With less than 24 hours until Valentine’s Day, the Second Life Destination Guide is overflowing with both  romantic and non-romantic activities and events - so make plans to experience a few of the newest destinations today!

The Love is in the Air Event is a beautiful and highly detailed shopping region with a great selection of clothes, gachas, furnishings, HUDs, and more. The event boasts over 40 unique booths, artfully-landscaped walkways and even a catwalk for shows. Better hurry, because the Love is in the Air Event only lasts through Valentine’s Day.

Love is in the Air Event

GizzA Creations is proud to present Love is in the Air. Join them February 7th through the 14th, as GizzA brings to you a selection of the finest brands in Second Life. Come be swept away on the gossamer wings of love!

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Embrace rollicking jazz, street parties, and flashing confetti at 2015 Mardi Gras Town. This yearly New Orleans build features all the traditional Mardi Gras trappings, as well as shops for costumes, masks, art, and more. Fat Tuesday’s less than a week away, so get partying!

2015 Mardi Gras Town

The vibrant sounds of authentic, New Orleans jazz will fill your ears the moment you land on the cobblestones of Mardi Gras Town. A holiday venue with incredible colors, ambiance and a festive spirit. Mardi Gras Town is the best destination to let the good times roll.

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A grin-inducing pun aside, Less than Three is a nearly perfect romantic getaway. Whether you prefer vineyard wine tasting, classic drive-ins or forested ruins, this archipelago offers a variety of romantic places to explore. Take that special someone on a soothing vacation to Less than Three. 

Less Than Three

Less Than Three is a photogenic locale designed with romance in mind, packed with activities for explorers and couples as well numerous photo spots for bloggers and enthusiasts. Enjoy a boat ride, romantic spots, numerous dance areas, outdoor ballrooms and more. Romance is alive and assured at Less Than Three.

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Moya’s Memory takes visitors on an imaginative tour of an artist’s thoughts and memories. Part found installation, part computer mainframe, part hand-drawn whimsy, this project offers a glimpse into the imaginative mechanics of what make us who we are. 

Moya's Memory

Come see as Moya shares the world of his imagination. Don't miss it, enjoy Moya's Memory!

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A futuristic blend of modern nightlife and Aztec ruins, Hydra is a new club making big waves. This well-designed venue offers the full club experience, including poolside parties, cozy lounges, a large bar, and a pounding dance floor.

Hydra

Hydra is a captivating and mysterious futuristic ruin. Each segment offers a unique chill zones. Formed under an ancient Aztec temple, Hydra is a playground for mature obsessions.

Visit in Second Life

Keep your Destination Guide Submissions coming and share your creations! If you’re more explorer than creator, be sure to check out the Photo Booth Fun Contest. Props and exotic locations are most definitely encouraged, and there’s a chance for some pretty cool prizes. While you’re at it, share your images at the official Second Life Flickr page. Until then, see you inworld.

Love is in the air and Valentine’s Day is just a few days away! Pink and red dominate, chocolate sales sky-rocket, and we're reminded that the true hallmark of love is in the quality of time we spend with our loved ones.

Come to the Isle of View on February 13th for some Pre-Valentine’s Day fun. Meet up with other Residents and enjoy all the romance that Isle of View has to offer - boat rides, fireworks, kissing booths - a treasure trove of memorable moments just waiting to be made with someone special.

Why February 13th? Because we believe in love, and there is still time to find a special someone for the big day.

If you’ve got a Valentine - bring them to the Isle of View.
If you’re currently looking for a Valentine - come to the Isle of View.
If you have several Valentines - well lucky you - bring them all to the Isle of View!

And how does one get to the Isle of View, you may wonder - here’s your ticket to Second Life’s twist on the tunnel-of-love.

Isle of View

Looking for something romantic this Valentine's Day? The Isle of View brings together everything the discerning romantic looks for in romantic festivities: boat rides, fireworks, kissing booths, forested walks, tasteful fountains, and free gifts. So bring that special someone to the Isle of View and tell them how you really feel.

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P.S. Isle of View.

As we continue to improve Second Life, we’re looking into the issue of inventory loss. If you have experienced some form of inventory loss in the past 12 months - whether partial (such as a single object or subfolder), or full - please take a moment to share your answers via this quick survey.

Your answers will help provide our engineering team with information that will assist them as they make improvements to Second Life.

We greatly appreciate your time and want to thank you for responding to the survey.

We (both the Lindens and some hard-working open source contributors) have been busy making improvements to Second Life, and now is a good time to let you know about some new things you’ll soon be able to enjoy. These changes include improving the way your avatar interacts with surfaces inworld, giving you more tools for managing your preferences for notifications and graphics settings, as well as improvements to make life easier for mesh creators and merchants. Read below for the details and links to download Project Viewers that will let you get an early look at some of these improvements.

Hover Height

One of the surprisingly difficult things to do in a virtual world is to make things come to rest in a natural-looking way. Keeping feet on the ground when standing and the right body parts on furniture seems obvious, but getting an avatar to "just touch" without either floating above or penetrating into the adjacent surface can be computationally quite expensive. To avoid some of that expense, Second Life has always used approximations, which rely on some simplifying assumptions about the avatar shape and size. Those assumptions are adjusted by a number of factors including several of your shape parameter choices, values included in attachments you are wearing, and active animations.

As we've all seen, sometimes these things combine to leave you floating above or sinking into the surface on which intuitively you should be resting. This is because the adjustments come from many sources and sometime interact in unexpected ways. Because they have not always been applied in exactly the same order, even if you wear the same set of attachments in the same setting you could sometimes get different results.

We've been doing some work on all this and testing the results in the Project HoverHeight Viewer. This viewer, and some accompanying server changes, improve things in two ways: the order in which we make adjustments to your vertical position has been made more stable -- combining the same set of attachments and animations should now always produce the same vertical offset: even if it's not perfect, it will at least be predictable. Because it can't always be perfect, we've also introduced a new final adjustment that is directly under your control: a new avatar right-click selection allows you to tweak your vertical position. This final adjustment is shared with everyone around you so that they too will see you correctly, and is saved locally by your viewer so that it persists between sessions. This new feature was inspired by a proposal from the Firestorm viewer team, and they've been helping with testing it.

Notifications

Busy Second Life Residents have told us via JIRA, the Suggestion form, and other channels that they need better ways to control and organize the many notices they receive: inventory offers, group notices, event invites, and money transactions all result in the same kind of pop-ups and notice chiclets and are all listed together. It can be difficult to keep track of what has been happening, and all too easy to miss something important. An upcoming Viewer release will add a new floater that provides separate displays for different notice types, and the ability to sort them. You can prioritize and organize what's important to you.

Mesh Import

Mesh creators have sometimes found that large or complex models can't be imported to Second Life, and the reason why is not always clear. We're upgrading support for mesh import: an upcoming Viewer update will allow uploading models that have more than eight unique faces, and improved association of physics representations and LODs by name. It also improves error reporting, including a detailed mode that dumps everything you might want to know about how your model is being processed. You can try out this work in-progress now in the Project Importer Viewer.

Viewer Managed Marketplace

Merchants get improvements too! In the next couple of months, you'll be able to manage the  inventory in your Second Life Marketplace store directly from the Viewer (there is a Project Viewer available for exploring this on Aditi). Items no longer need to be loaded into the Merchant Outbox or a Magic Box; instead you'll designate items to be sold directly from your personal inventory.

Graphics Settings

Your preferred way to see the world can change depending on what you're doing, and your graphics preferences strongly affect the performance of your viewer. We're introducing an open source contribution that allows you to save named sets of graphics settings, with a drop-down for quickly changing between them. When you sit down to listen to a performance in your favorite music club, you can pick settings optimized for rich display of your companions and settings, and when you go exploring you can pick a set that trades off longer draw distances and better lighting effects for simpler rendering of details - whatever you think is important. This Viewer will also expose some controls we've been experimenting with for some time to give you better protection against nearby objects or avatars that are too difficult to render fully on your system.

Second Life Developer Tools

Finally, we've been updating several of the tools we use to build both viewers and simulators; while this doesn't directly provide new features, we believe it will improve stability, performance, and the productivity of developers so that we can more quickly bring you an even better Second Life.

All of these changes, along with other fixes and small improvements, should reach the default Viewer over the next several weeks.

There’s no shortage of romantic places to explore in Second Life this Valentine’s season, but there’s also a whole host of intricate and interesting places to experience that are outside of the Valentine’s Day bubble.

Take a look below at a sample of what the Second Life Destination Guide has to offer.

Grab your snow gear and head over to Winter Wonderland - a 4-region event filled with ice-skating, snowboard and snowmobile racing, a snowball fighting arena, and much more. This special event is brought you by Linden Lab, and will be open for a limited time - so go enjoy the fun before the snow melts!

Winter Wonderland

Grab your snow gear and head on in to Linden Lab’s Winter Wonderland. For the past few months we’ve developed a four-region winter experience many different attractions. Wander through a cozy little snow village, a mesh race track for both snowmobiles and snowboards, rides, ice skating and even a killer snowball war zone. Get in there, choose your arsenal and conquer the castle with a furious fusillade of frigid, frozen fun!

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If you enjoy digging to the bottom of a juicy mystery, Buried might be the game for you. This geocaching-focused hunt tasks visitors with uncovering the truth about a famous writer’s unnerving disappearance. Prepare for twists, turns, thrills, and more as you delve deep into the world of Buried. 

Buried

Buried is a mystery game that takes the player into the world of geocaching. Solve the mysterious disappearance of the writer Lily Morano. With twists and turns aplenty, this is no small hunt. It's a full-on adventure where the player takes center stage.

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A quest-like hunt from the people at Green Rose Manor, the Eternal Love Quest challenges Residents to discover what eternal love really means. Keep your wits sharp, be brave, and leave no stone unturned in your search for Eternal Love. Successful hunters are generously rewarded with gifts from a unique range of creators.

Eternal Love Quest

Green Rose Manor's Eternal Love Quest is a strange and mysterious romantic quest about eternal love. Challenge yourself to to solve riddles and search for various items as you uncover the mystery of the Green Rose Manor. And once again, the makers of the Dandelion Daydreams Factory ask, "Are you brave enough?"

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The SLGBT Alliance’s Spread the Love Expo is a great shopping event for a good cause. The SLGBT Alliance aims to to raise money in support of a variety of LGBT-focused charities. This Valentine’s Day, support all love.

Spread the Love Expo

Spread the Love February 1st through the 15th with the SLGBT Alliance! Shop for a good cause this Valentine's season as 25 incredible designers come together with new and exclusive donation items to help benefit the Human Rights Campaign.

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The Citta Bhavana Ashram is a heavily-forested area that celebrates all things that cultivate heart and mind. The citta averages ten events per week, including philosophy discussions, music theory, meditation, and more. Visit the Citta Bhavana Ashram for thought-provoking conversation or peaceful.

Citta Bhavana Ashram

The Citta Bhavana Ashram has a large community of philosophical and spiritual practitioners from various backgrounds and belief systems. Join them as they share their perspectives through open discussions, art, music, meditations, energy healings, poetry, storytelling, and various other activities. They have a friendly, compassionate community where everyone should feel safe and welcome.

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 If you’re looking to explore a fantasy-based environment, make time to explore the Elven Isle of Telrunya. Hidden nooks and crannies abound in this soothing forested realm. Mortals, fae, magic, mystique… Discover something otherworldly in Telrunya.

The Elven Isle of Telrunya

The Elven Isle of Telrunya is a quiet and natural place to explore, sit and talk with friends, and relax from a weary day. Explore the woodlands in search of elves and fairies. Explore the palace and its lush green hillsides and divine shrines. Don't let the elven word frighten you, for everyone is welcome at Telrunya. Escape to the forest, if only for a little while...

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With less than two weeks until Valentine’s Day, time’s running out to send in those last-minute romantic destinations and snapshots. You can even enter the Photo Booth Fun Contest for a chance to win some cool prizes. Don’t wait, get those comically-oversized props together and start posing today!

SNOWBALL WARZONE SHOWDOWN

Come pelt some Lindens and fellow Residents with snowballs in a frozen field free-for-all at Winter Wonderland. That’s right - between 10 AM SLT and noon SLT on Friday, February 6th, we’re holding a meetup inworld at the Snowball Warzone. Get your free snow launching weapon, gather your posse, and prepare to say hello to some Linden friends for a full on flurry of snow-slinging fun.

PHOTO BOOTH FUN CONTEST
Share your silly photo booth style pictures with us for a chance to win L$10,000, L$5,000, L$3,000, or L$1,000 for your snapshot! Props encouraged! Winners will be selected by a panel consisting of both Lindens and Residents.

For inspiration we’ve created a Pinterest Board on our Official Pinterest Page for you to view.

Rules and more information are available on the contest page.

Enter between now and March 4th, 2015. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

It’s time again to take a look at all the new and exciting activities Second Life has to offer. From cool winter to steamy romance, spend the weekend exploring, dancing, and playing your way through the awesome experiences of the virtual world.

It’s here. It’s big, and it’s filled with powdery, frozen goodness. We’re proud to present Winter Wonderland, a four-region destination chock full of gifts and attractions. Explore cozy villages, rides, and more in this expansive shrine to winter fun. Premium users should also stop by the Premium Gift Kiosks for brand new, winter-themed gifts!

Winter Wonderland

Grab your snow gear and head on in to Linden Lab’s Winter Wonderland. For the past few months we’ve developed a four-region winter experience many different attractions. Wander through a cozy little snow village, a mesh race track for both snowmobiles and snowboards, rides, ice skating and even a killer snowball war zone. Get in there, choose your arsenal and conquer the castle with a furious fusillade of frigid, frozen fun!

