Category: Transcripts

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.

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.

SL21B Town Hall Summary: Product Operations (audio + video)

Posted on by Inara Pey
SL21B Product Operations Town Hall (l to r): Missy Mole (host); Patch Linden; Keira Linden, Derrick Linden and Izzy Linden
On Wednesday, June 26th, 2024, Linden Lab held special Town Hall Meeting of the Product and Engineering team, featuring the following personnel:

  • Patch Linden – Senior VP of Product Operations & Marketing.
  • Keira Linden – Support Operations Manager.
  • Derrick Linden – Product Operations Manager.
  • Izzy Linden – Creative Producer.

This is a summary of the topics discussed at the session. Audio extracts are included were appropriate, and a video of the session is embedded at the end of this article – my thanks to Pantera for providing it.

 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.

A Little Background

[Video: 2:02-8:27]

A brief introduction to each of the people participating:

  • Patch Linden: joined the company in 2007 as a support agent. He later became Support Operations  Manager time and then he established the Land Operations Team (then within the Product Team), which became the nucleus of Product Operations. As a senior VP alongside Grumpity, he is responsible for the development and operation of Second Life.
  • Keira Linden: joined the Lab in 2008 working in the Concierge Team. Currently manages all the various support teams for Second Life and also the Governance Team.
  • Derrick Linden: as the Product Operations Manager: joined LL in 2011 and wears many hats – including overseeing the Land Operations Team, the Skill Gaming Team and co-running the Linden Department of Public Works (the Moles) alongside of Patch Linden.
  • Izzy Linden: joined LL in 2007. As the Creative Director works on a range of projects, including with the Moles.

Linden Homes, Land and Mainland

Linden Homes – Patch Linden

[Video: 9:40-17:45]

  • Currently planning for Linden Homes includes:
    • An update to the Premium Log Cabin theme floorplans.
    • A new mixed parcel-size (512 sq m and 1024 sq m) Premium theme with multiple floor plans.
    • A new Premium Plus theme with multiple floor plans.
    • This work is all in the planning / scoping phase; there is also some polling for possible themes to go with it, and maybe an idea from this might be implemented.
    • These ideas are likely to be in development for the next 6-12 months.
  • Transitioning off the Old Linden Homes [the original 512 sq m mini-continents] remains under consideration / evaluation.
    • The longer time goes by, the more likely it is to happen, but there is no firm timeline or date as to when this might start.
    • However, were it to seem possible that the old homes could be retired as the above new selections of homes are rolled-out, then this “might be a likely scenario”.
  • On Premium Plus being allowed two Premium Homes on a single account:
    • Has been thought about. However, doing so would impact available inventory of homes: there are only so many Linden Homes available as any given time, and people taking two diminishes the availability for others.
    • The current mechanism for managing Linden Homes and ownership isn’t geared for single accounts owning multiple homes.
    • It’s acknowledged that the above mechanism needs to by updated for other reasons, so it is possible when this work is carried out, that the idea of multi-Linen Home ownership (and “mix-and-match” ownership of different parcel sizes of Linden Homes) might being looked at. However, updating the system is a significant technical project, and not something currently in the works.
  • On mixing different plot sizes / themes [e.g. a 2048 tree house amidst 1024 Victorian homes]:
    • It’s always been implied that house selection is based on subscription level, theme and floorplan, with the location then based on that rather than being based on location, parcel size, etc.
    • The above approach keeps the system clean and easy to manage, given regions can be defined in terms of intended use  allowing the land to be planned accordingly. Trying to mix all parcel sizes and themes could make things confusing and hard to implement, so LL is wary of introducing too many options into a single selection process.
  • [Video: 58:15-59:12] On providing 512 sq m Linden Homes on Premium Plus 2048 parcels:
    • Has been considered, but it is unlikely to be considered for the foreseeable future.
    • Might be something that gets revisited after the old linden Homes have been retired.

