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SecondLife.com Launched in 3 New Languages, Local Currency Payments Coming Soon

judy@lindenlab.com — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:28:21 GMT

Hola! Ciao! Boas Tardes!

With roughly 60% of Residents based outside of the United States, localizing the Second Life experience is an important area of focus for us, so we’re pleased to share two pieces of good news on that front.

On Wednesday, we launched SecondLife.com in three additional languages: Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian. We now have websites localized in English, German, French, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, and are looking forward to continuing to grow this list.

Additionally, as you may have seen, we’ve recently signed an agreement with Gisland (actually, you may have seen it called Dragonfish or 888 - 888 Holdings is the public limited company, Dragonfish is the brand name of 888’s B2B Division, and Gisland is the operating company). This is a company with a great deal of experience in providing secure payment processing, andthis relationship will enable us to begin accepting payments from Residents outside the US in a broader range of currencies than we currently do.

We're working together with Gisland on a cashier interface and other tools that will give Residents more than 20 payment options and make it easier for Residents to pay in a wider range of native currencies than they can now. Gisland will also help us implement appropriate anti-fraud measures as we expand these payment options, and will help us to provide payment-related support in seven languages. We’re not yet ready to launch these new services, but more payment options are coming, and we think it will make things easier for Second Life Residents outside the US. More to come, and we’ll keep you posted.

Winterfest Shops, Destination Guide, and Traditions!

communities@secondlife.com — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:54:07 GMT

As the Winter season makes way to the northern hemisphere, we have some big events planned and many ways for you to participate in this year's Winterfest! Please read on to learn more about Winterfest land auctions, how to submit content to the Winterfest Destination Guide, and a little bit more about Winterfest traditional events on their way!

Winterfest Shops

Linden Lab is pleased to announce Winterfest Shops! To complement the overarching Second Life Winterfest, we’ve created a small number of parcels available only via the Second Life Land Auctions page starting on Saturday, November 28th and ending December 5th. Auctions for parcels on Dasher, Prancer, Donner, Blitzen, Eggnog, and Turtle Dove will start at only L$1. In order to participate in auctions, Residents must have a premium account at least 14 days old. For only the price of a winning auction bid and no recurring land fees, you can have your parcel until February 26th--about 80 days!!

If you win a parcel at auction, you may open your shop and hold events and gatherings on your land. Winterfest Shops merchants are more than welcome to direct shoppers to their larger outlets in other Regions (”If you like what you see here, grab this landmark and visit my larger store!”). At the four corners of Dasher, Prancer, Donner, and Blitzen is an iced-over pond where a spectacular "Skating Under the Stars" event will be held from December 21st-23rd, making it a prime location for Winter themed fun!

Winners are allowed a rental of the parcel they win, but do not own the parcel they are given use of. Land rental lasts until February 26th, 2010. After February 26th, all land will be returned to Linden Lab and all remaining objects will be returned to the winner. No adult content please. All builds must conform to our Terms of Service and Community Standards.

Don’t forget to check out the Second Life Land Auctions starting Saturday, November 28th for your chance to win! If you have more questions, check out the Second Life Knowledge Base entry at the wiki.

Winterfest Destination Guide

The Destination Guide (inworld displayed as the Showcase section of Search) has been updated with a Winterfest category, and we need your help to populate it! What are the wintertime traditions in your part of the world? If you are planning a winter extravaganza in your region that demonstrates your traditions, read on to learn how you can have your location highlighted in the Destination Guide!

Just like last year, keep these guidelines in mind when you plan and execute your winter builds: We will be looking for builds that are engaging, well made, available from December to February, and that present your regional sights, sounds and traditions of winter. We will bypass builds that are commercial in nature, so if you’re basically decorating your store for the season, that’s great, but it’s unlikely to be in the Winterfest Destination Guide. Think of your build as a gift, freely given, to your fellow Residents, not as an opportunity to sell something. You are also welcome to submit winter related events that are open to public!

As submissions come in, we will send out Lindens with snowshoes to check out the locations and bring back their recommendations for the Destination Guide, due to be populated on December 6th. While space in Showcase is limited, we will try to fit in as many submissions as we can, with potential to rotate the listings throughout the Winter season.

Submissions end on Monday, November 30th, so please check out the FAQ to learn about how to submit an entry to the Destination Guide editors for consideration. In the subject line of your submission email, please mark whether your location is a "Winterfest Event, (dates/times)" or "Winterfest Location." (Please note, not all correspondences will be met with reply.)

Winterfest Traditions

Of course, what would Winterfest be without Second Life traditions?! This announcement comes early so you can mark your calendars for some end of December fun!

On December 21st to the 23rd, get out your winter gear and join us for the "Skating Under the Stars" event at the Winterfest Shops regions, where a central bonfire will light the midnight sky and music will be provided for during select hours each day. For further details, keep an eye on the blog for an update mid-December to learn more! If you would like to provide live music or DJ for this event, please contact Mia Linden via Notecard inworld with your available times and a brief description of what your music/DJing offers.

From December 28th to 31st, get out those mittens and join us yet again for the battle of the year: Residents vs. Lindens, in a snowball fight showdown! Designated times during those days and locations of the event will be announced mid-December as well.

Winterfest Spirit

In keeping with the spirit of Winterfest, it's important to remind about our previous announcement involving our partnership with Kiva.org, the world’s first personal micro-lending Website that empowers everyday people to lend to working poor entrepreneurs around the world. Content creators are encouraged to create special Winterfest Wreaths and enter their designs in the Winterfest Wreath Competition, sponsored by Linden Lab, hosted on XStreetSL.com - see the submission form here. All submitted wreaths will be displayed inworld at the region Zermatt. Though the competition ends November 23rd, all Residents will have an opportunity to purchase the six (6) winning wreaths on Xstreet SL through December 31st, 2009. All donations from sales of winning wreaths will go directly to help support Kiva's operational costs as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. For more information, check out this blog entry.

Enjoy the start of a fantastic Winter season in Second Life!!!

A Helpful Hand Makes a World of Difference

pink@lindenlab.com — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:42:58 GMT

XStreet SL is offering content creators and customers alike an opportunity to help make a difference in someone’s life this holiday season. Beginning today through November 23^rd, content creators can create special Winterfest Wreaths to decorate homes and businesses throughout Second Life by entering their designs in the Winterfest Wreath Competition, sponsored by Linden Lab, hosted on XStreetSL.com, and benefiting Kiva.org, a non- profit organization.

WHAT IS KIVA?

Kiva is the world’s first personal micro-lending Website that empowers everyday people to lend to working poor entrepreneurs around the world. By combining microfinance with the Internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending. Kiva's mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty. Learn more at Kiva.org

WHERE WILL DONATIONS GO?
All donations will go directly to help support Kiva's operational costs as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. If you're interested in learning more about direct person-to-person personal micro-lending that empowers everyday people to lend to the poor, visit Kiva or check out Kiva's volunteer run Second Life lending grouphere. Or, learn more inworld at Kiva's Second Life location in Tech Soup's Nonprofit Commons.

HOW DO I ENTER MY WREATH DESIGN?

First, you will need to get a wreath template by "purchasing" one that has been posted on Xstreet SL for L$0. Click here to get the wreath template for $0. Starting with the template, create a design using all the creative talent you can muster. If you’d like, you may partner with others to collaborate on a design and submit a group wreath.

Once your wreath has reached its full glory, complete the Winterfest Wreath Competition submission form and then send your wreath in world to Nancy Linden by 12 PM PST (noon), Monday, 11/23/2009.

Impartial judges from Kiva and Linden Lab’s Commerce team will review all submitted wreaths before selecting six (6) winners, which will then be offered for sale in the Winterfest Spotlight. 100% of each Winterfest Wreath sold will benefit Kiva directly. So, don’t stop with designing wreaths, make sure you buy one too! Winners of the wreath design contest will receive recognition and appropriate branding in all promotion of the Winterfest Wreaths.

XYZ item, designed by ABC designer for the Winterfest Wreath Competition.
All proceeds from the sales of this item will benefit Kiva.

All wreaths entered into the competition will be displayed on Winterfest event sims, so that everyone has a chance to view the amazing designs from Residents around the world. And, all content creators will be recognized in a forthcoming blog post.

With the deadline quickly approaching, there’s no time to waste, so put on your creative hat and design a Winterfest Wreath and help make a difference in someone’s life this holiday season.

