SL18B is now officially open! Second Life is celebrating its 18th birthday with our biggest celebration ever -- this year we have over 35 regions filled with parties, live music, deejay performances, special events, exhibits, gifts, and shopping! Head on over to the SL18B Welcome Area and start your exploration now!

Here’s the rundown of some highlights from this year’s celebration, which runs through July 6th:

SL18B Destination Guide & Over 200 Community Exhibits!

At the heart of SL18B are over 200 exhibits that showcase a wide range of creativity across the many diverse communities in Second Life. Expect the unexpected as you explore and discover how each exhibit offers its own interpretation of this year’s theme “hidden worlds.” 

To get started, check out the Community Experiences category in our dedicated SL18B Destination Guide. Not all of the exhibits are listed in the guide, so make sure to visit all 8 of the exhibitor regions and walk around to enjoy all of them, and don't forget to pick up the gifts that some of them offer! The Exhibitor regions are: Amaze, Astonish, Captivate, Electrify, Incredible, Pizzazz, Sparkle, and Stunning.

In addition to the community builds, there are several birthday events happening. Our Destination Guide also features an SL18B Events category - make a point to join your fellow Residents in the festivities!  

SL18B Shop & Hop - 320 Merchants Across 16 Regions

This year’s Shop & Hop event is our biggest ever -- with more merchants, more regions, and more gifts than in any previous year! The event features a record-breaking 320 participating merchants across 16 regions. In addition to deep discounts and deals, there are also exclusive and completely new gifts available for free at all the shops. A full list of participating Merchants is available on the blog.

SL18B Music Fest

Are you ready for this year’s Music Fest? Many of the top performers in Second Life have come together to perform live at this special three-day music event, held June 17-19 at the SL18B Live Stage. Here’s your chance to celebrate Second Life’s 18th Birthday while experiencing some fantastic talent that you won’t want to miss. For full Music Fest schedule, visit: second.life/sl18bmusicfest

Visit in Second Life

Music Fest - Three Days of Live Performances By Top SL Musicians

Are you ready for this year’s Music Fest? Many of the top performers in Second Life have come together to perform live at this special three-day music event, held June 17-19 at the SL18B Live Stage. Here’s your chance to celebrate Second Life’s 18th Birthday while experiencing some fantastic talent that you won’t want to miss. The full Music Fest schedule is available on our blog and the Birthday events calendar.
 

Meet the Lindens

Meet the people behind Second Life. Here’s your chance to learn more about future plans for Second Life directly from executives via a series of special Town Hall Q&A events at SL18B. Participants include: Patch Linden (June 22 at 1pm PT), Grumpity Linden (June 23 at 2pm PT), and Brett Linden (June 24 at 1pm PT). You also get the chance to meet the Moles (June 25 at 1pm PT).

Visit in Second Life

Meet the Lindens & Other Talk Shows

Learn more about the people behind Second Life at our annual series of Meet the Lindens Town Hall events, held daily from June 22-25. Participants this year include Patch Linden (June 22 at 1pm PT), Grumpity Linden (June 23 at 2pm PT), and Brett Linden (June 24 at 1pm PT). You also get the chance to meet the Moles (June 25 at 1pm PT).

Other special Lab Gab and Book Club talk shows will also be happening during SL18B, see the full schedule on our blog.

SL18B Gifts

At SL18B, Exhibitors and Merchants are sharing in the festivities! You will find over 300 gifts at the Shop & Hop stores and many of the community exhibits will also have gifts. Come celebrate Second Life's 18th birthday and pick up close to 500 exclusive gifts!
 

Full Event Calendar

You’ll also want to catch the many DJ performances and other special events. To keep on top of what is happening each day, visit the full SL18B birthday calendar or our SL18B Landing Page.

We are so excited about celebrating with you - and look forward to more great Second Life Birthdays!

Along with Music Fest, and other events, we also have some special talk shows that will be aired during the SL18B celebrations. Most of them will be in front of live audiences at the SL18B Auditorium and also be available for viewing on the Second Life YouTube channel. 

SL18B Talk Show Schedules:

Thursday, June 17th at 11am PT - Lab Gab at SL18B starting with Patch Linden’s opening speech. After the speech, Strawberry will give you a brief tour of SL18B! Watch it live on the Second Life YouTube channel and at the SL18B Live Stage.

Monday, June 21st at 8am PT - Second Life Book Club with Draxtor - Special with the founder of Second Life Philip Rosedale, and Professor of Anthropology at UC Irvine Tom Boellstorff. They will be talking about 18 years of Second Life! Watch it live on the Second Life YouTube channel or at the SL18B Auditorium.

Monday, June 21st at 2pm PT - Lab Gab SL18B Special with the Linden Lab Leadership Team. Strawberry Linden will be speaking with Linden Lab's Executive Chairman Oberwolf Linden, VP of Product Grumpity Linden, VP of Product Operations Patch Linden, and VP of Marketing Brett Linden. Watch it on the Second Life YouTube channel and/or in the SL18B Auditorium.

Tuesday, June 22nd at 1pm PT - Meet the Lindens with VP of Product Operations, Patch Linden. Patch works to bring the best of product and support-based decisions on a daily operational basis to the virtual world platform for Second Life, while maintaining oversight on how all of the various teams within Linden Lab can best work together for the highest good of the Residents and the business. Watch it on the Second Life YouTube channel or at the SL18B Auditorium.

Wednesday, June 23rd at 2pm PT - Meet the Lindens with VP of Product, Grumpity Linden. Grumpity will speak in-depth about several Second Life initiatives including recent efforts focusing on growth, a stronger, more balanced economy, movement towards better community cohesion, and an overall forward-looking approach. Watch it on the Second Life YouTube channel or at the SL18B Auditorium.

Thursday, June 24th at 1pm PT - Meet the Lindens with VP of Marketing, Brett Linden. Brett will speak on recent acquisition and retention efforts for Second Life including advertising, public relations, content strategy, and social media. Watch it on the Second Life YouTube channel or at the SL18B Auditorium.

Friday, June 25th at 1pm PT - Meet the Moles! The Moles are builders, scripters, and content creators employed by Linden Lab to work in the Linden Department of Public Works. Watch it on the Second Life YouTube channel or at the SL18B Auditorium.

Set reminders for these events by clicking on "Set Reminder" on their YouTube links, or add them to your calendar from our Second Life Public Calendar.

If you can’t make it to these events at those timings, you can watch the videos later on our YouTube channel in the Book Club, Lab Gab, and Meet the Employees YouTube playlists!

Come celebrate 18 years of Second Life with us, we look forward to seeing you!

The SL18B Shop & Hop is almost here -- and this year it is bigger than ever! The event opens to the public on Thursday, June 17 at 9am PT with more merchants, more regions, and more gifts than ever!

This year, you’ll find a record-breaking 320 participating merchants across 16 regions. In addition to deep discounts and deals, there are also exclusive and completely new gifts available for free at all the shops. Whether you are into fashion or roleplaying, you’ll find items across a variety of themes including fantasy, cyberpunk, historic, and more!

We can’t wait until it formally opens to the public on Thursday - but who wants to wait when you get early access! If you are ready to shop now, join the official Second Life Birthday group inworld and you’ll be granted access right now, before the general public.

Before you jump inworld, you can get a sneak peek at many of the items that will be available in the official Second Life Shop & Hop Flickr pool. Don’t forget to share photos of your haul too!

To visit the SL18B Shop & Hop event - start at any one of the Regions - but be sure to visit them all to see everything that's available.  

A complete list of all 320 participating Shop & Hop Merchants in alphabetical order is below:

Photo by Junie

SL18B is just a few days away, are you ready for this year’s SL18B Music Fest?

Many of the top performers in Second Life have come together to perform live at this special three-day music event, held June 17-19 at the SL18B Live Stage. Here’s your chance to celebrate Second Life’s 18th Birthday while experiencing some fantastic talent that you won’t want to miss!

This year’s lineup:

In addition to Music Fest, SL18B will be packed with plenty of other events you won't want to miss! Check out our Birthday Events calendar below to stay up-to-date on SL18B highlights. We'll be adding more updates to this calendar in the next few days - so keep checking back! Do you use Google Calendar? If so, you can also add the Birthday Calendar directly to your own calendar by clicking here.

You can also keep an eye on the Second Life Public Calendar for all Linden Lab events and in the next few days, we'll debut a dedicated Destination Guide category with many event and exhibit highlights from SL18B. Look out for entries that will start appearing in the SL18B category later this week. Follow our blog for more announcements about SL18B, Shop & Hop, Meet the Lindens, and more...coming soon!

It all starts on Thursday! Come and celebrate Second Life's 18th birthday with us!

