Second Life 16th Birthday Celebrations Confirmed

[Love Zhaoying]

16 minutes ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

44 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

How about the 60’s? Just leave out Vietnam. Peace, Love, good music, good stuff in the Space Program, Civil Rights movement..

We're only counting bad things, Love. Those are the rules. Take it up with Shudo, who is also maintaining that the 1950's "stand alone" over the 1910's (World War I, Titanic, Spanish Flu epidemic), 1930's (Great Depression, Hitler, Stalin purges) and 1940's (World War II,  Holocaust, nuclear weapons.)

Sounds like a derail, I’m out for once.

[Blush Bravin]

2 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Sounds like a derail, I’m out for once.

The whole bash the 50s is a derail. Picking another decade that's better is a derail. 

The point of the post is the 16th birthday of SL and how we're going to celebrate it.  

[Luna Bliss]

1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

How about the 60’s? Just leave out Vietnam. Peace, Love, good music, good stuff in the Space Program, Civil Rights movement..

Don't forget, all that you love about the 60's began in the 50's.

One could be a beatnik avatar for the SL celebration, preparing the way for the progressive 60's 

[ItHadToComeToThis]

1 hour ago, Blush Bravin said:

and how we're going to celebrate it.  

Im gonna attend. I'm going as a time traveller from the future who has come back to warn you all of the evil that is about to fall you once the 60s roll round, hippies...

[wolfshanty]

50s is a rubbish theme 🤢

Hate Elvis and doo wop 🤮

Won't take part, this sucks 🤬

[Scylla Rhiadra]

In a way, this announcement makes me a bit sad, because it, or my response to it really, underscores one of the most important ways the SL has changed over the past 10 years.

I created exhibits for two SLBs (SL6B and SL7B). I made them from scratch myself -- I don't think either used anything purchased inworld -- employing the building, texturing, and (rudimentary) scripting skills I had patiently and joyfully begun to learn very soon after joining SL. Neither exhibit was a brilliant build, perhaps, but they were both competent and not unattractive: I don't think they looked out of place.

I couldn't do that now, because the learning curve for making mesh, and the visual and coding standards we've come to expect, have both increased so much. There really isn't much room for the happy amateur anymore in the world of SL creating.

Yes, I could spend hours and hours learning how to use Blender from scratch. It would be a much larger investment of time than was the case of learning how to build with prims, and I just don't have the leisure.

Please understand, I'm not complaining, or "blaming" anyone. Mesh looks amazing: I don't think I could go back to a pre-mesh virtual existence. And I get why it would be fantastically difficult to produce an effective, efficient, and accessible in-world tool for mesh creation.

It's just a little sad that those old, exuberant days of it feeling like anyone could contribute to building Second Life are gone. Increasingly, we are a culture divided into a small elite of creators, and a much larger mass of consumers.

That's a change I wouldn't be celebrating at SLB16.

Edited March 15, 2019 by Scylla Rhiadra
Got my SLB #s wrong.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

PS. Yes, any decade had its up-and-downs. But some are worse than others (the decades that saw the two world wars were particularly vile, for instance).

The 50s were, by and large, a particular egregious era for reactionary retrenchment and socially-enforced conformity. I'm not a fan. But YMMV, obviously.

On the other hand, they gave us the Chicago Blues, and Bebop. So there's that.

[Garnet Psaltery]

4 hours ago, Blush Bravin said:

If you want to be negative, you can find reasons, and lots of them, from any decade in time. Come on people, start looking for the good in things instead of constantly being so negative.

We can celebrate the birth of the civil rights movement, the beginnings of the anti-war movement, the growing liberation of women in the workplace. Yes, these are issues but stop and think about it. It was during the 50s that things began to change. It took time to get the ball rolling but it started there. We have true American heroes that gave up part of their lives, and some who gave up their lives fighting for these causes during the 50s. There are things to celebrate from the 50s. 

Is this a free forum or not? And just listen to yourself.  "We have true American heroes".  There are other countries in the world.

[Luna Bliss]

[Blush Bravin]

7 minutes ago, Garnet Psaltery said:

Is this a free forum or not? And just listen to yourself.  "We have true American heroes".  There are other countries in the world.

I am an American. It would be pretentious of me to talk of other countries' heroes. Please by all means share about yours. Since I was talking about social movements in the USA I think it was appropriate for me to phrase my comment as I did. 

Let me remind you as a free forum I have every right to comment on all the negativity. It's really rich for you to quote freedom to me while trying to censure my comments about all the negativity. 

[LittleMe Jewell]

6 hours ago, wolfshanty said:

50s is a rubbish theme 🤢

Hate Elvis and doo wop 🤮

Won't take part, this sucks 🤬

Each is entitled to their opinion.  I imagine that no matter what theme LL chose, there would be people that hate it and others that love and still some that just sit in the middle.

Regardless of whether or not you like it or will take part in the celebration, there will be plenty that do take part.  I can assure you that LL will not miss you.

[ItHadToComeToThis]

I can't say I'm stoked on the theme personally. The 50s is about as far away from interesting as you could get for me. If I was to choose I would go with the notion of futurism, not in the traditional art sense but more "what will the world be like in 100 years time" and have designers creating their own visions of the world, fashion etc in the year 2119

[Selene Gregoire]

9 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

How about the 60’s? Just leave out Vietnam. Peace, Love, good music, good stuff in the Space Program, Civil Rights movement..

Nope. 

Kent State

Segregation/desegregation

Kennedy asassinations (there were 2)

Chicago Days of Rage

Rolling Thunder (not the man)

MLK

riots

Cuban Missle Crisis (which scared the living EF out of the 4\5 year old child I was at the time)

etc

Edited March 16, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, Selene Gregoire said:

Nope. 

