SL5B is finally over

WOW what a great group of people there were this year and before everything gets returned a good way to say goodbye for another year.

Who knows what will happen next year another Linden PR fiasco or a resident run event?

But whatever it holds in store for us all we will be there to bring you the highs and lows along with the many others who made such a great effort.

A huge Thank you should go out to all those willing volunteers who must have shed pounds running all over 20 sims trying to keep everyone happy - I wouldn't want that job for all the Ls in SL!

See you all next year!

Dana

moreless

SL5B: Rounding up the wagons ...

On it’s 5th anniversary SL is way passed the pioneer era. But then again ... It’s not.

"It is always an uneasy transition for the pioneers, and I think we’re going to go trough that again." (Mitch Kapor)

Under the flawless pixel summer sky, a crowd that was way passed the limit of safe occupancy of sims, struggled with lag and gathered to attend Mr. Mitch Kapor’s closure speech of SL 5th birthday celebrations.

People there where anxious, and hoping to hear announcements of change. Maybe we have this feeling about the Linden Lab being a kind of a nice Big Brother, but a Big Brother after all, that is supposed to provide us with tools for enhancing the experience and help make our virtual existence richer, more comfortable, more successful.

He encouraged residents to stop whining and start acting like the grown ups that the platform has become.

I sensed I bit of disappointment (Especially from residents who pay money to be here). I think both points of view are partly right. To people "in the know", the showing of clips from the video previewing his 3D camera (www.handsfree3D.com) was no news.

There was, instead, a 'political speech'. Sounding a bit like President Kennedy ("We stand at the edge of a New Frontier ..."), Mitch talked about the Internet, and about how a new technology always starts out in a frontier condition. In the beginning, SL residents have been pioneers, and he compared their spirit to those who settled the West.

The first pioneer era is ending now. We are at the gates of a transition. It's like we have reached the moon… and now we have to figure out how to move on from there.
It's not have been easy for pioneers. It's still not easy for newcomers. Only the strong stay.

He spoke about the 'high attrition rate' of the early years (many believe it's still high). "There are some things that Linden Lab has to do, to allow the potential of the platform to unfold, to improve ease of use, ease of learning", is a phrase that seems to point in the right direction.

Please see the video of Mitch Kapor's video, or just hear the audio, by going to the Linden Lab official blog. He spoke about the SL5B week, about the stage of development that Second Life is now in, and about new upcoming developments including real photo-realistic avatars, controlling your avatar by moving in front of a webcam. He also talked about other things, but please see the video on the LL blog for that.

Mitch Kapor is member of the Linden Lab board of directors. He has been involved with Second Life long before it was opened up to the public as an investor. Besides this, he has made a name for him self in the IT and internet world for various accomplishments. Please see the Wikipedia page about him for more detailed information.

Written by: Covadonga Writer

moreless

SL5B griefer attack?

It's not that long ago that I personally learned from a Linden (at his office hours) that griefing has been dramatically reduced in the past months. Well, SL5B (the Second Life 5th birthday celebration mini-continent) seems like a perfect target.

Enus Linden, who has a nice dock in the SL5B Prim region, has become victim of this. His little place really has been set aflame with colored particles.


However, what's strange about this, is that a certain person who is in all the right groups for the SL5B events and sims and even Burning Life, seems to be the owner of these rezzing objects. So is this just a joke, or a real griefer attack?

Both Enus Linden and the owner of the particle rezzers were unavailable for comments.

moreless

SL5B exhibit to note:

Dominating the skyline in a corner of SL5B you may see this huge structure and wonder what it's all about. On closer inspection it is awesome. When you get close enough (if you ever manage to rezz) the sign explains what this exhibit is all about:

The monument is the brainchild of Maxx Monde and all the textures and the monument itself is available free at the base of the structure so if you have an odd spare 756 prim parcel then you could have your very own bug tower! Or if not you can also just have the finely crafted bug that tops the monument.

But all that being said its well worth a visit at the SL5B and taking your time to rezz to read the textures on each level - believe me its an enlightenment!

moreless

SL5B exhibits to note:

See if you can discover this fantastic exhibit by the Red Rock community

moreless

Bixyl has been a busy fox

Find out just what he has been up to in both EXPLORE and EVENTS

moreless

SL5B how to find out what's going on:

This years birthday celebrations are huge with so much going on how can anyone find out?

One way is to drop onto one of the sims and search the map for all the little green dots :)
Another way is the using search, although this could take some time.

This year the committee have also come up with several calenders the best I have seen is this one:
http://creator.zoho.com/showViewLinkAlone.do?viewlinkId=7&link=true&sharedBy=dustylinden
this is another one:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=sl5b.events%40googlemail.com&ctz=America/Denver

Panels and speeches/keynotes can be found listed HERE

The Wiki is a good central source as well as the official events listing on the SL blog.
Don't forget to come and find your favourite newspaper and maybe learn a little more about us while have fun! Click HERE

moreless

SL5B opens with speeches from Phillip Linden and M

Philip Linden opened the birthday celebrations with a speech that reflected on his amazement at how much secondlife has grown:

"I feel I have lived a lifetime in that 5 years, it feels almost like 50 years"

He also surprisingly addressed the problems surrounding the celebration itself:
"I know there has been tension, protest and stress around this event and I think its great, its emblematic of what secondlife is all about and why it's special. To attempt to make a celebration of what secondlife is about is bound to fail"

I wonder if those excluded think its 'great'?

He goes on to talk about the progress that has been made on the grid itself and notes that Linden Lab are 'working hard on stability' thats it is a 'big focus' for LL to work towards.

M(ark) Linden also touched on a tender subject that of IP rights:

"One of the fundamental elements is on IP rights. Its really really important that people who create great content are able to enjoy it and protect it, its one of the things philip put in place and which has underpinned the economy today."

But although he did mention the topic and admit that creative content is the backbone of the economy there were no answers as to how this was to be achieved or even if Linden Lab were doing anything about content theft.
There was a lot of corporate bolstering and obviously the speeches were tailored to boost that image but on the whole I felt the speeches were aimed at the residents without actually solving any of the present resident concerns, both speeches taken together did acknowledge those issues exist and let everyone know that Lindenn Lab have been listening and they are aware of the problems facing ordinary residents.
I can't say there was any reassurance that these issues would be fixed, just that the Lab is aware. To me that was a reassurance in itself an acknowledgement of the work they still need to do.
The speeches felt to me like a placification for those that have issues and concentrated on the creative content to be seen over the 20 sim exhibition.
There is some incredible content to be seen over there and I urge everyone to take the time to 'wade through the honey', as the lag has been labled, and have a look at what is now possible in Secondlife.
I hope there are some hair displays around too as M pointed out to Philip 'its been 4 years since his avatar was updated and although his hair is the best in SL it is also the oldest' showing perhaps the human side of the Lab. I wonder if some of the hair creators out there could send him some prim hair based on the newbie style he is wont to use.
M Linden himself has obviously been shopping and looks a good deal better than his newbie CEO pictures :)
Happy Birthday Secondlife

If you want to watch the entire speech see the blog HERE

moreless

What is all the fuss about SL5B?

