Linden Lab Official:SL8B

When Second Life Turns Eight (SL8B)

On June 23, 2011, Second Life will be officially eight years old. Can you believe it? Our hard-working team of Resident volunteers and Lindens have been busily preparing for our annual birthday bash—laying down the groundwork (literally) for you to celebrate.

The event kicks off at 10:00 a.m. SLT on Monday, June 20 and runs through Sunday, June 26 with a glittering assortment of musicians, speakers, artists, business leads, media mavens, merchants, social organizers, and other amazing Residents like you.

Out of town that week? No problem. We’ll be keeping the 20-region site open for another week, so you’re welcome to come and tour the builds at your leisure. We’ll officially close the gates on Saturday, June 2 at 11:59 p.m. SLT.

About the Theme

This year’s theme is the magic of Second Life. No, we’re not just talking about wizards and sorceresses (though of course they’re included). The true magic of Second Life is something different for each of us. It’s all about that moment when we realized how amazing Second Life really is. It’s when we found our own personal connections to Second Life, realizing its potential in our own lives and the lives of other Residents. Whether it’s the social aspect, the content creation possibilities, or unique business and commerce opportunities, we’ve all got a tale of Second Life magic to share.

Important Dates

• May 5—Applications for builders, exhibitors, performers, and volunteer greeters open.
• May 20—Exhibitor, performer, and volunteer greeter applications deadline.
• May 31—Accepted exhibitors are notified.
• June 1—Accepted exhibitors can begin work on their parcels at the SL8B site.
• June 5—Last day for exhibitors to to begin building.
• June 15—Deadline for all exhibitor builds.
• June 16-17—Tech rehearsal.
• June 18—Press preview.
• June 20—10:00 a.m. SLT: Gates open to the public!
• June 23—The Birthday! Special ceremonies included!
• June 26—Last day of entertainment.
• July 2—Gates close at 11:59 p.m. SLT

Participant Information

Exhibitor Application

Apply for your piece of SL8B today! We’re offering parcels of 1024 m2 (maximum limit of up to 234 prims per parcel, no exceptions) for exhibitors to strut their stuff at SL8B. Dimensions: 32mx32m.

If you’re interested, please complete the SL8B Exhibitor Application by May 20. Approved exhibitors will be notified via email by May 31 to start building on June 1.

Performer Application

Calling all live performers and DJs! We’d love to feature your talents at SL8B. If you’re a performer or if you’d like to DJ at SL8B, please complete the SL8B Entertainment Application to tell us about yourself and your availability. Please submit your application by May 20 and our entertainment staff will get back to you no later than June 10.

Events Calendar

Our events lineup is vast and changing, so be sure to check http://sl8b.wordpress.com for the latest performance schedules and can’t-miss events for SL8B!

Event Policies

Many thanks to Phaylen Fairchild and Poid Mahovlich, from whom the basis of this event policy was taken and developed. It's through our collaborative work that we set the foundation for future events to just get better and better.

Maturity Rating

The Second Life Birthday Celebration (SL8B) takes place on the main Second Life Grid and is for Residents aged 16 years and older. The event has a General (aka PG) maturity rating, so all related rules are in effect. Exhibitors may provide landmarks to Adult regions, provided they are properly marked as Adult.

The following content is not appropriate in regions with a General (aka G) maturity rating: Intense, strong language or expletives. Nudity or sexual content in textures, sounds, or animations. Content depicting sex, strong violence, or anything else broadly offensive. Soliciting of chat sex. Avatar nudity. You get the idea.

General (aka G) maturity rating guidelines, the Second Life Terms of Service, and Second Life Community Standards apply to all participants and visitors at SL8B.

Exhibit Policies

• Every exhibitor and attendee must adhere to the Second Life Terms of Service and Second Life Community Standards.
• Prim limits (according to plot size) will be strictly enforced. Please don't exceed your allotment under any circumstances. If you go over the prim limit of your assigned parcel, any prims that exceed the limit will be returned. It is up to the discretion of the event organizers as to which prims will be returned. If you are unsure about how many prims you have used in your parcel, please speak with an exhibitor assistant.
• This event is on a 21-region area with a General (aka G) maturity rating. All exhibitors and attendees must adhere to the corresponding guidelines.
• There is one parcel size this year: 1024 m2 (234 prims).
• No megaprims (prims larger than 10’x10’x10’) are allowed at Linden-sponsored events. Any builds found to contain megaprims will be returned.
• No building in the sky. All builds are to be built from the ground up.
• No sales or soliciting of donations will be allowed. Free gifts (aka "freebies") and landmarks to external areas are fine.
• No group inviters that spam attendees will be allowed.
• Opt-in (clickable) notecard givers are acceptable. Notecard givers that spam an avatar upon arrival are not permitted.
• Please do what you can to reduce lag. Keep scripts to a minimum. Scripts that ping the server for information, like scanners, visitor logs, etc. have a greater impact on region performance than scripts that don't interact with the server. If possible please do not use any scripts that require interacting with the region server or an external server/database for information to function.
• No hate-oriented materials will be allowed.
• No copyright or trademark infringement will be allowed. This includes real life or virtual name brands, logos, sounds, or graphics that aren't owned by an exhibitor.
• Only one exhibitor spot will be allowed per Resident/group.
• Landmarks web content, or links that are distributed must be relevant to the exhibit or exhibitor.
• You must be a member of the Second Life Birthday Exhibitors group to access the SL8B site. Upon approval, you will be invited to join the group and given access to your assigned space.
• You will need to set all items to the Second Life Birthday Exhibitors group or they will auto return after 1 minute.
• Exhibitors are not allowed to do any terraforming (including any water exposing from terraforming). Please contact your Exhibitor Assistant for any terraforming or land option requests.
• Exhibitors have 5 days to claim their land by putting a prim down. June 5 is the last day to claim your land. Any land that is not claimed and built upon within 5 days will be reclaimed and reassigned to the next person on the selection list.
• Please do not not ask for an invitation to the Second Life Exhibitors group if you are not an exhibitor or assisting an exhibitor. The assistants will be screening all requests against a database of applicant names. If you have not been referred by a current exhibitor or have not submitted an application that has been accepted (via emailed acceptance letter from Linden Lab), you will not be granted access.

Building Policies

• You will need to set all your items to Second Life Birthday Exhibitors group or they will be autoreturned.
• The volunteer staff of SL8B is here to help you with reasonable requests for assistance with your build. Harassing these volunteers is not acceptable. They are non-paid volunteers and as such should not be harassed or abused in any way. Please be courteous to these fellow Residents who donate their time for the good of the community. Any builders, exhibitors, or attendees who negatively harass staff will be removed from the event.
• Please keep texture size as low as possible and reuse textures when you can. 512x512 or its equivalent should be your maximum texture size in almost any situation.
• Scripts that ping the server for information, like scanners, visitor logs, etc. have a greater impact on region performance than scripts that don't interact with the server. If possible please do not use any scripts that require interacting with the region server or an external server/database for information to function.
• Sculpted prims cause more client side lag than standard prims in general; use sculpts sparingly for a smoother experience. Same with flexi prims.
• Please try to restrict the use of physics-enabled objects and remember that no temp-on-rez prims (aka no temp rezzers) are allowed—this includes holographic rezzers or any devices that momentarily rez a temp structure. Exhibits that utilize the physics engine will be reviewed prior to opening to make sure that they will not cause problems when the regions are filled with visitors.
• You will need to set all items to the Second Life Birthday group or they will auto return after 1 minute.
• Upon receiving your acceptance via email, if you do not receive an invitation to the Second Life Birthday Exhibitors group in a timely fashion, please leave a message in the general Second Life Birthday group, requesting help from an Exhibitor Assistant. The Exhibitor Assistants are here to help you get acclimated, as well as make sure you and your building team have invites.
• Your Exhibitor Assistant will also remind you of the policies and protocols and inform you who your Region Coordinator is in case you need help with other, more elaborate issues. The Exhibitor Assistants will help answer all of your questions.
• By building at SL8B, you are agreeing to keep your displays within the guidelines of the General (aka PG) maturity rating. Of course, that means things like nudity or violence are not acceptable. Linden Lab reserves the right to determine the limits of nudity or violence, and may ask you to adjust your entries accordingly.
• Every exhibitor and attendee must adhere to the Second Life Terms of Service and Second Life Community Standards.
• Selling is prohibited. Free gifts, or "freebies," are fine. Additionally, displays should have actual content, not just look like advertisements. This is a non-commercial zone intended to showcase the best ideas, solutions, craftsmanship, and community that Second Life Residents have to offer.
• Donation solicitations in any form—be it verbally or from a kiosk—are prohibited. While we appreciate the efforts Residents make to inform, educate, and encourage support of charitable causes, this Linden-sponsored event cannot be used as a vehicle for the procurement of donations for charity. Allowance of such can be misconstrued as a public endorsement would require legal intervention. While within your exhibit you may provide external links and landmarks to locations that provide an avenue for donations to be made, they may not be made directly from the event fairgrounds in any respect. It is impossible for us to verify the legitimacy of every organization participating.
• Megaprims are prohibited at Linden-sponsored events. We've said it before and we'll say it again. Any builds found to contain megaprims will be returned.
• The Second Life Birthday Exhibitors group is designed solely for the purpose of streamlining information between staff and Exhibitors at SL8B. In this group, questions can be asked, group invitations may be requested by exhibitors for their team, but idle chat is discouraged. For exhibitors who would like to discuss their exhibits, speak with other exhibitors, share ideas and tips, or play games, you can join SL8B Birthday Group if you don't mind general discussion. Remember: That is a community channel and discussion should be expected if you join!
• If you have needs that an Exhibitor Assistant cannot take care of, such as terraform issues or land customization, please ask your Exhibitor Assistant to ask your Sim Coordinator for further assistance with such tasks.

Event Staff

If you’d like to volunteer to help out at SL8B, we thank you! The Second Life Birthday team works in a no-drama zone. We’re here to get something wonderful accomplished, working together behind the scenes. We’re collaborating and making magic. Big egos need not apply.

Volunteer Greeter Application

Are you a people person? Do you enjoy helping others find awesome stuff in Second Life? If so, we invite you to volunteer to be a birthday greeter at SL8B! Birthday greeters will assist partygoers and hand out party goodies. Please complete the Volunteer Greeter Application by May 20 and we’ll get back to you promptly.

A big thank you to all of our volunteers!

Core Volunteers

• Linden Lab Liaisons: Courtney Linden & Blondin Linden
• Doc Gascoigne
• Kev Sweetwater

Estate/Build Out/Exhibits

• Michael Linden
• Hyper Mole
• Garden Mole
• Kev Sweetwater
• Arwen Epin
• Diana Renoir
• KT Syakumi
• Miso Susanowa
• Pixelprophet Lane

Birthday Cake Baker

• TBD

Entertainment Coordination

• Doctor Gascoigne
• Shawn Master
• ChatBrat Pippita

Moderation Coordination

• Shawn Masters
• Doctor Gascoigne
• Rails Bailey
• ChatBrat Pippita
• Kev Sweetwater
• Taryn London

Greeter Coordination

• Doctor Gascoigne
• Shawn Masters

Stream Coordination

• Brad Ohtobide
• Chastity Saintlouis
• Selena Denja
• JustOneMore Loon

Stage Managers

• TBD

Exhibitor Assistants

• TBD

Birthday Greeters

• TBD

Logo Design

• Miso Susanowa

Resident Public Relations

• Harper Beresford

Linden Lab Event Public Relations

• Blondin Linden
• Courtney Linden
• Pete Linden

Event Group

If you’d like to keep informed, please join the “Second Life Birthday” group inworld. That will be our primary means of internal communication with the community. Externally, please keep watching the blog for news and updates and this wiki as an information repository. Additional information and points of interest at the event is also available at the Resident PR blog at http://sl8b.wordpress.com.