Category: Second Life

UPDATED WITH INFORMATION ABOUT ERIKA ZERO PLUS! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies—The New Free Erika Zero Mesh Body by Kalhene (and Where to Get Free Clothing and Shoes for It)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Since writing this blogpost, I have learned that the Erika Zero mesh body is no longer available for free; instead, you can pick up an improved version (with detachable, tintable nails, optional belly and butt deformers, and a high-heeled feet option) for only L$50 if you join the brand new Erika Mesh Body group. You will also need to join the Erika Mesh Body group to pick up all the group gifts at the Kalhene store. Please see the last update to this blogpost for more details.

If you’re in the market for a nice, low-lag, free mesh body, you’re in luck! The Kalhene Erika mesh body, which I reviewed previously here, is now offering a version called Erika Zero, which consists of a Bento, Bakes on Mesh body with flat feet, plus one outfit (top, shorts, and sneakers). To pick one up, just teleport here to the N-Core/Kalhene store and buy it for L$0 (no group needed). Warning: word has gotten out and the store is busy!

The notecard included with the Erika Zero body package states:

ERIKA Zero are a simplified Bake on Mesh Body. The pack includes the Erika Zero body, shape, one skin and basic outfit.

Full Erika Version Includes:

  • Complete Erika mesh body modifiable.
  • Body shine and oiled skin levels.
  • Individual hand poses.
  • 5 Hand nails shapes with 32 colors and removable.
  • 4 Feet indvidual shape (Flat, Medium, TipToe and Pointy)
    with 32 colors and removable.
  • Includes a feet long nails add on.
  • 3 Nipples sizes with HD textures and tintable via HUD.
  • HD Pubic Hair with some hairy shapes and tintable via HUD.
  • HD Mesh Vagina with animated states.
  • HUD Built-in Breast and Butt deformers.
  • Breathing and Butt jiggling animations.
  • Alpha Cuts sections.
  • Built-in Add-ons: Bubble Boobs, Petits Seins, Petite Waist and Squeeze Legs.
  • 4 Bento Mesh heads.
  • Transgender Add-on in 4 sizes and Penis states via HUD.
  • Adult Playset with some accessories.
  • Cel Shading effect Add-on.
  • Weareable body deformers Add-on for Breast, Belly, Back and Butt.
  • Wardrobe with some outfits and clothes for Bubble Boobs, Petits Seins and Squeeze Legs.
  • 5 BoM Skins and Eyes.

Please note that the Kalhene Zero body does not include an alpha HUD, or any kind of HUD, for that matter! However, you can always use Bakes on Mesh alphas, like the ones that come with your clothes you buy. You can also pick up free packs of clothing alphas from various locations on the grid for free (like the Little Black Dress store). You can also pick up free sets of body alphas on the SL Marketplace; here are four:

The Erika Zero body is the perfect wearable demo for you to road-test, and try out various Bakes on Mesh skins with, before deciding whether to spring for the full-priced version! I have it for one of my alts, and I am seriously considering buying the full-price version for a couple more. (Please see the note at the very end of this blogpost—right now there’s a 25%-off sale going on!)

While you are in the N-Core/Kalhene store, be sure to join the Kalhene group for free, which enables you to pick up eleven group gifts from the Kalhene gift wall:

In addition to clothing, the gifts include several shapes for the Erika body, which are all illustrated in the gallery below. I have found that the Kalhene Erika body adjusts extremely well to the body sliders, allowing you to make your avatar as thin, thicc, or curvy as you desire! The default shape included in the Erika Zero package is quite pleasing, I think (see the first image below), but as you can see, you can get this body much more curvaceous!

