Presented by Models Giving Back, Rock Your Rack opened its doors on Friday, September 29th, and will run through until Sunday, October 8th, 2023. The annual fund-raiser for the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF), the event offers shopping, music, fashion shows, entertainment and art.
Some 1.7 million women – and men – were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012; today that figure still stands at around 1.6 million world-wide. NBCF’s mission is to help women in the United States by providing help and inspiring hope to those affected by breast cancer through early detection, education and support services. NBCF is also joining hands with organisations around the globe to provide breast cancer education, and Rock Your Rack aims to raise funds to support all of these activities.
Rock Your Rack 2023, September 29th-October 8th – shopping
Located on a single region, the event this year doesn’t carry a single theme per se, but draws on ideas of the American West, the seaside, city life and mystical forest glades in what might be seen as reflective of some of the environments and settings to be found in Second Life.
In all, the event features around 70 sponsors and designers through the shopping and entertainment activities, and as with previous years, supporting designers have been asked to provide a limited edition item, of which 100% of all proceeds of sales go towards Rock Your Rack. A full list of these items can be viewed on the Rock Your Rack website. Those wishing to catch up with the full list of sponsors and designers can do so here.
Entertainment will be on offer each weekend of the event and features DJs, live singers and performances by Terpsicorps Artwerks. The complete event schedule can be found in the calendar below and the Rock Your Rack website weekend entertainment schedule.
There is also much to do throughout the event besides shopping and dancing. Once again there is the Rock Your Rack hunt, with many designer and other booths at the event presenting a Hunt item available for L$10 – look for the heart-in-a-clothes hanger objects. There’s also the event’s Art Show featuring many SL artists, and a further Fashion Show to be held on Saturday, October 7th, 2023. In addition, visitors can try their hands at bumper boats, table-top games and funfair rides whilst exploring.
Rock Your Rack 2023, September 29th-October 8th – Art Show
About Rock Your Rack
Rock Your Rack is the annual fund-raiser for, and officially endorsed by, the National Breast Cancer Foundation in the United States. Launched in 2012, the event has been held every year since then, operating on the basis of complete transparency. All documentation relating to the funds raised at each event from screenshots of totals raised, through the Lindex credit processing of US dollar amounts out of Second Life to donation receipts from the MBCF, are posted each year directly to the Rock Your Rack website.
via the 2023 SL Renaissance Festival website. Note image is not representative of the event, but is provided “for ambience only”
The 2023 SL Renaissance Festival is currently open to visitors through until the end of Sunday, October 1st, 2023. Coordinated by the American Cancer Society, the Festival is in support of Making Strides Against Breast Cancer (MSABC), an RFL of SL signature event aimed at raising awareness of the risks of breast cancer and funds to support research into, and treatment of, the disease.
Taking place across multiple regions adjoining the core American Cancer Society’s SL base of operations, the festival carries the theme Coming Home and presents a range of merchants, activities and entertainments linked to the medieval / renaissance periods, for visitors to peruse, participate in and enjoy.
As well as the above the festival includes both standalone and mega raffles, together with a special Linden Lab sponsored Silent Auction with the following items open for bidding:
One year Premium Plus membership, including a Homestead region for the year (existing Premium Plus members will have 12 months added to their account).
One year Premium Plus membership (existing Premium Plus members will have 12 months added to their account).
One year Premium membership (existing Premium members will have 12 months added to their account).
Two options to change your name free of charge (from the available Last Names list).
A 1-hour photo shoot with Patch Linden.
Note that the Auction will close at 18:00 SLT on Saturday, September 30th. The raffles and Auction area can be found alongside the main landing point.
2023 SL Renaissance Festival
Those interested in role-play in Second Life can use the Festival to visit the role play pavilion and traveller’s camp, while those who enjoy a good hunt will be pleased to know the events Stag Hunt once again returns. Just visit participating merchants in the shopping regions and the role play pavilions in the Traveller’s Camp region, locate the special Strides Stag Hunt statue, and the goodies each statue contains can be yours for just L$25 (all proceeds to MSABC). You can preview the available prizes here.
