Wagner James Au / New World Notes

Author, strategist, virtual world reporter

recent posts

about

BREAKING: Second Life Again Available on Browsers & Mobile… For Premium+ Subscribers; UPDATES: Added Pic of Current SL Streaming Experience

Second Life speedlight mobile browsers

As teased back in July, Linden Lab just announced an option to access Second Life on a web browser and mobile devices for people willing to pay:

Second Life Premium Plus members already get many benefits that help them get the most out of Second Life…and now we’re partnering with SpeedLight to add even more value!

The Speedlight mobile app is already popular with many of our community members since it enables Residents to stay connected with Second Life while on the go, and now Premium Plus subscribers get access to additional Speedlight benefits: no online time limitations along with prioritised online support. Now you can enjoy Second Life on your mobile devices (or in a web browser) with the freedom to stay connected as long as you like! To get these benefits, all you need to do is access Second Life using SpeedLight with your Premium Plus account.

Premium Plus costs $25/month. When I surveyed readers in June, asking how many were interested in upgrading to that for added benefits, only 1 in 4 said yes. With a long-awaited mobile/browser option added to that mix, I suspect many more will upgrade.

I haven’t yet tried Speedlight, by the way, but did help a company called OnLive launch a short-lived streaming option for Second Life in 2014. Back then, it cost $9.99 a month for unlimited use or metered service at $1 per hour.

So an unlimited streaming option via SpeedLight as another add-on to Premium Plus at $25/month is a pretty good deal.

As to whether you would like it, here’s what it currently looks like running Second Life:

SpeedLight viewer

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

It’s stick figures. You can’t see HUDs, you can’t touch anything, you can text and sort of look at inventory. You can pay and get paid. 3D view is minimal. I used Onlive, and it was miles ahead of this. — Panster Moonshadow 

For contrast, here’s what streaming Second Life on a raggedy old laptop looked like on OnLive:

\

I’m planning to interview the SpeedLight team soon, especially as it’s possible that the current version depicted and described above is not reflective of their intended final product.  

Update, 5;42pm PT:  Multiple readers here and on Twitter are not impressed by the SpeedLight offering thus far — see Comments below.

Update, 8:45pm PT: Longtime SL fashion blogger Gogo posted this shot of SpeedLight in action on Flickr, depicting the ginger/stick man avatar that the experience currently delivers, which I’ve embedded above.  

Much more soon!

Hat tip: My fab co-host Isabelle.

Image copyright Linden Lab/SpeedLight.

Posted in

11 responses to “BREAKING: Second Life Again Available on Browsers & Mobile… For Premium+ Subscribers; UPDATES: Added Pic of Current SL Streaming Experience”

  1. Starfire “Star” Silverstar Avatar
    Starfire “Star” Silverstar

    Ok, LL, now if this is a real thing and you’re not just walking around “blind” like in the old days, then it would be worth it to me to pay for premium. Now we’re talking LL. Make it happen and I’ll pay.
    If I can’t go in and play dress up on my land, do some shopping, maybe catch a concert or lecture all from the convenience of my iPad then I’m not paying extra. Period.
    Get it going LL and I would love to dance on the grid again. Thanks! 😘
    -Star ⭐️💫🔥
    (woof, woof)

    Like

    Reply
  2. Allegory Malaprop Avatar
    Allegory Malaprop

    I’m unfortunately underwhelmed.
    Third party viewer they are partnering with, not actually getting out the old web based viewer and working on it, or starting anew. Third party viewers have made SL a lot more bearable but…I’m not super keen on them promoing some other company with ???? security etc. And I say this as someone who uses a third party viewer regularly because they made the official unusable, but still.
    Sadly, this isn’t OnLive, or their short lived web based browser, and has a way to go before it gets that far. Stick figure avatars (with all the mesh and bodies and all now, I’ll give you that avatars are probably a LOT worse) that you can sort of load selectively, but only partially.
    This is a step up from Radegast back in the day (a text only viewer that stopped being text only)…but Radegast is also apparently dead now anyway, so not like that’s an option.
    Mobile as an option is key these days with the way people use their devices- computers are out, phones and tablets are in- so I really wanted to see a mobile viewer succeed (especially with Lumiya dropping off the face of the earth), and it’s…something? but I’m not sure it’s enough to bring back the people who have left because their computers broke, or to lure new users, or even all that useful for regular users on the go. Alternative to business bot maybe, but that is not the market I think they need to focus on when it comes to mobile.

    Like

    Reply
  3. Panster Moonshadow Avatar
    Panster Moonshadow

    It’s stick figures. You can’t see huds, you can’t touch anything, you can text and sort of look at inventory. You can pay and get paid. 3D view is minimal.
    I used Onlive, and it was miles ahead of this.

    Like

    Reply
  4. Mondy Avatar
    Mondy

    As an Onlive subscriber from start to finish my first reaction was cool, maybe Premium plus is finally worth paying for!
    Then I read the full article and “Speedlight”which I’ve already tried and just sort of sighed.

    Like

    Reply
  5. seph Avatar
    seph

    Its not streaming which is good and bad. This is useful for a few things. Better it exists than not.

    Like

    Reply
  6. Donovan_MSL Avatar
    Donovan_MSL

    I think it’s pretty handy. For a full SL experience I’m always going to be using one of the typical viewers on a PC. For mobile or even logging in via browser it’s just going to be for the ability to be ‘present’ for chat and IM’s.
    Regarding the streaming idea – was that ever directly stated or implied? Or was it just assumed that “SL in a Browser” meant a streaming service? Nothing about this particular announcement led me to think streaming, so I was neither surprised nor disappointed by what I found when checking out speedlight.

    Like

    Reply
  7. Achilles Avatar
    Achilles

    Speed light sucks. It’s the slowest possible connection, has only basic texture super and avatars are all prim dolls. This isn’t an incentive

    Like

    Reply
  8. GrayStillPlays Avatar
    GrayStillPlays

    Uhm. No. Just no. I’ll stick to Lumiya it still works to this day and does way more. And SL runs on a potato sooo .. why is this even a thing?

    Like

    Reply
  9. Loff Auer Avatar
    Loff Auer

    It is a paid service… I see nothing becoming better or cheaper on SL, is all about – How can we grab more cash… A very bad path now that a big company can come and steal all SL users, with a more appealing and cheaper Metaverse… Servers cost has come down astronomically, LL is doing more profit now than before… They could lower all fees by half and therefore allow the “small fish” to rent full regions, so we get more content and a more thriving economy, but no, is all about – PAY PAY PAY, also LAG is still an horrible thing, that could be lowered with more server and RAM per land, but no, let´s squeeze the Goose of the Golden Eggs

    Like

    Reply
  10. Linn Darkwatch Avatar
    Linn Darkwatch

    Only available to those who can afford the pricey Premium Plus membership and is that limited? Even if it were a full experience I couldn’t pay that much. Why bother even offering something that expensive and limited? I’d rather wait even longer for a proper web viewer.
    [By the way, in response to Allegory, though the website is gone (for now?), the Radegast viewer is still available. The current build can be downloaded at Sourceforge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/radegast.mirror/ ]

    Like

    Reply
  11. Scott Lang Avatar
    Scott Lang

    It’s bullshit to have to pay when firestorm viewer was fucking free

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment