Second Life – Page 34 – Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

Hera’s Goa Beach in Second Life

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Inara Pey

*Goa Beach, June 2025 – click any image for full size*

Hera (Zee9), working with collaborator, Kacey Stratton (KaceyStratton) – who has in the past assisted Hera by provisioning AI-backed characters to add depth to Hera’s environments such as Brutal City (see: Hera’s Brutal City AI in Second Life) is back with an enticing build. This time the two present Goa Beach, another visually stunning setting presumably inspired by (even if in name only!) India’s famous tourist region, world- renowned for its beaches and places of worship.

Epic, Beautiful Beaches, clothes optional, Indian temples, Shiva shrines, clubs, bars, Nude, Sun, Sea, Sex Sand. Peace, Love!

– Goa Beach About Land description

The note in the About Land description brings me neatly to a couple of points worth raising in advance:

Goa Beach is adult-rated and nudity and adult sexual activities are allowed – so be advised (although on neither of my visits were there any apparent sign of bonking going on). Also, be aware that given this, Hera and Kacey request adult human avatars only are used during visits.
Secondly, Hera’s builds tend to be mercurial; they can arrive and vanish within a very short space of time. So if you intend to visit, sooner rather than later is the key.

Actually, there is a third point of note: the Rules located at the Landing Point note that “Only Goa Beach is open to the public. All other areas are private”, with a warning to keep out.

When I first arrived I wasn’t exactly sure as to how and where this warning applied; there are a number of islands sitting off the main bulk of the land, and one of these, to the south-east corner, is a private residence sitting within its own parcel. I assumed the rest of the islands were similarly off-limits, but didn’t realise how literal the phrase “only Goa Beach is open to the public” would literally be until my second visit!

If you’re one who visited Hera’s 2022 India (see: Hera’s touch of India in Second Life) there will be much about Goa Beach that may well be familiar – particularly the main structures, the bar area and some of the carved works to be found around, such as the cobras. This is not a critique of Goa Beach; one of the things I always find attractive in Hera’s builds is the manner in which she constantly recombines and redresses elements of past builds to offer something entirely new to explore – and such is the case here.

The main landmass is surrounded by the beach (allowing for a couple of rocky areas), making it possible to walk all the way around – or if you prefer, rez a wearable horse and trot around. Following the beach is one of the ways to reach the west side of the island from the Landing Point and what might be regarded as the grand entrance to the terraces and towers of the main temple complex. Those looking for a quicker route to this space from the Landing Point should hang a right and a left on leaving the latter and follow the stairs down.

Directly opposite the grand entrance, on the east side of the island, is a bridge providing access to a tall tower with a small dock extending to one side below it, complete with a sloop-style sailing vessel alongside. A smaller deck extending wharf offers the opportunity to rez a sailing boat, and it was this that gave me my answer to the private areas.

Mid-way though gently sailing around the main land-mass I found myself (albeit briefly) some 10 metres above the boat, which continued a short distance, before I was back in the surf. So yes, “only Goa Beach is open to the public” can be taken to literally mean, keep yourself to the sands when near some of the nearby islands! With this in mind, if you do rez a boat, it’s probably best to keep your sailing to the east side of the main land area (but well clear of the already noted private residence in the south-east corner).

Returning to the larger siling vessel for a moment, this has a large bed / sitting spot suspended from a yardarm, one of several such elevated paces for singles and couples to pass the time to be found suspended at several points around the setting. Nor are these the only places for sitting and relaxing or – to borrow from a Roy Scheider film, “getting it on” – which might also be found.

As noted above, there is much here that visitors to the likes of Hera’s India will find familiar – such as the club / bar area with its décor, the tigers gathered around the west-side grand entrance, the pavilions and so on, but so is there much that is (I believe) new to this setting. With so much to see and photograph, I’ll leave it to you to discover more for yourselves – but (again) as already noted, don’t leave it too long before visiting, lest Goa Beach vanishes!

SLurl Details

Goa Beach (Themyscira, rated Adult)

SL22B: your completely unofficial pocket guide to the celebrations

Posted on June 20, 2025 by Inara Pey

Second Life marks its 22nd anniversary in 2025, with a month of activity kicking-off on Friday, June 20th through until Sunday, July 20th. Celebrations will be taking place across the Birthday regions in Second Life, and and with previous years includes live music, DJ sets, art, shopping (via the dedicated Shop and Hop event), exhibits by Linden Lab and – particularly – exhibits by Second Life residents and communities.

