Tag: Second Life

Coming Soon: new option to reduce the cost of SL Premium Plus subscriptions

Posted on by Inara Pey

On Thursday, September 25th, 2025, Linden Lab hosted a further Zoom call with creators and bloggers to discuss a number of announcements and initiatives, one of which was a new Premium Plus subscription option. I’ll be summarising other aspects of the meeting in due course. This article focuses on the new subscription option –  what it is, why it is being done, and when it can be expected.

What is It?

  • While Premium Plus has been been well-received, the cost of US $249 (annual billing plan) has been seen by many as being too expensive to justify.
  • To help overcome this, from October 2025, Linden Lab will be offering a “Premium Plus, No Stipend” option.
  • This subscription level will offer exactly what it suggests:
    • All of the “physical” benefits of Premium Plus (2048 sq metre Linden Home options etc.).
    • HOWEVER users signing-up to it will not receive either the one-off sign-up bonus (L$ 3,000) or the weekend stipend (L$650).
  • The new offering will retain the “Premium Plus” name for simplicity, and presented as an option within the Premium Plus subscription level.
  • By removing the sign-up bonus and stipend the new offering, when available, will cost US $11.99 per month / US $143.88 per annum (plus applicable local taxes) – a saving of US $105.12 on the annual cost of Premium Plus with stipend.
The upcoming new “Premium Plus, No Stipend” subscription option. Credit: Linden Lab
  • In addition, subscribers will be able to move between the subscription levels with immediate effect (e.g. Premium subscribers will be able to upgrade to “Premium Plus, No Stipend” without delay, and if they don’t like it, downgrade back to Premium or upgrade to “full” Premium Plus, and if a Premium Plus user opts to do without the stipend, they can switch over to “Premium Plus, No Stipend”).

Why is it Being Added?

  • As noted, it is primarily aimed at making Premium Plus more attractive to users who feel the current offering, even with the sign-up bonus and stipend, is still too expensive to justify.
  • The decision to remove the sign-up payment and stipend was made on two counts:
    • Those on both Premium and Premium Plus continue to purchase Linden Dollars regardless of their stipend.
    • Stipend payments further add to the supply of L$ in circulation, contributing to the on-going issues of a top-heavy supply of Linden Dollars impacting exchange rates, as has been previously discussed – see: Linden Dollar Exchange Rate and the Economy.
  • It is recognised the removal of the stipend will not appeal to everyone, hence why the current Premium Plus option will be remaining.
  • It is particularly hoped that the new option will encourage Premium subscribers who have previously expressed reluctance in upgrading to Premium Plus due to the cost to now consider doing so.
In a perfect world every premium subscriber would move to Premium Plus, No Stipend. Best for residents, best for creators. If that takes off, this is really good for residents and really good for creators, if people upgrade. If people downgrade, it is what it is; hopefully they don’t, but if they do, they do. But upgrading, that’s a win for the creators like no other, and its a win for the residents; we’re really giving a lot more for very little.

– Brad Oberwager, during the Zoom Call, September 25th, 2025

When Will it Launch?

  • If all goes according to plan, “Premium Plus, no Stipend” will launch in the first half of October 2025.
  • Formal announcements of its availability will be made when officially launched.

 

 

 

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

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

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.

Using SL? On BlueSky? Get a free custom Second Life handle!

Posted on by Inara Pey
My Bluesky handle updated to use the secondlife.bio extension

Note: the secondlife.bio handle extension is neither supplied nor endorsed by Linden Lab. It is a third-party tool provided for the use / enjoyment of Second Life users. 

If you are one of the growing number of Second Life users who are on BlueSky, either as a result of joining directly or because you decided you’d had enough of Twitter/X? If so, you’re probably aware of things like the Starter Packs of SL BlueSky users put together by the likes of Kess Crystal (starter pack) and Caspian Morningstar (starter pack).

But did you know you can also have a “Second Life handle” for your BlueSky account?

Why settled for yourname.bsky.social when you can be yourname.secondlife.bio, and have a handle that instantly identifies you to other SL users on BlueSky as an SLer (as I have, as seen in the banner image for this article)?