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Every week, new submissions pour into the Destination Guide in a deluge of Resident-crafted activities, games, and locations. Here are some recent standouts we think you'll love exploring:

The Antiochia Scholarships Trust aims to help Middle-Eastern students without ready access to secondary education attend Canadian universities. Redemption Cathedral is their re-creation of the ancient city of Antiochia, complete with a variety of ancient architectural styles. Learn more about this great cause, visit Antiochia.

Redemption Cathedral, Antiochia

Antiochia is the Second Life campus of the Antiochia Scholarships Trust, a non-profit helping Middle East students attend Canadian universities. This destination re-creates Antiochia on the Orontes in 600 AD, combining Phoenician, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine architecture. The centerpiece is the Redemption Cathedral, modeled after the Hagia Sophia. Visit http://apa.antiochiatrust.org to learn more.

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It wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day in Second Life without fun seasonally appropriate hunts, and the Be My Valentine Hunt is no exception. This annual hunt takes place in the Botanica region, known for detailed gardens built with a quirky sense of humor. Do you have what it takes to win the aggressively cute prize? Find all the Valentine’s cards to see.

Be My Valentine Hunt

This Valentine's Day, make sure you visit Botanica's Be My Valentine Hunt. Come collect vintage Valentine cards hidden in scattered hearts throughout Botanica’s Botanical Gardens. Find all 15 hearts and win a cute lil' Luv Bug. Then take your friends out for a Valentine's spin on your favorite sim!

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Another wonderfully romantic spot - Valentine’s on Ice - is a region-wide event in the ever-popular Celebrities Hangout. Enjoy romantic scenery, live concerts, and great people, all under a dusting of rose petals and snow.

Valentine's on Ice

Celebrities Hangout presents Valentine's on Ice. Bring your special someone one and enjoy the many romantic spots. Plan a romantic dinner in one of their lakeside restaurants. Have fun with awesome concerts, paddle boats, snuggle-rose boats and the many winter activities. Come spend some quality time in this immersive and romantic winter experience.

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Aquarelle is a soothing island where everything is ever-so-slightly transparent. Wander through a place where ephemeral trees drive taproots into concrete-solid ponds, relax, or view paintings at the quaint gallery. After all the activities and hunts and active entertainment, it’s nice to be able to meander through something beautiful and minimalist.

Aquarelle

Aquarelle is a landscape of lightness, softness and transparency in the colors of a watercolor. It is as if a painter invited you to jump into a painting, to bring life to the scene. Visit the beauty of the place alone, with friends or a lover and explore what is visible and what is not. Enjoy the serenity!

Visit in Second Life

For the last few weeks, Residents from all manner of virtual places have been sharing their destination submissions and images for romantic spots. Keep it up! Share that love with a special destination or the perfect Flickr image. You can even submit inworld snapshots for a chance to be featured in upcoming email and banner campaigns. ‘Til next time, see you at Winter Wonderland.

The Drax Files: World Makers is back with another great human interest story from a Second Life user. This episode is all about the well-known virtual model Absinthe and the thriving fashion community inworld.  Absinthe opens the episode with a statement that many Second Life Residents can relate to:

“You’ll know what your avatar looks like when you find your soul avatar,” she says, “You’re like - that’s it. That’s me. That’s who I am.”

This episode looks into the way in which Absinthe and others identify with their avatars. Like many of us, Absinthe’s avatar represents a facet of her personality, but doesn’t necessarily bear a complete physical resemblance.

Offline, Absinthe works with patients who have HIV/AIDS and volunteers at Camp Hope as a clinical pharmacist; inworld she indulges her love for fashion through her modeling work and her FEROSH project. FEROSH is a visual arts digital publication that interprets current fashion trends in the context of Second Life.

To hear more of Absinthe’s story and find out more about her FEROSH project, watch the video embedded below or follow this

MleYk8-F1CQ

Want to see more personal Second Life stories? Find all the previous episodes at Draxtor’s Website or below:

The Drax Files: World Makers - Episode 1: Kriss Lehmann
The Drax Files: World Makers - Episode 2: Jo Yardley
The Drax Files: World Makers - Episode 3: Eshi Otawara
The Drax Files: World Makers - Episode 4: Fantasy Faire / RFL
The Drax Files: World Makers - Episode 5: Engrama

Get ready for some wintery inworld fun! Today, we're opening Winter Wonderland: four regions of icy, snowy greatness for everyone to enjoy. Pick up free gifts, have a snowball fight, go ice skating, race a snowmobile, and more!

Premium subscribers enjoy special upgrades in Winter Wonderland as well as exclusive new gifts! It's a great time to upgrade to Premium - for a limited time only, you can get 50% off a quarterly subscription!

Read on for the details:

SNOWBALL FIGHTS, LIGHTS, and OTHER DELIGHTS

There’s no shortage of fun festivities to enjoy in this four-region frosty Winter Wonderland - a collection of scenic builds that were created for you and your friends to discover and enjoy. Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll find there.

VILLAGE OF LIGHTS
Pay a visit to this fantasy styled icy village and enjoy company, calm, and the wonderful winter feel! In the heart of the village you will find a variety of celebratory gifts await you. Be sure to stick around for the fireworks that light up the sky at the top of every hour!

SNOWBALL WARZONE
Atop the hill outside the village awaits a great cold wasteland where you and others will buckle down in the trenches of warfare: SNOWBALL FIGHTS! Claim the top of the towers for great vantage, or rule the castle walls with friends. Choose from two weapons, or if you are a Premium member, equip your Premium token for access to the ultimate snowball fight arsenal! You may even catch a Linden or two participating in the snowball shenanigans.

ICY RACE COURSE
Strap on your helmet, hold tight, and rev those engines! On the outskirts of the Village of Lights are free vendors where you can pick up a snowboard or a mighty snowmobile. Premium members can access upgraded vehicles by equipping their token. Hop aboard and race around the four-region wide race track full of bumps, hills, jumps, and more! Grab a friend and see who can best the turns and cross the lines first. Be sure to turn on Advanced Lighting to see the track nicely lit up as you cruise the snow!

SKATETOWN ARENA
In the heart of this region are two skate arenas for the enjoyment of everyone. Grab a pair of skates from the free vendor, strap them on, and give them a spin! Execute athletic jumps and twirls, and glide your way around the ring. In the front vendors here, Premium members will find an extra prize full of customization options to fit your style and avatar.

WINTER FERRIS WHEEL
What better way to see the region than to sit, relax, and rotate your way to the top of the view.  The ferris wheel will give you one of the best - and most romantic - views in the region.