10K Land Capacity Region Product – Patch Linden

[Video:  18:01-20:40]

  • It has often been requested than LL should offer an additional region land product with a 10K Land Capacity, to sit between Homesteads and Full private regions.
  • The idea has been discussed numerous times within the Land Team – but this does not mean anything is necessarily going to be offered, nor should it be inferred that it will be.
  • Any new region product can have the potential to be highly disruptive to Second Life and the platform’s economy, and needs careful consideration.
    • [Side note: evidence of this can be seen in the 2008/2009 OpenSpace region update & transition to the Homestead product. This caused major disruption in terms of pricing and impact on users, and led to a false sense of SL growth. In a period of some 6-8 months, the number of regions on the grid almost doubled (18K to around 32K, and as the expense of Full regions) with no actual increase in the number of active users. This in turn lead to the false sense that Second Life was “failing” in the years following, as the region count declined year-on-year, even though active user numbers remained relatively stable by comparison.]
  • As such, the risk / rewards to everyone involved in SL – the Lab as a business that needs to turn a profit, through the wishes of those who would like to hold a more capable region, to the potential impact on the existing land rental businesses operating across Second Life and there revenue models – need to be carefully assists (and often reassessed).

Mainland and PBR – Derrick Linden

[Video: 20:52-23:24]

  • Addressing Mainland appearing darker under PBR rendering:
    • Yes, a resolution in being developed.
    • The time frame for implementing it is liable to be in the short-term rather than people have to wait for an extended period for it to be deployed.
  • 2K Textures / PBR Materials on Mainland terrain:
    • This is a significant undertaking, but is under active discussion – just no time frame as yet.
    • There are technical / implementation issues that need to be addressed:
      • An automated system of mass update would be the simplest, but might not produce the most satisfactory result.
      • A semi-automated update process would offer greater flexibility of application, but would be far more time and resource intensive.
    • The aim is to try to determine an approach which balances the above and which also has the least direct impact on Mainland residents and users.

Zindra (the Adult Continent) and Adult Initiatives

Zindra – Derrick Linden

[Video: 24:06-25:27]

  • On connecting Zindra to the rest of the Mainland through relocation & a water channel:
    • Has not been considered – but this does not mean it could not be considered.
  • On expanding the Zindra continent:
    • No plans to expand Zindra at present.

Adult Initiatives – Patch Linden

[Video: 25:33-28:45]

  • As hinted at in the December 2023 annual review, the Lab has been considering more Adult-oriented initiatives [which was not, as was subsequently reported / claimed, anything to do with the theme for SL21B].
  • One specific new project in development is a streamlined on-boarding process for new users specifically interested in the more adult / spicier side of SL. It will include:
    • A new Adult-oriented Welcome hub / experience.
    • Provide information on more mature content.
    • Provide the means for them to acclimate to the platform.
    • And more.
This image was part of the December 2023 annual review blog post by Linden Lab, which might show an aspect of the new Adult-centre user onboarding hub / experience
  • This is part of a broader initiative that includes elements such as fostering community, offering living spaces, commercial environments, continental-sized land masses.
  • It is regarded as a “whole new way and approach” to having Adult communities in Second Life, and will be worked on over the next 6-8 months as a background project. More details will be made available in the future.
  • It will hopefully be an environment wherein established and new users within Adult-oriented interests can enjoy and appreciate SL’s Adult content in a setting that will be “very fitting for it”.

Governance and Support

General – Keira Linden

  • [Video: 29:46-32:03] Increasing Governance Awareness of hate speech:
    • The Governance team does all it can to remain abreast of global trends in hate speech, symbols used, etc., which could potential violate SL’s Terms of Service & Community Standards. This is through a mix of research, collaboration with subject matter experts through seminars, etc.
    • Obviously, Governance is also reliant on Abuse Reports filed by users when they encounter hate speech / imagery / symbols, etc., and this can also be used to expand awareness in the team as well as being responded to.
    • It is acknowledged that saying on top of things can be difficult, and factor such as cultural differences at times can come into play, hence why investigations take into consideration context.
  • [Video: 32:24-33:06] On providing insight into the tools and techniques Governance uses:
    • The team and the Lab does not publicly comment on the tools and techniques used during investigations.
    • One simple reason for this is that if those determined to make mischief know of the techniques and tools used by Governance, they would seek to find ways around them and try to avoid discovery, etc.
  • [Video: 33:14-34:18] On automated moderation tools:
    • [see also: 2024 SL Governance meeting week #19: Child Avatar Policy]
    • LL is looking at companies and products in the content moderation space.
    • The aim is to try to make the moderation of egregious content which clearly violates the SL Terms of Service and which could potentially violate laws outside of Second Life, as automated as possible.
    • Evaluation of these tools for suitability is still in progress, but the aim is that should they prove to be on use, to add them to the Governance toolkit and make the removal of offensive content on the platform faster.
  • [Video: 34:38-37:35] On Private Island tenant / land holder disputes:
    • This is not something the Lab can easily involve itself: sub-leasing land from another resident comes down to an agreement between to SL residents to which LL is not a party.
    • As such, and unless there is a clear violation of the SL Terms of Service involved in the situation, there is very little Governance can do.
    • That said, it can be good for Governance to received ARs on situations like this, as it can help to determine if there is a pattern of behaviour or similar, and whether it might be necessary to reach out to someone to discuss matters further.
  •  [Video: 37:44-39:34] On the value of Abuse Reports:
    • Abuse Reports are often the start of any investigation, and so submitting one with as much information as possible is always of value.
    • Without any Abuse Report, Governance has no visibility of any issue or potential issue, whether or not they can act upon it.
  • [Video: 46:53-48:42] On providing 24/7 support to a global user base:
    • Tickets can be submitted 24/7, even if not responded to on a 24/7 basis.
    • The is the support chatbot, which is available 24/7 and can deal with basic support requests.
    • Live chat support works to hours that have been determined to be the most effective for dealing with most types of enquiry, and as the platform has been improved, LL have seen a global reduction in the need to provide global 24/7 support.
    • Support observes US holidays, as that is where it is now based, and staff deserve the opportunity to spend time with their families, as such, all all of support is staffed during such holidays – but this does not necessarily mean there are no support staff.

