Linden Lab

We are pleased to announce a new feature to enable Estate-level access management of scripted agents. As of Wednesday’s deploy, a new flag to prevent identified scripted agent accounts from entering a region has been added to all regions. What is this feature exactly? deny_bots is a new estate-level flag for denying identified bot accounts access to a region. When deny_bots is ON, all scripted agents that are not explicitly listed in the estate’s Allowed Access list will be denied access to all of the regions within the Estate. Scripted agents that have Estate Manager privileges for an estate will also be able to access regions inside the estate. regardless of the estate's deny_bots setting. When deny_bots is OFF, scripted agents are treated the same as any other avatar with regard to estate access. Details on using this new setting can be found here. You will need to download the latest version of the official Second Life Viewer to manage access on your estate through the Region/Estate floater - or you can use the Region Debug Console (available on the Develop menu) on any viewer. We've also updated our scripted agents policy, which can be found here. We hope this new capability to manage the privacy and comfort of your Second Life gives many of you an extra measure of peace of mind! Have thoughts? Join the discussion here.

Today we are shining a spotlight on Dixmix Source, a visual and musical artist and the curator of the Dixmix Gallery in Second Life, which showcases the work of other digital artists from around the world. How long have you been in Second Life and how did you first hear about it? After reading an article about Second Life, I logged in for the first time on a rainy day on November 10th, 2006. At first, I thought it was some kind of chatroom, but soon I discovered it is much more than that. You are the curator of the Dixmix Art Gallery in Second Life, can you tell us more about the Gallery, when you started it, and why you decided to curate a digital art gallery? As soon as I rented my first land, a friend of mine gave me the “NYC loft.” At first, I uploaded some of my pictures, and then I invited other artists to have an exhibition in the place. Last December 2022, the DiXmiX Gallery celebrated its 15th anniversary! Are you an artist yourself in either the physical or virtual world? I’m a visual and musical artist in RL maybe that’s why I understood quickly the art scene in SL and some of our possibilities. I was a TV producer and believe me, to organise exhibitions and opening parties is nothing compared to a TV show or a movie documentary. Anyway, I take it seriously and always try my best to be supportive and positive with Artists. I am one of them and I like to treat others like I would be treated. For one year now I have been retired in RL and I like to travel so I reduced the surface of the gallery and the number of exhibitions to make time for exploring the physical world (without teleportation.) Can you tell us about any upcoming art exhibitions, shows, or other events in Second Life that you will be involved with? During March, we have EtaMae showing her last exhibition titled “See me.” Starting on April 8th, Catherine Nikolaidis will be back for her annual exhibition (title to be confirmed) and then later on April 24th with Akiko Kinoshi, we will perform our new Sound & Vision particle show titled “Shamanic Vision” at the Fantasy Faire. Tell us about some of the artists in SL that inspire you, or whose work you admire. I do love so much Maloe Vansant, she is a long-time friend and the SL artist I’ve been working with the most, like me she lives in Belgium. Just a few times more than Harbor Galaxy with whom I organised a big retrospective last Summer. Also, I have to tell you about Megan Prumier, an amazing builder and photographer with whom I have developed many projects over the past twelve years. Maloe in the Gallery Where can people see your work and follow your activities? Please share links to your sites, social media accounts, inworld groups, and slurls to locations inworld. Here we go: Dixmix Gallery LM: https://secondlife.com/destination/dixmix-gallery Dixmix Gallery on Facebook Dixmix Source on Facebook Dixmix Gallery's fliers, the full collection on Instagram Dixmix Gallery Flickr Group Dixmix Source on Flickr DJ tunes Thank you, Dixmix, for all your contributions to the Second Life art scene! Each of our Spotlight posts features a different Resident to showcase the spectrum of experiences and personalities found in our virtual world. If you have created something inworld that you’re proud of, or have had a deeply meaningful experience that could brighten someone else’s day, please sign up! More info here: https://second.life/spotlight-signup

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We have some important upgrades planned for our database back end. To ensure the best possible transition to the updated version, we're taking the extra precaution of taking the Second Life Marketplace offline from 5am - 8am SLT on April 6th, 2023. L$ transactions will not be impacted. As soon as the work is complete, we'll post an update on our Status Blog at status.secondlife.com, so be sure to subscribe to updates to be notified as quickly as possible. We apologize in advance for this disruption and especially appreciate your patience as we prepare for future projects which depend on this work. While we aren't expecting any in-world problems once the maintenance is complete, if you notice any new issues with everyday operations that impact Second Life inventory - updating/copying/modifying items, changing outfits, giving an object to another Resident, etc. please let us know as quickly as possible. You can file a Jira issue to communicate directly with our development team, or contact our support team if that's more convenient. No one knows the world of Second Life as well as Residents, and we value your input and assistance as we continue to update the grid's fundamental technologies. Thank you!

Have you noticed? The web version of the Destination Guide now has a new look - and we want your feedback on how we can continue to improve Second Life’s leading directory of cool and interesting places to explore! The latest version of the Destination Guide offers a modern design refresh (the first since 2010!), while also adding some useful new features that enable easier discovery of Second Life events and experiences. Web visitors may welcome the addition of a much-requested Search bar so that you can better seek and find the places that interest you, while category and search result pages now also have a “Sort by” option in the upper-right corner that allows users to filter the directory by “Newest” entries and alphabetically (A-Z or Z-A). Mobile users will notice that the Destination Guide is now much easier to browse and explore while on the go – which may come in handy to accompany our forthcoming Mobile Viewer. Want to share a Destination on your blog and/or view it on the overall Second Life Map? Logged-in users on Secondlife.com can click the three dots on the detail page to find these additional options. …and there’s more to come! Work is continuing as we seek to add even more improvements to the web-based Destination Guide including the ability to see and sort by real-time population counts, while also enhancing access to the full Destination Guide within the Second Life Viewer. The latest changes are a far cry from the early origins of the Destination Guide, which go all the way back to late 2005 when a small Developer Showcase section on Secondlife.com editorially highlighted a handful of noteworthy community builds and initiatives. That section soon morphed into Showcase, a small directory highlighting the best in Arts & Culture, Fashion and Music. In 2010, Showcase formally transitioned into the full-fledged Destination Guide directory with about 16 top-level categories before expanding over the next decade to include closer to 50 categories and many more sub-categories across a wide variety of genres spanning everything from A to Z (or Anime to Zombies, if you will). What features would you like to see in the Destination Guide? Share your thoughts and feedback with us directly at editor@lindenlab.com. Got a spot that you’d like listed in the Destination Guide? Make sure to drop us a note at editor@lindenlab.com or submit your spot via web form. Learn more about the Destination Guide criteria and guidelines and increase your chances of being featured in Editors’ Picks!

Today we are shining a spotlight on Marly Milena, a creativist known as Niela Miller in the physical world. At the age of 88, Marly has been bringing years of her educational experience and expertise to build communities in Second Life! How long have you been in Second Life and how did you first hear about it? I have been in SL since October 2007. I heard about it at a transgender event (The Fantasia Fair of Provincetown, Massachusetts) where I led workshops for years. One of the transgender community leaders, who is also in SL and was my initial mentor for all things SL, told me about it and it appealed to me immediately so I joined as soon as I got home! I just knew that, for a creative person like me, there would be many things I could do to transfer my skill set and experience from my physical life to Second Life. One of my first projects was facilitating support groups for transgenders in SL. Then I trained some facilitators from that community to take over. How did you find the new user experience in Second Life when you first started? Do you have any tips for newcomers? Having a mentor/guide made all the difference for me. I am pretty sure that, without that help, I would have been hopelessly frustrated. I strongly suggest that when new people come in, they are assigned to, or find, a personal guide to help them learn the ropes. It isn’t enough to provide self-guided orientations unless the person is very tech-savvy. The guide should also have a basic training in pedagogy as it applies to adult learners. Adults usually learn best by doing, not just listening to information. Tell us more about your educational background and work experience and how that assists with the work you do in Second Life. I combine many arts-based tools (I am an amateur musician, composer, singer, multi-media artist, actor, and writer) with my training and background as a Gestalt therapist, group facilitator, educator, humanistic psychology practitioner, coach, organization development trainer, and consultant. I have designed and implemented programs and offered training in a wide variety of settings ie corporate, non-profit, military, medical, religious, and more. For fifteen years, I was with a group called Associates for Human Resources in Concord, Ma. We went to many locations to do all kinds of programs and then, in 1984, I left to create my own business called PeopleSystems Potential. It still exists as a DBA although I am mostly retired and do the majority of my work now as a volunteer in Second Life. I also have a monthly Zoom class focused on Creative Process. It was a natural transition for me to bring in my hefty creative and pedagogical background to SL and not only design and implement a wide variety of presentations and interactive programs in a virtual world, but find collaborators and also create new organizations. Visit Butterfly Gallery in Second Life How do you integrate symbolic modeling into your avatar's personal development? Can you elaborate on the two types of creative expression - theatrical applications vs shared creative expression and how you use them in Second Life? Any examples? The best way for the viewer to get a sense of how I developed and used SymMod in SL is by watching my YouTube videos, which are linked from my website. The videos provide demonstrations in all three areas: Personal Development, Education, and Creative Expression. Music is a big part of your life. Tell us more about your music career and is this something you do in both the physical and virtual world? I play piano and guitar, was a singer-songwriter for many years, and have an album called Songs of Leaving (under my name, Niela Miller, produced by numerogroup.com) II. This is the LP album cover. I am a teenager in Washington Square Park in NYC where all the folkies played. I also started performing when I was very young at the great Catskill Folk Festival (and others). I also have a one-hour video of a concert of all my piano music and some separate albums as well played by other pianists. As one teacher clarified, “You are a composer who plays piano, not a pianist who composes!" They are available at the Marly Milena Music Library in SL at the Community Virtual Library. We are collecting music and performers at the library and it is currently being administered by Katsii Tennen (known as CATS) who is my program manager and the Acting Director of the music library. My musical activities have been steady my whole life but not as a professional, just as a lifelong hobby and love. In SL, I have had my music streamed in/performed by Tip Corbett, also a composer and professional musician who has done improvisations to some of my pieces, and also by Ari who plays piano collections at many venues and events in SL. We do a program called Improv: Musicians and Artists where we have one of each improvise to each others’ creations. Featuring piano performances by Molly Lozeau and Justin McCarthy for Marly’s 85th birthday. You are also an artist. Tell us more about your art, which art mediums you use, and do you sell your artwork in RL or SL? Again, this has been a lifelong pursuit of mine but not as a professional. Anyone can go to my art page on my website and download copies of my mixed media art. I also have a Padlet page with art I have done for classes or on my own. I take classes on a regular basis in drawing, mixed media, and collage. Once a year, I am in an exhibit at the Concord Center for the Visual Arts in Concord, Ma. I have the soul of an artist and, therefore, would be doing some form of art as long as I live. Money has never been a motivator for art-making. I earned my living with my therapy, teaching, and training skills. I just happened to be able to incorporate arts-based tools into those processes! See more of Marly's art You have a group called Octagon in Second Life, can you tell us more about this group? The full name of the group is Octagon:Creative Exploration and we offer programs just like the title indicates. One is called Visions of Self for those who want to experience SymMod for their own personal insights. One is a training program for those who want to learn how to use SymMod with their constituents. One is a theater program called Shakespeare’s monologues which combines speeches, costumes, Symbolic Models of the characters, and audience interaction (ie what is the archetype represented by x character which shows up in contemporary life?) I also do a lot of presentations for groups like Nonprofit Commons, Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable, and conferences in SL. Visit Octagon Cinema Grove in Second Life Are there any other current or upcoming projects or events you are working on in Second Life? I have been doing ongoing groups in personal development and intuitive education for almost as long as I have been in SL. The current group is called “Beneath the Waves.” We explore all sorts of Ways of Knowing beyond our primary consciousness. Different people facilitate based on their interests. VOS (Visions of Self) will be offered again in April. For all inquiries about my workshops and presentations and Octagon programs, please contact my Program Manager, Katsii Tennen (known as CATS in SL.) I am also very involved in the growth and development of VWEC and am on the board. We keep evolving and doing all sorts of projects. We are working on bringing in as many educators and institutions as we can find who can see the value of teaching and learning in virtual worlds. I will be doing a few programs for the upcoming VWBPE Conference. The full program can be found on their website. It runs from March 23rd to 25th . Visit the Marly Milena Music Library in Second Life Where can people learn more about you and see your work in SL or RL? Please share links to your sites and social media accounts. I am on Facebook and LinkedIn as Niela Miller. My comprehensive website has all of my information: peoplesystemspotential.com I am also always open to collaborations and especially finding people who want experience and training in Symbolic Modeling. Thank you, Marly, for being an inspiration with all of your community-building work in Second Life. Each of our Spotlight posts features a different Resident to showcase the spectrum of experiences and personalities found in our virtual world. If you have created something inworld that you’re proud of, or have had a deeply meaningful experience that could brighten someone else’s day, please sign up! More info here: https://second.life/spotlight-signup

The Concierge and Land User Group meeting is a monthly, public meeting for discussion and education on Second Life, useful to both Mainland Residents and Estate owners. Topics include any issues relating to Customer Relations/Support or concerning Land in general (mainland, islands, Linden Homes, estates, auctions, etc.). Join Wendi, Vix, and members of the Land team, on Wednesday at 12pm PT at Linden Estate Services. All are welcome. Keep up to date with all of our user group meetings on our wiki and public calendar.

Save the date! On June 23rd, Second Life will be turning 20! The 20th annual Second Life birthday celebration (SL20B) will be held from June 22nd to July 11th. Get ready for 20 fun-filled days of live music, performances, shopping, and amazing community exhibits! This year we wanted a theme that not only reflects on where we have been but embraces where we are going. We are celebrating twenty years of Second Life. That is an amazing realization. Who could have imagined in 2003 the vibrant, engaging, and creative community we are in 2023? We are living the future that was only a dream twenty years ago. Now we are projecting the future we hope to see as we move ahead another twenty years as both a community and a world. We are pleased to announce our Birthday theme for this year: Our Fantastic Future. The cornerstone of this idea is what we would define as eco-futurism including sustainability, a focus on our environment, and the next generation of our world. Some might call this science fiction, but what is science fiction except a dream for a possible future? In Second Life we build worlds. Our worlds, our way. For SL20B, we invite you to show us your worlds of the future! To get things started we are opening applications for Music Fest, to be held on June 22nd-24th. Music Fest will kick off the overall SL20B celebration with three days of live music performances featuring some of the most talented live musicians in Second Life! To sign up for a Music Fest audition, please complete this application form by April 9th, 2023. We are also opening up applications for the general performance schedule. Why celebrate for one day when we can party for a week?! We are looking for all types of performers to join the week-long festivities from June 25th to July 2nd. Are you a DJ who can spin up a great party set or a live performer who can jam all night? You might be one of the grid’s amazing Dance companies, or perhaps you’re a Particle Performer? One of the things that makes Second Life so vibrant and exciting is the wide range of performers who share their talent with our Residents. Whatever your medium, we would love to hear from you! Fill out the official performer application form by May 14th, 2023, and tell us a little about how you roll. While we encourage all interested performers to sign up, please note that it does not guarantee a spot. We will review all submissions and extend audition invitations via a follow-up note in-world to the SL username that you provide. Over the next few months, keep an eye on our blog for more opportunities to participate in the SL20B celebrations as an Exhibitor, Volunteer, and Merchant! CURRENT APPLICATIONS FOR SL20B: Performer Application - Applications close on May 14th, 2023 Music Fest Application - Applications close on April 9th, 2023

Today we are shining a spotlight on Semiiina, a talented live singer and musician taking the virtual music scene by storm with her soulful performances that blend a range of styles and influences. How long have you been in Second Life and how did you first hear about it? I've been in Second Life for 10 years! I first heard about it from my friends. I had just gotten back to Sweden after playing music in the states for a while. My friends thought SL would be a great way to keep in touch and still hang out over the pond. They eventually got tired of SL but the vampire world sucked me in together with the art, creativity, and the different communities. There was something about always being one teleport away from the next adventure and getting to know people from all over the world that kept it interesting for me. However, I've been a human for years now! haha! How did music become such an important part of your life? Music never "became" an important part of my life, it was just life. My mornings as a kid always started with walking straight to our black piano in the living room. I would sing a note with my tiny morning voice and then press down the key I thought it sounded like on the piano. I didn't always get it right back then but I do now. Saturday trips were to the record store. Dad and I spent hours listening to music in crappy headphones that were attached to the wall. You skipped tracks until you found something that spoke to you and if it was a good Saturday, you even got to buy a single to bring home. My bedtime stories were reading sheet music by Debussy, Chopin, or Liszt and the fairy tale stories I was told were the life of David Bowie and The runaways mixed with the artwork of Andy Warhol. When I was playing with my girlfriends we all wanted to be princesses. My princess was always called Edie Sedgwick. Pretty alarming looking back at it now! Do you write your own songs and/or compose your own music? Do you play any instruments? I do! Quite a lot! I haven't done any shows in SL yet with only original music but I'm planning on it. I play the piano, guitar, bass, and harmonica; and I also DJ. How would you describe your music, and who are some of the musicians who have influenced your style? How I would describe my music is always the hardest question for me. The way I deal with everything that comes with being a live musician (SL and RL) and me being an introverted extrovert is to stick to my part. My part is to perform and do every creative thing that pops up in my mind and not question it or what it sounds like, am I good enough? What do people think of me? Is this a good song choice? I just follow the creativity and the flow. If I step out of my part, I would probably go insane. However, I guess I could describe the music as "Chamelionic." In both worlds, I like to jump between genres and not stick to the same thing. It goes from Indy to Jazz to showgirl to pop to electronic to acoustic to a beautiful classic piano to singer-songwriter. Most shows I do in SL are acoustic with piano/guitar and vocals. Musicians that have influenced my style are definitely Björk, Marina, Bon Iver, Fever Ray, Soko, Lykke li, Lana del Rey, Birdy, and the list goes on and on and on. When did you start performing in Second Life, and what venues or shows can people visit to hear you sing? This is my third year as a live performer in SL! I play all over the grid so it's hard to mention only a few. It's been a tradition for me to play at the Second Life Birthday Event, Fantasy Faire, and Rezz Room & Versovs’ ugly Christmas sweater party. Posters come out every week on my Facebook, in my in-world group, and on discord so the best way to catch me is to join any of my social media groups. Tell us about some of the other Residents in SL that inspire you and whose work you admire. Bryn Oh is my number one inspiration. She is an amazing artist in both worlds. I've been amazed by her work since my first week in SL. Bryn was also the first one to ever give me a stage to perform when others turned me down because I had no experience in performing in SL. She didn't have to do that for me at all being a stranger at the time. Her heart is kind and she has a way of telling a story through her art that I've never seen before. Another inspiration is Tye Dinzel-Easton and Gabriel Easton. They literally saved us all from boredom during the pandemic. Together with their High Life destination team, they put together the most amazing resorts in SL with the best RP activities you could ever imagine. I had the privilege to perform at their Vegas sim together with the Dollhouse dancers. They put up a whole vegas show! Just by being in their creative and passionate presence inspires me so much. Every creator inspires me, every artist inspires me, photographers, models, DJs, designers, bloggers, event creators, and kind people in general. There is so much creativity to be found in Second Life and so many opportunities to go all in on what you're passionate about. Whether that be hunting for blood, running a venue, performing live music, or just simply having a conversation with a stranger on a wooden mesh raft in the middle of the Blake sea. Where can people follow you to know more about your music and shows? Please share links to your sites and social media accounts. Facebook Discord In world group: secondlife:///app/group/7ebe3807-5ae8-25bc-2d9c-2fd58e34d24a/about Soundcloud Spotify Thank you Semiina, for adding your voice to the live music scene in Second Life! Each of our Spotlight posts features a different Resident to showcase the spectrum of experiences and personalities found in our virtual world. If you have created something inworld that you’re proud of, or have had a deeply meaningful experience that could brighten someone else’s day, please sign up! More info here: https://second.life/spotlight-signup

As mentioned in the forum, we have been working on improvements to the inventory service. Second Life's agent inventory service (AIS) handles all agent inventory operations that happen in Second Life. We uncovered some additional issues last week, fixed (and tested!) them, and will be deploying AIS this Wednesday, March 22nd. We expect downtime to be minimal. Post deploy, if you notice any new issues with everyday operations that impact Second Life inventory - update/copy/modify items, change outfits, give an object to another Resident, etc. let us know and file a Jira issue!

Inspired by Hashima Island in Japan, discover the strange world of Hashima in Second Life, once a coal mine community, prison, and film set. Creator Titus Palmira shares the background behind Hashima Island. What does Second Life mean to you? I have been in SL for 13 years and have done many things, each adding to the overall experience, but it really boils down to this: SL is a place where I can do what I want, be what I want, how I want, and all done within a shared experience with interesting people from all over the (real) world. What is the background of Hashima Island? Is there a story in your head that you wanted expressed in this form? I have always been interested in ghost towns. I feel they have a poignancy about them, the life that resided there once removed leaves a trace that soaks into the fabric of the abandoned buildings. There are government facilities here in the UK that have taken over entire villages, mining ghost towns in Australia, empty towns in Spain due to the greed of property developers, or ex-Soviet era towns in Eastern Europe. I found the Latvian town of Skrunda. It was used by the USSR army as a radar facility and also hosted the soldiers' families. The melancholy of it all struck me as being very profound. That gave me the idea of replicating this somehow in Second Life and the sim "Skrunda 2" was created, this was repeated the year with "Skrunda 3". We took the ideas and concepts behind Skrunda and moved the whole thing to Japan. Hashima island is almost the perfect real-life destination to be converted into a Second Life / Skrunda sim. It's small, has a defined identity, and has been abandoned, so a great ghost town. It has a rich history, it was a coal mine, a camp for POWs, and was a set for one of the scenes in the James Bond movie Skyfall which I thought people would find interesting. How would you explain SL or what you do to a “skeptic” among friends and family? That's a tough question, how do you describe something with almost endless possibilities? It's not a video game, so it has no beginning, middle, or end, but it sort of looks like one. I would say it's a virtual world, which in part you create yourself, a world where you get out, what you put in. If you don't socialize and make an effort to be involved, you will spend it alone and you will probably leave SL soon after, there is only so much shopping one can do before it gets tiring. Do you think avatar expression is a vital part of SL or are the experiences and places more important? I think the two things go hand in hand. As in real-life our "look" is the outer manifestation of who we want to be seen as and the message(s) we want to give out, but there is no point in having an amazing looking avatar, if there is no one to show it off to or great places for it to be seen in. Interesting sims of any kind, shopping experiences, clubs, photographic sims, role-play worlds, adventures, etc.. require effort and money to create. Not all sims are created to create a return on investment. I think what we try to do, is to offer something to the communal "pot" for everyone in SL to enjoy with no expectation of anything back. This is my way of paying it forward. How would you recommend folks who are new to SL and feel they have no building skills become creative residents that contribute to the wonderful mosaic that is SL? Youtube is your friend, failing that, have some real friends who are experts in this area. My good friend Sofie Janic (an accomplished SL builder of multiple sims) introduced me to Megan Prumier, another amazing builder. Like most things in life, it's best to just "give it a go", it might seem a bit fiddly at first, but you will be surprised at the things you can create quite quickly. There are so many great stores that sell such great components for sims, buildings, vehicles, plants and trees, assorted bits, and pieces, etc. Start off with a small Homestead, rez a shack, create a garden or a beach, add some waves and a deck chair, and you are there! Video Production by Draxtor Despres Hashima Island Welcome to Hashima Island, a new destination from the Skrunda team. Take your first step onto the island from the rickety old ferry and be transported into the strange world of Hashima, an ex coal mine community, prison, and film set. The people have gone but the feeling of their humanity remains. Inspired by Hashima Island in Japan. Visit in Second Life

Good afternoon everyone, As mentioned in our previous blog we encountered a bug that was preventing PLEs (product listing enhancements) from updating correctly. Since the bug prevented merchant ads from working as intended for an extended period, we have decided to make things right. Today we will be issuing PLE credits for time lost during the outage. So anyone with an active/expiring (which is active but won’t renew) PLE as of Monday, March 13th will get 14 days added to their account. You can see the added time on the MKT Subscription page by looking at the new expiration date. For example, if you bought a 30-day sub on say, March 3rd, your end date will show an end date of April 16th. Please let us know if you are having any trouble or didn’t receive the extra time. Happy shopping and selling!

Learn more about Second Life on mobile, and other upcoming features, changes, and our roadmap for 2023 on Lab Gab. In this episode our VP of Engineering Mojo Linden shared that a beta version of Second Life mobile will be coming later this year. Keep an eye on this thread for future updates!

Last week we blogged about moving to an updated version of ElasticSearch, the application we use to do full-text searches on Marketplace. After successfully upgrading from 2.3 to 8.4 we have been closely monitoring usage and feedback from our merchants and Residents. This has led us to make a few tweaks to how our new search system works. In the coming days we will be changing the following: A bug where featured listings are not being updated properly. We have removed the 50-page cap on search results. Our statistics showed that few people look at higher-numbered pages. In addition, page load time is increased by loading more result pages into memory. But you have spoken, and we’re removing the cap. A search string such as “blue shirt” will return results that contain both the term “blue” and “shirt” instead of including results that contain “blue” or “shirt.” This behavior is changed if you use advanced features such as quotes, boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), or asterisks. Make sure to check the tooltip next to the search field for help with boolean operators. For example: The above search term will now return results in the center of the diagram. We hope these changes will improve everyone’s Marketplace experience while also enjoying the advantages of ElasticSearch. We continue to monitor how search performs for everyone. If you find that after these changes, Marketplace search still isn’t working the way you’d expect, please let us know! We value everyone’s thoughts and we thank you for your patience as we continue to make search better. Happy shopping and selling!

Today we are shining a spotlight on Apple Dismantled, a talented 2D artist seamlessly combining art mediums and bringing her digital art into Second Life. How long have you been in Second Life and how did you first hear about it? I first heard about Second Life in 2004 from a friend. I signed up, realized how much money it took to get set up properly, and never touched it again…. Until 2009 when I decided that I was interested and wanted to play again. I ended up making a whole new account and I have been here since. You are a real-life artist, can you tell us what kind of art you create and what are some of your favorite art mediums? I tend to lean towards the abstract realm of art for the most part. My favorite mediums for 2D art are Acrylic, Watercolor, and Fountain Pen Ink. I also dabble in digital artwork and make some pretty neat mandalas. Most of my artwork in Second Life is Fountain Pen ink as I have found that’s one of my favorites because, with simple chemical additions or techniques, you can make it react in a variety of ways and get some interesting final pieces. Though I will admit that there are plenty of failures along the way, it is still all a part of constantly learning. I’ve also done all types of other types of art in Real Life too. If you name it, I’ve likely tried it, or want to. The piece that started it all, Dissolve, in progress Tell us about some of the artists or works of art that inspired you to become an artist. In real life, my art taste is all over. I can clearly remember the first piece of artwork I became very interested in because I had a moment of “You can really do anything” was Edgar Degas “The Little Dancer” where he combines a whole heap of materials for a stunning final piece. (That tutu though was what first caught my eye) However, I’m the kind of person that can look at most any art piece and find something about it that I really like and inspires me. Art is subjective and I like being able to offer my art as abstract with the song that inspired it and letting the person make their own journey. I don’t like to present my art with a clear strict message on how to consume it, I present it in a way that allows the person to take it however they want, or leave it. The journey can be different every time too depending on your mood and where your mind is at. You also bring your art into Second Life, how does your RL art experience translate to your SL art experience? This is a tricky one to answer as I’ve never really had the opportunity to present the art I offer in Second Life in Real Life in a gallery capacity. I did make a website that was a gallery of my art with links to the music for each piece, but the cost was a bit intense to maintain and I just felt like nobody really understood it so I got uninspired and let it go. I feel like Second Life offers me more freedom in how I present my artwork and I can present it in a gentle way to where like anything in Second Life, people can make their own adventures. What art communities or groups within SL are you connected to? I’m not really connected with any outside of Curated Event. Do you have any helpful tips for new emerging artists? Don’t base your idea of success on other people’s opinions of your work. Stay Weird. Are there any other projects, activities, and events you are involved with in Second Life? Outside of the few events that I am in with my artwork, I have been a DJ in Second Life for over a decade and used to do 2-4 sets a week, now I tend to do one-off events here and there at places like Leviathan Bay. I was also involved with the art side as well as DJ’n at an event called Smokefest which was pretty rad and I’d love to see more and get involved in larger music events like that in Second Life. As for other stuff, I’m honestly not doing a ton in Second Life currently, however, I’m always on the lookout for more fun things to help however I can. Tell us about some of the other Residents in SL that inspire you and whose work you admire. I am lucky enough to be surrounded by a plethora of artists in a variety of mediums and expressions and every single one of them in their own way inspires me. Whether it be seeing the cool stuff they do and being able to gas them up and in return, it inspires me to do cool stuff too, to when you get those compliments from creators and artists you admire and it surprises you because not only do you realize they know you exist, but they think your stuff is cool too! Second Life is full of artists because it’s a completely blank canvas that residents have built up over the years. It's become not just a virtual world but an entire interactive gallery you can enjoy however you’d like. Where can people see your art? Please share links to your inworld galleries, sites, and social media accounts. Well, if they DM me I’m more than likely to show whatever WIP I have going. But really, just keeping up with my Second Life Flickr for all I do here in Second Life. I am also currently working on an Art Facebook Page as well as a Youtube channel where I post videos occasionally. InWorld Gallery Satellite Gallery at Leviathan Bay Flickr Facebook YouTube Apple is also generously giving out a piece of her Art for free at her gallery to celebrate this Spotlight Feature. It will be available until March 31st, 2023. Teleport over to pick it up today! The Art of A. Rose aka Apple Dismantled An interactive gallery of Real Life artwork and the music that it was created to and inspired by. New art is added often. Visit in Second Life Thank you, Apple, for adding your talent to the vast art community in Second Life! Each of our Spotlight posts features a different Resident to showcase the spectrum of experiences and personalities found in our virtual world. If you have created something inworld that you’re proud of, or have had a deeply meaningful experience that could brighten someone else’s day, please sign up! More info here: https://second.life/spotlight-signup

More info:

It’s been a very busy and productive 2023 for Second Life and our team is hard at work to make Second Life even better. The past year has seen several significant new features and improvements and we have quite a few more in the works (such as the PBR viewer, avatar customization ease including inventory thumbnails, a new mesh starter avatar, new LSL functions that improve the quality of life for scripters, and - yes! - a world and avatar-centered mobile-first Viewer). One of our goals is to make virtual land ever more accessible to empower our Residents to create and build amazing virtual communities and experiences. That’s why over the past five years, we’ve lowered land costs several times, slashed setup fees, and introduced initiatives to further help reduce land costs (such as introducing Plus, lowering price of Mainland for easier entry into Mainland ownership and making a Homestead available for purchase with no restrictions for Premium Plus members). In recognition of our upcoming 20th anniversary, we are making additional changes to land ownership to enable Second Life communities - great and small: Dropping the monthly price of Full Regions by $20 for our 20th anniversary – effective immediately, Full Regions are now $209/mo. Accepting Linden Dollars for land payments - a convenient new option for Premium Plus members. If you are a creator earning L$ inworld, you now won’t have to sell on the LindeX to pay for your region! Pictured: This chart shows Full Region price reductions over the past 5 years including today’s new pricing in USD. Upgrade to 30K Land Impact is available for all Full Regions for an additional $30 USD monthly. This latest land price reduction, increased development of Second Life features, improvements, and an unfortunate combination of world-wide economic factors including inflation, all bring additional costs to our operations. We’ve spent time considering ways to manage these costs to minimize the overall burden on our Residents. We decided to absorb many of the costs and distribute some by making a change to Linden Dollar buy and sell fees. Effective today, we are changing LindeX fees as follows: Increasing the buy fee to 10% with a minimum fee of $1.49 and a maximum fee of $14.99USD per transaction Increasing the sell fee to 5% We know that many community members may have questions about these changes, so please see the FAQ below for more information and context. For further questions, please join the conversation in our community forums. We’ll also be discussing these changes and sharing more from our 2023 roadmap on a special edition of “Lab Gab” this Friday. Stay tuned for a “first look” preview of the work we’ve been doing on Mobile in the next few days, too. FEE CHANGES FAQ Q: Which types of land does the new pricing apply to? A: Full regions now cost $209. Full regions with 30K upgrade cost $239. EDU prices are still 50% off. Q: What about Buydown / Grandfather pricing? Homesteads? Open spaces? Mainland? A: All other land pricing is unchanged. However, we did just recently roll out a Homestead benefit for Premium Plus and a Mainland discount. Q: How much land can I pay for in L$? How do I pay for Land in L$? A: You can pay for up to one private region (some restrictions apply) in L$ as long as you maintain a Premium Plus subscription. See this article for details. Q: How will the fee changes impact the cost of my Linden Dollar purchases and sales? A: It depends on the size of your Linden Dollar purchase in each transaction. For example, smaller Linden Dollar purchases (roughly equivalent to about $15 USD or less*) will see no change in cost as the $1.49 minimum charge is equivalent to the cost of the existing flat fee. For larger Linden Dollar purchases (approximately $149 or higher*), the 10% fee will cap out at $14.99 maximum in a single transaction. Sell fees will always be at 5% per transaction regardless of the size of the transaction. Q: How will I know the exact transaction fee that I’m charged before I make the purchase? A: The transaction fee will be clearly visible at the point of sale on the Buy L$ page on the Secondlife.com website. The image below shows you an example of where to see the transaction fee before the purchase transaction is completed: You will see the 10% transaction fee auto-calculate as you increase or decrease the amount of Linden Dollars you wish to purchase. Q: Will the fee show up clearly on my transaction log or invoice? A: Yes! You will see a dedicated line on both your invoice and transaction log for your “LindeX Buy/Sell Fee.” Here is how it will look on your transaction log: Here is how it will look on your invoice: Q: When does the new fee rate take effect? A: The new fee rate is effective today March 6, 2023. Q: If I placed an order to buy or sell L$ before the March 6 change, but it has not yet been filled, will I be charged the old fee or the new fee? A: Buy Orders placed before the change will be charged at the old rate. Sell orders will be charged at the rate effective at time of L$ sell order fulfillment. * Disclaimer: The actual dollar value may vary depending on the LindeX exchange rate, which automatically matches your order with the market rate at the time of the transaction. These estimates are accurate at the time of this blog post but are subject to change. Our Support Team stands ready to answer any questions you may have about these changes. Please log into your dashboard at https://support.secondlife.com to contact us.

Want to learn more about upcoming Second Life features, changes, and our roadmap for 2023? Second Life’s VP of Product Grumpity Linden, VP of Product Operations Patch Linden, and VP of Engineering Mojo Linden will be in a pre-recorded Lab Gab on Friday, March 10th at 9am PT. Do you have questions for Grumpity, Patch, or Mojo that you’d like our host to ask on your behalf? Fill out the Google Form and submit your question, and it may be selected! The form will close on Thursday, March 9th at 9am PT. Be sure to watch us next Friday on the Second Life YouTube Channel and learn more about our future plans!

Today we are shining a spotlight on Teal Aurelia, a fantastic storyteller that creates uniquely edited machinima incorporating exciting visuals that engage and inspire the viewer. How long have you been in Second Life and how did you first hear about it? I was an Alaskan living in Thailand in 2009, and SL was the platform that my local friends socialized on when it was too hot to go outside. I miss that level of RL/SL overlap, honestly. I'd love to see metaverse platforms become mainstream community space. I've bounced in and out of SL since then. I joined the Flickr community last year to practice Photoshop edits, and it made me realize that I'd never seen an SL video edited as heavily as photos. I figured I'd try. You’ve been creating stunning machinima, do you have a background in video editing and what kind of tools do you use? I just graduated with an animation degree last summer, but I plan to specialize in post-production. My university is known for its traditional animators, so if I wasn't drawing, I was in a stop-motion studio working with physical rigs and cameras. I use Toon Boom and TVPaint for 2D animation, Nuke and After Effects for compositing, Premiere and Avid for editing, and the cheapest sketchbooks to draw in. I didn't plan on learning CG or visual effects. I think that sometimes the universe shoves us unsubtly towards the right circumstances for our evolution. The pandemic shut down my campus for a year, so I veered into CG character-modelling and animation in Maya as a sidequest. I didn't expect to fall in love with environment design, or that my grad film would involve landscapes with 40,000 trees that would take impossibly long render, or that those things would force me to film on green screens and learn proper post-production. I create machinima because it allows me to skip straight to the parts of filmmaking I adore. That wouldn't be possible without all the creators whose work I utilize for characters, props, and sets. Brands like Doux, The Forge, and Swallow have supported me from the beginning, and I might have stopped filming after one video if not for the force of their kindness and creativity behind me. Your machinima is a mix of Second Life and other virtual worlds and gaming platforms, what inspires you to blend all of these elements? I think if you asked SL photographers why they do what they do, a lot of them would say they enjoy editing. That's also why I film. Compositing SL avatars into other game environments may sound lazy, but it takes skill. It's the same skill that puts monsters and superpowers into live-action movies, and if it's done well, it sells a film. It's what I want to do for a career. If I can convince you that an SL avatar belongs in a non-SL environment, it means my editing is okay. It's a process of stitching two worlds together with color and light. My latest video for Signature is shot entirely in SL with sets from Fanatik Architecture, but I still filmed the avatars against green screens. Separating characters from backgrounds allows me to create an army from a single avatar, to make buildings collapse realistically, and to layer effects. When I edit, I learn, and it improves my worth as a freelancer RL. Fantastic storytelling is a significant part of the draw in your machinimas. Where do you come up with your ideas and how long does it typically take you from concept to execution? I dreaded this question! A one-minute film currently takes me about a month to complete. I use the same pipeline as I would for creating a RL film or commercial, so I typically spend 40% of that time in pre-production (researching, storyboarding, figuring out the animation, testing lighting, arranging sets), 10% filming, and 50% in post-production. Add an extra week for things to go wrong. To apply that to my recent Signature film, I didn't just log in and start filming on day one. Raph Dirval was really supportive in allowing me to run with whatever concept I chose, and I knew I wanted a film that could showcase how naturally-expressive Signature's mesh heads are. I needed a story with anger, with sadness. Those emotions have always been tricky to portray in SL machinima. I'd experimented with animating Lelutka heads in a previous video, and was confident I could push it even further for this Signature film. "Though victory's proof of the skill you possess, defeat is the proof of your grit," is the beginning of the Edgar Albert Guest poem that became the concept for this film. I wanted a main character who'd lost everything and faced horrible odds, but stood up and fought back. I think everyone can relate to that feeling of being crushed to dust but choosing to reignite. See the Signature video on the Second Life YouTube channel submitted by Teal for Spotlight: Tell us about some of the other Residents in SL that inspire you and whose work you admire. I made a video called "Artists of SL" which features a few of my influences. It was really a thank-you to some of the creative giants I've learned from. Tutorials by Anya Ohmai and Strawberry Singh got me started in Photoshop. Artists such as Emeline Laks and Panda Banana showed me that it's possible to tell a story in a single frozen moment. A movie is just thousands of those moments squished together, so by understanding how photographers like Panda and Eme create remarkable images - the composition, lighting, posing, colour - I become a better filmmaker. For videography, Vrutega directs really complex cinematic scenes with an insane level of artistic technique. Godiva (Riqan Resident) has knowledge and perfectionism that make me feel less alone in how much time I spend on pre-production. Any Bergan, Lipe Vortex, and Kelie Ladys make incredible commercial videos showcasing products and events. ColeMarie Soleil's audio-visual alchemy for events like The Engine Room and Midnight Order reminds me that art should be a shared experience, even in a virtual space. She has such a genuine way of bringing creative people together. Where can people see your work? Please share links to your sites and social media accounts. Flickr Facebook YouTube Instagram Thank you, Teal, for your mesmerizing visuals and endless inspiration. Each of our Spotlight posts features a different Resident to showcase the spectrum of experiences and personalities found in our virtual world. If you have created something inworld that you’re proud of, or have had a deeply meaningful experience that could brighten someone else’s day, please sign up! More info here: https://second.life/spotlight-signup

Good morning everyone, At the end of last year we began the task of moving Marketplace search to an up-to-date version of ElasticSearch, the application we use to do full text searches. We apologize for some of the bumps you may have experienced in the last few weeks as we make this transition. The Marketplace search backend was showing its age. We’ve upgraded the technology and we’ve dusted off both our indexing and searching filters. We were running ElasticSearch version 2.3 and needed to update to ElasticSearch version 8.4. Our goal was to bring Marketplace search results closer to web search and make page loads faster, in order to improve your shopping and selling experience. In practical terms this means: Merchant and store names won’t be included in product-specific searches anymore, increasing the number of relevant results We’ve added the ability to do exact matches with quotes around a word or phrase You can do asterisk(*) wildcard searches Fuzzy matching will help with misspelled words and typos Search operators AND, OR, NOT will still work as before. (Note that they must be capitalized. Consult the tooltip next to keyword search for more information.) We received a number of reports about these issues: A bug with how relevance of search results is determined. This bug has been fixed. The search results page was displaying an inaccurate count of matching items. Search is returning the same number of matching item as before, but the count may say “10,000+” We hope this ElasticSearch upgrade will improve everyone’s Marketplace experience. However, we are continuing to fine-tune. If you find that Marketplace search isn’t working the way you’d expect, please let us know! We may very well be able to address your issue. An example of specific, helpful reporting might be, “I searched for ‘unicorn’, I expected ‘unicorn unicorn unicorn’ in the first page of results, but instead I got ‘horse costumes’.” From all of us on the Second Life Web team, thank you for your patience and understanding. Happy shopping and selling!

Happy Wednesday! We’re writing to remind everyone that we’ll be holding our monthly Web User Group meeting today at 14:00 SLT in our usual meeting place, where we’ll be discussing our status with ongoing projects and our near future plans for our web properties. As always, we’ll leave plenty of time for Q&A from the community. We look forward to seeing you there. Keep up to date with all of our user group meetings on our wiki and public calendar.

We have been very pleased to see the response and feedback for last names. Thank you for all the suggestions sent in for future last names through our Last Name Suggestion Form. Today we are doing our biggest last name refresh by removing some of the older last name options and adding the following new ones from your suggestions: Jeon Foxtail Varela Kealoha Primdashian Spicy Costanza Gupta Softpaw Vandervoort Tordenskjold Peabody Whiskers Quack Pixelbottom Blossom Bork Nightingale Sausage Fibble 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!

Meet Micheal (mjvusl), a brand new virtual world Resident that has already done over 100 shows in Second Life! Learn more about Micheal from this short interview and video as the next installment in our Made in Second Life series! Hi MJ, tell us more about yourself. My name is Micheal. Before anything else, I'm a dad to two amazing children who are full of life, super talented, extremely intelligent, and truly a blessing to know and watch grow. After that, I’m a live performing singer-songwriter. I collaborate with many engineers and producers but I usually produce my own music. I play a wide array of musical instruments and my favorites are keys and percussion. I feel it’s very important to my career to understand the business side of music so I’m also an entrepreneur. I own multiple businesses outside of music and entertainment while also consulting others with their businesses and ventures. How long have you been in Second Life and how has your experience been so far? I came to SL in November of 2022. Compared to other platforms, SL provides a life-like feeling to its residents. It allows me to create my likeness in its entirety, from facial and body structure as well as my voice. I’m even able to move like myself. The people here are so kind and supportive. The platform is an artists’ playground made by the residents for the residents. The staff is unlike any other that I’ve ever encountered. They are very helpful and invested in the work they do here. You write original tunes as well as covers, are you going to write and produce more originals? Is that where the train is headed? I’m always writing and my experiences in SL inspire me to write many more songs. I intend to write about my journey here in SL, songs based on relationships I’ve built here, and the overall poetic and artistic value of this open-ended world. Tell us more about the types of gigs you do. I’ve performed in-world and IRL at weddings, baby showers, nightclubs, music festivals, private dining events, award shows, charity events, and grand openings. The list goes on and on. I have no limits, I go where I am called and prepare a set that is specific to the event and the people in attendance. I produce my own backing tracks that allow me to collaborate with anyone at any time, granted they are able and willing to do so. Do you have any advice for musicians not familiar with playing music in virtual worlds? My advice to musicians is if you’re looking to travel the world in a short amount of time come to Second Life. Performing virtually is the future and SL makes it so easy to recreate your likeness and take your show on the virtual road. A lot of times I travel in the physical world and I’m able to perform in virtual reality between RL shows and while at the venues I’ll be performing at. You can put on a whole concert in Indonesia while at home in New York wearing a robe. Nobody is doing everything all by themselves and especially in SL we have a wonderfully collaborative atmosphere. Feel free to give a shout-out to your friends and collaborators! Ok, I might forget a lot, but notable people include: Alix Constant and ACI Muzik, Carmen Lashay aka Brielle Armani and Micheal LIVE, Vrutega, Tarah Chosen, Lucille Antoinette, Cassel Patheos Goorin, Jason Sutton, Combination- My Band, Johnny of Paragon Dance Animations, Sabreen Fanci Reign, Taboo Reign, Glamaris Montclair, Cherry Rodriguez, Cece Alessi, Novel and Mae Hooly and Hoolyville Records including Eyema Straaf-Yazimoto, CEO of CheBeddu Choreography, Jay Trilogy and Rico Rodex of HBAM (Hustle By Any Means) Ent., Sabina Valeska and Cali Gula from AVTV, Nesto, Tekila, Horrorz and my whole Smokefest Family, Omega Nu Theta, SecondLife, Mason Santiago, Chris Brown SL, Kitora Yong and Pretty Yong Thang for designing my skin based off of my RL likeness, Mr. Red and his lovely wife, Victoria. Kirie Cho Marani, David Heather, Javon and Exeter, and the whole Second Life community. Check out Micheal’s linktree and attend his next show, live in Second Life! Video Production by Draxtor Despres Logo by Marianne McCann

Today we are shining a spotlight on Sage Absinthe Oatsmill, a multi-talented creator bringing inclusive avatar components, decor, and destinations to the grid! How long have you been in Second Life and how did you first hear about it? I've been a Second Life resident for a little over ten years. I discovered it through researching virtual worlds at the time. It was number one on the "Top virtual worlds of 2012" list on some tech blog. I've always been fascinated by virtual worlds, MMORPGs, and other metaverse continuums. You have a store, Mura, where your creations range from unique food, to hair, and other avatar accessories. How did you get into Second Life content creation and what are some of your favorite items you’ve created? Although I launched Mura in September 2021, I've dabbled in content creation previously. I launched two clothing stores - Chloe in 2014 and Audace in 2016. Since I needed to gain the skills to mesh and create my own content from scratch, I purchased full perm meshes of clothing and worked to give them some really unique textures. Unfortunately, I decided to close them both when I took a hiatus from Second Life in 2017. I came back in 2020 during the pandemic. After reacquainting myself with Second Life, I decided to learn how to make original 3D content. I took a class by an amazing creator, Mesh Kitti, which lasted about two months. I felt that was all I needed before launching my first original mesh product, which was the Jollof rice set. Some of my favorite items that I've created are: 1. Seafood party platter 2. North African Mezze Platter 3. Interactive Cocktail Set 4. Nigerian Buffet The common denominator of these products is that they're meant to bring people together through food. You are also an incredible photographer and machinima artist, along with being the Marketing and Digital Director for Sage & Crystals Magazine in Second Life. Do you have a background in videography, photography, or magazine work? I have a real-world background in all three. Years ago, I worked at Cosmopolitan and Seventeen Magazine's editorial features department, among others. This experience helped inform my knowledge of the production flow of an issue. Currently, I'm a commercial director and photographer, working with fashion, tech, and entertainment clients. After all of that, you also run Teranga City in Second Life. Can you tell us more about this destination? What inspired it? What are the different venues Residents can find there, and are there regular events they can attend? It's a funny origin story, but I started working on Teranga while I was sick and bedridden from COVID in real life (April 2022), but I still wanted something to do to keep me busy. It took about six months to complete. I wanted to create a slice of my family's home countries (Senegal and Morocco). I never really saw a sim or community on Second Life that accurately depicted modern cities of North and West Africa. There's the representation of historical depictions or things like safaris, but that's not the actual reality for millions of people on the continent. I intended to create a space for everyone of all backgrounds to enjoy, explore and connect with the culture. In addition, I wanted to provide a hospitality destination with this same ethos, so I created Al-Mouna Resort, which takes up a little more than 1/4th of the sim. I custom-built the resort's main building and landscaped and decorated the sim with the help of my Second Life family members, Zoeynova Oatsmill and Zai Starchild, who are also phenomenal decorators and developers. There are so many things to do in Teranga. As I've stated, there's Al-Mouna resort which has a bathhouse, a spa and wellness center, a self-serve buffet, a beach, pools, and soon a MyStory-compatible restaurant. But, this is only accessible to guests that rent a room or villa. On the rest of the sim, which is open to the public, there's Absinthe Club and Lounge, La Galerie Mall, which hosts the Dancing Robot arcade, a food court, an apothecary, Lucien's Jazz Bar and Lounge, and La Tois de La Teranga, a rooftop club, and pool. There's a Souk (traditional North African market), a beauty salon, a cafe, multiple eateries, a museum specializing in African diaspora art, and Mura, my mainstore. We have regular events at Absinthe lounge, where folks can dance and enjoy salsa and Afrobeats music. Monthly, we've had Layali Troupe, a belly dance entertainment group perform, as well as Semina, a talented live singer. Tell us about some of the other Creators in SL that inspire you and whose work you admire. Many creators inspire me so much, and the list is terribly long. As you've noted, I dabble in various creative modalities, so I can attempt to categorize those who inspire. As a content creator, I'm most inspired by Lucas Lameth, who is a wonderful and talented creator and a kind and generous person. His work and artistic style are unique and some of the best I've seen on the grid! I'm constantly drooling over his mesh food releases. In the realm of videography, I'm most inspired by Sere Vene, who released their short film "Magazine" about two years ago. I was in awe when I saw this piece for the first time. At this point, I've only been creating videos for six months. Nevertheless, it was one of the best-executed shorts I've seen in Second Life at that moment. The way each sequence transitioned into another, the editing, the costume and set design, the animations, and the sound engineering all made it so extravagant and special. As someone who mainly focuses on music video machinima, all of those aspects are so important to capture effectively in a small period of time. Where can people see your work? Please share links to your sites and social media accounts. People can find all of my links through my linktree. Watch this amazing machinima submitted by Sage. Thank you, Sage, your work is truly inspiring! Each of our Spotlight posts features a different Resident to showcase the spectrum of experiences and personalities found in our virtual world. If you have created something inworld that you’re proud of, or have had a deeply meaningful experience that could brighten someone else’s day, please sign up! More info here: https://second.life/spotlight-signup

The Concierge and Land User Group meeting is a monthly, public meeting for discussion and education on Second Life, useful to both Mainland Residents and Estate owners. Topics include any issues relating to Customer Relations/Support or concerning Land in general (mainland, islands, Linden Homes, estates, auctions, etc.). Join Wendi, Vix, and members of the Land team, on Wednesday at 12pm PT at Linden Estate Services. All are welcome. Keep up to date with all of our user group meetings on our wiki and public calendar.