Linden Lab Official:Destination Guide FAQ

Note: This FAQ is actively cared for by the Editorial Team at Linden Lab. Please email us if you have questions or curiosities that should be covered here, we're friendly and responsive!

General information

The Second Life Destination Guide highlights some of the best inworld locations and Resident creations. For new and existing Residents alike, this is the place to go to explore and discover what's most exciting in Second Life. We keep the Destination Guide fresh with regular updates, so check back frequently!

Venues and content featured in the Destination Guide are not paid placements. Currently, the best way for a Resident to promote their venue, event or business is through inworld Search or the classifieds.

To visit the Destination Guide on the web, go to secondlife.com/destinations.

In the Viewer:

1. In the search bar in the upper-right, click the magnifying glass.
2. In the Find window, click the Destination Guide tab and peruse the incredible variety of locations and events!

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Information for landholders and other stakeholders

Currently, the best way for a Resident to promote a venue, event or business is through inworld search or the classifieds. We encourage all venue owners to review the guidelines at the Search FAQ for information on how to maximize your presence using inworld Search.

Venues and content featured in the Destination Guide are not paid placements. However, we welcome Resident suggestions for cool spots to feature. Some entries included in the Guide are also surfaced on the website for Residents exploring SecondLife.com for the first time. Please visit the Destination Guide Suggestion Page to submit a venue for consideration. Be sure to follow the submission guidelines below.

Note: By nominating a venue, you authorize Linden Lab to use its content. Journalists, publishers, filmmakers, and others interested in Second Life often contact Linden Lab for images of Second Life. Linden Lab may direct these parties to the Destination Guide for promotional shots.

How venues and content are selected

Selections for inclusion are at the sole discretion of Linden Lab.

Criteria favoring selection:

• The venue is a high-quality implementation of the Second Life experience.
• The venue appeals broadly to the Second Life community, including new Residents.
• The venue is exceptional or unique.
• The venue is being promoted outside Second Life and is participating in the inSL logo program, if appropriate.
• The venue has a real and active community.
• The submission includes a compelling and visually interesting screenshot.
• The submitted description text accurately describes the location.

Criteria weighing against selection:

• The venue or one like it has been included before.
• The venue has been warned for failure to comply with some aspect of the Terms of Service.
• The venue is currently violating the Terms of Service through use of bots, campers, illegal gambling or mainland Adult content.
• The submitted screenshot contains promotion text over the main image.
• The submitted description text includes lists of keywords and/or incoherent or inaccurate text.

The Basic mode Destination Guide

The basic mode of the Second Life Viewer is the default experience for the newest Residents of Second Life. Since the "first hour" is so critical in determining whether someone will ultimately stick around Second Life, the Editorial Team applies heavier scrutiny to those venues or locations featured in this streamlined version of the Destination Guide.

If you wish to be eligible for inclusion in the basic mode version of the Destination Guide, please consider the following guidelines:

• Is the landing point (and any immediate surrounding areas) optimized for basic mode? For example, is it set correctly so arriving visitors land at the right spot? Also, do navigation tools like teleporters route people to the right place?
• If some of your key attractions are not in the immediate vicinity of the landing point, be sure to include clear signage or arrows that point visitors in the right direction. We recommend including calls-to-action for nearby activities and games so that newcomers can easily find fun things to do.
• Avoid use of "insider" language or instructions that may be confusing to someone accessing Second Life through basic mode.
• Is the venue arrival experience free of unsolicited group invites, notecards and other inventory offers? These notifications are confusing to many new Residents, who are unfamiliar with how groups and inventory work in Second Life.
• Consider how your venue design and its surroundings will be experienced by someone in the streamlined basic mode. For example, do seats use one-click sit actions? Do other interactive objects, like vehicles, work? (We recommend that you test them using an alt account to make sure non-owners can use them, too.)
• Where Advanced mode is necessary (for example, if you have shops elsewhere in your region), are there instructions explaining this choice to visitors? (Remember: Residents can’t yet buy stuff in basic mode.)

For inclusion in the Newcomer Friendly category only, these additional criteria apply:

• There are helpful signs or tutorials that are up-to-date and reference features in Basic mode.
• There are clear pointers to get further help with Second Life. For example, a scripted sign that links to Second Life Answers community help.
• The venue has an active and welcoming community within close proximity of the landing point.

Editors' Picks and Popular Places

You can nominate venues for inclusion in the Editors' Picks or Popular Places on the Destination Guide Suggestion Page.

• Editors' Picks features venues that highlight some of the best architecture, activities, communities and/or creative efforts in Second Life. The features are refreshed periodically.
• Popular Places features venues frequently populated with real people, communities and conversations. This list is periodically refreshed but does not reflect real-time traffic and activity, nor does it aim to reflect the most popular places in Second Life. Every effort is made to include venues that adhere to Linden Lab’s policies on traffic bots and camping.

Can Residents suggest their own venues for inclusion in the Destination Guide?

Yes! Please visit the Destination Guide Suggestion Page. We value community input and encourage Residents to suggest their own venues.

What are the text and image editorial guidelines for Destination Guide submissions?

Image Specifications

Destination Guide aims to showcase the beauty and diversity of the Second Life experience. The quality and aesthetic composition of your image will help convince Residents to visit your suggested inworld location. Residents are encouraged to submit a well-composed screenshot that captures the creativity, community or aesthetic beauty of your venue. You will have an opportunity to add descriptive text separately under the Description field in the entry form, so do not layer or embed any text or logos within the photo itself.

