Will you be joining The Resident Help Network ?

As of November 23, 2009 the Resident Help Network is in beta according to Lexie Linden that has just published an official post called Join the Resident Help Network. The Resident Help Network known as (RHN) is going to promote “the best of the best” volunteer-run help groups in Second Life. The Resident Help Network is the future for Second Life it seems now after bad news that the SL Mentor program will shut down on december 11th 2009. There has been alot of reactions in the past week about the SL Mentors coming to an end on the SL Forums, social networking sites like Plurk, Twitter and many residents are talking about it alot inworld too.

Do you have a passion for helping others? Do you belong to a volunteer-driven help organization in Second Life? Then this could be the network for you.

There are tons of helping groups in SL and I do belong to many. I will join this network and see how it goes.

The first phase of this beta will be for established groups that have a primarily new Resident focus. Later, we will be able to add groups that focus on the more seasoned Resident.

Hmm, interesting.

Linden Lab will review each group through an application process, and each group that passes muster is added to our approved network. The searchable network will be available in high-profile locations, such as the website and other resources that are available to new Residents—enabling Residents to quickly and easily find the high-quality help they need.

O.o…another application process. Will it work? There many resources for new residents nowdays and glad to see it will be searchable in SL.

Second Life has a long history of active and experienced volunteer-driven, Resident-run help groups, and we think it’s time they get the attention they deserve. The RHN not only shines a spotlight on these passionate, hard-working volunteers, it also allows Linden Lab to work closer with group leaders to build best practice and identify ways we can better incorporate their groups into the Second Life experience.

True. But LL didn’t have to shut down the SL Mentor program. LL should keep the Mentor groups alive.

We hope you are as excited about this new program as we are! We look forward to highlighting the great efforts and community contributions of Resident volunteers—your amazing work deserves to be in the spotlight!

I’m excited. I hope it lasts.

We will see what impact it makes to the SL community in the upcoming weeks and months. I know many SL Mentors will enjoy taking part in this new program and I might to. On the other side of the scale I don’t think many are interesting anymore and are annoyed because of the recent closure of SL Mentors.

MORE INFORMATION

There is a short FAQ available here as well as more details, eligibility requirements, and application in the Resident Help Network Guidelines.

• Join the Discussion
• Resident Help Network Portal

It’s almost December and this is my special early post on events, stories and popular talking topics during 2009. I will post up Part 2 at the end of next month with all the latest SL happenings. It’s been a bumpy roller-coaster ride so far during 2009 in Second Life. What have been your key highlights so far of 2009 in Second Life? I would love to know!

Popular stories and events during 2009:

• OnRez and XStreet SL was integrated –  January 20th 2009
• SL Valentines Day 2009 – 14th February 2009
• New Second Life Blogs – 25th February 2009
• BunnyJam 2009 – 17th April 2009
• Adult Content Changes policy – 21st April 2009
• Linden Memorial Park was opened – end of April 2009
• SL6B Birthday – June 23rd 2009
• Second Life Land Expo 2009 – 15th May 2009
• Bay City’s First Anniversary – 17th May 2009
• Homestread Pricing plan – 26th May 2009
• Beta launch of Second Life Answers - 28th May 2009
• Second Life 2.0 photos leaked – 12th June 2009
• Big Bad Blogger Challenge 2009 - June 2009
• Zindra regions opened - 15th June 2009
• Relay for Life 2009 - 18th to 19th July 2009
• New SL Content Management Roadmap – 3rd August 2009
• Snowglobe 1.1 released – 3rd August 2009
• SLCC09 – 13th August 2009
• LL redesigns SecondLife.com – 26th August 2009
• Second Life Content Creators Sue Second Life Creator Linden Lab -  15th September 2009
• Orange Island closed down in SL – 29th September 2009
• Philip Linden moves on from LL to work on LoveMachine - 15th October 2009
• SL Knowlege Base migration completed – 19th October 2009
• Third Party Viewer Policy – 20th October 2009
• SL Burning Life 2009 – 17th-25th October 2009
• SL Step Up! Day 2009 – 5th November 2009
• SL Mentor program closure announcement – 18th November 2009
• Xstreet SL fees on freebies – 18th November 2009

> Links will not be posted.

Upcoming in December 2009

• SL Winterfest 2009 (TBC)
• My 1st year milestone on the Main Grid
• Christmas Day events
• 24-hour music festival (TBC)

> (TBC – To be confirmed)

Predictions for 2010 for Second Life

• My Predictions

Linden Lab recently announced on the Official SL Blog, that there will be a new policy on freebies on XStreet SL. This is a very bad week overall for the community of SL because first LL will be closing the SL Mentor program and now ontop of that there will be a fee for freebies on XStreet SL. From what I’ve been hearing lately many residents are removing products from XStreet SL as a result of this new policy.

