Happy spring! Thank you for all the suggestions sent in for future last names through our Last Name Suggestion Form. 

Today we are doing another big last name refresh by removing some of the older last name options and adding the following new ones from your suggestions:
Firehart
Ravenwood
Zennor
Whisperwind
Starforge
Xochitl
Finchfield
Azalea
Seabrink
Pawprint
Morehead
Osbourne

The following is a screenshot of the full list of current last names available:

We will continue to make additional updates to the available last name pool, so if these options aren’t for you, stay tuned for future updates. You can also continue to suggest your favorite name on our suggestion form, all new names are chosen from there! 

For more information about the costs and how-tos involved in name changes, read the Changing your username FAQ. Click to change your name now!

New Android and iOS Alpha builds were published Wednesday, April 3rd.

We’ve been working hard for the last two months and are excited to share some major steps forward for the mobile client -- correctly displaying avatars and teleport improvements have been at the top of the list.

If your avatar depends on an avatar shape deformer, you should immediately notice the changes to avatar rendering! Avatars that didn’t render at all before, or didn’t look the way you intended, now render correctly.

Teleports are also greatly improved – no more getting stuck on a loading screen! If you’re on a parcel with streaming audio, you’ll now be able to use standard audio controls to stop/start and change the volume (tap main menu > tap the audio metadata at the bottom of the screen). 

We also found and fixed some issues with the order of group chat messages.

There are definitely some known issues (h/t flexiprims!), but overall we’re sure you’re going to love the changes we’ve made in this release.

Interested in checking out the Second Life mobile client? All Premium Plus subscribers are invited to participate - learn more about how to apply here.

If you’re already participating in the Private Alpha, we appreciate your time, participation and feedback! Please continue to report issues in our feedback portal and from the app (main menu > Give feedback or file a bug).

We’ve heard you, and know that there are lots of people waiting for wider access to mobile.  We are working hard to expand access - and we will keep you updated with details and timelines as soon as we can!

As promised in our PBR Materials announcement last year -- as of this morning’s Second Life server grid roll, we have increased the allowance of Land Impact by lowering mesh Download Weight by 15% for all of Second Life! Since much of Second Life today consists of mesh content, anyone who owns or rents land will see more land impact available on their parcels. 

How can I check if my objects have been affected? Right-click on the object you want to inspect, then click Edit, then click the More info link to see the current Download weight.

We’d like to take this opportunity to remind residents that this allowance is being given for no charge and is intended to help offset any additional Land Impact spent on manually rezzed reflection probes and lights, and of course in anticipation of the upcoming Mirrors release.

Land Impact is a finite resource, please rez responsibly!

Updated: Frequently Asked Questions.

Q.  My private region can hold 20,000 prims (Land Impact). How many prims will I have after this 15% Download weight reduction?

1. The region will still only be able to hold its original 20,000 prims, as the same for any parcel, or 30k private region. With this update mesh object's download weight has been reduced, requiring less land impact for objects where download weight is higher than physics and server cost, and letting your prims go further. Imagine a box that can only carry 20 pounds. With this update, the box is still the same, but the objects inside are lighter!
   
   To learn more about how weight is factored into an object’s land impact visit: https://community.secondlife.com/knowledgebase/english/calculating-land-impact-r273

Q.  What types of items are NOT affected by the update?

1. Animesh, primitives, and sculpties are not affected. The update will only affect static mesh objects that are rezzed onto your land.

Q.  How can I see what my meshes download weight used to be?

1. At this time you will only be able to compare it by rezzing an object on the Beta Grid (Aditi) running older server code, which will be for a limited time as we are constantly moving forward. Any Beta Grid regions running server build 2024-02-21.7995320426 should report the old Download Weight.

Q.  This is confusing.  Why didn’t you raise the region's prim (Land Impact) limits?

1. Download Weight effectively controls the scene triangle budget.  While the limit was appropriate when Download Weight was first introduced, it’s too restrictive by modern standards.  By adjusting Download Weight independently of other resource limits, we can avoid overloading other systems (such as physics and script time) that are already using appropriate limits.  Essentially, the weights were out of balance, with download weight carrying too much emphasis compared to other weights, and this change moves towards a better balance.

I want to take this opportunity to speak directly to the Second Life community. Thank you for being part of this wonderful world and giving us the time to carefully assess our situation after we became the subject of a blog post that has the potential to cause harm to our dedicated community members and the virtual world platform that so many people call “home.” 

The post contains a complex mix of accusations regarding Second Life, and it questions our strong dedication to maintaining a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all members of the Second Life community.

Our Response to the Allegations

At the heart of the blog post were unsettling accusations about sexualized, virtual avatar ageplay, including alleged violations of our community guidelines. I want to be clear: we have a zero-tolerance policy against sexualized ageplay. The safety and integrity of the Second Life platform are paramount to us, especially concerning the protection of minors. 

We will continue to enforce our existing governance policies and community standards and we are proud of our collaboration with law enforcement and organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to combat child exploitation. These efforts underscore our commitment to a safe online environment. 

With that said, I want to acknowledge that we can do better; this has been a harsh wake-up call for us that we need to take tangible actions to improve Second Life’s governance policies and protective features that benefit the entire community.

Our Actions Moving Forward

I promise you that we are taking this very seriously. Very. Full stop. 

I promise we hear you. We know you're angry and you're confused. We are working to do our best to resolve your concerns and restore your trust in us. These are complicated issues and we want to do things right. We will make mistakes along the way. I wish I could say we will not, but we will. 

As owner of Linden Lab, I have initiated a thorough investigation, both internally and with external partners, to review whether or not there have been any violations of our company and community policies by employees, contractors, or community members. While early preliminary internal investigations suggest that some of the accusations are unfounded, I want to make sure that we get additional investigative support externally to ensure that the process is fair and thorough.

One of our top priorities has been to ensure the safety of our residents, moles, employees, and families. There are real people behind the avatars, and it has been important to confirm that nobody was in actual physical danger. 

Additionally, I am taking proactive steps to review and revamp many of our policies, including a comprehensive review of our Community Standards, Content Guidelines, and Ageplay Policy. Any violation detected will be met with swift enforcement actions to protect our community. We’ll be sharing these revised policies in the coming weeks and, critically, we are turning to the community to help us shape the future of how governance operates within Second Life. 

Our Commitment to You

Second Life remains a vibrant platform for expression, creativity, and connection. I and the Second Life team are deeply committed to protecting our community and ensuring that Second Life continues to be a safe, inclusive, and welcoming space for everyone. Your trust is our priority, and we pledge to work tirelessly to maintain and enhance the integrity of our virtual world.

I appreciate the patience and support of our community as we navigate this challenge. Together, we will emerge stronger and more united in our mission to build the best possible virtual world experience.

Oberwolf Linden
Linden Lab Executive Chairman

Happy Spring! It’s time to catch you all up on recent product developments! Continue reading for mobile updates, scripting news, new feedback portal (and end-of-life for JIRA), and Viewer releases.

📱 Mobile Private Alpha Update

Big and small updates! This is a reminder that Premium Plus members can apply to participate in our Mobile Private Alpha. If you are a Premium Plus subscriber, and you’re ready to try the app and help us make it better, find out more.

We recently updated the Second Life Mobile Alpha to support streaming audio! You can enjoy music in Second Life on your mobile device while hanging out with friends inworld. Streaming audio is off by default. To turn it on, go to Settings > Developer tools > Enable Streaming Audio.

We have brought you a couple of new Chat UI features:

• Start a new chat from any chat screen
• On the Nearby Chat screen, see how many people are nearby.

Next up - teleport and avatar display improvements. We think we’ve got avatar shapes figured out…and the real challenge - skeleton deformers - are also in the works!

🐛 JIRA end-of-life

Yes, the king is dead, long live the king! While we have said goodbye to Jira as the platform for collaboration with our residents as well as for internal issue tracking, we believe this has allowed us to improve visibility and collaboration. 

The new Second Life Feedback Portal is a great place for any new bug reports or feature requests, while the public Second Life Viewer project on GitHub is where we continue our open-source work. 

