Category: News-Opinion

Indie pop musician showcases Second Life music video

Posted on by Inara Pey
Katie Dey (l) released Dancing, a track from her new album myData on June 24th, 2020, which uses a machinima recorded in Second Life, filmed by Devi McCallion (r)

Katie Dey, an Australian indie pop musician whose music covers the genres of experimental pop, psychedelia, and bedroom pop, is set to release her fourth album on July 24th.

Announced by Fader magazine, myData is described as:

An album-length exploration of a long-distance relationship that unravels into an epic about love, connection, and all the strange, unruly factors that surround those things, from capitalism to sex to internet servers. 

– Shaad D’Souza, writing in Fader

However, what is particularly interesting about the album is that the first track to be released from it on June 24th, 2020, and entitled Dancing, features a music video shot entirely in Second Life.

The video has been written and directed by another indie pop singer, songwriter and producer, Devi McCallion – perhaps most famous for her association with Black Dresses – with the assistance of Sofa (yogurt 200). Both the song – seen as something of a “striking new sound” for Dey – and the the video, are already garnering a positive response.

I’ve no idea if Katie Dey is a regular Second Life user, but she certainly appears familiar with some of the technical challenges in producing a video of this kind, commenting to D’Souza that:

This video was made entirely in Second Life, and I hope when people watch it they think about just how much work it would take to do that. If you’ve ever played that game you know how difficult it is to even control the camera, let alone create a whole world, with such incredible characters, such breathtaking cinematography.

Created remotely, across countries, in a pandemic, on a dying laptop, their lives in utter chaos, the world in chaos… I hope people cry about these beautiful characters, and then cry about the beautiful humans that put so much love and care into creating them. Anyway, the song is about dancing. Like, metaphysical dancing, I guess.

– Katie Dey to Shaad D’Souza for Fader

Video maker Devi McCallion, however, does appear to be something of a Second Life user. In May 2020 she hosted her own first-ever DJ set in-world, which can be seen on her You Tube channel, and some of her other videos contain elements that may have been filmed in-world as well.

I reached out to Brett Linden to enquire if Linden Lab were in any way involved in the video’s development – but it was apparently produced entirely independently.

I would love to say that we were involved, but we weren’t! It was completely organic and a pleasant surprise to us.

– Brett Linden, Senior Director, Marketing, Linden Lab

Catch the video below – my thanks to Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg for the pointer.

 

Summer Sailstice in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Summer Sailstice in Second Lfe

We’re used to hearing news about physical world events being cancelled – and some attempting to relocate to virtual spaces, including Second Life (see: Balticon 54: a real world sci-fi convention using Second Life, and MuseWeb: utilising Second Life in support of a global conference as two examples in these pages, for example).

One real-world event is still going ahead this year – one that can make fairly good use of social / physical distancing – is the annual Summer Sailstice, which marks its 20th anniversary in 2020. However, because the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic can sill have an impact on sailing in the physical world – particularly for crews who may not all be in the same household – a special partner event is also being held in Second Life.

Coordinated by Second Life resident and sailor in both the physical and virtual realms, Dale Irata, and involving the Second Life sailing community, under the banner of Sailors in Second Life, the in-world event has offered physical world sailors an open invitation to come in to Second Life and share a weekend’s sailing and events at marinas across the grid and within popular sailing areas such as North Sea and Blake Sea – and the Second Life sailing community can get involved as well.

The Sailstice Expo Centre

To help engage sailing enthusiasts from the physical world to both understand Second Life and potential get involved in the virtual event, a number of on-line resources have been made available over the last couple of months, including:

The core event  – as with the physical world one – takes place on Saturday, June 20th. However, supporting it in-world an in-world exhibition celebrating 15 years of sailing and boating in Second Life, featuring trade stands by some of the platform’s top marine designers and brands. Having opened on June 13th, the expo run through until Sunday, June 21st.

