Plus users who also hold a region (or regions) to pay their tier to LL in Linden Dollars.

Land Capacity

  • The Lab is constantly experimenting with Land Capacity, and has tested Full regions with 40K-80K Land Capacity.
  • However, increases have to be considered alongside a host of other issues (load balancing across instances, impact of simulator performance, etc.).
  • As technology does improve, there may be opportunities in the future to increase Land Capacity as the Lab gains confidence in doing to.
    • IF this does come to pass, it will be announced through the usual channels.

Region Management and Region Server Options

[Video: 12:07-16:19]

  • Are there plans to offer region holders more autonomy over managing their regions?
    • LL has already added the option to restart regions to the holder’s secondlife.com dashboard.
    • Allowing regions holders to take other actions – renaming a region was given as an example – is under consideration, but no time frame as to when such options might be delivered.
  • Are more server options going to be made available for hosting regions?
    • LL already off a bonus Land Capacity option for Full regions and offer both the Event and Elite Event region products, all of which are also available as upgrades.
    • All three cost extra in tier, the Event and Elite Event regions are underpinned by more performant AWS hardware, allowing them to support more agents (avatars) per region, etc.

Themed Mainland Areas

[Video: 17:56-20:48]

  • Mainland has always had a “free to build” outlook, without the imposition of zones, covenants, etc., by Linden Lab.
  • A frequent request to the Lab is to offer such zoning / covenants within Mainland to allow people to build themed communities there.
  • This idea is seen as potentially having merit and benefits, and is something the Lab has considered, and tends to revisit as an idea. However, it does have complexities:
    • Should it be a full covenanted Mainland area (like Bellisseria, but without the Linden Homes)? Is it something on a smaller scale? Is it something primarily aimed at stopping specific activities – e.g. preventing ban lines?
    • How would the model work / impact private estate regions offering their own models and covenants, etc.
  • As such, the idea is not rejected, but it is not on the current roadmap, and if it to reach the point of being actively considered, then it would be a topic to bring back to the community for a more focused discussion and to gain feedback.

Support and Customer Success

Governance and Abuse Reports

[Video: 28:54-32:08]

  • Adult-rated content an images can be seen within moderate rated Mainland regions, often simply by using the road system. What is being done to remediate this?
    • It is acknowledged that this does happen, but given the size of Mainland, LL often rely on users reporting instances where it can be found / seen via the Abuse Report mechanism.
    • The above also applies to avatars behaving in appropriately as well.
  • The name of the avatar account filing any Abuse Report is never revealed to the subject of any subsequent investigation.

Support Ticket Responses / Support Availability

[Video 33:49-38:50]

  • There has been a delay in responding to support tickets. This has in part been due to a reorganisation of the support teams at the end of 2024, which resulted in a backlog of tickets.
    • The estimate was that in January, the backlog stood at 7,000-7,500 tickets, and this has since been halved, with the remaining number being rapidly reduced.
    • Older tickets in the backlog are being addressed in order to clear them as quickly as possible.
  • This, and the nature of more recent ticket that have been coming into the system, has meant that certain cases have taken much, much longer to resolve.
  • LL have been recruiting-in new support personnel, and has almost completed this, to make the customer Success and Trust and Safety teams larger than they were previously, by around 10 people.
  • Currently, most areas of support – tickets, live chat, phone – are back to within their 72-hour SLA requirements.
  • To further help with support matters, weekend support is being re-introduced as from Saturday, June 28th, 2025 (phone and live chat).
  • [Video: 1:21:51-1:23:25] Could live chat support be extended into the evening (SLT)?
    • There are currently no plans to change support hours.
    • However, as more of the new staff come on-stream, it is possible that times can be reviewed and adjusted to better meet the needs of users.

Support and Thunes (Tilia)

[Video: 39:17-42:38]

  • With the sale of Tilia to Thunes now complete (see: LL completes Tilia sale to Thunes: What you need to know) work is underway to streamline handling of support issues over things like cashing-out from SL between the two companies.
  • Those experiencing delays or issues should always submit a support ticket to Linden Lab first, to see if the issue can be addressed directly, and to allow LL to deal directly with Thunes.
  • Going directly to Thunes first can lead to greater confusion and delays.

Account Holds/ Banning Copybotters

[Video: 43:18-44:42]

  • Should someone who has had their account placed on hold receive notification that this is the case?
    • When an account is placed on hold, an e-mail is sent to the address specified in the account. This should include the hold notification and the reason for it, and a timeline as to when to expect access to be re-enabled (if available).
    • These notifications can end-up being steered towards spam or junk or promotions-type folders, so be sure to check these in case filtering has misdirected the e-mail.
    • Those who are sure they have not received any such notification, but have found their account on hold should contact Support.
  • [Video: 44:49-47:54] Can more permanent action be taken against copybotters – e.g. IP bans?
    • Instances of copying content should be reported by the creator of the original content, who can supply LL with all the relevant data (e.g. item location, UUID, etc.), and information on the original.
    • To assist in the process, and if required, LL might additionally request the creator to file a DMCA Notice, if they have not already done so.
    • In terms of preventing repeat offenders returning, LL is always evaluating how to better prevent this / slow repeat offenders from being able to quickly re-access SL.
      • This work also involves evaluating various tools that might assist with investigations into these types of issues.

Account Security

[Video: 49:55-52:50]

  • Malicious messaging, scam links, phishing e-mails are very much an issue.
  • This has been the subject of recent official blogs posts, and posts from bloggers like myself (see: Linden Lab: keeping your Second Life account safe).
  • In short:
    • Never share your account password with anyone.
    • Never supply your log-in credentials in reply to any e-mail, no matter how official-looking; LL will never ask you for them.
    • Be wary of any e-mails or links promising cheap or free Linden Dollars, they are most likely phishing traps.
    • Don’t click on links in group chats, IMs, etc., unless you are absolutely sure of their origin.
    • Strengthen your account with a strong password + the use of the Lab’s Multi-factor Authentication option.
  • LL is actively looking at tools to identify and prevent malicious activity within the platform, and making some basic changes to alert people to the risks in clicking on links, etc.
  • In addition, the Trust and Safety are looking to implement a new Trust and Safety User Group meeting to replace the old Governance User Group, so that matters around account security, etc. Can be discussed.

Payment and Billing

[Video: 1:04:34-1:07:00]

  • More payment options (e.g. Google Pay):
    • Payment and billing is now handled through Thunes, per the links concerning Tilia, above.
    • Thunes is looking to make additional payment options available to SL users, but which options in particular might be put forward is not yet clear, but will be checked.
    • Any new payment options agreed to between the Lab and Thunes will be announced on the Second Life official blog.
  • Can an option be provided to allow those paying tier directly to LL to do so early, if required (e.g. to cover for when they might be on vacation, or in hospital, etc)?
    • It would require extensive programmatic changes to achieve.
    • However, would appear to be a good idea, and a Canny Feature Request was requested via the Feedback Portal.

Lifetime Premium and Premium Plus Membership Offers and SL22B

[Video: 1:10:30-1:13:49]

  • There will be no Premium or Premium Plus Lifetime membership offered at SL22B.
  • Such offers are now being reserved for special events (e.g. with partners such as the American Cancer Society), where it is specifically possible to have the funds generated through such offers donated directly to charitable organisations.

General Questions

  • [Video: 32:31-33:26] Does Support hire people to operate remotely?
    • Depends on the position: Customer Success & Trust and Safety operate out the Atlanta offices, and so people working on those teams are based there; Product Operations and its related teams does have the potential for remote working.
  • [Video: 53:02-54:43] Removal of Voice capabilities from InfoHubs
    • This was a difficult decision, given InfoHubs are intended to be newcomer-friendly social gathering spaces.
    • However, too many people were using Voice within these places to harass and cause disruption, so in the interests of the larger community using the InfoHubs the decision was made to disable Voice.
    • The Lab will continue to monitor InfoHubs and may revisit this decision in the future.
  • [Video: 54:54-56:49] Do the Shop and Hop events complete too heavily with user-created shopping events held at the same time (e.g. Valentine’s Day, Christmas, etc.).
    • LL are always “cognizant” of the potential for such impact, but thus far has not directly received any complaints from the organisers of other shopping events or the creators attending them.
    • Shop and Hop is perhaps a broader tent than other shopping events, many of which are geared towards specific genres (sci-fi; fantasy; adult; etc.).
    • Shop and Hop is intended to be seasonally limited (with the special SLB Shop and Hop being an exception), and not driven with the intent to “blot out” other shopping events.
    • If people do feel it is harming other events, then feedback is welcome on that.
    • Creators selected for the Shop and Hop events are selected more-or-less on the basis of a lottery, not based on how quickly they apply.
    • Not everyone who applies can automatically be granted store space at a Shop and Hop, as they are limited by scale and manageability. For SL22B, for example, there were over 840 applicants – doubling the overall logistical requirements for hosting, running and managing the event.
  • [Video: 1:07:15-1:09:49] Is it possible to use the Name Change capability and not have the new name linked to previous names?
    • Currently no, for assorted reasons (e.g. to prevent someone doing something nefarious and then using the Name Change capability to hide their guilt).
    • The above was also something the community was worried about at the time Name Changes were introduced.
    • If attitudes have since changed, then the suggestion is to raise a Canny Feature Request was requested via the Feedback Portal.
  • [Video: 1:19:50-1:21:24] Will Cape Ekim (read: Saying farewell to the original Linden Homes – and a Second Life mystery?) be preserved when the old Linden Home mini-continents are retired?
    • Cape Ekim has been considered “very, very seriously” in terms of preserving the history of Second Life Linden Homes.
    • Once all the old Linden Homes have been retired, the plan is to make a special area paying tribute to them, and as such, Cape Ekim, “isn’t going anywhere”.
  • There was a final question on AI tool for translation services, and a full answer on the subject was deferred to the Operations and Engineering session.

LL completes Tilia sale to Thunes: What you need to know

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Tilia.io

Update: Linden Lab has now blogged on the change-over – see: A New Chapter: Tilia Joins Global Payments Leader Thunes, together with a FAQ. I have further updated this piece to include details on user data security, as given by Brad Oberwager in April 2024, as a result of being was on this subject.

On Thursday, 29th, 2025, Linden Lab Executive Chair Brad Oberwager and members of his team held a Zoom call with bloggers and creators to provide an update on the acquisition of Tilia.io, the all-in-one payments platform the Lab launched, and which handles payments processing, USD account balances, etc., for Second Life, to Singapore-based Thunes, based business-2-business (B2B) payments infrastructure firm.

The following is a summary of the core points of the discussion, some of which re-trod the subject of account security, as I’ve already covered in Linden Lab: keeping your Second Life account safe.