Speaking of the Second Life Feedback Portal, it has already received 672 posts, 2635 comments, and 6426 votes! We thank you for your enthusiastic participation. We have made many updates since we first introduced it in January including a whole new UI and dark mode (based on your system settings). We will continue to improve the feedback portal and, most importantly, review all the incoming reports and requests!

Although Jira is dead, the archive remains. As mentioned in our Pt. 2 blog post, the Jira archive of the Second Life BUG project on GitHub is now available. You can find the public BUG archive at https://github.com/secondlife/jira-archive/issues. The archive currently contains most of the previously public Jira tickets from the original BUG project. However, there are a few that we are still moving over. It does NOT include tickets that previously had restricted access.

👩‍💻 Scripting changes

Out now: Increased sensor result limit

We've increased the maximum number of results returned by llSensor and llSensorRepeat from 16 to 32. This will reduce the need for workarounds such as repeatedly scanning small slices of space.

Coming soon: llSetLinkSitFlags, llGetLinkSitFlags, SIT_FLAG_NO_COLLIDE

In an upcoming server release we will be allowing scripts to set and get the sit flags of linkset sit targets via llSetLinkSitFlags and llGetLinkSitFlags. In addition, scripts will be able to set the SIT_FLAG_NO_COLLIDE flag to disable the avatar's collision volume when they are seated. This will be useful for clown cars and other creations.

Scripting roadmap

Status of these upcoming changes and more are visible on Second Life's new public roadmap at feedback.secondlife.com. If you have ideas or feedback on the scripting system check out the Scripting Features and Scripting Bugs boards.

🪀 Creator news

Coming soon: 15% reduction to mesh download impact

Download weight is one parameter used as part of calculating an object’s Land Impact (LI).  We will be reducing this by 15%, decreasing the land impact of many mesh assets.

LI for mesh-based objects is either download weight, physics or server cost, whichever is greatest. This change will not impact animesh or mesh upload fees.

Coming soon: Scheduling automatic daily region restarts

This feature has been on people's wish lists for many years. Estate managers will soon be able to schedule automatic region restarts via the region console:

> help region_schedule
region_schedule
    Display or modify scheduled region events.
    An empty parameter list will display the current schedule.
    unset <event>:  Removes the scheduled event.
    set <event> daily HH::MM::SS will set the event to occur daily at the scheduled time.
    set <event> weekly days HH::MM::SS will set the event to occur on the indicated days at the scheduled time.
       S=Sun, M=Mon, T=Tue, W=Wed, R=Thurs, F=Fri, A=Sat
    Note: Times are in GMT

While most regions do not need to be restarted more frequently than weekly, which is automatically scheduled, some regions with high traffic may benefit from more frequent restarts. When you restart a region, keep in mind that everyone on the region will be kicked out.

💻 Viewers

Maintenance Viewer

GLTF PBR Maint 2 contains another round of fixes and refinements to PBR rendering, including a preview of Materials from Inventory while editing objects. Download version 7.1.3.7821226606 and check out the release notes.

Default Viewer

😀 Emoji

This viewer was finally promoted to default release and is based on a contribution by Kitty Barnett, adding emoji support to text chat.

Featurettes sneak peek!

Our Post Materials Featurette Package is sharing early access to:

• Mirrors
• PBR Terrain
• 2k textures

Initially this will only be available on our Beta Grid (Aditi). Please keep your eye on our blog as we will post more details in the coming days.

Catch more Second Life news on Thursday, March 14th at 12pm PT at the VWBPE Above the Book interview with Grumpity, Signal, and Kali Linden! 

Follow our Featured News Blog and connect with us on Social Media for future Second Life News!

We’ve got some great news to share with you about the Second Life Mobile app. The latest Private Alpha release has a bunch of improvements and bug fixes – and even adds support for streaming audio!

Interested in checking it out? All Premium Plus subscribers are invited to participate - learn more about how to apply here…and be sure to check out this video preview to get the full scoop on why Second Life Mobile matters.

It’s been three months since we announced our Second Life Mobile Private Alpha and we have been blown away by the support and participation. 

During this time - with help from the Private Alpha participants – we have been able to find and fix important issues and we’ve continued to make strides with feature development. We have made substantial improvements to connection stability, reduced the sensitivity of avatar movement, decreased the memory footprint of some inworld items (sculpts!), and added additional error logging so that we can continue to dig into new or existing issues. We also fixed a nasty issue with some avatars not appearing at all!

Based on feedback reported in Canny and from bug reports sent directly from the app, we have improved the user experience by decreasing the sensitivity of pinch and camera controls, moved the camera target closer to the center of your avatar and we are iterating on the size of the area for the vstick. 

In addition to these improvements, we’re also excited to announce that our latest release of our Second Life Mobile Alpha app now supports streaming audio! Now you can enjoy music in Second Life on your mobile device with a friend or a group of friends inworld. (Note, streaming audio is off by default – go to hamburger > Settings > Developer tools > Enable Streaming Audio.)

What’s next? The UI is getting some additional refinement which we hope to share soon and we’re working on improving teleports, chat, and avatar rendering. If you are a Premium Plus subscriber, go here to apply to participate in the Mobile Private Alpha.

We are excited to continue this mobile development journey with you and look forward to expanding participation in the Mobile Private Alpha program.

With love, 
Your Second Life Mobile Team

As part of our effort to better connect virtual world newcomers with some of the best and most active inworld communities, we’re excited to debut an all-new expansion to the Hub – the Second Life Community Exhibition (SLCE).

SLCE aims to bring more visibility and exposure to a diverse range of Second Life communities during the earliest moments of the new Resident journey via primely-positioned exhibition space in one of our most active and popular starting points for all newly-registered Residents. 

A wide and diverse range of community participants will be cycled in as we learn more about what resonates best with our newcomers, but early participants include a cross-range of communities including Caledon, Bay City, Furzona, BURN2, and Virtual Ability. In total, there are 11 initial participants in phase one with additional community participants planned as the project continues to evolve and expand.

Watch our grand opening event live on a special edition of “Lab Gab” streaming live on our social channels today at 1pm PT. Then join the fun inworld as we open the doors right after the broadcast. 

P.S. We plan to expand and cycle in more communities soon! If you are interested in being considered, please fill out the application form. Space is limited, but we will review all submissions!

Second Life Community Exhibition

The Second Life Community Exhibition (SLCE) is designed to showcase a variety of communities to new Residents right from the start, by featuring them prominently at the Welcome Hub, a key initial gathering spot. We will regularly update the exhibition with a diverse mix of community showcases.

More Info Teleport

Friendly Greetings!

As mentioned before in our Pt. 1 blog post about moving from Jira there will be a transition that will temporarily affect access to the Second Life BUG project on Jira.

Migration to GitHub: Elevating Collaboration

We are excited to announce that the Second Life BUG project is in the process of moving the bug reporting process to feedback.secondlife.com and providing an archive of Jira issues on Github. This migration is a significant step forward in streamlining our development processes and improving collaboration among Lindens and the Second Life community.

As part of this transition, the BUG project on Jira will temporarily restrict logins to the Second Life BUG project while we migrate issues over to a public archive location. During this time, residents will be unable to log in to public Jira.

Upon the completion of the migration of the Second Life Bug project, logins to the Second Life BUG project will be reopened to non-Linden accounts for read-only access until the final shutdown on February 15th, 2024.

We encourage you to use the Second Life Feedback Portal for any new bug reports or feature requests. Your feedback is crucial to our ongoing efforts to improve Second Life, and the feedback portal provides a convenient platform for you to share your thoughts and insights.

We appreciate your continued support and understanding as we work to enhance the Second Life experience. The migration to feedback.secondlife.com signifies our commitment to fostering a more collaborative and efficient environment for everyone in the Second Life community: providing feature request voting, a public roadmap, tighter integration into engineering process and more.

Thank you and see you on the Grid! 

Second Life Team

Happy New Year! We’re off to a great start to the year at the Lab and happy to share more Second Life updates with you. You’ll find news on scripting additions, PBR Materials, Project Viewers, and an update on the Second Life Mobile Private Alpha program. Enjoy!

