iLRN 2020, the 6th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network, is running in VirBELA and AltspaceVR from June 21st to 25th, 2020, one of many real-life conferences that have moved to social VR and virtual worlds because of the coronavirus pandemic. This year’s conference theme is Vision 20/20: Hindsight, Insight, and Foresight in XR and Immersive Learning:
Conference attendees must download and install a white-label version of VirBELA to attend most of the conference presentations and events. Here’s a look at the spawn point next to the information booth:
However, VirBELA is intended for corporate and conference use, as opposed to the more open-ended uses of SL, so it’s a good fit for the iLRN conference. (It looks as though AltspaceVR is primarily being used for social events associated with the conference through the Educators in VR group, according to the AltspaceVR Events calendar.)
UPDATE June 25th, 2020: The free Kalhene Ariadna female mesh body has been removed from the SL Marketplace, after Linden Lab received a DMCA complaint. More information is available here.
The creator of the Ariadna Kalhene mesh head and body (which I first wrote about here) has been very nimbly providing regular updates! The current version is 2.3 (which you can get for free on the SL Marketplace here, where it has racked up nearly 100 glowing reviews in an incredibly short space of time). Please note that, although the product description on the SL Marketplace item still says version 2.2, you do receive the latest version, 2.3, when you purchase it. Here’s a look at the HUDs for the body mesh and the included starter wardrobe for the latest version:
The Bodymesh and Clothing HUDs on the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body version 2.3
Among the newest features are blinking eyes (a separate attachment), and four styles of eyelashes. Version 2.3 of this body also has a new script system compatible with appliers for nails, eyelashes, pubic hair and stockings.
My former go-to mesh body for wearing fashion designed for Maitreya Lara was one of the free or paid-for versions of the Altamura mesh bodies, where I found that tops tended to fit very well, but bottoms (especially bikini bottoms) sometimes had problems. Often, I would have to alpha out the entire pelvic area on the Altamura bodies to get Maitreya Lara clothing to look right. (I have noticed that designer support for Altamura mesh bodies has been increasing lately, though.)
But over the past two weeks, I have been testing out the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body with various clothes and shoes designed for Maitreya Lara, and I have found that most such apparel fits it like a dream! Now, it’s not 100% perfect. Please keep in mind that for some clothing, the included alpha sections on the HUD might not be fine enough, and also that this body does not support medium-height shoes, just flats and high heels designed for Maitreya feet. But for a freebie body, this is very good news!
In fact, I am going to say that this body is the winner when it comes to Maitreya Lara compatibility, compared to every other free or inexpensive mesh body I have tried! Dagger Faulkwing, who is similarly impressed with the Ariadna body, said on the Freebie Queens SL Discord:
Ariadna is now the only body I wear unless I want to wear Slink shoes, then I wear the free body being given by out by the MM Board at LucyBody, Atenea*.
Below, I have an avatar who is wearing the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body and head, sporting a Maitreya Lara dress and shoes she picked up as freebies from the Second Life 17th Birthday Gifts Boardwalk, which fit perfectly:
The dress shown is the Vibsy minidress by Pulse, and the shoes are the Yuna heels from Sheba. The hair is also a SL17B gift; this long hairstyle is from Love and is called Lovely (it also serves to cover up the breast areola area on this daringly low-cat dress!). The skin is the Elvira skin from 7 Deadly S[k]ins in the fudge skin tone, part of a fatpack of Elvira skins I got for free from one of their camping chairs during their recent 7th anniversary celebrations! I simply love this look, and the best part is, it is completely free, from head to toe!
I think that the Ariadna Bento mesh head is absolutely gorgeous, straight out of the box, without having to adjust any of the head sliders! But one of the best features of this body is that the head is a separate attachment, and you can replace it with any other Bakes on Mesh-compatible head.
The following look comes from combining the Kalhene Ariadna body with the recent free group gift of the Strong Face Bento mesh head from the Genus Project (I decided to play with the many makeup options on the included HUD, and I went full glam!):
The dress is one of my favourite fashion freebies from Coco Designs, the Stretch Tube bodycon dress in berry red. (I blogged about this dress before here.) The red pumps are included in the Kalhene Ariadna package, and come in five different colours.
The hairstyle is a free group gift from Sintiklia, called Raphael; I learned from the Freebie Queens SL Discord that the Sintiklia group was free to join, so I took advantage of it. You’ll have to check yourself to see if the Sintiklia group is still free to join by the time I publish this blogpost, but if it is, join! You’ll pick up many different hairstyles for free. Even if Sintiklia has reimposed their group join fee and you’re flat broke, there’s still a free gift wall in the store with some hairstyles and makeup.
Once again, this entire look from head to toe is free!
Below, I have paired the Kalhene Ariadna body with the recent free group gift of the Freya Bento mesh head from Catwa, wearing the Elvira skin from 7 Deadly S[k]ins in the pineapple skin tone (an Advent calendar gift from last Christmas):
Her dress, pumps—even the bikini/panties under the dress!—were all included in the Kalhene Ariadna package:
And the best part is, once again, I was able to assemble this avatar look for zero Linden dollars! (This hair was a free group gift from Sintiklia, Called Minaj.)
There is a rapidly-growing market for shapes for this body (just do a search for “Kalhene” on the SL Markerplace). I tested out several freebie and dollarbie shapes for Ariadna, and my favourite starter shapes are those from a package of four sold for free by a store called D’Lea Lee by Pleyades Halsey, called Ideal (here’s the link).
Here is what one of the Ideal athletic shapes looks like:
And here to compare is one of the Ideal curvy shapes:
Of course, all these shapes are just starting points, which you can adjust as you desire to get “your” look. I find that this body responds very well to most of the head and body sliders.
In summary, the Kalhene Ariadna Bento, Bakes on Mesh body is an excellent product that just keeps getting better and better! I am seriously impressed with this product.
If you want to stay in the loop about this body, given how often it is being updated by the creator, there is now a free Second Life group you can join for news and updates. Just copy and paste the following link into the chat box of your SL client:
To get the developer’s kit for appliers or to create mesh clothes, shoes and accessories, please send a notecard to the creator, Claudia Urdaneta, with your request. Claudia has also been very responsive to user feedback and bug reports!
Thank you for making this fabulous free mesh body, Claudia!
As promised, here are a selection of some of the wonderful freebies you can pick up as part of the Second Life 17th Birthday celebrations (more details here), which run until now until July 12th, 2020.
First, a pro tip: before you visit the Shop and Hop event, visit the SL17B Gift Boardwalk first. Why? Because many of the Shop and Hop vendors have also wisely made their gifts available here, as well as their booths at the Shop and Hop event. Trust me, you will find it much easier to get into these two sims than try to pry your way into the crowded, laggy Shop and Hop mall sims, which seem to be limited to 45 avatars each at a time, maximum. (Then again, so do the Second Life 17th Birthday sims where the Boardwalk is located.)
The SL17B Gift Boardwalk: Start Here
UPDATE June 20th, 2020: You should also know that there are a lot of gifts here at the Gift Boardwalk that are only available here, such as this striking, geometric design gown by Blue Rose Creations:
In this blogpost, I will be providing exact SLURLs to the locations at the Shop and Hop mall sims (not the SL17B Gift Boardwalk). Like I said, start at the Boardwalk first, and then, only if you cannot find it there, try to get into the Shop and Hop sims (I would strongly urge you to wait until July. The gifts aren’t going anywhere.)
I do apologize to you for using a pose stand for many of the following pictures. It just made going through all the gifts (well over 200!) a much less tedious process. I also tended to rely heavily on vendor photos of the gifts in the mall to decide what I wanted to unpack, wear, and show you in this blogpost.
Store Credits
First, pick up the two store credit offers available at the Shop and Hop event, which mean you can pick up whatever you want from the store later!
(UPDATE June 20th, 2020: I mistakenly had written that Blueberry was among the stores offering a store credit at the Shop and Hop, but that was back in March for their birthday, and I had even blogged about it then. Please accept my apologies for the mistake, and a thank you to Brinlea for pointing this error out to me in the comments!)
Bumblebee is offering a L$300 store credit here (just attach the HUD and click on it), and Addams is giving away L$500 in store credit here (just click on the sign at their booth).
My Favourite Clothes, Shoes, Jewelry, Hair, and Eyes
I don’t usually blog about eyes, but I will make an exception for these absolutely gorgeous Sahara eyes by Avi-Glam, available at their booth here. They come in both classic system and mesh versions (Catwa, Genus, LeLutka, and Omega). I just may be wearing this pair for a little while!
Blueberry is, once again, being extremely generous with her gifts! She is giving away a fatpack of lace-trimmed tops, plus a fatpack of bow slippers! Christmas came early, kids. (Speaking of Christmas, the pink leggings are an applier from Baby Monkey and were an Advent calendar gift from last December.)
AlaFolie‘s free gift is the Floralie Happy dress, trimmed along the bottom in black lace, which comes with a HUD with four different patterns (and you can also change the texture on the black top part of the dress to match the rest). You can pick it up here (and there are another four patterns of this dress available if you join the AlaFolie store group, which is not free). Here I have paired it with the long, wavy hair that Sintiklia is already well-known for! This is the Ruby hairstyle, which comes in 17 different colours and includes a styling HUD to wear each side forward or back as you desire (get it here).
