To mark SL12B, Linden Lab announced in May that they’d be holding a live Music Festival, and went on to hold auditions for artists and groups at Feed A Smile’s Lavender Fields.
On Wednesday, June 24th, the Lab announced the official dates and schedule for the Festival (although the keen-eyed would have already noted it on the SL12BCC event schedule, where the line-up has been available as well).
The event will take place at Cube Republic’s excellent Ixtlan Stage over the course of Friday, June 26th and Saturday June 27th.
The full line-up for the event reads as follows – all times SLT:
Friday, June 26th
Saturday, June 27th
11:00: Alazarin Mondrian
20:00: Mavenn Resident
11:30: The Pink Vampire
20:30: Oblee
Noon: Tamra Hayden
21:00: Collin Martin
12:30: Effinjay
21:30: Taunter Goodnight
13:00: Amforte Clarity
22:00: Donn DeVore
13:30: Isabella Rumsford
22:30: Zak Claxton
14:00: Tempio Breil
23:00: LuvofMusic
14:30: Phoenix J
23:30: Ren Enberg & Quai Franklin
The line-up has been selected to represent a broad cross-section of live music in Second Life, and the auditions proved popular among musicians and residents in the audience alike.
As well as hearing great music, the festival offers a further opportunity for exploring the Ixtlan stage build. Cube’s design really is amazing, and time taken to enter the caverns and walk through them really is highly recommended.
We all call it a birthday, but the reality is that June 23rd actually marks an anniversary: that of the public opening of Second Life in 2003 to anyone wishing to come aboard and find out what it is all about.
Second Life was actually “born” some time before that. Depending on your point-of-view it could be said that its “real” birthday was either March 2002, as Linden World morphed into a very alpha Second Life, or perhaps October 2002, when the closed beta started; or even April 2003, when the open beta launched.
Nevertheless, whether birthday or anniversary, reaching 12 years of public access is a remarkable achievement by anyone’s standards when it comes to what is essentially an IT platform, and the fact is that Second Life – despite the doom and gloom and dire predictions that frequently pour forth as to its future – is still in pretty robust health and remains a source of enjoyment to so many, is something that should be celebrated.
Over the span of years, we’ve seen Second Life grow from humble origins to become one of the longest running and, arguably, one of the most successful virtual world environments yet created. Yes, the total number of active users may never have got much beyond the one million mark, but in some ways this hardly matters. The fact is that Second Life has become a strong, vibrant set of intertwined communities and groups; a place where creativity can be freely expressed almost howsoever we can imagine.
It allows people from all over the world to congregate, to share in experiences and activities and one another’s lives; it is a place where friendships – even relationships – can form between those who otherwise would never meet, much less spend time together. Through it, many have found an outlet for their digital creative talents, while others have found an audience for their singing and song writing, and others have found it a means of incredible artistic expression.
And throughout that time, the platform has continued to evolve, to meet the ever more complicated and broad ranging demands we place upon it. Thus, over the years we’ve seen the arrival of private regions, of better and more capable scripting capabilities, visual enhancements such as windlight and materials, support for different means of content creation – notably mesh, and so on. And it has remained a highly successful means for many to generate an income of their own.
What’s more, all of this has been done – particularly over the last five years – with little or no major upset to people’s ability to access a world we expect to be ready and waiting for us at any given minute of the day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
When you think about it, this is a level of availability that is quite stunning, and which many other services are hard pushed to provide. Even more so when you consider the overwhelming complexity of Second Life. Not just the simulators, and their need to support a wealth of content we, the collective residents, can between us pretty much change at will; but all the additional (and all-too-often ignored) back-end systems that must always be available non-stop in order for us to be able talk, share, buy, wear, render, and so on.
Of course there have been lows as well as highs over the years. Some of these have been over-exaggerated with the passage of time, others do speak of missteps along the way. There have been the inevitable upsets and times when the Lab and residents have seemed pretty much at odds with one another. But that’s to be expected where people feel passionately about something, and into which they have poured so much of their time, effort and talent.