All of which adds up to a lot to see and do! So why not don ye best olde worlde outfits and drop into the Renaissance Festival? Who knows what marvels you might purchase along the way, the tales of triumph with which you might later regale your friend or the trophies and rewards you might obtain!
Running from September 2nd through to September 17th (inclusive) in Second Life is the 2023 edition of the Spoonful of Sugar festival in support of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the globe-spanning non-profit organisation providing medical humanitarian and emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and similar, and who might otherwise be excluded from receiving much-needed healthcare and relief.
Also known as Doctors Without Borders, MSF was originally founded in Paris, France in 1971 and is entirely self-governing; the support and treatment it provides is given on the basis of need, irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation. It is often one of the first organisations to have feet on the ground wherever and whenever humanitarian aid and medical support is desperately needed, and since its founding, MSF has grown to a movement of 24 associations, bound together as MSF International, now based within Switzerland. Thousands of health professionals, logistical and administrative staff – most of whom are hired locally in respect of the care they give around the world – work on programmes in some 70 countries worldwide to provide medical and social care & support for a staggering 10+ million people annually.
Spoonful of Sugar 2023
The 2023 Spoonful of Sugar event marks the ninth year the event has sought to support the work of MSF. In that time, more than US $100,000 has been raised, once again demonstrating the generosity of Second Life users in supporting those most in need around the world. The money raised through SOS events goes directly to MSF for disbursement, although since 2022, the SOS organisers has sought to work with MSF to ensure the funds raised are directed more towards providing relief in countries and regions which have been impacted by natural / environmental disasters, as the SOS website notes.
We don’t “earmark” our fundraising for a specific aspect of what they do. We think they know best where the money is most needed. We do, however, want to change our focus for the event a bit. We’re going to explore more about MSF/Doctors Without Borders work with environmental issues, natural disasters and the pressing impact of climate change, focusing on their work within these specific areas and the people they help while doing this work. So join us at places on our planet that are both astoundingly beautiful and wealthy and yet devastatingly vulnerable and poor. Let’s understand this connection between environmental imbalance and the illness, safety and resource insecurity, facing so many on our planet,
– From the Spoonful of Sugar website
Hence why the 2023 follows the same theme as 2022 – Tahiti, which both sits as a reflection of the scenes of tropical beauty that names tends to conjure whilst also reminding us that it is often smaller, poorer countries that suffer the most from ecological disasters – flooding, storms, etc., – simply because they often cannot afford the rapid response infrastructure and mechanisms required to meet such disasters.
Also as with 2022, this year’s event presents 10 regions available for exploration, entertainment and shopping. Details of the daily entertainment can be found on the SOS website’s schedule page, whilst the region list page provides a list of participating merchants and brands across the 7 shopping regions, complete with SLurl to teleport directly to each region from that page. In addition to the entertainment and shopping, the event includes the Get Crabby Hunt with an impressive selection of prizes (participation requires joining the Get Crabby Hunt Group for L$299 – all proceeds to SOS / MSF), together with the SOS Raffle, offering the chance to win gift cards valued up to L$10,000 and / or tropical cabins.
Spoonful of Sugar 2023
The landing point for the event follows the familiar SOS format of providing extensive information on MSF’s work, as well as introducing people to the teleport system which can be used for easier region hopping. However, for those who wish to explore the regions on foot, boardwalks and sandy causeways can be followed through the event regions to help avoid getting feet too wet!
As always, Spoonful of Sugar is an event well worth visiting. Even if you don’t find anything to buy in the shopping regions, the donation kiosks will welcome your Linden dollars, and you can be absolutely sure that your money is going to a very worthy cause.