Account Sharing and Business Use

[Background see: Allow Business Accounts to Share Access Responsibly (Feedback Portal) and DRD Facing Unfair TOS Enforcement (Forums).]

[Video: 39:39-42:30] – Patch Linden
  • On a simplified level, the Terms of Service and related policy specifies that account details should not be shared with another individual, and while often complicated, LL has tried to adhere to that.
  • LL look upon users’ accounts akin to a financial instrument – accounts have financial information on them and provide access to billing and payment methods and includes the ability to spend money.
  • Account access gives opportunities for irreparable damage to be done, such as deleting and purging a person’s entire inventory.
  • It is also true that relationships can and do go wrong, and can be seen to go wrong . Therefore, LL is protective as protective as possible about people’s accounts.
  • That said, LL has “heard the call”, and recognise that perhaps times have changed, and so might be amenable to change.

[Video: 42:30-44:32] – Keira Linden
  • Changes to process and policy can take time, particularly when it touches on multiples teams / departments (as this does).
  • However, this request / issue is actively being worked on in order to come up with an approach / solution that meets everyone’s interests.
  • Biggest concern is fraud / the need to protect people’s financial interest, simply because relationship can break down / things go wrong between people.
  • As such, it will take time to work out and produce something, but the issue is being worked on.

Content Theft & Sale: Setting a Policy Outside of DMCA – Keira Linden

[Video: 44:36-46:46]

  • It is “tricky” determining who is the rightful owner when two people claim to be the originators of content in SL.
  • As Intellectual Property (IP) is protected by international laws, via the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), LL must adhere to DMCA provision in order to be covered by it.
  • Therefore, in all matters of potential content theft, creators must submit a duly-completed DMCA form, and the team responsible will help guide people through the process.
    • Filing the DMCA form starts a creator on the legal process of protecting their named content not only in Second Life, but in the digital ecosphere as a whole.
    • While there may be very occasional situations where the IP violation is so obvious, LL might be able to take direct action, these instances are seen as very rare, and creators should not rely on fitting into this category.

Dealing with Charitable Organisation & Events & Disbursement of Funds Raised – Derrick Linden

[Video: 49:00-52:24]

  • Linden Lab has two levels of relationship with those raising funds through Second Life.
    • The highest is with established fund-raising partners in Second Life (e.g. the American Cancer Society; Team Fox / The Michael J. Fox Foundation, etc.). This level includes agreements in place for how they operate and how the Lab supports them.
    • The lower level and individuals and organisations raising money through SL, but where there is no formal partnership with LL. Here’ the Lab is more limited in what it can do in support of such events.
  • Working with those in the latter option tends to be limited to assisting them with listing their event(s) in the Destination Guide, verifying any past fund-raisers the individual / group has done, and, if the individual / group is working directly with a charitable organisation, getting verification that they are authorised to to so.
  • Ergo, if an event is listed in the Destination Guide, it has gone through verification as a legitimate fund-raiser, and the money raised will make its way to the intended recipient party/ies, with verification this as happened after the event.
  • This does not mean charity events which are not listed in the Destination Guide are someone “false” or not really raising funds as stated – it simply means that the event has not gone through any process + verification in order to be listed.

