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  1. I want to take this opportunity to speak directly to the Second Life community. Thank you for being part of this wonderful world and giving us the time to carefully assess our situation after we became the subject of a blog post that has the potential to cause harm to our dedicated community members and the virtual world platform that so many people call “home.” 

    The post contains a complex mix of accusations regarding Second Life, and it questions our strong dedication to maintaining a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all members of the Second Life community.

    Our Response to the Allegations

    At the heart of the blog post were unsettling accusations about sexualized, virtual avatar ageplay, including alleged violations of our community guidelines. I want to be clear: we have a zero-tolerance policy against sexualized ageplay. The safety and integrity of the Second Life platform are paramount to us, especially concerning the protection of minors. 

    We will continue to enforce our existing governance policies and community standards and we are proud of our collaboration with law enforcement and organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to combat child exploitation. These efforts underscore our commitment to a safe online environment. 

    With that said, I want to acknowledge that we can do better; this has been a harsh wake-up call for us that we need to take tangible actions to improve Second Life’s governance policies and protective features that benefit the entire community.

    Our Actions Moving Forward

    I promise you that we are taking this very seriously. Very. Full stop. 

    I promise we hear you. We know you're angry and you're confused. We are working to do our best to resolve your concerns and restore your trust in us. These are complicated issues and we want to do things right. We will make mistakes along the way. I wish I could say we will not, but we will. 

    As owner of Linden Lab, I have initiated a thorough investigation, both internally and with external partners, to review whether or not there have been any violations of our company and community policies by employees, contractors, or community members. While early preliminary internal investigations suggest that some of the accusations are unfounded, I want to make sure that we get additional investigative support externally to ensure that the process is fair and thorough.

    One of our top priorities has been to ensure the safety of our residents, moles, employees, and families. There are real people behind the avatars, and it has been important to confirm that nobody was in actual physical danger. 

    Additionally, I am taking proactive steps to review and revamp many of our policies, including a comprehensive review of our Community Standards, Content Guidelines, and Ageplay Policy. Any violation detected will be met with swift enforcement actions to protect our community. We’ll be sharing these revised policies in the coming weeks and, critically, we are turning to the community to help us shape the future of how governance operates within Second Life. 

    Our Commitment to You

    Second Life remains a vibrant platform for expression, creativity, and connection. I and the Second Life team are deeply committed to protecting our community and ensuring that Second Life continues to be a safe, inclusive, and welcoming space for everyone. Your trust is our priority, and we pledge to work tirelessly to maintain and enhance the integrity of our virtual world.

    I appreciate the patience and support of our community as we navigate this challenge. Together, we will emerge stronger and more united in our mission to build the best possible virtual world experience.

    Oberwolf Linden
    Linden Lab Executive Chairman

  2. Second Life is getting some new, exciting features that will make the world look even better.

    Mirrors are arriving soon! While we love the realistic reflections PBR materials enable, mirrors take reflections to a whole new level.

    You can create a mirror using a method similar to reflection probes, but with a twist -- when a reflection probe is set to use the “Mirror” option, all surfaces near the probe will exhibit a real-time mirror reflection, including PBR and legacy materials.

    We chose this method to enable maximum flexibility.  For example, you can create a big wall of mirrors and have minimal performance impact regardless of how many mirrors are on that wall. As long as they’re aligned with the mirror reflection probe, they can all show a mirror reflection.

    To conserve performance, mirrors are subject to some limitations. The Viewer will show the effect of only one mirror reflection probe at a time -- the one closest to your camera. Mirrors are planar, so they won’t work very well on the body of a car, for example. Like so many good things in life, mirrors are best enjoyed in moderation.

    Mirrors-3.jpg

    Applying PBR materials to terrain will be possible in the upcoming featurettes release. You will soon be able to apply most GLTF materials to terrain. Initially, PBR terrain will support normal maps and metallic-roughness maps. Emissive textures will not be visible on some machines and transparent materials are not fully supported. We expect PBR materials on terrain to vastly improve the beauty of SL -- because there’s a lot of terrain out there!

    PBR terrain uses triplanar mapping, a texture-mapping technique which is new to Second Life. On steep slopes you will notice far less texture-stretching. To conserve performance, triplanar mapping will be enabled only when the graphics quality setting is set to “High” or greater.

