Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week ending Sunday, May 1st, 2022
This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:
It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.
Official LL Viewers
Release viewer version 6.5.4.570575 – formerly the Lao-Lao Maintenance RC viewer, promoted Monday, April 18 – No change.
Release channel cohorts:
Makgeolli Maintenance RC viewer (Maintenance M) viewer, version 6.5.5.570983, April 26.
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.
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.
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
Love can be scary only because you realize you care about someone as much as you care about yourself. You open your hearth knowing that it could be broken, however being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure, joy and excitement, and make you feel that true bond and energy that is pulling you to belong to the other.
– from the introduction to Gravity at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, May 2022
Over the years – as I recently noted in writing about the gallery’s 10th anniversary – Nitroglobus / Nitroglobus Roof Gallery has been the home to some of the most remarkable exhibitions of art I’ve witnessed in Second Life down the years; so much so that singling one out over the others is practically impossible. However, I have to say there is something very special to be found within Gravity, an exhibition of work by Lika Cameo that will be open throughout May 2022 at the gallery.
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Lika Cameo, Gravity
An exploration of the nature of love, Gravity presents a series of images created by Lika that reflect, either individually or in groups of three, poems on the subject. The majority of the latter are by Celestial Demon, and are not what you might call “traditional” sonnets such as Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43. Rather, there are more deeply focused on specific emotions both light and dark that accompany out love for another.
The imagery created by Demon’s words is powerful; within the poems we can find obsession, freedom, contentment, happiness, need, desire, comfort … Along with them are three further poems on love. Two are by Pablo Neruda and the third is by Lika herself, and offer the aforementioned more traditional approach to expressing thoughts and reflections on the subject.
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Lika Cameo, Gravity
Taken on their own, the poems offer considerable insight into the nature of love its push/pull / yin/yang nature it embodies.
Alongside of them, Lika’s art is literally poetry in images. As a mixed media artist, Lika has an extraordinary ability to offer expression and narrative through her pieces. Preferring to work in black-and-white / monochrome (there is one colour trio included in Gravity), she fully demonstrate this ability within this exhibition. There is a stunning richness of life and motion within every single piece on display, a richness that does more than reflect the emotions of the poems, it becomes a visual synonym for the emotions expressed within the poems.
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Lika Cameo, Gravity
What is particularly stunning with Gravity is the mutualistic symbiosis between art and poetry. All of the pieces, whether singletons or trios, stand independent of the poems to which they have been paired, making this an exhibition that can be enjoyed purely as a visual immersion. Similarly, if one chooses to do so, the poems can be read and appreciated without reference to the images alongside time. When taken taken together, however, they mutually benefit one another and Gravity takes on a depth of life and meaning that captivates.
With this in mind, and while I could prattle on at length here about Gravity, I’m going to spare you and instead genuinely urge you to see the exhibition for yourself.
Occupying two rooms at Frank Atisso’s Art Korner gallery is an exhibition of avatar studies by Mila Maesar that opened on April 28th, 2022. Perfectly Imperfect marks the first time I’ve had the opportunity to study Mila’s work in detail, and while there doesn’t appear to be any liner notes to accompany the exhibition, this doesn’t diminish it at all; it actually enhances it, allowing the interpretation of the individual pieces and the exhibition as a wholly subjective exercise, driven by one’s own mood at the time of a visit.
The majority of the pieces are head-and-shoulder portraits, although there are some broader images to be found within the collection. At first glance, the images appear to be split between the two rooms simply through the used of colour or tone: monochrome pieces appearing within one room and colour in the other. However, things are not entirely that clear-cut; whilst the darker room does have predominantly black / white or monochrome pieces, there are also hints of colour to be found; whilst in the lighter room, colour predominates, but monochrome pieces are also to be found.
Art Korner Gallery: Mila Maesar
All of the pieces carry a richness of narrative, stories in part suggested through their titles. Several are evocative of iconic images: Waves, for example, carries with it a suggestion of Neve Campbell and Denise Richards as seen in promotional posters and images for the film Wild Things; alongside of it, Honey Pie offers echoes of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust.
Art Korner Gallery: Mila Maesar
Whether such touches are intentional or merely my own subjective response to these two particular images, I’ve no idea; but I found similar touches in some of the other images, and through them, a part of my own connection to them.