Erika Zero (default shape)
Anisa Shape
Kumi Shape
Kiera Curvy Shape
Regina Shape
Kiera Regular Shape

So, now I am also going to share with you where you can pick up free clothing designed to fit Kalhene Erika mesh bodies (both the free and full-priced versions). First stop is Hilly Haalan’s freebie store, where you can snap up no less than seven outfits for Erika (see red arrows below):

You can also pick up some nice free footwear for the full-price Kalhene Erika feet, which allows for high heels. The Kalehen Zero free body only allows for flat feet, but don’t despair! The good news is that shoes designed for Maitreya Lara feet fit the Kalhene mesh body, but only up to the ankle—Maitreya shoes with lacing up the calves, or boots, won’t work. Fortunately, on the opposite wall from all the Kalhene Erika freebies are a nice set of Amy flats with a fatpack HUD. You’ll probably have to adjust the foot size smaller on the body sliders to make them fit, but they will fit, and look great! They come in a complete fatpack of colours, with either silver or gold trim.

Now, let’s drop into a few other places where you can pick up free clothing for your Erika body. At Reed, you can pick up a free dress fatpack, Andreza, plus the sexy Amore outfit fatpack (just join the Reed store group for free):

Then hop on over to Spotlight, and head to the gift wall next to the front counter, where for another free group join, you can get two fabulous dress fatpacks (Leina and Samara), plus a top fatpack (Luka). Just pay the vendors one Linden dollar each, which will be automatically refunded, and they’re yours!

Avale offers a gift of that classic wardrobe staple, a little black dress which comes in a size for Kalhene Erika; just join the Avale group for free and click on the yellow gift box icon to receive your present:

BlondeQueen is also offering a jumper for free (with a free group join):

The DM store has two freebie/dollarbie fatpacks, which include sizes to fit Kalhene Erika, as shown in the diagram below (with the relevant group to join indicated):

Rebane has four gifts of tops and bodysuits for Erika (again, the group is free to join):

And did you know that The Free Dove, the venerable and long-running freebie store run by Palomma Casanova for 17 years, has now been replaced with a memorial named in her honour? It’s a brand new freebie store/shopping mall called Palomma Plaza, with many new free items (plus a few carryovers from The Free Dove) and yes, there are fabulous freebies here for the Kalhene Erika body as well!

Palomma Plaza has a new central spawn point, but save this SLURL to your inventory, then right-click on it and select Show on Map from the drop-down menu, and simply follow the red arrow/column of light to pick up three lovely gifts from Grumble and Scrappy Scorpion!

All the Second Life vloggers are saying that the free version of the Erika mesh body is only going to be available for a limited time, but I don’t know for how long. Also, the full-price version of Erika is currently available for 25% off, at L$1,995, which is also a great deal! Note that the full package includes a very nice capsule wardrobe with ten outfits. Again, I don’t know how long the sale will last, so if you’re interested in either the free or full versions of this mesh body, don’t wait!

Also, if you have either the free or full versions of the Kalhene Erika body, you need to join the Dreamer’s SL Discord server (here’s an invite), where they maintain a kalhene-erika discussion channel, just for free and inexpensive gifts for that body!

Happy freebie shopping!

P.S. I wanted to show you yet another fetching free outfit for the Kalhene Erika body, this wonderful Grace dress, which actually consists of two pieces, a blouse and a matching long skirt. It is the Enchantment Dark Academia Hunt prize from Web Dew. You are looking for an open book, and the hint is: “Cozy place, pillow and coffee.” Quite easy to find! 😉

I paired the Kalhene Zero body with the skin included in the package (which is LeLutka Evolution compatible, not LeLutka Evo X!), and used the LeLutka Lilly Bento mesh head, which was a freebie from three Christmases ago. The long nails on the Erika Zero hands don’t quite fit the historical, Victorian-era nature of this look, and they unfortunately can’t be changed, but hey, this entire avatar look is completely free, from head to toe! (I once again used the free Amy flats from Hilly Haalan.)

Not too shabby for zero Linden dollars, I must say!

UPDATE May 20th, 2023: Well, in response to numerous user requests, the creator of the Erika Zero body has upgraded the body to include the ability to wear high-heeled shoes! Just teleport to the same location in the N-Core/Kalhene store where you picked up the original Erika Zero mesh body (SLURL), join the brand new Erika Mesh Body group for L$50, and you can pick up the new group gift of the Erika Zero Plus body (just click on the mannequin):

A note from the creator posted to the Kalhene Second Life group says:

Hi, after the high request to include tip toe feet to be able to wear heels, we have updated “Erika Zero” to “Erika Zero Plus”. Now includes flat feet and tip toe, removable finger nails, belly and butt deformers, and more…You will be able to get it joining the – Erika Mesh Body – new VIP group. Only for a limited time.

The Erika Zero Plus package contains:

  • a shape, two skins (medium and tan), and two bodies: one with flat feet (the original Erika Zero) and a new one with tiptoe feet, so you can wear high heels now;
  • separate fingernails, which are tintable, and which you can replace with other nails (see below for some free nails for Erika hands);
  • two body add-ons called “Belly Flat” and “Butt Up”, which work with both the flat-feet and tiptoe-feet versions of the Erika Zero Plus mesh body;
  • a mini wardrobe: bikini bra and thong; shorts; a tank top and shorts outfit; sneakers; and stiletto heels.

Remember that the tiptoe feet on the Erika Zero Plus mesh body are compatible with shoes made for Maitreya Lara feet, but only up the ankle! You can also pick up some free high-heeled shoes specifically designed for Erika bodies from the Hilly Haalan freebie store, which I mentioned higher up in this blogpost. There are three pairs of high-heeled shoes available for Kalhene Erika feet, as shown by the red arrows in the image below:

The Diletta Beaded Heels from Hilly Haalan fit Erika feet, and come in a full fatpack of colours

If you wish to replace the included fingernails with others, there are two free fatpacks of nails available from the group gift wall at the BINGE Events store (just join the BINGE Events group for free, and click the panels indicated by the red arrows):

The Aline nails fit Kalhene Erika hands, and come in eight textures

Apparently, the Erika Zero Plus mesh body package is only available for a limited time, so don’t delay in picking this up! Even at the cost of L$50 to join the group, this is a true bargain, and as we have seen, more and more designers are now creating clothing for the Kalhene Erika mesh body.

Doing Drag in Second Life: Pal’z Premier Drag Club, the Anatomy Mesh Body, and SeraPRIDE’s Ultimate Drag SuperStar Contest!

MissDrag, wearing the Anatomy mesh body, looking good and feeling absolutely FABULOUS, darling! (And, to quote drag queen Mrs. Kasha Davis, “There’s always time for a cocktail!”)

WARNING! This is a super-long blogpost because, late yesterday evening, I received news about SeraPRIDE and their Ultimate Drag Superstar Contest, so instead of writing up a separate blogpost, I decided to add it to this one, which I was already writing. So go pour yourself a coffee (or some wine, or whatever your favourite beverage is!), settle in, and enjoy a little longform reading. 🙂

As my regular blog readers know, I have a drag queen avatar in Second Life, named MissDrag, and I have written about creating a look for her many times before on this blog (here, here, here, and here). I have spent many an enjoyable hour gallivanting around the grid as a drag queen, in search of sisters or a place to death drop. Alas, my search was always in vain (and searching for “drag” under Places in Search led me only to the countless drag car racing communities in Second Life).

Well, I am pleased to announce that I have taken my RuPaul’s Drag Race obsession a step further: I am now performing in drag shows in Second Life! Yes, I can now proudly add digital drag artist to my resume! I even earn money from it!!

The stage at Pal’z SL Premier Drag Club

Pal’z SL Premier Drag Club (SLURL) is operated by Pal Mally, and holds drag shows Thursdays and Fridays from 8:00-10:00 p.m. SL Time/Pacific Time. Pal is assisted on stage by a hostess, who is usually FrankOh, but at last night’s show drag queen Red Rioja filled in. (Please click on each picture in the gallery below to see it in its full-size glory; these are just one of multiple costume changes each queen did during their shows!)

Pal Mally
FrankOh
Red Rioja

As you can see from these pictures, you can do drag in EVERY body: classic system body or modern mesh body, male body or female body or something in-between (more on that in a moment). Pal Mally’s notecard with instructions for potential drag artists states: “No avatar will be refused (except child avatars), so the sky is the limit.”