• Roadmap Managing Freebies on XStreet SL
• Freebies on Xstreet SL Roadmap FAQ

We will enact the following new controls for the Xstreet SL Marketplace within 90 days, with at least two weeks’ notice, in order to improve the shopping experience:

Monthly Listing Fee for Freebies of L$99:

• Listings for free items will now be treated as a marketing/promotional tool and thus will have a price.
• L$99 is the price of our least expensive listing enhancement and so we will start there.
• Depending upon desire for this marketing opportunity and perceived value given such demand, we will adjust the price as necessary to maximize this value and keep the freebie listings from becoming bloated again.
• Expected Delivery: 30 – 60 days

Minimum Commission of L$3 on all items priced L$1 or greater:

• We will enact a minimum commission of L$3 on all sales of non-freebie listings.
• Since Freebie listings are now considered marketing and are charged as such, they will not incur this fee.
• A L$3 commission will raise the commission on all listings under L$50.  This was a range suggested by residents, but it turns out that this is the price range where there is a very high transaction volume and low commission income which combine to cover the costs of those transactions.
• We may adjust this minimum commission as we see its effects on the marketplace.  L$3 does not cover the full cost of a transaction, but the goal here is first to manage freebie growth first.
• Expected Delivery: 30 – 60 days

Monthly Listing Fee of L$10 for all items L$1 or greater:

• All non-freebie listings will now be charged L$10 per month to remain listed in the Xstreet SL Marketplace
• Currently, less than 20% of Xstreet SL listings make at least one sale per month.  This displays just how much clutter of unsold items exists on Xstreet SL.
• Doing this will provide an incentive for merchants to remove listings which are not selling, while keeping this fee low enough to have a minimal effect on listings which are selling and are desired by shoppers.
• By reducing the overall number of listings on Xstreet SL, the shopping experience will drastically improve which will please our shoppers and be a boon to the business of all of our merchants.
• Expected Delivery: 60 – 90 days

Separate freebies into their own category:

• There is already a freebie section on Xstreet SL.  This section will become the place to browse for new freebies.
• We will remove free listings from the browsable categories and keyword search results on Xstreet SL.
• Expected Delivery: 60 – 90 days

Timeline:

• We will provide at least 2 weeks notice before releasing any of these changes.
• We expect to enact these controls within the time window 30 – 90 days following this roadmap announcement.

Yesterday came as a big shock to many SL Mentors that the mentor program (mentor groups) will be closing down next month (11th December 2009) and in my eyes this is one of the saddest moments in Second Life since 2006.

Moving On…Here is a list of helping groups in Second Life you may want to join to support new residents joining the Second Life community. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think about the end of the SL Mentor program etc. I’m currently reviewing where to go from here in terms of future mentoring.

Popular helping groups

• Mental Mentors
• Mentor Lounge
• Metaverse Mentors
• Mentor Cooperative
• SecondAbility Mentors
• Help People
• White Tiger Mentors
• New Citizens Inc.

Newer helping groups

• New User Expert Q&A
• Second Life Ex-Mentor
• Ex SL Mentor
• Former Mentor Q&A
• Real Mentors

The future: New Volunteer Groups, New Resident Networks, SL Answers, Community Gateway Program and perhaps SL seasonal events for volunteering for folks that are still interested in helping others in SL.

• Where can we go from here ?
  
• What do you think ?

Update 2

Just been posted up….18th November 2009…..

During the SL Mentor Meeting at SLVEC, Linden Lab announced that the SL Volunteer Mentor Programme will end on 11th of December 2009. The SL Mentor program has been running since 2005  with it’s ups and downs. But now its the end of a era. Linden Lab will shut down the SL Mentor groups and will remove SL Volunteer Islands in the upcoming weeks. For those that wanted to be official SL Mentors the door has been closed. Linden Lab wants everybody to create their own helping networks in Second Life nowadays and form helping groups.

I have only been in the SL Mentor groups since December 2008 and I have enjoyed mentoring new residents at various new resident places during 2009. Today hearing that news was very upsetting and came as a big shock to everybody. I was on the TG (Oct06-Dec08) before I transferred on the MG and I joined the TSL Mentor group in September 2007 but sadly eariler this year I heard that LL shut the TG Mentoring group down. I will carry on helping new residents whatever happens and sharing info with others. :)

Closing Down

[9:29] Lexie Linden: The timing for the close of the Mentor Volunteer group is as follows:

[9:29] Lexie Linden: The Mentor group itself will disband on December 11th, this includes the Mentor Q&A and Instructor group

[9:46] Lexie Linden: The current Mentor group will not stay

[9:47] Lexie Linden: SLVI’s, SLVEC, and Volunteer OI, so any Mentor with items there will need to pick them up by Dec 10th

[9:46] The help islands will remain open, although the content and experiences will be evolving

Other non-official LL Helping Groups you may want to join!