👩‍💻 Scripting changes coming soon

A handful of new, useful scripting features will be getting released in the coming weeks:

llComputeHash

LSL's old llMD5 function has a significant flaw: it always adds a ":" character to the input string. This makes it useless for most hashing purposes. Enter: llComputeHash! This new function can generate a hash of an input string using any of the following hashing algorithms: md5, md5_sha1, sha1, sha224, sha256, sha384, and sha512.

llGetNotecardLineSync

You know how it takes an incredible amount of time for your furniture to boot up after resetting its scripts? Argh! Yeah, it's annoying, and likely due to your sofa/throne/maypole reading configuration from one or more notecards in its inventory.

The new llGetNotecardLineSync function makes loading data from notecards in object inventory much faster by providing a synchronous access method with the caveat that the notecard must be in the region's asset cache.

BTW, if you're interested in knowing more about the scripts that power a huge amount of Second Life's furniture, vehicles and more check out the open source AVsitter project. 🪑

llGetCameraAspect, llGetCameraFOV, and llWorldPosToHUD

Several functions have been added to help content creators position HUDs:

• llGetCameraAspect - Returns the aspect ratio of the wearer's screen as a float (width/height)
• llGetCameraFOV - Returns a float value for the current camera's field of view
• llWorldPosToHUD - Returns HUD position of an in-world object

Scripting roadmap

Status of these upcoming changes and more are visible on Second Life's new public road visible at feedback.secondlife.com. If you have ideas or feedback on the scripting system check out the Scripting Features and Scripting Bugs boards.

🧪 Project Viewers

😀 Emoji

This viewer is also in RC and is based on a contribution by Kitty Barnett, and adds the ability to insert emojis in text chat.

Maintenance W

This Viewer brings many fixes (see list here), including a fix to a long standing issue with voice failing after quickly restarting your viewer

Maintenance X

This Viewer brings many usability improvements (see list here), including:

• Saving you some clicks by allowing the deletion of folders containing worn items. 
• In case you only wish to detach, Alt+Shift+R will now detach selected attachments so you can remove those less fashionable items at rapid speed.
• The time format has been changed to show the more superior SLT instead of PDT.
• The group join fee will be shown when leaving a group so you can be extra sure you want to leave it.
• Shift+Alt+N will now open the Notifications floater 
• Group notices can now be accessed directly from the People floaters Groups tab. Hover that mouse cursor over the group name for access.
• Group notices will now default as being sorted by date with the newest first 

Maintenance Y

With this Viewer, you can now preview your outfit photos when hovering your cursor over outfits in the Outfit floater. You can also now remove locations from history via the context menu located in the Places floaters Visited tab.

See the list of additional fixes here.

Default Viewer

🎨 GLTF PBR Materials

At the end of November, we announced in this blog post that PBR became available grid wide! The PBR Materials project brings increased realism and enables bringing GLTF content into Second Life with expected results. Now you can create scenes with real reflections which mimic how our eyes have learned to identify that a surface is metal, plastic, or some other material. Whether you create objects in Second Life or simply enjoy seeing and wearing them, PBR Materials will provide a big step up in the appearance of the Second Life world.

Individually faceted disco ball reflections

As of January 8th, 2024, the PBR Materials Maintenance 1 viewer became the default viewer for Second Life. See Release Notes here. There are 17 new Materials available in the Library so you can start building with PBR today!

📱 Mobile Update

On December 12th, we announced our Mobile Private Alpha, bringing the richness of the Second Life virtual world to your Android or iOS mobile device. Qualifying Premium Plus members can apply now for the Private Alpha. If you are Premium Plus, you can learn more at this link.

Check out this video if you haven’t already!

We’ve had an incredible amount of interest, so if you've applied but haven’t been added yet, you’re still on our list. Future testers will be added and notified as the Private Alpha continues to expand. Thanks again for your patience as we process the ongoing demand and we look forward to your participation!

Follow our Featured News Blog and connect with us on Social Media for future Second Life News!

MacOS is used by many Second Life residents, but it is time for us to say goodbye to all the versions of MacOS X.  Starting now, the new minimum requirement to run Second Life is MacOS 11.

We will still allow some older versions of Second Life to log in, but without any support.  As with prior OS version sunsetting, we have set aside a version of Second Life available for download that we believe will continue to work with older systems. Over time, this version will become less functional as we continue to add new features and keep up with modern technologies.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.6.12.579987.html

We continuously monitor supported and unsupported technologies for compatibility with Second Life and we keep https://secondlife.com/system-requirements up to date. In the future, we will continue to end Second Life support for certain OS versions, including when their manufacturers end their own support of those versions.

We encourage you to keep your systems upgraded whenever possible.

See you in Second Life!

This is the first installment of a series of posts on moving Second Life issues from Jira to a new community engagement portal, feedback.secondlife.com as well as Github Issues.

jira.secondlife.com is Second Life's venerable bug reporting repository, development tracker and feature request system. It is used by thousands of users and the entire SL development team to envision, fix and build the future of Second Life.

Unfortunately, Jira Server, the software and license agreement we use to host Second Life's jira.secondlife.com site, is being discontinued and its official replacement cannot handle the number of users (over 300,000) that Second Life needs. Long story short: we need to move off of Jira before support ends in early February, 2024.

As part of this migration effort, we're excited to announce that we are opening up a new community feedback portal for early preview: feedback.secondlife.com. This site will host feature requests, bug reports and ultimately replace the public BUG project on jira.secondlife.com.

Support issues should still be reported to support.secondlife.com. We will keep using Freshdesk for all personal and content-sensitive tickets.

Where are my issues going?!

Your issues will be preserved and will not be deleted. Second Life has a 20 year history, and Jira represents one of its best sources for documentation. Jira will remain in operation until we migrate all issues to a new home on Github. We will share more information about working with the issue archive in a future blog post.

Feedback Portal

Second Life has a long history of collaboration with its residents. Rather than be bummed out by needing to leave Jira, we wanted to take this opportunity to select a community site that offers a better experience to both users and staff.

You can check out the new engagement portal at feedback.secondlife.com. This new site uses canny.io, a platform designed for receiving and responding to community feedback. We believe it will be a demonstrably better experience for residents due to features such as:

A public roadmap

We will be providing a public roadmap of user-suggested features which have been accepted and will be implemented. This will provide greater transparency into the future of Second Life and drive accountability for us, so that we deliver what we say we would. 😜

Multiple boards

The new feedback portal provides boards for different areas of Second Life: general feature requests and bugs, website bugs and features, scripting, etc. This will allow users to easily read up on bugs and feature requests pertaining to their area of interest, and allows triagers on our side to more easily figure out who should review new information.

Board features

• Markdown - Text can be formatted using a simplified version of Markdown
• Issue merging - Staff can merge issues instead of marking them as duplicate
• Trending Posts - Boards may be sorted by trending posts, which combines freshness and popularity

Better Process

We have come to realize that the effects of some of our Jira workflows were, intentionally or otherwise, rather adversarial to engagement (read: unfriendly.) We are fixing this by acknowledging the following problems and resolving them with different behavior on the new feedback site:

Conversations remain open
One of the most detrimental features of our public Jira workflow was how it locked conversations (comments, etc.) after tickets were marked as accepted. This is not the default behavior in the new portal: comments will be allowed throughout the entire lifecycle of the request!

Know when your idea ships
The "clone issue" process on Jira resulted in a large portion of user-submitted issues never being marked as completed when their respective issues were shipped. This will be much less of an issue on feedback.secondlife.com because issues will be directly tied to their internal development tickets and automatically closed when the change ships.

Voting is Encouraged!
Vote to your heart's content. We want to hear from you which issues are most important.

Behind the Scenes

Part of the rationale for moving to Canny, the software behind feedback.secondlife.com, as opposed to alternative issue tracking solutions is that it is a very focused product that is tailor made for responding to user feedback and prioritizing ideas. In addition, the platform fit the bill by providing the following necessary requirements:

• Single sign-on (SSO) - Users can log in using their Second Life account
• Github Integration - Posts can be linked to Github Issues, the platform we are adopting for software development, and automatically marked as completed when the Github issue is finished.
• Triage Tools - Canny provides a fast, unified view for triaging issues, prioritizing work, and getting it onto a roadmap.

Public issues are not the only thing moving off of Jira --internal tickets will be migrating to Github Issues. Canny provides easy ways to create and link issues on Github, providing a better workflow than the previous "Clone" system we used on Jira.

Open Source Collaboration

On the topic of Github, we will be making it easier for open source contributors to engage with Second Life project maintainers and our OSS projects through Github and Github Issues. Canny provides convenient integration with Github Issues, and we will be exploring ways of opening up Second Life development to open source contributors by more directly working in the open.

😖 Differences from Jira

Not everything is perfect. Both staff and residents have developed a lot of well established mental wiring, process and infrastructure around Jira. Canny is also not a Jira replacement: it's a community engagement tool which may require changes to behavior:

• Limited attachment support - Canny only supports image attachments. All other media types will need to be linked to.
• No private posts - If your report contains sensitive information then please redact/censor private information. If this is not possible, because it is material to the issue being filed, then please file a support ticket if it is personal in nature or security report if it represents a vulnerability.

Timeline and migration details

Jira access will end in early February. In the time leading up to that date we will be performing backups, migrating existing issues to their new home on Github, and allowing residents to use and provide feedback on the new engagement portal.

Details about the issue migration process, such as how to find Jira issues post jira.secondlife.com shutdown will be talked about in a future post. Until then, we are excited to see new feature requests and reports over at feedback.secondlife.com.

Conclusion

Making a significant change like this is no small task. Staff and residents alike have grown deeply familiar with jira.secondlife.com through countless hours spent using the site. We hope you will have patience as we migrate data, build documentation, develop new muscle memory and smooth out wrinkles in tools and processes. These updates, along with changes like moving our engineering organization to Github and Github Actions, are part of a larger initiative to modernize Second Life development. The future is exciting, and we hope you can bear with us as we drive down the path to get there.

Happy new year! Thank you for all the suggestions sent in for future last names through our Last Name Suggestion Form. 

Today we are doing another big last name refresh by removing some of the older last name options and adding the following new ones from your suggestions:
Eton
Harmony
Serenade
Ethereal
Celestia
Sable
Astral
Starling
Saccharin
Rizzler
Enthusiast
Pratchett
Elara
Cerulean
Onyx
Peridot
Winchester
Fluffington
Mainlander
Wicken

The following is a screenshot of the full list of current last names available:

We will continue to make additional updates to the available last name pool, so if these options aren’t for you, stay tuned for future updates. You can also continue to suggest your favorite name on our suggestion form, all new names are chosen from there! 

For more information about the costs and how-tos involved in name changes, read the Changing your username FAQ. Click to change your name now!

As the end of 2023 approaches, Second Life is entering an exciting and pivotal moment in its development and evolution. The past year has seen the release of several new features and breakthroughs highlighted by the Private Alpha release of our Mobile Viewer.  

Imagine experiencing Second Life anywhere, anytime through your mobile device. For the first time, you’ll be able to stay connected to your friends and communities - no matter where you are.  

We believe that Second Life Mobile has the potential to transform the way people experience and engage with our virtual world forever. We are grateful for our early Alpha testers’ feedback and impressions - they are helping us move forward already …and we can’t wait for the entire Second Life community to check it out in the coming year as it enters into wider release. 

2024 Roadmap

So, what else can you expect in the coming year?

More About Mobile

In 2024, everyone will be able to experience the magic of Second Life in the palm of their hands. While the early Private Alpha release includes some popular and much-requested features, we expect that mobile will quickly evolve to more closely align with the desktop functionality as the year progresses. Eventually, you’ll see innovative mobile-specific features that take full advantage of the flexibility and, well, mobility of being freely untethered from your desktop.

AI & Other Innovations

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (virtual or otherwise), you’ve probably heard a thing or two about the rise of AI over the past year. For Second Life to remain relevant as a progressive platform that serves, empowers, and entertains our communities and creators, we know that we must find the right balance in embracing some aspects of AI while also preserving and protecting what we all know and love about Second Life. 

In the coming year, we plan to carefully explore some cutting-edge use of AI in Second Life including experimental use of smart AI-driven chatbots to help greet, educate, and mentor newcomers. We know that there are additional opportunities to integrate AI across all aspects of Second Life, but we also know that AI can be a polarizing topic and there are many sensitivities on how (and if) we should explore AI integration at all. We've already established internal policies governing the selection and use of AI tools with user privacy as the foremost consideration. Our goal is to find the right balance to bring some AI advancements and innovations into the virtual world – but only in a way that respects the rights of content creators, while also advancing the overall Second Life creator ecosystem and quality of the overall community experience.

After the much anticipated release of PBR Materials, we are looking forward to Third-Party Viewers integrating the functionality so that everyone in Second Life can enjoy the new shiny. The early experiments from our community have been so fun! In the meantime, the graphics team is working on the next set of updates including PBR materials support for terrain, true mirrors (planar reflections), and the long term goal of supporting GLTF Mesh Import & Hierarchy. 

That’s not the only excitement awaiting creators in the coming year - we are also focusing on improvements and extensions to our scripting capabilities, taking a look at tools for creating complex and compelling combat systems, poking at the animation import pipeline … because we know that every time we make things better for our creator communities, they make things better for everyone!

Something Spicy

Second Life turns 21 in 2024…and, to celebrate, we are turning attention to the spicier side of Second Life with some bold and innovative new adult-friendly initiatives. Something wickedly wonderful is coming soon…

We’ll be taking the sheets off this mystery initiative and sharing more bedroom secrets soon…so stay tuned!

Improving the New User Experience

Improving the first-time experience for newcomers continues to be a top priority - and in 2024 you’ll see us continuing to tweak and innovate on this early introduction to Second Life. For example, we recently began testing an all-new Community Hub complete with human greeters and mentors that are eager and available to help educate and enlighten newcomers on all aspects of Second Life. We’ll continue to iterate and improve the Hub, too. We’re at work on a Community Exhibition expansion to the Hub that will more easily and quickly connect our newest Residents to the many communities and experiences across Second Life.

New Residents are also benefiting from the recent debut of Senra starter avatars, making easier work of avatar customization at the very beginning of their Second Life journey. We’ve got updates to the customization experience and fun new wardrobe choices coming - and we’re looking forward to the community-created Senra content too!

2023 Highlights

There’s a lot of promise and potential for the coming year, but we also want to reflect on some of the key accomplishments and improvements from 2023.

Improved Performance & Viewer Enhancements

In addition to the introduction of PBR Materials mentioned earlier, there were improvements to Group Chat History and the debut of Inventory Item Preview and Single Folder View which helps Residents more easily manage and find items in their inventory.  In the background, we’ve been doing work to improve performance during teleport. 

Additionally, we unveiled more improvements to help community members seek and find items and places in Second Life. For example, Updates to Marketplace Search and improvements to the Destination Guide also help our community find the items and places that matter most to them.

We also took steps to make Second Life more secure with various security improvements including enforcement of Viewer Login MFA.

Improving the Land & Home Experience

Buying and managing land got a lot easier over the past year, as we debuted the all-new Linden Home Store to make selecting your new home simpler. Several new Linden Homes themes also debuted in 2023, including Ranch, and Fantasy Treehouses. We also ended the year with drop of the new Mediterranean Premium Plus homes! With all these Linden Homes choices, it is now easier than ever for people to explore all the new and classic themes inworld via an all-new centralized Linden Homes demo region in the BelliHub!

We’ve also made additional improvements to Estate Options and added Scripted Agent Estate Access to improve the land owning experience in Second Life.

Simplified Avatar Customization

It’s no secret that newer Second Life Residents often struggle to customize their avatars. While seasoned Second Life community members appreciate the complex and diverse range of avatar customization options, we recognize how important it is to simplify things for those who are just learning the basics. Enter the all-new Senra Avatars, which entered beta in August with a subsequent formal 1.0 release unveiled earlier this month. The Senra team is already hard at work on the next phase of the Senra project, which features an expanded content library with additional customizations and options.

Community Highlights - Celebrating 20 Years

Second Life’s 20th birthday celebrations set several new records for all-time community engagement in 2023. Our SL20B event was visited 647,952 times and included three weeks of parties, live music, deejay performances, special events, exhibits, gifts, and shopping!

Our big milestone didn’t go unnoticed by the mainstream media, either. Major media and tech outlets noted and praised our longevity and loyal communities throughout the year including some great media coverage in The Atlantic, The Guardian, and Bloomberg.

Eagle-eyed viewers of the popular Apple+ program “The Morning Show” may also have noticed a certain Linden executive cameo during a pivotal scene that prominently featured Second Life in the season finale. 

Second Life also scored some prominent coverage in the acclaimed music trade publication Billboard, which had the exclusive reveal for our partnership with legendary music label Motown.

The official Motown presence in Second Life accompanied the debut of the first experimental version of our New User Community Hub, which aims to more quickly and easily help newcomers connect with the relevant people, places, and communities that matter to them. The new Hub also hosts the return of many passionate Second Life Mentors who seek to lend a helping hand.

What Was Hot in 2023?

Finally, we thought it would be fun to assemble a few year-end charts to show what was hot in 2023. Let’s take a look at what the community was up to last year…

Top Linden Home Themes 

1. Houseboat
2. Log Home
3. Traditional
4. Victorian
5. Stilt over Land

Top Last Names released in 2023

1. Blossom
2. Nightingale
3. Spicy
4. Waifu
5. Shadow

Most Visited Regions 

1. LeLutka
2. Firestorm Orientation
3. Rapture
4. VELOUR
5. Adventure Island

Top Destination Guide Categories 

1. Photogenic Spots
2. Fashion
3. Role-playing Communities
4. Shopping Events
5. Winter Attractions 

Most Watched YouTube Videos

1. Second Life Mobile - First Look
2. Second Life Mobile - June 2023 - SL20B Update
3. Second Life University - How to Create PBR Materials
4. Second Life University - How to Create Your Starter Avatar
5. Made in Second Life: The Movie

Most Popular Facebook Posts

1. Inventory Item Preview and Single Folder View
2. Second Life Pic of the Day by Mac McGregor
3. The SL20B Official Guide & Magazine
4. Introducing the new Linden Home Store
5. Friday the 13th Haunted Destinations

Happy Holidays from Second Life

On behalf of the entire Second Life team, we would like to wish you and your loved ones a happy new year! We are thankful to be part of your virtual family and send you blessings from both the virtual (and physical) worlds!

The Second Life team

The Second Life app brings the richness of the Second Life virtual world to your Android or iOS mobile device...and Second Life Premium Plus members are among the first to get access.

With the new Second Life Mobile, you can experience a new level of convenience and engagement in your Second Life adventures, whether you’re at home or on the go. In this initial Private Alpha release, you can:

* See your avatar & edit appearance by changing outfits 
* Explore the world via the Destination Guide, mobile showcase, own favorites (teleport, deep links, TP offers)
* Interact with the world through a limited set of movements (walk, run, fly, sit, stand) and object interactions (touch, sit) - or park your avatar and explore via flycam.
* Socialize and stay connected (nearby chat, group chat, IM, group notices, find contacts, inspect profiles)
* Create and log in with a new account

…and there’s more to come in future releases!

Qualifying Premium Plus members can apply now for the Private Alpha. If you are Premium Plus, you can learn more at: Premium Plus - Second Life Mobile Private Alpha Sign-Up

Please note that while all Premium Plus subscribers are eligible to participate in the Private Alpha, we’ll be adding users in small groups over time. There is a server registration limit and we’ll be adding participants on a first come first served basis.Your patience is appreciated! We know you’re excited (and so are we!) but we’ll need time to process applications, add test accounts via TestFlight and Google Play and then, most importantly, process your feedback.

And please remember, this is still early Alpha! That means it’s buggy, and it’s missing functionality. It also means we’re looking for your help in making it better. 

Once we are through the alpha and beta testing phases, Second Life Mobile will be accessible to all users.

Not Premium Plus? Upgrade today at https://secondlife.com/premium 

Greetings, all!

We are thrilled to announce the release of Version 1.0 of our Senra Avatars – Blake and Jamie! These avatars represent a leap forward in user customization and ease of use for new users. These avatars are now available in the Library. Search for “Senra” and you will find the full variety of clothing and bodies.

What’s new?

We’ve taken feedback from our initial beta release and made some adjustments to make sure new users are able to take their first steps into Second Life in their very own customized avatar experience. Additionally, when they’re ready to move on to other avatar body ecosystems, transitioning to other mesh bodies has never been smoother! Whether you're a veteran or just starting your Second Life journey, Senra avatars offer an intuitive and immersive experience.

Additionally, the team is currently hard at work on what’s coming next! In the first quarter of 2024, we’ll be rolling out the next phase of the Senra project, which features an expanded content library with additional customizations and options. More choices mean more ways to express your identity. Get ready for an array of customization choices that will set you apart in Second Life.

SDK Information
Content creators! Dive into the Senra experience and create magic with our developer kits. The Senra Body SDK application is open, offering you the chance to contribute to the growing world of Senra avatars. Find more information and find the application for the Dev Kits here.

Additionally, we will have a special announcement regarding Senra and the upcoming Valentine’s Shop & Hop coming soon! Content creators, be sure to apply for the SDK and get creating now for an opportunity to participate. The Valentine’s Shop & Hop application will have special Senra-specific questions for creators working on Senra-compatible content. 

Stay tuned for more updates, and let the customization adventure begin!

Happy December! We have lots in store for you this holiday season!

Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland opens on December 4th with a new look! Here’s what you can expect: 
- Completely new Region Design
- Full PBR Region & Objects
- New and improved Snowball Fight
- New Mini Game: Sled Rides
- Reworked Ice Skates & Location
- Snowflake Hunt with Boopies as prizes

Linden & Resident Snowball Fight

‘Tis the season for some snow-slinging shenanigans at the NEW Winter Wonderland Snowball Fight Arena!

Get your warm clothes and throwing arms ready - it’s time for a Lindens and Residents snowball fight! This snowball showdown means you're free to pelt your fellow Second Life Residents and Lindens with a bevy of sparkling snowballs - launched fresh from the snow-arsenal available at the arena.

The battles take place on Friday, December 15th from 8am to 9am PT and then again from 12pm to 1pm PT. Spots are limited, so be sure to get there early to grab your free snow-launching weaponry from the vendors around the arena. 

Mark your calendars, assemble your dream squad, and be there!

2023 Holiday Shop & Hop

The 2023 Holiday Shop & Hop returns with 320 participating Merchants across 16 shopping regions, bringing you loads of festive fun! Every store will have at least a 20% discount on all items and a free (non-group) gift for shoppers or a gift certificate valued at L$300 or above! Check the Shop & Hop blog post for a full list of all 320 merchants with slurls!

Winter Last Names 2023

To celebrate the winter holiday season, we have released some festive new last names!

The following winter-themed names are only available for a limited time:  
Snowfox
Icicle
Evergreen
Candycane
Frostypaws
Yulepurr
Jollyfluff
Tidings
Tinsel
Feliz

These names for winter are seasonal and may come back around this time next year, for a limited time.

We will continue to make additional updates to the available last name pool, so if these options aren’t for you, stay tuned for future updates. You can also suggest your favorite name on our suggestion form, the new names were chosen from there! 

For more information about the costs and how-tos involved in name changes, read the Changing your username FAQ. Click to change your name now!

New Winter Premium Gift

Premium members - we have a special surprise for you - a limited and exclusive Premium and Premium Plus gift that’s sure to delight and add a little extra holiday charm to your inworld adventures. Drop by one of the Premium Gift kiosks and pick up your exclusive holiday gift starting December 4th!

Winter in Motown

Starting December 4th the Motown region will transform into a snowy paradise, offering a festive twist to your favorite classic and contemporary Motown hits and even a new Winter Holiday playlist. Dance and socialize with new friends amid the enchanting snow-covered setting, while enjoying a multi-station radio streaming both classic and modern Motown tunes. 