Now open through until the end of the month is the SL Fandom Con, a new Mega Event for Relay for Life of Second Life and the American Cancer Society, and one not to be confused with the Sci-Fi Expo / Con events many of us are likely familiarly with – although there is a good degree of cross-over.
SL Fandom Con is using the love of stories, comics and all forms of art to bring people together in the virtual world of Second Life while supporting the American Cancer Society’s mission to lead the fight to end cancer as we know it, for everyone. The SL Fandom Con is a fan event bringing you various roleplay groups, resources, shopping, and entertainment from across all of Second Life and we are proud to be part of a community of courage and caring in Second Life.
[It is] A social event focused festival with wider inclusivity for all genres of anime, comics, movies, RL & SL artist creator content, video and tabletop games, pop culture, SL Film Festival, and a specific emphasis on RL & SL Costumes and Cosplay.
– From the SL Fandom Con website
Active across seven regions circling out from and back to the American Cancer Society 2 island (which itself forms the convention’s eighth region), the SL Fandom Con mixes the “traditional” SL approach for such events through the use of sponsored / themed / entertainment regions, with something of a physical world convention feel. By this I mean that as well as American Cancer Society 2 forming the primary landing point for those visiting the convention, it also presents two large convention halls of the kind generally seen at sci-fi, comic, gaming, and so on conventions in the physical world. As with their physical counterparts, these two halls offer a mix of exhibitor booths as a part of the Rep Your Fandom contest, together with activity space.
SL Fandom Con, July 2023
The main landing point includes information boards where people can obtain teleport / guide HUDs, links to relevant parts of the event’s website where information on shopping, activities, etc., can be found. Experience activated teleport portals flank one side of the landing point, awaiting those who wish to get on with their wandering through the rest of the event regions, while on the other side of the landing point sits the Memorial Garden, ready for those wishing to remember someone they’ve lost to cancer.
Foot access to the adjoining shopping regions – Space and Underwater – can be reached through the two convention halls. With clear roadways / footpaths directing people through each region and on to the next. The region names themselves tend to give a clue as to their main focus (e.g. Space includes a heavy space-based sci-fi focus; New Tokyo a lean towards Japanime, Japanese franchises, etc.) – although none are entirely exclusive to a specific theme of store.
Most of the shopping regions also offers a themed mode of transport as well – little flying saucers at Space, for example. These can be used to travel through each region, with rezzing points at either entry / exit point to a region, with some regions offering additional vehicle rezzing points for those who hop out of their vehicle to explore the local shops, but wish to resume their rides afterwards. Some of these vehicles, frankly, work better than others, but they all offer a potentially different means of skipping through regions.
SL Fandom Con, July 2023
Entertainment stages are located throughout the regions and feature a range live performances, dance troupes, DJ events, whilst the Con also includes its own auction, hunt and contest (the Rep your Fandom Contest, mentioned above). The auction – which can be entered at the main landing point – includes a series of special prizes courtesy of Linden Lab, comprising:
One annual Premium Plus subscription.
Two annual Premium subscriptions.
A Full private region (20K Land capacity) for 6 months free tier.
A Homestead region for 6 months free tier.
Two Name Changes (using the currently available last names).
One Name Change as a gift for a friend (using the currently available last names).
In addition to the above, some of the folk from the Lab will be participating in the event along with some of the Moles from the LDPW participate in the Fandom Con Fashion Show on Thursday, July 27th between 13:00 and 15:00 SLT, when they will be joining residents in showing off their favourite fandom-inspired look.
SL Fandom Con, July 2023
Full information on the event can be obtained via the website, but the following is a list of key SLurls and URLs.
With the parties for SL’s 20th birthday now over and the celebration regions sitting a little quieter, those who have perhaps been put off by the idea of fighting the crowds and all they can bring with them (aka “lag”), might feel that now is the time to explore some of the exhibits presented by the residents and communities of Second Life. This being the case, I thought I’d offer a list of some of the exhibits I’ve particularly enjoyed dropping in to see.