The idea is the brainchild of Samuel Newman, a BlueSky contributor (and @secondlife.bio on BlueSky), and updating your handle to use secondlife.bio could not be easier. All you need is a BlueSky account, then follow some simple steps on your desktop:

  • Make sure BkySky is running in your browser.
  • Visit secondlife.bio.
  • Under Enter Your Current Handle type / copy/paste your existing BlueSky handle, leaving out the leading “@” (e.g. “zaphodbeeblebrox.bsky.social”).
  • Click the Submit button next to it.
  • The page should update with Account Found and show your BlueSky handle and banner:
Updating your BlueSky handle via secondlife.bio (1)
  • Now enter your handle + the .secondlife.bio extension under Choose Your New Handle:
Updating your BlueSky handle via secondlife.bio (2)
  • Click the Submit button next to it.

Now, Switch back to BlueSky and:

  • Click  on Settings → Account → @Handle to open the Change Handle floater.
Setting your new handle in BlueSky (1)
  • Click on I Have My Own Domain at the bottom of the floater to expand it, and:
    1. Enter your new handle using the secondlife.bio domain (e.g. “zaphodbeeblebrox.secondlife.bio”)
    2. Make sure DNS Panel is selected (highlighted).
    3. Click / tap on Verify DNS Record (this will be enabled to click after completing (1.) above.
Setting your new handle in BlueSky (2)
  • Your BlueSky handle should now update – you may need to refresh your BlueSky page to see it.
  •  And that’s it!

Obviously, if you’re an SL user on BlueSky and are happy with the bsky.social extension on your handle – that’s great! You don’t have to change (or feel pressured into does so). But if you use BlueSky exclusively for your Second Life activities, it might heighten your visibility with other SL users and encourage them to make contact / follow you should you name pop-up in their timeline; and if you have non-SL followers, it might encourage them to express curiosity in knowing more about the platform – so why not give it a try?

My thanks to Barbi Blowhard for the pointer to secondlife.bio, and a thank you to Samuel Newman / @secondlife.bio for creating the handy handle generator.

Coming Soon: SL e-mail notifications when signing-in from a new device

Posted on by Inara Pey

Linden Lab has announce the coming introduction of a new account security mechanism: receipt of an e-mail notification when your account is being accessed from a previously unknown (aka “new” to the SL services) device.

Receipt of such e-mail notifications is something of a common standard for many platforms and on-line services, helping to provide an additional layer of protection against unauthorised attempts to access and use an account.

No actual date as to when this service will be going live is provided, but the Lab note that as it is rolled out, it is more important than ever that users make sure they have verified the e-mail address they use in association with their Second Life account.

The official blog post on the matter reads in part:

We are going to be introducing an additional way for you to keep your account safe! When we detect that your viewer is being accessed from a new device, we’ll send you an email that looks like this:
          SUBJECT: Important: [FIRSTNAME LASTNAME] used from a new machine to access Second Life.
          Your Second Life account has been accessed from a new machine. If you recently logged in to Second Life from a new device you may ignore this mail.
               Account: [FIRSTNAME LASTNAME]
               Time: [TIME IN SLT, example 2022-02-11 09:09.00 SLT]
               Originating IP Address: [IP ADDRESS OF NEW COMPUTER]
           
          If this was you, you don’t need to do anything. If not, we will help you secure your account: What To Do If Your Account Has Been Compromised.

This is a further measure in providing Second Life users with better account security; as a separate measure and in September 2021 Linden Lab implemented the first phase of multi-factor authentication, offered to users on an opt-in basis. This will soon be extended to include the viewer (see: 2022 CCUG and TPVD meetings week #5 summary and 2022 CCUG and TPVD meetings week #7 summary) – with further enhancements to the capability also being planned.

Related Links

Watch Mon Métaverse, reflections on Second Life, Meta and more

Posted on by Inara Pey
Courtesy of Tutsy Navarathna
Following the creation of Meta accompanied by the grandiose announcements by the media singing the praises of future metaverses, we can rightly ask ourselves, which metaverses and what future are we talking about? … My friend, Yann Minh, a fellow explorer of cyberspace shares with us his thoughts and fears.

– From the introduction of Mon Métaverse by Tutsy Navarathna

With these words, Tutsy Navarathna leads us into his latest video, one that among his most thought-provoking (which is saying something, given the depth of content and ideas that are always embraced by his work).

Yann Minh

Published on his You Tube channel on January 16th, Mon Métaverse (“My Metaverse”) offers thoughts and reflections on the futures of “the metaverse” from both Tutsy and cyberspace explorer Yann Minh, who has been active within, and considering, virtual spaces for over 20 years.

Running to just a touch over 5 minutes, the video is a fascinating dissection of the current hype around “the metaverse”. Within it we are invited to consider what we have had up until now, and the choices we may face in the future. Do we hold on to we have thus far had: a digital life of almost limitless horizons and infinite diversity in which freedom of expression and creativity are embraced; or are we going to allow ourselves to be herded into sanitised corporate-defined spaces where expression and creativity run second to the surrender of personal data to feed the corporate revenue machine, and activities are governed by fake corporate morals.