The 13th Annual SL Christmas Expo to Benefit the American Cancer Society

13th Annual SL Christmas Expo

The 13th Annual SL Christmas Expo brings more than 125 merchants, Breedables, Auctions and Raffles, Special Events, and more than 150 hours of entertainment at 2 venues - all for the mission of the American Cancer Society to End Pediatric Cancers. The event covers 11 regions and will run from December 1st through the 10th. Learn more at slchristmasexpo.com

More Info Teleport

This year’s SL Christmas Expo brings more than 125 merchants, Breedables, Auctions and Raffles, Special Events, and more than 150 hours of entertainment at 2 venues - all for the mission of the American Cancer Society to End Pediatric Cancers. The event covers 11 regions and will run from December 1st through the 10th.

Read more about the Linden Lab activities at the expo: 

• Pose with Santa Patch and his Molelves on Friday, December 8th from 12pm to 3pm PT. There will also be an exclusive Patch Winter 2023 Bear available for donations during this event!
• Vote (by donation to a special ACS Christmas Expo Kiosk) for your favorite decorated Linden Home at the 6th Annual Lights of Hope Home Decorating Contest. 
• Attend the Linden & Mole Neighborhood Christmas Party on Wednesday, December 6 from 1pm to 3pm PT at the Lights of Hope Linden region.
• Teleport to the auction area to bid on different packages that include Premium and Premium subscriptions, Homestead, Free Name Change, and even a hang-out with Patch Linden!
  Donate and pick up your very own Penguin Boopie and add to your collection of boopies!
• We are also unveiling the Next Premium Plus Linden Homes Theme at Christmas Expo! Read all about it in Patch Linden’s Forum Post!

Head over to discover the magic of the holiday season and the joy of giving!

Winter Attractions on the Destination Guide

If you’re looking for even more winter activities, there are already over 100 snow-covered locations in the Winter Attractions category on the Destination Guide. We’re adding new regions daily, so if you have a spot you’d like to invite other Residents to explore, make sure to check out the submission guidelines and submit yours today!

Wishing a safe and happy holiday season to everyone in our virtual community!

Today is the official release of the literal new shiny in Second Life, PBR Materials! With our weekly grid update, all of Second Life will now be capable of using PBR Materials in the Second Life viewer.

The goals behind the PBR Materials project are increased visual realism, keeping with industry standards, and bringing GLTF content into Second Life with expected results. One method of enhancing realism is to create scenes with real reflections which mimic how our eyes have learned to identify that a surface is metal, plastic, or some other material. Whether you create objects in Second Life or simply enjoy seeing and wearing them, PBR Materials will provide a big step up in the appearance of the Second Life world.

In the remainder of this post, we have included some more technical points for creators. We can’t wait to see what you all create!

PBR Material Features

• Move from sRGB color space to Linear for all lighting and blending
• HDR Environments
  • Auto exposure and tonemapping - If you look at a dark space it will brighten, and a bright space will darken.
  • The default environment of Second Life has always been a sunny day with blue skies and this will be more apparent now.
  • A new default Midday setting
• Continued support for existing materials (Diffuse, Normal, and Specular) 
  • Yes, you may use old materials and PBR materials on the same object
• Reflection probes - Automatic and Manual (content creators see additional links below for more information)
• LSL may only use llSetPrimitiveParams and llSetRenderMaterial to change PBR material values
• Materials system folder (empty by default so try creating a new PBR material to fill it.)

PBR viewer at Midday 

Image and scene created by Zanibar Darkstone (located on Rumpus Room 3)

Prior release viewers at Midday 

Scene created by Zanibar Darkstone (located on Rumpus Room 3)

The New Normal

• Transparency is done in linear space, so some objects will be slightly more transparent and others will be slightly more opaque
• Fullbright will now be affected by atmospheric lighting
• Auto exposure and tonemapping will be based on the contrast of the scene in front of your camera
• Content creators and builders - Interior spaces that utilize manual reflection probes will require light sources
• Transparent water is actually transparent water rather than blue texture
• Reflections of projections have imperfections
• On Windows, graphics quality set to ‘High’ or greater now receives shadows from Sun and Moon. It required higher settings previously.
• Mac HiDPI now defaults to off

Additional Resources

• If this is the first you have heard of PBR materials, check out What are PBR Materials?
• Second Life Wiki  
• HDRI equivalent of new default midday (for use in third party tools): https://polyhaven.com/a/cloud_layers
• Second Life University video How to Create PBR Materials 

Future Features

• Now that Second Life needs lights to illuminate rooms and interior spaces that use manual reflection probes, we’re going to reduce the download cost of objects by 15%, across the board, without any additional charges, which will create more available Land Impact for everyone.
• Point lights will soon be affected by dense fog and haze
• Mirrors!
• PBR Materials on Terrain!

Scene created by Sere Vene (serevenaen) (located on Rumpus Room 3)

The team at Second Life is dedicated to ensuring you have a safe and fun experience while exploring all that Second Life offers. You will come across many opportunities offered by other users in a virtual world, but not every offer is genuine. The allure of free Linden Dollars, or land for example, can be a tempting one, but as the saying goes: if an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

We wanted to take some time today and caution our Residents to be mindful of unsolicited messages that include links asking you to log in or download something from an unknown source. A few months back, we made a post about how to protect yourself from phishing scams: How to Keep Your Account Safe from Phishing Scams.

Our friend, Inara Pey, has recently published a blog which illustrates the need to be very careful when receiving an unsolicited link coming from someone you don't know: https://modemworld.me/2023/11/06/dissecting-the-free-l-viewer-scam-chaser-zaks/

It is important to remember that downloading software from unknown sources has a very real risk associated with it. You could unintentionally allow someone to monitor your keystrokes or even gain complete control over your computer. It has the potential to expose not just your Second Life password, but all other important information you have on your computer.

We want to remind our Residents about best practices for account and computer safety.

• Be wary of suspicious links or attachments sent by other users. These may be attempts to compromise your account or computer.
• Use strong, unique passwords for your Second Life account and enable multi-factor authentication.
• Keep your viewer and operating system up to date to benefit from the latest security patches and improvements.
• Only download and install the official Second Life viewer, or an approved Third-Party viewer directly from the links provided by our site.

We hope that everyone continues to enjoy Second Life, and look forward to our continued safe, and secure explorations together.
 

We've been busy since our last update a month ago, and we're eager to showcase the latest enhancements to Second Life. This update includes steps forward for the Destination Guide, scripting additions, Project Viewer news, and update on the Second Life Mobile app.

🎛️ User Interface

Destination Guide Improvements

One of the most-requested features for the web-based Destination Guide – real-time population counts! You can now see how many people are at the location displayed near the group icon (highlighted below):

See it for yourself at https://secondlife.com/destinations! We hope the population count helps you find locations you like -- depending on how social you are feeling!

This feature addition also works with Destination Guide search:

Keybindings in RC Maintenance Viewer V

With the addition of keybinding options for the viewer, you can now choose which keys map to various actions within the viewer. This is cool, but makes it more challenging to create documentation and real-time instructional prompts for vehicles and HUDs which take control inputs.

We’re happy to introduce this requested feature for displaying user-customized keybindings in chat. Using “secondlife:///app/keybinding/push_forward” for example, will provide you with whatever imaginative controls may have been chosen for moving forward. Syntax for this feature can be found here: https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Viewer_URI_Name_Space 

Example:

See version 6.6.16.582093 Release Notes.

Translations in RC Maintenance Viewer W

You can once again use Google Translate to translate chat messages into a language of your choice. Note you will need to set up Google Auth, create an API key, and add it to your Chat Translation Settings. Merveilleux!

See version 6.6.16.582075 Release Notes.

👩‍💻 Scripting

Second Life combat fan? Oh yeah, we got some useful new LSL features which will be rolling out to the grid in the coming weeks...

Coming Soon-ish: llRezObjectWithParams

llRezObjectWithParams is a new LSL function that allows a script to rez objects with more control and parameters than plain llRezObject. For example, you could set the damage, velocity, collision sound and other properties in order to create a scriptless projectile. This should be tremendously helpful for weapons in Second Life, and any other application that requires rezzing script-free objects.