Here’s a 25-second video clip of my very first drag performance last week, with Pal Mally and other drag queens! You can use the dance animations Pal provides, as we did here, or provide your own, as I did for my second show this week.

My first drag performance! (I’m in the red wig.)

Just as in real life, drag queens can receive tips from the audience during their performance! In the one-minute video below, you can see the drag queen Red Rioja set up her tip jar during her set, and receive a L$100 tip from me:

Red Rioja (a.k.a JackBeary) performs at Pal’s drag club, and receives a tip from me!

I actually earned over L$1,000 in tips from an appreciative audience each of the two times I stepped on stage at Pal’z drag club! It’s the best feeling in the world.

I donated some of my earnings back to support the club; there’s a donation box located at the rear of the dance floor.

At the end of the evening, Pal Mally invites everybody to dance on stage:

How I came across Pal’z drag club is quite a story in itself. At this year’s SL Skin Fair, Malediction announced a new male mesh body called Anatomy, which could work with both male and female heads, and could be shaped using the body sliders for a wide variety of masculine and feminine looks:

The body comes in two versions, Fit and Soft, and the package includes six base shapes which you can use as a starting point: Feminine Curvy, Feminine Slim, Masculine Chubby, Masculine Classic, Masculine Muscle, and Masculine Slim. The Anatomy body features 7 nail types and lengths, 5 feet types (flat, low, medium, high, and tiptoe), and something I hadn’t seen before in a mesh body, optional asymmetrical arms Bakes-on-Mesh (in other words, you can have different tattoos on each arm, if you wish).

In an April Fool’s joke, the Anatomy body creator, Adrien Absinthe, said they were going to release a “Bimbo Body”, and then instead released a free add-on to the Anatomy body, a ridiculously oversized set of breasts called Big Boobs which completely replace the regular male chest pecs on the Soft version of the body.

My first thought in seeing this was, “Wow, that would make a great drag queen breast plate!,” and I laughed so hard that I landed up buying the Anatomy body! So congratulations, Adrien, your April Fool’s joke made a sale. 😉 The Anatomy body retails for L$4,499 here in SL or L$4,949 on the Second Life Marketplace, so if you want to save some money, buy it in-world.

Below you see MissDrag, wearing the Anatomy body with the Big Boobs add-on, with a female LeLutka Evo X mesh head, Lilly, which I picked up as a free Christmas gift in a previous year (I alpha’ed out the feet completely and used a pair of older feet-in-high-heeled shoes I picked up at a freebie store several years ago):

And here’s three more MissDrag looks, all using the Anatomy body with the Quinn male mesh head, which was a LeLutka Holiday Special event gift from last December (please click on each image to see it in full size):

Anyway, to get to the point: I posted some of these photos on the Anatomy Discord server (where, by the way, they have a gallery featuring works by the many designers already creating clothing, footwear, and accessories for this body!), and somebody DM’ed me to ask where I got the wig in the third picture above, and he told me about Pal’z drag club! It’s funny how often that sort of thing happens in Second Life…the butterfly effect in full force.

Late last night, I got the following message via Discord:

Hi Ryan. I don’t know if you’d consider sharing this information with your blogging community, but I am wanting to spread the word as far as I can for the Rainbow Railroad project. This weekend is our final weekend to receive applications for contestants to sign up and participate in this year’s drag race. The winner will receive L$25,000 worth of gift cards, and they will be crowned this year’s Ultimate Drag Super Star.

The team of Seraphim has also been working very hard to reach out to creators and entertainers to ask for their time and/or donations for this event. The Second Life community has donated over 1 million Linden dollars’ worth of matching donations and prizes towards the SeraPRIDE event. We are hoping to bring in guests to join us in the celebration and help raise awareness and funds that go directly to the Rainbow Railroad project. If this is something that interests you, and you’d like to pass on this information to others, I am including some links and video clips to include in your publication.