When I thought twenty years ago that we were heading towards a more flexible, versatile and mature future, in fact the opposite is happening. We are clearly heading towards an infantizing, paternalistic future similar to the time when religious morals massively imposed their absurd rules on individuals.

Yann Minh, Mon Métaverse

This is a subject that can be debated at a length that will easily exceed the 5 minutes of the video. However, the beauty of Mon Métaverse is that Yann encapsulates these concerns eloquently and concisely, challenging us to think about our digital future without belabouring the message. In doing so, he positions things perfectly for Tutsy to present a – frankly – marvellous and honest look at the richness we have within Second Life, perfectly illustrating what “the metaverse” should really be about: the creativity of individuals, built without the data-hungry maw of algorithm and data collation sitting beneath it.

Beyond this, and on a personal level, I couldn’t help but see a possible broader context within the video; a more subtle questioning / challenge. It comes both in Yann’s comments around Facebook / Meta as the tip of an iceberg and the follow-on statement regarding religious censorship. We already know Facebook is responsible for the spread of disinformation – a practice it is unwilling to stop, and which has assisted the open growth of authoritarian politics that are, to no small extent, founded on a fake moralistic and divisive organised religion. As it turns out, this was in fact something that both Yann and Tutsy had also been considering in developing the concept of the video, as Tutsy informed me.

We are faced with a system that’s increasingly dominated by normalising algorithms in the service of a radical, conservative, authoritarian right unchallenged by most of the media. Within digital spaces, Meta is just the tip of the iceberg which as Yann Minh puts it, “leads us to a paternalistic, infantilizing future”; it seems high time we express our opposition to the way our freedoms and democracy are being so challenged least, as Yann notes, we see the absurd rules of the religious conservatives imposed on all of us within virtual spaces as well.

– Tutsy Navarathna

Thus, Mon Métaverse folds into itself a broader narrative that is not entirely out-of-place, and which adds further depth to its message for those who like to ponder such matters.

But, leaving messages and narratives aside, Mon Métaverse stands as a superb promotional piece for Second Life, both within the broader context of “the metaverse” and as a means of offering insight into the platforms power to attract, engage and retain users. This makes it more than worth the time take to watch it, and I encourage you to do so, either by viewing it below or clicking on the link within the video panel and watching it directly on Tutsy’s You Tube channel.

Lab announces change to e-mail preferences for Group notices

Posted on by Inara Pey

Tuesday, December 7th, 2021: Linden Lab have announced a forthcoming change to e-mail notification preferences in respect of the receipt of Group notices received via e-mail when users are not logging in to Second Life.

To quote the blog post in part:

We will soon be adding an option to email notification preferences. Currently, you can choose to receive IMs in your email when you are not logged in to Second Life. There will now be an additional setting that controls whether you receive Group notices in e-mail.
We are rolling this change out in stages. If you change your settings, it may be up to two weeks before it takes effect.
The default for the new setting affecting Group notices will be OFF. If you wish to receive Group notices in email, you will need to visit the web page and opt in.
This change is motivated by feedback from our community as well as residents frequently marking Group Notice emails as spam.  We want emails to our residents to be as relevant and useful as possible.

– via Linden Lab

The ability to opt-in to receiving Group notices can be found on your account dashboard at secondlife.com (there is a direct link provided in the official blog post), under Account → Change Email Settings.

Note that this is an option subject to multi-factor verification when accessing it, and the option includes a check box and dedicated Save button that must be clicked in order to update any changes, as per the image below.

As from December 15th, 2021, anyone wishing to receive Group notices as e-mails when they are not logged-in to SL will have to explicitly update their account e-mail options in order to do so

Finally, and as per the comment in red on the Change Email Setting page, and the note within the official blog post, this option must be checked by anyone who wishes to continue to receive Group notices via e-mail when not logged in to Second Life, from December 15th onwards. Also note:

  • From December 15th the IM’s to e-mail preferences setting within the viewer will no longer be valid; only the web page options will work to change these preferences. Until the option is removed from the viewer, attempts to use the Preferences option to change the setting will return an IM directing users to the web page).
  • This change does not see any change in the current cap on IMs-to-e-mail caps. However, if Group notices are set to off (the default), the cap should only apply to off-line IMs, rather than counting both IMs and group notices.