In Brief

Second Life Community Exhibition – Izzy Linden

[Video: 55:20-56:44]

  • Located at the Welcome Hub.
  • Is a three-phase development:
    • Phase One – initial opening with selected communities – completed.
    • Phase Two: initial expansion with submissions from communities – completed.
    • Phase Thee: final build-out of available exhibitor areas, with submissions from communities.
  • Once the available space has been built-out, LL plans to start rotating community displays in and out of the exhibition space so that all participating communities have exposure.
Second Life Community Exhibition (SLCE), at its opening in January 2024
  • Also included in Phase Three will be a gift spire, where all participating communities can place gifts if they so wish.
  • Communities wishing to join the Exhibition can do so via the SLCE application form,

Second Lifetime Premium and Premium Plus Subscriptions – Patch Linden

[Video: 57:24-57:51]

Will SL Support Multi-Partnering? – Patch Linden

[Video: 1:02:17-1:03:25]

  • Has been discussed, and a project to allow for multiple partners (including listed in profiles) is in development.
  • No time frame as to when it will be released – the design work has been done, and it is hoped that Engineering and Product will be able to work on in Soon™.

General Questions

Please refer to the video from 1:03:28 onwards.

SL21B Town Hall Summary: Product and Engineering (audio +video)

Posted on by Inara Pey
SL21B Product and Engineering Town Hall (l to r): Kali Linden, Signal Linden, Missy Mole (host), Grumpity Linden, Sntax Linden, Kyle Linden

 

On Tuesday, June 25th, 2024, Linden Lab held special Town Hall Meeting of the Product and Engineering team, featuring the following personnel:

  • Grumpity Linden – Senior VP of Product & Engineering.
  • Signal Linden – Director of Engineering Second Life Server & Viewer.
  • Kali Linden – Director of Engineering Web & Platform.
  • Sntax Linden – Senior Product Manager.
  • Kyle Linden –  Product Manager.

This is a summary of the topics discussed at the session. Audio extracts are included were appropriate, and a video of the session is embedded at the end of this article – my thanks to Pantera for providing it.

 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.

A Little Background

[Video: 2:37-8:48]

A brief introduction to each of the people participating:

  • Kali Linden: has been with Linden Lab for nine years and heads-up the teams responsible for the Lab’s web properties (Marketplace, Secondlife.com, etc., the account management and log-in services, etc.
  • Signal Linden: a software engineer with a long history with virtual environments (MU* platforms, etc.), and started using SL as as high school student. He joined LL in 2015, initially working on Sansar. His background is software engineering, and he now leads both the viewer and server engineering teams.
  • Grumpity Linden: joined SL as a contractor with The Product Engine and helping with the development of (the then) Viewer 2.0, 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).
  • Sntax Linden: manages the Lab’s web properties under Kali Linden (as he leads the monthly Web User Group meetings), and currently has a specific focus on the Marketplace and improving Second Life’s commerce environment.
  • Kyle Linden: as a product manager, is focused on creator tools within the platform. He is a 17-year veteran of Second Life and has worked in most areas of the Linden Lab / the platform in that time.

Major Announcements

SL Mobile

[Video: 1:09:25-1:16:34]

The SL Mobile log-in screen (splash image changes with each log-in), the connecting screen giving destination, and the in-world view with drop-down menu active
  • The App is not currently visible on  Google Play, as new apps take up to 7 days to become searchable there.
  • It is hoped the Beta can open out more widely Soon™.
  • As a Beta product, there is still much more work to do – but a lot has been achieved with the assistance of the closed alpha users / testers.
    • However, SL Mobile will never provide all of the features found in the viewer, as it is impractical to do so (e.g. in-depth content creation is unlikely to be a part of the app).
  • In keeping with the above, feedback from those trying the Beta is welcomed – refer to the link to the official blog post above for details.
  • Feedback is requested through the SL channels, not through either the Apple Store or Google Play, as the latter could unbalance the app’s ratings unfairly, given it is only a Beta product, not a released product.
  • LL are still in consultation with Apple over the issue of the iOS version of the app not being allowed to access Adult rated regions.
  • LL have been in discussions with Unity (as the app is built on that engine) over Unity’s sudden licensing changes earlier in 2024, and the belief is that this will not be an issue for SL mobile in the future.

