Status Update : Second Life 2026

[Pancake]

Feeling nostalgic and morbidly curious and not sure where to start getting caught up. Tell me anything and everything.

What is the latest in style and fashion and avatars. I imagine that has progressed a lot in recent years. For context I was last online during the transition from mesh parts to mesh avatars but frustrated that I would have to replace so much my wardrobe.

How is the roleplay scene now? I imagine that AI is both helping and hurting text based collaborative storytelling.

What are the hot new destinations, events and activities? Who are creators and community builders to watch? Which iconic SL destinations and events have closed?

What were the big dramas of the past couple years? My guess is AI generated content has generated some.

What’s new on mainland? Still the haphazard eclectic chaotic charm of old? Is traveling any easier or better than it was or is sim crossing still a source of frustration and amusement.

What are you personally doing in SL these days? A business? A community? Shopping? Art?

I don’t even know where to start asking about viewers and new features. Sounds like webbased or mobile are still not really options?

How do you keep informed and up to date on events, destinations and developments in SL?

Any major developments on long standing frustrations like group limits and missed notifications?

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

What is the latest in style and fashion and avatars. I imagine that has progressed a lot in recent years. For context I was last experimenting with the transition from mesh parts to mesh avatars.

Same stuff, just prettier. Bakes-on-mesh and Bento rigging are things. Pretty much everyone is either using a Lelutka EvoX head or one that uses the same UV. There are a LOT of bodies, too many IMHO, but I personally wouldn't recommend any other than LaraX, Reborn or Legacy. I'm classic so I use LaraX. This also makes me worthless for telling you the latest style, because I'm so classic.

What are the hot new destinations, events and activities?

Shop & Hop is still big, as is Fantasy Faire. The monthly events like Uber, C88, Equal10, Fameshed and so forth are still things.

What were the big dramas of the past couple years?

Same ol drama. I would say the biggest was the one which involved Patch Linden. There's a thread about it here.

What’s new on mainland?

Bellisseria, especially the Premium Plus parcels and the new Bellisserian commercial regions.

Still the haphazard eclectic chaotic charm of old?

Yep!

Is traveling any easier or better than it was or is sim crossing still a source of frustration and amusement.

I would personally say it's better, as long as you have decent hardware.

What are you personally doing in SL these days? A community? Shopping?

I'm the CC, I shop. I'm also a hanger-on with various communities. I still maintain contact with the steampunks. I attend various LL and Bellisserian events.

I don’t even know where to start asking about viewers and new features.

Vivox voice chat is no more, WebRTC is how it's done now.

Sounds like webbased or mobile are still not really options?

Yep, LL shut down their web-based experiment. I don't consider the mobile client to be usable for my needs.

 

[Noodles]

Feeling nostalgic and morbidly curious and not sure where to start getting caught up. Tell me anything and everything.

How is the roleplay scene now? I imagine that AI is both helping and hurting text based collaborative storytelling.

I have not really noticed but I have not been super actove with that space lately.

What’s new on mainland? Still the haphazard eclectic chaotic charm of old? Is traveling any easier or better than it was or is sim crossing still a source of frustration and amusement.

SIM Crossing seems better. Beli is absolutely massive these days. I am pretty sure like 50% or more of the LL run sims are Beli now.

What are you personally doing in SL these days? A business? A community? Shopping? Art?

I have been bouncing around on a couple of newer alts. One I am.using to write Newbie friendly tutorials on a blog I started a few months ago.

Second Life Newbie Friendly Guides

One of the purposes I wanted to do with this website, was to write more about Second Life. And specifically, I wanted to do some new user friendly guides about various things in SL. The trickiest part of this has been deciding on the best order to put things so I can explain things in a layered...

amyanders.com

I don’t even know where to start asking about viewers and new features. Sounds like webbased or mobile are still not really options?

I dislike the mobile viewer. I feel like SL just does not work on mobile.

How do you keep informed and up to date on events, destinations and developments in SL?

RSS Feeds in my reader. The new Access Blog thing is pretty good actually.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

How is the roleplay scene now? I imagine that AI is both helping and hurting text based collaborative storytelling.

I'm mostly involved with fantasy SIMs and many are still fairly active.... it really depends on what kind of role play you are looking for! They are on a spectrum of fantasy to scifi to various oddball themes and some also vary from adult to slice of life and everything in between!

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

The last important development in avatars is when Rand Lupindo managed to make an avatar tail flow seamlessly into the body with the TWI Deer. I wish he would do a mustelid avatar.

 

[Archer]

LL are still following the principle of fix one thing, break two with each release. Sim crossings are vastly improved. I can sail around Belli or Blake Sea fairly seamlessly, just a slight rubber banding at the crossings. However the crash on teleport seems imbedded now, as several releases have failed to fix that. I am using the Firestorm viewer and I'm very happy with it.

 

[Sid]

Good luck finding basic outfits these days, without having strange foldings, cuts, strange tailoring, etc.
No Marks and Spenser around.

 

[Sid]

Was SeraphimSL already a thingy the last time you were around?
Here you find a lot of midweek and weekend sales that are going on in Second Life: