Dem Bones - Lacy Muircastle Reporting...

Remember that song we learned at school?

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,
Now shake dem skeleton bones!

The toe bone's connected to the foot bone,
The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone,
The ankle bone's connected to the leg bone,
Now shake dem skeleton bones!

Welcome to your bones… What am I on about?  A skeleton for your avatar that’s what.  Why does your avatar need bones?  To facilitate body language of course.

Body Language is a significant aspect of communications and relationships.  In Second Life the use body language has not been available, until now that is.  Body language, and more technically the study of body language, is also known as kinesics (pronounced 'kineesicks'), which is derived from the Greek word kinesis, meaning motion.  The study of motion in second life translates to Project Bento. 

Since late 2015 Linden Lab have been testing a limited release for Project Bento on the Aditi test grid, working with content creators. On 1^st June they announced the second wave of Bento skeleton improvements.  This release is currently only available on Agni on the main grid. However, this is still a limited release.  Creators, recipients, and anyone wishing to view the new content must be running the latest Bento Project Viewer.

For more on the technical aspects of Project Bento, see the following links:

https://community.secondlife.com/t5/Featured-News/Project-Bento-Testing-Is-Now-Live-on-the-Main-Grid/ba-p/3035460

https://modemworld.me/2016/06/01/project-bento-arrives-on-the-main-grid-in-second-life/

Now shake dem skeleton bones!

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Account Security: What precautions can you take to prevent phishing in Second Life? - Joymell Reporting...

On the Internet there are many scammers who practice "phishing": These people use different methods, for example, they create fake emails and websites that resemble those of a legitimate company to get information from people in an illegal way.

Residents of Second Life can also be targeted for phishing attempts. These attempts may include, in the virtual world, instant messaging and e-mails that try to appear as if they were sent from Linden Lab and also messages in group chat, providing a link and / or requesting personal information and credentials of account users.

Many innocent people can be deceived and become victims to provide personal information such as passwords, credit card information, etc. People who access and provide information to these forms and fake websites can quickly become identity theft victims. These victims may have their information deleted in the virtual world and the account blocked or closed by Linden Lab.

With a few simple precautions, however, it is possible to protect yourself from phishing attempts.

- Keep your antivirus software up-to-date and virus scan regularly;

                                                                                                                        
- Your password should contain letters and symbols to hinder access to phishers;

- To make your account safe, change your password frequently. If you suspect you have clicked on a phishing link, change your password immediately;

- Never click a link in an email that you are unsure about, especially if it is asking for personal or account information. If you suspect is suspicious email, forward it to phishing@secondlife.com and delete it.

- Suspicious e-mails that ask for personal information are fake emails. Those will ask for your personally identifiable information such as your login name, password, and real name, among others. Be aware that any email that asks for personal information, or includes a form to fill in the email, it is very likely to be a fake email;

- Never trust an email just because it says it is secondlife.com or lindenlab.com. The Linden Lab E-mails do not include attachments. Attachments can be malicious files that cannot be captured by virus detection programs. Finally, please note that Linden Lab never asks for your password Second Life, the details of the credit card or other personal information by e-mail;

- If you receive any email from Linden Lab and have any doubts about whether this email is real, close all Web browser windows. Visit http://secondlife.com, and perform the action that was requested, starting this window new web browser.

Even after taking all these precautions, you still feel that your account has been compromised, contact Second Life Billing through the Support Portal immediately or call the number provided on the same Portal.

URL: https://support.secondlife.com/

Additional Information:

Images taken from the official Second Life site

URL: http://secondlife.com/

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Wherever you lay your hat - CeceliaRosalie reporting...

As the saying goes, home is wherever you lay your hat.  In Second Life you have a number of options of where to lay your hat, and these options are offered to new residents at the time of creating their account.

When someone creates an account in Second Life they are offered three different account choices.  Premium, Basic and Concierge.  Speaking from experience, I’d say that the vast majority go for “FREE” without knowing what the two other options are.   When I first created my account I didn’t take the time to look at what premium had to offer and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

What follows is a brief description of each account type:

If you want to go Premium you have three different membership plans to choose from:

Annual Membership: USD 72.00

Quarterly Membership: USD 22.50

Monthly Membership 9.50

When you select the Premium option you’re gifted with a sign up bonus of 1000L$.  Premium members are offered a small home in an exclusive neighborhoods with a variety of themes and styles to choose from.   It's not impossible to find the home of your dreams.  Each Linden home has a land capacity of 117 on a 512m² parcel to which you can add your final touches in the form of furniture and décor.  If you need more space there's also an option to acquire land on popular mainland regions.  Some of which are developed and some of which are undeveloped.

