Update: SL20B includes National and Global Sweepstakes with some impressive physical world and Second Life prizes – read more here!
Second Life marks its 20th anniversary in 2022 with 11 days of celebrations and exhibitions across multiple Birthday regions in Second Life. As with previous years, the event folds into in, live music, DJ sets, art, shopping (via the dedicated Shop and Hop event), exhibits by Linden Lab and – particularly exhibit by Second Life residents and communities.
The following is intended to provide a general overview of the celebrations and highlight some of the key aspects, although as there was (again) no preview opportunity (or even any announcement through the SLB Press Corps group, which makes me wonder what we’ve collectively done to be shunned by the Lab), this has in part been put together in a bit of a rush in order to still be relevant around the time of the opening ceremony.
Dates and Theme
This year the SLB festivities will open on Thursday, June 22nd, through until Sunday, July 2nd. Thing will launch on June 22nd with the start of the 3-day Music Fest, with the rest of the festivities and events running from June 25th.
We are pleased to announce our Birthday theme for this year: Our Fantastic Future. The cornerstone of this idea is what we would define as eco-futurism including sustainability, a focus on our environment, and the next generation of our world. Some might call this science fiction, but what is science fiction except a dream for a possible future? In Second Life we build worlds. Our worlds, our way. For SL20B, we invite you to show us your worlds of the future!
– From the official SL20B announcement
SL Birthday Calendar and Magazine
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.
SL20B Guide Magazine
Published to coincide with the celebrations is the SL20B Official Guide Magazine. This not only provides a guide to all of the SL20B regions, it includes interviews with members of the Lab’s board and management team, it charts the history of Second Life, with input on the subject from both Lindens and a cross-section of residents (apparently including someone called “Pey”, for some reason who wibbles at some point within it).
The magazine is again a new venture for the Lab where SL Birthday events are concerned, and allows residents and also ISSSU users to find out more about the platform and its attractiveness, with articles tracking some of the popular activities within SL: fashion, content creation, and home décor. There is also a potted history of Second Life from 2003 through to 2023, which appears to be modelled on the (now) staple of SLB event: The Tapestry of Time exhibit, which appears within the SL20 Birthday regions.
For those interested in finding out what is where within the Exhibit regions, Pages 84 through 105 provide an alphabetical breakdown of the exhibitor regions and the exhibits to be found within them.
Key Events
Grand Opening
Patch Linden will be formally opening SL18B at 12:00 SLT at the Mandala Stage, which will also be streamed as a You Tube Lab Gab special, in which Strawberry Linden will afterwards host a tour of the SL19B regions.
Music Fest and Shop and Hop
As has become the tradition, the Birthday will kick-off with a 3-day Music Fest taking place at the Mandala Stage and featuring many of Second Life’s top vocalists and musicians. The full schedule (at the time of publication can be found in my SL20B: Music Fest, Lab Gab, Shop and Hop post, and in this official post post.
The SL20B Shop And Hop event is taking place across 20 regions, and features 480 creators and merchants. The best way to find out about this event is via the Shop and Hop Destination Guide entry and via the SL20B Shop and Hop Participating Merchants list.
Lab Gab Linden Talk Shows
As per usual, SL20B will feature a series of Talk shows featuring various members of the Lab’s Board, management team and advisors. These will be a mix of live and pre-recorded sessions, and whilst also already covered in the Music Fest, etc., blog post mentioned above, I’m including the schedule here for completeness, and further information can be found in this official blog post.
Event SLurls: Arboretum 1 – Arboretum 2 – Arboretum 3
| Day (Times SLT) | Featured Guest(s) |
| Monday 26th June, 13:30 |
Patch Linden, Vice President of Product Operations (Live) |
| Tuesday 27th June, 13:30 | Grumpity Linden, Vice President of Second Life Product and Mojo Linden, Vice President of Engineering (Pre-recorded) |
| Wednesday 28th, June, 13:30 | Linden Lab Executive Chair Brad Oberwager and Founder Philip Rosedale (Live) |
| Thursday 29th June, 13:30 | Chief Marketing Officer StyFy Linden and VP of Marketing Brett Linden (Pre-recorded) |
| Friday 30th June, 13:30 | Meet the Moles. The Moles are builders, scripters, and content creators employed by Linden Lab to work in the Linden Department of Public Works (Live) |
The Welcome Area
Never been to an SLB event before – try starting at the Welcome Area where you’ll find lost of help, things like the SL20B Hunt HUD, 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 SL20B Gift Area, offering gifts from the Birthday exhibitors and from merchants participating in the Shop & Hop event.
The Community Gallery Walkway
For 20 years, Second Life has offered us a virtual space to create, define and explore, bringing people from around the world together to create, share, discover new interests and make new friends, participate in games and adventures, to learn and discuss, and simply have fun.
For SL20B, the Community Gallery walkway, extending to / from the Welcome Area, has been created to offer a place where visitors can share their memories of their times and adventures, memories that turned a virtual world into a community of Residents.
Exhibitor Regions
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 SL20B Exhibitor Showcase.
Note that teleport boards are available at the centre of all Exhibitor regions for easy of moving between them.
Adult Exhibitor Regions
for the first time at SLB, Adult content and groups are permitted to exhibit at the event, with four dedicated regions – separate to the main exhibitor regions – open to visit. These have a dedicated Teleport Hub sitting kitty-corner admits the four regions, and I’ve also included individual region SLurls at the end of this article.
Advice on a Better Experience
The SL19B regions – celebratory and Shop & Hop 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.
- To assist the simulator, remove unnecessary scripted attachments.
- Dress lightly, avoid 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.
- The Arboretum – home to the Opening Ceremony, Lab Gab specials and more (rated General):
- The Mandala Stage – Opening Ceremony and Music Fest
- The Oroborus Stage – 24/7 partying, DJ events and eclectic performance.
- The Tapestry of Time and Gift Area
- The Community Gallery Walkway
General Rated Exhibitor Region SLurls
Adult Rated Regions
| Adult Exhibitors teleport Hub | SLB Alluring | SLB Daring | SLB Euphoric | SLB Irresistible |
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 