Scripting and Lua(u)

[Video: 26:31-31:17] – Signal Linden

[Background: In February 2024 it was confirmed LL is looking to natively adopt Luau, a Lua VM implementation viewer-side as a means of providing better support for, and control of, scripted agents (including automated testing capabilities using such agents; providing a means of supporting custom UI extensions / plug-ins without having to resort to C++ and adding custom displays to present exiting information in the viewer. See here and here for more on the initial announcement. The following is in addition to that work.]

  • Signal indicated at as well as running Lua natively on the client-side, LL is now looking to replace the Mono VM runtime engine with Luau’s runtime engine on the back-end.
  • This means that scripts should be more efficient in their memory use and execute faster.
  • The work is still in the benchmarking / development phase, and more information will be provided as work progresses.
  • As this is now a viewer / server project, it is liable that information will be made available through both the Simulator User Group meetings and the TPV Developer meetings, as it become prescient.

  • Rider Linden added further context to the above in local chat:
The project will end up swapping the underlying Mono VM out for a Lua VM under the hood … Our plan is to support both [LSL and lua]. We will end up compiling the LSL down to the Lua bytecode. [So essentially] 2 VMs. LSO (the old stuff) and ultimately the Lua VM. The Mono -> Lua bytecode change should be invisible.

Content Creation

Educating Creators (Best Practices, Content Optimisation, etc) – Kyle Linden

[Video: 10:00-11:42]

  • The existing community of Second life creators as their greatest educational asset, and so are thinking about ways to spotlight creators who provide videos, guides, tutorials, and / or by teaching in-world, etc., on a “best practice” basis.
  • That said, LL acknowledge their own documentation is often poor – much is out-of-date, features are often released without full documentation [which also might never follow as a result], and focus needs to be placed on this.
  • Believes that LL are going to try to build a better repository / resource creators and users can use to find the kinds of tutorials / class / video guides mentioned above.

Improvements to Mesh Rigging and the Avatar Skeleton – Signal Linden

[Video: 12:07-15:31]

  • LL is aware the current approach to rigging mesh and attachments to the avatar is a non-trivial task is is looking to ways to improve the workflow for creators so that content built outside of SL can be more directly imported and “work”.
  • This involved moving to modern content creation standards [i.e. the glTF 2.0 specification, as frequently referenced in this blog].
  • First phase of this work currently in development with glTF scene import, which will prototype a “drag and drop” approach to taking content from Blender and dropping it into Second Life [details on the glTF import / export work can be found in my CCUG summaries].
  • One outcome of this work will be the ability to have more “local mesh preview” capabilities, where content can be temporarily displayed in the viewer exactly as it appears in the tool used to create it (e.g. Substance Painter, Blender), without having to go through any form of upload conversion (somewhat like the Local Textures capability).
  • Further into the future, this work will mean SL can support custom armatures (rigs / skeletons).

Animation Improvements – Priorities and Editing – Signal Linden

[Video 15:38-17:08]

  • This is seen as an important capability by many, both for helping to improve the smoothness of things like Animation Override systems and in avoiding potential conflicts between animations.
  • It has often been requested and is something the Lab would like to tackle. There are requests on the Feedback Portal, and people are asked to vote on them to indicate how important they think this is, and new ideas should be submitted there.
  • Sees the issue potentially being tackled in a number of ways (e.g. better scripted support, supporting different animation formats, etc.).

2K PBR Terrain on Mainland / Support for PBR and 2K textures on Avatars -Signal Linden

[Video: 19:12-21:16]

  • 2K PBR terrain on Mainland more a Product Operations question than an engineering question.
  • 2K textures + PBR support for Avatar Appearance [Bakes on Mesh/Bake Service; wearables assets (inventory), appearance editing, etc.]: No 1 most voted request on the Feedback Portal and is currently being planned. Deployment should eventually be a combination of both at the same time, once ready.
PBR terrain. Credit: Linden Lab

PBR and Improvements – Signal Linden

[Video: 32:53-40:39]

  • The graphics team is continuing to work on optimising PBR performance, including fixing redraw bugs, memory use, etc.
  • This work is in part focused on optimisations for mid-range hardware (e.g. around US $800 brand-new).
  • With regards to MacOS, there is a focus on the current memory issues
  • LL recognise that the introduction is a world-changer in terms of SLs visuals – but it is also a world-changer in allowing content creators to more readily use their tools to produce good content for Second Life without having to resort to arcane measures.
  • Appreciate the change can be painful for some, and are trying to respond where possible with updates and improvements.
  • Pointed out (again) that the arrival of PBR is just one step in the overall plan for enhancing Second Life’s capabilities and full leverage modern content creation tools and techniques.