Folkboat racing: one of the many forms of sailing in Second Life

The events scheduled for Saturday, June 20th comprises (all times SLT):

Time Event
 Location
24-hours Camping event – rez your boat for free all weekend

Malolo Island Marina
05:00

Cruise

 Rainbow Sails Yacht Club
07:00

Cruise – More info

 Flying Manta Yacht Club
09:00 DJ Dance Party Flying Manta Yacht Club
10:00

Bandit 25R racing

 Triumphal Yacht Club
Corona Cup SRV210 motorboat racing Starboards Yacht Club
11:00 Nacra 17 Race Nantucket Yacht Club
Noon

Queen Tribute Concert and Second Sailstice Novice Regatta Kickoff Party

 North Sea (Merfolk TP)
Shields Class Racing Triumphal Yacht Club
13:00 Bandit race preparation time North Sea

Party at Wicked Good Beach

 Nantucket Yacht Club (Merfolk TP)
14:00 Second Sailstice Novice Regatta – see below for more North Sea
16:00

Second Sailstice Novice Regatta Afterparty

 North Sea
17:00 Sails and Tails Party (all sailors and merfolk invited) with DJ Night Nantucket Park (Merfolk TP)

Note also that all events are Merfolk friendly!

The Novice Regatta is especially for new SL sailors, and a free boat – the brand new Bandit 22 LTE – will be provided for eligible sailors! You won’t be on the course with folks who’ve been here before, so come out and have a really fun time! More details can be found in the SL Novice Regatta web page.

Follow the links above the event schedule for more information.

Name Changes: first set of last name “retirements” announced

Posted on by Inara Pey
© Linden Lab

Names Changes, launched in April 2020, as most user know, is the ability for Premium users to select a first name / last name combination that’s to their liking and use it as their avatar / account name.

Under the system, first names are free-form, whilst last names are selected from a list – as used to be the case when first name / last name combinations were a basic part of the Second life sign-up process through until mid-2010.

Since the introduction of this Premium option (which you can read about in Second Life: the return of last names, and some notes) users have been asking when and how frequently the list of last name will be updated.

Linden Lab have remained somewhat vague on this latter point, although they have noted that names are liable to swapped out on the basis of how popular / unpopular they prove to be. That is, if a name is so popular it reaches a certain level of use or fails to reach a certain level of use within a given time period defined by the Lab, they would be “retired”.

On Tuesday, June 16th, the Lab announced that some of the last names made available in the first batch made available at the time the capability was launched have been determined to fall with one or other of these two limits, and so will be “retired” from use as from Thursday, June 25th, 2020.

The names to be retired are:

Alpaca – Covfefe – Damballar – Float – Jazzhands – Mainsail – Nimble – Piggins – Plumday – Yeetly

Anyway wishing to make use of these names should now do so before the end of Wednesday, June 24th. Those who have already opted to  use any of these names will obviously retain them. I assume replacement names will be made available / announced either at the time these names are retired, or shortly thereafter.

You can read the official announcement in Last Call for These Last Names – Get ‘Em While You Can!

In terms of how popular the capability has been, the official blog post notes only that the response thus far has been “mostly positive”, although feedback at various meetings has suggested the response has been more poplar than the blog may suggest.

It’s Junebilation in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Junebilation

For many of us, the arrival of June bring with it the start of summer, and while we may not be able to get out and have the kind of summer fun we’re accustomed to, there are lots of opportunities in-world to get together and enjoy one another’s company.

In recognition of this, Vaneeesa Blaylock and her friends are co-ordinating a series of events every weekend in June. Unfortunately, so much was going on last weekend, I missed getting a notice out then, so hopefully this will help get the word out – and apologies to Vaneeesa for my tardiness.

Twisted Love – Saturday, June 13th, 10:00-13:00 SLT

Location: Good Life Creations Sandbox

A giant frame formed the word LOVE will be raised at the Good Life Creations Sandbox and everyone is invited to drop by and make a twisted prim to add to the mosaic. Those who do can optionally:

  • Add a giver script to hand out a a note card on what love means to them, and how they like to see a greater expression of love in-world.
  • Add more than one prim, providing they are not overly big, so the finished result looks like a mosaic.
  • Experienced builders will be on-hand to help those who may never have previously twisted a prim, so everyone can join the fun.

All avatars are welcome at this event, including child avatars, in the spirit of fun and friendship.

Avatar Pride Parade

Saturday, June 20th, starting at 10:00 SLT

A 16-region, 4-kilometre walk along the historic Route 66. The walk will commence at the west end of West End of the route in Truro, and proceed to the Welcome Area at Dore where there well be a dance party. Keep in mind this is as walk – so no cheating by riding the Bay City Trolley service!

