Category: Events

Burn2 Winter Burn 2019 announced

Posted on by Inara Pey

The BURN2 team have announced the dates and theme for the BURN2 Winter Burn event – and with them comes an invitation for people to get involved.

Winter Burn this year will take place on the weekend of Friday, January 25th through Sunday January 27th, 2019, and takes the theme, Seasonal Perceptions.

Perception – the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.

This is particularly important as we move through the seasons, especially the holidays. However, our perceptions are affected by our environment, the things and people around us; even the weather! At this time of year, one person might be shovelling the snow off his driveway while another might spend the day surfing the waves off the coast of Australia.

But it is also influenced by our imaginations. Michael Whelan, a world-renowned artist, once did a painting of his young daughter who loved playing in the sandbox. What he did differently is depict his daughter wearing a spacesuit and playing in a lunar sandbox.

Our perceptions are a driving force in how we interact with the world around us. But imagination is also a strong influencer. Given all that, how would you perceive the seasons? Would you reflect the environment around you or imagine something completely off the wall and different? Show us your “Seasonal Perceptions!”

– Burn2 press release

Those wishing to participate in the event can do so in a number of ways.

  • Builders: can participate by building individually (with an invitation to be a part of a Ten Principles Hunt), or by being part of a collaborative team of up to six people to create an art installation. Builders are invited to apply via the Seasonal Perceptions Builder sign-up form.
  • Performers: are invited to use the main stage or, if a performance troupe with a stage set, space provided near the main stage. A sign-up form will be made available via the Burn2 website soon, and in the meantime, interest in being a performer can be passed in-world to Cuga Rajal.
  • Fashionistas: are invited to bring their style and skill to Seasonal Perceptions. see the Be A Fashionista! Burn2 page, and contact Vickie Maidstone in world,

General questions concerning the event should be addressed in-world to Event Lead Cuga Rajal.

About BURN2

BURN2 is an extension of the Burning Man festival and community into the world of Second Life. It is an officially sanctioned Burning Man regional event, and the only virtual world event out of more than 100 real world Regional groups and the only regional event allowed to burn the man.

The BURN2 Team operates events year around, culminating in an annual major festival of community, art and fire in the fall – a virtual echo of Burning Man itself.

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Of ringworlds, time and field agents

Posted on by Inara Pey
Seanchai Library

It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.

Monday, January 7th 19:00: Ringworld

Gyro Muggins opens the covers of the first in Larry Niven’s science fiction series focused on a gigantic artificial ring, the Ringworld, built around a distant star at a distance roughly equivalent to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun.  About 1.6 million km wide, it rotates to provide a gravity on its inner surface roughly equivalent to that of Earth and has an atmosphere suitable for humans. It was built by a race known as the Puppeteers, who have been working to affect both humans and the cat-like, warrior Kzin.

Regarded as a classic, Niven’s novel (and later series) is also curiously contradictory. On the one hand, it is focused on exact science of advanced technologies, but on the other it engages in bizarrely pseudo-scientific fantasy conceptions.

The series sits within Niven’s broader Known Space series, the fictional setting of about a dozen novels and several collections of short stories, and which encompasses his Man-Kzin wars series. In addition, the idea of the ringworld found within the series is regarded as the inspiration for the Halo series of video games, and there are multiple similarities between the two.

Tuesday, January 8th 19:00: The Time Keeper

The inventor of the world’s first clock is punished for trying to measure God’s greatest gift. He is banished to a cave for centuries and forced to listen to the voices of all who come after him seeking more days, more years.

Eventually, with his soul nearly broken, Father Time is granted his freedom, along with a magical hourglass and a mission: a chance to redeem himself by teaching two earthly people the true meaning of time.

He returns to our world – now dominated by the hour-counting he so innocently began – and commences a journey with two unlikely partners: one a teenage girl who is about to give up on life, the other a wealthy old businessman who wants to live forever. To save himself, Father Time must save them both. And stop the world to do so.

Join Caledonia Skytower and Kayden OConnell as they read Mitch Albom’s 2012 novel.

Wednesday, January 9th 19:00: The Jennifer Morgue

Corwyn Allen reads the second volume in the Laundry Files by Charles Stross.