Perhaps the worst period in SL’s long history came in 2008/09, when it did seem there was a prevailing desire within some of those running the company to see the platform turned away from the open, creative and collaborative platform which has marked its success, and into something altogether more business-oriented in outlook and use. That year also marked the whole OpenSpace / Homestead region situation which caused considerable bad feeling, and which could be said to have gone on to have repercussions through the period 2010-2013.
But when taken as a whole, low points such as these are really in the minority. By-and-large, Second life has been for all of us who continue to engage in it, a positive and rewarding experience. After all, if it were otherwise, would we actually still be here? And that goes for the staff at the Lab as well, all of whom, I think it fair to say, are as enthusiastic for, and engaged with, the platform as any resident, even if we don’t often get to see it directly. After all, were they not, why should they keep working at the Lab?
Second Life has been – and remains a quite remarkable adventure; one that obviously retains a huge amount of appeal for all of us who come to it, often on a daily basis. It’s a place where a part of us, no matter how small, does find fulfilment and enjoyment. Hence why it is right that we do celebrate just what a technical and social feat Second life really is, and what it means to all of us.
And when you think about it, while 12 years a a long time, it still means Second Life has yet to enter its teens, so there is plenty of promise of life to come – and with it, dreams aplenty to share.
Happy Anniversary, Second Life – and here’s to many more!
The SL12B Main (live performances) stage: Toady, Flea, Cacia, Clover, iDev and LimRaeth
Second life celebrate its 12th year as an open virtual word on Tuesday, June 23rd. Ahead of that, starting at 12:00 noon SLT on Sunday, June 21st, Second life residents are invited to join in with a full week of entertainments and events as a part of the Second Life 12th Birthday Community Celebration.
The regions are now ready – all 15 of them – and the stages are set. Exhibits from individuals, groups and community from across Second Life have been created for people to see and enjoy, and a host of entertainers are ready to bring music and dancing and more to the four main stages spread across the regions, and to special shows and events through the week.
The DJ Stage – Kazuhiro Aridian
As always with the birthday celebrations, there really is a lot to see and do across the regions, and the exhibit builds offer a mix of the breath-taking, the sublime, the wonderful, the stunning and the fun.
One of the things I love with the SLBCC events are the main entertainment stages. Each year, individual builders and teams come together to create a set of stages which are always amazing to see. This year is again something special, with the return of Toady Nakamura and Flea Bussy leading a team to build a truly amazing main stage for live entertainment, Kazuhiro Aridian once again providing a futuristic DJ stage, Miktaki Slade presenting another distinctive cake stage occupying the corners of four regions, and Cube Republic bringing us a remarkable build with in Ixtlan stage.
Ixtlan Stage – Cube Republic
As well as these, there is the Dreamitarium, housing the auditorium which is hosting a range of talks and events, including those sponsored by Prim Perfect I’ve already highlighted, together with the time capsule display and a display on the history of the growth of the SL grid.
To help find your way around, do visit – or start your time at SL12BCC – at the Welcome Centre. Here you’ll find information on entertainments, stages, and attractions with takes the form of direct teleports, landmarks and links to the SL12B events schedule pages. You’ll also find s truly haunting and impressive build by Walton F. Wainwright (Faust Steamer) – make sure you wander through it under the region’s default windlight, and climb the hill to the rear of the railway station.
Given the amount of sheer hard work that has gone into all the preparations, it is perhaps unfair to pick-out favourites among the core builds within the SL12B regions. However, I’ve already confessed to loving the Dreamitarium, which houses the auditorium and forum stages, and I would not be being entirely honest if I failed to admit to finding the main (live performances) stage and the Ixtlan stage incredible. The wealth of detail in both is wonderful – make sure you find your way into the caverns of Ixtlan, and do tour the main stage area very carefully – there is a huge amount to discover, and touches of Toady’s and Flea’s humour can be found throughout (I love the selfie-taking frog 🙂 ).