Part of the fun will be taking pride in avatar diversity on the walk, as Vaneeesa notes:

When you live on a grid as old as SL there are so many avatars! The latest Easy-Baked-on-Sushi-Roll-Heads, the ancient System Avatars, the DEMO avatars, and everything in between. There are so many ways to wear an invisiprim wrong. Let’s celebrate all of it.

  • How “good” can you look?
  • How “bad” can you look?
  • How “you” can you look?

Oh heck, why don’t you just rez an alt and you can show off New & Old Avi’s at the same time! (hint: everybody already knows you have an alt #secretToNoOne)

Notes on Slurls:

  • Start point: a temporary lighthouse alongside temple Beth Chayei Olam.
  • End point / Dance: if you can’t make the walk but wish to be part of the party.

More Is Never Enough – The Avatar Diet Day

Saturday, June 27th, starting at 14:00 SLT

Location: Good Life Creations Sandbox

We live is an age of consumerism and an age of growing concern as to what all that consumerism is doing to our planet. But what about our virtual world? How many items do you have in your inventory that you don’t actually use – and is now so old, you wouldn’t ever want to wear / use it again? Or is your inventory simply in need of a general tidy-up?

Vaneeesa and her friends have planned a day of fun to help people sort and tidy their inventories and have fun doing so!

  • Inventory Weigh-In 10:00-noon SLT: A board will be available for people to list the total number of items in their inventory. Once people have “weighed-in” everyone can hang-out together and go through inventory and delete everything that’s No Transfer they no longer use / will never use again. At the end, the avatar shedding the most items will get a special prize!
  • Swap Meet: When sorting through inventory, people may come across Transfer items they no longer need – so why not rez them and let others see if there is something they’d like, and either pass it to them or swap it for something else?
  • Frog Fight and Dance: end the day with the fun of a dance and a frog fight!

Note: further events may be added to this Saturday’s activities.

Lab Gab 27 summary: Relay for Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

The 27th edition of Lab Gab live streamed on Friday, June 5th, and featured members of the Second Life Relay for Life team Stingray9798 Raymaker, Trager Alter, MamaP Beerbaum, and Nikki Mathieson, to mark the 2020 Relay weekend (which you can read about here). They were interviewed by co-hosts for the session, Strawberry Linden and Patch Linden.

The official video of the segment is available via You Tube, and is embedded at the end of this article. The following is a summary of the key topics discussed and responses to questions asked.

About the RFL Team

  • Trager Alter has been directly involved in Relay for Life of SL since 2017 after being introduce to Stingray by MammaP. He’s been directly involved in Relay Refresh – telling the stories of people who have faced and survived cancer.
  • MammaP became involved with Relay for Life of Second Life at a time when her father was suffering from cancer. It gave her the opportunity to do something practical to help raise money for cancer research whilst simultaneously caring doe her father in the physical world.
  • Nikki Mathieson joined SL alongside of MamaP, and became enamoured with the platform, the opportunities it offers, and realised that it offered huge potential for Relay for Life, and became involved in RFL of RL for that reason.
  • Stingray came to SL through the American Cancer Society, having been the manager for RFL’s on-line content. He was asked to look into RFL activities in SL as a result of RFL of SL volunteers working with ACS’s Innovations Team, and everything had reached a point where the Innovation Team were ready to hand it over to the ACS Relay Team, and he was asked to take the lead, so becoming the official liaison between RFL of SL and ACS.
Strawberry Linden (seated left) with (standing) Trager Alter (l), and Stingray9798 Raymaker (r), (seated)Nikki Mathieson (c) MamaP Beerbaum (r)

What is the Relay Weekend?

  • Every year, Relay for Life raises money for the work of the American Cancer Society via a season of events. Many of these are run by individual Relay Teams formed by Second Life residents, and some are “mega events” (such as the Home and Garden Expo, Fantasy Faire, the Sci-Fi Convention, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and Xmas Expo).
  • The Relay Weekend is the culmination of those events held during the core Relay season (February to June), where all the teams, large and small come together alongside the RFL track, each team with its own parcel to promote the work in providing care, support and treatment for sufferers of cancer in all its forms and their families and carers.
  • The event carries the ideal of Relay events in the physical world by having members of each team take turns to walk around an in-world track for the full 24 hours of the event. This is to symbolise two things:
    • When someone is dealing with cancer, they are no doing it alone, there are others who can support them and be with them.
    • The 24-hour aspect is recognition that cancer never sleeps, and the quest for cures to it cannot rest either.
  • The camp sites and themed regions all offer opportunities to socialise, to make friends and to learn more about cancer and how it can affect lives, be treated, etc., and the role of the ACS in all of this.