Notes: this is not an exhaustive list of the exhibits I’ve visited or the only ones I enjoyed, and should not be taken as such – there is a lot to see and appreciated at SL20B, and time allowing I might produce a further list of those I’ve enjoyed. Also, the order in which they are given should not be seen as indicative of any kind of preference on my part; it simply reflects the alphabetical ordering of the regions in which the exhibits are located.
Occupying a 1024 sq m parcel, Erik’s exhibit is perhaps a little easy to overlook, it is so understated. However to do so would be a shame, as it features the results of a fascinating – and ongoing – experiment / project in presenting Second Life as a series of three-dimensional terrain maps which offer an entirely new perspective (no pun intended) on the regions and continents, presenting scaled models of groups of regions, giving a powerful visual representation of how the terrain has been terraformed, some of which have been overlaid with textures representing the structures and infrastructure found within the regions represented.
Producing these models is a process as fascinating as the models themselves, as Erik explains:
I gather each region’s elevation data, at half-metre XY intervals using an LSL script, feeding that data to my computer via a series of HTTP responses. [I] then (re)constructed and textured the terrain model(s) in Blender using its incredibly powerful Python API. The World Map textures [are] downloaded individually from Second Life’s official map servers [and] the terrain layer textures are available thanks to Tyche Shepherd and her indispensable Grid Survey database.
– Erik Mondrian
SL20B: Second Life Terrain Models
Depending on the complexity of the maps being produced in terms of elevation, and the the overall size of the map being produced, Erik’s script might take time to run; in the case of his more recent map of the entire Heterocera continent (433 regions), the scripts took some 32 hours to run.
Within his exhibit at SL20B, Erik presents pairs of models representing five areas of Second Life: Sakurasseria (the Japanese / oriental themed regions of Bellisseria), the “First 16” – the original regions of Second Life; Bay City; The Wastelands role-play estate, and the regions of the Vehicle Sandbox. Each pair presents a model of the terrain, as produced by Erik’s process, and a second overlaid with the World Map textures. For uploading to Second Life, some compromises have to be made – as Erik notes with the model of Heterocera (which is not a part of the set at SL20B, but which you can see in Erick’s video below), the original blender model initially amounted to 227 million triangles, and thus had to reduced to 2.3 million for the purposes of the video. As it is, the models at SL20B range from 31K through more than 220K triangles whilst varying between 12,ooo and almost 99,000 vertices, offering a reasonable compromise between complexity(/detail) and Land Impact.
Models like this help to further bring SL to life, literally adding a further dimension to how we can look on our digital world; and while they may provide a view of regions are they are today, they nevertheless of historical import as well. Take the models of the “First 16” for example; they give a view of those regions which perfectly complements the familiar historical 2D maps of those regions. As such, it could sit well within exhibitions such as the Maps of Second Life at New Kadath Lighthouse Art Gallery (see: The maps (and more!) of Second Life). Not that I’m suggesting anything, mark you 😀 .
Get the Freight Out (GTFO) is a popular in-world game among many vehicle users. HUD-based, it allows players to “haul” cargo from by land, sea or air, point-to-point across the mainland continents of Second life, and over their connected waterways and seas (e.g. Blake Sea), earning in-game (and non-redeemable) “Goal dollars” – G$ and game experience points which allow them to “level up”. Since its inception, GTFO has grown into one of the most popular activities among vehicle users in SL, and many types of land, sea, air and space craft are capable of supporting the game, or come with support built-in (when I wrote about GTFO five years ago in July 2018 – see An inside look at Get the Freight Out in Second Life – over 280 individual vehicle types were supported, and the game featured over 300 “hubs” to / from which freight is delivered / collected across the grid.
At SL20B GTFO combine with the Drivers of SL (on the neighbouring SL20B region) to allow people to learn not about both, visit the GTFO headquarters, race a go kart around a track, visit the local GTFO space station and – if you’re new to SL or the world of physical transportation in-world – see a range of the drivable vehicles available within the platform.