Bob Howard is an IT expert and occasional field agent for the Laundry, the branch of Her Majesty’s Secret Service that deals with occult threats. In this second outing, Bob Howard finds himself dragged into the machinations and conspiracies of megalomaniac multi-billionaire Ellis Billington, The Black Chamber and The Laundry…

Dressed in a tuxedo (what else for a globe-trotting British Secret Agent?) and sent to the Caribbean, Bob must infiltrate Billington’s inner circle via his luxurious yacht. His mission? Prevent the Billington from violating a treaty that will bring down the wrath of an ancient underwater race upon humanity’s head.

Offering a wonderful pastiche on both the world of James Bond and a wonderful mimicking of Ian Fleming’s style of writing, Stross produces a novel that also evokes Lovecraftian overtones that is delightfully entertaining to read. In true Bond style, Bob is (reluctantly) partnered with an American agent – in this case a stunningly beautiful woman who also just happens to be a soul-sucking succubus from another dimension. Which, being the case, marks Bob’s mission somewhat differently to those of Bond: not only must he stop the bad guys and come through this at best shaken, he must totally avoid being stirred towards getting the girl…

Thursday, January 10th

19:00: Moana Part 1

With Shandon Loring & Caledonia Skytower. Also in Kitely grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI.

21:00: Seanchai Late Night

Contemporary science fiction and fantasy with Finn Zeddmore.

Future Shock: the machinima continues

Posted on by Inara Pey
Future Shock: sci-fi machinima

I first wrote about Future Shock, an ambitious Second Life Machinima series produced by Pryda Parx, in September 2016, when the first part in the series was released, and then revisited the project at the start of 2017, once the entire first season was available on You Tube.

In August 2017, a special “Director’s Cut” version of the first season was released, bringing all eight parts (plus the initial trailer / introduction)  together into a single 32-minute film which included previously unreleased footage, even as Pryda was working on the second season of 9 episodes. The new series was released over a period of several months in 2018, although sadly, the scheduling of things (coupled with other matters) prevented me for covering them at the time.

However, on December 27th, 2018, Pryda released another Director’s Cut, which brings all eight parts of this second season together into a single 23.5 minute film, which as with the first series version, includes previously unreleased footage. So this seems a good time to catch-up on the series, with apologies to Pryda for only now getting to it.

In short, Future Shock is a story of a somewhat dystopian / semi-cyberpunkish world where technology infiltrates every part of people’s lives, watching over them, seemingly providing both a protective blanket and providing various means personal gratification and escapism through the intertwining of their physical and virtual lives. But all is not as it seems. Rather than guiding / guarding / assisting, technology has come to dominate, defining everyone in terms of their net worth, or IP Credit (draw your own conclusions from the use of “IP”). So long as this remains positive, a person has little to fear – not even death; technology allows them to augment / redefine / rebuild their own bodies to suit their desires. But should a person’s net worth zero-out or enter a negative value, then things can become uncomfortable, and survival less-than-certain, with those in debt clinically  – if harshly – dealt with; as is also the case for those perceived to be a threat.

Tracy Grayling: protagonist – but innocent, or self-obsessed mole / agent?

Thus, this is a world of questionable moral and ethical values. people’s lives are determined by what is effectively a line on a balance sheet, while the people themselves are driven by baser instincts: greed, desire, avarice, envy, determined to raise their credit value, wanting to make themselves better physically than their peers through surgery / augmentation, or to be able to have sufficient value to escape into the virtual realm – a place reached not in the home, but within life support centres, the body fed and cared for while the mind escapes – and the all-important credit balance ticks down minute by minute.

Life in this world is very much factionalised; not everyone may approve of the way technology is all-pervading, or the way in which humanity has come to rely so wholly on it. Others simply seek to exist not caring for anything more than the next opportunity to become immersed in the virtual, while some seek to improve themselves, whilst also seeking a means for self-expression.

