SL News – Page 20 – Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

Second Norway: making the changes

Posted on May 14, 2020June 15, 2021 by Inara Pey

At the end of April I was able to confirm that Second Norway, after recent concerns about its future, would be continuing as a part of the Luxory Estates group, with Vanity Bonetto and her team taking over day-to-day management of things – land management and sales / rentals, etc., with Ey, Mialinn, SlaYeR, joining the Luxory team with responsibilities for the road and rail network, management of the Second Norway airport and for social / community elements within the estate. See: Second Norway: the future is bright.

In that article, I noted that as part of the change-over, there would be a certain amount of work being put into the estate, with the northern regions being re-worked to offer new island home spaces, together with a re-laying of roads and rail systems through the more connected regions within the estate.

*Second Norway: one of the new islands, already occupied*

So what has happened in the two weeks since the hand-over? Well, rather a lot. As Vanity noted to me as I dropped in to take a look at progress:

We are working our pixels off here!

The northern regions have now all been relaid to offer three or four islands apiece (although some have “mainland”elements running through them. These offer islands sized between (at the time of writing) 7,292 sq m through to 11,776 sq m (although there was one smaller parcel at 4,688 sq m still available). Prices for the parcels are in line with other Blake Sea estates, and can be found in the Second Norway sales office).

*Second Norway: one of the larger island parcels awaiting occupancy*

To the south, closer to the airport and the land around it, parcels with water and road access are in development, although it will be a while longer before these are ready of occupancy. At the same time, Ey and SlaYeR have been rebuilding the road and rail system, as Ey recently blogged:

We have been here before, SlaYeR and I. Hauling railroad tracks, getting them in place. Laying warm asphalt on new stretches of road. As the basic terraforming of the north-west is now done, the (rail)road guys can move in, as we have done many times before. New land will emerge connected to the road network. This is sort of back to the future for us.

– Ey Ren, May 9th, 2020

*Second Norway: the new waterfront district being developed by AustinLiam*

South of the airport is a further development, this one being undertaken by AustinLiam, offering a working waterfront district, with further rental islands alongside of it.

Even with the work on-going, sales have started, and the new parcels are proving popular among former Second Norway renters who had to move out while the changes were made to the extent that Vanity informed me the Luxory land team are finding it hard to keep pace with demand. Despite all the changes, the open waterways have remained operational, and it’s possible to sail / motorboat around the new islands even while the work continues.

The rental islands come pre-formed and semi-landscaped with rocks and a small channel that cuts through one corner to provide a small, separate island reached via a connecting stone bridge. Moderate terraforming is allowed, providing that it is neither excessive nor spoils the overall theme for the estate – so no private mountains or fjords! Similarly, building and other structures must be in overall accordance with Second Norway’s temperate / northern latitude theme.

*Second Norway: two more of the new rental islands, already occupied*

There’s still a way to go with the changes, as both Vanity and Ey note; but considering it’s only been a couple of weeks since the hand-over occurred, a lot has been achieved, and it’s easy to see the Second Norway is well on the way to becoming a renewed community with a secure future that offers a lot to tenants and visitors alike.

Additional Links

Second Norway: the future is bright – this blog, April 27th
Back to the Future – Ey Ren, The Bad Elf Blog, May 9th
Second Norway sales office SLurl

Second Life Premium Plus roll-out postponed

Posted on May 13, 2020November 19, 2022 by Inara Pey

I was unable to get to the Web User Group meeting on Wednesday, May 5th, and it is taking a while to catch up with things. However, one item of discussion that I’ve been made aware of – with thanks to Lucia et al – is that of Premium Plus.

This is, as most know, the new subscription level, placed “above”, so to speak, that of Premium, that Linden Lab have been working on.

No specifics as to what it might include have to date been released, making it the subject of much speculation in forums and at things like the Web User Group meetings, but it had been indicated that the roll-out of Premium Plus would follow some time after the deployment of Name Changes, which happened in early April (see Linden Lab announces “the return of last names”, and some notes).

Indeed, updated server-side support for Premium subscriptions – including Premium Plus – have already been deployed, and updates to more easily handle data relating to subscription benefits have also been made to the viewer, and will filter out to TPVs over time.

However, the plans for the formal deployment of Premium Plus have now changed, as first revealed at the May 5th Web User Group meeting; the change, and the reasons for it were further confirmed to me by Grumpity Linden on Tuesday, May 12th.

We have made the decision to delay the deployment of Premium Plus based on two key factors:

We want to be focused on our Uplift project (move to the cloud) and to minimize distraction for our development, QA, and Ops teams. While we’ve laid a lot of groundwork, quite a bit more still remains to finish Premium Plus.

