Category: SLB

Celebrations to mark the eleventh anniversary of SL opening its gates to the world will take place between Sunday June 22nd and Sunday June 29th, 2014.

And now applications are open for you to be a part of the magic.

The theme for this year’s celebrations is a quote from a speech Sir Winston Churchill gave in 1943, “The empires of the future are the empires of the mind”.

‘The Sims Lie Empty’, SL10BCC, 2013

Right now, we stand at something of a new awakening for Second Life. There is an air of freshness and promise as the Lab once more reaches out – genuinely reaches out – to re-engage with all of the rich diversity of communities which make-up Second Life. We are also seeing a resurgence of interest in the whole concept of virtual worlds and their potential, partially as a result of emerging technologies, but also because people are once again willing to make their case for using virtual worlds, be it for education or research or medicine or entertainment.

Yes, there are still challenges and hurdles to overcome – and we’d be very foolish to link the future of SL and virtual environments to a single element of technology (or even a subset of technology), because the human mind is so much more creative than we can ever, at any single point, define, while technologies come and go.

And that is what this year’s theme is about: the sheer creativeness and inventiveness of the human mind. It’s already given us this incredibly diverse virtual world, a true melting-pot of ideas, imaginings, creative ideas and artistic expression. Now is the time to mark and celebrate all of this rich diversity, our digital home, created pure from the empires of our minds – and for those who dare, to look ahead to what may yet come to be as we continue to push at the very frontiers of imagination, creativity and the mind.

Whether you want to express what Second Life means to you, or whether you want to take a look down the road at what might yet come to pass – or what you’d perhaps like to see SL become – you can now apply for exhibition space on one of the SL11B Community Celebration regions and share your vision with others. Of course, there are guidelines all exhibitors should be aware of when applying to be a part of the celebrations, but now is the time to get thinking about how you can best reflect this year’s theme.

And that’s not all, the event team are still seeking applications from Performers, Volunteers and speakers and performers  in the Auditorium.

Do note, however, that all applications should be submitted no later than Tuesday May 20th.

Given this year’s theme does encompass the opportunity to look to the future of virtual worlds, I’ll leave you (again, given it is one of my favourite video shorts!) an imagining of virtual environment as seen by Bruce Branit.

Related Links

• SL11B Community Celebration blog
• SL11B CC on Twitter
• SL11B on Facebook
• SL11B on Flickr
• My SL10BCC coverage (2013)
• All SLB coverage in this blog

Since my initial post on the SL11B Community Celebration announcement, the original SL11BCC post has been expanded to include links to the various application forms.

Currently, the organisers are seeking applications from Performers, Volunteers and speakers and performers  in the Auditorium. All applications should be submitted no later than Tuesday May 20th.

If you wish to be an exhibitor at the SL11 Community Event, please note that applications will open on Sunday April 27th.

Related Links

• SL11B Community Celebration blog
• SL11B CC on Twitter
• SL11B on Facebook
• SL11B on Flickr
• My SL10BCC coverage (2013)
• All SLB coverage in this blog

So the celebrations of SL’s 10th have come and gone and once again it’s time to cast a final personal look back at the event, as is my habit. Well, actually, it’s an overdue look back, considering I had intended to get this piece out a week ago; but as the famous saying goes, In proving foresight may be vain: The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ Peys Gang aft agley, or so Robbie Burns wrote. Honest.

SL birthday events tend to be a fair mix of the good, the bad and – it has to be said, I’m afraid – the downright ugly. The builds are many and varied, the entertainment generally rich and diverse, the regions expansive and seemingly never-ending, the crowds numerous and, as a result and despite the best efforts of the Lab and the organising team, the lag ever-present and waiting to mug you at almost every turn.

All of this is to be expected enjoyed and, in the case of lag, countered. In this latter regard, kudos to the organisers for not only providing people with clear and concise instructions on limiting the impact of lag on their experience, but also for provide a set of “low-lag” and retrospective freebie avatars to adopt if one wished. Ah, Ruthie and friends, how we’ve missed you! I admit, I didn’t use any of the supplied avatars although I did wander around as a Primitar for the part of one visit.