But if there is a theme within this exhibition, what might it be? I found myself driving to the idea of duality and self. Again, this is in part suggested by the title of the piece, and – obviously – by the images themselves and also the setting.
Most of us who come to Second Life do so in order to find a means of self-expression, a part of which is embodied through our avatars. For the majority of us, this gives rise to avatars that tend towards a view of perfection: an idealised view of who we are / would like to be. But while they might be perfect, we, as their operators remain imperfect, perhaps even conflicted.
Our moods and outlook change – hence perhaps the use of light and dark rooms to display these shifts – whilst our avatars remain constant throughout; perfect in looks, perfect in relationships, perfect in appeal. Even in situations where we’d end up a complete mess – or at least less-than attractive – such has being smothered in honey or splashed in paint, our avatars remain an image of perfection.
This dichotomy between this digital perfection and the imperfections of “real life” is perhaps most clearly represented within Open Up *(seen to the right of this article). It is an utterly startling and fabulously presented piece, with a depth of expression and potential for narrative that completely captivates.
But however you opt to interpret Perfectly Imperfect for yourself, make no mistake; these are visually striking and richly engaging pieces.
The Forgotten, April 2022 – click any image for full size
The Forgotten is a Full region I stumbled upon entirely by chance whilst thumbing through the Destination Guide trying to remind myself of an entry I’d seen a while back but had failed to make a note of. I didn’t find it, but in coming across The Forgotten, I found a region that is quite fantastical and just slightly abstract and well worth a visit.
The work of Elfie Lionsheart (who has the delightful user name of Elfing Shenanigans), The Forgotten is a region that deserves to be seen rather than merely described; a place that is without a singular theme per se, but where imagination and reality intersect to present a place of beauty, mystery and depth.
The Forgotten, April 2022
A magical swamp born from sorrow, lighting the way for explorer’s to follow. A castle in ruin, gardens left to despair. Eyes of lost statues left only to stare. Whispers of sadness from voices long gone, dancing fairy dust left to sing its last song.
– The Forgotten, About Land Description
Sitting under a dome of stars – or perhaps star stuff, given the fact the a massive full Moon hangs in the sky beyond – there is a sense of timeless age to the setting, together with a sense that it is a place where the tales of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien mix without being overly swayed by one or the other. Or perhaps mix is the wrong term – it is perhaps a place that combines the imaginations of both men to present a place they would both feel comfortable in walking through.
The landing point sits towards the north-west of the island where a huge plateau that rises above the rest of the region, a stone-and-grass table on which sets the castle ruin of the About Land description. A cavern on the opposite side to the path leading up to the ruins is the home of the landing point, fronted by wooden board walks that wind out from it over the swamp also mentioned in the region’s description.
The Forgotten, April 2022
This swamp is a mix of water, green growth, strange plants, giant tress and unexpected creatures – although finding your way free of it might take a little care (hint: look for the anthropomorphic street lamp on a deck and the log bridge to drier land (or alternatively, visitors can continue to follow the and lanterns board walks over the swamp waters to the places that lie within them).
The rest of the landscape comprises a mix of trees, rugged, low hills, overgrown paths, unexpected dwellings and the most engaging ruins and statues, some of which speak to elven influences, others to human while some provide pagan echoes – all of which again combine to add a depth to the setting that is utterly unique. More than depth, they suggest a sense of mythology for the region.
The Forgotten, April 2022
The most impressive of these statues is a great carved stag standing over the swamplands, a proud beast placed on a shoulder of the castle’s plateau, it is the work of Elicio Ember, and its presence marks the second time I have seen it within Second Life in the space of a week, and for me it suggested a spiritual link between the elven influences of The Forgotten and with Elicio’s Mythspire Ridge at the 2022 Fantasy Faire.
Away to the north-east a flat headland pushes a rounded snout out into the water, topped by a wild garden watched over by a dryad. South of this, across a shallow inlet that cuts into the land, sits a more human abode – a store in fact, where one of the region’s more unusual inhabitants patrols: a fat-beaked dodo (and it is not the only oddity perambulating across a part of the region). Not far from here, up a stone stairway, a trio of Romany caravans sit, although whether they belong to people or the cats that have claimed one of them is open to debate.
The Forgotten, April 2022
But as I said, this is a glorious region that should be explored rather than described – and I’ve left a lot of what is waiting to be found out from this article to encourage visits. It is a place that is, despite the sadness within its description, a genuine playground for the imagination.