Look, ma! A rocket with no script! In addition to giving more control to an object's properties after it is rezzed, the key returned by llRezObjectWithParams is the key of the rezzed object, which can be useful for tracking or performing other actions after rez.

Coming Soon-ish: 💉 Healing!

A small but significant new feature: you will soon be able to set a "negative damage" using llSetDamage or llRezObjectWithParams value in order to create projectiles that heal people when they collide. Good for the medics and lovers among us.

Coming Soon-ish: llIsFriend

Check if someone is a friend with the upcoming llIsFriend function.

🧪 Project Viewers

Default Viewer

This month, our Inventory Extensions Viewer version 6.6.15.581961 got promoted from Release Candidate status and is now the official viewer available from the main download page.

Some of you have noticed that some inventory items are unexpectedly appearing in your Lost and Found folder. On occasion, an item in your inventory becomes ‘parented’ to a folder that no longer exists -- they are, effectively, ‘orphaned’ items. Previously these items did not appear in your inventory at all. We have fixed this issue and now they appear in Lost and Found. You can then delete the item or move it into your main inventory, as usual. Thanks again for your feedback and bug reports. Go here for the complete list of resolved issues.

🎨 GLTF PBR Materials

The GLTF PBR Materials viewer continues to be available as a Release Candidate available from Version 7.0.0.582103. This update required a simultaneous simulator and viewer update.

Reminder, PBR Materials content has limited availability on our Main grid (Agni) as a Beta Project and can be previewed on specific regions:

• Rumpus Room, Rumpus Room 2, 3, 4, 5
• Preflight0 through 8 (Limited access)

🎮 Game Control Beta

We are working on providing a way for scripts in vehicles and attachments to use input from devices such as game controllers and other hardware. This feature will allow users to create things like vehicles that behave more realistically by using analog input values from a gamepad in addition to discrete key-press events. For example, a helicopter could more delicately maneuver, using input from the analog stick rather than WASD on a keyboard. This functionality is not limited to vehicles and could be used for many more applications.

LSL game control support is in early development and is only available to test on our Beta grid (Aditi.) If you would like to experiment, please follow these instructions: LSL Game Control Beta.

😀 Emoji

We are still working on resolving the complexity of Unicode characters appearing in chat logs. The Emoji Viewer is still in RC and we remain 😃 about this evolution of the Viewer based on a contribution by Kitty Barnett.

📱 Mobile Update

We aren’t resting on our laurels: We continue our development of Second Life on mobile -- even though Bridie Linden is lounging in this screenshot!  Now the app supports some interactions with inworld objects. We will be adding more over time.

Follow our Featured News Blog and connect with us on Social Media for future Second Life News!

Happy Halloween from all of us at Linden Lab! 🎃 We are loving the Halloween spirit in the community and we hope you are enjoying all of the events we have planned for you this season, including Trick or Treat at Bellisseria, Shop & Hop, Premium Gifts, Last Names, and a video contest with a chance to win up to L$100K!

Are you feeling spooky and scary? The Halloween season is upon us and this year, we have a special treat (no tricks) in store for all you ghouls and goblins out there.

Do you have a knack for creating captivating videos? Do you love the spookiness that Halloween brings? We invite you to show off your creativity in our Halloween Video Contest!

How to Participate?

• Create a Halloween-themed video in Second Life.
• Post it on one (or all) of the following platforms: TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube.
• Tag the Second Life account and use the hashtag #SLHalloweenContest2023 so we can find your entry.
• Gather views! The videos with the most views will rise to the top.

Prizes! 

The creators of the top videos with the most views on each platform will receive Linden dollars! 

TikTok: L$25,000
Instagram: L$25,000
YouTube: L$25,000

If your video is the most viewed on all three, you get all L$75,000 + an extra bonus of L$25,000 for a total of L$100,000!

Contest Duration:

Starts: October 9, 2023
Ends: October 30, 2023 at 12 PM PT
Winners Announced: October 31, 2023 

And the Winners are... 👻

Instagram

Congratulations to @yalladoll for capturing the spookiest moments on Instagram! You've won L$25,000!

TikTok & YouTube

A round of 'Boos' and applause for @aimeekeng! Your video haunted its way to the top on both TikTok and YouTube. You've won a total of L$50,000!

Rules & Guidelines:

• Videos must be recorded in Second Life.
• Videos must be new (with the earliest publication date of October 9th, 2023) and original with no adult content or copyright infringement.
• Inappropriate or offensive content will be disqualified.
• Must be a Second Life Resident to participate.
• Multiple entries are allowed.

Remember, the more captivating and Halloween-y your video is, the more views it'll likely get. So get your thinking (witch) hats on and start plotting!

This is a wonderful opportunity for our community to come together, showcase their talents, and share in the Halloween spirit. Even if you're not participating, make sure to check out the #SLHalloweenContest2023 hashtag on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, and support your fellow Second Life Residents!

Looking for spooky ideas? Check out the Haunted category on the Destination Guide. If you enter, don't forget to follow and tag the Second Life account on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube when submitting your videos. We have also started a discussion post under the Contest category on the forums where you can share the links to your videos!

Happy Haunting and may the spookiest video win!

We’re always working to improve Second Life, so we wanted to share with you a more detailed look at the additions and improvements we’ve been making recently. In this first edition, we’re sharing several updates from the last few months. We think there’s something for everyone, whether you are a creator, landowner, or you just use Second Life for your second life!

🎛️ User Interface

New Translations

With Version 6.6.12.57998, say Hola or Bonjour or Hallo or Ciao or Olá or Kon'nichiwa to updated UI translations for the following languages:

• 🇪🇸 Español (Spanish)
• 🇫🇷 Français (French)
• 🇩🇪 Deutsch (German)
• 🇮🇹 Italiano (Italian)
• 🇵🇹 Português (Portuguese)
• 🇯🇵 日本語 (Japanese)

Transparency Bug Fixes

We made the following transparency-related bug fixes in Version 6.6.13.580918:

The ‘Highlight Transparent’ function (accessed via Advanced->Highlighting and Visibility), was making highlighting textures opaque. We have fixed this problem.

Transparent objects were hiding when turning on highlights in the Beacons window. This is no longer the case so playing ‘transparent-object hide and seek’ will now be much easier.

Improvements to Estates Options

In Version 6.6.14.581101, we made improvements to the Estate options:

We increased the number of Estate Managers to 20 and Ban list entries to 750. That’s a big increase, and we hope these new limits will give you all the capacity you need.

We added a new option ‘Show Ban Lines On Collision’ so you can see your neighbor’s ban lines but only when you get very close to the parcel boundary.

👩‍💻 Scripting

A handful of new scripting enhancements are available on RC regions and will be rolled out to the entire grid in the coming weeks.

Coming soon: easier experience KVP data use

Experience KVP functions (llCreateKeyValue, llDeleteKeyValue, et al.) allow scripts associated with an Experience to store and retrieve arbitrary string key/value pairs. In the past, scripts using these functions needed to run on parcels or regions that had opted into the same Experience. Soon, scripts will be able to use KVP data regardless of whether or not the land they are on has enabled the Experience they are compiled with.

Coming soon: Prim click action can be set by llSetLinkPrimitiveParams

Users who wish to control click actions using llSetPrimitiveParams family of functions can now do so using the PRIM_CLICK_ACTION parameter.

🖥️ Miscellaneous

Simulator channel name is coming back

The channel name your region belongs to has been added back to the About Second Life window. This will make it easier to understand what features your region has as we release new functionality. 

Here you can see that the simulator channel name is ‘Second Life RC BlueSteel’.

🧪 Project viewer news

GLTF PBR Materials Viewer

Expanding material support with the ability to import and edit GLTF Physically Based Rendering (PBR) Materials will be a big step in the next wave of content creation in Second Life. The GLTF PBR Materials viewer is now available as a Release Candidate, offered to a small group of Residents, but anyone may install it. Visit Version 7.0.0.581684.html

At this time PBR Materials has limited availability on our Main grid (Agni) as a Beta Project and may be previewed on specific regions:

• Rumpus Room (and Rumpus Room 2, 3, 4 and 5)
• Preflight0 through 8 (Limited access)

Inventory Item Preview

Also available in RC is a Viewer with Inventory Item Previews. You will now be able to add preview images to your inventory items to help you find your favorite items more quickly. The option menu for inventory items, including folders, now has the option “Image.”  The image window offers a number of ways for choosing an image to attach to an inventory item of your choice. Best of all, there is no L$ charge for uploading an image as an item preview.