WebRTC

[Video: 45:48-50:00] – Signal Linden

[Background: WebRTC (RTC=”real-time communication”) is bing implemented to replace Vivox as the Voice component in Second Life. It is both a viewer and server project, with the viewer code supplied as a library with a wrapper, so there will no longer be a separate 3rd party Voice .EXE plug-in. It will offer a more extensible, “industry standard” approach to voice in SL, with better fidelity and sound quality. Initial deployment will see it work alongside Vivox (with some limitations).]

  • The release candidate viewer can be found on the Alternate Viewers web page.
  • The switch-over will be carried out in collaboration  / cooperation with TPVs.
  • Work has been put into securing the use of WebRTC Voice against attempts to eavesdrop, obtain people’s IP addresses, etc., by routing peer-to-peer communications via an internal server using a Lab proxy IP.

Commerce

  • [Video: 58:11-1:00:33] Mult-Factor Authentication (MFA) – Kali Linden
    • Will be added to the Marketplace.
    • It will be opt-in, as per the viewer / SL dashboard.
    • The overall goal is to have MFA applied to all points of entry to SL for those using it.
  • [Video: 1:00:59-1:03:01] Marketplace questions – Sntax Linden
    • Marketplace Search has been undergoing improvements and will continue to do so, all the the aim of improving the ability of content creators to promote their content and buyers get to the content they want to see.
    • Marketplace on mobile devices: There is a project underway to update the Marketplace design and UI which it is hoped will make it more accessible to smaller screens, and when using the in-viewer web browser.
    • Feedback on these welcome through the Feedback Portal and at the monthly Web User Group meetings.
  • [Video: 1:03:05-1:04:16] CasperVend / Marketplace integration – Kali Linden
    • A road map is being developed as to what makes the most sense to do first with CasperVend integration in general.
    • Again the onus is on making the general shopping and merchant experience better across the Marketplace and when using / interacting with CasperVend products.
    • It is likely one of the first areas for integration will be having CasperVend delivering go through the same mechanism as Marketplace deliveries, simplifying CasperVend redeliveries.
    • Longer-term going is to have things integrated so that Merchants can manage their activities through a single point, whether selling through CasperVend or / and via the MP.

In Brief

Upcoming Initiatives – Kyle Linden

[Video: 24:40-26:20]

  • Combat 2.0 [ first tranche of work updating the Second Life Combat system (SLCS – see my Combat User Group summaries).
  • Implementation of game controller support (e.g X-Box game pads).
  • Introduction of WebRTC Voice.

Additional Viewer Updates – Kyle Linden

[Video: 42:15-45:29]

  • As well as those mentioned (glTF scene import, WebRTC, etc):
    • More sample content to the Library (e.g. mirrors).
    • HDRI support for skies, etc.
    • Possible updates to the library EEP settings to HDR.
    • Possibly extending the use of emojis in Display Names (this is problematic as it requires Unicode data to be stored, and so is only being explored at this time and many not make it to feature release).
Emojis in the viewer (and most / all TPVs)

Accessibility Initiative – Kyle Linden

[Video: 51:45-54:50]

  • Some of work going into SL over the last few years has been focused on laying the foundations for improved accessibility options.
  • One of the first elements of this work to surface will be server-side translation for text.
  • In the future, the deployment of WebRTC could potentially allow for direct text-to-speech / speech to text.
  • AI tools might be considered for giving access assistance to SL.
  • Those with ideas for making SL more accessible to all should file feature requests via the Feedback Portal.
  • It was pointed out that creators could help with accessibility by giving their creations meaningful names where appropriate, rather than leaving them as the default “Object”.

The future of Mesh Upload Prices – Grumpity Linden

[1:05-06-1:05:58]

  • With the work on glTF mesh uploads and scene imports, LL will be re-evaluating the cost of mesh uploads across all membership levels.
  • In the interim, the change to make 2K texture uploads  free for Premium Plus subscribers is now live.

General Questions in Last 15 Minutes

Please refer to the video from 1:16:53 onwards.

 

VWBPE 2024 What’s up With the Lab: Grumpity, Kali and Signal Linden

Posted on by Inara Pey
via VWBPE

Update: March 16th, 2024: Regarding SL Voice and capabilities, as mentioned in the latter part of this summary, please also refer to: 2024 week #11: SL TPVD summary: new approach to voice in SL for information on the new WebRTC for Voice in SL.

