Category: News-Opinion

Looking at the New Linden Homes Store

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

On Monday, October  9th, Linden Lab sort-of formally launched the new Linden Homes Store for Second Life, showcasing all the Linden Home types and themes available to those users holding a qualifying subscription account (at the time of writing, Premium  / Premium Plus), and which had been previously semi-previewed in a September 27th official blog post.

The new Linden Home Store is part of a project to completely overhaul what Linden Lab calls the “Land Journey” in order to provide a resource hub for all matters pertaining to land holdings in Second Life: how to lease one or more regions from Linden Lab, types of regions available, how to obtain Mainland, even how to go about locating and renting land from private estates / land providers.

The first part of this work actually launched in February 2023 in the form of the Land Portal, the core of the new hub. At that time, the Portal was little more than a “front page” showing what was to come, so rather than devote a full post to it, I covered it in one of my Web User Group meetings, as it was at one of those meetings where the launch of the portal was announced. While it does gather together information related to buying / renting land from existing sources, the Linden Homes Store is really the first major piece of meat on the bones in terms of a new suite of pages for the Portal – so what’s been done and how does it look?

The upper part of the new Linden Homes Store main page, as seen by someone in possession of a Linden Home.

General Overview

Store Home Page

In terms of looks, the first thing that hits the eye is that the store has – unsurprisingly – been produced using the new general page style and colours which have started to roll out across the Second Life web properties, as was the case with things like the Destination Guide. The Linden Home Store also borrows from DG in some elements of its look and feel, thus helping to further instil a sense of platform identity in to the pages whilst encouraging a degree of familiarity to help promote confidence of use.

But to get down to specifics. The Store’s home page offers two slightly different layouts, depending on whether a user is either logged in our out of their secondlife.com account and / or has a qualifying subscription account with a Linden Home already associated with it or not, per the images above and below.

upper part of the new Linden Homes Store main page, as seen by someone who does not have a qualifying account type / is not logged into the the Second Life web properties.

The What Next? section of pages displayed for qualifying accounts has some curiosities within it which raised my eyebrows:

  • The “Your home’s content pack” links to third -party purchasable add-ons for “2019+” Linden Homes. Whilst these are a handy resource, they actually have bugger all to do with the Content Packs actually supplied with the various themes – so why name the link thus? It’s unnecessarily confusing for those interested in seeing the different selections of items supplied with the various Linden Home themes.
  • Why on Earth utilise a video from 2010 which has nothing to say about the far more recent Linden Homes themes, which are liable to be of the most interest to recently upgraded account holders? Could not a more up-to-date video have been produced prior to the launch? If nothing else, a video that properly encompasses  all of the Linden Homes products also lends itself to acting as a promotional tool aimed at anyone accessing the Store, regardless of their account type.
  • Why on Earth is “Choose a different home” so called? It’s a link to the SL wiki page serving to introduce and describe “2019+” Linden Homes – so why not call it “Introducing Linden Homes” or something? As it is, the title suggests that by clicking it, the user will be magically whisked to where they can swap their existing home without the need to scroll further.
A closer look at the What Next? section of the Linden homes Store, as displayed to qualifying account holders with the niggling links (your home’s contents pack, Video tutorial and Choose a different home).

Beneath the What Next? / Amenities section of the page, is the main store listing. This comprises information panels for all Linden Homes, 2019+ and 2010., with panels listing slightly different information:

  • 2010 Linden Homes only provide a photograph of the house type, the name of its theme (e.g. “Tahoe” or “Meadowbrook”), and the parcel size.
  • “2019+” Linden Homes are listed by theme name (e.g. Ranch, Log House, Silt House, etc.), provide a photograph of one of the styles from the theme, number of layouts (styles) within the theme, location and parcel size.

This listing is periodically updated to reflect the current status of all Linden Homes: available themes / types are listed firt in the order Premium Plus Homes then Premium 2019+ Homes then Premium 2010 / 51w sq m parcel homes. And themes or types currently unavailable are then listed in the same order and labelled NOT AVAILABLE.

For those on non-eligible (for Linden Homes) accounts / who are not logged-in to the SL web properties, the Store will go on to display additional useful information on Linden Homes below the index list.