Premium account holders receive a 300L$ weekly allowance along with exclusive bonus items created by SL residents and exclusive areas to hang out with your friends and loved ones.

Last but not least, Premium members are offered expanded support which includes live chat in real time with Linden Lab.

Basic users can't own land on the Mainland or access live chat. However, they can own estates or private regions or rent land anywhere depending on the landowner's preferences.  Let me add to this that skybox rentals or apartment prices start from 60L$ PER WEEK and average land tiers start from about 1000L$ PER WEEK.  As for support, residents can submit support cases for a limited set of problems but this procedure might take a little longer.

The Concierge option is when a resident operates an account that owns an estate, pays for an estate, or pays tier for more than half a region's worth of mainland parcels.

With this account type, residents also have access to a special live chat area and phone number through the support portal.

Basic account holders are able to qualify for the Concierge service.  They can own estates and Private Regions.  The setup and monthly costs for which are billed separately from land on the mainland, which can be owned only by premium and Concierge members.

Remember that you can upgrade or down grade at any time.

The choice is yours.

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The Shared Adventure - SL13B

This year’s theme for the SL13B Community Celebration is “The Shared Adventure.”

http://www.slcommunitycelebration.info/

Merriam-Webster defines Adventure as “an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks” as well as “an exciting or remarkable experience.”

Second Life has been home to countless virtual adventures, and continues to break new ground. Each of us shares in the adventure, as our creations are enjoyed by avatars from far and wide.

What does adventure stir in you? Is it an endless vista of unexplored jungles and ocean depths, a space opera, or even intrigue in dimly-lit alley ways. What dangers are afoot, and how will you and your cohorts seek to overcome them?

How will you present your escapades with others in Second Life? Will you send them on a great quest, tell them the stories of your own exploits, or present them with the tools to craft their own adventurous experiences?

For the 13th Anniversary of Second Life leaving beta, we invite you to put on your pith helmets, your G-Suits, or whatever gear you need, and share with your adventures with the global Second Life community.

It’s been almost 13 years since the first avatars walked the grid in Second Life, and we’re prepared to celebrate with our community-hosted birthday party! Spanning 17 sims with over 200 individual parcels available for building, five venues for performances and hundreds of residents participating from all over the world to put this bash together, the SL13B is gearing up!

Do you want to participate this year in the SL13B? Applications are OPEN!

We have space for all sorts of participation, from performing toexhibiting, DJing to building, and of course, volunteering to wrangle it all into place.

Click that Participate! button above and find your place in the celebration.

Want to know more about the theme, the Shared Adventure? Click the Theme button!

Need to know important dates? Check that Timeline!

Let’s make the 13th year the best ever and enjoy our Shared Adventure!

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Ding, ding, ding, round number two

Lab Chat returns on January 21st – with Ebbe Linden (aka Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab) answering more of your questions!

Just to remind you, Lab Chat is the name of the new series that is aimed at providing Second Life users with the opportunity to have your questions put to Lab management and personnel.

The second episode of Lab Chat, recorded in front of a live audience and then broadcast on numerous streams including Second Life’s You Tube channel, AviewTV and SLArtist as well as being available in audio and written transcription.  Is being held at 10.30am SLT in the LEA Theater with seating available on LEA2, 3 and 4.

As with the first event, you are being invited to submit your questions via a Lab Chat forum thread. Questions to be asked will be selected by members of the Lab Chat production team. Those submitting selected questions will be invited to attend the recording of the session, and put their question directly to Ebbe in voice if they wish; otherwise questions will be asked the Lab Chat hosts, Saffia Widdershins and Jo Yardley.

How do you submit your questions?

You enter your questions on the special Linden Lab Forum which will be opened for questions shortly – LL will tell you when and where to go!

The questions to feature on the show will be chosen by the Lab Chat team (who are all residents). Don’t worry if your question isn’t chosen – as you may have a chance to ask it in the open session at the end (if there is time).