    PBR Terrain Demo - 3.jpg

    With the advances in GLTF PBR Materials and upcoming Terrain materials, we know it is time to increase the texture size limit to 2K (2048x2048 pixels). We are approaching this change  carefully, and are still weighing pricing options for images larger than the current max size. 2K textures will allow artists to add significantly more detail to their creations and do things like efficiently consolidate more UV surface area onto a single asset.

    Mirrors and PBR Terrain will be available on the Beta Grid (Aditi) to start with, on the following regions:

    • Rumpus Room 2048
    • Rumpus Room 2049
    • Rumpus Room 2050
    • Rumpus Room 2051

    Interested in trying out these new features? You can download the Viewer here. Never accessed the Beta Grid before? Here’s information on how to access the Second Life Beta Grid: https://lindenlab.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/31000156725-accessing-aditi

    We can’t wait to see what fun and exciting new things residents create with these featurettes!

  3. 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. This meeting is conducted using voice. We're happy for you to contribute in voice or in text, but you'll need to have your voice settings activated. We look forward to seeing you there.

    Keep up to date with all of our user group meetings on our wiki and public calendar.

  4. February2024.png

    February, the month of love, is just around the corner, and we're thrilled to announce a variety of Valentine-themed events and activities. Follow our Featured News blog, as we will be revealing all the delightful details later this week!

    Our vibrant community is a mosaic of stories, and each connection adds a unique hue to this kaleidoscope of emotions. Our deepest thanks go to the Second Life Residents who have opened their hearts to us - sharing their moments of joy, companionship, and images of love to the official Second Life Flickr Group.

    Featured in this collage:

    Top Row (from left to right): Kynne Llewellyn, Toppy MorenoRyanna FoxclawJoshua AzúcarGiselle ChauveauMokana Melodious

    Middle Row (from left to right): High ElfCynthiaSarulien StarchildScarlett Libido - (and we snuck in Valentine Shop & Hop, opening Feb 1st)  

    Bottom Row (from left to right): Salem Sangre Hexem, Val CloudShun, ProphetKCDVerandi Diavolo

    Thank you, Residents, for your continuous support and for making Second Life the wonderfully diverse and welcoming community it is. Here's to a month filled with love! ❤️

     

    Make sure to follow us on Social Media, and sign up for the Second Life Weekly Email Newsletter to stay informed!

    For a chance to have your image featured in our social campaigns or the Second Life pic of the day, submit your work to the Official Second Life Flickr Group
    For a chance to be featured in our #SLFeature Instagram stories, follow and tag us on Instagram.

  5. 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.

  6. Hi Everybody! 

    I would like to introduce a new member of the Linden Support team, Boxy 5000. 

    Boxy 5000 is a virtual assistant/support bot trainee. 

    But wait, wasn’t there already a chatbot who answered questions for premium users? Indeed there was! Boxy 3000 was the earlier model of the trainee chatbot. 

    We are learning from some design flaws and moving forward with a more advanced bot. Boxy 3000 has been re-invented and given an extra 2000! 

    But wait a second time! Won’t this bring about the machine apocalypse? Not just yet–Boxy 5000 is more advanced and learns as they go but Skynet is still a few upgrades away. 

    The upgraded bot will be a 24/7 support option for both premium and non-premium residents! (Previously only available for premium customers.)

    Boxy will have the ability to answer commonly asked questions, keep you up to date on current issues, help with ticket submission and in some cases handle a support request. 

    Boxy has uses for all residents, from early adopters to fresh new faces. 

    For new and more casual residents Boxy is available to help them find the support they need. 

    For our seasoned veterans Boxy can offer support options for some specific requests. Specifically, Boxy will be able to submit an abuse report on your behalf and in some cases help with the restart of a region!

    Boxy will continue to learn as we go. Boxy might not have all the answers currently, but we will continue to review questions posed and help the bot to better answer your support queries. 


    We realize that a chat bot is not a substitute for a customer support representative, and this bot is not meant to be. It is however meant to help when we are unavailable or may be experiencing higher call volumes. 

    For premium residents Boxy will only be the first point of contact before being passed to a support representative during office hours. Utilize Boxy to help better explain your issue once you are transferred to a support representative. Outside of office hours Boxy can help or create a ticket for when we are back in the office.

    The ability to get an answer to your question or to get your issue resolved without having to wait until our Support Lindens are available is Boxy’s primary directive.

    Anyone interested in saying hello to Boxy can access it by logging into our support portal. The Boxy 5000 chat widget should appear in the bottom right hand corner of your screen.  

    Boxy 5000.jpg

    Boxy 5000, it’s advanced… 

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