What made the first series engaging was both the visual style used throughout: the physical world is a dark, cold monochrome place for the most part, where colours are minimally used – blue to highlight technology, for example; red as a negative. Conversely, the virtual realm is a place vibrantly alive with colour and imagination, warm and inviting and far removed from the physical. Also, the storytelling is richly layered. This opening drops us into the middle of things, roughly 19-20 years hence. We’re quickly introduced to a number of the core elements – particularly the idea that humans are regarded as little more than constituent parts of the whole, to be recycled as required, plus the main protagonist for the story, Tracy Grayling, but the overall context can only be understood and the pieces fitted together by watching all the segments in turn – and at times returning to a previous segment in order to gain further insight.

Being in sufficient credit means you can afford exotic changes to your body – such as wings. But there is still the mystery / threat / salvation hidden within the Dark Grid …

This approach is continued through the nine episodes of the second season, which adds a further layering, in that the series records the events of the first, but from the perspective of another group of characters, the “rebels”. Slightly shorter in length overall than the first season segments, the second series also lifts the production values seen within the production. In this, Pryda made no bones about the fact that in filming the first series of Future Shock, she was also going through a learning curve in terms of machinima production – and the second season shows that she has learnt a lot, and has a very definite approach to style, nuance and overall production.

Future Shock is an engaging series, one that tells both a story and raises questions about the future and our increasing reliance on technology and what it may mean for personal freedoms – including the freedom of expression. These questions have perhaps become more salient over the course of the two years in which Pryda has been working on the series; as such it is worth viewing from this perspective as well. For those who wish to see more, Pryda has also produced a series of short pieces providing insight into the principal characters. However, I would recommend only watching these after seeing the entire series; they contain significant spoilers!

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Bay City 2018 New Year prim drop in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Bay City Prim Drop 2018

Monday, December 31st 2018 will once again see Bay City celebrate the turning of the year with their annual Prim Drop festivities.

The event will open at 23:30 SLT at the Bay City Fairgrounds in North Channel. The theme for the event is a wintertime soirée; black tie attire is recommended, and all SL residents are invited to attend. Marianne McCann will be providing the music and fireworks, and food and drink will be provided.

This will also be the final opportunity in 2018 to donate to Child’s Play Charity,  a US 501c3 non-profit organisation which helps seriously ill children around the globe during their hospital stays with the purchase of games and gaming equipment. So even if you can’t make it to the event itself, do please consider taking a couple of minutes out of your SL day and stopping by the Bay City Fairgrounds and making a donation via one of the collection bins there.

Bay City: Prim Drop 2018

About Bay City and the Bay City Alliance

Bay City is a mainland community, developed by Linden Lab® and home to the Bay City Alliance. The Bay City Alliance was founded in 2008 to promote the Bay City regions of Second Life and provide a venue for Bay City Residents and other interested parties to socialize and network. It is now the largest group for Residents of Bay City.

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RFL of SL: an important update and KNH Hope Hostel news

Posted on by Inara Pey
via RFL of SL

In mid-December, I offered an update on Relay For Life of Second Life, which included news on the KNH Hope Hostel, and the slightly less positive news that it appeared as if Stingray Raymaker, so long the guiding force of RFL in Second Life and the conduit Second Life and the American Cancer Society (ACS), had departed the organisation.

Well, as it turns out, there is more news on both – and the news is very positive.

Stingray had broken the news of his (then) impending departure from ACS at the end of November, emphasising that while it was due to occur on December 7th, he was confident that ACS’s work in Second Life would continue.

Well – the work will continue – and with Stingray still very much actively involved, having accepted a new position with ACS, as he notes himself:

As you all probably know, my last day as Director, RFL Online Revenue was on December 7, 2018. I have continued to support our volunteers in Second Life during the past weeks while applying and interviewing for other jobs. For those who wish to keep up, I am proud to share with you that I have found a new job that I started Monday, December 17 and the best thing about this new job is that I get to continue working with you all in Second Life. In fact, Second Life is one of the most important priorities that I am responsible for now as the new Sr. Consultant, Virtual Community Development for the American Cancer Society.

The new position stands in recognition of the huge amount of support virtual world residents  – particularly those engaged in Second Life – have given to the American Cancer Society over the years, and came about as a result of ACS leaders meeting with members of the Second Life Relay community, allowing them to gain an even greater understanding of the potential offered by virtual environments.