Acquisition and Change-Over

  • The acquisition is due to complete on Wednesday, June 4th, 2025.
  • On this date, there will a series of steps taken by both Linden Lab and Thunes to complete the change-over.
  • Perhaps most notably, Second Life web pages referencing Tilia Inc., will instead reference Thunes Financial Services LLC, and the Tilia website will be rebranded.
  • While there are chances of some hiccups given the back-end complexity of the change, these should be minimal, and the SL support teams will be ready to help any users who may experience issues.
  • In short: “Don’t Panic” when/if you see the changes happening.

What This Immediately Means to Users

For the majority of users, there should be no visible difference to the processes of buying L$ or cashing-out.

  • User Data Security: An important point to note with the acquisition of Tilia is that Second Life user data is not changing hands.
    • Tilia will have new owners and will be renamed, but the lock-down of Second Life user data resides in two places: Tilia (for financial information) and Second Life (actual user data).
    • As a financial services company, Thunes is required to keep financial data as secure as it currently is with Tilia, and the data will not be removed from the current Tilia systems and moved elsewhere.
  • There will be no changes in existing fees charged by the Lab for cashing-out or buying L$.
  • No-one needs to create an account with Thunes to keep buying L$ or cashing-out, etc.
  • There will be no change in how support issues relating to finances are handled: users will continue to deal with the Lab’s own billing support team. you will not have to deal with Thunes directly.
  • Linden Lab will continue to manage the LindeX, and nothing will be changing on this front.
  • However:
    • Following the change-over, users may be required to acknowledge the change via a check-box the first time they engage with the rebranded service.
    • Some users may have to re-submit information such as their credit card details or re-confirm a payment account as a result of the change-over.

What It Means Going Forward

  • Potentially more methods by which to receive payments from Second Life (e.g. to different accounts, through different services, etc.) or by which to purchase L$ – Thunes supports pay-outs across 130+ countries and 320+ payment methods globally.
  • It is possible that as new payment methods are added to Second Life, they may be subject to increased fees as a result of charges made by the payment method.
    • To aid in understanding of fees charged, the Lab will start to provide a breakdown: how much they are charging & how much of that due to the payment method. This is to allow users to decide whether they wish to use a newer payment method, which might offer certain advantages (e.g. faster processing), or not.
  • LL has a 5-year agreement with Thunes to prevent Thunes forcing increases on existing services provided to LL (although this obviously does not prevent LL making changes to fees should they need to).
  • Much better fraud controls and investigation, leveraging Thunes own capabilities as well as LL’s support team.

Benefits to Linden Lab

  • The company is no longer engaged in trying to operate and maintain what is essentially a fintech company, with all the costs involved therein.
  • Ability for management to focus solely on building and improving Second Life.
  • The payments team can be focused solely on Second Life, rather than having to also focus on regulatory requirements and deal with multiple payment services, etc., as these will now be the responsibility for Thunes to manage.

Related Links

 

Lab launches Creator Partnership Programme

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

On Wednesday, April 23rd, 2025, Linden Lab announced the launch of the Second Life Creator Partnership Programme, an imitative intended to allow creators in Second Life “play a central role in shaping the future of Second Life”, through a collaboration with the Lab to co-create content and experiences aimed at both new and existing users of the Second Life platform.

The Creator Partnership follows on a number of recent collaborations between the Lab and various creators / groups in Second Life (e.g. MadPea, Seraphim) and perhaps most notably, on the heels of the new Avatar Welcome Packs.

The Avatar Welcome Packs are contained within the System Library, accessed via Inventory

The latter were rolled out quietly recently (although LL are promising to provide more details in the near future), and feature assorted “lite” and “basic” female and heads and bodies, together with a range of accessories and clothing, again from recognised creators (e.g. Lelutka, Addams, MeshBody, Velour).

I’ll actually have more on them in an upcoming post, but for now, the curious who may not be aware of them can find them in the System Library within their inventory.

Through the newly-announced Creator Partnership programme, Linden Lab is looking to work with creators on – initially – three core areas:

Welcome Packs: building on the approach taken with the aforementioned Avatar Welcome Packs, these are aimed specifically at incoming new users in order to help get them started on their Second Life. Such packs could comprises non-human Avtar Packs; Clothing and Accessory Packs; Home furnishing Packs, and similar.

The Lab notes these packs could be distributed through newcomer-friendly areas inworld (possibly for limited time frames), as well as on the Marketplace or Viewer.  But all Welcome Pack content should be optimised for new community members not yet familiar with all the intricacies of Second Life.

Community Perks: the Lab is also hoping to improve the community perks for more established residents. These might include: enhanced paid membership perks; free seasonal and special giveaways; expansion of the Mobile Daily Rewards initiative to include virtual gift; and future programs and promotions that include virtual perks and prizes.

Community Gateways: the Lab is hoping to partner with talented creators of high-quality in-world experiences which can feature as newcomer-friendly destinations available from Community Gateways and the like.

In return for their involvement, participating creators have the opportunity to introduce their brand and content to a wider and loyal audience, with the potential for inclusion in major on-boarding and promotion campaigns, together with the potential to have strategic impact on improving Second Life by working hand-in-hand with Linden Lab.

We’re looking to expand our community collaborations even further – and we invite creators of all types to help us build and improve the next generation of Second Life new user experiences and beyond. Whether you’re a fashion designer, avatar builder, home goods creator, experience developer, or just someone with a standout idea—we want to hear from you.

– Linden Lab blog post

How to Get involved

Further information via the official blog post.

VWBPE 2024: Catching Up With the Lindens – a summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Screen cap of Catching Up With the Lindens (l to r): Elli Pinion, Patch Linden, Grumpity Linden, Kali Linden and Kyle Linden
On Friday, April 4th, 2025 the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) conference held another of in their sessions featuring representatives from Linden Lab and various called over the years Above the Book, What’s Up at the Lab and now Catching Up With the Lindens.
Table of Contents

The following is a summary of the session covering the core topics raised. Notes are based on the official video of the session, which is embedded at the end of this article. Time stamps are also provided to the relevant points in the video for those who wish to listen to specific comments.

On hand for the session, hosted by Elli Pinion, were:

  • Grumpity Linden, Senior Vice President of Product and Engineering.
  • Patch Linden, Senior Vice President of Product Operations.
  • Kali Linden, Director of Engineering Web & Platform
  • Kyle Linden,  Product Manager (viewer).

Notes:

  • 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.
  • Timestamps are included to allow a direct jump to a subject.
  • Given these sessions are part of the VWBPE annual conference, there is obviously a lean towards matters of education and learning.

SL Mobile and Project Zero

SL Mobile

Resources:

[Video: 4:14-13:37]

  • A re-cap on work to date on SL Mobile, from the baseline starting point: could an app be built that could render avatars much as they appear within the viewer?
    • All the work tends to be iterative in nature – so, for example, avatar appearance and fixes form a tranche of on-going work as they are refined and improved.
    • Features are being added in terms of “journeys” – what would people like to do in SL when using a mobile app + what is practical to be able to to on a mobile device, and then building-out a specific “journey”.
    • The first such “journey” was called “going to a club” (although it can be applied to other in-world activities), and which incorporated capabilities  such as logging-in, seeing Friends on-line, finding an event / location, going to it, being able to chat / IM, listen to music, interact with objects, etc.
  • As the project has been opened out through the on-going Beta:
    • Development has been adjusted to try to take into account feedback and feature requests from users. developed and more and more feedback has been supplied by users (e.g. feature requests), and all of this is reviewed and considered in building-out the development roadmap.
    • One aspect of the Beta has been the need to better support incoming new users – hence the integration of the new user sign-up process with Mobile, the provision of an arrival / “welcome” area specifically for new users coming into SL via Mobile, etc.
One of the recent updates to SL Mobile was to integrate the new starter workflow – including avatar selection  – into it
  • The goal with the Mobile app is to have it as a companion means of accessing Second Life alongside of the desktop experience, with the eventual aim of having it stand on its own as a window into SL – but there is a lot of work / functionality to add before that point is reached.
  • However, some functionality will not be fully developed – such as the ability to build content from within  Mobile; screen size and other limitations do not allow for this, but users can expect the ability to interact / move content around on Mobile to customise spaces.

Project Zero

Resources:

[Video: 13:38-21:13]

  • Multi-faceted project:
    • Providing easier on-boarding for incoming / returning users by offering a direct path from sign-up to using the official viewer within a browser (Project Zero).
    • Providing a suitable new UI to with with the viewer when offered through a browser (React / HTML) (Project Zero).
    • Providing ability for existing users to access Second Life using a third-party viewer.
  • The payments aspect is in flux; streaming has costs associated with it, which LL need to cover (at the time of writing, around US $1.75 an hour per session – see: here and here for more), but at the same time those costs are gradually decreasing.
  • Firestorm Zero (see: Project Zero Update: Firestorm in your browser as well) has been a “first pass” at trying to offer access to a third-party viewer via a browser. This has been:
    • A limited-availability (in terms of available passes) offer.
    • A experiment in charging a nominal fee for access (L$250 for 5 hours) to see how that was received by existing users.
    • Testing the ability to have viewer settings persist across multiple log-ins using a browser-based version of the viewer.
  • LL are aware of the appetite among users to have browser-based access to SL, and more will be “coming, but not immediately coming.”
  • In terms of pay-to-use: LL are looking at various ways to reduce the cost to users (e.g. bundling so many hours of access per month to the SL subscription tiers before users on those tiers would have to start paying) – but this is all very much still in discussion.

WebRTC

[Video: 21:15-24:52-31:25]

  • Project recap: replacing Vivox Voice service and plug-in with the WebRTC communications protocol (RTC=”real-time communication”). Key benefits:
    • WebRTC supports a wide range of real-time communications tools in common use (e.g. Google Meet), supporting audio, video and data communications, and is thus something of a “standard” approach.
    • Offers a good range of features: automatic echo cancellation, better noise cancellation and automatic gain control, much improved audio sampling rates for improved audio quality.
    • Opens the door to features and capabilities to voice services which could not be implemented whilst using Vivox (e.g. text-to-speech / speech-to-text).
  • Currently, the majority of up-to-date viewer support both Vivox and WebRTC, and regions are running either WebRTC or Vivox on the back end.
    • The intention remains to turn off Vivox altogether on the back-end at some point, leaving only WebRTC.
    • This has been delayed due to the (now decreasing) number of users still using older versions of viewer which do not have the WebRTC updates, and so are reliant on Vivox.
    • It is hoped that, all things being equal, the switch-over can be made before the end of the second quarter of 2025 (e.g. by the end of June 2025).
  • In the meantime, region / estate holders wishing to try WebRTC on their regions can submit a support ticket to have their region moved from Vivox to WebRTC, with the understanding that (at the time of writing) WebRTC is still under development and might be a little unpredictable.

Combat 2.0

Resources:

[Video: 31:45-34:28]

  • Recap: a project (currently on hiatus) to overhaul the Second life Combat System (SLCS) and update it to support better combat capabilities and options, and make user engagement in combat simulations easier and more enjoyable.
  • Key additions to SLCS thus far include:
    • Damage Limit, Regeneration Speed, consequence of death (e.g. teleport victim home as per current SLCS or to a telehub  / landing point or take no action).
    • An on_damage event to account for intervening elements which may result in less severe damage being caused (e.g. when riding inside an armoured vehicle).
    • A new Region Combat Event Log (aka “Brigadier Linden”).
  • More work to come, with discussions often taking place during the weekly Simulator User Group meetings.

AI Integration

[Video: 35:51-40:45]

  • Recap:
    • LL originally launched the AI Character Generator utilising Convai, a platform for developers and creators proving an intuitive approach to designing AI characters, and with limited access in December 2024.
    • There was a lot of negative feedback, prompting the alpha test to be suspended, prior to re-opening in March 2025, with increased access, as a part of the March Membership Madness promotions.
  • LL is looking to work with various groups to make the capability more accessible / usable.
  • Due to the negativity from many towards AI (and some of the issues the wider use of generative AI has genuinely caused), the the Lab is looking to follow-up on Philip Rosedale’s promise to have a dedicated Town Hall / Community Round Table on the subject of AI, and get such a meeting scheduled.
  • There is acknowledgement that AI characters have a use within SL (e.g. the AI helper for new users that can answer questions, provide assistance, etc), and such use-cases could be widespread.
  • In developing AI capabilities for use with / in SL, LL is trying to be as thoughtful as possible, and respective of people’s views.
  • Concerns have been raised about people being able to know whether the character in front of them is an AI-driven agent rather than an avatar operated by a human.
    • Traditionally, the requirement has been for any scripted agent used in-world to be noted as so by the creator.
    • However, LL acknowledges that AI agents have a more nuanced capability over that of scripted agents (“bots”), and so a more granular distinction is likely required so that people do understand the nature of the avatar which whom they are interacting.

In Brief

From approx. 42 mins to end.

  • Mention of the SL server-side implementation of Luau scripting – referenced as “SLua”, currently in alpha testing on Aditi (the Beta grid).
  • SL22B: general notes that the birthday event will run from Friday, June 20th, 2025 through until Sunday, July 20th, and that (at the time of writing) performer and exhibitor applications are open.
  • Mention of the first cut of the glTF mesh model import to run alongside COLLADA – see my Content Creation User Group summaries for more.
  • Mention – without specifics – of two Linden Home releases that are on the horizon.
  • A reminder that SL users are welcome to attend all user group meetings.

March 2025 Community Round Table summary with video

Posted on by Inara Pey
March 2025 Community Round Table (l to r): Kyle Linden, Roxie Linden, Patch Linden, Grumpity Linden, Philip (Rosedale) Linden, Sntax Linden and Signal Linden
On Friday, March 14th, 2025, Linden Lab held a Community Round Table event entitled Enhancing Project Zero and the 2025 Roadmap. Attending the event and providing both updates and answering questions (most submitted in advance of the event) were:

  • Philip Rosedale, Linden Lab’s Chief Technology Officer.
  • Grumpity Linden, Senior Vice President, Product and Engineering.
  • Patch Linden, Senior Vice President, Product Operations.
  • Signal Linden, Engineering Director, Second Life Server & Viewer.
  • Sntax Linden, product lead, Project Zero.
  • Roxie Linden, leader developer, Project Zero and WebRTC.
  • Kylie Linden, Product Manager, Second Life Viewer
 Table of Contents

The event was livestreamed, and that video is embedded below. However, this article is not intended to be a full transcript, but a summary of comments / responses. In addition:

  • Notes are not necessarily in chronological order; where it has appeared logical to do so, I have attempted to group comments under common headings.
  • So that the context of questions and answers might be fully understood, links are provided to the specific point in the video where they are made and the question can be heard.

Event Introduction – Philip Rosedale

[Video: 5:20-5:58]

So, what we’re going to do today, as Grumpity said, is we’re going to present a rough roadmap for the software development work we’re doing in 2025 … and after we give that overview, we’re going to respond to both pre-submitted and live questions and discuss it. And, of course, we’re going to change that which we’re about to say based on what we’re going to hear. We will continue to have roadmap session like this on at least a quarterly basis, so you can expect a second one in the second quarter. 

– Philip Rosedale, March 14th, 2025

Project Zero Updates and Discussion

Firestorm Zero

[Video: 6:00-10:05]

  • Firestorm Zero (FS0) is the name given to a collaboration between Linden Lab and the Firestorm team to provision the current release version of Firestorm (7.1.11) as a part of – but separate to – the Project Zero viewer-in-you-browser project.
  • Firestorm Zero is specifically aimed towards existing SL users (and those who have used SL in the past), particularly those on lower specification hardware, allowing them to have richer, ore graphically intense experience without the need for a costly CPU / GPU combination.
  • There is a nominal fee for this – L$250 for a 5-hour pass to access the service.
  • The number of available passes is limited – but the service should scale to meet the demand of passes purchased, with (hopefully) no waiting time beyond the initial log-in and streaming load times.
  • Issues with with service can be reported via the Firestorm Zero category in the Feedback Portal.
  • Related blog posts:

Project Zero Discussion

[Video: 10:06-14:22 + as noted in the bullet points]

Project Approach and Hopes
  • Making Second Life accessible through people’s web browser is a major initiative at Linden Lab.
    • It is recognised that there are many more people wanting to use SL (and see it at its fullest potential) than have the kind of high-end gaming PC set-up required to see SL at its best.
    • There is also the growth of portable devices – tablets etc., by which people prefer to access the web, and which may be seen as a preferable alternative for day-to-day use when updating from lower-specification PCs (unless there is a specific gaming interest, obviously).
  • As already noted, Project Zero now has a two-prolonged approach Zero itself, providing the Second Life Viewer (SLV), which is aimed toward incoming new users (who have an initial 4 hours on the service) and Firestorm Zero, providing streaming access to SL to existing users.
  • As a part of the work for Project Zero is being used to experiment with a number of new ideas around the UI and UI elements  [using, I believe, HTML and React] to help make SL more accessible to new users, whilst keeping the existing UI available.
    • [Video 59:04-1:00:48] The idea here is to offer new users the ability to interact with the viewer UI in new, easier ways, without limiting existing users / forcing them down the same path, as it is recognised that changing the UI and forcing users to re-learn how to use it can be as damaging as making new users learn a complex UI.
    • One such new way is that new users coming into SL via Project Zero current have [a to be expanded] Go menu, recommending around a dozen places for them to possibly visit as the browser is loading – and LL are able to monitor how well this is responded to.
  • [Video: 58:00-58:36] LL have already seen the willingness of new users to complete the sign-up workflow and then access SL through Project Zero is “many times higher” than those signing-up and then being directed to download and install the viewer – which had been expected as Project Zero was being developed.
  • Given the above, expect to see project Zero iterate and grow.
  • Overall, Zero – both the SLV and Firestorm – is aimed towards getting “more and more people” to access SL through their browser, and hopefully expanded the platform’s reach in acquiring new users.
    • Obviously, those already using high-end computers / gaming rigs at home will still be able to run SL locally and obtain all the performance benefits Zero offers to those on lower-specification machines.
  • [Video: 35:45-36:07] Currently there are options in Project Zero / Firestorm Zero which are not available (e.g. uploading textures, etc., saving snapshots to your local disk), hopefully some of these capabilities will become available within the streaming versions of the viewer as the projects are enhanced.
  • [Video: 36:21-37:32] Sntax Linden:
    • Project Zero remains in progress, and can be regarded as a separate project wo Firestorm Zero.
    • Project Zero remains free-to-use, but with limited slots to existing users and sessions limited to 1 hour.
    • The UI work is still in progress.
  • [Video: 38:06-39:09] Can Project Zero / Firestorm Zero be used on mobile devices / tablets? – Roxie Linden:
    • Yes, both will stream to mobile devices, however, given the small screen form, accessing the UI on things like smartphones is not user-friendly.
    • Both will stream to tablets [I’ve accessed Project Zero via an Android Tablet utilising a keyboard and mouse], however, there are some keyboard input issues which may limit this.
    • If there is interest in pursuing such access (allowing for SL Mobile), then then could be looked into.
  • [Video: 39:27-40:46] Requirements for streaming the viewer to a browser – Roxie Linden:
    • A connection suitable for streaming Netflix, Zoom, Google Meet, etc. (e.g. around 3Mbps down).
    • Any system with at least a dual-core CPU and 2Gb RAM, and with the likes of Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge installed.
    • Should even work using tethering to a smartphone [data costs allowing!].
  • [Video: 40:50-41:20] Voice support – Roxie Linden:
    • Vivox Voice is supported.
    • There are known issues with using WebRTC Voice, and these are being addressed, and should be fixed ahead of any switch-over to WebRTC.
    • Voice quality and interactions should be the same quality as on a desktop viewer.
  • [Video: 48:33-49:42] Streaming SL (both Project Zero and Firestorm Zero) is currently running out of the West Coast of the United States. However, plans are in-hand to start using other Amazon end-points, most likely staring with Éire (the Republic of Ireland).
  • [Video: 1:17:59-1:18:31] It should be possible to provide support for game controller through Project Zero / Firestorm Zero; support for the likes of the 3D Space Navigator will have to be investigated.
Cost and Fees
  • Currently, use of the official viewer through Project Zero remains free, but is focused on incoming new users over supporting existing users.
  • As I noted in Project Zero Update: Firestorm in your browser as well] Streaming the viewer from Amazon services is currently costing Linden Lab around US $1.75 per user per hour, which is still well above the L$250 for 5 hours initially being charged for Firestorm Zero.
  • This means that the Lab is running both aspects of the streaming service at a loss, and this may come to affect pricing down the road.
  • However, there is confidence that the costs involved in streaming in general can be reduced in a number of ways such that streaming can be an affordable option for those users who wish to use it in preference to their own hardware in order to gain that better experience.
    • [Video 34:45-35:26] One of the reasons streaming SL is so expensive (to LL) right now is because it is being provisioned through Amazon’s high-end GameLift service. Philip noted that other service are available, and this will help reduce pricing.
Data and Content Security

[Video: 1:12:45-1:14:59]

  • Neither Firestorm Zero nor Project Zero place user or other data on the browser which might be accessed by third parties. Both are streamed services, just like Netflix, et al, which means they are essentially a video stream with no useful data to be scraped.
  • The connection between the browser and the server supplying the viewer data is also somewhat more secure that connecting view a desktop viewer, as the connection is more akin to a VPN (e.g. the IP address associated with the viewer instance will be that of a server in Amazon’s cloud).
  • Using the viewer through a browser in this way also means that it is not possible to copybot  / rip content through the streaming viewers, as no object data is actually being downloaded and stored locally, as is the case with the desktop viewer.

