Category: News

Monday, February 29th saw a special event take place at the chapel of Saint Marys Hospital in down town Rochester, Minnesota, when the Dalai Lama addressed Mayo Clinic staff in a special event which was livestreamed on the Internet and into Second Life, using the Mayo clinic’s in-world facilities.

The address, entitled Compassion in Healthcare, followed on from the 80-year old spiritual leader, who has been undergoing period treatment for prostate cancer at the clinic,  speaking for 3 hours – twice what had been planned – before a crowd of 3,000 people in Minneapolis on Sunday, February 21st. That event was to mark the Tibetan New Year, and his Holiness’ address, delivered in English and Tibetan,  focused on valuing education and compassion.

The February 29th address was introduced by Mayo Clinic President and CEO John Noseworthy, and moderated by Minnesota TV and radio host Cathy Wurzer. As the address began, both Ms. Wurzer and the Dalai Lama were represented in-world by avatars at the Mayo clinic’s Second Life conference centre. In both cases, care had been taken to ensure the avatars resembled their flesh-and-blood counterparts.

While I missed the first part of the session, when I did arrive, some 80 people from across Second Life were in attendance, and the Dalai Lama himself sounded energised and related stories with good humour and aplomb through his address, and responded to questions from the audience at the venue, it was not clear to me if any questions were taken from the in-world audience.

While some be tempted to critique the event on the basis that the avatar in-world was not actually operated by the Dalai Lama, they would actually be missing the point. While his holiness may not have been operating the avatar, being seated in the chapel of Saint Marys Hospital, the thoughts and words steaming into Second Life were his, and as such, the event offered a means for people who might never otherwise get to hear him speak, listen to and appreciate his wisdom in an almost first-hand way.

The address, with a question and answer session, lasted a little over 90 minutes. The livestream is currently being archived by the Mayo Clinic, and the event was also filmed in-world. I’ll update this article when either video is publicly available.

with thanks to Maxwell Graf for the nod!

Update, Tuesday February 23rd, 01:15 GMT  / 17:15 SLT, Monday February 22nd: Agent86, Teager’s husband, has been able to confirm that her account(s) have been unbanned by the the Lab. “There is news regarding Teager,” AgentEightyEix announced via the * Breeders Choice * in-world group. “She has been unbanned. She’s not home right now, she got the email on her phone, but I’m sure she’ll be on a little later. For everyone who donated at the donation box, thank you.  No need to do any more.  We’ll take it down tonight, and everything can get back to normal around here.” 

I’ve been asked to help spread the word on the following. If you are a Breeder’s Choice or Teegle customer, please take a moment to read.

Second Life content creator Teager has issued a request via Facebook that people wishing to buy her products – sold through her Breeder’s Choice and Teegle brands –  should, until further notice, do so via her in-world store and not from her Marketplace presence.

The request comes as a result of Teager having her accounts banned from Second Life. This first became apparent on Tuesday, February 16th, Subsequent to this, on February 19th, she was able to ascertain the reason for the ban, which in turn prompted her request for people not to use her Marketplace store.

In making the request, Teager explains why:

So, here is the situation as it stands right now. I have been banned. As of right now, I, including all of my accounts present or future, are permanently banned from Second Life. I AM still fighting this ban and I DO have a legal leg to stand on. Don’t lose faith just yet.

The purpose for the ban was an old alt account of mine, which sold animations on marketplace, including some animations of an adult nature. I am told that I am in violation of the TOS section 6.1 subsection vi, which states that you shall not “(vi) Post, display or transmit any Content or conduct or host any activity that is sexually explicit, or intensely violent.”

Teager, who has been one of the content creators involved in the Lab’s Project Bento work,  believes that the listings in question were actually rated as Adult, and therefore in compliance with section 6.3.iv of the Terms of Service and the associated Maturity Ratings. She is therefore pursuing matters through the Lab’s appeal process. However, the situation might take time to resolve, leaving her with a problem in meeting her tier, as she goes on to explain:

My marketplace store, which is still online, funnels all profit into the Teager account, to which I have no access. That means I CANNOT withdraw any money from purchases made on marketplace right now and I CANNOT place those funds towards the preservation of the sims.

While I argue my case, profits from my rent boxes and from all major items in my store will be forwarded to my husband’s account, agenteightysix. For now, this includes all items costing 900L or more, but I will notify you of additional items as time goes on. Please do your best to assure that any first time buyers purchase through my in world shop, not my marketplace store, so that I can funnel that money into keeping the sims running while I am without access to my account. I have also transferred all of the mall’s rental boxes to pay towards my husband’s account as well, so all payments towards mall rent boxes from this moment forward will also go towards keeping the sims running.

For further information on the situation, plus any updates from Teager, please refer to either her explanatory Facebook post  or her Facebook page timeline. I’ll also update this post and / or follow-up on it as I receive further news from Teager or agenteightysix.

Note: subsequent to this article, I received news that two other SL content creators have also received recent bans: ~ Ladies Pleasure ~, and Warm Animations. See here and here for more.

Follow-up article: Sundry thoughts on recent bans in Second Life.

With Valentine’s Day roughly a month away, the Lab is inviting residents to share what that special day means to them by means of a photograph – and gain the opportunity to be a part of the Lab’s advertising campaigns for Second Life.

The post reads in part:

Valentine’s Day is just on the horizon and will be here before you can get through a handful of heart candies! We’re looking for some great Second Life pictures from the community to feature in upcoming email and banner campaigns – with credit to the photographer – of course!

In a snapshot, let us know what Valentine’s Day means to you in Second Life.

Share your story in a picture and on our Official Flickr Page with the tag “SLVday2016” so that we can see all of your amazing works. You may submit as many as you like between now and January 29, 2016.

We’ll showcase the chosen image(s) in an email to Residents, as well as in some banner campaigns. We’ll let the chosen image creators know via Flickr and ask for an avatar name for the credits.

The submission guidelines are fairly straightforward:

• Images must be at least 2048×1207 in size
  
• Avatars must be shown in-world,and suitably lit so they can be seen
• All images must be free of additional text or logos, and must be appropriate for all audiences.
• Images that tell a story are going to make an impression.

As noted in the Lab’s blog post text, the closing date for submissions is Friday, January 29th, 2016.