I’ll have more to come on SL12B as the week progresses. For now, I’ll leave you with a video of the four main stages – let the celebrations begin!
On Thursday, June 18th, Linden Lab announced that the SL12B velociraptor avatar, initially made available to Premium members, is now generally available to all.
The avatar, which will be available through until the end of July can now be claimed at the in-world kiosk at Hairy Hippo Fun Land, Weston, Bay City, or via the Marketplace – although I wouldn’t be surprised if vendors also appear within the SL12B Community Celebration regions as well in the upcoming week.
As is usual with the release of birthday avatars, the Lab is also running a photo contest with L$19,000 available in prizes (broken down into a L$10,000 grand prize, L$5,000, 1st prize, L$3,000 2nd prize, or a L$1,000 3rd prize).
The official blog post announcing the availability of the avatar to all, and the competition, described the latter thus:
The SL12B raptor avatar: subject of the latest photo contest
Now that you’ve got your raptor – it’s time to take ‘em for a test drive. Share snapshots of your raptor avatar celebrating SL12B to the Second Life 12th Anniversary Snapshot Contest from now until July 20th … Be creative! This limited-edition raptor has the entirety of the grid to seek out a picture-perfect spot to take a winning snapshot – but a good place to start is the SL12B Destination Guide category.
The closing date for submissions is 10:00 SLT on Monday, July 20th, 2015. Winners will be decided via popular vote against all submitted entries on the competition pages, with voting opening at 10:00 SLT on July 20th, 2015 and running though until 10:00 SLT August 3rd, 2015.
Just as an aside, The last photo contest was held in February in the form of a photo booth contest. This was judged by a panel (of which I was a member), but the final results got a little lost due to various reasons.
So, in order to (hopefully) help clear the air, the grand and first prize winners in that competition were LadyPants07 and Kye Zelin respectively – belated congratulations to them. However, the 2nd and 3rd prize winners, did not submit the necessary documentation to claim their prizes pursuant to the competition rules, and so the Lab are unable to share their names.
The SL12BCC Dreamitarium – venue for some great talks throughout the celebrations
The SL12B Community Celebrations commence on Sunday, June 21st, when the gates officially open at midday for a week-long series of events to mark the platform’s 12th anniversary, spread across 15 regions.
As usual, this year includes some amazing builds – the main stages are all visually stunning once again, and promise to wow visitors touring the celebrations. The auditorium is also another phenomenal build this year – and one I find particularly attractive, given it is modelled on the theme of a planetarium 🙂 .
The auditorium – or Dreamitarium, as it’s being called this year to fit with the theme of the celebrations – in SL12 B Astound, will be the focal point for one of the main series of events through the week of SL12B: the talks and presentations, including a series of talks and panels once again sponsored by Prim Perfect.
The Dreamitarium lobby area
Saffia Widdershins contacted me with news of the talks, which are just a part of the overall series of events and activities occurring at the Dreamitarium, and I’m happy to provide insight to them here.
There will be five streams of talks presented by Prim Perfect and their partners this year, which are each scheduled for the same time each day, as follows.
Meet the Non-profit – daily at 09:00 SLT
A chance to learn about some of the great work being done by non-profit organisations active in Second Life Grid. Organised by Rhiannon Chatnoir of Non-profit Commons who also co-sponsor the talks.