SL Mobile

Notes:

  • The Mobile User Group meeting is generally held on last Thursday of every month at 12:00 noon SLT (Voice and text) at Campwich Forest.
  • I provide meeting summaries in this blog.

[Video: 15:19-17:49]

  • The interest in SL Mobile from existing users has been high. However, thee has been an organic increase in interest with SL Mobile from new users.
  • The interest from new users has been something of a surprise, as SL Mobile hasn’t been developed with new users primarily in mind – those who have followed the project know that it has been developed along the lines of being more of a companion app for existing users / returning users to use alongside the viewer as a means to access SL when away from the latter.
  • The focus remains on trying to provide existing users with as much access to Second Life as possible through the Mobile app, but at the same time, there has been a swing towards helping new news to engage with SL through the app as well [hence why the early addition of the new user workflow in January 2025?].
  • Bug fixing and feature building are being processed as quickly as possible.
  • Mention of the current (at the time of writing) Mobile Millions challenges and log-in Streaks rewards.

Server and Viewer Updates

Notes:

  • Simulator User Group meetings are generally held very Tuesday at 12:00 noon SLT (text only), and at this location. I offer summaries of these meetings (together with videos by Pantera Północy).
  • Viewer development is discussed at the Third Party Developer (TPVD) meetings  (Voice + text), the Open Source Developer meetings (text only) and at the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meetings (Voice and text).
    • I provide summaries of the TPVD meetings and CCUG meetings together with videos by Pantera Północy.
    • Dates and times for meetings are available through the SL calendar.
    • Note that the Open Source Developer meeting and the TPVD meeting might be merging, and the venue / time / frequency of one or both change as a result.

General Discussion

[Video: 17:59-22:05]

  • The Lab is attempting to move both simulator and viewer updates to a monthly release cadence.
    • For the simulator code, this includes moving a release through the Release Candidate channels are required, through the a release on the Main channel.
    • For the viewer this includes taking each release through the familiar iterative release candidate process prior to promoting it as the de facto release viewer. However, this will generally be on a per viewer release, rather than having multiple release candidates in flight as has been the case in the past.
  • The idea is to have each release focused on a usability improvement and and “major initiative” [feature, etc.].
  • Currently the three core areas of usability issues are seen as being:
    • Avatar loading (without issues of items failing to load, meshes flapping around in the air prior to being correctly rigged, etc.).
    • The viewer start-up and world loading time overall.
    • Smoother regions crossings (particularly in vehicles).
  • Additionally, releases will also be focused on addressing issues, etc., raised through the Feedback Portal and which receive user upvoting.
    • Part of this work will involve more regular updates to the Roadmap section of the Feedback Portal.

WebRTC

Note: officially announced in March 2024, WebRTC (RTC=”real-time communication”), is the replacement for the Vivox Voice component of Second Life.

[Video: 22:19-24:42]

  • Work has been stalled in completing the roll-out for two reasons:
    • Getting a critical mass of users onto versions of the viewer supporting WebRTC functionality [essentially getting users to run a PBR-enabled version of the viewer].
    • As the lead developer on the project, Roxie Linden has been heavily involved in the Project Zero work over that last couple of months, and so has not been able to focus on WebRTC.
  • [Stats from Linden Lab and published by Firestorm, indications are that overall, given that Firestorm has the largest percentage of Second Life viewer users, that critical mass of users on WebRTC supporting viewers is fast being reached.]
Breakdown of Firestorm users by viewer version. note the 70%+ now on WebRTC-supporting versions. Credit: Linden Lab / Firestorm viewer
  • As it is, multiple regions on the Main grid (Agni) are supporting WebRTC, and support tickets can be filed by region holders wishing to have WebRTC enabled on their regions.
  • WebRTC should provide a much higher fidelity Voice service  compared to Vivox [and will end the viewer’s reliance of a third-party “black box” plug-in to run Voice].
  • As it is directly supplied by the Lab, WebRTC will also allow rapid iteration of voice-related capabilities, such as:
    • Voice captioning – see what people are saying in Voice as closed captions a-la you tube.
    • Improved translation capabilities.
    • New voice changing / morphing options.
    • Better voice moderation / control at the parcel level.
  • There is no set time frame for switching solely to WebRTC support on the back-end. However, in the March 14th, 2025 TPVD meeting, Signal Linden indicated LL hope to get to it sooner rather than later.