Edit: Made on November 20th 2009:

Here are some answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the competition:

Q: Can you change the size of the template as you wish?

A: Wreath template size may be changed.

Q: How many wreaths can I enter?

A: As many as you wish.

Q: When you make the final link, does the template need to be the root prim?

A: The template does not have to be the root prim.

Are there prim limitations?

A: Total # of prims should be no more than 50.

Q: Is it anything goes (except for adult content) ?

A: Only music and visual content that is your intellectual property, or with documented permission to use, will be considered.

Q: Can you use scripts? How will they be protected.?

A: Yes, scripts are allowed. All items will be set to no copy before being publicly displayed and will not be copied by Linden Lab for any reason but to sell on Xstreet in benefit of Kiva during the promotional period and display on one region inworld.

Q: After Winterfest is over, does the wreath become the property of LL since we turn them over to you with full rights?

A: Permissions are different from intellectual property. When you give us a wreath, even with full permissions, you are granting us a license to use the item for the purposes of Winterfest and/or to sell on behalf of Kiva.org. You are not giving away your intellectual property rights.

Q: Since you are requiring us to turn this over to you full perms and it becomes your property, does that mean that any textures I create for this (or textures that I have created in the past but am using for this) become your property and I cannot use them in my other builds since they would be your property?

A: Linden Lab reserves usage rights of textures and other components of a virtual wreath only for the direct promotion of the Winterfest 2009 promotional event. All submitted wreaths will be deleted upon the end of the promotional period.

Q: Since you are asking for Full-Perms , why not state…”If you submit for this event you grant LL a one time license for this event ONLY for use of your items for sale with all proceeds going to KIVA, after this event the items will be destroyed." ?

A: Items will be deleted upon the end of the promotional period, December 31st, 2009.

Q: Will there be a KIVA alt, to whom we give our products to who changes the perms BEFORE, and we can verify that, then after that KIVA avatars inventory is emptied?

A: No, there is not a KIVA alt. Nancy Linden will change perms before wreaths are displayed to the public and delete wreaths from her inventory upon the end of the promotional period, December 31st, 2009.

Q: What will become of my wreath if I am not chosen for selling on Xstreet? Can I sell on my on Xstreet account?

A: You may sell the wreath that you submit on Xstreet, but you will not have the right to use the Kiva, Linden Lab, Xstreet SL or any other trademarked name except that which you own to market the wreath. You may use Winterfest in your promotional copy.

Veterans Day Tribute in Second Life

pathfinder@lindenlab.com — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:28:31 GMT

Observed on November 11th, Veterans Day is an annual American holiday honoring military veterans. For the past two years, a group of Second Life Residents has been organizing a Veterans Day Tribute in Second Life as a non-political and educational event to honor all the men and women who have served or currently serve in the Armed Services. The group also raises funds in Second Life to support Operation Uplink, a non-profit organization that provides phone cards to deployed service members and hospitalized veterans.

The third annual Veterans Day Tribute in Second Life runs all this week through November 14th, and you can visit it here in Second Life. I had the opportunity to chat with one of the organizers to learn more about the Tribute and the people behind it. Read on for details!

(left to right) Pathfinder Linden and Flattop Ewing in front of a recreation of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Pathfinder: Thanks for taking the time to chat with me, Flattop. Can you tell me about the history of this event? How did it start? Where do you see it going in the future?

Flattop: It started in 2007 simply as an event in a club. I contacted a few designers in Second Life and they offered up their skills/services to those visiting the celebration. The event was just that one night, but I received many messages from people that weren't able to attend, all asking if it was still happening the next night. So we held it again. It was then that I realized the need for a "community built" tribute to the veterans, in which people across Second Life could donate their time, their skills and talents to a single venue honoring veterans across the globe.

Flattop: In 2008 we had a staff of 6 people, 15 live entertainers and DJs volunteering their time as well as a handful of builders/designers bringing content honoring veterans. Now in 2009, we have 8 tribute coordinators, over 25 volunteers as guides, over 40 DJs and live entertainers and an ever growing number of contributors throughout Second Life offering their skills building and designing. Through our website, we are able to accept names being submitted to the Veterans Wall as well as providing the ability for a number of US active duty soldiers around the world to be able to listen to the live entertainment and DJs.

