Category: News-Opinion

LL launches Event region product + some thoughts

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

Update, June 23rd, 2022: Linden Lab has officially announced updates to the Event region product(s). Please refer to Event Regions: New Pricing and Offerings – Linden Lab and Lab announces updated Event and Event Elite Regions + pricing – this blog.

Update, June 20th, 2022: Speaking at his Meet the Lindens session at SL19B, Patch Linden, VP of Land Operations, indicated that the fee for Event regions will remain at US $599 a month & no set-up fee. Summary notes with link to the video available here. However, the comments and thoughts originally offered towards the end of this piece remain unchanged, as they are historically relevant.

The number of avatars a region can support has often been a headache for those wishing to hold large-scale events – and something the Lab has long been aware of itself. Traditionally, to host a reasonably large number of avatars at a single event in comfort (e.g. 75+), it has often been necessarily to have two or four regions, with the stage space effectively straddling them.

However, during recent months, the Lab has been testing a new region type, capable of supporting relatively large numbers of avatars. This testing has included providing the new region product to a number of events in Second Life that have high numbers of avatars passing through them.

Most recently, when speaking at the VWBPE 2022¹, event, Patch Linden indicated that the new region type – called Event regions – were definitely on the product development roadmap.

On Monday, May 2nd, the Lab officially launched the Event region type via an official blog post, stating:

Have you ever dreamed of being able to hold large scale events in Second Life? Have you ever wished you could keep the lag monster at bay during large events? Perhaps you just want your scripts to all go vroom?  Well wonder, wait and wish no more! Sporting the latest upgrades in grid technologies that have been enabled by our migration to the cloud, these regions have been tested running large events in real-world scenarios such as those really big monthly shopping events, and live performances! Our tests saw nearly 200 avatars successfully able to shop and party in these regions.

– from Linden Lab

The post lists the capabilities / options that come with the new Event region product as:

  • A maximum avatar limit of 175 per Event region.
  • Up to 30,000 land impact.
    • While this region type will support up to 30,000 Land Impact, during testing, LL identified a few cases where exceeding 20,000 Land Impact will degrade performance with a large number of concurrent visitors.
  • Extended chat ranges upon request, allowing chat to travel further across the region.
  • RaaS: Rollbacks as a Service – Request to restore your region to a previous state as needed – some restrictions apply.
  • IaaS: Instancing as a Service – Request to have your region duplicated to another region.
  • White glove Concierge service.
  • Over 20% Improved script performance.

These new regions can be ordered by submitting  a support ticket.

Pricing for these region types is somewhat surprising:

  • From now until June 6th, 2022, Event regions will be available at US $599 per month, with no set-up fee.
  • After June 6th, 2022, the fee will be:
    • US $999 for the first month (including a $100 set-up fee, which is slightly less than that for a Full region’s $120).
    • US $899 per month after the first 30 days.

I say “surprising” because while the initial “offer price” of US $599 does not sound entirely unreasonable given the added capabilities / support options, the $899 month tier most certainly does. Certainly, in terms of events, this latter price-point will likely place the cost of these regions well outside the budget of many events they might otherwise be well suited towards handling (e.g. a one-off weekend concert, for example).

Conversely, the US $599 price point, whilst high, is a lot more comfortable than US $899, and could encourage more widespread adoption of the new product across a range of potential uses over a much longer period of time among users (corporate partners, obviously, may not find the pricing an issue, if it  encompasses them).

Even so, and in terms of pure events, I would have thought something along the lines of a pro-rata system based on the proposed length of use might have been more all-encompassing.

And turning to the capabilities and options offered with the new Event region product, there is one element in the bullet list that could do with further exposition: “Instancing as a Service” – as I enquired on the forum thread related to the announcement:

  • Does this genuinely mean simultaneous instancing, on an on-demand basis (e.g. I can simply request another instance of my event to be spun-up based on the demand I’m seeing  –  and request it is taken down when demand drops below the level where it is no longer required)?.
  • Is it limited to just the one instance (as the wording perhaps implies), or multiple instances?
  • Is instancing covered by the “original” region’s tier, or is a surcharge applicable? If so, how much?

Those with a similar interest in this aspect of the product should keep an eye on the thread for any official response.

In the meantime, complete information on the launch can be found in the official blog post.

Footnotes

  1. Patch’s comments can be heard in the What’s Up at the Lab VWBPE video:

Linden Lab adds CMO + CISO roles “to support rapid growth”

Posted on by Inara Pey
Courtesy of Linden Lab

On Monday, May 2nd, 2022, Linden Lab announced it has added two new leadership roles: those of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) – the first time that either role has been embodied within the company.

