Content providers determined to provide, with or without Linden’s help

By: Jon Venkman
Times Assistant Editor

The gap between content providers and Linden Lab seems to be larger than ever as result of the elimination of the popular 'Developers Incentive', a program created to assist providers in their quest for free and accessible content. A group of independent content providers recently had a meeting with Robin Linden, one of the initial members of Linden Lab. This meeting was initiated and organized by content provider Bladyblue Bommerang, who herself is owner of a mall with casino, only to be able to afford the costs of organizing an event. According to Robin Linden, the company does not have a responsibility towards content providers, and thinks that money should be made by charging visitors instead of depending on Second Life's owners. The providers however, felt differently: "If some are free and we charge, no one will come. Clubs and most events are frequented by new players, who usually have basic accounts," Bladyblue told the Second Life Times. The meeting, which lasted no less than ninety minutes, had no apparent results. Linden claims to be working on a replacement of the Developers Incentive, but refuses to release any information on what this new program would consist of. But Bladyblue is set to continue her services, and is currently in the process of setting up a new project, the 'SL Content Providers Association'. A website will be created as well, to give new and existing providers a chance to promote their events. The independent content providers feel left in the cold, while Linden Lab does seem to provide associations as the FIC and the FFRC with the required financial help to survive, or at least take them seriously.Bladyblue expects for Linden Lab to change their minds: "The Lindens will see that their plans - like so many of their plans in the past - turn into a mistake of grand proportions."But if that is not the case, the new association has a backup plan. Bladyblue has several 'Real Life' sponsors in mind, such as Pepsi and Philip Morris: "We need to make te best deals we can get. A pool of money administrated by the SL Content Provider Association will be used to: Give funds to those venues that display advertising from our sponsors, offer start up funds for those that want to become a content provider - thus encouraging new innovative events in Second Life, and support our website and fund free festivals put together by a collaboration of content providers."
Bladyblue invites new content providers to send her an Instant Message in-world, and join the SL Content Provider Association group to get their venues listed on the website.

Prim Art

Explore the grid at any given moment, and I gurantee that you will not find an art museum better than the one I found tonight. Located at Ginko City (148, 177), the Penny Arcadia Museum of Art has some of the most creative use of prims in SL. It's so good, I don't want to post pictures of it, You really need to visit it to experence it.

By the way, They're #1.

Urizenus Sklar Announces Retirement

Second Life Herald (http://www.secondlifeherald.com) owner and Editor-In-Chief Urizenus Sklar announced his retirement Wednesday. In a statement in the article, Uri says that the blog would go to longtime friend and Herald Editorial Director Walker Spaight. Additionally, Urizenus will also leave Second Life. Prokofy Neva had this to say in the articles comments:

This is awful. And I don't get it. I hope Uri will take some acid or something and come back in a few weeks refreshed and rethink this.
Why is it awful? Because Uri gets it about these games in ways that others don't. Precisely because he isn't a journalist in RL, he can be a virtual editor and journalist with a great deal more credibility.
God, I never thought we would lose our freedom of the press because Uri would leave; I thought it would be something like Herald reporters getting kicked from SL, or there'd be a ban on linking to third-party sites or something…

The Times is sorry to see Uri go.

Grid Crashes

From Mick Linden…

Second Life became inaccessible at approximately 7:30am Sunday 17th February. Our grid technicians are aware of the issue and have restored service at at 7:50am. There may be some delays before all regions are available, we expect full functionality to be restored shortly.
Cause of the outage is still under investigation. We apologise for any inconvenience,

Times Office Grand Opening!

We will be opening our office in-game Saturday,February 18th. At 1:00 PM SL Time.
The office is located on Ginko Island in one of the shops. (Click Here for Teleport)

Staff Additions!

When I posted an advertisement in the classifieds for reporters I thought 1 or 2 people would apply. I have recieved 5 applications since then. Sunday I added Jon Venkman to our staff, and today I add Sunid Gorky. Secondly, Jon has been promoted to Assistant Editor. Thirdly, If you have not applied yet, you might after I say that if you are hired, you will be paid L$100 per story published. Fourthly, Look for our office grand opening on Ginko Island.

Welcome Jon!

I would like to welcome Jon Venkman to the team! Jon is our first reporter. He also reports news on another website, http://www.soccerway.com. If you see somthing that needs to be reported on, please contact Jon or myself.

Who Tripped Over The Cord? Grid goes out 2 days in a row.

According to the Announcements forum on the official board, A Power Outage in RL killed the SL servers for hours Thursday. Then, a Hardware Failure killed them again friday. Can we expect somthing tonight?

P.S. Sorry for the lack of news. I have been working on the Website and getting the company's businuess plan around.