FREE WINTER GIFTS THAT WILL LIFT YOUR SPIRITS

In addition to access to all the free fun mentioned above, Winder Wonderland is full of vendors with free gifts for everyone! While you're there, pick up:

• Winter Cupcakes – Carb-load on cupcakes before going to battle in the snowball war, or racing around Winter Wonderland.

• Ice Jewelry – Ice themed jewelry for a classic, shimmering touch.
• Penguin Plushie – This adorable little plushie will be a keepsake your avatar will never want to put down!
• Snowboard – Choose from five different variations, these snowboards will get you through any icy challenge and around any course in a flash.
• Clunker Snowmobile – A beat down, but dang loyal and fast snowmobile that can race with the best.  
• Snow globe – A nice little keepsake to remember the season, various versions of these little snow globes can be found at the vendors.
• Snowman – Various colors are available for you to spruce up your inworld space with a little winter time chill.
• Snow Pistol and Snow Rifle – Gift versions of the wintery weaponry found in the Snowball Warzone for you to take home and enjoy with friends wherever you like.
• Winter Cookies: These tasty delicious treats will satisfy your avatar’s sweet tooth any day.
• Winter Mugs: Enjoy various drinks to steam away that cold chill this winter.  You will find a few variations of these beautiful mugs.

EXCLUSIVE GIFTS for a Premium EDGE

In Winter Wonderland, Premium members get upgraded versions of many of the free gifts in the experience. Just pick up the Winter Wonderland Ribbon at one of the Premium Kiosks, and equip it before heading to Winter Wonderland.

There are also some new free gifts just for Premium members! Pick up a gift pack at one of the Premium Kiosks to collect:

• Snow Globe Home: Hop right into the snow globe like you always wanted to as a child. Decorate this Tahoe dwelling to your liking, and park it on your favorite region!
• Penguin Family: These adorable little creatures are looking for a home with you.
• Snowmobile: A feature-packed snowmobile built for besting any race course.  Change colors and various options to suit your avatar. This snowmobile is built tough and fast, so enjoy the ride.
• Snowboard: This speedy snowboard was designed to get you where you need to go. Choose from five different color options.
• Bazooka: A powerful projectile - this Premium snowball launcher fires a giant snowball that can trap even the strongest foes. Something this powerful will definitely get you a leg up on the competition.
• Customizable Ice Skates – Strap them on and give them a whirl, these customizable skates are feature packed and ready to rock. Choose from premades, or customize individual colors, choose your size, and find your favorite ice rink, or the one at Winter Wonderland and skate away.  

THE PERKS of GOING PREMIUM for HALF-PRICE  

For a limited time, quarterly Premium subscriptions are available at 50% savings.As a Premium member, you’ll enjoy rewards like exclusive gifts, access to special Premium Sandboxes, as well as Live Chat support. Plus, you’ll get your own inworld home, a L$1000 sign-up bonus, and weekly L$ rewards to spend on whatever you like. You can read more about Premium benefits and upgrade your account here.

*TERMS & CONDITIONS FOR 50% DISCOUNT
This limited-time discount offer is available only for purchases of memberships on the Quarterly billing plan. Discount will be applied to the first quarterly billing cycle only, and all future charges will be at the regular Premium price. To qualify, Second Life members must have an active Basic account or create a new Second Life account. Discount offer begins on Thursday the 29th of January 2015 at 8:00 am Pacific Standard Time (PST) and expires on Monday the 16th of February 2015 at 8:00 am Pacific Standard Time (PST).

The weekend is fast approaching, which means the Destination Guide has an assortment of great places to visit in Second Life. With only a few more weekends between now and Valentine’s Day, things are definitely sweetening up. Read on to see what’s new in this week’s Destination Guide Highlights!

To thrill the senses and warm the heart, the Isle of View has resurfaced with a splash. This romantic destination features swan-shaped gondolas, fireworks, sultry lighting and gorgeous forests. Bring a friend or romantic interest to ride the Swan boat ride at Isle of View!

Isle of View

Looking for something romantic this Valentine's Day? The Isle of View brings together everything the discerning romantic looks for in romantic festivities: boat rides, fireworks, kissing booths, forested walks, tasteful fountains, and free gifts. So bring that special someone to the Isle of View and tell them how you really feel.

Visit in Second Life

While many clubs seem to undergo re-designs, few have done it as well as Club Eleven Seven. This rock club features live DJ’s, hosts and a wide variety of rock genres. But the real star is the build. Crazy geometric designs, slick chrome and smooth lights? Why aren’t you there already?

Club Eleven Seven

Looking for something a little different? Find it at Club Eleven Seven! This amazing, unique club is home to some of the best DJ’s and hosts around. They’ve also got shops, including V-Twins, Edelfabrik, XTC, and Shades. Music covers most all rock genres from today’s top artists.

Visit in Second Life

Many role-players looking for new and unique adventures completely forget about the rich stories and power-hungry villains of yesterday. Lightbridge is a period roleplay set just before Henry VIII’s English Reformation. Enter a world of political intrigue and shifting alliances. Don’t doom yourself to repeat the same dragon-slayings and elf-parties of yore, create history at Lightbridge! 

Lightbridge

The year is 1529, on the cusp of the English Reformation under Henry VIII. Welcome to Pont de Lumière, a.k.a. Lightbridge. Lightbridge is a fictional city in English-controlled France near Calais during Tudor times. Peace is tenuous at best, and alliances shift rapidly. Turbulent times lie ahead, where do you stand? Lightbridge is a realistic historical medieval roleplay sim.

Visit in Second Life

Speaking of role-players, We Love Roleplay has just made a triumphant return. This monthly shopping fest caters to role-players of all types. Whether you need a shinier suit of chainmail, an even more-improbable sword, or the perfect period outfit, you’ll find it at We Love Roleplay. 

We Love Role-Play

We Love Role-Play is the original and largest monthly sales-event for role-players. Here, you can buy premium items of high quality at a very nice discount, meet like-minded role-players and find out about great new sims!

Visit in Second Life

For those of you who prefer your Second Lives to be less hack-and-slash and more dinner-and-a-show, dust off that sport coat (or little black dress) and pay a visit to Aphrodisiac Dinner Theater. At Aphrodisiac, live performers offer weekly shows while diners enjoy the finest in virtual cuisine served in a wonderful open-air theater. A little culture, a wonderful evening, and someone to enjoy it with - what more do you need? 

Aphrodisiac Dinner Theater

Aphrodisiac Dinner Theater brings weekly shows to residents to enjoy the performing arts over the finest cuisine. Experience exhilarating performances from talented and passionate performers who come to Aphrodisiac to entertain its guest.

Visit in Second Life

Last week, the call went out for romantic destination submissions and you sent in some wonderful spots. There’s still plenty of time to share a special destination or compose the perfect Flickr image. You can even submit in-world snapshots for a chance to be featured in upcoming email and banner campaigns. See you in-world!

No weekend’s complete without seeing what’s new in Second Life! So come see all the new things your fellow residents are working on in the Second Life Destination Guide.

Shadowplay: Tales of Urbanization of China offers a unique look at the conflict between tradition and modernization in contemporary China, told through the medium of a traditional shadow play. Enjoy this thought-provoking, five part experience, and decide for yourself the costs of modernization.

Shadow Play: Tales of Urbanization of China

Integrating virtual reality with an art form known as shadow play, installation Shadow Play: Tales of Urbanization of China tells a story about the changing landscapes of contemporary China. In four chapters, virtual installation sheds light upon real-life incidents and predicaments involving the cultural and environmental degradation. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/1KCEFE5.

Visit in Second Life

Are you looking for somewhat darker event this winter? The slGoth Timekiller Festival takes place in a land of decrepit cathedrals, large towers and dirty snow. This wonderfully grungy event features a whole host of live storytellers, concerts, content creators and interesting scenery. Who needs sunny pastels, anyway? 

Timekiller Festival

The slGoth Timekiller Festival is a gothic and dark alternative event. This festival features a whole host of content creators, daily concerts, movies, live storytelling and more. There're even free gifts from vendors and slGoth Magazine.

Visit in Second Life

The first of its kind, Shadow Inc. is an LGBT futuristic mix of fluorescent colors, tall buildings, neon lights, clubs and more. Few locations offer such a vibrant look at a possible future as Shadow Inc. This welcoming location is open to all. 

Shadow Inc.

Shadow Inc. LGBT Industrial Complex is the first of its kind. Come explore this futuristic landscaped city, with hangouts for newcomers and seasoned residents alike. They offer shops, two clubs, even residential rentals. They have an open-door policy and welcome one and all to take a stroll into the shadows...

Visit in Second Life

Do you thrill in shining spandex, elaborate entrances and larger-than-life stars? Does the thought of a perfectly executed piledriver leave you giddy? Catch a show at Apex Championship Wrestling. Offering weekly shows every Tuesday, Apex Championship Wrestling is the, well, apex of Second Life professional wrestling. 

Apex Championship Wrestling

Apex Championship Wrestling brings sports entertainment and professional wresting to the Second Life grid. Each and every Tuesday night at 5 p.m., visit the Apex Arena for wild professional wrestling.

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Looking for something a little more upbeat? Sick of all that soft, gentle music? Looking for a little more rock in your life? More of a hangout than a bar, the Rock Bar offers live DJ’s, concerts, games and more. Come on by for friendly people and good times.   

The Rock Bar

Dance on the bar, hang out or hookup to loud hard rock music playing on beautiful beaches. The Rock Bar features concerts, live DJs, hosts, games and more games. They play music from current new hard rock to the old classic rock hits. Come for the beauty, stay for the rocking good time!

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Winter is a wonderful time for romance. Snuggling around the fire with that special someone, mugs of hot chocolate in hand? There’s a reason Valentine’s Day’s in February. So with a little under a month remaining before Cupid shows his cherub cheeks, do you have your romantic plans ready? Valentine’s Day is always a celebration in Second Life, so post a picture with that special someone on the official Second Life Flickr page, or share a romantic destination with the entire virtual world. You may also want to submit your inworld snapshots for a chance to be featured in an upcoming email or banner campaign.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and we’re looking for some great Second Life pictures from the community.

Let us know what Valentine’s Day means to you in Second Life, and your work could be featured in an upcoming email or banner campaign - with your name credited of course! Do you spend Valentine’s Day inworld with friends, your partner, or maybe even looking for someone to enjoy future holidays with?

Share your story in a picture and on our Official Flickr Page with the tag “SLVday2015” so that we can see all of your amazing works. You may submit as many as you like between now and February 2, 2015.

We’ll showcase the chosen image(s) in an email to Residents, as well as in some banner campaigns. We’ll let the chosen image creators know via Flickr and ask for an avatar name for the credits.

Tips for your submissions:

• Make sure that your submissions are appropriate for all audiences.
• Show your avatar or avatars in a scene inworld - an image that tells a story is going to make an impression.
• Keep your image free of additional text/logos
• Higher resolution images work best.

Good luck and have fun!

As you may have seen, a company called Skrill recently announced that we’re working together to provide additional payment options for Second Life users. Our relationship with Skrill allows Linden Lab to offer Second Life Residents many more options for their payment activity (like buying L$ or paying account fees), including additional local currency options for Residents outside the US.

We first soft-launched the Skrill options for payments a few weeks ago, and we’ve seen positive results so far as those interested in alternative payment methods have successfully taken advantage of the new options. If you’d like to check it out, using Skrill’s options for Second Life payments is as easy as using a credit card. All you need to do is login at SecondLife.com, click “Billing Information” under “Account,” and then select “Add a Skrill Account” to begin using Skrill for your Second Life payments.

In the future, we hope to also enable credits to be processed (redemptions) to Second Life Residents’ Skrill accounts. Keep an eye on this blog for more info!

Whether you’re looking for an exciting weekend of adventure or a few soothing days of relaxation, the Second Life Destination Guide is the place to plan your itinerary. Whether you’re looking for urban cities, pastel islands, charity builds or green flamingo bushes, all sorts of cool spots are just a click away.

A labor of love with more than two years of behind-the-scenes work, the City of Harrison is one of the most realistic builds around. This urban roleplay zone features incredible levels of detail, from working elevators to suspiciously-familiar price tags in shop interiors. If you’re interested in urban roleplay, City of Harrison is the place to visit.

City of Harrison

Are you looking for an incredibly realistic, detailed urban environment? The City of Harrison is arguably the pinnacle of realistic Second Life cities. Descriptions don't do this labor of love justice, you need to see it for yourself.

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Timeless Memories is a soothing place of pastel whites and blues, soft lights and sparkling water. A wonderful spot for romance and photography, the creators even invite you to share your photos on their flickr page. Soothe your cares away at Timeless Memories.

Timeless Memories

Without timeless memories, what would you carry with throughout life? At Timeless Memories, time slows, stopping just long enough to catch your breath in this infinite land. Take a few photos, meet a kind soul or just relax in the moment. Be sure to post pictures at: http://bit.ly/1x0mJc3.

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Discovery, Mark II, is a rebuild of a popular Second Life theme park and a look at what the future might look like (or at least the future as imagined by people in the fifties). Equal parts nostalgia and fun, put on those shiny future clothes, so grab a bag of astronaut ice cream and get your ticket for retro-futuristic wonder at Discovery!

Discovery, Mark II

Explore the world of tomorrow. Featuring rides, shows and more, you owe yourself a trip to Discovery Mark II!

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An art build to help raise money for disaster victims, ArtFest 4 features a continually evolving set where artists change the landscape as they see fit. Equal parts whimsical and intriguing, this ever-changing landscape is one that rewards multiple visits.

ArtFest 4

Welcome to ArtFest 4! ArtFest brings together caring artists from all over the world, building and displaying their work to raise money for the less fortunate. Watch the building, view the ever-changing art and landscape, talk to the artists, and vote for your favourites. Enjoy the atmosphere, but return often.

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Chicago in the Roaring Twenties was a place where rivers of bootleg booze flowed through underground speakeasies, gangsters swaggered around in pinstripes, and flappers showed scandalous amounts of leg. Chicago Empire Burlesque Theater hearkens back to that time, offering weekly live burlesque shows in a fun period setting. So stick a carnation in your lapel, grab the reddest lipstick you can find and head on down to Chicago Empire. 

Chicago Empire Burlesque Theater

Chicago Empire Burlesque is possibly the best live show in Second Life. Come see 1920's-style burlesque every Saturday night at 7:30. They're a bit naughty, so come see a real show with wonderful sets, live music, and dancing beyond belief.

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Have you made something you’re interested in sharing? Send a submission to the Second Life Destination guide! While you’re at it, why not send a few pictures to the official Second Life Flickr page?

The subject of the latest episode of the Drax Files: World Makers is the man behind the avatar known as “Oblee” and how he utilizes Second Life to express himself via live musical performances.

Despite residing in a remote space in Durango, Colorado, Oblee is able to perform in Second Life 2-3 times a week; reaching a global audience and often collaborating with other musicians from all over the world.

Oblee was able to take his virtual earnings from playing venues in Second Life to finance his debut album Wow Bob Wow. His fans and audience from Second Life were some of the first to run out and purchase his music once it was available.

Oblee finds new audiences by exploring regions where the residents may reside in other countries like Japan, and though they may not speak English they understand the universal language of music. “It’s not an alternative to life - it’s adding to the substance of your existence.” he says in the

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Oblee also states that “If you have an idea in virtual reality, what’s to stop you from taking it to real reality?”, and he’s successfully used Second Life as a platform for his musical expression and to explore new things with his own music - creatively pushing him to try new things and compose a variety of original music.

You can follow Oblee on Twitter to stay in the know on his performances inworld.

Want to see more personal Second Life stories? Find all the previous episodes at Draxtor’s Website or below:

The Drax Files: World Makers - Episode 1: Kriss Lehmann
The Drax Files: World Makers - Episode 2: Jo Yardley
The Drax Files: World Makers - Episode 3: Eshi Otawara
The Drax Files: World Makers - Episode 4: Fantasy Faire / RFL
The Drax Files: World Makers - Episode 5: Engrama

Now that the holiday rush is over, why not come on by the Second Life Destination Guide? There’re sure to be some winter destinations you missed, this might be your last chance to see some of the winter season’s builds, games and creations! 

Eggnog the Winger troll is a fun little hunt in one of the new Seamless Experience regions. Eggnog the Winter Troll also happens to be a cartoonish winter beast with special gifts for anyone who completes this great winter experience. Embrace the cel-shaded troll!

Eggnog the Winter Troll

Eggnog the Winter Troll has returned to Escapades Island to give a special gift to all in Second Life. Unfortunately, the Winter Engineer lost the four crystals that open the doorway to Eggnog's grotto. Help the Winter Engineer find all the crystals to meet the big, cuddly winter troll. This game is available to play until New Years.

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Another winter activity for you candy detectives out there, the Unico Candy Cane Hunt offers a mall decked with Christmas decorations and hidden candy canes. But what are the hidden candy canes hiding? You won’t find out unless you complete the hunt.

Unico Candy Cane Hunt

Visit Unico December 21st through the 30th for the Candy Cane Hunt! Candy canes are scattered throughout, some with prizes and others with anywhere from L$5 to L$200. Check back daily as the $L candy canes will replenish. Happy hunting and happy holidays!

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Are you passionate about science? Does physics literally float your boat? Take a trip down to Oddprofessor’s Science Center. Oddproffessor’s is a virtual physics lab currently used by Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf, but everyone’s invited to come by and learn.

Oddprofessor's Science Center

Oddprofessor's Science Center is a virtual physics lab used by the students at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf over at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The center is open to the public; stop by and see!

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A glorious winter island built around a market and hunt, there are a few reasons for visiting Inspiration Point. The glowing pastel palette of blues and whites makes for wonderful photography spots, while the hunts offer a fun intellectual challenge. There’s even shopping, if you feel so inclined.

Inspiration Point

Go to Inspiration Point for the all new Christmas hunt and market experience! Discover the wonders of winter as you venture around the sim to find a market filled with holiday goods and over 20 new hunt prizes from Boogers, Kirin, Tee*fy, The secret store, Flowey, MishMish, Pizza's, Jim, Intrigue Co., Pilot and more!

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Most clubs are, quite simply, clubs. Large boxes with garish lights and loud speakers. Trancescending bucks that curve. Come to Trancescending for live DJ’s mixing in forested groves, around waterfalls and gorgeous gardens. Don’t lock your music in a box, enjoy it out in the world.

Trancescending

Trancescending brings the best in trance music with the best live-mixing DJs around. They aim to bring together nature and music with messages of humanity. They've got shows every Sunday from 4pm through midnight, spectacular three-day festivals every three months, and a beautifully chill garden. Come relax at Trancescending.

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Now that Christmas is over, what were your favorite places to visit? Share them with the grid. Or, instead of entire zones, share your holiday pictures at the official Second Life Flickr page.

Winter has arrived — and the spirit of the season is evident in every sense — from the snow on the ground in many parts, to the merriment and joy and observances across the world.

We want to know how you celebrate the coming of the New Year in our New Year Snapshot Contest. If it’s a whole new look for your avatar, or an inworld party to celebrate — share your snapshots for a chance to win L$10,000,  L$5,000, L$3,000 or L$1,000. Visit the contest in our Official Forums for details and to enter.

If you’ve got a sweet tooth — come by one of the Portal Park locations to pick up a free holiday gift. Look for the red gift box and click it to get your copy — and enjoy the seasonally decorated Portal Park while you’re there.

Have a warm and bright season and a happy New Year!

It’s the second-to-last-weekend of 2014, how do you plan on enjoying it? Why not make time to see all the new places in the Second Life Destination Guide? ‘Tis the season to be dazzled and inspired, after all.

While winter white and Gothic black provide a rather stark color palette, Gothmas by Gaslight pulls it off with style, panache and an Aurora Borealis. Now through January 5th, do your winter shopping through darkly looming buildings, bright lights and swirling colors. Velvet and lace isn’t required, just recommended.

Gothmas by Gaslight

Gothmas by Gaslight follows a darker, more beautiful holiday season. The night air is cold and crystal, it is a time of velvet and lace, of jewels and silver. Gothmas runs through January 5th, for more information be sure to visit https://gothmasbygaslight.wordpress.com/.

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Have you ever driven through a neighborhood, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over all the lights, giant inflatable Santas and silly Christmas decorations? This holiday season, come see as your Second Life neighbors open their homes and show off how they dress their domiciles in the Tour of Lights.

Tour of Lights

Celebrate the holiday season with a grid-wide community event: the first annual Second Life Tour of Lights, December 18th through the 21st! Over 30 Second Life residents came together to open their homes for this free, self-guided tour through a wide variety of holiday-themed houses and winter wonderland landscapes. Bundle up and experience the magic of the season!

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Not everyone is blessed with the perfect winter climate. Some people are forced to shovel snow in eight layers of clothing. Some stare at warm sandy beaches all year. At Scribbled Hearts, you don’t have to worry about the weather, season or time of day. Just rez in and bask in everything the perfect winter has to offer.

Scribbled Hearts

Home of tarte. and Plethora, Scribbled Hearts is winterized and the perfect place to visit. Grab a friend, a book, or a spot near the water and cozy up to the beautiful landscape and scenery. Whether you're looking to shop, take pictures, or just explore, Scribbled Hearts has it all!

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Are you good at puzzles? Are your favorite challenges described using words like “fiendishly” and “difficult?” The Bushido Challenge is a maze-like treasure hunt that requires a whole host of skills to complete. And what reward would make this task worth your while, you ask? A full suit of customized armor, of course.

The Bushido Challenge

Enter the Bushido Challenge, a treasure hunt and maze that requires planned movements, logic, sequencing, matching, interaction, cooperation and more. Solve them all for a full set of kanji armor. Get your bushido on as the at the Bushido Challenge.

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A yearly tradition over at Jasmine’s Hollow, Hollow Days offers all the trappings of good winter fun. With art and music for sale, ice skating and events through the new year, come spend winter with one of the friendliest communities around.

Hollow Days at Jasmine's Hollow

Welcome to the fourth annual Hollow Days winter celebration! Skate, stroll, cuddle, play games and more at this Adirondack steampunk artist community. Shop for gifts at the galleries and listening booths. Or hang out at the live shows and New Years Eve party at the Dirty Grind.

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Nothing heats up winter like seeing your new creations, so join the fun and share something great. Or send a picture over to the official Second Life Flickr page and see what your Second Life neighbors are up to.

Experience Keys are a powerful feature that allows creators to build more seamless and immersive experiences in Second Life. Without this feature, you need to grant individual permissions to every single scripted object included in an inworld experience, and that can mean a lot of dialog boxes interrupting the fun! Experience Keys make it possible for creators to build experiences that ask your permission just once. In other words, you can opt-in to the entire experience, rather than having to grant individual permissions to every single scripted object included in it.

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This powerful feature is currently available as a beta only to a limited number of creators, and there are already a handful of experiences leveraging this feature that you can now explore.

Today, a new Viewer Release Candidate makes it easy for you to manage all your experience permissions in one place. This new Viewer makes it easy to Block, Unblock, or Reset experiences. Additionally, an Events Tab logs the objects and scripts you encounter in an experience, so every action performed on your avatar will be saved or recorded. Have a problem with an experience? We’ve also integrated a new reporting feature to make it easy to flag bad experiences to our Support team for review. Search is also available in the new Viewer, so you can explore all of the growing number of available experiences that use this feature. A complete feature summary can be found in this Knowledge Base article.

We’re looking forward to making Experience Keys broadly available to creators early in the new year, so keep an eye on this blog for more! In the meantime, grab the RC Viewer and start enjoying more seamless and immersive experiences in Second Life today!

Are you looking for some last-minute decorations, festive costumes, or winter fashions to refresh your wardrobe or perhaps a new places to explore? Whatever your wish, check out the Second Life Destination Guide for a bevy of new creations!

One of the first winter locations to go live every year, Winter Holiday Village is a place of consistent quality and wonderful spirit. Dash through snowy fields, twinkling forests and warm chalets, just watch out for the icicles!

Winter Holiday Village

Christmas time fun is here and Winter Holiday Village is open for it's 6th winter on the grid. Winter Holiday Village is chock full of wintertime goodness, fun and snow! Visit Polar Bear Pond, Penguin Park, slippery slopes, ice tunnels, arctic scenery, ice skating and so much more with surprises around every corner. Santa even makes personal appearances November 28th through December 24th.

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A wonderful place to find the perfect winter accessories, Christmas at Snuggles is lighthearted and enjoyable. If you’re looking for some last-minute gifts or themed decorations, you’d be hard pressed to find a better shopping zone.

Christmas at Snuggles

Across two sims, you're sure to find that perfect Christmas decoration. And once you've finished putting up those decorations, don't forget the Christmas cards and gifts, all found at snuggles. For a magical Christmas, visit Snuggles.

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Ever since the first person figured out that bent piece of wood got them down mountains faster, mankind has skied. Come enjoy this snowy pastime in a Second Life recreation of the south Austrian village of Semmering. The climb up is nothing compared to the rush of flying down. Just try not to hit any tourists, huh? 

Magic Mountain Semmering

In the South of lower Austria is the wonderful Semmering ski region with the Zauberberg ski area. Come enjoy skiing and other winter sports, as well a romantic dinners at the Seewirtshaus right by the lift station. The Semmering ski region is the hottest winter spot around, close enough for every day!

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This holiday season, take a moment to help those in need. The Children of the World Project is a charity event in support of War Child, which seeks to help children in war zones and places of conflict across the globe. Come help the people who need it most.

Children of the World Project

Help the world of children through music. Starting Friday, December 12th at noon and running through through Sunday, December 14, the Children of the World Project is a charity event in support of War Child. Come help children find futures, even in the midst of conflict.

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Few things are as fun as getting a group of friends together, rolling some dice and taking imaginary characters through amazing adventures. Remnants of Earth joins the grand tradition of stat-based RPG’s by offering a beautifully decrepit roleplay zone set in a place where Earth is a dismal backwater in a galactic civilization. 

Remnants of Earth

Remnants of Earth is a cyberpunk-fantasy role playing game, heavily based around classic pen and paper RPGs and with a focus on dice rolling, stats, MMO-like adventuring, and gathering. RoE takes place on Earth in the year 2130, after humanity has started to leave Earth behind to colonize the stars. Earth is now a crime riddled slumworld. This is it's story of the Remnants of Earth...

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Second Life wouldn’t be nearly as wonderful without all the amazing creations of residents like you, so make something awesome and share it with everyone. And if you’re looking for inspiration, look no further than the official Second Life Flickr page.

What’s the one thing Linden Lab could do that would have the biggest impact on further improving your Second Life experience?

Many Second Life users have thoughts on this - from different approaches for the way things are done today, to brand new features that could dramatically improve their experiences, to seemingly small things that could have a big impact. Today, we’re launching an easier way to share your ideas with us, a new “Feedback & Suggestions” page on SecondLife.com. You can also find this page by going to Help and finding New Feature Suggestions in the drop down.