Monday 22 June
Virtual Ability Inc. with Gentle Heron
Tuesday 23 June
Health non-profits with Coughran Mayo and Brena Benoir
Wednesday 24 June
Arts non-profits with Zinnia Zauber
Thursday 25 June
Create a Community Dream Lissena Wisdomseeker and Whole Brain Health
Friday 26 June
Non-profit Commons in SL Community Panel with Buffy Beale, Coughran Mayo, Glitteractica Cookie, Rhiannon Chatnoir and Zinnia Zauber
Saturday 27 June
Relay for Life with Gem Sunkiller
Sunday 28 June
A Wisdomseeker’s Dream with Lissena (Wisdomeseeker)
Meet the Lindens – Monday – Friday, 13:00 SLT
A chance to meet with some of the people who keep Second Life working, who bring us new tools and capabilities, and provide support to the community:
Monday 22 June
Oz Linden, Engineering Director, Second Life
Tuesday 23 June
Patch Linden, Senior Manager, Product Operations, and Dee Linden, Land Product Specialist
Wednesday 24, June
Xiola Linden, Lead Community Manager, and Pete Linden, Senior Director, Global Communications at Linden Lab
Come and hear designers in a wide range of fields discussing their work, inspirations and aspiration to Saffia Widdershins.
Sunday 21 June
Fantasy Faire Designers: Alia; Sharni; Kayle
Monday 22 June
Nardya Rousselot – Nardcotix, Victoria Grau – VG Shoes, Eboni Khan -House of Hucci
Tuesday 23 June
TBA
Wednesday 24, June
Kaerri Rae
Thursday 25 June
Reven Rosca
Friday 26 June
Ladies of Mesh: Shai, Nardya Rousselot (The Loft), Colleen (The Loft) pending
Saturday 27 June
La Vian
Sunday 28 June
Men of Mesh : Loz Hyde, Maxwell Graf, Cain Maven
The Dreamitarium main auditorium
Meet the Artist – daily at 16:00 SLT
A chance to hear from artists who are using Second Life in a variety of ways for artistic expression in conversation with Taralyn Gravois.
Sunday 21 June
TBA
Monday 22 June
IanLee Patton
Tuesday 23 June
Moya Patrick
Wednesday 24, June
Haveit Neox
Thursday 25 June
Krystalli Rabeni
Friday 26 June
Wildstar Beaumont
Saturday 27 June
TBA
Sunday 28 June
TBA
Meet the Community – daily at 17:00
Communities are the bedrock of Second Life – how are they forged? How are they sustained? And can they be transposed elsewhere? Saffia Widdershins finds out!
Sunday 21 June
Sanctuary
Monday 22 June
Angel Manor
Tuesday 23 June
Milkwood (Writers’ Community)
Wednesday 24, June
Al Raqis
Thursday 25 June
The Power of Virtual Education
Friday 26 June
Performance Arts – Aelva
Saturday 27 June
New Babbage
Sunday 28 June
Raglanshire
So, get ready for some great presentations, talks and conversations sponsored by Prim Perfect! And don’t forget there is a lot more going on at the auditorium and the two forum meeting rooms at the Dreamitarium through the week of S12BCC activities, so be sure to check-out the official auditorium’s schedule daily!
The train now arriving (or is that leaving…?) platform ? …
The clock is counting down to the start of the SL12B Community Celebration. On Sunday, June 21st, the gates will be thrown wide, for a week of events and and attractions, after which they’ll remain open for a further week so people can tour and enjoy without the celebratory events and activities.
With the count ticking down the hours and minutes, the remaining schedule in the lead-up to the start of celebrations reads like this:
Wednesday June 17th (noon SLT) at noon SLT – Thursday, June 18th: Sims closed for walk-through
Friday, June 19th and Saturday, June 20th: Extra time for adjustments
Saturday, June 20th: Press day
Sunday, June 21st (noon SLT): Sims open!
And, of course, Tuesday, June 23rd marks the actual day of Second Life’s 12th anniversary!
If you’ve applied to be a part of the Press Day on Saturday, June 20th, you should hear about things soon, with an invite to join the press group. In the meantime, a final sneak peek video from me, also available on the SL12B website.
SL12B: Ixtlan Stage – Cube Republic, June 2015 (Flickr)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 