ATG Grid News

Our top stories on ATG Grid News:

– SL20B celebration preparations running fast
– New phishing scam to be aware on the grid
– Confederation of Democratic Simulators to issue new passports

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This is ATG Grid News.
I am Missoni.
I am Zack Haiku.
I am Katheryn Llewellyn.

Our top stories:

– SL20B celebration preparations running fast
– New phishing scam to be aware on the grid
– Confederation of Democratic Simulators to issue new passports

Hello and welcome to ATG Grid News

Second Life is set to celebrate its 20th anniversary with a grand birthday celebration (SL20B) from June 22nd to July 11th, featuring 20 days of live music, performances, shopping, and community exhibits.
This year’s theme, “Our Fantastic Future,” embraces eco-futurism, sustainability, and environmental focus to envision the world of tomorrow.
Although staying in-theme is not mandatory, participants are encouraged to showcase their passions and communities within Second Life.
Two types of exhibitor regions, General and Adult, will be available this year.
Those interested in participating as an exhibitor, volunteer, or performer should complete the relevant applications by May 14th.
Music Fest applications close on April 9th.
Keep an eye on Second Life’s blog for more opportunities to join the SL20B festivities as a Merchant.

A new phishing scam has been discovered, targeting unsuspecting users with a fraudulent dialog box that warns of an impending log off and urges them to enter their password.
To protect your information, it is crucial not to fall for this ploy and provide your password to these malicious actors.
Instead, file an abuse report against the sender to help authorities and platform administrators combat this fraudulent activity.
By staying vigilant and raising awareness, users can collectively safeguard their accounts and help prevent the spread of such phishing attempts.

April fool’s brought us plenty of pranks this year.
The Lab engaged in its own antics, as UFOs resembling robot vacuum cleaners appeared over Bellisseria, leading to playful panic and banter among residents.
Other pranks included Team Firestorm’s April Fool’s repeat, a fake class on griefing at Caledon Oxbridge University, and an Avatar-themed debate at Sci-Fi Con that was humorously interrupted by tiny protesters.
Grendel’s opened its 11th Mostly Annual April Fool’s area, and the Sunweaver community saw their Club Cutlass disappear as part of a prank.
Additional amusing events, such as “Slime A Linden” at Sci-Fi Con and video game-related pranks, rounded out the April Fool’s Day festivities.

The Caledon steampunk community faces unfortunate news as community leader Desmond Shang announces the probable closure of three sims, including a homestead, in the near future.
Caledon, which currently has 22 sims, full and homestead, started with two and expanded to 29 in 2007.
However, the area has been gradually shrinking over time, and the loss of these sims would bring the total down to 18.
Shang has advised residents with unpaid parcels that they will be considered unwanted and made available to displaced residents from closing regions.
The community hopes to find a solution to prevent these sims from shutting down.

Second Life’s oldest democracy, the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS), is set to issue passports to its citizens.
The CDS is a genuine community in the virtual world, governed by officials elected by its residents, with a Constitution, Code of Laws, and three branches of government.
The CDS’s private estate regions represent various historical periods with Germanic, Alpine, Tuscan, or Mediterranean themes, operating under common covenants.
In line with its democratic structure, the CDS will manage the issuance of its passports, exclusive to its citizens.
These citizens will join those from Bellisseria and the mainland continents in collecting stamps from locations listed in the Gazette Online Travel Guide (GOTG) or the Stamp Finder HUD (StaFi) available in-world.
To date, 507 unique, individually-designed stamps have been issued for permanent locations or special events.

Since January 2023, the Second Life Main Grid has experienced a slight decline in total size, according to the Second Life Grid Survey economic metrics as of March 19th.
Factors such as higher inflation may be affecting these numbers, with the potential for further fluctuations in the months ahead.
Private Estates have seen a drop of over 50 regions since January, which could be a cause for concern if the trend continues.
In contrast, Linden Owned regions have steadily increased this year, with more expected to arrive throughout 2023 in the Bellisseria continent.
Potential growth drivers include the SL20B event scheduled for mid-June and the anticipated launch of SL Mobile later this year.
The Lab could also offer more benefits for Premium Plus members to help with land costs.
As of March 19th, there were 27,617 total regions, 18,324 Private Estates, and 9,293 Linden Owned regions, compared to 27,659 total regions, 18,370 Private Estates, and 9,289 Linden Owned regions on January 1st.
The next update will be published in June 2023 to assess changes during the first half of the year.

In Second Life, professional game artist and longtime SLer Penny Patton recently discovered a shockingly inefficient mesh item – a shirt with nearly 50,000 triangles.
As a comparison, the ultra-realistic lead character in the AAA console game God of War has only 32,000 triangles in total.
The creator of the shirt claimed that reducing the triangles would result in decreased quality.
Unfortunately, poorly optimized mesh items, which act as “DDOS attacks” on everyone around them, are common in Second Life.

Penny Patton suggests several solutions to address this issue:

– Create an official content creation blog to educate users and correct misinformation about optimization.
– Provide better tools and optimization warnings in the user interface for users to manage their resource use.
– Implement system limits on poorly optimized content, including hard caps on resource use.

Linden Lab is currently working on rendering pipeline improvements that could potentially double framerates.
However, Patton believes that encouraging optimization should still be taken seriously, as Linden Lab’s own efforts are often undermined by poorly optimized user content.

This has been ATG Grid News.
Enjoy the grid!