• Mental Mentors
• Real Mentors
• NCI
• Ex SL Mentor
• And more in Search > Groups tab in SL!
  

1. Visit secondlife.com/events/
2. Login
3. Click Events on the left hand side
4. Click on Submit New Event
5. Read the Event Posting Rules then click on the I Agree button
6. Enter the following details: Event Name, Details, Date, Time, Duration, Event Category, Event Location then tick if your event will be Mature or not.
7. Save Event

Congratulations! When you login into Second Life, click on SEARCH, choose EVENTS tab and now your event will be displayed for all SL residents to view and attend your awesome event. :)

For more information about Second Life Events, CLICK HERE.

November SL Mentor Meeting

Today it has been announced that there will be a SL Mentor Meeting, hosted by the VTeam in Second Life. It’s sheduled for 9am PDT on Wednesday 18th November 2009. The November 2009 SL Mentor meeting will take place at SL Volunteer Islands Main Stage. The last SL Mentor Meeting was back in January 2009, where many mentors were given a update on progress and the future of the VTeam. In July 2009 I posted some SL Mentor Stats on my blog.

SL Mentors Group Count

2nd February 2009
1, 733 Members

17th November 2009
1, 610 Members

SL Mentoring through 2009

Over the course of 2009 the SL Mentor VTeam have been working on a number of projects and only a few Lindens still involved with the program. I’ve noticed a large decrease in SL Mentors still left in the official mentor group (shown above) and there is a average of 10+ SL Mentors leaving the official group every month. There has been alot of exciting events during 2009 including SL Mentor Day, Burning Life, Valentines in which SL Mentors could volunteer with.

Future

I don’t think anyone knows whats going to happen from Wednesday onwards into 2010. We will have to see. I’ll be doing a follow up post about the SL Mentor meeting afterwards. There will be a blog post (transcript) at some  on Wednesday for folks that cannot attend.

• Check out my SL Feeds SL Mentor page for news and links! :D
• SL Mentor Flickr Group

Stay tuned for updates!

It’s been a good year so far and for me I love mentoring! :D

• Locate your Second Life icon
• Right click and pick Properties
• Find the Target line
• Add –multiple at the end of the address

Example: “C:\Program Files\SecondLife\SecondLife.exe" --set InstallLanguage en --multiple“

Example

Important Information (November 2009)

• Works with Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, MAC OS and Linux
• This works with the standard Second Life viewer, Emerald, Imprudence, Snowglobe and many others
• Linden Lab do not officially support running muliple viewers (proceed at your own risk)
• Make sure you have enough RAM and a good enough graphics card to run two viewers or more
• More INFO click here

Here are my predictions for Second Life 2010 below in a list. At the end of next year I will review how many of the below predictions actually happened or not. 2009 is almost over and 2010 is now about 7 weeks away.

• Second Life Viewer 2.0  (December 2009 release possible)
• SL will become more social (facebook, twitter, web etc)
  
• Teen Integration (Merge of grids)
  
• Second Life grows in popularity around the world
• OpenSim grows and more 3rd party viewers
  
• Second Life Enterprise will let customers extend their businesses to virtual world environments
• Cheaper homesteads and new additional fees for services
• More news press from RL sources and SL sources
  
• Official SL Shadows in viewer
  
• Mesh Exporting
• New creation tools
• More Linden Lab HQ’s around the world
  
• Windows 7 compatibility support for SL
• Relay for Life 2010 will hopefully raise more than $500, 000
  
• Second Life online residents to reach the 100, 000 milestone mark (new record)
• Total SL registered accounts will exceed 18 or 19 million
• And theres more…

• Have I missed anything else out ?
• What are your top SL 2010 predictions ?
• Please comment and I’ll add it up!

Previous Predictions by others

• 2009 Virtual World Meta-Predictions
• The Traditional Predictions List for 2009
• Ten virtual worlds predictions for 2009
  
• Second Life Predictions for 2008!
• Prokofy Neva’s Predictions for 2008
• Second Life Predictions for 2007

Snowglobe 1.2 Release Candidate is now ready for download. The release was yesterday with many new features and bug fixes. DOWNLOAD NOW

I think Snowglobe rocks!