Kent State

Segregation/desegregation

Kennedy asassinations (there were 2)

Chicago Days of Rage

Rolling Thunder (not the man)

MLK

riots

Cuban Missle Crisis (which scared the living EF out of the 4\5 year old child I was at the time)

etc

I was born in 66, sorry.

[Selene Gregoire]

3 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I was born in 66, sorry.

I always wished I had been born in 69 instead of 59. 😇

[666mila]

I read the whole thread....is it a birthday or a Wake? 🤗

[Qie Niangao]

Not sure the angst (nor enthusiasm) about the theme is really warranted. Historically, SL birthday "themes" have had limited impact on what actually appears on the event regions, even though prospective exhibitors are required to concoct a spiel relating their proposal to the theme. Once approved exhibitors build what they want with no "theme police" (but there are arbitrary building rules capriciously enforced; don't get me started).

In the prim-building past we'd get some textures to use, which may have helped the illusion of a theme (and probably saved some texture loading lag). I still find uses for some of the alien planet terrain textures from SL6B.

For years the VRC would exhibit something, but I'll continue sitting them out unless there have been some big shifts in staffing this year.

[ItHadToComeToThis]

Well, you could always just host your own regions and set the theme to your own personal specification. I think it would be quite interesting honestly. A wide diverse range of regions showing off the creativity and interests of the individual residents. Those who can create but can not afford their own sims could team up with those who can to create gifts, prizes and products to sell based on the theme for that particular region. Hell scripters like myself and others could join together and create a grid wide game or hunt that the sim owners could set up in their respective sims to give the users something to do and also ensure that as many sims as possible are visited and hopefully appreciated. 

[lummystar]

I like it. The theme fits perfectly the demographic of Second Life which tends to be older anyway ...

[Scylla Rhiadra]

2 hours ago, lummystar said:

I like it. The theme fits perfectly the demographic of Second Life which tends to be older anyway ...

To be old enough to actually remember anything about the 1950s, you'd need to now be in, or very quickly approaching, your 70s in age. (I "lived through" most of the 1970s but I remember absolutely nothing about it, as I was too young.) I'm certain, of course, that there are residents to whom that would apply, but hardly very many I'd have thought.

I don't think this is about memory. I think it's about glassy-eyed nostalgia.

[Blush Bravin]

7 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

To be old enough to actually remember anything about the 1950s, you'd need to now be in, or very quickly approaching, your 70s in age. (I "lived through" most of the 1970s but I remember absolutely nothing about it, as I was too young.) I'm certain, of course, that there are residents to whom that would apply, but hardly very many I'd have thought.

I don't think this is about memory. I think it's about glassy-eyed nostalgia.

I was born in '53. I might have been very young but you'd be surprised how much I actually remember from the late 50s. I vividly remember going to Disneyland in '58 and seeing all the construction. I remember watching Chubby Checker on American Bandstand in '60. And you might not think there are a lot of people my age in SL but believe me there are and I know many older than me even!

[Alyona Su]

21 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

To be old enough to actually remember anything about the 1950s, you'd need to now be in, or very quickly approaching, your 70s in age.

So true! I barely remember the '90s  BUT, I did find an old TV show called Happy Days, I've been catching up on stuffs! Hahahaha I was wondering WTF is a "poodle skirt" LOL Okay, now I know. So cute those were!

Edited March 20, 2019 by Alyona Su

[Jameson2001]

14 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I don't think this is about memory. I think it's about glassy-eyed nostalgia.

Actually researchers think childhood memories (things we remember as adults) can begin as early as age 3.  So Blush definitely can remember Disneyland and Chubby since those events happened way later than when she was 3.  What has been fun for me is to meet all the people in SL of all ages but especially those in their 50's and 60's (Have not met anyone 70 or older yet).  The life experiences that they share in world is incredibly fun to hear and I am constantly amazed at their creativity and passion for making SL a beautiful place.

P.S.  I was born in 1962 and one of my first vivid memories that was a huge deal was watching the first moon landing in 1969.  The whole neighborhood TV sets were on watching the coverage and I remember us kids running around the yards looking up at the moon and marveling at the fact that their were people on the moon!

 

 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

16 minutes ago, Blush Bravin said:

I was born in '53. I might have been very young but you'd be surprised how much I actually remember from the late 50s. I vividly remember going to Disneyland in '58 and seeing all the construction. I remember watching Chubby Checker on American Bandstand in '60. And you might not think there are a lot of people my age in SL but believe me there are and I know many older than me even!

Well, this is certainly true. I know quite a few people in their 60s anyway in SL. A few of the people who introduced me to SL have since retired, for instance. I was really just suggesting that, while the demographic in SL skews older (and probably more so with each passing year), the average is likely more in mid40s to mid50s? So I'm not sure that was a consideration in the choice of theme.

I think it's great that you can remember those things. One of my concerns about our culture today is that we have such short cultural memories. For many of my students, history essentially began in about 2005. I spoke to one last week who hadn't heard of the Vietnam War . . .

[Scylla Rhiadra]

14 minutes ago, Alyona Su said:

So true! I barely remember the '90s  BUT, I did find an old TV show called Happy Days, I've been catching up on stuffs! Hahahaha I was wondering WTF is a "poodle skirt" LOL Okay, now I know. So cute those were!

Happy Days -- a show I'll admit to not knowing very well -- I think kind of represents what I mean by glassy-eyed nostalgia.

What relatively little I do know about 50s culture mostly concerns the post-war immigration of African Americans from the south to places like Chicago and Detroit, and the resultant birth of electric blues. I'm pretty sure that chapter of the 50s isn't covered in Happy Days?