How does the Weekend Differ from Physical World RFL Events?

  • Abbreviated history of Relay:
    • In May 1985, Dr. Gordon Klatt, a colorectal surgeon from Tacoma, Washington, raised money for ACS by walking around the track at Baker Stadium at the University of Puget Sound for 24 hours, covering approximately 83 miles around the track.
    • Throughout the night, friends paid $25 to run or walk 30 minutes with him.
    • After this event, Klatt thought about how other people could participate in a similar event in their own community. He recruited a small team of people to host the City of Destiny Classic 24-Hour Run Against Cancer, and from this Relay for Life grew.
  • Relay for Life events now take place in some 30 countries around the world.
  • Events generally comprise:
    • A Survivor Lap, which starts the Relay event.
    • An Opening Lap, in which all the participants take a lap around the track
    • A Luminaria Ceremony, usually with a candlelight vigil
    • A “Fight Back” Ceremony, in which participants pledge to take specific actions against cancer.
  • The SL Relay Weekend comprises the same format and key activities. But differs in execution:
    • It does not require so much central logistical organisation and management.
    • It does however, require far more infrastructure coordination.
    • It is effectively a bigger event, both in terms of virtual vs. physical size (the 2020 track, for example, equates to some 6 miles), and in terms of the numbers of people participating.
    • Teams are able to do more than “just” camp and walk the track: they can directly support fund-raising by organising and running their own mini-events and activities.
    • It is a fully international event.

What is the Luminaria Ceremony?

  • It is the hour of the event (started at 21:00 on the Saturday of the Relay Weekend, roughly half-way through the weekend.
  • At that time, the track is darkened, and everyone in the Relay Regions are asked not to engage in open text or voice chat but to walk the track in silence or stand to one side.
  • During the hour, the names of those to be remembered, as submitted by the Luminaria Dedication Form that has been available for some time before each Relay Weekend, are read out over the event audio channel (which can be best listened through via the T1 Radio pop-up media player).
  • It is a time for people to reflect on how cancer has touched them personally, to recall those they’ve lost to the disease, or someone who is facing it as a part of their life, or someone who has seen it enter remission.
  • Also honoured throughout the weekend are the names hovering above the Luminaria lanterns that line either side of the track, and through which residents can make a donation to RFL of SL (minimum L$50) and add a name / dedication.

How Has the SARS-C0V-2 Pandemic Affected ACS?

  • Like most non-profit organisations world-wide, ACS relays on large-scale, multi-people fund-raising events, with Relay For Life being the largest annual event for ACS, with the primary RFL fund-raising period world-wide being April-May.
  • SARS-CoV-2 has therefore significantly impacted RFL both as the ACS’ main means of raising funds, and the amount of funds overall that are flowing into the organisation on a daily basis.
  • RFL of SL and Second Life users – and their families and friends – are therefore critical to the mission of ACS, by:
    • Engaging in events such as the Relay Weekend and donating money.
    • And / or by visiting RFL of SL page at the RFL website and making a donation.
  • ACS and Relay teams around the world have recognised that RFL of SL is now the spear of fund-raising efforts.
  • Second Life users have rallied to this call, at the time of writing, RFL of SL has raised around US $275,000.
    • Overall, RFL of SL has raised some US $4 million (around L$1 billion) during the years it has been operating.

RFL of SL Events

  • RFL of SL comprises a range of events, most of which take place during the core in-world fund-raising season between February and June each year.
    • This period includes the majority of the mega events (Home and Garden, Fantasy Faire, Sci-Fi Convention and the Relay Weekend.
    • There are also all the team events held across SL.
    • There is also the Xmas Expo and Making Strides Against Breast Cancer in October, which is to be expanded to have its own Renaissance mega event.
  • In terms of fund raising, Fantasy Faire remains the biggest mega event for in Second Life, with Making Strides also a focused and effective fund-raiser.
  • Outside of these, mega and large events tend to evolve and change. There used to be a major RFL of SL clothing / fashion event, for example, and when breedables became very popular in SL, there was a dedicated Breedables Fair.
  • The days of relay has also proved popular among communities wishing to support RFL / ACS. This started as the 5 days of relay in 2019  and had to be expanded to the 10 days of relay in 2020 to accommodate everything.