Interestingly, the news came not from the Lab (at the time of writing, the press release had yet to be officially posted) but via prnewswire.com. Both roles will embrace Second Life and Tilia, the Lab’s virtual economy payment processing platform.

Both roles will span across Linden’s full portfolio of businesses to support growth driven by the rapidly expanding consumer interest in metaverses and the technology platforms necessary to support them as well as other virtual worlds and marketplaces.

– Linden Research Inc.

Steven Feuling – Linden Lab’s new CMO

Taking on the role of CMO is Steven Feuling, a 30-year marketing veteran and former CEO. He has worked with and for some of the world’s best known brands including Microsoft, Bloomberg LLC, The Walt Disney Company, 20th Century Fox, E*Trade and General Motors, as well as several successful start-ups.

Having held senior roles with clients, agencies and media partners, most recently as President of MDC Partners’ Assembly, he offers a unique perspective to support both Second Life and Tilia. In his role as CMO, Feuling will oversee all marketing and communications efforts across the Lab’s portfolio.

Peter Capraro, joining the Lab as the new CISO, has spent nearly half of his career focused on financial services cybersecurity. Most recently, he was the deputy CISO at fintech start-up, Akoya, a spin-off from Fidelity Investments, and held security roles at Bank of America for 10 years.

Capraro’s wealth of experience within the cyber security space is seen as “instrumental” to the Lab’s information security and compliance initiatives, which span both Tilia and Second Life. In his role as CISO, he will serve as the strategic leader responsible for maintaining a corporate-wide information security programme to protect information assets, and ensure security for the company and it users.

Steven and Peter are filling critical roles for Linden Lab, as the virtual world landscape takes front stage again. Each of their respective expertise at both successful start-ups and world-renowned companies will have a tremendous impact on our leadership teams for both Second Life and Tilia.

– Brad Oberwager, Executive Chairman of Linden Research Inc

With thanks to Cube Republic for the link.

Second Life University: Land & Group Basics Class – Notice

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

As has been recently announced, Linden Lab has formulated the Second Life University, a programme to assist those who may be new to Second Life, and / or are finding it hard to get to grips with a range of aspects of using the viewer and Second Life as a whole.

The idea is to bring together information, tutorials and videos that are of benefit to both new and existing users together, making sure it is both up-to-date and gathered within one place for ease of reference.

This is clearly a major piece of work – particularly making sure all the information can be referenced from a single place (which we have yet to be notified about), which is an important aspect of the work given the range of resources it is designed to bring together. However, in the interim the Lab is pushing ahead with a new series of video livestreams of their own.

The first of these was streamed on Thursday, April 7th, and covered Viewer Basics.

Izzy Linden with be presenting the second in the Lab’s Second Life University video series

The next in the series will be streamed at 12:00 noon SLT on Thursday, April 28th, and will feature Land Product Specialist Izzy Linden, who will be talking Land and Group basics.

The aim is to walk people through a “best practices” approach to the basics of basics of land and group related activities / options in the viewer, offering a mix of tutorial and Q&A session. As such, it is something that may well prove to be a hand resource for rental estate owners to have as something they have point to help their renters (particularly those new to the whole idea of land rental in SL) in addition to the information they might supply to renters.

The livestream can be watched directly on You Tube, or below, depending on your preference.

Linden Lab announces the “Second Life University”

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

Encouraging and supporting new users in order to grow the active Second Life user base has been specified as a key goal for the Lab for the past 15-18 months.

Some of this work has already been seen with a further iteration of the Welcome Islands (see: Poking at the new Welcome Islands), with it being indicated that more is to come, together with an overhaul of the entire new user experience and the starter avatar system.

On Wednesday, April 6th, the Lab announced a further programme to assist those who may be new to Second Life, and / or are finding it hard to get to grips with a range of aspects of using the viewer and the platform, which they are calling the Second Life University.

Welcome to Second Life University, a new project that aims to teach people all about the vast virtual world of Second Life! 
There are many videos and tutorials out there for Second Life already, including Second Life Tutorials on our YouTube channel as well as those created by our Residents, — and we’d like to consolidate information in one place as well as ensure that all content is up-to-date. We will begin with topics that are particularly relevant for newer users. This is a huge project that will take time, and we’re excited to work on and collaborate with the community to make it easily understandable and fun.

– From the official blog post

To start things off, the Lab will be hosting a livestream event, Viewer Basics, which will stream on You Tube on Thursday, April 7th, 2022 from 14:00 SLT, with the Lab further noting:

After the livestream, we’ll be  posting general notes on topics covered in the video here in text format, too. You can also get written information and assistance from our Knowledge Base and the Community Forums.

