Month: November 2022

UPDATED for December 10th! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Advent Calendars and 12 Days of Christmas Calendars in 2022

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash

It’s that most wonderful time of the year! And I’m talking about the time where on-the-ball freebie fashionistas can scoop up dozens of free gifts from the many Second Life stores which have either an Advent calendar (running Dec. 1st to Dec. 24th or 25th) or a Twelve Days of Christmas calendar (usually running between Dec. 12th or 13th and Dec. 24th or 25th).

Lists of Stores with Advent Calendars and 12 Days of Christmas Calendars

The Advent Calendar list by TeleportHub.com

If you’re looking for a list of such calendars, here are some that I have found useful (note that this list will be updated as I find new ones; many are not published until later in the day on December 1st, or even on December 2nd!):

  • TeleportHub.com’s Advent Calendar Store List 2022 is already up!
  • UPDATE 9:53 p.m.: December Advent Listing by Fabulously Free in SL.
  • UPDATE Dec. 2nd, 2022: Holiday Sales and Advent List from Seraphim.
  • UPDATE Dec. 6th, 2022: Dreamer’s 2022 Advent Calendar List, from the Dreamer’s Virtual World blog (there’s also a gallery on Flickr). Dreamer’s list also tells you which calendars allow you to collect the previous days’ presents, either for free (no group needed), free with group, or paid with group! Very handy info to have. What I like to do for those Advent calendars where I can pick up all the previous days’ gifts, is wait until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, teleport in, and then pick them all up at one time!
  • UPDATE Dec. 2nd, 2022: Second Life Syndicate has a Google spreadsheet with over 200 Advent and Twelve Days of Christmas calendars, which you can access here (scroll down and click on the link that says “Commenting Spreadsheet”, which can only accommodate up to 100 people at one time; a second spreadsheet, called “Published Spreadsheet”, will be published soon, but is not yet available).
  • Low Price Fashion in Second Life is a little-known Japanese blog which, last year, posted a daily roundup of that day’s Advent calendar gifts. I expect they will do the same this year.
  • Last year, the very hardworking folks over at the Russian-language VKontakte group Second Life – FREE posted a daily roundup of that day’s Advent calendar gifts, with pictures! And those Russian freebie fashionistas are doing it again for 2022. They even went so far as to create an alphabetical list of stores with links to pictures of each day’s Advent gift! Bookmark this list and check back daily; this is probably THE easiest way to actually see each day’s calendar gifts without teleporting all over the grid, collecting and unpacking items! (Please remember to use the Russian-to-English translator in your Chrome browser, or Google Translate, to read the posts in this Russian-language community. You do not need to set up an account on VKontakte; just click on the “Not Now!” link every time the nagging pop-up appears asking you to log in.)
  • UPDATE Dec. 10th, 2022: I don’t know how on Earth I could have missed this wonderful resource until today, but Second Life YouTuber Naria Panthar has a Discord server, which you can join here. And in that Discord server is an -calendars channel, where somebody posts pictures of as many Advent calendar gifts as they can find! There’s much less clicking involved than with the VKontake group I mentioned above, all you have to do is scroll through each day’s listings! Even better, a direct SLURL to the gift is included. A big thank you to hupe, who makes these valuable posts! This might well be the best and easiest way yet to see what each SL store is offering, without having to teleport all over the grid, and then unpack and try on gifts.
A sample of hupe’s work from the -calendars channel on Maria Panthar’s Discord

Ryan’s Picks: Stores I Will Be Visiting Every Day

This year, instead of wearing myself out trying to hit every single calendar on the grid, I will be focusing my energy on just a select few which, year after year, consistently offer the best gifts. Here are my top picks for 2022!