In the Destination Guide submission form, you will be asked to include a link to a screenshot of your venue. Screenshots should be hosted on Flickr and should be in .jpeg format with the dimensions 657 width by 394 height, in pixels. For example (see on Flickr):

Please note that the Destination Guide user suggestion form will only accept images that meet this exact criteria. Please see this screencast video for a quick walk-through on how to get the proper image URL from Flickr for use in the form.

Note: Are you getting a form error when you try to submit your suggested destination? Let us know! Please contact the Linden Lab editors directly via email with your submission suggestion and let us know about the error. In your email, please include the info requested in the form (SLurl link, title, description) along with the image as an attachment.

Inworld Photography Resources

If you are unfamiliar with taking inworld photos, check out the following resources that offer tips and best practices:

• Torley's Guide to High-Quality Photography
• VintFalken.com: SL Photography: Inworld Tips & Tricks
• Second Life Image Gallery on Flickr

Text Specifications

The form will also ask you for descriptive text with a limitation of 400 typed characters.

The voice and tone of Destination Guide uses "third person" voice, so please avoid use of "first person" language in your entries. For example, avoid words like I, we, our and my. Also, please refrain from use of overly-hyped or promotion-heavy language. Destination Guide entries should read as informative, rather than overtly promotional in nature. For example, lists of keywords are not acceptable as descriptive text for your entry.

Linden Lab reserves the right to edit material for length and clarity.

Are there any restrictions on submissions?

Parcel Restrictions

You may suggest a destination using the form if:

• You personally own the parcel and it is at least 512 square meters in size.
• The parcel is owned by a group that you are a member of, and is at least 512 square meters.
• The parcel is in a private island that you are on the access list of, and is at least 512 square meters.
• The parcel belongs to Governor Linden and is set to show in Search Places as a Hangout.
• The parcel belongs to a friend, it is set to show in Search Places as a Hangout, and is at least 512 square meters.

Number of Submissions

Residents are limited to two suggestions per month.

Trademark, Copyright & Terms of Service Compliance

To be eligible for inclusion, suggested venues must comply with the Community Standards, Trademark Guidelines, and other provisions of the Terms of Service. The ultimate decision to include or not include any suggested venue or content in Destination Guide is Linden Lab's in its sole discretion.

• Review the Community Standards
• Review the Trademark Guidelines
• Review the Terms of Service
• Review our DMCA policy
• Review our Linden_Lab_Official:Snapshot_and_machinima_policy

For any content that is suggested, Residents must have the necessary rights and permissions to use and they must authorize Linden Lab to use the content. Residents should not suggest content that is copyrighted or otherwise subject to another party's proprietary rights (including privacy, publicity, trademark, and trade secret rights) unless they own the rights or have the permission of the rights owner. We do not permit intellectual property infringement and will remove content from our Web site and services if properly notified that the content infringes another's intellectual property rights.

Journalists, publishers, filmmakers, and others interested in Second Life often contact Linden Lab for images of Second Life. Linden Lab may direct these parties to the Destination Guide for promotional shots.

I'm having problems with the form. What should I do?

Please see this screencast video for a quick walk-through on the form, including how to get the proper image URL from Flickr for use in the image field.

Residents can also email our editors with their suggestions. For these submissions, please include a link to your Flickr-hosted photo that meets the above criteria and identify the following:

• Venue title (limit: 40 characters)
• Venue descriptions (limit: 400 characters)
• SLurl link

Can I recommend a location for the Editors' Picks and Popular Places categories?

Selections for both Editors' Picks and Popular Places are made at the sole discretion of the Linden Lab editorial staff using the following criteria:

• Editors' Picks
  • Linden Lab editors will review all user-submitted suggestions to periodically select examples of locations that highlight some of the best architecture, activities, communities and/or or creative efforts in Second Life.
  • Featured venues will be refreshed periodically by Linden Lab editors with the intent of rotating a limited number of venues in this category at any given time.
  • Occasionally, editors will write extended profiles of locations on the Destination Guide Blog.
• Popular Places
  • Popular Places is a manually-edited list of venues that are frequently populated with real people, communities and conversations.
  • This list does not reflect “real-time” traffic and activity of Second Life, nor does it aim to reflect the “most” popular places in Second Life.
  • Featured venues will be refreshed periodically by Linden Lab editors with the intent of rotating a limited number of venues in this category at any given time.
  • Every effort is made to include venues that adhere to Linden Lab’s policies on traffic bots and camping.

How often will you update the listings?

Regularly. We want to keep the Destination Guide fresh so visitors will return frequently to discover new ways to explore Second Life.

Will there be other places for Residents to discover cool content beyond Destination Guide?

In addition to Destination Guide, Residents should use the Search function within the Second Life client. We encourage all venue owners to review the guidelines at the Search FAQ for information on maximizing your presence using inworld Search.

There are also numerous third-party blogs and applications that do an excellent job of guiding Residents to the hottest spots in Second Life.

How do we contact Linden Lab editors?

For questions or update requests to existing entries, or to report an error — like a wrong SLurl or place that's gone — please contact the Linden Lab editors via email. Please note that we are not able to respond to all inquiries about individual submission suggestions. However, we do welcome all comments, feedback and suggestions.