Viewer Updates

[Video: 26:05-27:08]

  • Recap on the promotion of the ForeverFPS viewer, with its focus on performance improvements to de facto release status, with the following noted:
    • Water Exclusion Surfaces which allow Linden Water to be “hidden”. At the time of writing, WES can only be enabled via scripted means (and support legacy invisiprim scripts insofar as “hiding” Linden Water is concerned), but but new UI elements are coming to the viewer to allow them to be created from there. See my summary on WES functionality.
A very(, very) basic example of a Water Exclusion Surface hiding Linden Water
    • Improvements to managing VRAM use in the viewer (e.g. be fixing the maximum resolution of the in-world view).
  • [Video 29:19-31:50] Signal Linden:
    • The faster release cadence is seen as important in ensuring Second life receives regular updates and to support code contributions from the open source community, rather than having them languishing for months or years. It does not mean that LL will no longer be taking on large projects, but rather will be developing them more responsively.
      • One example of this is the re-focusing of efforts within the glTF project to provide a means to upload glTF mesh model using the existing mesh upload floater in the viewer in order to counter Blender announcing the deprecation of COLLDA mesh support.  – see my summary of the Thursday, March 6th, 2025 CCUG meeting for more.
    • To further support contributions from the opensource community, there is a proposal for revamping the open source programme to make it more streamlined, accessible and responsive.
  • [Video: 53:50-56:31] Further performance improvements – Signal Linden:
    • The (at the time of writing) current viewer release – ForeverFPS – has numerous performance improvements.
    • The next release [viewer 2025.03, still in development] will have further performance improvements within it .
    • There is also an internal (to LL) version of the viewer for native support of Apple Silicon which significantly improves viewer performance on that chipset. This viewer is likely to go to Project Viewer status, but will have limited functionality initially, due to the need to rebuild many of the third-party libraries used to build the viewer, together with issues around the viewer being able to recognise navmesh.

SLua – SL Lua Scripting

[Video: 27:15-29:09]

Promoting Second Life to Creators as a Revenue Earning Platform

[Video: 1:06:30-1:09:05]

  • SL is one of the most capable platforms for revenue generation among content creators, offering much lower costs to creator in terms of fees etc., when compared to other platforms such a Fortnite and Roblox. will it be promoted as such?
  • Yes. Marketing efforts have restarted, and one aspect of this is on the subject of content creation and revenue earning.
  • In December 2024, VenturBeat published Linden Lab has spent $1.3B building Second Life and paid $1.1B to creators (which I summarised here), in which it was noted creators have a greater chance of earning more through SL than Roblox, despite the latter’s much larger user base.
  • Linden Lab is also attending the 2025 Game Developer Conference (March 17th-21st, 2025) in San Francisco to promote Second Life and the ability for content creators to earn money through the platform.

In Brief

  • [Video 4:08-5:19] The meeting was attended by those protesting the use of AI in Second Life, both in terms of AI generated / modified advert (e.g. for products listed on the MP), art, and LL’s introduction of the AI character generations project.
    • There is a document outlining objections to AI on the Feedback Portal.
    • Philip Rosedale indicated he will look to hold an open forum / debate on the use of artificial intelligence within Second Life, at which the pros and cons – and user concerns – can be discussed. He urged those with concerns to formulate their thoughts – including constructive recommendations on how AI should be handled within SL – and attend that event, when announced.
    • [42:22-44:24] Philip additionally noted that there are a range of aspects to the use of AI within second Life – such as the use of AI toolset in support of SL, such as with re-time translation – which are beneficial; but there are broader issues to address (through the proposed “AI Town Hall”) on the use of AI in-world. He also acknowledged there a multiple questions around AI that need to be address more broadly.
  • [Video: 24:56-25:40] Second Life Community Discord Server will be opened to all users, most likely during the week commencing Monday, March 17th, 2025. User will be able to use Discord Connect to link their SL accounts to the server and access all of the available channels.
  • [Video: 44:48-46:44] After the contraction of the Support and Trust & Safety teams late in 2024, these are again being expanded, with new hires coming-in. As this happens, support hours should again be increased to provide weekend support.
  • [Video: 51:23-53:30] Multi-factor authentication (MFA):
    • A reminder that MFA has been implemented across all of LL’s web services (Dashboard, Marketplace, Project Zero or Firestorm Zero web pages) for those opting-in to the capability.
    • Encouragement was given to make use of MFA as an added layer of account protection for all those currently not using it.
  • [Video: 53:53-54:35] What happens to a Second Life Business if it is cleared of DMCA wrongdoing?
    • Once the legal team has completed investigations and made a determination they there is no infringement, then the business and the associated account is “cleared”, with the case closed.
  • [Video: 1:09:10-1:10:54] Chat and Message Persistence Between Viewer and App:
    • Messages received on SL mobile are not carried over to the viewer (and vice versa), which can limit usage of the Mobile app in favour of the viewer providing a single place for message receipt and recall.
    • LL are working on better Chat persistence across the various platforms, which should allow for this to happen in a number of ways (Push notification, IMs, chat history).
    • One reason for this taking time to implement is due consideration of security, encryption, and protection of chat and messages in the cloud.
  • [Video: 1:11:24-1:12:14] Linden Homes:
    • The next Linden Home theme – “Alpine” – will be for Premium subscribers and will feature options “never seen before”.
    • A reminder that a selection of 512 sq m Linden Home styles are now available to Plus subscribers (see here for more on this).

User Group Meetings

There are numerous User Group meetings held in-world each month by Linden Lab, which focus on a range of subjects – simulator development, viewer development, Marketplace and web services, land, content creation, skill gaming, etc. The meeting are open to anyone to attend, with some held in text, some in Voice and some a mix of both. Questions on the topics they cover are welcome, and further details can be found as follows: