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Calling all performers! Second Life is seeking talent for our upcoming 17th annual Second Life birthday celebration (SL17B), held June 19-July 10. Get ready for a fun-filled week of live music and deejay performances, shopping exclusives, and amazing community exhibits. 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. Are you a DJ who can spin up a great party set? Maybe you’re a Live Musician who plays an instrument or sings! You might be one of the grid’s amazing Dance companies, or perhaps you’re a Particle Performer! Whatever your medium, we would love to hear from you. Fill out the official performer application form by May 18 and tell us a little about how you roll, and one of our Event Staff Leaders will contact you soon. MUSIC FEST APPLICATIONS OPEN THROUGH MAY 18 Don’t forget that we also have a separate form specifically for those who want to audition for our Music Fest event, which kicks off SL17B. We are seeking live music performers for this special event. Applications remain open through May 18 and can be found here. EXHIBITOR APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN THROUGH MAY 22 Finally, we want to remind everyone that the applications for those interested in exhibiting at SL17B are now open. This year’s theme is “vacations and road trips,” but exhibits will not be limited to that topic. See our previous blog post for details, read our rules and policies and check out the official exhibitor application form for more information.

I read this year's SL17B Exhibitor Rules. Does that mean there is no shopping mall like before? Since I was opening a store at SL16B, I wanted to again this year.

Save the date! The 17th annual Second Life birthday celebration (SL17B) will be held June 19-July 10. Get ready for a fun-filled week of live music and deejay performances, shopping exclusives, and amazing community exhibits. In Second Life, you can explore the (virtual) world from the safety and comfort of your own home -- and that’s why we’ve selected “vacations and road trips” as this year’s SL17B theme. Whether you teleport directly or travel to your favorite SL destinations by plane, train or automobile, we hope to see a wide variety of community exhibits and experiences that celebrate the spirit of Second Life escapism and travel. Interested exhibitors can apply now to participate in the festivities using our official application form. Please note that the rules and policies for exhibitors have been updated this year to allow for more creative flexibility, so it is important to read them even if you have participated in SLB before. For example, a major change for exhibitors this year is the freedom to create an exhibit that reflects your own passions in Second Life. This means that while “vacations and road trips” is our official SL17B theme, exhibits will not be limited by it. We welcome a wider variety of topics this year, including exhibits that may serve as introductions to the varied and abundant communities throughout SL. We also are inviting original art installations and other personal projects that people want to share with the SL community at large. So, if you want to participate as an exhibitor with a presence at SL17B then please join us by filling out the exhibitor form no later than May 22. MUSIC FEST APPLICATIONS OPEN THROUGH MAY 18 As a reminder, we also are seeking live music performers, too. We previously announced a call for audition signups for the SL17B Music Fest - and those applications remain open through May 18 and can be found here.

Linden Lab had announced that they are also considering approving adult content on the SL17B this year. If I now look at the guidelines for the SL17B, it seems that this is no longer intended. Am I correct? Niki

In Second Life we strive to maintain a happy and trouble-free experience for all of our Residents. Failure to comply with these guidelines could result in the removal of your exhibit from the event. The Mole Coordinators will have the final decision whether a build meets and follows all guidelines and requirements. All decisions are final. NOTE: Set your group tag to the Exhibitors group before you rez your build. Objects rezzed under the wrong group will be auto-returned. Parcel Specifications Here are the specifications for your parcel: Each parcel is a 32 meter by 32 meter square. Please keep inside the boundaries. This includes the “bounding box” of non-phantom sculpties and mesh. Exception: Tree branches that overhang the sidewalk. These must have at least 2 meters of ground clearance, be set phantom, and must not be excessive. Terraforming: Exhibitors may not terraform their parcels. Contact a Mole Coordinator for any terraforming requests. Only minor terraforming will be allowed, and it is at the discretion of your Mole Coordinator. Height Limit: Your build must be under 75 meters tall, and it must be built from the ground up. If for some reason 75m is not enough, please contact your Mole Coordinator to discuss it. No Skyboxes or Floating Signs: You may not use skyboxes or floating signs that advertise your build that are not attached to your build. Exception: Floating objects that are integral to the build, such as clouds or birds, may be used. Floating objects must remain within parcel boundaries. If you have any questions, please ask your Mole Coordinator. Large Box Enclosures: Your build should not be or resemble a large prim box nor should you put prim walls near the parcel boundary. This can block the view of neighboring exhibits. Repeated Builds: Please refrain from using a build exhibited at a prior SLB event. The event is a showcase of all that is wonderful in Second Life and repetitive builds take away from the excitement. Try something that exhibits the new growth of your organization or your Second Life. Off-Region Landscaping: Some exhibitors will have water based exhibits with water views and though we all love the enhanced view of off-region enclosures, landscapes or objects, these objects often overlap parcel boundaries. With this in mind, off-region landscapes, enclosures, or objects are not allowed. Prims: You have 468 prims (or land impact units) per 1024sqm available in your parcel. Avoid Physical if possible: This includes builds that use or cause collisions to trigger scripted actions. Physical prims can cause performance issues so please minimize their use. Exhibits that use the physics engine must be reviewed by a Mole Coordinator to ensure that they do not cause performance issues when a region is filled with visitors. Temporary Prims: Temporary prims can cause performance issues. Please minimize their use and tell your Mole Coordinator if you are using them. Also any temporary prims will count toward your prim count total. Example: You have 468 prims in total. If you use 10 temporary prims then the rest of your build may not exceed 468 prims. Phantom: For ease of navigation, please use phantom for most of your build. In particular, trees, shrubs, flowers, grass, or other objects not attached to the main build should be made phantom. If possible, use physics type None to improve region performance, as described in http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Physics_Optimization . Floors: Any prims you walk on should be a maximum size of 32m x 32m. Walking surfaces are EXEMPT from the Phantom rule. Sculpts and Mesh: Sculpts and Mesh are allowed, but use standard prims or quality, low-poly mesh when possible to minimize load burden for objects and textures. Bear in mind that bounding, particularly on mesh, may exceed the space of your parcel and cause issues for neighbors and visitors. Glow, Full Bright, Shiny, and Particles: Overuse of glow, full bright, shiny and particles can cause performance and appearance issues. Please minimize their use. Materials: Texturing for materials is allowed. Please be advised that to be fair as possible, region environments may be set to default day cycles. Megaprims: Old megaprims (made by a 3rd party and not able to be changed in size) should not be used. We prefer to use the maximum prim size of 64 x 64 x 64 (parcels are 32m × 32m so this should be ample). Windlight: SL17B regions may be set to default day cycles, but you can have your parcel set for specific windlight settings. Be advised that not all viewers are Windlight enabled nor do they all carry the same settings. Some visitors will not be able to see your chosen settings or your materials texturing. Scripting Scripting allows for wonderful and interactive builds but can cause performance and privacy issues. Exhibits that depend on scripting may not function properly when the region is full of avatars. Greeter Or Counter Scripts: Greeter and counter scripts can cause performance issues, and they also cause privacy issues. These are prohibited and will be returned if found. Listening and Scanning Scripts: Listening and scanning scripts can cause performance issues. Please minimize their use and tell a Mole Coordinator if you are using them. Clickable Givers: You may give items (notecards, landmarks, gifts, etc.) only via clickable givers that are scripted or use “buy for L$0”.. Unsolicited giving (spamming) is prohibited. The content you give must be relevant to the exhibit or exhibitor. Please use as few givers as possible. Example: A community exhibit at the SL17B may include a landmark-giver to a home region by being clicked on by avatar interaction, but it may not be distributed by script detection of an avatar within a given proximity or the act of an avatar walking on or through a scripted prim. Floating Text Floating/Hover Text: Please use floating text and hover text sparingly as long as it doesn’t interfere with other builds. Particle Scripts: Please be courteous of your neighbors and others by not using particle scripts that create particles that float into neighboring parcels. NOTE: Once your build is complete, please delete as many scripts as possible to minimize script load on a region. In many cases, once an object has been rezzed with a running script, those actions become a property of the prim and the script is no longer needed. When in doubt, make a copy of the prim and take it into inventory. Rez the copy and delete the script, If the prim still behaves as intended, then the script is no longer needed and will save resources. Non commercial Policy Your display at the event should not be commercial. Exhibits promoting buying and selling of goods and services do not fit in with our policies and theme. Any part of an exhibit that violates this rule will be removed. While commerce is a very important part of Second Life, this is a party, not a mall or sales fair. No selling is allowed and no advertising will be permitted. Exception: Gifts provided to SL17B visitors are fine. Identification of exhibit sponsors is acceptable. If you are a Second Life creator with a brand you may include your store logo in a tasteful way in keeping with the overall design of your exhibit. A logo included in this way should not stand out at a distance. Your display should not have any large, purchased elements in their entirety. If you have a purchased store, shelter, house or main structure your Mole Coordinator will ask you to remove it. Combining elements from several different sources is allowed as long as your final display at SL17B is a unique build created by you and/or your building assistants. Tip-Jars Or Soliciting Donations: Exhibitors may not rez any object which collects money or asks for contributions. While we appreciate the efforts residents make to inform, educate, and encourage the support of charitable causes, this event cannot be used as a vehicle for the procurement of donations for charity. We make one exception to this rule. Please see the Performance Rules. Adult and Moderate Content All residents of SL are welcome to exhibit at the event. SL17B is a General rated event. To learn more about what the General maturity rating means, you can read the article on the General Maturity Rating on the Second Life website. Members of Adult or Moderate rated Communities are welcome to participate, but all exhibits must meet the General rating as determined by Second Life Maturity Rating for General rating. To keep things fair and within event rating, no nudity–artistic or otherwise–will be allowed. This also means that adult animations and/or gestures are prohibited. Please check any furniture or seating within your exhibit to ensure that adult animations have been removed. Landmarks to Adult and Moderate regions or communities may be given out as long as they provide a warning that they lead to an Adult or Mature region. If you have any questions about the content you wish to present, please consult your Mole Coordinator. Occupancy We pack a lot of exhibits on each region. Please be fair to your neighboring exhibitors so that visitors can access their exhibits too. Performances: Your exhibit is not to be used as a performance/music/DJ venue for the entirety of the event. Your parcel is not an event venue. Having a party/parties is fine, but scheduling artists/DJs to perform for large blocks of time is not acceptable. This will burden a region with crowds that will make it difficult for other visitors to access other exhibits on the region. If you expect a large crowd, book a performance venue or lecture area for your party or performance. Camping and Contests: You may not hold contests that cause large numbers of avatars to congregate at your build for long periods of time. This rule includes Lucky or Midnight Mania Boards and other items at the event staff’s discretion. A scripted avatar bot can cause performance issues, and it also reduces the number of avatars that can visit a region. Scripted agents (“bots”) are not allowed. Instead use a welcome sign with a clickable giver script to offer up information or gift items. You may use a scripted mannequin if a representation of an avatar is needed. Other Content Restrictions Copyright Or Trademark Infringement: You may not use real life or Second Life brands, logos, sounds, or graphics that you do not own and do not have the right to use. As a rule of thumb, if you did not create it, or if you do not have written permission to use it, don’t. This includes the use of the logos (or photos of logos) for Linden Lab, Second Life, or any other licensed or registered trademarks. For other cases, you are required to follow the usage rules of content owners. For use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, WordPress, etc.) buttons or links, please do a Google or Bing search on the companies’ respective allowed use of logo display. Any items not following published guidelines will be removed at the discretion of the SL17B staff. Copybotted or otherwise illegally obtained content: You may not use materials known to be copybotted from other SL Residents or otherwise obtained from third-party sources without permission (“ripped” mesh objects, etc.). Such items will be removed at the discretion of the SL17B staff. You may not use or display hate-oriented content at your SL17B build. If you are not sure if something is hate-oriented material, contact a Mole Coordinator. You may not display content that would defame, ridicule or disparage other residents or groups or Second Life. Any content that is deemed offensive, harassing, insulting or bullying will be removed, and the owner will be removed from the event. This will be determined by the staff of SL17B at their discretion. Their decisions are final.