End of an Era : Linden Lab sponsorship of Draxtor comes to an end.

Earlier this week I received an email from Draxtor’s occasional update newsletter, which announced that his contract with Linden Lab comes to an end this month. I saw this as a very sad day.

Draxtor Depres (aka Bernard Drax in the real world), has been creating media of various types in our beloved virtual world for as long as I have been in Second Life and long before that.

Drax had a very unique arrangement with Linden Lab, a retainer with final cut approval. This gave him the freedom to create insightful, honest and entertaining content without corporate influence. He described his contract with the Lab in an interview with me in April 2021:

“I do Linden Lab contracting work where I produce weekly videos highlighting destinations, creations and creative individuals in personal profile style videos. In that sense you could see me as influencer, since I am on the payroll of Linden Lab AND showcasing the best of the platform. I don’t have a problem with that classification (influencer) however I would like to add that with my specific contract I have tremendous freedom to choose topics and the way I visually present them.
It is maybe a bit like working for the local tourism agency of country XYZ where you LOVE all the stuff the locals do and you tell stories how they do it!”

I believe Drax’s content, along with the likes of Strawberry Singh, has significantly influenced a change in the internet search results for “second life”. I remember when such a search would return merely griefer videos and negative stereotype tropes (to use Drax’s term), now it returns a much more positively relevant collection of results.

Here I had to stop myself for a moment because this was starting to sound like an obituary. While this is not a death, I’d say it’s definitely a loss to the Second Life community. Draxtor intends to continue making Second Life videos of various types, read his announcement linked below for more details on his plans for the future.

When the Second Life Book Club launched I started attending quite regularly. I had great fun creating avatar looks that were inspired by the book being discussed.

A SciFi outfit I put together for SecondLife Bookclub

A Flickr Album of my photos taken at the Second Life Book Club: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmV7mL23

Second Life YouTube (largely populated with Draxtor content)

Draxtor’s YouTube

If you want to help support Draxtor to continue making his content, have a read of his announcement below. Where you will also see a selection of his videos, he picked one for each of his time with Linden Lab.

Draxtor’s announcement: https://draxtor.substack.com/p/thank-you-linden-lab-for-a-good-run

My blog post when I interviewed Draxtor: https://avadelaney.co.uk/musings/avatars-brands-and-personas/

Post header image taken at the Second Life Book Club 19th May 2021.

Neo Machina

I was scrolling through a Second Life social media feed yesterday when something yellow jumped out at me. It was a post about a location called Neo Machina that was no longer going to be closing. Now I’d not heard of this place, but it seemed to be an urban cyberpunk setting, which just happened to feature yellow neon. Long term readers will get the relevance of this, but not new readers. My long running sci-fi/ cyberpunk roleplay character is a courier for a fictional company by the name of All Mars Zone Interplanetary Shipping (AMZ for short) and their company colours are black & yellow. So I just had to go check the place out.

This Neo Machina is an interpretation by the owner of a much older location of the same name that disappeared a few years ago, in the way Second Life venues sadly tend to.

I had a good wander around this place and it definitely gives you the vibe of the city description below.

NEO MACHINA was once a sprawling and thriving industrial city, ruled by corporate dominance under supervision of the ruthless Authority. In the year 3285 humanity realized their vision in creating engines that could take them to the furthest reaches of the stars, and beyond. What they failed to avoid, and create proper fail-safes for, was the complete degradation of time and space due to the manner of which they travel: Through the synthesis and ignition of dark matter.

Left in the wake of one thousand Life vessels carrying billions of people in Ark Cores off to find new planets and new homes, is a deteriorating planet, and an exploding star. In the atmosphere hangs a wormhole, left behind by the corporations that abandoned the planet under threat of certain doom. All who remain struggle to keep hold of some normalcy of life one hundred years later as the continued threat of total collapse looms above.

Can they rebuild? Will those that remain find a way to survive?

Welcome point notecard

Given the references to long distance travel and struggling for survival, I’m sure there might be a place for AMZ in there somewhere to supply the crumbling planet.

Outfit Credits:

  • Pants:[ContraptioN] Arva Tech Pants – at FaMESHed
  • Boots:[ContraptioN] Arva Boots – at The Warehouse
  • Jacket: Meva Tiz Jacket – Mainstore
  • Eye (Left): Astara – Cyber Eye Augment by ASTRA –Marketplace
  • Backpack: [ContraptioN] Hard Shell Backpack – Contraption Sci-Fi
  • Chin guard: [ContraptioN] x TURB – Jaw Protector – Contraption Sci-Fi
  • Body tattoo: HIATUS – Hive Tattoo – Store link (via Silvia Antorian profile unable to find item)

Arrival Point: https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Neo%20Machina/12/122/1501

Featured on Second Life Community Blog 6th March 2024

SLEA: Love Robot 69

Yesterday evening I attended a show. I wasn’t sure what to expect and I was blown away by what I saw.

This is the description I was given:

“Love Robot 69”, created by Chrix & Lalie using the Bloom system, is SLEA’s latest particle show, succeeding “Flower of Evil”. This performance delves into themes of sex robots and AI companions, merging sensuality and technology. A visual journey that encourages reflection on virtual relationships, offering a perspective on the evolution of intimacy in the digital age.

I’ve seen virtual fireworks and numerous particle light shows in Second Life before, but this topped all of them by miles.

Before the show starts there is simply a female avatar rotating in the air. When I use the word “avatar” here I do not mean the forms in which we inhabit the virtual world, I mean the classical interpretation that has existed long before computers. It has a number of definitions, often relating to a god’s form on Earth to the more abstract. In this case I’m going for:

“The physical embodiment of an idea or concept; a personification.”

Although by the end of the show, you may think it’s the former definition!

This creation is roughly twice the height of the average Second Life human avatar. Despite the suggestive title this is a PG presentation, so anyone can enjoy it.

The lights go out, music starts and you’re presented with a stunning display of sound,colour and motion for the best part of an hour.

I took way more snapshots than I could possibly fit here, so I’ve picked a selection to try and illustrate this amazing display.

As it says in the description, this is an SLEA (Second Life Endowment for the Arts) grant funded project and the Lab certainly got their money’s worth this time. It’s a collaboration between Chrix (chrixbed) and Lalie Sorbet that’s definitely worth an hour of your time.

I enquired when the show would be repeated and was told:

“It will be set in the next couple of days [to run] for 3-4 weeks.”

Update 17th Feb 2024: The show is now running on a constant loop, so you can go see it anytime. This means that you could arrive at any point during the presentation, but as a sort of guide as to where you’re at my photos are in chronological order. The video clip at the top and first two images in the gallery are from the start.

Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLEA6/111/138/1001

SLEA website: https://sleagrants.com

A final Note of Caution. I make no secret inworld of the fact that I have epilepsy. Fortunately however I am not particularly “photosensitive”, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the show. This fantastic display contains rapidly changing lights and motion, if you do suffer from photosensitivity of any kind, watch at your own risk.

I Backed a Dunkey!

That’s not a typo, it’s a quote. A beloved Scotsman I once knew used to say that phrase when he didn’t do well on the horses at the bookies. That fond memory was one of the first things that came into my head when I discovered this new release by Teegle, a Donkey avatar. In light of that memory, a Teegle racecourse seemed like an appropriate location for a photo.

A tune also came to mind, an old Christmas song “Little Donkey” which made me look for a dusty road, which I found on the Desert Oasis Region at the Living Expo.

Whatever thoughts a Donkey avatar brings to your mind, you can get this new release at the Teegle stand at the SL Living Expo.

Links:

SL Living Expo 2024 is Open!

Today the doors open to the Second Life Living Expo 2024. To quote their website description:

SL Living Expo is a Relay For Life of Second Life Mega Event, expanding upon the theme of home and garden and refreshing it in new and exciting ways by adding aviation, nautical, activities and experiences to have a glimpse into the way we live and enjoy Second Life. 

It certainly does look like it’s going to be exciting, with a host of events to keep you busy and musical performances across four stages to keep you entertained.

Event Item Credits:

  • You can pick up your own SL Expo shirt at the photo location near the landing hub, linked below in vendors either side of the arches.
  • Glasses: GLEAM: Peeper Shades – GLEAM Event Booth

Links:

Pure Emerald

Following on from yesterday’s Pure Contrast post, I’m featuring the Fallen Gods skin Pure Ebony Emerald and full body tattoo Circuit available at Mainframe. While a tattoo like this might suit a cyber themed look, I felt the bronze version with the Emerald green skin called for a woodland setting. Today’s pictures also give a different angle on the Azriel unisex hair from Raven Bell, which is available with their usual selection of colour change HUDs.