Calling all performers! Second Life is seeking talent for our upcoming 18th annual Second Life birthday celebration (SL18B) held from June 17th to July 1st, 2021. Get ready for fun-filled weeks of live music, performances, shopping, and amazing community exhibits! 

One of the things that makes Second Life so vibrant and exciting is the wide range of Performers who share their talent with our Residents. Are you a DJ who can spin up a great party set? You might be one of the grid’s amazing Dance companies, or perhaps you’re a Particle Performer! Whatever your medium, we would love to hear from you. 

Fill out the official performer application form by May 28th (this date has now changed to May 10th) and tell us a little about how you roll, and one of our Event Staff Leaders will contact you soon.

CURRENT APPLICATIONS FOR SL18B:

• Performer Application - Applications close on May 10th, 2021
• Volunteer Application - Applications close on May 28th, 2021 (Blog Post)
• Exhibitors Application - Applications close on May 10th, 2021 (Blog Post)
• Music Fest Application - Applications close on March 28th, 2021 (Blog Post)

Over the next few months, keep an eye on our blog for more opportunities to participate in the SL18B celebrations!

Do you love Second Life? Do you love to party? Do you love to help? Join the SL18B Volunteer staff and you can do all three! 

We’re looking for volunteers to help people celebrate at the upcoming 18th annual Second Life birthday celebration (SL18B), held June 17th to July 1st, 2021. We are seeking Residents with great people skills and a love and excitement for Second Life to help us make SL18B a huge success! If you like the idea of promoting Second Life in a positive way to thousands of people in a celebratory atmosphere, we welcome you to apply today! The application will remain open through May 28th.

CURRENT APPLICATIONS FOR SL18B:

• Volunteer Application - Applications close on May 28th, 2021
• Exhibitors Application - Applications close on May 10th, 2021 (Blog Post)
• Music Fest Application - Applications close on March 28th, 2021 (Blog Post)

Over the next few months, keep an eye on our blog for more opportunities to participate in the SL18B celebrations as a Performer, Merchant, and more!

Save the date! This June, Second Life will be turning 18! The 18th annual Second Life birthday celebration (SL18B) will be held from June 17th to July 1st. Get ready for fun-filled weeks of live music, performances, shopping, and amazing community exhibits!

This year’s theme for SL18B is Hidden Worlds, but don’t think that limits you! Just like last year, your exhibit does not need to stay in theme. If you are inspired by the thought of the hidden worlds around you, show us! Or, share your Second Life passions with us. Your interests. Your communities. Your worlds! Every year we celebrate because of you, the amazing and creative Residents, who have chosen to call Second Life home. What has drawn you into this world and what keeps you here? This year at the eighteenth annual Second Life Birthday, show us what fuels your Second Life and inspires you. Let's go exploring!

If you want to participate as an exhibitor with a presence at SL18B then please join us by filling out the exhibitor form no later than May 28th (this date has now changed to May 10th). Please note that the rules for exhibitors have been updated this year, so it is important to read them even if you have participated in SLB before. The rules can be found at the top of the application form.

Photo by Junie

As a reminder, we are also still seeking Live Musicians. We previously announced a call for audition signups for the SL18B Music Fest - and those applications remain open through March 28th.

Over the next few months, keep an eye on our blog for more opportunities to participate in the SL18B celebrations as a Performer, Volunteer, Merchant, and more!
 

Photo by Junie

This June, Second Life will be turning 18! Work is already happening to make sure that this year’s 18th birthday celebration is better than ever!

Full details of this year’s SL18B event will be revealed soon...but to get things started we are opening up the sign-up process now for auditions for the annual Music Fest, to be held June 17-19. Music Fest will kick off the overall SL18B celebration with three days of live music performances featuring some of the most talented musicians in SL!

Are you a new or veteran Second Life musician that wants to participate? Over a dozen performers will be chosen to share their musical talents with the Second Life community in an event that has become an SLB tradition. We welcome performers to apply and join us in wishing Second Life "Happy Birthday!"

To sign up for an audition, please complete the submission form. Applications are open until March 28th, 2021.

While we encourage all interested performers to sign up, please note that it does not guarantee a spot at the auditions. We will review all submissions and extend audition invitations via a follow-up note in-world to the SL username that you provide. For more details, see the submission form.

Over the next few months, keep an eye on our blog for more opportunities to participate in the SL18B celebrations as an Exhibitor, Performer, Volunteer, Merchant, and more!