Just sign-in with your Second Life account, select the topic or category that’s most appropriate, and describe your suggestion in the text box. Once you submit, you’ll see a confirmation page and receive an automated email as well. We won’t be able to reply individually to each suggestion, but every idea will be routed to the appropriate Lindens and each one will be reviewed and considered.

We’ll of course continue to be on the lookout for ideas as they continue to surface in social media, direct conversations, or via JIRA, but this new page should make it easier than ever for any Second Life Resident to share suggestions directly with us.

What do you do when winter rolls around? Shovel driveways and bundle up? Buy spare umbrellas and ponchos? Once you’ve taken care of those things, why not curl up with a nice cup of cocoa and see what’s going on in Second Life? The Second Life Destination Guide has tons of new and exciting places to wander through, play in or just plain enjoy. Take a look below and see!

With the cold, wet and general discomfort, winter is the perfect time of year to snuggle with a dog, cat or whatever your companion animal happens to be. For those of you lacking a virtual pet, take a trip to the 2014 Christmas Expo and Winter Breedables Fair. Best of all, all profits go to Relay for Life of Second Life, so help a stranger and gain a friend at the same time.

2014 Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair

The 2014 Second Life Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair offers 12 days of shopping, hunts, live performances, and winter fun! This returning eight-sim event is in support of Relay For Life of Second Life. For more information, be sure to visit https://slchristmasexpo.wordpress.com/.

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Frisland celebrates the changing seasons with a soothing and relaxed winterscape. Covering a huge area, enjoy a sparsely-developed, snowy landscape of hills, beaches and warm, rich colors. Minimalist and soothing, you owe yourself a visit to Frisland.

Frisland

Winter has made its silent arrival at Frisland. Snow falls on the trees, icicles hang from the rooftops, silence reigns. Come over and enjoy one of the most beautiful rural landscapes you can find in Second Life.

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Noel offers a well-balanced holiday sim with all the classic trappings: snowy mountains, gently falling flakes, pine trees covered in lights, flying reindeer and more. Set to region settings for an extra-soothing nighttime color palette.

Noel

Immerse yourself in the beauty, warmth and spirit of the holidays at Calas Galadhon Park's Noel. Take a sleigh tour though this magical winter wonderland, all the way to the the beautiful Christmas Pavilion. Relax with a cup of hot chocolate or brandy, chat with friends by the fire or listen to one of the scheduled live music events. Don't forget the flying reindeer ride!

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Slowly drifting through the long, chill dark, it doesn’t get much colder than Phoenix One Station. A stellar place for roleplay in a well crafted build, who says you need a hemispheres to have winter fun?

Phoenix One Station

Originally a deep space research station, Phoenix One remains as humanity's last outpost after the Earth's destruction. For the last hundred years, it's traveled the universe, seeking out surviving humans and forging new alliances with alien races.

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How do you like holiday mashups? A darker holiday, full of werewolves, zombies and gory scares can be found at Mystic Haunted Xmas Island, a haunted Halloween island covered with a snowy blanket of festive cheer. Happy Hallow-istmas! Or is it merry Christm-oween? 

Mystic Haunted Xmas Island

Winter has come to Mystic Haunted Xmas Island, will Santa be able to overcome the zombie apocalypse? Wishing you a Scary Christmas!

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The best part of Second Life has always been your creations, so show us something great and share it with the grid. Don’t forget to take a look at what your neighbors are doing on the official Second Life Flickr page.

Do you hear those sleigh bells ringing? That’s the sound of the season of giving approaching, and it’s arrived with the Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair.

Returning for a 4th year - the expo kicks off today - December 4th- and runs through December 15th, 2014. Coordinated and sponsored by residents who wish to help fund a charitable organization with a festive event, this event intends to make the gift of giving memorable and fun.

This joyful happening helps raise funds for Relay for Life of Second Life - with 100% of registration fees, sponsorship feeds, kiosk donations, hunt, raffle, auction, and vendor donation items going to Relay for Life of Second Life - part of the American Cancer Society.

There will plenty of activities for you to participate in; from two tree lots filled with beautifully decorated trees from some of the best designers, auctions, live performances and DJs, to pictures with the man himself - Santa!

2014 Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair

The 2014 Second Life Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair offers 12 days of shopping, hunts, live performances, and winter fun! This returning eight-sim event is in support of Relay For Life of Second Life. For more information, be sure to visit https://slchristmasexpo.wordpress.com/.

Visit in Second Life

What are your plans for the weekend? Holiday recuperation for some parts of the world? General weekend fun and relaxation? Why not make some of what’s going on in the Second Life Destination Guide part of your plan? it’s an exciting place full of something for everyone - so take a look at a few of these something below!

How does your body language come across in Second Life? Flirty and playful, or more mysterious and brooding? !Bang offers a great selection of poses for just about every need. Boasting a freshly-remodeled store, maybe it’s time to find a new favorite silhouette.

!bang

!bang poses offers a high quality pose selection for couples and friends, as well as a wide variety of poses for models and photographers.

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Done Wiv’ a Twist is a seasonal garden that gets a fresh redesign with every change of the weather. If you’re looking for a soothing and well-designed place to wander through, Done Wiv’ a Twist is the place to visit.

Done Wiv' a Twist

Done Wiv a Twist is a photogenic place that changes every season. They welcome newcomers, photographers, bloggers, and people who just enjoy great scenery.

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Set in a futuristic build so smooth you can smell the burning chrome, Geeks n’ Nerds is a shopping event that celebrates anything and everything, well, geeky and nerdy. With over 100 designers showing off mesh creations, you’re sure to find something to make that nerd flag fly.

Geeks n' Nerds

Geeks n' Nerds is an annual fair that showcases some of the most popular things in the geek and nerd world. Some of the best original mesh designers are chosen to partake in this event, so there's guaranteed to be something for everyone. Geeks n' Nerds opens November 24th and runs until December 10th!

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What do you know about Queen Elizabeth and 16th century England? The House of Tudor is a recreation of the Oatlands Palace, just off the Thames river. Come here to learn about the history of this time of changes, or just enjoy the free period dress.

House of Tudor

In the dramatic background of the 16th century England, one woman holds the key to England’s most glorious empire: Elizabeth Tudor. The year is 1560. In a village north of the English county of Surrey lies Oatlands Palace. Overlooking the Thames River, Oatlands was built around the south western periphery of London by Henry VIII. Free period clothing is available for visitors at the main landing.

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The Fantasy Collective is a monthly shopping event with quite a few contributors. This intimate boutique is perfect for a quick peek and wander, whatever you’re looking for.

The Fantasy Collective

The Fantasy Collective is a premier monthly shopping event that opens every 20th at noon. Come enjoy this quaint boutique.

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Second Life wouldn’t be nearly as awesome without amazing user creations. So make something and share it on the Destination Guide! And don’t forget to take a look at what other’s are up to on the official Second Life Flickr page