This is actually very good news, and I’d like to extend my congratulations to Stingray on his new role.

More on the KNH Hope Hostel

As I’ve previously reported in these pages, the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) Hope Hostel is the flagship of a programme to expand the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge facilities world-wide. These provide free accommodations for cancer patients and their caregivers during treatment. More than a place to stay, a Hope Lodge can be an essential part of cancer care for many. In 2014, for example, over 44,000 cancer patients and caregivers stayed at a Hope Lodge in the United States, accumulating over 276,000 free nights of accommodation with access to a range of facilities such as a social centre, library, and laundry, all of which they otherwise might not have been able to afford.

Artist rendering of the Hope Hostel from the Kenyatta National Hospital website

As a part of the initiative, the 2018 RFL of SL Fantasy adopted the KNH Hope Hostel as the recipient of all funds raised.

The total cost to build the new hostel and operate it for two years has been put at US $2.8 million. Thanks to a goal effort by supporters of the American Cancer Society – including Second Life residents – all but US $300,000 has now been raised.

The incredible amounts of money raised by Relayers in Second Life, and their commitment to help us finish the job of funding the KNH Hope Hostel has been an inspiration to our Matching Sponsors. It has gone a long way to convincing them – and us! – that we can get to the finish line in 2019. 

Kristen Solt, ACS Managing Director of Global Alliances.

A plan is now being developed to rally support from Relay For Life teams in Second Life along with those in other virtual and digital communities, as well as in brick-and-mortar Relay For Life events to raise the remaining US $300,000. As well as participating in these efforts during the 2019 RFL of SL season, those who wish can donate directly to the KNH project. Note that all donations made through this page will be automatically matched by ACS Matching Sponsors.

There is a wonderful Kenyan proverb which states that sticks in a bundle are unbreakable. The kinds of partnerships that are emerging through this project – connecting communities across the world including those throughout the metaverse – are proof that when we work together there is nothing we can’t achieve.

Zander Greene, Fantasy Faire of Second Life Co-Captain

So, here’s wishing the ACS and the RFL teams all the very best for the 2019 season, and to seeing the ground broken and work started on the KNH Hope Hostel.

I’ll have more on the KNH Hope Hostel, and of course on the work of the RFL of SL team and fund-their raising throughout 2019.

With thanks to Zander Greene.

Lab issues 2018 snowball fight challenge

Posted on by Inara Pey
Credit: Danni Ravinelli, via Linden Lab

Coming slightly later this year is the Lab’s annual snowball fight challenge. The challenge was issued in a brief blog post with the invitation:

Come one – come all to the Snowball Arena for a friendly ice battle of epic proportions! This Snowball Showdown means you’re free to pelt your fellow Second Life Residents and Lindens with a bevy of sparkling snowballs! But the Lindens and your fellow Residents get to return fire with their own avalanche of snow-arsenal.

The event itself will take place between 11:00-13:00 SLT on Friday, December 21st at – where else? – the Snowball Arena in Winter Wonderland.

As with previous years, Winter Wonderland is a 5-region experience which, for those who haven’t visited, includes the 2-region snowball fight arena, a winter snow track for snowboard and snow mobile racing, a skating ring, a Ferris wheel, and spaces to walk. The best place to start explorations is the Village of Light, where the Lindens tend to place a seasonal gift.

Weapons can be obtained at the entrances to the Snowball Arena – walk through the Village of Light and climb the steps up into the hills behind the village. Snowball guns can be collected at the vendors around the Snowball Arena.

Collect your weapons at the vendors in the Snowball Arena. If you are Premium, you can use your Premium Member’s Token or HUD to claim the Premium-only Snow Zooka weapon (outlines in red on the HUD and in the vendor, above)

For those who are Premium members and who haven’t participated in the snowball fight before, don’t forget you can use your Premium Member’s Token or HUD you can claim additional Snow Zooka weapon. If you don’t have the Token HUD, you can can claim them by picking up the latest Premium gift, the Winter Cabin from any of the Premium Gift Kiosks. You can find out more about the Winter Cabin via the Lab’s gift blog post.

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