Celebrating Second Life’s 20th Birthday!

Twenty years ago Second Life was launched to the public. My journey in Second Life somehow feels much longer than that, even though it isn’t. Back in April, I celebrated my 4th Linden Rezday (for Strawberry Linden), and then in May I celebrated my 16th rezday in Second Life (for Strawberry Singh).

In early June, I went to a work offsite where I met many of my colleagues at Linden Lab in person for the first time. I have been working remotely alongside them for 4 years but it was so incredibly wonderful to finally meet them face to face and give them a big hug. After the offsite, we all jumped into SL20B and June has just been a whirlwind of a month for me.

The 20th birthday celebrations for me were a mix of emotions that included a lot of excitement with even more anxiety. It was the very first time that I did live shows in front of hundreds of people inworld (and let’s not even count how many were watching live on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Kick.) It was nerve-wracking and at the same time, incredibly exciting. I truly enjoyed doing the Lab Gabs and I’ll be honest, I normally do not like doing them. They are incredibly difficult for me to do because I’m basically a one-woman show that does all the questioning, camera work, live streaming, etc. It’s difficult and time-consuming to manage and produce. I have been actively avoiding doing them for over a year now but somehow I always get talked into doing them. This time though, I definitely don’t regret it. It was an amazing experience to do it live in front of an inworld audience and I really appreciate all of the feedback and love you all have sent me after each show.  That being said, I’m so thankful they are finally over and I can enjoy the rest of SL20B without the anxiety!

Another part of SL20B that was a pleasant surprise for me was the SL20B Official Guide and Magazine. I was not expecting to have a section where my Second Life journey would be shared and in my own words! I have to thank both Trouble Dethly and Cajsa Lilliehook for including my journey, and also a thank you to Hayden Rowley for taking the amazing images of me that were included alongside it. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the magazine on issuu, click over to do so now. I am so incredibly thankful to Trouble’s whole team for the phenomenal job they did on it and I know a lot of our community members have been enjoying it. It’s even getting attention from people outside our community, including a mention by the CEO of Issuu!

One of the best things about this year’s celebration is hearing people reflect on their years in Second Life and how much Second Life means to them. You can see a bit of that in Draxtor’s Made in Second Life movie. But not just in the movie itself, but also in the comments from the rest of the community. You can also see it across our community socials, blogs, and vlogs where people have shared their own journeys, thoughts, and feelings about this year’s 20th birthday. I feel like it has really brought the community together and it has just been so heartwarming to see.

So thank you for being on this journey with me, especially to those of you who have supported my work all these years and still read the words I occasionally share on this blog. Here’s to 20 more years of virtual adventures! I’ll see you at SL20B!