Winding Down SL10B: Happy 10th Birthday Second Life!
Second Life officially turned 10-years-old at midnight on June 23rd.
Commemorating the milestone, the SL10B (Second Life’s Tenth Birthday) festivities have now advanced into its second week.
As the tireless Daniel Voyager reports, the first-week frenzy of live events and packed sims has subsided somewhat into an observatory calm.
Although this year marked my first participation in an SL birthday event, it far exceeded my expectations. I returned at least four or five times. With the lucky benefit of having press access, I was able to tour most of the 10 sims without lag.
The pod tour provided the ultimate cheat sheet, or cheat seat rather, to the massive event, giving a taste of the sims while providing a description in Local Chat.
To describe the magnitude of this event in words would serve an injustice, but I will concede that my favorite part was historical presentations.
The history walk reminded me of my only regret in Second Life: not joining earlier. I can only imagine the “Wild West” era of Second Life based on interviews with the few residents I connect with that have remained active for a decade.
For me, I fully appreciated the artistic endeavors of the elaborate architectural designs, but somehow the simple fossils of SL life in 2003 captivated me like a yesteryear exhibit in Disney.
Looking back, I see value in many of the principles that have long dissipated.
The “Newbie Corral” allowed for greeters to welcome new residents and walk them through a technically intimidating 
world. People used to volunteer this service to new residents in the belief that it served a collective benefit to the virtual community. I can only assume that some pathetic griefers forced LL’s hand in restricting residents from returning to Welcome Island.
Avatar Central provided a place where merchants can test their wares on an open market without having to put forth an initial investment that is proportionally unrealistic for any business starting from scratch–aka without any outside investment of Linden Dollars. I have no reason to explain why this was ultimately dissolved, but why not devote some abandoned mainland to this purpose?
I don’t necessarily mean to imply that Linden Lab should take on these initiatives. In fact, community-inspired initiatives help to link us as a virtual society. After marveling at SL10B, I can only hope that we can each contribute our own part to making a SL20B possible.
With that in mind, I encourage all to soak in every pixel of SL10B while it remains open until June 29th.
inKLine Media 
Thats really a wonderful idea, there should be something similar to a weekly “farmer’s market” like in so many cities around the US and Europe. Wouldn’t that be grand fun? And for the consumer you have to chance to see a bunch of up and coming designers in one place. You my friend, are genius. Now… How to see this done.. wanders off to think a lil bit. 😀
That’s an awesome way to put it: a “farmer’s market.” I can see why such a concept may have posed challenges. For instance, what would metrics would be used to determine who can sell there? Let’s say it depended on SL age: you’ll have alts trying to monopolize the space. If a private group endorsed this, I’m sure it would create some bitterness among those who were not selected. We shouldn’t let it stop us from trying though!
I suppose you could go with a lottery style format to pick who can inhabit a space, but then change the inventory of designers bi-weekly or monthly. Lots of possibility, but you are right, it would require a horrendous amount of oversight. Frankly to me, the fact that you can have a multitude of alts leads to a lot of deception, in all aspects of SL. But what can be done? I, for one think, one Cao is probably all SL needs, it’s certainly all I need. If I had a multitude of me’s running around I’d become so confused, I forget who I am at any given moment. Have a wonderful week and a low-gravity Monday! 🙂