Second Life has a rich history and culture of art art – 2D, 3D, performance, interactive, and so on. It’s one of the aspects of the platform I find the most fascinating (hence devoting a good portion of this blog to the subject!). SLB has traditionally drawn artists to it over the years – to the extent that for some events, I’ve included an article devoted to the art exhibits awaiting discovery.
The diversity of art on offer at SL20B is as rich as previous years; however, I wanted to highlight The Water Slide here, given the way it combines art and interactive fun.
SL20B: the Water Slide
The work of the SL Random Art Crew (founded by Roxksie Logan) and the Tigerpaw Sanctuary, this is multi-faceted installation. Built around a central tower containing the water slide of the title, the installation offers a series of rides and activities – and an underwater art exhibition. How you get to the top of the tower is up to you – will you take the easy route and use the teleport elevator, or will you trey the harder way – up the animated wooden steps (you might want to try running!). Similarly, how you get down is a matter of choice – by rope, by slide, take the ladder or … the fast way. Similarly, getting down to the underwater gallery offers a choice of routes.
Founded by Emm Evergarden (herself the creator of a number of immersive, natural environments in SL, as witnessed within my Exploring Second Life articles), the Nature Collective is a group intended to cultivate a community around regions, spaces and projects which share a common focus on nature. To assist in this, the group provides both an Explorer HUD, featuring all in-world locations linked to the Collective (and available in-world here), and a list of locations available through the Nature Collective website.
In addition, the Collective runs the Shutterbug Club, a monthly event (advertised through the in-world group and the Collective’s Discord Server), in which members visit a Nature Collective location in-world and spend and hour or so exploring it and taken photos which can be submitted – without post-processing, and created only using the tools available in the viewer – to the group’s Shutterbug Flickr photo stream.
SL20b: The Nature Collective
I’ve always enjoyed and appreciated the work the Collective does – and they have led me to a number of engaging locations in SL, large and small. for SL20B they present a walk through a woodland glade coupled with an Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass theme while is entirely appropriate for a celebration of Second Life, given the platform is a wonderland of experiences and adventures. When visiting, people can also collect a copy of the group’s Explorer HUD and pick up a gift.
Generative AI systems are one of the current focuses of technology discussion and hype (notably around matters around copyright when it comes to AI tools like Midjourney), with considerable interest also being directed towards systems and their potential within games and similar environments. With this installation, Nadir Taov presents a practical demonstration on the used of Chat GPT3-powered NPCs to add depth and flow to interactions with NPCs within role-play (and other – such NPCs could have a range of uses – environments).
SL20B: Unscripted Future – AI NPCs in Roleplay
Presented in cyberpunk-esque urban setting, the installation allows visitors to interact with “Alexa”, a club-carrying, bemasked female, by means of emotive exchanges. Depending on induvial skills with emoting (and mixing descriptive actions with spoken words within those emotes), so interesting exchanges can be had – although those who find para-roleplay annoying are liable to find themselves getting irritated at the length of Alexa’s responses. But that said, this is an impressive demonstration of the potential in combining NPCs and AI.
Sniper Siemens is perhaps Second Life’s most dogged historian, over the years presenting us with a unique look into the platform’s long history using immersive installations. First seen in 2014, with the assistance of the former Linden Endowment for the Arts, they have been outstanding in their curation of information, facts, figures, images and trivia about Second Life. Over the years, these installations have grown ever more engaging, presenting a wealth of information about SL’s long history in easy-to-follow (and digest) summaries visits can walk through and appreciate at their leisure.
SL20B – Second Life: The Past, The Present, The FUTURE
I’ve always enjoyed Sniper’s visual approach to presenting key and perhaps not so well-known points in the platform’s history, and have covered these installations on numerous occasions in these pages; they are the gold standard for such installations. As such, I make no apologies for including Sniper’s build at SL20B in this list.