House Panels / Information

Clicking on a specific house / theme in the Store’s index list will refresh the page and display expanded information on the selected house / theme that the top, with the more recent Linden Home themes having more information available than the 2010 Homes, per the images below. The listing of homes will then continue below this expanded panel.

An information panel within the Linden Home Store for one of “2010” styles of Linden Home. Note the information on the left.

That the “2019+” homes have more information associated with them is not surprising, simply because they have more to offer. however, it did again give rise to some niggles:

  • The text “Includes X layout versions to choose from” (where X is a number) is followed by a link called Learn More. This gives the impression that clicking the link will display further information directly related to the theme (such as what the layouts are). Instead, it takes the user out of the Land Store and to the 2019 Linden Homes wiki page.
    • While this does contain some information related to the various themes, it’s hardly more informative that the information displayed within the Store and totally disrupts what has thus far been a relatively contained, seamless experience.
    • Given the effort put into the Store, it’s a shame time wasn’t taken towards building more detailed pages (with images) for the themes ahead of any launch.
  • Similarly, the text “Customise the colours of this home’s surfaces” is perhaps mis-labelled, and would be better called “About the Linden Homes Controller”, given it links to the section of the SL wiki page devoted to all of the Controller’s options, not just decorating.
An information panel within the Linden Home Store for one of “2019+” themes of Linden Home. Note the expanded information on the left, and the critquies of it noted in the above bullet points.

Some have also commented that listing the “2019+” Linden Homes within the Store in terms of their collective theme (e.g. Houseboat) rather than style (e.g. Windlass, Barnacle, Jolly Roger, etc.), and doing the reverse for the “2010” Homes, listing them by style (e.g. Aspen, Birch Cedar) rather than collective theme (e.g. Tahoe) is further confusing.

However, while I can understand thinking this way, I’d actually point out that it does in fact make sense: all “2019+” Lindon Home styles within a given are available through a rezzing system on the parcel, allowing the user to swap between them whenever they wish. However, this is not the case with the “2010” homes; regardless of the over-arching theme (Tahoe, Meadowbrook, etc.)., the only way to swap from one theme to another is to physically swap homes through the Store  – ergo, listing them by style rather than trying to group them by theme does in fact make sense.

General Observations

I will confess, other than kicking the tyres of the new Linden Home Store as described above, I’ve not taken it for a drive in terms of using it to obtain a Linden Home; frankly, I’m perfectly happy with the location of my current Linden Houseboat, and I have no desire to pack-up and be randomly moved for the sake of a test. Sorry.

That said, it should be noted that whilst you can see the various types and themes of Linden Home currently available when browsing the Store, while the actual house type / theme you pick might be in-world is still down to a random selection from the available stock; you cannot puck a specific parcel in a specific region. Nor should this be expected: building a system to list all the locations of a given house type / theme when these could run into the hundreds just isn’t reasonable; thus Support ticket remains the means but which to request a specific location.

I do find several other points in the design niggling / confusing. Why, for example, are “2019+” Linden homes on 512 and 1024 sq m parcels listed as “Free with Premium Membership” when they are in fact available to both Premium and Premium Plus? Why do Basic and Plus members who might not realise have to get half-way through the Choose This Home before being told they are not eligible? Would it not be better to divert them to the account updates page on clicking the Choose button, rather than displaying angry red text when they try to Confirm Their Choice? Why wasn’t the store hooked into the Linden Homes widget in the top right of the secondlife.com dashboard for Premium / Premium Plus members from the outset (and which currently still links to the “old” Linden Homes store)?

The updates page for choosing a Linden home. It is only at this point that Basic and Plus users are informed they are ineligible for a Linden Home and need to upgrade – diverting them to the account upgrade page on chick the earlier Choose This Home button might be friendlier.

These are all small points, and to be fair, LL does have a long history of releasing not-quite-baked features and updates into the wild and then tweaking them after the fact. As such, there is the potential for all of these personal annoyances to be be address as a natural part and parcel of that work. However, the fact that there are all these little niggles and potential points of confusion does negatively impact first impressions. Which is a shame, because overall, it has to be said this new Linden Home Store is a significant and welcome improvement to to previous version.