SL5B has been surrounded by controversy almost from the start, lack of time to prepare, lack of organisation, Lindens stepping in, are just a few of the things you can hear about or read in other blogs.
But to be honest I just think 'what is all the fuss about?'
With any big event 'someone' has to organise it and make the rules.
I can actually understand Linden Labs' point about keeping the celebrations PG (to an extent) the problems have arisen more because, as usual, LL have handled it very badly - lack of understanding has caused uproar.
Lack of communication and honesty has caused anger, we all know how well LL communicates their wishes and, be honest, did anyone really expect better over this?
Having a communications officer that no-one trusts is worse than useless LL needs to have someone in the position who can actually turn around and say "Look our back's against the wall, we have no choice" instead of someone who backtracks and denies what everyone has seen and read:
'All exhibits are PG, because we want to make the SL5B as inclusive as possible'
This one sentence is the mainstay of the Lindens point of view but it is a total contradiction!
Every event has to have a 'bad guy' someone has to protect those most vulnerable and as parents most, underneath, probably understand LL's wish to protect the innocent BUT there are ways to go about this without a 'blanket ban' and without everyone rising up and shouting!

As I joined the exhibitors I heard rumours of bad organisation and lack of support for those setting up - this is not my experience - in the 2 days it has taken us to set up at the SL5b, I have had no reason to complain, there is always someone on hand who can fix the terrain or set the media streams or even add someone to the group, those helping have been quick to respond and polite in the extreme.
I wish I could say the same for those setting up their exhibits. I have felt acutely sorry for the VOLUNTEERS here, the rudeness and impatience of people astounds me. These people have freely given up their own time to set up this event for everyone and what do they get? Hounded and spoken to like SH**
To be on hand to sort out 30 or 40 people at the same time, to set media, edit terrain, fix errors, add to group, answer questions, these organisers are doing a fantastic job and they are doing it because they want to, they don't have to, if they don't like the Lindens stepping in its understandable they have put a lot into this event and want to make everyone happy.
So please tell me why would people be rude to the volunteers? Why blame them for LL rules?
Who knows I guess human nature is the same everywhere *sigh*
I think the event will be a huge success, the problem is that for many the controversy surrounding it will be remembered more than the event itself which is a shame as all the hard work of those organising it and those exhibiting will get lost in the blog posts about the controversy instead.
This newspaper wishes SecondLife a happy 5th Birthday and hopes there will be some good points to even out the bad (Oh and a new communications officer that has some idea of what's going on and knows what honesty means).
Dana
Visit us at the exhibition HERE on the 23rd

moreless

SL5B controversy before it even takes off

If you do a quick search on SL5B you will be amazed at the controversy surrounding the upcoming celebrations.
First LL called for all cultures and sub-cultures to be represented at the birthday, unfortunately it seems that child avatars were not to be welcomed and of course a lot of residents were up in arms (sometimes literally) over this.

Everett Linden said…
"Hey everyone…there’s a lot of misunderstanding here, so let me try to articulate our policy here.
Child avatars are welcome at the celebration. However, we do respectfully decline the submissions we received to create exhibits for the event. "

Excuse me for seeming dense here, I am not a child avatar but I do know a few, if child avatars in SL are not PG who are?
So some may see adults playing children as not PG rated? I guess those people need to grow up (not the child avs). They are a culture within our fantasy world. Apparently its ok for furries or nekos but not for children to be represented?????
This week has seen LL take a more leading role in the preparations and many of the resident organisers quit.
What do the Lindens say?:
"Why the change? Simply put, the increasing complexity of these events requires more staffing and infrastructure than an all-volunteer organizing team. Second, we are responding to calls by Residents to take a more active role in improving the quality of life on the Mainland."
Clarification from Everett Linden:
"All exhibits, in substance and form, are PG on Linden Land. Any Resident can submit an application to exhibit. A team of Lindens and Resident organizers will review the applications, and if accepted, builders can be in any avatar form they choose (provided they are within PG guidelines)."
In the comments Katt and Everett Linden have done their best to reassure that child community exhibits will go through the same process as any other, this is hard to believe following all the controversy of the previous couple of weeks. We shall have to wait and see if indeed the children of SL actually make it through the selection process.
This promises to be a huge celebration but how much will now be down to the residents is to be seen.
The celebrations have also been expanded to 2 weeks and submissions are also still being taken check the blog to find out how to get involved (if you still wish to).

moreless