A Look Back at 2009

Well, another year behind us. 2009 is gone. From the Homestead mess to Adult Verification to XStreet, Second Life has gone through it’s share of complications. But there have been plenty of happier developments that make the Metaverse a better place.2009 began with the new Homestead/Openspace policies put into effect. Residents feeling like they were “bait and switched” with the price increases, combined with a declining real-life economy, some residents were already letting some sims go. The result was the number of sims owned by private individuals declined. Also in January, Linden Labs bought up the main virtual marketplaces for SL Onrez and Xstreet. Naturally, people wondered how the Lindens would handle their near-monopoly, given their past history. Before January was up, Philip Rosedale, formerly Philip Linden, remarked Linden Labs was considering merging the teen grid with the rest of SL, which sent a feeling of dread to many residents on where the Lindens wanted to take them.In Spring came word of the Lindens’ plans to supposedly move all adult content to it’s own continent. As this was not long after Philip’s Linden’s teen grid merger comments, some began to fear mass censorship ahead. And so opposition began to organize. Despite the protests, Linden Labs proceeded with the creation of the “Adult” continent Zindra, termed Second Life’s “Red Light District” or “Amsterdam” by some. They also required those going there to be “adult verified” by giving their names and addresses in addition to a driver’s license number, the last 4 numbers of one’s social security card, or one of a few other forms of ID. There were protests, saying this would put people at risk of identity theft. Others could see Linden Labs’ point of view, wary of the mass media seemingly mentioning only Second Life as a place for virtual sex and bondage, though most felt they could have handled it better. Despite the protests, Linden Labs maintained their new policies.Late in the year, Linden Labs confirmed the fears among those predicting abuse of their near-monopoly of online sales of SL products by announcing new limits and fees for free items on Xstreet. The result was a flood of items removed, as well as designers vowing to sell their items elsewhere. Alternatives such as Slapt.me suddenly found themselves much more in demand as more people began buying and selling from them. It was about this time that the “Emerald” viewer not made by Linden Labs became popular. When LL began talking about banning not just third-party viewers but people using them, saying they might be used to scam people, people felt the Lab was once again overreacting to people wanting a better deal and bypassing them to get it. The makers of Emerald soon announced they would be cooperating with the Lindens to make sure there was no misunderstanding.Two more decisions by the Lindens raised questions. In November, they did away with their Mentor Volunteer group, which some called leaving newcomers to muddle about until they either quit or found help by accident. December brought their announcement that they were working on a system to bring script limits. While people appreciated that Linden Labs was finally doing something about the “lag” that plagues the experience of all users to some extent, there were also worries that given their history, the Lindens could all to easily foul things up.Not all of the new Linden policies brought near-universal scorn. The announcement in April that camping ‘bots would be banned brought cheers, people saying it was long overdue. In August, Linden Labs announced Xstreet would be enforcing copyrights: no more items with copyrighted names could be sold unless they obtained permission from the owners. A few worried that in the future, roleplays such as Star Trek could be wrecked by additional rules. But most everyone agreed the rule was best. Some did wonder if the only reason the Lindens enacted the rule was to avoid lawsuits, such as the one by Taser Inc. in April, that was dropped the following month. The new Nascera continent was opened for “Linden Homes,” a place where Premium members could get a little help in getting a place of their own.Linden Labs has usually given exaggerated numbers of how many use it, “over nine million users.” This year, things changed not only with their ban of camping bots, but also their decision in February to delete almost a million accounts that apparently had never even been logged into. Probably as a result of their bot-ban, Second Life’s number of regular users ceased to climb and stagnated.Second Life 2009 was of course more than just Linden directives, much more.Not all of Second Life’s problems came from Linden mismanagement. Attention from big media continued to get spottier, and seemingly less positive. In March, Reuters announced they would be closing their location in SL. CNN, however, continued to take iRepots articles from the Metaverse. Besides, the Taser lawsuit, the Estate of “Dune” author Frank Herbert skipped Linden Labs and went directly to the roleplayers on a sim based on the writer’s work, ordering them to remove all copyrighted names and items within two days or else. Rezzable, noted for it’s builds such as the Greenie House, announced they would be leaving Second Life for Opensim.Then there was the rumor that Second Life would be banned in Australia due to their anti-pornography laws. It wasn’t true, but it probably got both Linden Labs and residents worried: the Lindens over being blocked from markets and residents over access and censorship.Closer to home was the BNT collapse. Without warning, over fifty sims were suddenly gone, including the one containing the office of SL Newspaper at the time. Besides a sour real-life economy, Intilibber put the blame on “sabotage” by others. But Intilibber had little sympathy from residents whom were suddenly out of house and home.Second Life’s weeklong Sixth Anniversary celebration, SLB6, wasn’t quite as popular as last year. Perhaps because “the big five” was seen as more of a milestone by the masses, but some felt they were bugged more by technical glitches. But as always, Burning Life got good reviews and attendance. For those interested in beauty contest, there was the “Miss Virtual World” pageant. Second Life also hosted a virtual science fiction convention which was attended by Star Trek founder Gene Rodenberry’s son.Political expression continued to find it’s way into Second Life. In January, SL was the scene of inaugural balls to celebrate the new US President. During the time of the Tea Party protests, one was held in SL as well. The Netroots continued to hold part of their yearly convention within the Metaverse. During the pro-democracy protests in Iran this summer, a rally supporting their cause was held here. John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono appeared in Second Life to exhibit an in-world version of her Imagine Peace Tower. And late in the year, the Green Expo was held in SL to coincide with the Copenhagen summit.Throughout the year, there were numerous fundraisers for charity. The biggest one was Relay for Life, which raised a Linden amount equal to many thousands of dollars. It’s yearly “walk” consists of a track going through a few dozen sims, and had dozens of builders putting in many hours each building exhibits in honor of those behind the effort and those whom passed away. People did more than just raise money to fight illness. The Veterans Day Tribute raised cash so average soldiers could get phone cards to call families.Second Life top fad during 2009 would have to be the Sion Chicken. At first glance, it didn’t seem to have much appeal as a pet. Feed could be expensive, all coming from one single source, Sion Zaius. And if they ended up back in your inventory without precautions, they died. Somehow, they caught on as the “must-have” pet, people breeding the chickens and buying and selling rare eggs for hundreds of Lindens. But eventually, the fad began to fade, people frustrated with dying chickens and the cost of feeding them.A number of Lindens announced their retirement this year, such as Zee Linden and Robin Linden. The former Zee Linden later moved on to Blue Mars. Second Life’s founder, the once Philip Linden, created a new project, Lovemachine.For those Second Life residents who died, there was an effort made to get people to put their creations in their will. Early in the year, a memorial service was held for Majel Barrett, the wife of Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry, by Second Life Trek group members. Following the passing of Michael Jackson and Farrah Faucet, a number of residents set up memorials in their memory. A few residents were also given memorials, such as Tiny Empires Queen Julie Apocalypse and Lothi Aeon, whom in real life was Specialist Jacob D. Borton, killed trying to save a comrade in Iraq when a soldier opened fire on his own men.And in September 11, a number of places held memorials for those killed eight years earlier in the infamous attack by Islamofacist terrorism, the one in the NYC sim getting a mention by real-life news.One thing that has changed is the talk about “What is Second Life's biggest competition?” At the years’ beginning, people were chattering about Opensim and how it looked so promising. It certainly got Rezzables’ attention, moving many of their places to it’s cheaper regions. But as time went on, the focus was less on Opensim, and instead on social networking sites such as Facebook, and games & simple virtual worlds connected to them, such as Farmvile and Yovile. The question was raised that instead of a better virtual world than Second Life, developers were instead aiming for much simpler, less immersive, places online. For those used to their online experiences becoming more detailed and sophisticated over time, a less than welcome development for virtual reality alternatives to MORPGs. But the development of Blue Mars was a reminder others were still trying.For Second Life Newspaper, we too have gone through blessings and troubles. The BNT/Intilibber mess left us without our office, but we soon found a new home thanks to the folks at Skybeam. A few reporters have left the paper, including Pennance Sauterearu whom sadly has had to leave the paper and SL due to medical issues. But we’ve also gotten some promising new talent, whom we are very happy to have aboard.2009 saw it’s share of ups and downs for Second Life. And as it enters a new year and a new decade, we at Second Life Newspaper will do our best to report to you the readers the latest developments.Bixyl Shuftan

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