Those users whose questions are chosen will be invited to appear on the stage. They will be able to put their questions directly to Ebbe, in voice if they wish (or their questions will be read if they don’t use Voice/Skype).

The audience will be in the other three regions of the Theater. Voice relays mean that what is said will be audible on all four regions. There are also a set of text chat relays so that all text should be visible on all regions, and we have a team in the Theater who will be providing a voice-to-text service to let people know what is being said in voice. If there’s time, questions asked in text chat will also be put to Ebbe.

There will be a full transcription published later to accompany the video. Highlights will be broadcast on the Drax Radio Files show.

So get your questions in by Friday 15th January– and be at the show on the 21st.

Lab Chat Team: Draxtor Despres, Gentle Heron, LaPiscean Liberty, Marianne McCann, Elrik Merlin, Petlove Petshop, Inara Pey, Secret Rage, Aisling Sinclair, Arduenn Schwartzman, Lorin Tone, DevinVaughn, Saffia Widdershins, and Jo Yardley.

Link:

https://labchatsl.wordpress.com/

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A return to community building - Lacy Muircastle reporting ...

Linden Lab’s announcement that it was developing a new virtual world platform caused a huge fracas.  Now that the dust has settled somewhat and Project Sansar has gone into beta, they would it seems, have reapplied themselves to keeping Second Life alive and well, and gasp, have actively created new programmes to rejuvenate the community and retain new residents.

Originally when new residents joined SL they would go through a community gateway. A Community Gateway (CG) was a starting point for new residents of SL which was not maintained by Linden Lab, but by an established community in SL. These gateways offered their own orientation path to give Residents an easy start, providing them with assistance and hands-on support in getting started in SL.

The programme was discontinued in August 2010, with the Lab citing several reasons for doing so, including issues around scalability and management oversight, together with question marks around the overall effectiveness of the programme.

There were, however, repeated calls from within the community for the Lab to bring the programme back, but they were a little distracted by their other projects to heed these calls.

But now Linden Lab has Second Life back on its radar.  At the recently launched Chat Lab*, the Gateway Programme question was raised …

“So, the Gateway Programme is of significant interest to us, because again … we want to make it possible for creators to attract their own audiences. We are in the testing phase … Laws, and all kinds of things have changed since we had gateways way back in the day, and it comes to who can collect what information, and what information can be stored where – so we have to get those pieces right. So the team has been working on it for quite a while, and we’re also going to make some improvements to the API so we can have a better experience for the Gateway Programme.

Obviously, we want to work first with people who are likely to be able to bring-in meaningful numbers of audiences. There’s no point in us having to manage thousands of gateway programmes that each bring in one user a week. So we want to clearly work with people who have the capacity and know-how to be able to attract meaningful numbers of users.”

The new programme is therefore designed to allow communities and groups to bring users into Second Life, present them with help and support in getting started, much like the original Gateway Programme.   The intention is to offer new residents interests and activities to keep them engaged with the platform. These gateways will include web pages to attract new users to them, this will include a registration API to allow those users to sign-up to SL and create an account without necessarily having to go through the central registration process at secondlife.com.   In addition, those running the gateway can provide dedicated links for downloading a viewer (official or TPV).

Enter the Phoenix Firestorm team, who are all about enhancing the user experience.  In a previous interview with Jessica Lyon, founder and boss lady of Phoenix Firestorm, I asked her what their rationale was in getting involved with The Gateway Programme -

She said “To improve the user experience… Perhaps not as much lately, but historically I’ve always felt LL never had a good grasp on what this product “Second Life” really is or how to market it. Let’s face it, SL is not an easy thing to pin down or describe to outsiders without writing a book because it really is so many different things to so many different people. When LL approached me a few months ago with the prospect of opening a gateway, I couldn’t help but feel I was being offered the spare keys to the bus that picks up new riders. Finally, I’ve been given the chance to try my hand at drawing in new users to Second Life, which could potentially be what makes the biggest difference, even more than the viewer itself. But what a challenge this would be, and if we’re to do it, we’re going to do it right.  What keeps you in Second Life is different for each and every person, so a successful first-time experience is going to have to have a bit of everything, or at least the most common things. So with six regions, we’re trying to incorporate a little taste of as many things we can in hopes that new users will find that unique thing that ties them into SL. But while we’ve got a large gateway with so many different activities, there is nothing to really encourage them to try such things. Humans are goal oriented, and MadPea is renowned for their ability to create addictive, immersive games and activities in SL, so it only make sense to me that they will bring a lot of value to new user retention. We’re really excited to have MadPea on board with this.”