The pandemic has brought a lot of financial uncertainty to people all around the world and we know many of our Residents have been hit hard.

We are very happy that SL has provided an outlet for people where they can connect, escape, engage safely, and earn a living or supplement their income as well. But we also realise that introducing a higher-priced service level in this time would be really ham-handed.

– Grumpity Linden, May 12th, 2020

As to when might we see Premium Plus – or something like it – made available? Grumpity continued:

I don’t know that there’s a whole lot more to say. I can’t promise a time line, but early 2021 is reasonable to expect. If we find ourselves in a position to move up that time line, we’ll certainly explore that. Without any actual plans to that effect, we may find, for example, that a different type of service level than Premium Plus is a better offering for the times we find ourselves in come Fall.

Given the current global economic / income environment, delaying the deployment of the new Premium level is a sensible move, for the reason Grumpity states. As and when there is further news on Premium Plus, I’ll endeavour to provide an update – and in a more timely manner!

Adult Swim special streaming event in Second Life

Posted on May 5, 2020May 7, 2020 by Inara Pey

In what has to be the most curious event to reach Second Life is a while, Linden Lab has teamed up with Adult Swim, the American adult-oriented night-time programming block of the children’s basic cable network Cartoon Network to stream four episodes of The Shivering Truth at a special in-world event.

For those not familiar with it, The Shivering Truth is a stop-motion animated surrealist anthology sketch comedy television series, featuring the voice talents of creator Vernon Chatman, together with cast members such as Janeane Garofalo, Trey Parker, Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Zack Pearlman, Maria Bamford, Conner O’Malley, David Cross, Martha Plimpton, and Peter Serafinowicz.

The Second Life event will take place on Friday, May 8th, 2020, starting at 16:00 SLT. It is to comprise two episodes from the first season of The Shivering Truth, followed by two episodes from the show’s second season, which will start airing in the United States on Sunday, May 10th, 2020.

The in-world streaming will take place in-world at a special location created for the event, with the Lab noting:

During the event, you can chat with fellow fans of the show and other special guests as you experience the show together for the first time in the virtual world. Free limited-edition virtual gifts and mementos will also be distributed during and after the show — just look for the “Free Gifts” kiosk near the front entrance.

– Exclusive Adult Swim Second Life Event, Linden Lab, May 5th, 2020

The showing is open to anyone to attend – details below – however, those attending will need to be running the special CEF (Chrome embedded Framework) viewer issued as a release candidate on Thursday, April 30th. This viewer will help with streaming content on more sites in general, with the Lab further noting:

The event also marks the first media partnership utilising the new limited-release Second Life Viewer, which enables content creators and entertainment companies to broadcast live video events to virtual world audiences. In the future, you may see several new forms of entertainment including movie and TV premiers, live concerts, and artist/fan meet-and-greets. We’re very excited to partner with Adult Swim for the début of this new feature, which we plan to integrate into the main Second Life Viewer release in the coming weeks.

– Exclusive Adult Swim Second Life Event, Linden Lab, May 5th, 2020

Those wishing to be a part of the event can do so as follows (again, as per the Lab’s blog post):

Download the CEF RC viewer and install it ahead of the event. Note that other viewers will not be compatible with the live stream during the screening event.
On the day of the event, this link can be used to teleport to the venue from 15:30 SLT. Early attendance is recommended, as seating is extremely limited.

For those unable to make the premier, the programme will be repeated hourly through until 21:00 SLT on Friday, May 8th.

To help promote the event and steer non-SL users to the in-world venue, the Lab has launched a special Second Life landing page focused on it, and which provides further information on the event and the sneak peek video of the venue, embedded at the end of this article.

*The banner for the Second Life landing page created for The Shivering Truth event*

The choice of Adult Swim to premier a new service / option that is clearly intended to appeal to an audience of potential interested partners from outside Second Life is an interesting one.

Certainly, similar events held in Sansar (notably around the Star Trek franchise, which have seen cast members from the various Trek incarnations, as well as writers and other backstage crew, mixing it with users and fans at meet-and-greet / QA sessions, proved to be an popular means of drawing people into that platform – if not necessarily retaining them as engaged users. So it will be interesting to see who else the Lab has lined up for such events / streaming activities like this is the future, and what the response is among SL users and non-users alike.

Second Norway: the future is bright

Posted on April 27, 2020August 23, 2024 by Inara Pey

Following my March pieces on Second Norway and Sailors Cover East and the issues of their respective futures (see: Second Norway & Sailor’s Cove East: rumours & statements – March 23rd and Second Norway and Sailor’s Cove East – status update – April 3rd), I was contacted by Vanity Bonetto, CEO of Luxory and Willowdale Estates, asking if I could put her in contact with Ey, as she had an interest in taking on Second Norway.