On Thursday, March 14th, 2024 Grumpity Linden, the Lab’s Senior Vice President of Operations, along with Kali and Signal Linden joined Phelan Corrimal for the annual Above the Book session at the Virtual Worlds Best Practice in Education (VWBPE) conference, entitled What’s Up At the Lab.

The function of the session is to explore what’s “new” at Linden Lab  / with Second Life and their impact on educators and non-profit organisations using the platform.

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

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 / comment.

A Little Background

Grumpity Linden: is responsible for the Second Life Product and Engineering teams. She originally started at LL whilst working for The Product Engine, and was involved in the development of Viewer 2 (as designed by 80/20 Studio), prior to joining LL full-time in 2014. Her role covers all aspects of product development and platform engineering, and as well as having a strong technical background, she also brings a strong element of interpersonal skills and psychological expertise to the Lab’s management team via her studies at the Johns Hopkins University.

Kali Linden: is now a Director of Engineering at the Lab, reporting into Grumpity, specifically focused on the Lab’s web properties (e.g. lindenlab.com, secondlife.com, the Marketplace, etc.) and associated UI and API design. She has a keen focus on matters pertaining to content creation and also in working in the non-profit sphere, describing herself as a “Nonprofit-preneur” as well as a “Nerd-Gamer”.

Signal Linden: is the Director of the Second Life Server and Viewer engineering and development teams. He has been involved with Second Life since 2008, and joined Linden Lab in 2015 by way of the likes of Amazon. He is a strong believer in the potential of virtual worlds, and a keen proponent of open-source software and collaborative development. He has perhaps most recently been visible as the communicator of, and driving force behind, the Lab’s moves to the use of Github to manage viewer development and issue tracking for their engineering and development environments.

Product Development Path

The glTF™ Roadmap

[Video: 4:43-19:26]

  • When SL introduced mesh import (2011), the COLLADA (Collaborative Design Activity) interchange file format  interactive 3D applications was selected for use within SL for importing mesh models to the platform. This decision was based on its widespread (at the time) use and recognition as an international standard (ISO/PAS 17506).
  • Since then, content creation and the industry have moved on, and the glTF (graphics library Transmission Format) has been developed over the last decade by the Khronos Group (also responsible for COLLADA), as  a standard file format for three-dimensional scenes and models. Recognised and adhered to through the industry, it is the specification of choice for Second Life to move to using.
  • Linden Lab views glTF adoption as a combination of:
    • Making the platform more accessible to a wider pool of content creators (as in theory, content made for X or Y in adherence to the core glTF specification (currently version 2.0 (no extensions) for SL) could be dropped directly into SL “as is” subject to licensing)
    • Making the actual import and use of glTF objects and scenes adhering to the specification pretty much a drag-and-drop capability.
  • While the techniques involved in glTF content production may be more complex, it is hoped that by adhering to the specification, content creators and users in SL will have great access to more accurate documentation to support the learning process, and have access to a broader set of libraries / tools presenting the means for that drag-and-drop capability with items and objects arriving in SL and looking vastly different to how they appear in authoring tools.
  • Physically based rendering (PBR) for materials was the first step in glTF adoption, and required a large-scale overhaul of the SL rendering engine. With its deployment and update, LL are now looking to to build out glTF support and capabilities.
  • Notably, the work now allows LL the opportunity to investigate  – and potentially implement – the support of  importing of entire glTF scenes (object, scripts, animations, etc., as noted above) into SL and have them stored as a recognisable asset.
    • This requires another significant overhaul of SL to support glTF hierarches, and so is liable to be a long-term project.
    • However, work on scene import and its associated requirements is due to start around mid-2024.
  • Note: this conversation included the export of glTF scenes from SL to elsewhere. As Linden Lab are still investigating requirements for permissions, etc., plus determining what will be required to allow scene import, no definitive answer on this could be given at this point, and so I’ll do no more than mention it here. Please refer to the video below if interested in the conversation.