Where Do All the Donations Go?

  • Kiosks for RFL of SL are set up to allow events and teams see how much they have raised and contributed.
  • When a donation is made, it briefly goes to the kiosk holder account, but then is immediately paid out of that account and into the ACS fund account.
  • RFL of SL merchant vendors work on the same principle of payment in, then immediate transfer of the amount to the ACS fund raising account.
  • Funds are cashed out from the ACS L$ account in s similar manner: they are converted to US dollars and then process credited to ACS, not to any intermediary account.
  • When the funds are received by ACS, there is a certain amount that has to cover expenses (e.g. the running costs associated with having a presence in SL), but all other funds beyond this go directly to supporting ACS in its various missions.
  • Some of the money raised may be directed at a specific programme, as is the case with Making Strides, Fantasy Faire and the Xmas Expo:
    • Money raised by Making Strides goes directly to the ACS breast cancer mission.
    • In 2018 / 2019 funds raised be Fantasy Faire went directly into the Kenyatta National Hospital Hope Hostel in Kenya (see here for an initial report on this project from 2018).
    • This year, the US $75,000 raised by Fantasy Faire is reserved for use in the ACS global mission.
    • Similarly, the funds raised by the Christmas Expo are earmarked for the ACS child cancer programme.
  • Funds not earmarked for specific missions / programmes is referred to as “purple money” and goes towards the ACS cancer research mission in the United States. ACS is believed to be the largest funder of cancer research in the world outside of the US government.
  • Within SL, the funds pay for ACS island and all the resources, facilities and support than can be offered through the island directly to cancer sufferers and cancer care workers in-world, the Cancer Survivors support group, etc.

How Can SL Communities Get Involved and Help?

  • Individuals can attend RFL of SL events and donate through kiosks, make purchases (where available), etc.
  • Out-world donations can be made through the RFL of SL web page.
  • Those wishing to form a Relay Team, run an event, etc., should go the American Cancer Society Island, or contact Stingray and the rest of the team participating in this Lab Gab session.
  • Those wishing to help can join the Relay for Life Volunteers in-world group.

Second Life Mobile mini update, May 2020 with audio

Posted on by Inara Pey

As I’ve previously reported several times over the last year, starting with Linden Lab confirm Second Life iOS client in the making, Linden Lab is developing a companion app for Second Life.

Since that first article, I’ve provided a number of updates on the development, including that the client will be for both Android as well as iOS, and speaking at the Web User Group meeting on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2020, Keira Linden – who is the Product lead for the client – provided and update on process, the core points of which are bullet-pointed below.

  • iOS Client:
    • The iOS version is now in a closed alpha featuring some residents.
    • In keeping with the Lab’s plans, this version offers the ability to communicate via IM, and has a basic Friends listing.
    • Further updates will follow  – the next being the addition of Abuse Reporting support and improved management for the Friends list.
    • Once the Lab believe the client has an initial set of functions to make it useful as a communications tool, it will will move to a beta phase and made available to a wider cohort of users for further testing.
  • Android Client:
    • Work is progressing, but it will take time for it to reach a point where it is ready for testing.
    • When it is ready, it will likely follow a similar Alpha / Beta test process to the iOS version.

General Capabilities

Note: this is a reiteration of notes from earlier updates on the SL Mobile client.

  • It should initially be regarded as more of a communicator / companion app than a fully-rounded client.
    • The initial intention for the client is to provide users with a means of maintaining basic contact with other users whilst away from their main means of accessing Second Life.
  • As such, it will support logging-in to Second Life services to support IM and group chat support. However:
    • It  will not initially present you with an in-world location, nor will your avatar rez in-world, it will not not support local chat nor any form of world rendering.
  • Capabilities such as having an in-world rezzing location, the ability to chat locally, support for scene rendering will be added over time.
    • However, in terms of any in-world rendering, this will not be part of any initial released (in the meeting it was described as “not even Soon™”), as LL are focused in just trying to get the basic app available to users as soon as reasonably possible.

All information I’m able to provide through this blog, including future updates can be found under the SL Mobile tag, and can be accessed directly from the top menu options:

  • SL → User Group & Viewer → Viewers → Android & iOS and then selecting either:
    • Android Clients → SL Mobile or
    • iOS Clients → SL Mobile.