  • Firelight Hair has a Twelve Days of calendar running from December 13th to 24th (you do need to join the Firelight group for free). You have to pick up each gift on the day it is offered. The gifts are mostly women’s hairstyles, but there will also be a few unisex styles. All hair gifts usually come with a mini 2 or 3-colour HUD.
  • 7 Deadly s[K]ins always has an advent tree in their store, with generous gifts every single day from Dec. 1st through to the 31st! Please note that you do have to join the store group, called SEVEN – [7DS]; there is a group join fee (when I checked on Nov. 30th, it was L$500). To get each day’s present from the tree, simply pay the vendor L$1, and it will automatically be refunded. If you missed a day, you can buy previous days’ gifts for L$25 each. Apparently, they are also giving away gifts each weekend, so pop in!

In the room immediately to the left of the 7 Deadly S[k]ins Advent tree, you can purchase a fatpack of skins for L$1 from the Today’s Offer board, as well as pick up another free skin fatpack from the Giftboard, plus there are six Mini-Mania boards to try your luck for even more skins (see arrows in the picture below):

  • WOW Skins had extremely generous gifts of skin fatpacks every day in their Advent calendar, and I expect nothing less this year! (UPDATE Dec. 1st: Looks like this year it’s just single skins each day, no fatpacks!) You do have to be a member of their group (the group costs L$350).
  • Essenz has an Advent calendar running from Dec. 1st to 24th, where you can pick up a gift of high-quality women’s footwear every day (you must be a group member; the Essenz store group costs L$350 to join). If you missed a day, or you are not a group member, you can pick up previous days’ gifts for only L$50 each.
  • Every year, the Baby Monkey 12 Days of Christmas calendar (Dec. 13th to 24th) offers a free gift each day (women’s clothing and footwear). All the gifts together form a complete, colour-coordinated capsule wardrobe! You do have to show up each day to pick up that day’s gift (no group needed; just pay the vendor L$1, and it is automatically refunded).
An example (from 2 years ago) of the gifts from the 12 Days of Christmas calendar at Baby Monkey; every year, the gifts form a colour-coordinated capsule wardrobe in three colours!
  • JUMO will be giving away lovely gifts of women’s apparel and jewelry from Dec. 15th, 2022 to Jan. 1st, 2023 (no group required, and you can visit on New Year’s Day and pick up all the gifts at one time). This is the place to pick up some beautiful ballgowns and costume jewelry!
  • Last year, SOFIA had some absolutely gorgeous ballgowns and jewelry in their advent calendar. This year, their calendar will run over 20 days, from Dec. 5th to Christmas Day. You must join the SOFIA store group for free to pick up these presents!
  • ALB Dream Fashion will have a calendar again this year, stuffed with gifts for both male and female avatars (the first Advent gift is already available when I checked on Nov. 30th!). If interested, join the group now while it is still free (the name of the group to search for is “LAMU GROUP”). Per the notices, it will be L$500 to join beginning Dec 1st, 2022.

UPDATE Dec. 3rd, 2022: I just noticed that ALB Dream Fashion has provided a sneak preview of some of the presents from their Advent calendar! As you can see, they will have an assortment of wonderful gifts this season, for both male and female avatars.

  • UPDATE Dec. 2nd, 2022: Both Vagrant (womenswear) and its sister store Zerkalo (home decor) have Advent calendars running from Dec. 1st to 24th (both require a free group join).
  • UPDATE Dec. 2nd, 2022: Salt and Pepper will be offering clothing gifts on December 1st, on the weekends, and on Christmas Eve, and gift cards on weekdays, which can be applied to any merchandise in the store. The Salt & Pepper group costs L$300 to join.
  • UPDATE Dec. 2nd, 2022: Glitzz has an Advent tree encircled with 24 teddy bear-adorned giftboxes, where you can pick up each day’s present for free (no group required). Previous days’ gifts can be purchased for L$25 each.
  • UPDATE Dec. 2nd, 2022: Celestina’s was slightly delayed in setting out their Advent calendar gifts, but the first few are now out, in a row along the front counter of the store. If you act quickly, you can pick up the gifts from both Dec. 1st and Dec. 2nd today, a strapless violet ballgown and a salmon shrug. The gifts for the next few days have previews on the boxes, and they look very nice! You must join the Celestina’s group for free to pick up these presents. If you miss a day, you can buy that day’s gift for L$35.
  • UPDATE Dec. 2nd, 2022: Seniha (womenswear) has an Advent calendar located outside their store. You need to join their group for free to obtain each day’s gift.
  • UPDATE Dec. 3rd, 2022: The advent calendar at ALTER is giving away lovely gifts of women’s clothing (you must join the ALTER group for free to get these gifts). If you miss a day, you can buy the previous days’ presents for L$55 each.
  • UPDATE Dec. 3rd, 2022: If you’re looking for something a little bit naughtier in your fashion, why not visit the Advent calendar at Erotik? Join their free store group to pick up each day’s gift. Previous days’ gifts can be purchased for L$35 each.

