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!

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.

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

Update May 1st, 2024

We are thrilled to announce the exciting expansion of our Second Life Community Exhibition (SLCE). As of 12pm PT on May 1st, 2024, the SLCE will grow with the addition of 10 new exhibits, bringing more diversity and creativity to our community showcase. This second phase not only enriches our current offerings but also introduces five larger parcels, designed to provide more space and opportunities for immersive experiences.

Joining our initial group of esteemed exhibitors: 

• Bay City
• Nonprofit Commons Oasis
• Virtual Ability
• BURN2
• Boystown
• Caledon
• Furzona
• LWN - Second Norway
• Drivers of SL
• Confederation of Democratic Simulators
• Bellisserian Bureau of Bureaucracy

We are proud to welcome these new participants starting at 12pm PT today:

• Baunatal German Community
• Islands of New England
• The Nature Collective
• FOCUS Art Magazine and Galleries
• The Teegle Equestrian Community
• Leeward Cruising Club
• Premier Wrestling
• The Lighthouse: Support & Meetings
• Virtual Worlds Education Consortium
• American Cancer Society

These additions enhance the variety within our exhibition and foster a supportive and engaging environment for all Residents. Explore these communities and connect with the unique cultures and initiatives each new exhibit brings to Second Life!

We plan to expand and cycle in more communities continuously, so if you are interested in being considered, please fill out the application form.

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!

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!

To celebrate Second Life’s 18th birthday and Father’s Day we are releasing new limited edition last names today!

The following names for Father’s Day are only available until June 25th.  
Daddy
Pop
Sire

These names for Father’s Day are seasonal and may come back around this time next year, for a limited time.

The following names are in theme with SL18B this year and are only available until July 9th.
Mystic
Fae
Mote
Woodsprite
Silvius
Fyrewik
Padfoot

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. 

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!
 

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!

Happy October! To celebrate the Halloween season we are releasing new last names today!

The following Halloween-themed names are only available for a limited time. 
Demonpaws
Addams
Boo
Vorhees
Macabre
Bitey

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

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 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!

To celebrate the winter holiday season, we are releasing new limited edition last names today!

The following winter-themed names are only available until January 5th:  
Snowflake
Kringle
Yule
Fruitcake
Ninnymuggins
Humbug
Hollyberry
Jinglepaw

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

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

We have been very pleased to see the response to our limited edition last names. 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, most of 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!
 

Happy December! 

We will soon be adding an option to email notification preferences. Currently, you can choose to receive IMs in your email when you are not logged in to Second Life. There will now be an additional setting that controls whether you receive Group notices in email.

These settings are moving from the Viewer Preferences window to https://accounts.secondlife.com/change_email. A verified email address is still required for receiving these notifications.

We are rolling this change out in stages. If you change your settings, it may be up to two weeks before it takes effect.

The default for the new setting affecting Group notices will be OFF. If you wish to receive Group notices in email, you will need to visit the web page and opt in.

This change is motivated by feedback from our community as well as residents frequently marking Group Notice emails as spam.  We want emails to our residents to be as relevant and useful as possible! 

________________________________________________

When the full rollout of the change is complete on December 15, residents will have the option to opt-in or out of offline communication preferences separately for offline IMs and offline group notifications.  In the past if residents requested offline communication you would receive both IMs and group notifications when you were not inworld; with this change residents will not receive offline group notifications unless they explicitly ask for them.  They will still receive offline IMs if they subscribed to offline notifications before the change.  

The web page for opting in to receiving group notifications will go live on December 8, 2021 but some preference updates will not be applied until December 15.  If a resident does not explicitly sign up for offline group notifications before December 15 they will stop receiving them after that date.  Any preference changes made after December 15 will go into effect immediately.

If a resident has requested no offline communications the preference will not change.
 

December has begun and we have lots in store for you this holiday season, including our annual snowball fight, exclusive premium gift, swag for all, the magic of Winter Wonderland, SL Christmas Expo, and more!

WINTER WONDERLAND IS OPEN

Winter Wonderland

Discover an exciting snowy adventure in this winter attraction by Linden Lab. Enjoy some holiday gifts in the Village of Lights, then make your way to snowboarding, snowmobiling, ice-skating, or snowball fighting in the snowball fight arena. If you’re in the mood for something a bit quieter, take a breath-taking trip on the Ferris Wheel and catch incredible views of the twinkling lights and shimmery snow.

Visit in Second Life

Winter Wonderland is back in all its beautiful glory with interactive fun that you won’t want to miss! Start your adventure in the Village of Lights, then make your way to snowboarding, snowmobiling, ice-skating, and of course, the snowball fight arena. These activities are more fun with friends - so grab your besties and plan to spend a few hours catching everything that Winter Wonderland has to offer. If you’re in the mood for something a bit quieter after all that running around, take a breathtaking trip on the Ferris Wheel and catch incredible views of the twinkling lights and shimmery snow. (You may be prompted to opt in to the Winter Wonderland experience in order to participate in the activities - be sure to read and accept the experience.)

LINDEN & RESIDENT SNOWBALL FIGHT

Linden & Resident Snowball Fight

Get in the winter spirit for the most epic snowball fight in Second Life. Come with a group of friends and meet new people - either way, you're sure to have a blast as you toss snowballs at other Residents and even Lindens! The annual Snowball Fight event will be held on December 17th at 10am to 11am PT and another one at 2pm to 3pm PT.

Visit in Second Life

‘Tis the season for some snow-slinging shenanigans at the 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 17th from 10am to 11am PT and then again from  2pm to 3pm 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!

WINTER SWAGINATOR HUNT

Winter Swaginator Hunt

‘Tis the season to be jolly - and what could be more jolly than new gifts? From now through the end of December, Second Life will be giving away 4 exclusive Linden Bears for everyone! Pick up your HUD at the Meauxle Bureaux and make sure to complete the gift hunt in order by following the clues in the HUD and local chat. Happy hunting!

Visit in Second Life

The Swaginator is back with seasonal gifts for everyone! Pick up and attach your Swaginator HUD, and follow the clues in local chat to find each of the four exclusive Linden Bears, handcrafted for this special occasion!

NEW WINTER PREMIUM GIFT

Premium Gift Collection Spot 1

Premium members can grab the newest gift at this convenient kiosk, located in Unttan.

Visit in Second Life

Premium members - we have something special for you - a limited and exclusive Premium-Only 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 take it for a whirl!

Included, you’ll find a Premium Member Token and Premium Member Token HUD, which are the keys to Premium Only snowball weapons at the Snowball Fight arena in Winter Wonderland. The HUD will give you access to some upgraded snow arsenal. Remember to attach your HUD at the arena to access and rez your snow-slinging artillery. 

Get your Premium Gift at one of the Premium Gift kiosks inworld - before they disappear!

THE 11TH ANNUAL SL CHRISTMAS EXPO TO BENEFIT THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY

11th Annual SL Christmas Expo

Visit the 11th Annual SL Christmas Expo, held December 3-14 in support of the American Cancer Society's fight against childhood cancer. This 14 region shopping extravaganza features 170+ Merchants, 3 Breedable Regions, and many holiday activities including Twirl & Whirl Hunt, Lights of Hope Decoration Contest, 100+ hours of live entertainment, and more! Linden Lab will reveal the next edition of the coveted Linden Home series at the Expo and provide a Limited Edition Christmas item and special surprises. For more info, visit: slchristmasexpo.com

Visit in Second Life

This year’s SL Christmas Expo is bursting with bright and merry delights - all for supporting the American Cancer Society and the fight against childhood cancer. From December 3rd through the 14th enjoy many holiday activities at the expo and donate for a good cause! 

Linden Lab has also joined in on the fun! Watch out for these Linden-themed activities at the expo:

• Vote (by donation to a special ACS Christmas Expo Kiosk) for your favorite decorated Linden Home at the annual Lights of Hope Home Decorating Contest. 
• Pose with Santa Patch and his Molelves! A very special opportunity to pose for a picture with our VP of Product Operations, Patch Linden, and his team of Molelves - on Friday, December 10th from 12pm to 3pm PT, in the main SL Christmas Expo region!
• New theme of Linden Homes will be revealed on Monday, December 6th -> watch this space! 
• A new Limited Edition Christmas Item -> Patch on a shelf, available here.

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

2021 HOLIDAY SHOP & HOP

The 2021 Holiday Shop & Hop returns on December 8th with 240+ participating Merchants across 12 regions. Your guide to the Shop & Hop, including early access, can be found here: https://second.life/2021HolidayShopHop 

WINTER ATTRACTIONS ON THE DESTINATION GUIDE

If you’re looking for even more winter activities, there’s already close to 100 wintery themed 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!

Hello, and Happy Monday!

Today we’re excited to announce that we’ve updated the look of our inworld and web-side Search feature to bring it more in line with the look and feel of our viewer and the direction that that rest of our web properties will be going (see the new Join page, and the new secondlife.com landing page - they’re excellent). 
 

New Search home page in the viewer.

Our goal was to clean up the interface and provide a more streamlined and user friendly Search feature that maintained all the functionality that we’ve all come to expect and rely upon. Helpful tool tips will guide you in getting the most functionality out of your searches, and will update as we add more options for more sophisticated searches.
 

Search options are detailed in the search bar tool tip.

Once you’ve begun your search, you’ll find that all the familiar options are still available so that you can refine your search for Places, People, Events, Groups, Land to Buy or Rent, Classifieds, etc. We have not changed the algorithm that our Search feature uses in any way. We have simply tried to present the information in a more pleasing and useful manner.
 

All your favorite functions are easy to find.

All searches can be filtered by the convenient maturity dropdowns.

We’re extremely excited to be rolling this out today in time for all of our Holiday searching. We hope that you’ll enjoy the new look and feel just as much as we do, and we look forward to unveiling a host of new features for Search to go along with this facelift in the new year! Happy Searching!

Hello Residents!

Just a friendly reminder during cyber security awareness month about the security measures you can take to protect your avatar, your land, and everything in your inventory!

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Even if hackers guess your password, they won't be able to access your personal info or move money if you have MFA. More info on MFA - or just get started in setting it up.

Verified Emails: If your account is compromised, there are steps to reclaim it. But we need a verified email address to help do that. To see if your email address is confirmed, go to your Account -> Change Email page, and look for the √ Verified next to your email address.

Password Security:  Please practice safe password habits:

• Don’t share your passwords with anyone!
• Keep your password unique and special to Second Life. Reusing the same password across different platforms or websites makes your account vulnerable if one of those sites suffer a data breach. 
• Choose a secure password with upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, spaces, and symbols, and avoid common dictionary words or phrases.
• No Linden will ever ask for your password. Likewise, there is never a reason for you to enter your password to unlock an item, receive a discount, or anything else.
• Use only the official Second Life Viewer, or a Third Party Viewer from the Third Party Viewer Directory. If the viewer does not allow you to log directly into your account for any reason, the viewer is NOT secure.
• You can read more about keeping your information secure on the wiki at Linden Lab Official: Password Protection

To celebrate Halloween we are releasing new limited edition last names today!

The following Halloween-themed names are only available until November 1st:  
Trick
Treat
Lecter
Pumpkins
Ghostly

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

The following names have been removed from the available last names list: 
Primless
Knickers
Orlando
Aviator
Caboose

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

We have been very pleased to see the response to our limited edition last names. 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, some of 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!