Looking at the Second Life Senra avatars

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

On Tuesday, August 1st, 2023, Linden Lab officially announced the release of the first of the Senra brand of starter avatars for Second Life. The announcement came perhaps a little later than had been planned – at SL20B, Patch Linden indicated the hope was to launch them in July – and more than a year since they were initially previewed at the SL19B event in June 2022.

Of course, the release of new “starter” avatars for Second Life is nothing new; there have been several such releases over the years – some of which have been covered in these pages. However, particular excitement  / interest has surrounded the Senra project, because it is the first time LL has developed a start avatar making full use of “modern” capabilities within Second Life, including the use of mesh bodies and heads, the rigging and animation capabilities presented by the extended “Bento” skeleton and capabilities such as Bakes on Mesh.

More particularly, the Senra avatars are coupled with a new approach to introducing new users to their avatars and to customising them, using a web-based process integrated into the overall New User eXperience (NUX), which commences with the sign-up process and continues through to bringing new users into Second Life via Welcome Hubs and Community Gateways.

The Senra folders in the System Library

Sadly, I’ve been unable to test this customisation process myself, so for that, I’ll have to direct you to the Second Life University video released alongside the formal announcement (and embedded at the end of this article). What I will say about it is that it is very mindful of that used with Sansar. Whether this is a result of taking lessons learned and replying them or purely coincidental, I’ve no idea; but if it is a case of the former, then I say good on LL for doing so, as the Sansar system always came across as easy-to-use.

For those who wish to try the new avatars directly, then as the official blog post notes, they can be obtained via the System Library. However, and if you have not yet done so (and while it may well be obvious to most) – do be sure to copy the folders from the Library into your inventory.

While it is possible to Add / Wear items directly from the Library, this will result in them being copied to your inventory anyway – but rather than remaining together, they’ll simply be placed in the system folder corresponding to their item type (eyes, shape, object, skin, tattoo layer…) thus scattering them throughout your inventory, rather than keeping them all nearly together.

This initial release for Senra – emphasis here because again, it is important to note that work on further avatars in the range, including anthro, are in development, as per Patch Linden’s comments at SL20B – is referenced as “Beta”; in other words, while it is officially released, feedback and lessoned learned from it will be applied to the new versions of Senra avatars as they are released.

In the meantime, this “beta” comprises two avatars: Jamie (female) and Blake (male).

In keeping with most avatar bodies and heads, they are supplied Copy / No Transfer + No Modify, and each, as supplied with this release, comprises:

  • A separate body and head. Both use the standard SL avatar UV Map using the universal channels and are fully BoM. Thus, they are reasonably compatible with most skin, tattoo and clothing layers.
  • A total of six shapes, skins (from bleached to really dark) and nail layers, eight eye colours and nine hair styles (a mix of hair objects and tattoo hairbases).
  • An identical range of clothing (tops, bottoms, skirts, etc.) for each avatar, sized to suit their basic shapes & with alpha layers for the fuller body forms.
    • Note that free additional colours of some clothing can be found at the kiosks within the SL Welcome Hubs (at the Avatar area inside the Second Life Academy).
  • A basic, HUD-style animation system with single-click stop / start capability.
The Blake and Jamie starter avatars

I don’t want to go overboard in discussing these avatars in detail; we’ll all form our own opinions on them over time – and there are others far better qualified to dig down into them than I. As such what I have to say here is somewhat subjective and intentionally limited.

The splitting of the avatars between head and body – given they were originally described as “all-in-one” back around the time of SL19B – is a good move. It allows those transitioning from these avatars to third-party options to split the expense (and learning curve) in doing so over an extended period (e.g. purchase a body first, get used to using it + its HUD, then later decide on a head), rather than having to do everything at once.

Whilst six shapes are provided, these actually split between three body sizes (which for ease of reference, I’ll call “thin”, “medium” and “broad”), and two facial feature shapes (again for ease of reference: “thinner” and “fuller”) to provide two broad sets of appearances: the “thinner” face with each of the three body sizes (shapes 1 through 3), and the “fuller” face with the three body sizes (shapes 4 through 6).

