On June 23rd 2005 Second Life celebrated its 2nd birthday, or rather the day Second Life was opened to the public! The main celebration was held in the Vehicle Sims of Bethel, Brilliant, Georgean, and Fortuna. The four vehicle sims were turned into a giant museum displaying various large builds, pictures of SL over time, and objects from the time capsule opened last year. The main layout comprised of four large pathways going out in all cardinal directions with a large celebration area in the middle at the corner of the four sims. Along the sides of these pathways were the various builds and objects people laid out for others to see. The event area and event itself were all put together by a group of residents led by Pathfinder Linden who happily took on the task of setting it all up.
One of the main pathways.
Some of the larger setups in the sims included work by residents Maxx Monde, Talila Liu, A small grouping of Anshe Chung signs, ARMORD's space needle, Lordfly Digeridoo's Towers, a small city replica with resident images, Cubey's Zoe airfield, Spitoonie rides, Cannibas Cathedral, a movie theater with various Media mentionings of SL and a video, images taken by Salazar Jack, with it all encircled by Spitoonie's monorail.
Philip Linden addresses the crowd and those at repeaters.
At the event itself started at 3 PM with DJing done by Adam Linden, a speech by Philip Linden (found below), and an appearance from the elusive Governor Linden. Since the party was held at the corner of the four sims more than 100 people were able to show up, amazingly none of the sims crashed and the only issues seemed to be some typical lag, grey avatars, and the inability to teleport out of the sim without several tries. The party continued on and the sims remained packed for several hours even after the event had officially ended. Video Linden even showed up, giving the secondlife.com website a direct view into the ongoing event.
The parade being led off!
An official Linden parade was not held. However Mimi Therian, being disappointed to hear that there wouldn't be one, took it upon herself to put one together in time for the 25th. The parade floats were mostly made by Mimi herself, but there seemed to be one or two made by others. Floats included a Linden ridden float, a giant bone, dancers, and the SL Boxing league, among others. The parade route was around the area were the celebration was held, through the four vehicle sims. The parade and crowd following ended up filling each sim to its brink as it went through. Afterward a small party was held that also unofficially marked the end of the celebrations as the vehicle sims were cleared of the anniversary monuments and re-teraformed for the Pride Parade and events.
Philip Linden's 2nd Anniversary Speech:[]
Pathfinder Linden: Philip would like to say a few words :)
Philip Linden: Well let me start by saying that if this was two years ago,
Philip Linden: ;)
Philip Linden: The sims would already have gone down.
Philip Linden: So there are about half or so as many people here,
Philip Linden: as were the total population of Second Life two years ago.
Philip Linden: We had a bunch of people around a ball...
Philip Linden: The lag was pretty bad then too.
Philip Linden: But with a lot less people.
Philip Linden: and had a countdown to midnight.
Philip Linden: We had around 400 residents when SL launched.
Philip Linden: Pretty soon we'll get to 100 times than number.
Philip Linden: Pretty wild ride for two years.
Philip Linden: for staying with us,
Philip Linden: I really want to start by thanking everyone for believing...
Philip Linden: Clearly we all made the right decision...
Philip Linden: to believe in a place than wouldn't be built by a company,
Philip Linden: putting up with the bugs and the lag.
Philip Linden: or by a designer,
Philip Linden: but instead by the people who would make their homes there.
Philip Linden: So thanks for two years of the most amazing experiences,
Philip Linden: With all your work,
Philip Linden: and a relentless list of firsts the likes of which I think have never been seen.
Philip Linden: we've been in more media and stories than I can count.
Philip Linden: I think the /. crowd is getting tired of seeing us up on their site
Philip Linden: The science fiction authors are finally beginning to notice
Philip Linden: Someday we'll even get Neal in here... I remain hopeful
Philip Linden: that we actually did build the thing they were talking about.
Philip Linden: we've grown lots lately...
Philip Linden: So Linden Lab has grown too...
Philip Linden: almost 50 people working here in San Francisco.
Philip Linden: and the next group I'd like to thank...
Philip Linden: it is a pretty amazing list:
Philip Linden: But what is really cool.
Philip Linden: are all the people that have helped us in-world
Philip Linden: 146 Live Helpers so far!
Philip Linden: 364 members of the Mentor Group...
Philip Linden: More than 130 people helping to test the next version,
Philip Linden: 153 Instructors,
Philip Linden: and I think about 90 people in the credits for version 1.6 (check your help menu)
Philip Linden: welcoming new users,
Philip Linden: Finally the new greeter program has already had I think 70 or so people
Philip Linden: and it is only a week old.
Philip Linden: We've also got a handful of people now helping with forum moderation.
Philip Linden: So the community that 'officially' helps SL grow is maybe 500,
Philip Linden: and of course thousands more beyond that.
Philip Linden: Finally, I'd like to say thanks to the whole team here in SF
Philip Linden: So thank you all so much for creating all this.
Philip Linden: and the worldwide team of liasons.
Philip Linden: it isn't always easy to work at LL
Philip Linden: This is a big project and we don't do everything right...
Philip Linden: hands down.
Philip Linden: but this team is the best in the world,
Philip Linden: we don't miss very often.
Philip Linden: a few minutes ago.
Philip Linden: We had some champagne and cake here at the office
Philip Linden: but who knows.
Philip Linden: I can't imagine that the next two years will be as exciting as the last,
Philip Linden: See you all soon.
Philip Linden: So that's about all I want to say....
Philip Linden: I'll go stand at the side and let people come and beat me up about bugs.
Philip Linden: Peace and Love from everyone at LL!
Philip Linden: Viva SL!
Related links[]
Forum Link: Pathfinder Announces The Event
Forum Link: Pathfinder asks for help and donations
Forum Link: Philip Linden's Speech Posted By Jeska
Forum Link: Party pictures posted by residents
Forum Link: Mimi Therian announces parade event
Images[]
A display at the event featuring SL's Land market and Anshe Chung's signs.
ARMORD's old space needle HQ with bar on top.
The Cannabis Cathedral was resurected for the event!
The capsule contents from last years event were also put on display again.
A small city layout was recreated with various vehicles and pictures as well as Lordfly's towers.
A shot from one of the corners of the main layout and a view of the hutts put on display.
Governor Linden made an appearence, although due to lag appeared mostly grey.
A collection of Maxx Monde's work was rebuilt.
The great Monkeh temple was available to worshipers.
The big bash for the celebration of SL turning 2 brought over 100 people, which caused alot of name tag floodage.
SL Goes To The Movies featured various media articles mentioning SL as well as a movie.
Some of the rides from Spitoonie, the Monorail was also around most of the main area.
Talila Lui's sculptures and other handywork that was on display.
Even a Blue Angel appeared for the parade!
A giant bone float that tossed confetti!
A giant telescope peaks out from this building.
Dancers on a float.
Lindens on their float!
stillpink rides a poodle and waves as she passes.
Second Life Boxing league showed up with a float/ring, no one was hurt.
I'm not sure what this is about but the back read "There go the Zealots".