SL8B – Ciaran Laval

June 24, 2011June 24, 2011

The Emperor’s New Spaceship

Last night, your dashing hero (that’s me) battled lag, viewer updates, being unable to move safely and risky teleports to catch a glimpse of Rodvik at Second Life’s eighth birthday celebrations (AKA SL8B). Rodvik didn’t make a speech, he seemed to have saved his speaking for a Massively article (well worth a read). He also didn’t sing, despite Inara Pey’s encouragement. I did ask Inara to encourage Rodvik to get on stage and break out in a chorus of “Alex Mcleish’s Claret and Blue Army” but she refused on the grounds of bad taste… umm some Villa fans would agree.

However whilst Fedora Jones was singing, Rodvik arrived, to much chatter, only for me to ask Inara where the bloody hell he was because I’d only came to see his toga! However I was to be thwarted, as I discovered that amongst mutterings about nanobots and taking over the galaxy, Rodvik had turned into a Spaceship!

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June 22, 2011June 22, 2011

Looking a Gift Horse In The Mouth

As I am not certified for a SL press pass, I look to the SL press for news and information on things happening at Linden Lab, I used to look at the main blog but that seems to be in sore need of some care and attention. The forums aren’t so bad, and the mesh forum for those interested in mesh, is interesting viewing, even for those who don’t like mesh, it’s interesting viewing! However for general information I keep an eye on the SL press and SL Press member extraordinaire; Inara Pey, has an interesting post regarding SL8B, or more to the point about the lack of Linden involvement at SL8B. I agree with the main thrust of Inara’s post, to quote in part:

“SL8B represents a marvellous opportunity for LL to reach out to the user community and communicate with us – so where are they?

I’m not talking about glad-handing or getting involved in in-depth discussions about who, what, when, where, how and why; rather I’m talking about getting up on stage and giving an overview of what is coming down the road, thing like:

What is happening with Viewer 2?
What is Mesh going to look like? (Given many haven’t see the results from the Beta Grid)
What is happening around service improvements like Group chat and server-side lag issues?”

The SL8B Blog itself is on its own blog, containing far more information about happenings than Linden Lab’s own official blog, have they outsourced the birthday event or something? I know Linden Lab officially take a hands off approach to SLCC.

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June 18, 2011June 18, 2011

Alex Through The Looking Glass

Alexia Cournoyer's SL8B build

Alexia Cournoyer, owner of The Art Thing has an interesting exhibit ready for SL8B which involves magic, scripting, building and art! I’ve been speaking to Alexia through the time she has been bringing this exhibit alive, as well as talking to Alexia’s scripting assistant, Sorvats Kappa of SGK scripts. The theme of SL8B is the magic of Second Life, so my questions during the interview did touch upon that magic and whether it exists. Now being a Drow Wizard I don’t need any excuse to dress up, but for this interview with the charming Alexia I decided human form and Wizard garb was the best bet, so I hid my face under my wizard’s hat and got on with the interview.

Alexia’s theme is quite clearly inspired by Alice Through The Looking Glass, hence the name! However the garden also been populated by some of Alexia’s other works of art, so when you do go visit take your time to look around the entire build.

I started with the basics by asking Alexia how long she had been a Second Life resident: “1751 days – 6 weeks short of 5 years, and I still remember my first day like it was yesterday” replied Alexia, did that first day feel magic I asked: “No but it was setting the scene, I’ve only glimpsed the magic a couple of times down those years but it’s mighty powerful stuff, I see the magic as being behind a door and very rarely will you find the right key to open it, but when you do, it’s breathtaking.”

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June 17, 2011June 17, 2011

SL8B Officially Opens June 20th

I’ve had a busy couple of weeks work wise and inworld I’ve been helping a very good friend with her exhibit for SL8B, as well as talking to someone else whom I’ve chatted to for quite a number of years at office hours about his exhibit for SL8B. I’ll be looking to reveal a sneak peek about the first of these over the weekend, although I don’t want to give too much away, the press people will I believe be getting sneak peeks of all of it this weekend, I could poke one of them for information but I think I’ll just wait and see about the other exhibits.

I’m torn between wanting to blog about these exhibits and feeling it’s unfair to jump the gun, although both people have said I can blog, I did say to one of them that I will blog once the event is officially opened, although if anyone else blogs about it, I may jump the gun! SL8B will officially open on Monday June 20th, with a speech from Rodvik, asking what the hell Randy Lerner is playing at appointing Alex McLeish as Villa manager ….. oh wait, that’s my speech!

SL8B is one heck of a milestone for Second Life and Linden Lab, the theme being the magic of Second Life, as explained on the official blog. There is also a blog dedicated just to SL8B itself, which you can read here. There are some sneak peeks there too.

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