The following is intended to provide a general overview of the celebrations and provide calendars, SLurls and anything else that might be useful to you when visiting the regions.

IMPORTANT NOTE: many of the builds at SL22B, particularly the stages, etc. have been built using PBR materials, and the skies are rendered as HDR. Therefore, to see the regions at their best, you should preferably be running a viewer that is “PBR enabled.”

Theme

This theme for 2025’s celebration is Myths and Legends, which the Lab describes thus:

It reflects the Second Life experience because we are all the heroes of our own adventures! The emphasis is on the characters and stories people create in SL both personally and within their communities.

However, as has been the case over the last several birthday events, exhibitions are not confined to the theme itself, with the Lab additionally noting:

Share your Second Life passions with us. Your interests. Your communities. Your world! Every year we celebrate because of you, the amazing and creative Residents who have chosen to call Second Life home. What has drawn you into this world, and what keeps you here? These annual festivities are an opportunity to show us what fuels your Second Life. Let’s celebrate that together!

SL Birthday Calendar

The best way the stay abreast of all that’s going on is via the official calendar of events, which I’ve embedded below.

Use the Week / Month options, top right to change the calendar view.
Click on any given line item on any given day of festivities to view more information, including teleport SLurls.

Key Events

Shop and Hop

The SL22B Shop And Hop event is taking place across multiple regions, and features many creators and merchants. The best way to find out about this event is via the Shop and Hop Destination Guide entry and via the SL22B Shop and Hop Participating Merchants list.

Meet the Lindens

As per usual, SL22B will feature a series of events featuring various members of the Lab’s management team and those from front-line teams. The sessions will be a mix of live sessions at the celebrations events and pre-recorded sessions. They will take place per the schedule below.

Day (Times SLT) and Event	Featuring
Monday, June 23rd, 13:00 Meet the Product Operations team	Senior VP of Product Operations, , Customer Support & Trust & Safety Patch Linden; Manager, Customer Success & Trust & Safety Keira Linden; Creative Producer Izzy Linden.
Tuesday, June 24th 13:00 Watch the Product and Engineering teams (pre-recorded)	Senior VP of Product & Engineering Grumpity Linden; Director of Engineering Web & Platform Kali Linden.
Wednesday, June 25th 13:00 Meet the Founder of Second Life	Philip Rosedale.
Thursday, June 26th 13:00 Watch the Marketing team (pre-recorded)	TBA
Friday, June 27th 11:00 Meet the Moles.	The Moles are builders, scripters, and content creators employed by Linden Lab to work in the Linden Department of Public Works.

Meet the Lindens SLurl: Astral Athenaeum

If you cannot attend a session in person, you can watch it on the Second Life YouTube channel.

Entertainment and Performances

Live performers from across Second Life and around the globe are lined-up to perform at SL22B between Friday, June 20th and Sunday July 20th. The complete schedule can be seen below.

The Welcome Area

Never been to an SLB event before? Try starting at the Welcome Area where you’ll find lots of help, things like the SL22B Hunt HUD, teleport boards and teleport portals to key event areas, and more!

The Tapestry of Time and Gift Area.

First presented in 2018, the region-wide Tapestry of Time presents visitor with a walk-through of Second Life’s history from 2003 through to the present day using images, text and videos. True, not everything has been recorded, but there’s enough within the region to be of interest to the historically minded.

within the Tapestry of Time can be found the SL22B Gift Area, offering gifts from the Birthday exhibitors and from merchants participating in the Shop & Hop event.

Exhibitor Regions

via Linden Lab. Click for exhibitor list

As is common for SLB events, the mix of content is varied, and the representation of interests broad. Role-play groups, arts, communities, are represented across the nine regions open to exhibitors; some are static, others are interactive in nature.

Direct links to the exhibitor regions can be found in the SLurls lists at the end of this piece.
Information / SLurls for individual exhibitors can be found in the SL22B Exhibitor Showcase.