There was much to be admired and enjoyed this year; so much so, that my own reports only really scratched the surface of things as I explored the regions. If your own piece didn’t appear in my updates, my apologies. It doesn’t necessarily mean I didn’t like it – rather that time was frequently against me and I didn’t actually get to see everything.

This year’s celebration installations were especially good. I’ve already waxed lyrical in these pages about Flea and Today’s magnificent A’stra main / live stage, and will resist the temptation to do so again because, quite frankly, all of the stages were magnificent. I loved the echoes of SL9B’s lake stage within Kazuhiro Aridian’s mesh lake stage, which was simply awesome and brought something of a new meaning to getting high on magic mushrooms, with people dancing up in the air and over the water on the huge mushroom cups…

Marianne McCann’s History Walk was simply stunning, offering many of us who have been involved in SL for a good while a trip down memory lane, and was another part of the celebrations I found myself returning to on a number of occasions.

The theme for this year’s event was Looking forward, looking back, the idea being for people to look back at the last 10 years of SL’s history, or to look ahead to what the future might bring – or both. One of my personal criteria in exploring the regions was to seek out exhibits which reflected all or some of the theme and presented it in a unique or fun or immersive or personal way. I also kept an eye out for exhibits which, while not obviously reflecting the theme, offered an eye-catching, fresh and clever insight into Second Life or the community / persons behind the exhibit.

And it is here that I had my first feelings of disappointment. Walking through the SL10BCC regions I found myself coming across exhibits which I’d more-or-less seen before at SL9B and / or at SL8B and in several cases even as far back as SL7B. Some made little attempt at redressing themselves. Others had a thin veil of “retrospective” painted across them which, for me, did little to hide the fact that they were retreads.

Continue reading “SL10BCC: Now the party is over – a personal look back” →

Yes, the celebrations are at an end. The regions will be closing their doors on Saturday June 29th, and will forever vanish shortly thereafter.

That leaves but one question to ask: was it good for you?

To help understand where the team got things right or wrong, or where things might be improved, everyone who participated in or visited this year’s SL10BCC celebration is invited to provide feedback.  Please take a couple of minutes to complete the form below and let the organisers know your thoughts. It won’t be possible to respond to every comment received, but do feel free to leave your email. Rest assured, however, that every comment received will be read.

As a part of the SL10B celebrations, the Lab offered a line of limited offer gifts to residents through in-world vending machines: varsity jackets, teddy bears, furnished homes, etc. These were offered on a time limited as well as a limited number basis.

However – if you missed any of them, you can in fact still claim them from any of the vendors scattered around the SL10BCC regions (and possibly elsewhere, if there are any). Simply find a vendor and click on its right side to scroll through all of the available gifts. Any you haven’t already got will be automatically offered to you, which you can accept or reject.

The list of gifts comprises (as far as I can tell – the order from the vendors is random:

• SL10B Women’s Varsity jacket
• SL10B Women’s Varsity jacket with t-shirt
• SL10B Men’s Varsity jacket
• SL10B Men’s Varsity jacket with t-shirt
• SL10B Jumbo Cupcake
• SL10B bear avatar (also available on the SL Marketplace)
• SL10B Teddy Male
• SL10B Teddy Boy
• SL10B Teddy Girl
• SL10B Teddy Female
• SL10B Teddy Baby
• SL10B Hold Teddy Male
• SL10B Hold Teddy Girl
• SL10B Hold Teddy Boy
• SL10B Hold Teddy Female
• SL10B Teddy with Bottle
• SL10B rare fireworks (also available on the SL Marketplace)
• SL10B Furnished House

All offers end at 23:59 LST on the 30th June (although the SL10BCC regions close before then). Vendors themselves can be found at places like SL10B Pizzazz and SL10B Enchant, and may well be available elsewhere on the grid – I confess, I’ve not looked.

In addition, the SL10B t-shirts in both mesh and clothing layer forms, the mesh baseball cap and SL10B party pack remain available on the SL Marketplace for those who missed them.