The result is that the Firestorm Gateway comprises six regions in total, including the original Firestorm Support region, which has been re-purposed to fit with the Gateway approach. Jessica said “One of the new regions is a Firestorm Orientation for new sign ups only.  It’s similar to our original orientation island.”

The rest of the regions offer an assortment of facilities and activities intended to help new users get better acquainted with Second Life, using the viewer, and participating in some of the activities they can find during their in-world travels. A staffed support area provides practical help and support, for example, while users can also enjoy activities such as jet skis, sailing, boating, and flying within the regions, or try their hand at a scuba diving adventure.There’s also an amphitheatre which will be used for events focused on new users, viewer Q&A sessions and the like. The social areas around the island offer new users the opportunity to relax and meet with established SL users.

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Saint%20Pete%20City/125/76/22

As part of Firestorms Gateway initiative they are collaborating with Canary Beck.  She is inviting all SL residents to share their photos with Firestorm this weekend to promote Second Life.

“Fancy yourself a good Second Life photographer? Do your pictures make Second Life look as amazing as it can be? A little while ago I asked you if you’d help promote Second Life. Well, this is your first chance to do it this weekend!

I’m looking for a select number of SL photographers to share their photos for me to use on the new user landing pages I’m making for the Firestorm Gateway Project. In return, I’ll showcase the chosen works on the Firestorm blog and its social media properties, with links back to your photo online. That’s a big deal because the Firestorm blog has over 80,000+ subscribers.”

Follow the link for more information on where and how to post your photos -

http://www.canarybeck.com/2015/12/11/share-you-photos-this-weekend-to-promote-second-life/

People yearn for a return to community, seeking a sense of connection with others and that essentially is what Second Life offers.  Linden Lab appears to have finally taken cognisance of this fact.  Now it’s our turn to participate in the rejuvenation of Second Life, let’s start with our photos, and show the Firestorm team our enthusiastic support of their community gateway endeavour.

*Chat Lab - “an opportunity for you to ask Lindens your questions during a live taping that is recorded and archived for everyone to view.”  The first Lab Chat was held on November 19th, at the Linden Endowment for the Arts Theatre – with guest Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab.

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Breaking News - The Lindens are finally ready to talk to you - Lacy Muircastle reporting

Over the years I have heard a constant whine from 'Joe Resident' about how inaccessible the Lindens are, how they don't care about the virtual platform they created or the residents that inhabit the space, how it's all just a money making racket.  

Now you have the opportunity to be heard, have your say, get some answers.

On Tuesday, November 10th, the Lab announced the launch of Lab Chat,  “an opportunity for you to ask Lindens your questions during a live taping that will be recorded and archived for everyone to view.”

The first Lab Chat will be Thursday, November 19th, at 10:30am SLT at the Linden Endowment for the Arts Theatre – with guest Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab.

Residents from the Lab Chat production team – Draxtor Despres, Gentle Heron, Elrik Merlin, Petlove Petshop, Inara Pey, Aisling Sinclair, Devin Vaughan, Saffia Widdershins, and Jo Yardley – who will pick questions to ask Ebbe from the forum thread  – so be sure to get your questions into the thread no later than Friday November 13th, 2015. Authors of selected questions will be invited to ask their question live at the in-world show. Time permitting – additional questions from the audience will be answered.

I am led to believe that if you are unable to attend the live show, a recording will be available shortly after the first Lab Chat wraps, so there is no reason to miss out.

Diarise November 19th at 10:30am SLT. Don’t forget to add your questions to the forum thread - be heard!!

All things being equal, it's hoped that Lab Chat will become a monthly series. As questions arise you will have the opportunity to put them to the Lindens by leaving them here --> forum thread  as noted in the Lab’s announcement.

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Post hoc, propter hoc - Lacy Muircastle reporting

The following article is my opinion and does not necessarily reflect the view of the publication. If anyone at Linden Lab deigns to read this article, I would like to make it very clear that I am an avid supporter of SL and the platform that Linden Lab provides, but that in my humble opinion you are doing yourselves a great disservice.