Merchants and creators can add previews to their delivery folders and items, and you will see those previews in your inventory with no extra effort on your part.
For textures and snapshots, you do not need to add previews yourself -- the Viewer will show previews automatically. You’ll see your texture packs and photo albums as you’ve never seen them before!

Single Folder View

The other new feature is what we call Single Folder View. This allows you to see the contents of a single inventory folder in its own window. 

Let’s say you want to put all of your shoes in a new folder “All Shoes” and another new folder “All Boots.”  You can create those folders, open a single-folder view on each of them, and drag items from your main inventory into those folders. No more scrolling and carefully aiming your cursor to drag into the intended folder!

Single folder view works well alongside the traditional scrolling view. You can use either of the views, or switch between them on a window-by-window basis. Single folder view is entirely optional for the traditionalists among you.

Single folder view also makes it easy to see item previews. By default, the single folder view will show you any previews attached to items inside that folder. 

😀 Emoji Viewer

This viewer is also in RC and is based on a contribution by Kitty Barnett, and adds the ability to insert emojis in text chat.

📱 Mobile Update

We are making great progress on Second Life on mobile -- our latest round of work includes some major improvements to avatar movement -- walking and running are so smooth now!  Stay tuned for our plans for a private beta! In the meantime, enjoy these screenshots:

🏡A Whole New Game of Homes

Coming very soon, the new Linden Home Store will make selecting your new home much easier. With this upgrade, we're putting the power of choice and control right at your fingertips.

The new Linden Home Store looks and works great on your mobile device’s browser. Whether you're on your computer, tablet, or smartphone, you can now view and select from all Linden Homes.

By popular demand, you can browse all the Linden Homes even if you already own one, you are not logged in, you do not yet have a Premium subscription, or the Linden Home model you want is not currently available.

Follow our Featured News Blog and connect with us on Social Media for future Second Life News!

We previously announced a grace period following the release of multi-factor authentication support in the Viewer so that third-party viewers had time to implement it. Well, the "near future" we mentioned has arrived! We rolled out a login change today that requires MFA Capable viewers for accounts that have MFA enabled in their preferences. If a viewer is not MFA Capable yet, then those accounts will no longer be able to log into Second Life using that viewer.

If you haven't done so already, please see the wiki for details on the new login parameters needed to make your viewer MFA Capable.

If you haven’t turned on MFA for your own account, visit the knowledgebase article for instructions on how to do so. MFA provides additional protection in the event of a phishing incident or other password compromise. When you speak for your third-party viewer project, the authenticity of your voice in Second Life really counts!

UPDATE: Please note that MFA is opt-in and this only affects those Residents that have enabled MFA on their accounts. We recommend all Residents take advantage of this extra security feature!

We are pleased to announce two new inventory features today. We think you will find both of them very useful!

Inventory Item Preview

Many of us have very large inventories. You can now add preview images to your inventory items to help you find your favorite items more quickly. Looking for exactly the right shoes out of your huge collection? Adding previews to these items will make it much faster to find them. Then you can buy even more shoes -- or whatever it is you like to collect in SL!
Finding this new feature is easy. The option menu for inventory items, including folders, now has the option “Image.”  There is no L$ charge for uploading an image as an item preview.
Merchants and creators can add previews to their delivery folders and items, and you will see them in your inventory with no extra effort on your part.
For textures and snapshots, you do not need to add previews yourself. The Viewer will show previews automatically. You’ll see your texture packs and photo album as you’ve never seen them before!

Single Folder View

The other new feature is what we call Single Folder View. This allows you to see the contents of a single inventory folder in its own window. 
Reorganizing your inventory?  Let’s say you want to put all of your shoes in a new folder “All Shoes” and another new folder “All Boots.”  You can create those folders, open a single-folder view on each of them, and drag items from your main inventory into those folders. No more scrolling and carefully aiming your cursor to drag into the intended folder!
Single folder view works well alongside the traditional scrolling view you know and (maybe) love. You can use either view, or switch between them on a window-by-window basis. Single folder view is entirely optional for the traditionalists among you.
Single folder view also makes it easy to see item previews. By default, the single folder view will show you any previews attached to items inside that folder. Items without previews will appear in the usual way as lines of text. There are two other views -- all previews, or all text. It’s up to you, but our favorite is the combination view.

Project Viewer

To use these new features, you will need a viewer that supports them. Currently you can download the project Viewer from the Alternate Viewers page.

Examples of these features in action

Adding a preview to an inventory item:

Taking snapshots to add as previews for several inventory items:

Combination view in a single folder window showing a combination of items with and without preview images:

You can also use a texture already in your inventory to attach to an inventory item!

Saving a preview for Sky settings:

If you find issues or unexpected behavior, file a Jira issue! 

Mini FAQ

1. Is there a size limit on preview images? 
   Yes, a maximum of 256x256
2. What is the cost to upload preview images?
   It’s free!
3. Which items can preview images be applied to?
   • Clothing
   • Body parts
   • Gestures
   • Environment settings
   • Calling cards
   • Landmarks
   • Notecards
   • Scripts
   • Objects
   • Folders
4. What about no-mod items?
   You can add preview images to no-mod items as well.
5. Will inventory item preview persist?
   Yes, items with previews attached to them will persist when rezzed in world and taken back into inventory. Previews will also persist if an object is added to inventory and then taken back out.

The legendary music label Motown has officially opened its doors with an all-new presence in Second Life – and we are ready to celebrate!

Please join us inworld at Motown today between noon-3 pm PT to meet and interact with Lindens, Moles, and other members of the Second Life community in this soulful music experience, launched in partnership with Capitol Music Group and STYNGR.

This is your chance to hear some great music, hang out, and dance during the opening day at Motown, which features multi-station radio streams of classic and contemporary Motown songs, animated gestures, and much more! You can learn more about Motown in Second Life at second.life/motown.

Hope to see you there!

Motown

Experience classic and current Motown hits in an entirely new way! Meet new friends and dance in a music-filled virtual world that features multi-station radio streams of classic and contemporary Motown songs, animated gestures, and much more!

More Info Teleport

Motown and Second Life Featured on:

• Billboard
• Blockster
• Music Business Worldwide
• Yahoo Finance

To coincide with our 20th Birthday celebrations, we are excited to announce the introduction of a new generation of Second Life Mentors.

Second Life Mentors will be the first ripple in the pond of “Paying It Forward”. 

Paying it forward is an ancient concept but we are bringing it right up to date and beyond in our amazing Second Life Community and “Our Fantastic Future”!

There will be two teams of volunteer Mentors.
 
-The Second Life Mentors, welcoming and guiding New Residents arriving at the Welcome areas and helping with ongoing assistance. 

-The Bellisseria Mentors, introducing people to the many themes and choices of Linden Homes and assisting people to settle into their Community across the Bellisseria Continent.

We will welcome Mentors with all levels of knowledge and experience. The most important qualities will be patience, warmth, positivity, fun, and a focus on inclusion. Mentors will learn and develop new skills and information within our teams with ongoing skill-sharing, training, and Community development ideas to take forward and share with our wonderful fellow Residents.

SECOND LIFE
“OUR LIFE”

O - Orienteering 
U - Universal 
R - Residents 

L - Learning with 
I -  Inspiration 
F - Fun and 
E - Enthusiasm 

There will be many benefits for Mentors; new friends, social events, and gifts but most of all succeeding in the challenge of developing meaningful connections, inspiring a positive Community, and dedicating ourselves to happy, healthy fun. 

Helping others feeds the soul!

If you would like to get involved in mentoring please click the link of your choice below to apply.

Application to be a Second Life Mentor
Application to be a Bellisseria Mentor