Note that teleport boards are available at the centre of all Exhibitor regions for easy of moving between them.

Adult Exhibitor Regions And Adult Shop and Hop

2025 sees the Adult content and groups exhibitor regions combined with the Adult Shop and Hop regions. Once again, the celebrations include Adult content and groups, with exhibits at the event, with the Shop and Hop taking place across four dedicated regions separate to the main exhibitor regions. I’ve also included individual region SLurls at the end of this article.

Advice on a Better Experience

The SL22B regions can get exceptionally busy. To help ease the pain for you:

If you have a high draw distance, reduce it to as low as is comfortable for your enjoyment.
Turn off shadows in your viewer if you usually have them enabled.
Go to Preferences → Graphics and reduce the slider Max # Non-Imposter Avatars to a minimum and dial-down your Complexity slider.
Remove texture-heavy HUDs to free-up more texture memory.
Remove unnecessary scripted attachments and dress lightly, avoiding accessories of high complexity.

SLurls and Destination Guide Links

Core Event Region SLurls

The Welcome Area – teleports to the stages, Tapestry of Time, Pod Tours, Gift Area, Community Gallery and Shop and Hop, etc.
Astral Athenaeum – home to the Meet the Lindens sessions and more.
The Observatory – the general stage
The Royal Keep – opening ceremony and more.
The Tapestry of Time and Gift Area
SL22B Pod Station – for pod tours (or hop on a passing pod!).
General Shop and Hop Main Landing

General Rated Exhibitor Region SLurls

SLB Beguile	SLB Blissful	SLB Breathtaking	SLB Captivate	SLB Celebrate	SLB Delightful
SLB Electrify	SLB Enchant	SLB Fabulous	SLB Glamorous	SLB Incredible	SLB Marvelous
	SLB Outgoing	SLB Sparkle	SLB Spectacular	SLB Stupendous

Adult Rated Regions

	Odin’s Bar and Grill Stage		Pod Tours
Exhibitor Regions:	SLB Alluring	SLB Daring	SLB Euphoric	SLB Irresistible
Shopping Regions:	Buttercup	Goldenrod	Freesia	Trillium

Web URLs

Firestorm on the Official Viewer download page: tipping the balance?

Posted on June 19, 2025 by Inara Pey

I’ve been a user of the Firestorm third-party viewer (TPV) since its inception (and was a user of its precursor, Phoenix). It’s a viewer which offers a comprehensive set of capabilities – those also available in the Official Viewer; those otherwise tucked away in the debug settings and brought to light through the building of UI elements; and those developed by members of the Firestorm team and those contributing to it down the years.

True, it may not run well on all systems – indeed, it may not run as well as other viewers on the same computer; but it offers such a range of capabilities that it is practical for anything a person might want to turn their hand to in SL, from simply pootling around and having fun, to photography, building, scripting, and content creation. Hence why it has become the most widely used TPV in Second life (and, quite likely, Open Simulator worlds).

Given the large percentage of users engaged with SL through Firestorm can clearly present LL with some major headaches, particularly when it comes to matters of support and the deployment and adoption of new capabilities within Second Life. For example, in the six months or so prior to this article one of the main hold-ups in allowing LL to completely switch Second Life over to the WebRTC Voice service and finally turn-off the outdated, troublesome (and potentially costly?) Vivox service, has been the fact that many Firestorm users still use versions of the viewer without the necessary WebRTC support (although that number has been declining).

As it does have such a large percentage of the the total SL user base means it cannot simply be ignored by LL on any level. In this, I do applaud recent moves on the part of the Lab to allow staff to become more au fait with Firestorm and its capabilities, and in publicly recognising the sheer weight of user numbers Firestorm has. Not only does this potentially assist in terms of support issues, it allows Lab personnel more readily understand where people like content creators are coming from when discussing options and capabilities that may have been exposed within Firestorm but may not be so readily apparent in the Official Viewer.

However, what I don’t think is particularly fair is the for Lab to promote Firestorm to the exclusion of all other TPVs. At the June Web User Group it was stated that Firestorm would be added to the Official Viewer download page, and this was due shortly thereafter.

