Here are my personal highlights from the first day of SL8B.

Bears!

The Lindens aren’t the only ones producing celebratory bears: Winter Ventura has been making them since 2009, covering major celebrations and holidays from around the world. It was a delight to learn she has them all at SL8B, including her newest editions – one of which has a particular link to some of my more … eclectic … interests. Can you guess which one?

Roller coaster

The NYHealthscape roller coaster – the ride still turfs you into the water when you get back to the station, but less violently than I experienced; and it is worth it for the ride. Just don’t forget there is a serious side to the exhibit.

Grace O’Clock

I finished what had been a lightweight visit to SL8B due to other commitments in the only way possible: listening to Grace McDunnough for a wonderful session of Grace O’Clock.

Grace is one of those amazing talents that bring so much to Second Life; her music is, like her blog, thought provoking and immensely enjoyable. Truth be told, I get to hear her all too rarely (although I’m a keen follower of Phasing Grace. Seeing her at SL8B, therefore, was the perfect way to round-out a day that had been so very mixed, with a definite high note.

As usual Grace presented a range of songs that were both entertaining and strongly emotive, drawing-in her audience for a solid hour, during which time I was able to introduce my friend CS to her music, and catch sight of a few familiar names also attending the set.

Also in attendance was the inimitable and incorrigible Mr. Carp Mariner – himself one of those aforementioned talents, whom I still love for bringing us the Death of Vinnie Linden – a deliciously clever parody.

As one might suspect, Crap was in something of a satirical  / mischievous mood, appearing in a part of his own exhibit at SL8B. Having watched Game of Thrones earlier this evening, I couldn’t help but dub him the Hand of Second Life. And now I’ve seen the hand, I will have to find his entire exhibit – look for pictures here!

But in the meantime, back to Grace. If you’d like to know more about Grace’s music, take a look (and a listen) at her music website. All-in-all couldn’t have asked for a better end to the day other than by spending an hour listening to her.

aka “don’t blink or you’ll miss it.”

Today saw the opening of SL8B.Now I’m going to be honest here. The official SL blog post about it did say “Kim Linden will give a short opening address at 11am SLT”.

I just didn’t think “short” was meant literally.

I got there a half-hour before things were due to kick-off. The main stage, at the juncture of four sims, was gathering a nice crowd – 30 within a 60 metre radius of me when I moved towards the centre of things, rising to over 90 shortly before things were due to get underway (ah, the wonders of Firestorm’s radar!).

I had a little wander around before things got too laggy, looking for familiar faces. I spied Anne Otoole from a distance and a few names from the SLPC. Lexie Linden was also there from the Lab. The last time I’d seen her was Saturday, during my tour of the sims, when I helped her track down an illusive Linden Squire Bear who had naughtily set himself for sale at L$10, rather than L$0.

As well as Lexie being there, the Lab was ably represented by ummm… by … well… no-one actually.

Now I know the “official” official birthday isn’t until the 23rd – but come on guys!  Show some interest, please! There was a time  – admittedly a goodly while ago now – when SLB openings would be somewhat awash with Lindens and while I don’t want to (again) sound churlish, given this is the start of a week of celebrations, one couldn’t help but find the visible turn-out somewhat underwhelming. I wasn’t alone in feeling this. a comment on Twitter brought this response:

@InaraPey agree and no lindens, what does that tell you. My first SL5B, here at opening stage lindens everywhere.

Anyway, 11:00am SLT approached, and Kim duly arrived, taking her place on the stage. Ears were preened, and air of expectation settled over the main stage and…

…someone asked perhaps the most important question of the opening, “Will this be in Voice?”

“Yes,” Kim replied, amidst the ensuing hubbub. Cue a scramble to turn-on sound etc, grateful that Kim added, “I haven’t started yet”.

As per usual, Voice took a bit to kick-in on my machine, and when it did, Kim was talking about Winterfest. I’m not sure precisely what she was saying about Winterfest (didn’t we used to call that “Christmas”, once upon a time?), because Firestorm chose that exact moment to blow a raspberry at me and crash.

Typical of my relationship with technology, really.

Now, I swear I wasn’t offline for more than a couple of minutes – three at the most. As soon as the Viewer was gone, I was re-starting it, and while I was refused log-in the first time (“still logging you out of the system”), I tried within about 30 seconds of clearing the message, and I was in.

And by the time I’d arrived back at the main stage, Kim had gone. Open speech over. Done.

Now, I admit, I didn’t exactly expect her to be there for hours; I didn’t honestly expert her to be talking for more than 10 or so minutes. But even allowing for my crash, it all seemed to be over very quickly and, well, dreadfully anti-climatic. Going by the comments and a few IMs I received, I wasn’t alone in feeling I’d just had a “say whut?” moment. Things weren’t helped by a microphone being left on somewhere being left on, treating us to sounds of someone typing, moving stuff around and muttering comments (including, “The speeches will start in a minute. Or whatever”, delivered in a flat, nigh-on bored monotone).

All-in-all, I came away feeling somewhat down. For something designed to kick-off a week of celebrations on Second Life, this was so low-key, I’m not even sure the note was on the piano; it certainly failed to leave me with any sense of anticipation. It’s not fair to point the finger solely at LL, while their presence was lacking, they weren’t responsible for the overall execution of the opening; why not a word for the organisers themselves? Perhaps the fault lay with me – I honestly expected more, given the time and effort that has gone into the overall design and layout of the sims and the care people have clearly put into their exhibits.

Nevertheless and albeit with a pop rather than a bang, SL8B is now officially open, and I hope to see some of you there over the course of the next week.

So, I’ve blogged casually about SL8B. I’m a member of the SL Press Corps. I see there is a Press Preview commencing on Saturday 18th. I contact Pete Linden to ensure the SLPC are included. We Tweet; things seem fine. All that is missing is a time.

Saturday comes, and I find myself constantly hovering on the computer, leaving myself logged-in to SL, expecting some form of announcement that the “gates are open” (being unable to actually Tp to the sims). The day passes….and passes…and passes….and I start to feel somewhat miffed. I Tweet forlornly asking if anyone knows what is going on, as I still can’t access the sim and am left assuming whatever might be happening to kick-off the preview hasn’t happened…when suddenly my co-SLPC groupies start Tweeting from the SL8B sims.

In keeping with English attitudes as (allegedly) described by John Cleese, my mood swung from “miffed” to “peeved” in short order, threatening to edge towards “irritated” as blog posts on SL8B began to appear (not so much that they were posted before me – but because I’d effectively been waiting all day to have a mooch, and as such was, well, irritated, by the fact that I’d allowed a Saturday to pass semi-chained to my computer).

I gave vent to my general state of peevedness not really expecting anything to happen. I was wrong. I was IM’d. Apologies were given, and in short order, Pete Linden was swinging to the rescue and delivering me to the main Welcome Area for SL8B, and apologising profusely for the mix-up. Who said the Lindens don’t listen?

So, was it worth all the aggro? Well yes – it was.

A Walk in the Park

One of the things that has always struck me about previous SLBs is that, away from the main stage area, they’ve tended to be..well…a mess. Builds tended to be hog-podged together.

Not this year. This year the 20 primary sims for the celebration are all neatly laid out and presented, with a core of exhibition sims mixed with several water-based sims, all of which have something of a Burning Man feel to the layout when viewed on the map, with “head” and “upraised arms”, etc – not altogether inappropriate given the ties between SL and that event.

Zoom, Zoom

Getting around is relatively easy: the broad walkways create an easy-to-navigate grid system. If you prefer, there are automated tour pods that hover their way around the sims following the walkways, and which provide information on the exhibits you pass.

Lag is a bit of an issue and given there were few around during my visit, it is going to be interesting to see how things balance out. Even going through sims with just one or two others and my draw distance dialled down, I was either sitting five steps behind or five steps in front of the hover pod I’d grabbed, as you can see in the picture. That said, sim crossings both on foot and in the hover cars were relatively smooth – providing you don’t attempt to hit them at a gallop.

The theme for this year is the magic of Second Life – “magic” here being those elements of SL that captured people’s imagination enough to bring them into SL, or that caused them “that” moment of clarity when they “got” SL and became a part of it. As such, I have to be honest here, I was expecting exhibits that gave a narrative that drew you in to an understanding of the “magic” that gripped the exhibitors. It’s fair to say that some do this, but many, well, don’t. As a friend commented after he’d managed a sneak peek (the result of helping an exhibitor to set-up), some seem to stand (as pretty as they are) as little more than static adverts for businesses. There are a lot of magic motifs, to be sure, but in some areas I have to say that things came across as … flat.

Of course these is a fine line between advertising and promotion – and there are exhibits at SL8B that are openly and rightly about promotion. One of these is SLCC 2011, which is represented at SL8B, with some decent information on the event itself as well as a call for sponsors – although I’d personally be looking for local companies in the Oakland area to take up that particular challenge.

I won’t be attending SLCC 2011 for reasons I’ve mentioned elsewhere – but I do wish them every success. 2012, with the venue being Boston, is a better year for me to put my bum on an SLCC seat, all things being equal.