Outfit Credits:

Pure Contrast

I had a pretty crappy day in the weird world of Real Life yesterday, so I thought I’d go shopping in the Virtual world to cheer myself up. You can’t beat a little retail therapy occasionally! I ended up at the Midnight Order & Mainframe events collecting the latest offerings from Fallen Gods and others. Today I’m featuring the Pure Ebony Ivory skin with the Widow tattoo which are at Midnight Order, I’ll be following up with the skin from Mainframe very soon.

Outfit Credits:

It’s that time again! Fantasy Faire 2024 dates are announced!

Everyone has had a busy few weeks with festive celebrations and the start of a New Year. None of which I blogged about because, well everyone else was, and given the year I had in 2023, I skipped the “Year Review” post too.

However I couldn’t let today’s news go by without comment. The dates of Fantasy Faire 2024, the event of the Second Life year for many, have been announced. So it’s time to mark your calendar and cancel/make no plans for just under 3 weeks:

18th April – 5th May 2024

Below is the announcement post by Sonya Marmurek.

Somewhere in the Mists the giraffes graze. They reach for the leaves of Yggdrasil, wade in the waters of Glimmering Meadows. On occasion a clip-clop of unicorn hooves can be heard in the distance. A snuffle of a hedgehog under the most royal of shrubberies feels more sleepy than alarmed. The Fairelands winter in the […]

Fantasy Faire 2024, April 18 – May 5

First thoughts on the Second Life Mobile App Alpha

You can’t have missed the news that Linden Lab have released a Mobile App for Second Life for Alpha Testing. If you did, here’s the press releases:

Second Life Mobile – Now in Private Alpha

The Alpha Testing is open to Residents with a Premium Plus subscription, so I put in an application straight away and was accepted.

A couple of days later I have the app running on my phone and it’s so much better than I’d have expected at such an early stage.

After a few false starts (there are issues with passwords and mine was too complicated) I was able to log in.

The first thing you’re greeted with is a basic movement tutorial:

The movement controls felt a bit like Roblox, which is no bad thing, it means exiting phone gamers will get the hang of it pretty quickly. However I’m not one of those and I was dreadful at playing Roblox, so will need more practice.

My avatar and the skybox around me loaded up surprisingly fast and looked pretty good quality for an Alpha mobile app. Although my avatar does look a little perturbed it’s only because I had been fiddling with face animations on my previous login on my laptop.

Since the skybox was pretty cramped,I thought I should check out some more spacious surroundings, fortunately some are provided. These are accessible from the login screen, or a menu once logged in.

I chose the Nom Nom Cafe Library from the list and hit Teleport. This was an interesting experience, in that your view switches to one form above, as if you are being dropped from a great height to your destination, but looks quite cool.

On the ground the surroundings rezzed in pretty quickly and the place looks quite lovely on a mobile screen.

So far I’ve just tried basic moving about and teleporting to places and I’m pretty impressed with what I’ve seen. The graphics are detailed and didn’t appear to stutter as I moved. However a fairly modern smartphone or tablet is required to run the app, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. I will have to see how it works on my untidy homestead and other non-showcase locations.

I’ve not tried any kind of communication yet, so I’ll follow up with another post on how well those aspects work at a later date.

If you have a Premium Plus membership and want to give the app a try, you can find the details for applying in the press release above.

Burlesque and more at Libidine

At the weekend I attended a Burleque set at a new-ish club called Libidine. There was a live singer before 2 hours of tunes with DJ’s Anj & Tori that got the party going.

The event gave me a chance to try out something completely different to my usual style.

However outside the club I found a teleporter to the main landing area of the region. Here I learned that Libidine isn’t just this club, it’s an island full of lots of different places to explore and hang out.

A place for lovers to explore and get lost together. Secluded places to explore and enjoy each others company – romantic encounters. Where limits do not exist.

Libidine land description

Go check it out, but remember it’s an Adult rated region.

Credits list:

  • Feathers outfit: PIXEL BOX – Carnival Showgirl Tintable Fitmesh – Mainstore
  • Bootss: PIXEL BOX – Open Secrets Black Lace Boots – Mainstore
  • Skin: Draugr [xx]+FGInc.+ Black Pumpkin – Fallen Gods
  • Hair: Raven Bell – Magnolia Hair ~Shimmer~ + [Fantasy]- Raven Bell
  • Head: LeLUTKA Avalon Head 3.1
  • Body: Maitreya 5.1

Club Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tammas%20Holdings/183/29/23

Libidine landing point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tammas%20Holdings/29/106/22