Three To Close
Society for Preservation and Archeology of the Metaverse (SPAM)Region SLurl (SLB Electrify) – Penny Patton presents a slightly tongue-in-cheek look at defining moments of Second Life’s history. complete with an undertow of serious commentary in places.
Piano Roll RegionRegion SLurl (SLB Fantasy) – Bryn Oh’s reflective installation on the AI and its impact on presence and human interaction.
On Friday, June 30th, 2023 saw the fourth in a series of Lab Gab special events take place for the SL20 Birthday celebrations, featuring featuring Patch Linden and the Moles of the Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW).
Unlike the other summaries in this series, this article focuses on the work of the Moles and the projects they are currently working on and which have recently been launched or will be launched in the near future. Broader questions on individual interests, hopes for the future of SL, subjects (such as the SL20B Sweepstakes) covered in more depth in other Sl20B Lab Gab sessions are not included below. As always, timestamps to the video are included within each topic / sub-topic, allowing comments made to be heard in full.
Short interviews with a number of the Moles covering what they do and how they became members of the LDPW team. These discussions fold-in to them some of the points below.
Who or What are the Moles?
Officially called the Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW), originally formed in 2008, Moles are residents from all over the world hired by Linden Lab as independent resident-contractors to undertake Lab-led projects.
Their work was originally focused on the Mainland, adding the infrastructure – road, bridges, etc., and the landscaping, as noted in the official LDPW wiki page, although they actually do a lot more than this.
Notable major projects carried out by the Moles include:
Development of residential centres such as Nautilus City and Bay City and Bellisseria; development of the Lab’s various games accessible through the Portal Parks.
Involvement in special development projects for both Second Life (e.g. Bento, Animesh, EEP, PBR), and partnership developments (e.g. Zenescope and Motown Experience), that latter under the banner of Second Life Studios.
In keeping with their name, Moles were originally given a mole avatar, complete with hard hat. However, over the years, most have moved to having a more individual and personal look, although some say with their Mole look.
As well as being paid for the work they do, Moles also receive and allowance from the Lab, which is primarily intended to go towards the cost of uploads (texture, animations, mesh objects, etc)., but which can also be put towards developing their individual looks.
How to Become a Mole
Positions in the LDPW are open to application by residents who believe they are qualified to work in the team, and the team may also approach specific residents and ask if they would consider joining them.
Applications are made by dropping a résumé (note card or email) of qualifications / experience (including links SLurls, Flickr, You Tube, etc.) to Derrick Linden (derrick.linden-at-lindenlab.com) or to Patch Linden (patch.linden-at-lindenlab.com).
Applicants have to go through a former interview process.
Successful applicants get to pretty much choose their hours of work – providing agreed tasks are completed on time.
As they are from around the world, this can allow some projects to move forward on almost a round-the-clock basis.
Those who are more fully-rounded in skill sets – content creation, scripting, etc., – are encouraged to apply, but LL will also take on specialists.
Motivated, outgoing, communicative people with a passion for SL and willing to self-teach themselves new skill sets are particularly considered.
Planning for SL20B started during SL19B, commencing with a review of what worked / didn’t work at SL19B, and initial discussions on the 20th anniversary theme.
The initial planning process for the theme (/build aesthetic) and size of the event took around 3-4 months.
The size of the event means there are 321 exhibits – many of them interactive -, compared to 150 just five years ago. The increase in event space has meant some exhibit parcels (around 100) could be offered at 4096 sq m.
The focus for the last few SLB events has been not only to encourage people to share in the theme, but to present exhibits that reflect their passions / interests: art, music, community activities, etc.
SL20B is also the first SLB event to include the Adult community (also at the Shop and Hop as well). To achieve this, there was a lot of direct canvassing / encouraging of Adult communities to come and participate, rather than just leaving it to people to apply. As well as the Adult region exhibits, there have also been events hosted on them.