There are some interesting and informative interactive exhibits – when you can find them. This is perhaps one of the biggest issues at the moment – although in fairness, it may well be dealt with before gates open on the 20th. However, with 20 main sims (plus Bear Island), 700 exhibitors and 300 exhibits, the lack of any directory anywhere of where to find things makes getting to see anything pretty much a pin-in-the-map exercise. To be honest, I’d expect to find this information on the official SL8B blog. However, as of Sunday 19th June, there is nada. Obviously, on the one hand, this promotes wandering and exploring. On the other, if you are looking for something specific, or have a specific interest that encompasses multiple exhibits (music, say), then hopping directly between them currently isn’t on the cards.

One exhibit worth a visit – assuming it withstands lag – is the NY Heath Scape roller coaster. Here you can ride (up to four at a time) around a quite hairy roller coaster (try it in ML), and learn about self healthcare.  Just be careful at the end of the ride, however, I got summarily tossed from the car and ended up under water – and stuck under the walkway bordering the ride, which left me thinking, “Learn about healthcare…and drown…” – A landing zone might just be prudent here!

The Chimes of Big Ben

Further around the sims, I found a reminder of home: a reproduction of the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, complete with a replica of Big Ben hanging inside. You can Tp up through the tower, and it is a good vantage point from which to see many of the exhibits.

And on the subject of seeing – it’s a good idea to keep your Draw distance relatively low. There is a lot going on across these sims, and if you have Draw up high, you’re doing yourself no favours whatsoever. Flick it up when you need a good look around, otherwise just slide it back down. I found I could double my fps (which was averaging around 11 fps) simply by dropping my draw range from its usual 256m to 96m.

There are lots of freebies to collect as you make your rounds of the sims – and some interactive exhibits. You can get a head start on what’s on offer, but there are doubtless others.

Overall, a lot of care has gone into the physical presentation of SL8B. I’m not privy to the behind-the-scenes aspects of the organisations, but I am surprised the SL8B blog isn’t heavier on details, given we’re a little over 24 hours away from the event kick-off. Details of events are beginning to pop-up, but again – these could really do with Surls to the actual locations being given as well. Some of the stages (the Cake Stage, etc.), are pretty obvious to find (actually bloody hard to miss once you start moving around) but others less so (the DJ Stage, the SL8B Auditorium).

And again, without wishing to appear churlish, the events themselves are light on details. A list of names means nothing to me (outside of the obvious ones); I hope that more information will be supplied on each of the events / acts / appearances ahead of time.

There’s certainly a lot of eye candy to take in as you wander the sims – a lot of thought has gone into many of the exhibits, and this does make a wander worthwhile. I’ll be planning on getting along to the main events around the 23rd – would very much like to hear what Rodvik has to say – and will try to get to a few of the parties, information willing.

Links

• SL8B Welcome Area (Surl)
• SL8B blog

It’s courted controversy; it’s been met with everything from joy to indifference, with a fair measure of consternation. But from Monday of next week SL’s eighth birthday celebration kick-off.

The SL8B official blog is still pretty light of any meat on the celebrations (what is going on? Anything?) – which kind-of makes it hard to stir up the “whoopie!” factor.

Some dates have been released on the SL official blog, but even these are pretty lightweight, comprising:

• Kim Linden’s opening address at 11:00am SLT on the 20th
• Rodvik’s appearance on the main stage at  3:00pm SLT on the 23rd
• Err, that’s it.

There is apparently a “press preview” on the 18th – and one assumes it will be open to members of the SL Press Corps (that’s what we’re here for, right? To report on things going on in SL?); but event that is bereft of any details such as “when” and “where” – making it kind-of hard to plan on being there. If it is left to an 11th hour Press Corps Group Notice for the details to be supplied, I’ll be sorely disappointed.

On a broader front, I appreciate that we still have a couple of days to go before everything kicks-off, and that the “special celebrations” don’t take place until the 23rd – so there is still time to “get the news out”. Nevertheless, the lack of any real calendar of activities at this point in time runs the risk of the entire event passing most people by – which has, if I’m honest, frequently been the case in previous years.

Daniel Voyager, ever-roaming, lifts the lid to take an initial peek at the upcoming SL8B sims for the forthcoming 8th anniversary celebrations. Not too much information is available right now – although it appears that it will run across some 21 sims this year, albeit sims with slightly twee names – “Astonish”. “Impressive”, “Beguile” and so on.

Details are currently thin on the ground – no word from LL on the event as yet. However, kudos (once again) to Daniel for getting the inside scoop on what is coming down the road. Look forward to finding out more on the events,