SecondLife - How To Make Money In Second Life

We’re happy to announce a new First Look for SLim, a new voice and text instant messaging client.

SLim’s technology is provided by Vivox (www.vivox.com) and developed in partnership with Linden Lab to work with the Second Life viewer.  SLim enables Second Life Residents to conduct voice or text conversations with member of their Second Life friends list….whether they are logged into the virtual world or offline. While the Second Life viewer will still serve as the primary inworld communication engine, SLim is capable of running on most computers, and offers users a voice-enabled instant messaging client that extends the value of the Second Life Grid beyond the virtual world.

SLim significantly lowers the barriers between virtual world and real world communication and ensures that Second Life Residents will always be able to connect to friends, regardless of location or broadband connection. SLim is also a compelling tool for the Second Life Grid enterprise offering, which will enable employees to communicate and collaborate with colleagues meeting inworld without having the Second Life application running.

SLim’s features include:

• Access to your Second Life friends list with real-time “presence” status updates
• Seamless migration from a text conversation into a voice call
• Ability to leave voice mails for offline friends

Learn more about SLim in our Knowledge Base article

Because this is a First Look, there are a few known but not serious issues with this release.  We hope you’ll report any new ones to this PJIRA.

We’re happy to see how voice has taken off in Second Life and to give Second Life Residents alternatives in how they choose to communicate with other. Voice concurrency rates are about 50% of our total inworld concurrency:  for example, when total inworld concurrency on Sunday is 70,000 Residents, the total number of concurrent voice speakers is 35,000. Vivox, our partner in SL Voice, recently  added more voice servers to keep up with demand.

We hope that SLim will be yet another bridge between inworld and out-of-world and other online activities.

I’m excited to announce that Linden Lab is going to be heavily represented at this year’s Virtual Worlds London event, taking place October 20-21. The event promises to be a fascinating and productive look at the future of virtual worlds, particularly in terms of how businesses can benefit form having a virtual presence.

I am honored to be opening the event with a keynote speech, where I’ll be discussing many of the initiatives I’ve spoken about in this space including our focus on improving overall stability, further tailoring the platform for our core audiences and enhancing the first hour experience for new Residents.

As we have so many engaged and enthusiastic Residents in Europe, this is a great forum for myself and other Lindens to discuss how Second Life will be an integral part of ongoing virtual worlds development, including looking at new ways for communities to connect and grow.

Second Life is becoming an increasingly global experience, with a majority of our users coming from outside the US. We’re doing everything we can to support and encourage this growth – as seen by our announcement a few days ago that we are planning to localize the viewer for ten different languages by the end of the year.

Other Lindens will also be presenting and taking part in panel discussions on topics dear to our heart such as the “Future of Virtual Collaboration in the Enterprise” and “Virtual Worlds and Web Integration.” As with any conference we attend, we’re most looking forward to spending time meeting with Residents, hearing your stories and brainstorming new ways that we can keep delivering the optimal Second Life experience to you all.

Thanks everyone; hope to see a lot of you across the pond.

M

For years, Philip Linden has talked about the annual Burning Man Festival and the ways its open-ended nature, participant-created content and art contributed to his vision of what Second Life could be.

For those who aren’t familiar with the event, Burning Man is an annual week-long art, fire and community celebration in the Black Rock Desert – a 400 square mile expanse of barren landscape in Northern Nevada – focused on community values like immediacy and participation. Attendees are invited to be whoever they are, express themselves however they want without fear of judgment or social criticism. It’s a place controlled only by the limits of the imagination – a place where 50,000 individuals come together to form a peaceful, respectful community where all ideas have merit and everyone is invited to create, share, explore, learn and grow.

Sound vaguely familiar? It should. Many of the same principles that guide Burning Man form the core foundations of the Second Life community.

With the histories of Second Life and Burning Man so closely intertwined, it should come as no surprise that a virtual rendition of the event exists – and will be celebrating its 6th anniversary starting today. Burning Life, as it’s called inworld, has now grown into one of the larger, annual Second Life events. This year’s Burning Life – which runs until October 5 – will feature art and live performances, interactive theme camps, a fashion show and of course, the burning of the Man amid a fireworks display.

To help commemorate Burning Life’s anniversary, Burning Man founder Larry Harvey and Philip will be participating in a panel discussion on Tuesday, Sept. 30. They’ll be chatting about their experiences, inspirations, reflection, future goals and the roles that both Burning Man and Second Life play in enhancing the human condition.

For more information on the discussion or on the event in general, including schedules and to find out how you can contribute and participate visit the official Burning Life Web site.

When: Burning Life opens Saturday at 9 a.m. pacific time and runs to October 5th.

Center Camp stage kicks off at 11 a.m. pacific. See the performance schedule here.

Where: Burning Life

What: Art installations, live events, music, discussions and more.