Whilst the quote may very well be true, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t at least try to please as many people as we can.

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SL 2.0 - FUD for thought (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt!) -- Gatz Inoue Martian reporting

SL 2.0 is coming

Someday soon we might log into our beloved virtual world and see something like this on the login screen of our viewer:

PRESS RELEASE - Linden Labs today announced that it will be shutting down the virtual world service known as Second Life.  This will mark the opening of Second Life 2.0, the company's new virtual world….

And so it goes...but for many of us the loss of Second Life isn’t simply the loss of a game like World of Warcraft, it is much more akin to a meteor hitting the earth and wiping out all life.  

The virtual world we inhabit is not called “Second Life” for nothing,  it is designed to be just that, a second life.  Many people here have families and activities that are just as important to them as any activity that a person might partake in with actual flesh and blood.  For some, Second Life provides a means to live a life that they would not otherwise be capable of enjoying due to disability or other hardship.  To everyone this deeply involved in Second Life, the potential loss of something that is such a central part of your first life causes anxiety and fear.

Linden Labs is aware of all these things,  a simple google search on “Second Life 2.0” returns quote after quote from Linden Labs going as far back as 2014:

“...The new Second Life will offer more robust tools for creators. Games, designs, goods, all the things that make the current incarnation of Second Life the go-to place for current users will be part of the new world….”

https://monaeberhardt.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/ebbe-altberg.png CEO Ebbe Altberg

CEO Ebbe Altberg

http://thenextweb.com/dd/2014/06/24/linden-labs-building-new-second-life-scratch-woo-new-users/

“...Linden Lab is working on a next generation virtual world that will be in the spirit of Second Life, an open world where users have incredible power to create anything they can imagine and content creators are king.”

CEO Ebbe Altberg - https://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/Linden-Lab-is-building-a-NEW-virtual-world/td-p/2753476

https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/in1WqvSDlbQLvTiM.medium, oculus rift

Oculus Rift and Second Life

One of the rumors that started a lot of furor toward the end of last year was the introduction of a viewer that supported Oculus Rift.  Oculus Rift is a virtual reality helmet designed to be owned by people and used in the home.  It will interface with a desktop computer and will allow people to bring themselves closer than ever to the virtual world they inhabit.   Many thought that you would be required to have a Rift as part of the usage of the new Second Life.  While you can find several statements indicating there will be compatibility with the VR helmet, there is also indication that the new Virtual World platform will support PCs and mobile devices right from the outset.  

Given that Linden Labs wants to support Oculus Rift from the outset but also wants to maintain the current user base, they would be foolish to cut off support for the PC which is the primary platform.  The rumors surrounding this were blown vastly out of proportion, if anything Second Life 2.0 will support more ways of accessing the service to allow a wider user base and a larger community.  “We want to support mobile from the beginning... Any content in the new platform will be good on Oculus and PC.”  --Ebbe Altberg http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2015/03/second-life-news-ebbe-altberg-sl-2.html)

From the Oculus Website:

“Today, we’re incredibly excited to announce that the Oculus Rift will be shipping to consumers in Q1 2016, with pre-orders later this year.”  

https://www.oculus.com/blog/first-look-at-the-rift-shipping-q1-2016/

It is interesting that the consumer Oculus Rift and SL 2.0 are both set to release in 2016,  working together it seems likely that Linden Labs and Oculus VR will be able to produce a result that is much larger than either one of them could produce on their own.  It also stands to reason that a release of the consumer version of the “Rift” would coincide with the release of a new virtual world platform so that Linden Labs could ride the wave of excitement surrounding VR.  Oculus VR is talking about a 200-400 dollar price point for the VR helmet,  which means that it will be within the price range of most people and hopefully not as cost prohibitive or as complicated to use as the present developer incarnation of Oculus Rift.

Given Linden Labs continued support of the present Second Life and their active development of Second Life 2.0 with plans toward compatibility with upcoming hardware it seems unlikely that the user base is going to be abandoned.  What is most likely is that SL 1.0 and SL 2.0 will both exist side by side for a time as people get used to the new platform and gradually shift over to it.  Any way you look at it, it is an exciting time to be a resident of Second Life.  There is so much on the horizon that promises to be far more than we could have imagined when this service came online 12 years ago.

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