Rainbow Railroad: https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/

SeraPRIDE announcement page: https://www.seraphimsl.com/serapride-2023/

SeraPRIDE Drag Race Application: https://www.seraphimsl.com/2023/05/05/be-the-next-ultimate-drag-superstar-at-serapride/

PLEASE NOTE that the deadline for applying to perform at the SeraPRIDE Drag Race event is very soon! The contestant application will remain open until 11:59pm Second Life Time/Pacific Time on May 15th, 2023 (the day after tomorrow).  Chosen contestants will be notified with more information by May 22nd, 2023.

Seraphim is always up for a great party, and what better reason to celebrate than PRIDE?! Seraphim is planning a full day of activities on the SeraSim, including giveaways, gifts, live music, parties, and a brand new, exclusive drag performance for 2023!

Rainbow Railroad works with LGBTQIA+ individuals facing persecution and violence simply because of their sexual identity by helping secure relocation, safety, and support. Since 2006, Rainbow Railroad has helped more than 7,621 persecuted individuals from over 38 countries.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your application in today! And be sure to tell ’em Miss Drag sent you… 😉

The White Pearl Salon: A Home for the Trans Community in Second Life (and in Real Life!)

Have you read my previous blogpost on Sex and Gender Issues in Virtual Worlds? Or on LGBTQ Spaces in the Metaverse?

The entrance to the White Pearl Salon

At a time when many red states in the U.S. are passing laws against drag performers and transgender people, it’s vitally important for LGBTQ people and their allies to have safe places in which to gather and find like-minded community, both in real life and in virtual life. Second Life has always been a welcoming virtual space for the LGBTQ community, with its own special landing page and numerous sims devoted to any and every aspect of the queer community (of which I, a cisgender gay man, am a part).

Last week, while club hopping as Vanity Fair, I came across the White Pearl Salon, an LGBTQ-friendly space which caters to the trans community. I received such a warm welcome from the staff and patrons of the club, that I have paid many return visits! I think I might have found my new hangout spot in Second Life, the first since Bray’s Place Blues club sadly closed its doors (you can read more about it here on my blog).

The White Pearl Salon is the brainchild of its proprietor, Robin Palmer (Robinpalmer7 Resident), who describes herself as “just a simple garden variety cross-dresser”, and who very kindly agreed to be interviewed for this blogpost, while she worked a DJ set at her club:

Robin Palmer (R): I was a guy first, then a woman.

Ryan Schultz as Vanity Fair (V): In real life, or in Second Life?

R: LOL… SL only. I came out as trans 30 months ago. I go to real-life trans parties when on the road (not in my town).

V: It can be a scary step to do in real life. I have a lot of respect for the trans people I have met at my local bars and elsewhere. And what is happening right now in some U.S. states just enrages me. So I fully support what you are trying to do here, Robin.

R: Oh yes. And it’s good that, in my experience, there is no judging.  Some are out, others in.  No pressure ever to “come out.”

V: First question: when did you join Second Life?

R: 12 years ago? Let me check. It was before this account. Yes, about 12 years.

V: When did you decide to create the White Pearl Salon, and why?

R: Well, first, my old avatar was a guy. I dated some ladies, and they told me [most] guys are creeps in SL. So then I created a lady account… this one…”Old Robin.” I created an entire sim dedicated to Victorian art and culture, a “Disneyland for Victoriana,” as a lady. About 30 months ago, I came out as trans. I visited the other [trans] clubs, and thought there should be at least ONE with a focus on relationships, not quickie pose ball sex. Thus the Pearl. 🙂

V: Tell me a bit about the art gallery in the Pearl.

R: Well, the one in this club is called the Gerda Wegener Art Gallery. Did you see The Danish Girl?

V: Not yet, no. It’s on my list of movie to watch, though.

R: Eddie Redemayne won an Oscar as a 1920s SRS [Sex Reassignment Surgery] trans. His wife was Gerda Wegener. Gerda was fem, but an advocate for trans in the 1920s, a heroic person and great artist. I created the gallery as a draw to real-life trans people. We can have exhibits that no other gallery in the real-life world can ever have. I want to promote trans and trans-friendly artists like Gerda. No porn, no BDSM; pride, dignity, beauty, and elegance only.

V: So you want to bring more real-life trans people into Second Life?

R: Exactly. I forget the figures, but the UN estimates at least 2% globally are trans. So, of 8 billion people….we’re talking millions.

V: Can you tell me what sets your club apart from other trans clubs in SL?

R: I’ve come to feel that a huge majority of current “SL trans” are cosplay trans… young boys playing games for some quick sex. And the other [SL trans] clubs are mainly part of the global “Adult Entertainment” industry…i.e. porn/BDSM.

V: And you wanted to provide an alternative space?

R: Yes. One tiny island of social engagement, love, joy, laughs, chat, romance. and relationships for SL trans people. I am liberal. I do not judge.  If you want porn/BDSM, fine… but I just want to offer an option.

V: How long has the White Pearl Salon been operating?

R: 25 months. We have 1,030 members now, and over 7.5 million views of our White Pearl Salon Flickr photo pool.

V: Cool!

R: Yes, we’ve been growing a lot after the “Covid drop.” As COVID restrictions eased, visits here fell. I guess it was true for all SL.

V: Yes.

R: Since January 2023, we have had strong growth We track traffic to the club. I try to run Pearl as a real-life business.

V: Oh, interesting. I notice that you also have a room devoted to a matchmaking and/or dating service. Could you tell me more about that?

R: Well, as a great part of my vision is relationships. I thought a direct dating service for trans would be useful. Again, not porn or escort stuff.

V: Understood.

R: This year, I’ll try to get some RL corporate sponsors…. perhaps Bud Lite? LOLOLOL!

V: You can always dream! Tell me your vision for the White Pearl Salon, Robin. What is your dream for this place?

R: To have 1-2 million members. 🙂 Truly, the global potential is almost infinite. Within SL, it is limited; Linden Lab does not [really] understand that at all. Of LGBTQ, the T can use SL the most. A huge percentage of global trans people are in the closet. Second Life can be a path out of that closet.

V: So you see SL as a way for trans people to step out of the closet.

R: Exactly.

V: Experiment with how they wish to be perceived by others.

R: Exactly.  🙂

V: Thank you! Before we end this interview, is there anything else you want to add, Robin?

R: One sec. About 20% of our Flickr photos have a text. Let me get it for you:

SECOND LIFE – A Path Out of the Closet

For the LGBT community, and especially for transgender Ladies and Gentlemen, Second Live (secondlife.com) offers a world of opportunities to explore new worlds, both romantic and exotic, adventurous and relaxing, beautiful and mysterious.

But most importantly, Second Life (SL) allows you to explore yourself – your heart, needs and desires – and to share your journey with thousands of other lovely people – both transgenders (TGs) and their friends and admirers.

Basic membership in SL is free.  Create your account, your avatar, your wardrobe and begin exploring.

Searching for a friendly companion?  Come to SL. Searching for a shoulder to cry on?  Come to SL. Searching for virtual romance?  Come to SL.

As in Real Life (RL), SL is not without perils.  We are all avatars—we all create our perfect self-images, whether close to our real selves, or dreamboats. But take a chance.  Step into a world of endless virtual possibilities.

And if you do, please visit the White Pearl Salon (in your Second Life client, Search > Places > “White Pearl Salon”). Here’s your limousine to the Pearl. Our calendar of exciting DJ dance and costume/theme parties is here. Photo albums of past and future events are in our award-winning 7,000,000 view Flickr albums can be found here (there’s also a visitor’s photo pool). We also run a fashion blog.

For transgenders, their friends and all people, the White Pearl Salon is dedicated to the principles of respect, dignity, pride, beauty, charm and, well, the best time ever in a virtual environment.  The Pearl is Second Life’s most “safe space” for transgender people.

So take the next step and join Second Life. Celebrate the woman… or man… within.

In addition to the main club, there is a small store, The Cultured Pearl, off to the left of the main entrance, selling fashions for avatars of all genders (along with a generous selection of fashionable freebies, no group required!):

A selection of gifts available for free from The Cultured Pearl

Also off the upstairs balcony are a changing room, a ballet studio, the previously mentioned matchmaking/dating services room (please click on each image in the gallery below to see it in full size).

Upstairs, you can also find the previously=mentioned Greta Wegener Art Gallery:

Please note that there will soon be a second art gallery on the same sim, the White Pearl Art Center (SLURL), which will have its official grand opening on May 7th, 2023. If you are an artist who is interested in having your work shown at any of the galleries, please contact the White Pearl Salon art curator, Juana Ametza (Juana Secretspy).

The main floor of the White Pearl Salon is down the winding staircases. Tucked under the stairs is a cozy, well-decorated bar:

The dance floor offers both couples and singles dances, as well as one of those fancy synchronized dance floors! Just touch the gold ball next to the grand piano to dance in sync with the other avatars, or use the pink dance balls for couples and singles dances. There’s even a blind dance board if you want to find a dance partner!

The main stage at the White Pearl Salon

There’s an extensive calendar of events, with a list of DJs performing. Many days at the White Pearl Salon have a theme (e.g. Formal Friday, Hat Day, Angels and Devils, Spring Fling).

The recent Spring Fling day at the White Pearl Salon

I leave you with a two-hour Netflix documentary on YouTube, which Robin Palmer highly encourages those people, who might want to learn more about the trans community and why she created the White Pearl Salon, to watch:

Why not pay a visit to the White Pearl Salon? Tell’em Vanity sent you… 😉

UPDATED! Editorial: The Importance of Discoverability in the Metaverse

The Second Life Destination Guide has had an overhaul!

People whose introduction to the concept of the metaverse started with VRChat, Horizon Worlds, and other social VR platforms may question why I choose to write so often and so fondly about Second Life, a virtual world which was launched in 2003, well before the advent of consumer-grade virtual reality headsets. My answer is always the same: Second Life is the perfect model of a mature, fully-evolved virtual world, with a vibrant ecosystem and a still-thriving community, which many newer metaverse companies would be wise to study, learn lessons from, and (in some cases) emulate.

Recently, Linden Lab (the company which makes Second Life) announced a long-overdue overhaul to the Second Life Destination Guide:

The latest version of the Destination Guide offers a modern design refresh (the first since 2010!), while also adding some useful new features that enable easier discovery of Second Life events and experiences. Web visitors may welcome the addition of a much-requested Search bar so that you can better seek and find the places that interest you, while category and search result pages now also have a “Sort by” option in the upper-right corner that allows users to filter the directory by “Newest” entries and alphabetically (A-Z or Z-A). Mobile users will notice that the Destination Guide is now much easier to browse and explore while on the go – which may come in handy to accompany our forthcoming Mobile Viewer.

The new Second Life Destination Guide features keyword searching and results sorting

Of course, there’s not just an external directory on the Second Life website; there’s also in-world search tools as well. (They need a bit of improvement too, but that’s the subject for another blogpost!)

Which brings me to the topic of today’s editorial: the vital importance of discoverability in the metaverse. I believe that this is something which many metaverse-building companies tend to neglect, or treat as an afterthought, to the detriment of their platforms’ communities—and to their corporate bottom line.

Let’s take VRChat as an example. In February 2021, I blogged:

Since I have upgraded my Oculus Rift to a Valve Index, I have been spending more and more time in VRChat lately. VRChat in 2021 reminds me of nothing so much as Second Life circa 2007, when I first joined: the wonderful sense of exploration and adventure, never quite knowing where you were going to land up and who you would encounter!

However, there is still one problem that I encounter in VRChat, and that is the topic for today’s blogpost: the need to set up a better in-world directory of worlds to explore. I have written about this topic before, but the need has now become acute. Finding cool worlds in VRChat has become something of a crapshoot, a time-consuming, trial-and-error process.

And since then, the problem has only gotten worse! It is an exercise in frustration to try and find worlds by topic, or by searching for keywords which might (or more often, might not!) appear in the world’s name. VRChat badly needs an official, external directory website of created worlds which is better curated and has more than just the broadest of categories.