What a difference a skin makes. Left: Jamie with her default shape 4 and skin 4 (l) and the same shape with the skin supplied with the Monique starter avatar (r)

Some have critiqued the avatars  – notably the female – for not supporting heeled shoes. While Patch has indicated this may be added as an option in the future, not doing so actually makes sense in the context of new starters: have to reference a HUD system and find the option to angle the foot for a specific hell height isn’t entirely intuitive when the aim is to keep things as simple as possible.

For me, the weakness visual part of these avatars les with the skins, which lack a degree of depth and  – for Jamie at least – could have been much improved by the simple application of decent makeup in the texture, as demonstrated in the image above, which uses one of the older starter avatar skins suppled by LL (“Monique”).

Again, I can understand LL wanting to minimise items they provide so as to keep the door as open as possible for third-party content creators to join the Senra ecosystem; but surely something a little more attractive could have been provided for new users when it comes to Jamie;  something which lets them feel there avatar is at least reasonably attractive when compared to others. As it is, the blandness of the Jamie skins could leave those using it like they must immediately start spend, spend, spending to “get up to par” with others – or (as bad) feel their avatar is inadequate.

Additional Senra avatar items can also be found at the SL Welcome Hubs

My other niggle is with the animation system; I cannot fathom why LL felt a need to change a term that has been in use for almost as long as SL has been around (Animation Override). True, “Animation Controller is a more accurate term, but it still runs contrary to accepted terminology and could led to some confusion for new users – which Senra is supposed to minimise. Also, could not the animations be a little smoother or more natural?

With regards to third-party creators entering the Senra eco-system, applications for the Senra SDK, intended to allow them to obtain the SDK and do so opened a little ahead of the formal release of the avatars via a forum thread announcement.

This has prompted a lot of feedback related to the design and construction of these avatars which I’m far from technically competent to comment on. However, my own rough-and-ready comparisons using the Improve Graphics Speed floater – whilst not totally ideal in making such comparisons – suggest that overall, these avatars are not that bad when compared to other systems in terms of their overall load, even if they are perhaps not the most efficiently made.

The Jamie head (top) compared with the Lelutka Simone head (bottom, minus its separate eyes and teeth). Note the comparative faces / vertices  / VRAM counts which allow for a number of calculations by which to compare the two heads

The thread on the license agreement has also led to a degree of discussion on the extent of the requirement laid out in the agreement and its associated documents. I don’t want to drag this article out further by diving into things here, but I would say that some of the concerns raised (e.g. LL not allowing content for other head / body ecosystems) is born of a misunderstanding of Senra’s function (the system is for those new to SL and intended to offer a simplified road into avatar customisation – and providing multiple items for multiple bodies or heads could confuse new users), and a degree of over-wrought mistrust of LL born of a misapprehension around legal terms. However, for details, I’ll leave it you to to follow the thread and draw your own conclusions.

Conclusion

As with all avatar systems, Senra has its positives and negatives. What these are seen as will largely be a matter of personal experience and subjective analysis by most – as is the case with some of my comments here. As such, I’ll just close with a handful more of personal observations:

  • Are the Senra avatars an improvement on the “classic” ranges of starter avatars – absolutely.
  • Could the possibly be better? Well, most likely, yes. The devil is in the details, and I do feel this skimp on the most important detail – the skins.
  • Would I personally use one? No. But that’s because I have two bodies and four heads to play with on my main account and two heads and a body on my alt account, and they are more than enough.
  • Would I suggest friends still firmly glued to the the system avatar give Senra a go and see what they can make of them, mix and matching with items already in their inventory? Absolutely.

 

Bamboo’s meditations on time in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Selen’s Gallery: Bamboo Barnes – Far From

Midway through its run at Selen’s Gallery, operated and curated by Selen Minotaur, is Far From by Bamboo Barnes, featuring previously unseen works by the arts drawn together in a theme I always find fascinating: the nature of time and its relationship with personal experiences and the formation of self.

It’s a subject I’ve been fascinated by since first reading Burnt Norton, the first poem in what would become T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, a discussion on the nature of time, the relationship between past and future and both of them with the current moment in time, alternate realities, the contrast between the experience of the modern man and spirituality, mixed with ideas of unity with the cosmos, and more. Whilst The more spiritual reflections of time and human nature are not necessarily a part of Bamboo’s Far From, the central theme of Burnt Norton’s opening (perhaps the most famous lines of the poem / The Four Quartets as a whole) was immediately brought to mind for me when reading Bamboo’s introduction to Far From.

What do you feel now if you close your eyes? Do you see the faint flicker of light that your memory gives you as you reach out in total darkness? Or is it something you wish you could have forgotten? A past that has become distant yet drawing you in heavily. The now that seems so far from it, but it is a part of you. A part of you that can never be denied.  

– Bamboo Barnes, Far From

Selen’s Gallery: Bamboo Barnes – Far From

In other words, what we has gone before, given if not fully remembered – even if we no longer wish to recall it – is as much a part of us today, just as what we now do will become a part of our tomorrow; that while we might live in the “now”, we also live with the shadows and light of the past, factors which perhaps distort, or at least consciously or not, direct our way towards the future, subliminally or directly influencing as they do the decisions we make in the now.

Compare this with Eliot’s opening reflection from Burnt Norton:

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.

– T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton

Again, which is not to say the Bamboo’s art is intended to be any kind of visual essay on Eliot’s works; far from it – this is a subjective parallel I saw, and which other may not see or agree to. However, it is these kinds of parallels I so often find in Bamboo’s work and which – for me – further elevate her art.

That is, within Far From she offers a unique and highly visual meditation on then theme of the interconnectedness of time, just as Eliot does through the ideas he offers within the five parts of Burn Norton. Bamboo does this not only through her introduction to this exhibition, but in the manner of the images themselves. Each is distorted, some somewhat fragmented, all utilise colour in a striking manner.

Selen’s Gallery: Bamboo Barnes – Far From

These approaches are all elements which set Bamboo’s work apart from that of others, and can be found in many of her pieces. Here they combine to visually represent those memories and events which have shaped who are are now, and how we came to be who / where we are within our life (and, particularly, in our understanding of our own self). At the same time, elements of the images, combined with the 3D elements Bamboo has included in the exhibition space engage in themes of the past and present combing to shape our personal future – and that, but for decisions of the past, the idea that our life’s path might have taken a different course; the the flow of decision as much as the fluidity direct our lives.

This latter point might must clearly be suggested by the animated mosaic Bamboo presents as the landing point for the exhibition. The interconnectedness of past, present and future might also be see within those images which use repetition of images, the different colours within them underpinning the influence of past on present, and present on future (and, if we opt to extend – the manner in which the future itself informed those past actions which have brought us to where we are today.

Selen’s Gallery: Bamboo Barnes – Far From

A further beauty of Bamboo’s art is that her images can be enjoyed in their own right, as essays in style, colour, light, shade, subject and composition, each one standing entirely independently to the others around it. Thus, whether or not – like me – you opt to see an elegant artistic treatise within Far From, it offers a collection of richly engaging pieces which can each be appreciated on its own merits, making it a very worthwhile visit, and it will remain open to view through into August 2023.

SLurl Details

Linden Lab launches SecondLifeTime Premium and SecondLifeTime Premium Plus

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

 

Update: following the publication of this article, Linden Lab published their own official announcement blog post.

On Monday, June 26th, Linden Lab announced a pair of “limited availability lifetime memberships”, wherein Second Life users have the opportunity to make a one-time payment to Linden Lab in return for a “lifetime” membership to Second Life based on either the Premium Account type or the Premium Plus account type.

Offered as a part of the Second Life 20th Birthday celebrations, these memberships are described by Linden Lab as follows:

For Second Life’s 20th birthday, we will be offering a limited number of lifetime memberships for both Premium and Premium Plus! This will give Residents who upgrade to this membership type the benefits of a Premium or Premium Plus membership for the lifetime of their account! You can see a comprehensive list of what Premium and Premium Plus Memberships are being granted on a first come first serve basis. 