A final note: I regret to say that, unlike previous years, I will not be doing a daily round-up of Advent calendar gifts each day, either here on the blog or in the RyanSchultz.com Steals, Deals, and Freebies Second Life group (although I will still post some fabulous freebies and bargains to the latter, as I come across them). I’m sorry, but it’s just too much for me this year.

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash

Happy freebie shopping!

EDITORIAL: Two Recent YouTube Videos Take Aim at Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, and Meta’s Virtual Reality Hardware and Software Development

Horizon Workrooms get savaged in a highly critical review video by The Verge, a sign of the growing antipathy toward’s Meta virtual reality hardware and software strategy

This is worth negative ten billion dollars. I would pay ten billion dollars to never use this again. I wanted to have hope that we could do this, and it would be fun, but I mean, you guys agree that this one of the most buggy software experiences, ever.

—Alex Heath, The Verge (transcribed audio excerpt from the video below)

I’m still percolating, alas, but I did want to share with my readers a couple of YouTube videos which caught my attention.

The first, a 15-minute editorial video by The Verge‘s Adi Robertson, discusses Meta’s new Quest Pro VR headset and its Horizon Worlds and Horizon Workrooms social VR experiences. She and her colleagues did not hold back in their criticisms of both, particularly the Horizon platforms (the quote at the top of this blogpost comes from another writer for The Verge, as a group was kicking the tires on Horizon Workrooms).

The Verge staff make it very clear that they are less than impressed with what is on offer from Meta, and that they do not believe that remote workteams will be using either the Quest Pro or Horizon Workrooms, over a Zoom call.

The popular virtual reality YouTuber ThrillSeeker goes even further in the following 15-minute video, which has already racked up over 400,000 views:

In it, he takes Mark Zuckerberg and his team at Meta to task for dropping the ball with their virtual reality hardware and software strategy to date:

How in the hell did it go so wrong that Meta and Horizon have become the laughingstock of hundreds of videos and publications, and that Quests, for the most part, are just sitting on shelves collecting dust?

Meta, I understand that you are a massive corporation…and that running a business like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Oculus is probably incredibly difficult.

But you have somehow managed to turn one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my life, into one of the lamest jokes in tech.

—ThrillSeeker

Among many other criticisms, he accuses Meta (rightfully) of focusing on wireless VR headsets to the exclusion of high-end PCVR (that is, headsets like his and my beloved Valve Index, which require a good desktop computer with a powerful graphics card, and can run a lot of applications which wireless headsets would struggle with.

What I find so fascinating about both these videos is that they are emblematic of a rising tide of antipathy against Meta, as it tries to repivot to become a metaverse company, sinking tens of billions of dollars a year into a VR/AR strategy that might take a decade or longer before it goes truly mainstream (that is, beyond the early adopters and the hardcore gamers). Both videos mention the recent massive layoffs at Meta, a further sign that all is not well with the company as it struggles to find the next big thing after social networking.

Mark Zuckerberg is placing a very expensive bet on virtual and augmented reality and the metaverse, but will that big bet pay off, and when? Stay tuned.