The Veterans Wall in Second Life

Flattop: Where is it going in the future? Each year we've made plans and each year the Tribute has seemingly had it's own "plan." It seems to have its own life - it touches visitors in ways and depths we hadn't imagined. From a small area in the first year, to a half sim in 2008, through to a full sim kindly donated by Dream Seeker Estates in 2009. We dream and plan big, but the Tribute dreams bigger! Next month we start planning for 2010 - four major sponsors, many sponsors prepared to donate their creations for fundraising efforts, two full sims and live entertainment. All of it is accompanied by the kind donations of so many Residents of Second Life.

Pathfinder: That's incredible growth! It sounds like you have an amazing team of people who work very hard to make this all happen. Can you tell me about them?

Flattop: The folks involved in making this happen range from the primary coordinators to the guides that are here to show people around and listen to the amazing stories of veterans from people of all walks of life. The primary coordinators of the Tribute are as follows:

Flattop Ewing -- "I served in the US Marine Corps from 1992 - 2000, seeing action in Somalia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. My dad and several other family members are veterans of the US Military, spanning back to before WWI. Being a veteran is one of the greatest honors I have had in my life. My appreciation and passion for our veterans is something that will always be close to my heart."

wellhung Bagley --"US Navy veteran of six years. Served aboard the USS Yorktown (CG-48) as well as other duty stations. I am proud to be a veteran and this tribute is a way for me to be involved in showing appreaciation for all of the other veterans around and for those currently serving to protect the freedoms that we enjoy and sometimes take for granted."

SexySarah Svenska -- "I am the wife, daughter, granddaughter, niece and friend of Veterans. This is one small way I can do my part to support all they've done to make my world as safe as it can be today."

Wildroses Pevensey -- "My family has a long history in the military. I have been a military wife, not knowing where my husband was sent or when he would be coming home, but knowing that he was doing his duty for our country. I have friends that have been in the military for 15+ years that are still active duty. I can think of nothing better to do than to honor our veterans and let them still in the military know we care and simply say thank you for protecting our freedoms."

Classy Patton -- "My father and my grandfather were both veterans of WW2. Being involved in the Tribute allows me the opportunity to offer thanks to veterans worldwide - their service, past and present, gives me the wonderful life and freedom I enjoy."

Jill Mackenzie -- "My dad served in the Royal Canadian Navy in WW2, and a close personal friend served in the US Army in Vietnam. Its important to me to give something back to the Vets who served so I can be here today. "

Dena McMahon -- "I am the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran, Granddaughter of WWII Veteran, Great-Granddaughter of Spanish-American War Veteran. I do this to pay tribute to my dad and grandfathers who have served and to ensure those friends I've lost are never forgotten and all soldiers are HONORED for what they do"

Silver709 Darkstone -- "My father served in Korea. I have been involved with DJing through Second Life to troops overseas for over one year now."

Pathfinder: Outstanding. I can't wait to see what you all accomplish next year. Can you tell me a bit about how visitors have responded to the Tribute? What kind of feedback are you getting from the Second Life community?

Flattop: The response is absolutely amazing, to say the least. We have seen such a wide range of emotion from people: from a wife of a veteran in tears kneeling at the Veterans Wall, to the laughter and joy hearing veterans gathering around telling stories The response from the Second Life community has been tremendous. Many different organizations, groups, venues and Residents have opened up their arms and their hearts to the Veterans Tribute in so many ways; from Second Lifemagazines and various forms of media (talk shows, etc) to the best advertising of all.....'word of mouth'.

Flattop: We receive comments and messages on a daily basis from people around the world who tell us how the tribute has touched their lives both in Second Life and Real Life. One woman said of the Veterans Wall that she is finally able to see her Real Life husband's name on a wall of honor for his service to his nation. Another Resident told us how he is physically unable to attend any Veterans Day celebration or parade in Real Life. But through Second Life, he can attend the Tribute and connect with people from around the world.

Pathfinder: Wow. Thank you for your time, Flattop. I look forward to seeing you and lots of other folks at the Tribute in the coming days. Here's the main entrance to the event in Second Life.

The Mess Tent and Dance Floor at the Veterans Tribute

- Pathfinder Linden