Given that Vanity has been able to take over a number of smaller SL estates that have got into difficulties over the years and then turning them around (she took over Willowdale some two years ago when it was just 30 regions – today it comprises some 250 regions), I was only too happy to handle introductions and then get out of the way and let them discuss matters.

*Discussing Second Norway’s future with Vanity (l) and Ey (r)*

Those discussions have now led to a positive outcome, and I’m happy to be able to provide a further update on all that has happened / will be happening (although those reading Ey’s Bad Elf blog will already be aware of the situation 🙂 ).

In short, all regions in Second Norway will be continuing, but under the management of Vanity and the Luxory team, with Ey, Mialinn, SlaYeR joining them. Going forward, they will be managing the Second Norway Airport and the social community aspects of the estate.

I hope that before long Mialinn, SlaYeR and I can invite people to fun nights in the SN club with DJs, quizzes and general jibberish talk, just like in the old days.

– Ey Ren

To directly support the land management aspects of the estate, Vanity is bringing on a dedicated team of sales and support agents.

One of my experienced sales team members will be leading things. It takes around four weeks for new agents to get up to speed with our processes, so the new team will have time to learn while we’re redeveloping parts of the estate.

– Vanity Bonetto

For the present, the estate is to be split into two working parts. Note that this is not an actual physical divide in the regions, but rather a means to differentiate areas in terms of the work that will be taking place. Under it, the southern regions, which include places such as Bryggen, the stave church and Second Norway Airport (SNO) will initially remain largely unchanged, with the airport re-opening for business.

Meanwhile, the northern regions will undergo an overhaul by Vanity’s landscaping team. This work will be extensive, and requires those residents in them to at least temporarily relocate. It’s a hard thing to do, but one seen as necessary; however, incentives will be offered to encourage people to return once the work has been done. The redevelopment also means that the estate’s regional express train tracks will be removed – but the system will return once the work has been completed.

It’s the only way to upload new terrain files – but we will extend special offers to all current and former residents so that it will pay out for them and make it worth to return to Second Norway in some weeks.

The island to the north will be updated, and over time we’ll offer more to the east and then progress south and demand requires. These island will be of different shapes and sizes. There will be multiple parcels close to the airport while the regions in the north, east and south will offer more privacy.

– Vanity Bonetto

To help with the transitioning, some of the current Second Norway residents have been shown the new designs for the regions that Vanity’s team have been putting together in the Luxory Estates “Lab regions”, and the feedback has been positive.

*An example of the new Second Life regions under development at the Luxory lab regions. Note the tall columns are the rezzer systems for deploying each island’s features*

A further benefit of the transfer of ownership is that the remaining 17 regions of Sailor’s Cove East can be retained, although not as they currently are. Rather than competing with the 24 regions Patrick agreed to take over, these regions will now be relocated to Second Norway and form a part of the redevelopment work.

As it is, the transfer of ownership from Ey to Vanity and Luxory estates was concluded on Friday, April 24th. The path is now clear for the work in overhauling the northern regions to commence, and for Ey and his team to start on a new chapter in the history of the Second Norway Airport and the social aspects of the estate.

I am relieved and happy that Vanity has agreed to take ownership of Second Norway … I would like to express my gratitude towards the residents who have been living in Second Norway for years and have been very good sports when it comes to these changes.

– Ey Ren

On my part, I’m happy to see the Second Norway / SCE situation resolved so positively, and I particularly look forward to further covering the work at Second Norway. My thanks to both Vanity and Ey for keeping me in the loop on matters, and for spending time with me on April 27th.

Sources

Conversation with Vanity Bonetto and Ey Ren, April 27th, 2020
The Regional Express train will return – Ey Ren, April 2020
One week’s notice – Ey Ren, April 24th, 2020
Second Norway continues – and then some – Ey Ren, April 24th

Second Life: the return of last names, and some notes

Posted on April 13, 2020November 19, 2022 by Inara Pey

On Monday, April 13th, Linden Lab announced the return of Last Names to Second Life. Also known as Name Changes, the feature re-introduces the capability for (some) users to select a last name, as the blog post explains:

Back in the day, Second Life Residents were given the option at registration of selecting from a variety of pre-determined “last name” options. The use of shared “last names” helped build community among Residents who found instant kinship and bonding amidst these newfound virtual family ties shared with strangers of the same lineage. Similar to the commodity of dot-com domains, some “last names” held a special status in the community. Some were extremely rare and, in some cases, there were perceived attributes and reputations associated with certain last name offerings.