– Part of the LifeTime Memberships announcement

In short, these accounts:

  • Feature a one-off payment.
  • Provide all of the benefits applicable to either the Premium Account subscription package or the Premium Plus Account subscription package, depending on which LifeTime membership is applied for.
    • The currently list of benefits for each account type can be found here.
  • Cost:
    • US $749.00 at the time of upgrade for SecondLifeTime Premium.
    • US $1,749.00 at the time of upgrade for SecondLifeTime Premium Plus.
  • Are limited to:
    • 200 applications for SecondLifeTime Premium.
    • 20 applications for SecondLifeTime Premium Plus.
  • Will remain in effect:
    • Even if the account holder cancels their membership – if they re-join later, they will be able to continue with their Second LifeTime membership.
    • As long as Second Life remains operational.
  • Due to there nature, LifeTime memberships:
    • May not be available to upgrade to other account types (e.g. from SecondLifeTime Premium to Premium Plus). However, requests for upgrade can be submitted via support ticket for case-by-case review.
    • Will not be available for downgrade, but will become the base-level membership account type for the holder.
  • Are being granted on a first-come, first-serve basis.

For further details, visit the official support announcement page.

How To Apply

Applications can be made by Support Ticket only.

  • Go to the Second Life Support portal.
  • Click the orange Submit A Ticket button on the top right of any page of the support portal, and sign in if you have not already.
  • In the support ticket form, select the ticket type Account Issue, and choose Request SecondLifetime Premium Account from the second drop down that appears.
  • Select which membership type you would like – SecondLifeTime Premium or SecondLifeTime Premium Plus.
  • Check the box that states, I accept the fee. This will be required for support ticket submission, and will allow your membership to be processed as quickly as possible.
  • Fill out any additional necessary details in the description section (e.g. if you have recently renewed either your Premium or Premium Plus subscription, add the date of renewal) and click Submit.
  • Allow up to 10 business days for Second LifeTime membership support ticket requests to be processed.

 

SL20B Sweepstakes in Second Life offer impressive prizes

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

So, around 30 minutes after I publish my unofficial guide to SL20B, an e-mail arrives announcing the SL20B Sweepstakes  – something which I admit I’d missed when visiting the event’s Welcome Area.

Why is this newsworthy? Because the prizes  – particularly for those in the United States – are pretty impressive, including as they do:

  • A physical world Chevrolet Bolt EV car (US residents only).
  • A physical world Asus high-end gaming laptop (US Residents only).
  • A Second Life Lifetime Premium membership.
  • A 1 Year Premium Plus membership.
  • DAILY 1 Year Premium membership.

No purchases are necessary to enter the sweepstakes, just a visit to the SL20B Welcome Area during the festivities, and click on one (or both, in the case of US residents) Sweepstakes kiosks.

The National (US residents only) and Global (US residents + rest of the world) Sweepstakes kiosks at the SL20B Welcome Area

There are also a couple of official web pages providing more information and rules, and which run a clock giving the time remaining to enter:

A screen cap of part of the official Global Sweepstakes website for SL20B

So why not give it a go – the Daily Premium prizes are worth a visit on their own, to say nothing of the rest. Just expect the Welcome Area to be busy!

May 31st 2023: Reminder: Second Life Marketplace Upgrade

Posted on by Inara Pey

A quick reminder that the Second Life Marketplace will be undergoing infrastructure upgrades for an estimated period of one hour, commencing at 10:00 SLT on Wednesday, May 31st, 2023.

This work will involve, among other things, a reset of the shopping cart functionality, and any items users may have placed in their shopping carts for future  purchase will not be saved.

To to avoid any upset in having shopping carts emptied, Linden Lab recommends shoppers take one or both of the following steps:

  • Finalise all purchases ahead of the maintenance period, and complete pending transactions to clear your shopping cart.
  • For those items you are not in a position to purchase ahead of the maintenance period, or do not wish to purchase at this time but would like to keep recorded for future reference, list them either in your favourites or your wishlist.

During the maintenance period, the Marketplace will be unavailable for either shoppers or merchants to access. For complete details, please refer to this official blog post, and to the SL Grid Status pages for updates.