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Free Head and Body Skins from Boataom

Looking for other Black Friday weekend sales in Second Life? Start here.

Like thousands of other stores in Second Life, Boataom is throwing a Black Friday sale, with 60% off everything in the store. But did you know, that if you join the Boataom store group for free, you can pick up some lovely head skins, plus free body skins in the matching skin tones?

Just teleport into the store, head to the back wall, and you will see a generous group gifts section, which includes skins for LeLutka Evo X, Genus, and Catwa mesh heads. And, if you look up on the wall to your left, you can pick up body skins which match the skin tones of the Boataom head skins! The free skins are complete fatpacks of all the Boataom skin tones, and they come in packages for all the major female mesh body brands:

  • Maitreya mesh body applier, Omega applier and Bakes on Mesh skins
  • Legacy mesh body applier and Bakes on Mesh skins
  • Belleza mesh body applier, Omega applier, and Bakes on Mesh skins
  • Slink mesh body applier, Omega applier, and Bakes on Mesh skins
  • Kupra mesh body Bakes on Mesh skins
  • eBody Reborn mesh body Bakes on Mesh skins

In addition to head and body skins, you can also pick up some free makeup, hair, and even a static mesh head! There’s a second static mesh head for only L$10. (I reviewed both of these Boataom mesh heads here; they’re both not that great, sadly, and they don’t compare with the numerous free and inexpensive Bento mesh heads you can get elsewhere.)

Here’s a look I put together, using the free Kaya head which I picked up as a Christmas gift last year from LeLutka, and the free, Maitreya Lara-compatible Atenea mesh body, a Lucky Board gift from LucyBody. On this avatar, I used the Nicole head skin, paired with the Maitreya Bakes on Mesh skin, both in the Latina skin tone:

Looking fabulous! I picked up the hair for free (I believe it was an Advent calendar gift from Firelight Hair from a couple of years ago), and I got the dress for free, too (I joined the Ersch store group when they advertised a free join period, and I can pick up L$250 in free store credit each month as a group member, so I spent some on this dress!)

In fact, the total cost for this avatar look was only L$250 (for the Bakes on Mesh kit for the LucyBody Atenea mesh body, so you can use BoM skins with it). You see, it pays off to be a relentless Second Life freebie fashionista and bargain hunter! 😜 Further proof that you do not need to spend thousands of Linden dollars to have a well put-together avatar.

According to a notice posted to the Boataom group, while the rest of the group gifts will probably stick around, the body skins will only be available for free until December 4th, 2022, so don’t delay! Here’s your taxi.

Happy freebie shopping!

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Your Quick and Dirty Guide to the 2022 Black Friday Sales in Second Life (Plus a Few Tips)

Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days in the American calendar, and, of course, it comes as no surprise that many Second Life stores also have sales running on or around the Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend (November 25th to 28th, 2022). Many stores are having 50%-off sales on their merchandise, and a few are offering even bigger discounts!

The biggest list of Second Life Black Friday sales is probably the one compiled by Seraphim: The Seraphim Black Friday Sales List. But there are many other lists:

Please keep in mind that many stores do not use a list to advertise. One of these is Maitreya. For the past couple of years, they have had an (unadvertised) 50%-off sale on the ubiquitous Maitreya Lara female mesh body. Now, I don’t know if Maitreya is going to do it again this year, but I am willing to bet that they will (and, like in previous years, they will not announce it). UPDATE Nov. 25th: Yes, the Maitreya Lara mesh body is now on sale, for L$1,375. Best price of the year, get it now!!!

In fact, Black Friday sales are usually the one time in the year when most major mesh head and body creators offer significant discounts on their wares. (UPDATE 6:12 p.m.: The Second Life Syndicate spreadsheet I talked about earlier has a handy section right at the top, listing the major mesh head and body vendors and their sales!) So keep your eyes peeled for any announcements in any Second Life groups you belong to, and pay a visit to the stores themselves on Black Friday, to check out the action for yourself!

Here are some more details on a few specific stores, culled from this thread on the official Second Life community forums:

  • Nuve: As part of their Black Friday celebrations, the Nuve skin and cosmetics store has a free group join from Nov. 21st to Nov. 25th, 2022. If you do not already belong to this group, join it now, and you can pick up countless free group gifts of skins (head plus body skins included), eyebrows, eyeshadows, and lipsticks. Also, if you join the group, you can visit the Nuve store once every seven days to click the panel at the front desk and GET L$75 IN FREE STORE CREDIT! You can accumulate the store credit since it does not expire, and you can use it on anything in the store! I love this, and I wish more stores did stuff like this!
  • Dead Doll: you can join their VIP group for free on Thursday, Nov. 24th, and get 50% off main store products! The sim will be restricted to VIP group members only.
  • UPDATE Nov. 25th: Like so many other womenswear stores, Pink Cream Pie is throwing a 50%-off sale, until Nov. 28th. You can join the Pink Cream Pie store’s VIP group for free, and get a 50% store credit for any purchases you make with that group tag active! With that free group join, you can pick up dozens and dozens of free group gifts, located on the second floor of their store, next to the Lucky Boards.
Join the Pink Cream Pie group for free, and pick up almost 70 free group gifts!
  • UPDATE Nov. 25th: Dotty’s Secret makeup shop (which also specializes in drag queen makeup) has a free group join from November 21 to November 30! Join the group and wear the group tag to get a 50% discount on everything in the store. There’s also a group gift wall with 15 free group gifts of makeup fatpacks for people of all genders!
  • UPDATE Nov. 25th: Another store group that is free to join from Nov. 21st to 28th is Mishmash Fusion, which is offering 50%-off on everything in the store for group members, plus a couple of free group gifts, located up on the wall between the front counter and the stairs. Mishmash also sells clothing and furniture for dinkies (i.e. tiny avatars) up on the second floor!
  • UPDATE Nov. 25th: The VIP store group at the FAGA hair store is free to join right now, and they have over ten hair packs free for their group members (all in ombre tones, not solid colours). Just join the group, wander around the store, and click on the EXCLUSIVE GIFT signs below the hairstyle vendors. The store seems to have disappeared from the grid at the moment, but I’m sure they’ll get it all sorted out eventually…maybe the store owner forgot to pay her rent? 😜
  • Both LeLutka and Akeruka have a 50%-off sale on their Bento mesh heads (LeLutka’s starts tomorrow, Nov. 25th and runs until Nov. 28th; Akeruka’s is on now, also until Nov. 28th). Remember that Akeruka now has a line of ADVX heads, which work with LeLutka Evo X skins, as well as a line of baby/infant heads, called BABYX.
  • Velour’s body skins will on sale for 30% off, which is notable since so many SL head skin creators use the Velour skin tones. So this is your chance to stock up and save!
  • Moccino (skins, makeup, cosmetics) is having a 60%-off sale, Nov. 21st to Dec. 1st, 2022. Again, some SL head skins use Moccino skin tones, so stock up!
  • If you love being a fantasy avatar, Bespoke will be holding a 75% off sale on select fantasy heads and skins (please check for details in the store).
  • UPDATE Nov. 25th: Signature mesh heads and bodies (male and female) are 50% off.
  • UPDATE Nov. 27th: Loki (womenswear) has a free group join until tomorrow, November 28th, 2022. You can pick up quite a few nice group gifts in store!
  • Belleza is having a 50%-off sale storewide, but their new line of Gen X female bodies will be 20% off (Nov. 25th to 27th, 2022).

Again, my best advice to you is, if you have a favourite store, check to see if they are on any of the lists I posted at the top of this blogpost, but also check their store group, as well as in-store on Black Friday to see what other sales they might be having.

Happy Black Friday shopping!