There are some rather nice hair gifts available at the Shop and Hop mall, and this is another one: a neat and tidy, top-bun hairstyle called Kristen from Ade (here), which comes in a full fatpack of colours. The slate-blue floral tied shirt is the gift from Pixicat (here).
Lybra is offering two gifts that can be worn together as shown or separately: the top comes with two HUDs with solid colours and floral patterns, and the micro-miniskirt in matching colours and patterns (which thankfully includes panties to preserve your modesty!). You can get it here.
The hair shown below is yet another SL17B Shop and Hop freebie, the Candice hairstyle by Doux (here), which also comes in a fatpack of colours.
Bella Moda‘s genrous gift is this entire outfit: a gold and red party dress, shoes, and jewelry! This is the Celebrazione Crimson dress (available here), and all the little details on each of the pieces are examples of some truly lovely craftsmanship:
Here’s a closer look at the top of the Celebrazione dress, the necklace and the earrings:
Next up is yet another hairstyle fatpack, this one by Love, called (of course!) Lovely hair (available at their booth here), along with a sexy minidress from Pulse, which features a cutout at the back (not shown here).
The dress is sized for Maitreya Lara only, but it comes in no less than eight different colours: red as shown below, plus army, black, blue, blush, plum, white, and wine! The chain belt you see is optional and comes in four choices of metal: gold, silver, rose gold and onyx. You’re all set for the nightclub in this outfit! You can snap it up here!
(I know for a fact you can also pick up this dress and this hair at the Gift Boardwalk.)
Finally, we have the Be Mine floral headband and a moon collar from Tentacio (available here; please note that the creator has mistakenly switched the labels on the included HUD for the collar—Metal should be Leather and vice versa!):
This headband is completely adjustable in various dimensions (a feature I wish more accessories creators offered), and it comes in four different versions, with pink, red, white, and blue roses.
There are literally dozens of other gifts at both the Gift Boardwalk and the Shop and Hop mall; this is just a sampling of things which I particularly liked. There are also many home decor freebies available this time around, and tons of shoes, which I have not covered here except for the Blueberry and Bella Moda gifts.
Here’s a list of all the Shop and Hop sims. Again, I would caution you to wait a week or two until the crowd dies down and you can browse and wander in peace. The 200 participating vendors are also offering discounts on a selection of their merchandise, plus a few special items only during the SL17B celebrations!
Happy freebie shopping!
O.K., back to my vacation from the blog… 😉
UPDATE June 20th, 2020: I forgot to mention one more fabulous freebie, this beautiful deep purple and brown medieval/fantasy gown by Silvan Moon Designs! This is the Iona Destiny Elven gown in amethyst:
The set comes with a separate brown leather jerkin and arm-guards, which are one piece, in case you suddenly need to ride off to battle! The detail, as always, is delightful.
Now, I regret that I did not remember to save the SLURL for this last gift, but it is on the Gilded sim. Just look for a small suitcase on a fireplace mantel inside the store, to the right from the entrance.
Second Life, the most popular and successful virtual world to date, is marking its 17th birthday with a celebration that opened today, and runs until July 12th, 2020 (here’s the blogpost from the official blog).
Patch Linden, in his opening remarks at the SL17B Live Stage to a large and appreciative crowd of avatars, said that Second Life is enjoying a renaissance, adding that “the pandemic has brought a return of many old and new generations of residents to Second Life”. He confirmed that the number of monthly active SL users (that is, avatar accounts which have signed in at least once in a month) has risen to almost 900,000 people (as I have reported before, an increase of 50%), and that Second Life has seen an increase of 20% in its daily user concurrency figures.
Look at all the green dots on the map (left)! It was a capacity crowd indeed! Patch Linden (centre) and Strawberry Linden (right) on the SL17B Live Stage
Many of the top performers in Second Life have come together to perform live at the SL17B Music Fest, a special two-day music event held June 19th and 20th at the SL17B Live Stage. Here’s your chance to celebrate Second Life’s 17th Birthday while experiencing some fantastic live musical talent that you won’t want to miss. The full line up is available here. (Skye Galaxy is the closing act of Music Fest on the 20th at 7:000 p.m. SLT; don’t miss his performance!)
And the Shop and Hop event has been expanded to ten (yes, TEN) full sims, with 200 stores participating, each offering discounts and giving freebies! I have already thoroughly ransacked the Shop and Hop mall, so expect a blogpost soon about the many fabulous free gifts that you can pick up, both at the mall and at the separate gifts section located on the SL17B Celebration sims.
Between The Stay at Home Club and SL17B, freebie season is truly upon us! I suggest you take full advantage of this opportunity to stock your inventories with fabulous freebies!