However, the capability is more about last names, as I’ll cover in a moment, but first:

The History Bit

When the capability was withdrawn in 2010, to be replaced by Display Names and leaving all new sign-up with the default (and largely invisible “last name” of “Resident”, there was widespread outcry, accompanied by requests and demands that the option for people to once more pick there last name be re-introduced.

Such was this demand, that by the end of 2011, the Lab was actually thinking of bringing the capability back, as the then-CEO, Rod “Rodvik” Humble announced on his profile feed:

*Former Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble (Rodvik Linden) raising the possible return of Last Names back in December 2011)*

Rod even went so far as to indicate Last Names would return in early 2012 (see Last names back in January? from 2011).

In the end, however, everything got bogged down in exactly how Last Names should be re-offered: should in be from a list again, or free form? (see: Last Names: don’t over-cook the baking). And so, in early March 2012, Rod admitted via a blog post (that is sadly no longer available, but you can read my thoughts on it in Rodvik blogs: No Last Names), that due to assorted complexities, Last Names would not be coming back.

Nevertheless, the requests / demands for the ability to select a last name persisted such that in March 2018, the Lab announced they were once again working on a way to bring last names back to Second Life ( see: Last names to return to SL and more – Linden Lab). Just how complex a task it has been to return them is perhaps made clear by the fact that it has taken two years from that initial announcement to the official re-launch in April 2020.

That said, and despite the title of the Lab’s own blog post, it’s important to remember the returning capability is about more than just last names; it’s about the ability to completely change your avatar’s account name, if you wish – last name and / or first name. This is why the project has generally been referred to as Name Changes, rather than “last names”.

As such, it comes with some important points that are (again) worth noting:

It is only available to Premium subscribers, who may change their first name or their last name or both their first and last name whenever they wish.
- First names are free-form.
- Last names are selected from a list, with the available names updated periodically.
Once a first name+ last name combination has been applied to an avatar account, it cannot be used by any other account (so “Josephine Bloggs” cannot use Name Change to become “Inara Pey”).
It is possible for you to revert back to any previously-used name assigned to your account.
There is a fee applicable each time the capability is used.
- At the time of writing, the free for Premium accounts is $39.99 per change (first name or last name or both first / last) or to revert to a previous name).
- It has been indicated that Premium Plus, once introduced, will likely have a lower fee applied for Name Changes.
- VAT at applicable rates will be added to accounts in VAT-paying countries.
Name Changes is not replacing Display Names – these will remain available at no charge to all who wish to use them.
Name changes are not being offered as a part of the sign-up process because:
- It is a Premium benefit.
- The Lab has data to show that asking users to pick a name from a list was actually a sufficient enough blocker to prevent many of them completing the sign-up process.
If you are Premium and use the Name Change capability, then subsequently downgrade to Basic, you will retain whatever avatar / account name you have at the time you downgrade. You will not not “revert” to any past name you may have had, and you won’t be able to change you name again until such time as you re-up to Premium.
Name changes are made via the Second Life dashboard, and you must be logged-out of Second Life in order to make sure any Name Change you make is correctly applied to your account.
As it is now possible for users to change their account names, it is vital that any scripted means of recording avatar details (e.g. for the purposes of purchase redelivery, or within security systems and so on) do so by avatar key (UUID) and not avatar name.

*Now you can – if you are a Premium account subscriber – change your accounts first and / or last name. See my tutorial for how*

Observations

While the return of last names has long been request, whether Name Changes will be seen as fitting the bill by all users is open to debate. Money is involved (and a not trivial sum at that), so that alone will likely raise objections among those who have not followed the progress of the capability.

The fee has been intentionally set at a level where for those who are attracted to it will not use it to excess. This is because Name Changes go to the very heart of a Second Life account, and thus touch every single element of the platform – from the name you see on the screen over an avatar to things like inventory data, land information, the things and products they make and / or sell, transactions they have made, the groups of which they are a member, and so on and so forth. As such, every name change impacts a range of services and databases which may sound “simple” in terms of field / array update – but which still have an impact.

Some might feel the left out by Name Changes being a Premium-only option, or just not worth the expense – and that’s why Display Names are remaining available.

I find myself entirely neutral on the matter. I’m fortunate enough to have an account name I’m unlikely to ever want to change, because after 13 years, it is very much a part of me. Even so, given the time taken to implement, the (albeit understandable) reason for the fee, etc., I actually cannot help wonder if Name Changes will actually generate the kind of return that will cover the 2-year cost of implementation. But then, if those who do use it are happy to have at least some means to change their name whenever they wish – does that really matter?