Discussions within the LDPW team are already in progress to discuss how the Adult presence can be grown in future SLB events, including the possibility of having an “official” event stage within the Adult regions.
Patch Linden:
Given it is the 20th anniversary, the decision was decided to refresh some of the “core” SLB builds (such as the Tapestry of Time) and also the Shop and Hop regions to be more in keeping with the event theme and also to offer fresher designs for future events.
The New Shop and Hop region design will be retained and “themed up” for future events.
Dreaming Mole:
The concept of the Welcome Area was to present a setting which reflects both the theme of the event and suggests important factors for the future – sustainability, etc., whilst also acting as a natural information hub and viewing area.
The landing point was placed so that people would see the structure before them and be encouraged to walk towards it, along the Community Gallery Walkway.
The overall inspiration for the build was modern architecture and the work of architects such as Oscar Niemeyer.
Senra is the brand name giving to the upcoming new Bento / Bakes on Mesh complaint starter / new avatar series specifically developed via the Moles as a Lab project, and which were initially previewed at SL19B in 2022.
Come with a complete set of accessories: hair, skins, clothing, attachments, shoes, etc. All of which will be presented as a full library of content within the viewer (as a part of the overall Library).
The first phase of the release will feature two human avatars + accessories, etc., referred to as Jamie (female) and Blake (male).
The second phase of work has already started and will include anthro, allowing Senra to cross over into “other areas.”
The launch is provisionally targeting middle-to-late-July.
Prior to the launch, effort will be made to get the developer’s kit (devkit – covering clothing, accessories, skins, etc.) and licensing agreement made available to SL content creators who wish to develop content and sell it into the Senra ecosystem.
Screen caps of the Senra Jamie and Blake avatars. Note: as these are screen caps (as I was unable to be in-world for the session), noassumption as to the overall quality / looks of the Senra avatars should be assumed on the basis of these images
Initially grew out of a need to have somewhere to demo the Liden Home themes and styles for those wishing to “try before they buy” a Premium / Premium Plus account.
The grew into an idea to also provide further information on Bellisseria and from there grew into a complete Welcome Hub for new users.
However, the primary focus is to provide information on Bellisseria for existing resident and give insight into Premium Subscriptions via an in-world means.
BelliHub: Linden Homes demo area at the BelliHub
As they were in development at the same time, some of the work put into the BelliHub Welcome Area was used to inform the design within the the Welcome Centre at the new Welcome Hub.
The Welcome Hub with its nine regions is designed to provide a more complete experience for incoming new users, which in part came off the back of the fact that many people coming into SL will go through the older Welcome and Social islands and think that that was all there is to SL, and leave.
So the Hub is intended to both introduce new users to both the viewer and using an avatar and to encourage them to understand there is much more to discover about Second Life and the events and activities which take place in SL, while at the same time not locking them into a specific path or hierarchy of things they have to go through in order to better understand SL.
The above is very much assisted through the presence of mentors and the video and general info boards they can opt to use or skip over, depending on their knowledge and abilities.
The only really “key lessons” within the Welcome Centre of the Hub are moving, talking, and interacting with objects. The rest is intentionally free-form.
[Video: 50:23-51:00] The overall design of the Welcome Hub is intended to be modular in that options, features, areas, can be swapped in / out with others, and the overdesign expanded, etc., as required.
A question was asked about refreshing Mainland terrain textures. There is an off-shot of the current PBR Materials project to allow such materials to be applied to SL, and – with noted caution about ensuring consistency of appearance, etc., – this will include Mainland. Details of the PBT project and the terrain project can be found in my CCUG summaries; also see this official sneak peek. Image credit: Linden Lab
Who is Magellan Linden?
Magellan Linden is The Great Explorer of Second Life (who was once said to have vanished during his explorations, but does pop-up from time-to-time) is a construct, rather than an individual, but as revealed in the session, Abnor Mole loans his voice to Magellan!
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 