*The updated official viewer download page with Firestorm*

What I find unfair in this move is not the inclusion of Firestorm on the Official Viewer download page per se. As noted, there are good reasons for LL to acknowledge it. Rather it is in the fact that in doing so, all other TPVs are completely ignored to the point where they might as well not exist. Even the one link referencing third-party viewers goes to the Firestorm Viewer download page, not the Third Party Viewer Directory. There’s not even a statement as to what a TPV actually is.

Worse, the appearance of Firestorm alone on the Official Viewer download page can so easily be interpreted as meaning Firestorm is now “officially endorsed” by Linden Lab as “the” alternate viewer for accessing Second Life; or for those relatively new to SL, that Firestorm is the only TPV on offer.

As such, I cannot help but find this move to be demeaning towards the developers of other third-party viewers. Yes, they may well have a smaller overall percentage of users when compared to Firestorm, but this doesn’t invalidate them. What’s more – and as I’m sure the Firestorm developers will agree – many of the people behind those other viewers have contributed to the success of Firestorm and the Official Viewer through code contributions (direct and indirect). Thus, to ignore them entirely is to do them a disservice, however unintended.

The point here is that all of the above could have been easily addressed from the outset by including a section on the Official Viewer download page below the one for Firestorm, outlining what third-party viewers are, and which provides links to the TPV Directory and the TPV Policy. Nor does such a statement have to be complicated. For example:

Third-party viewers are developed by users of Second Life. They are based on the core code from the official viewer but offer additional options and capabilities to users. Third-party viewers (including Firestorm) are not endorsed or supported by Linden Lab. However, those recorded on our Third Party Directory have been self-certified for their compliance with our Third Party Viewer Policy to provide a positive and predictable experience for all Second Life Residents.

Such an inclusion would only be fair an appropriate – as I hope that if anyone from the Lab who might read this piece would agree. All TPV developers put in considerable amounts of their own time and effort into developing viewers to offer users a broader choice in the software they might opt to use. As noted, numbers of active users employing them might pale in comparison to Firestorm, but this does not make them any less deserving of a similar degree of recognition by LL.

2025 week #25: SL SUG meeting

Posted on June 18, 2025 by Inara Pey

*Semina: The Interactive EP Experience, Silent Melody, April 2025 – blog post*

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, June 17th, 2025 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript. The notes were taken from my chat log of the meeting. No video this week.

Meeting Overview

The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
- Every Tuesday at 12:00 noon SLT.
- In text (no Voice).
- At this location.
Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

There are no planned deployments to any channels this week, only restarts.
The stall in simulators releases should be ending soon. It has largely been the result of:
- Mainly a back-end move from one cloud asset store to another.
- Coupled with continuing work on setting up github actions to build, store, deploy the various bits and pieces that run the SL backend services.

SL Viewer Updates

Official Viewer: 2025.04 – 7.1.14.15192634334, issued May 25, promoted May 28 – No Change.
Second Life Project glTF Mesh Import, version 7.1.14.15361077240 June 2 – No Change.
Second Life Project Lua Editor Alpha (Aditi only), version 7.1.12.14888088240, May 13 – No Change.

In Brief

Rider Linden raised the idea of shifting the Simulator User Group meeting to once every two weeks.
- This was considered fine *if* there were not a lot going on – and with the exception of last few weeks and the end-of-year slow-down, this generally isn’t the case.
- Most of those at the meeting expressed a desire to keep it on a weekly basis, with one suggestion that if there is not a lot to discuss during any given meeting, it is brought to a close early, rather than always trying to spin it out to an hour.
- Another suggestion – from Leviathan Linden – would be to keep the meeting to once a week, but alternate the Linden chairing it (so not always Rider Linden).
Questions on Introducing Opacity Control for BOM Layers and Mesh with same material applied to two or more faces but in different slots fail in interesting manner met with pretty much the same response: the ongoing back-end work and updates has more-or-less presented any significant updates involving the simulator.
- Pepper Linden did indicate there is a desire within LL to do ore with Bakes On Mesh (e.g. PBR support).
llGetRegionWorldMapTile is tracked, but currently not on the roadmap for implementation.
A discussion on a Canny requesting the ability to trigger animations by UUID: how / good bad the idea might be; the need to respect content rights (e.g. the The animation asset and the actively playing animation needing separate UUIDs).
- No conclusions were drawn at the meeting.
The above got folded into a discussion on increasing regions sizes, based on this idea, and on a further discussion on UUIDs as a means of storing outfits to “save links” in inventory, uses for “wardrobe2 systems such as CTS, etc.
LSL functions to adjust parcel settings was raised and received positive responses from meeting attendees & Lindens (with a due discission on permissions and preventing idiots maliciously using scripts to bugger with other people’s land.