SL Mobile

[Video: 30:02-36:28]

  • SL Mobile remains in closed Alpha testing (Premium Plus users only) and the current testing is generating a lot of feedback.
  • The initial focus was on rendering – with work still on-going – to ensure scenes and avatars could be rendered with a fidelity similar to that of the viewer and robustly.
  • This saw limited functionality in other areas to start with, but the functionality is being built out, and will continue to be built out and enhanced. Recent updates include:
    • Start a new chat from any chat screen
    • On the Nearby Chat screen, see how many people are nearby.
    • Streaming audio support.
  • As the functionality is built out, LL plan to start looking more broadly at Mobile use-cases (e.g. bringing-in new users, which requires considering a set of capabilities – signing-up, getting in-world, making connections, etc.) which are different to many of those sought by existing users (e.g inventory sorting).
  • Some capabilities found in the viewer will not be available in Mobile “for a while” (e.g. building), and core capabilities required for content creation (e.g. mesh importing) may well remain bound to the desktop.
  • That said, basic object interactions – sitting on objects, driving vehicles, etc., – will be supported.
  • In terms of broadening the existing SL Mobile user base, the hope is to do so “in the first half” of 2024.
    • More widespread usage does require more thought around interactions with third party environments (app stores, Tilia for L$ management, etc.) before such expansion can take place.

On-Boarding New User Experience

[Video: 36:40-42:34]

  • With the introduction of the Senra avatars in 2023, LL added a web-based avatar customisation flow as a part of the on-boarding process. This process continues to be refined, wit the idea remaining that new users will start with Senra and its available clothing and accessories (LL supplied or via user creators), but eventually move to other systems.
  • However, it is recognised that in-world avatar customisation is “hard”, so to further assist in new users gaining familiarity with in-world avatar customisation, LL are – as has been suggested by existing users – looking to implement a similar, easy-to-understand flow to customising avatars in-world.
    • This does require a series of back-end changes to systems to be made, so will still be a while in come.
    • It will, by necessity, given the huge range of options available in avatar customisation, be somewhat constrained it terms of trying to build a more complex look, but it should allow use users to make changes to their avatar and produce a good result.
  • As a part of the on-boarding process, LL is looking to improve the registration API that is provided to Community Gateways for on-boarding users directly. No firm decisions on what might be updated and why, but the Lab is interested in hearing from Gateway Communities, those using the Reg API on the changes they would like to see. suggestions via the Second Life Feedback Portal.

General

  • Scripting [Video: 19:27-24:52]:
    • The last two years have seen LL become more responsive to requests for more scripting capabilities and functionality.
    • The plan is to continue with this, and those with specific requests – even if made in the past – are asked to use the Scripting Requests board on the Second Life Feedback Portal to do so.
    • Interoperability with external API (e.g. web APIs) is often being considered on a request basis.
  • Voice in Second Life [Video: 24:56-29:50]:
    • It is acknowledged that SL’s voice capabilities (powered by Vivox) have been largely unchanged since their introduction in 2007 (and Vivox has long since ceased active support on Linux).
    • LL are looking to improve Voice capabilities in SL with technologies which will enable the addition of new functionalities – such as new capabilities in-world such as adding scripted control of voice capabilities.
    • As with PBR and glTF, the work currently under consideration for Voice in SL would be foundational as / when decisions are made and projects start rolling, allowing capabilities and options to be built up over time.
  • Marketplace [Video: 42:40-43:56]:
    • In line with the work on SL Mobile, the Marketplace / web team are working on trying to make the Marketplace responsive on Mobile, enabling shopping via ‘phone or tablet and also improving the MP’s appearance on the viewer’s in-built browser.
    • Marketplace Search is also going to see further improvements (e.g. additional filtering).
    • Also see my more recent Web User Group summaries.
  • Feedback move from Jira to Github  / Canny [Video: 44:14-48:30]:
    • The decision to move away from Jira was primarily due to Atlassian (who produce the Jira software) changing their licensing model, making an open-ended system available to all SL users prohibitively expensive for the Lab.
    • Github Issues was selected as the core replacement tool due to it both it being a good collaborative tool or developers and users, and it is a key tool used within the likes of viewer (open-source and simulator code development.
    • Canny was settled on for the general user-facing front-end the Feedback Portal) as it has “good” integration with Github, and has a range of tools which allow information to be grouped and displayed (e.g. Marketplace bug / issues; viewer bug reports, projects such as Combat 2.0, etc.).
    • It also allows for a wider range of feedback to be given, and for prioritising work in terms of popularity of ideas, identifying issues that can be widely beneficial and rapidly implemented, etc.
    • The Feedback Portal provides general user access to tickets; those with Github accounts (e.g. open source or third-party viewer developers) can access the Github issues side of the system (with some security / sensitive data exceptions) via their Github accounts.
    • The switch-over was completed in mid-February 2024.