Given that trying to locate up-to-date information is often a cause for grumbling, even among established users, this sounds like a worthwhile goal, and I applaud the Lab from attempting to tackle it. However, I do so with one plea: as the idea is to gather all such information “in one place” – then please make sure it is a centralised, easy-to-find resource that is both decently indexed / categorised and properly searchable in its own right, rather than simply lumping /burying it with other options.

LL issues a statement on Ukraine & assistance to Ukrainian SL users

Posted on by Inara Pey

We are all aware of the unwarranted and unnecessary attacks on the peoples of Ukraine that have been unfolding over the past week, and which have been the subject of condemnation that has been almost world-wide in its reach – including from within Russia itself, as the people there, also at no small risk to themselves, have taken to the streets in protest over the actions taken by their nation’s leadership.

With the increasing humanitarian crisis of dispossessed families fleeing the country increasing daily, together with the worsening state of affairs on the whole within Ukraine, on Friday, March 4th, Linden Lab issued a statement to the users of Second Life outlining the steps the company is taking to provide practical support to those in Ukraine and to help those in Russia who are opposed to their government’s actions – and which also includes some measure of assistance to SL’s Ukrainian community.

The statement reads in full:

Linden Lab strives to make positive change in the world by helping people connect, discover themselves, and grow both personally and financially. Ultimately, we build and support communities. Therefore, it is especially shocking to see the actions in Ukraine, to see the unwarranted attacks on people – on communities. We are heartbroken and horrified by the situation in Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis it has perpetuated. We are a proudly diverse team, and many of us have ties to these events – historically, emotionally, professionally, and socially. Our products reach worldwide, and many of our partners and customers are directly affected by this crisis. 
As a leadership team, this crisis has challenged us to better define and embrace what we believe to be the core principles at Linden Lab – our TAO so to speak.
Specifically, our TAO says:
MAKE CHANGE ON A GLOBAL SCALE
Our work brings people together, builds communities. Our work helps people understand who they are, helps them be better. Our work brings empathy, helps people see the world through others’ eyes. Settle for nothing less than changing the world for the better.
We intend to live up to this principle, and while there is much work to be done, we are starting with: 
Effective Monday [March 7th, 2022], we will be further supporting our eligible Ukrainian-based community members by granting them a temporary 30-day moratorium on recurring account fees such as Premium Membership and Land Maintenance fees.  We will review this again after 30 days and assess what we can do as next steps where necessary. We invite any of our Ukraine-based community members to contact support with any specific questions they may have.
Finally, we encourage our community to look at ways that they can help show their support. It is heartening to see the Second Life community come together to support each other with numerous in-world events and helpful initiatives that bring us together as a force for good in both the physical and virtual worlds.

.

Second Life “in-depth” Community Pages announced

Posted on by Inara Pey

On Tuesday, March 1st, Linden Lab announced a new initiative to help promote communities active in Second Life through a new web-based resource, “in-depth” Community Pages designed to be “living projects” and intended to “be extensive resources by and for each community”.

To mark the announcement, the Lab has launched the first such page – Black Culture in Second Life – which launches just as Black History Month in the United States draws to a close.

The importance of community simply can’t be understated, and in Second Life, it’s invaluable. Think of how many different groups of people you interact with each day — what if you had a go-to comprehensive page that illustrates various aspects of each community in Second Life?
We’re excited to announce our new initiative! We’ve begun building in-depth community pages that will live directly on the Second Life website. Each of these pages will celebrate Residents in all different communities, and showcase the meaningful experiences that strengthen the social fabric of Second Life. This will include stories, quotes, photos, videos, and more — all directly from Second Life Residents.

– from the official announcement about the new community pages

The post goes on to note that those participating in such community pages should “keep an eye out for announcements on specific community pages, as there will be a (Google form) open to the public for each of them”. However, the post also cautions that not all submissions may necessarily be included within any given page.

 

The Black Culture in Second Life “In Depth” Community Page – click to view

It’s not clear exactly how visible these pages will be. They are clearly designed to be accessible to the world at large, but while the parent URL for the Black Culture page is secondlife.com/community/, there is no actual link from that page to the Black Culture page, as the direct URL given above is currently required.

Hopefully, this will be addressed as these pages grow, and a meaningful means of perusing / filtering the pages will be provided; two of the reasons Place Pages (arguably the last initiative similar in nature to this) didn’t take on were that a), the places.secondlife.com parent domain was never really folded into the rest of the SL web properties such as to make navigating to it easy without lodging the URL firmly between your ears; b) there was no convenient way to peruse / filter available places other than Search – which was far from handy.

You can read the complete blog post announcing the pages right here.