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

A further visit to a Silent Melody in Second Life

Posted on June 17, 2025 by Inara Pey

*Silent Melody, June 2025 – click any image for full size*

It’s been a little under eight months since my last visit to Silent Melody, held by Celtic McDaniels (Celtic3147), and as the region recently re-opened to the public, I felt it due time I hopped over and wandered around. During my last visit, the region offered an engaging mix of settings – mostly open landscape – all perfectly put together by Semina (Semiiina), as I noted in Return to a Silent Melody in Second Life.

Semina’s hand is still present within the latest iteration of the region’s design. The setting continues to offer various open spaces, but is now dominated by a large built-up area close to its heart. The default environment setting is strongly suggestive of a misty morning near the coast, and the way the larger buildings within this built-up area – notably the hotel and theatre – loom out of the surrounding mist when exploring is particularly satisfying.

The Landing Point sits to the eastern side of the buildings, occupying a broad terrace laid out at the feet of steps providing access to the imposing bulk of a large conservatory. The latter is home to the Da Capo – an engaging fusion of café and library / reading rooms.

A signpost at the foot of the steps points the way to various locations, each with its own musical names (reflecting Semina’s musical talents as a singer-songwriter – see: To the Moon and Back: a musical experience with Semina in Second Life): Clef City, Legato Beach, Fusion Farm, Staccato Forest, Harmony Lake and Sonata pier.

Behind the terrace, an open gateway provides access to a broad pier extending over one end of Legato Beach. However, if it is the beach you wish to visit, you’ll have to follow the signpost’s directions and take the wooden steps down from near to where the covered walkway leads to a large gazebo.

The main part of the beach looks out towards a pair of little islets where houseboats have been moored. Reached by using the life ring boat rezzer on the beach, the two islands appear open to the public, while the houseboats are available for rent on a daily basis.

Following the sign for the beach will also reveal one of the two the archways marking the main access points into the built-up area of Clef City. However, the main street of the city can also be reached more directly through the Da Capo Café.

With old tram rails running down its main street, Clef City has a careworn look and feel to it. Most of the buildings are shells, including the imposing bulk of the hotel, but within some – notably the local, err, “herbal” store, the pub and the theatre – you will find décor and dressing. The theatre has window displays mindful of Semina’s musical experience noted above, and appears to be designed for indoor music events.

One thing to look for when exploring around the city, is the ladders. These provide access to (and in one case, between) rooftop spaces which have been delightfully put together, with music again part-and-parcel of the theme within some of them.

The southern end of the city is elevated above the main street, a cobbled path curling around the apartment houses here to reach another terrace with pizza might be enjoyed al fresco, with both it and a smaller terrace to one side of the footpath also including their own musical motifs. The road up to them also overlooks Fusion Farm with its meadow, scarecrow-guarded field, horses and meandering brook. For those who enjoy horse riding, the Farm offers a horse rezzer. Again, follow the sign posts to reach it from the Landing Point.

To the north, the city quickly gives way to more rural looks, complete with Harmony Lake (“lake” might be a little grandiose, but it does sound better than “pond”:) ), the entire area serving as a captivating retreat with numerous places to sit, cuddle, pass the time – or photograph!

Also on the north-east side of the region, but down on the coast, is another open venue for music and dancing. It sits beneath the raised finger of a lighthouse and can be reached via several means, and I’ll let you discover them.

All of this is bound together by paths and trails and the Staccato Forest, which wraps around the west side of the region from north to south, embracing in its arc a path allowing visitors to completely circumnavigate the setting. It’s a route I thoroughly recommend taking, as it brings to the eye even more of the region’s beauty, and Semina’s attention to detail, including plants, flowers, critters, wildlife, statues, and more.

As with my past visits to Silent Melody, this latest iteration is an absolute delight.