VRChat’s Discover Worlds features basically mimics the in-headset directory, with its unhelpful, overly broad categorization

There is a keyword search feature, but it lumps in user profiles, meaning you have to scroll down to the worlds whose titles and/or tags match what you typed in:

There is a desperate need for some sort of directory of VRChat worlds which offers the ability for people to describe their worlds in much more detail, and allows them to browse with more nuance (for example, sleep worlds). The closest thing to the utility of the Second Life Destination Guide is the volunteer-run Worlds on VRChat website, which seems to be mainly focused on Japanese-language worlds.

Why is this important? It’s vital, because social VR is, by its very nature, all about the community. A metaverse platform fails or succeeds by its ability to attract an audience, and making it easier for like-minded people to find each other, form communities, and build things together. It is a factor in whether a user visits your metaverse once, wanders around lost, gives up and logs out—or finds a friendly space catering to her interests, and comes back again and again!

For example, I just love visiting 1029Chris’ delightful bird sanctuary in VRChat. Now, let’s assume that I am a user is a newbie, who has heard through the grapevine that there’s this cool place in VRChat where you can feel bread to geese, but doesn’t know how to find it. She doesn’t know the name of the place. Even worse, she doesn’t know the username of the person who created it.

She puts on her headset and goes to the in-headset Worlds directory, or perhaps instead she goes to the VRChat Discover Worlds page on the VRChat website, and starts hunting. She enters “geese”, and finds three worlds, none of which are what she is looking for (while Chris has helpfully added the word “ducks” as a tag to her bird sanctuary, “geese” or “goose” are neither in the world’s title, nor its tags).

The poor newbie doesn’t know Chris’ username (1029chris), so she can’t search by the name of the world’s creator, to find it via Chris’ profile. After a frustrating couple of minutes, she gives up. She loses out on an experience that would have engaged her, and perhaps brought her back time and again, and perhaps would have led to further good word-of-mouth among other people, including other people new to social VR and virtual reality—leading to potentially more business for VRChat!

And that’s a simple example. How about this one: you want to find this cool place that you heard about in VRChat, where all you know is that you can change the backgrounds to all kinds of cool animated patterns—but you don’t know that it was created by 1001, or that the name of the world is Treehouse in the Shade, or any of the keywords used to describe it? It’s like finding a needle in a haystack!

You could argue that it’s too expensive for a company like VRChat to devote resources to build and maintain such a detailed and helpful directory of worlds for its user base. I would argue that it is a cost of doing business, a cost of investing in your community. At the very least, VRChat should be working with its community to enhance the discoverability of the insanely creative spaces its users are creating!

OK, end of rant. I am now getting down off my soapbox!

Executive summary: discoverability is a key factor in the success of any metaverse. Build it into your product. Make it easy for people to find cool worlds that match their interests, find each other, and build communities.

UPDATE 12:42 p.m.: I just had an experience that underscores the importance of discoverability! My Second Life avatar was exploring the cafés listed under the Cafés and Hangouts subsection of the new Destination Guide:

She teleported into Little Whiskeria, and while she was looking around the café/bar, the owner Lizzy showed up, and we got to talking. Lizzy invited me to an event that is taking place at 11:00 a.m. SLT/Pacific Time, so I am now making plans to catch a live performance (singing/guitar/piano) at Little Whiskeria!

That’s exactly why discoverability is so important: it took me from my interest (coffee houses) and immediately met that need in a very satisfying way, which will probably lead me to tell my friends about this place and come back for return visits!

UPDATE 1:13 p.m.: Here’s a snapshot of the live show at Little Whiskeria, a really good German/English band is on stage and the summer folk music café ambiance is wonderful, just what I needed on a wintry Winnipeg day!

Live show at the Little Whiskeria café/bar

UPDATE April 8th, 2023: My friend Rainwolf told me about another website directory of VRChat worlds, called VRC List, which has a variety of search and sort options:

Thanks, Rainwolf!