This is my special blog post looking back at the major breaking news stories from Second Life and Linden Lab between January 2014 to December 2014. Let’s rewind 2014 and see the highlights – see below!

January 2014

In early January 2014 Linden Lab turned off the Direct Messages feature on SL web profiles because of a rise in abuse of the system.

The Relay Rockers announced their plans for the 2014 Celebrate Remember Fight Back Top DJ Competition.

The SL profile feed snapshot upload was fixed in mid January after many weeks not working correctly.

The biggest news story of January 2014 was the big shock announcement that Rod Humble (former CEO of Linden Lab) stepped down after 3 years in the job.

In late January 2014 VWBPE removed the CloudParty platform due to Yahoo acquiring CloudParty.

February 2014

Second Life was seen on the internet map in early February 2014. I mentioned in the blog post that the map was one of the best maps of the internet to date. The map is divided into many continents. Check it out!

In early February 2014 Bay City celebrated it’s 4th annual Mole Day where over 30 avatars attended. Great music was played with a special dance at the end of the day.

The biggest news story of February 2014 was the announcement that Ebbe Altberg is the new CEO of Linden Lab.

In mid February 2014 Linden Lab launched Fitted Mesh. “Fitted Mesh gives Second Life content creators the power to craft mesh garments that make avatars look their absolute best”.

In mid February 2014 there was a small invitation-only meeting with Pete Linden and Ebbe Linden for a meet and greet with the SL press. The first meet and greet meeting with Ebbe Linden went extremely well and everyone had a few questions to ask Ebbe. Ebbe talked about the past, current and the future of Second Life which was very interesting.

Later in the month Linden Lab ceased development and support for Dio, Versu, and Creatorverse. The three axed products were removed from the Linden Lab products page.

March 2014

In early March 2014 Linden Lab announced the launch of the SL Go mobile app (open beta).

Linden Lab announced JIRA changes went live. The new changes: users can see bug issues, users can comment and the new feature request came back.

In mid March 2014 Linden Lab called for beta testers for a limited beta for Oculus Rift integration in Second Life. `

In late March 2014 Dirk Talamasca sadly passed away. The memories will live on and he will be missed deeply forever more.

April 2014

In early April 2014 Philip Rosedale attended VWBPE 2014, see keynotes updates here. Check out Ebbe Altberg keynote highlights here. Stats for VWBPE 2014 can be found here.

Confirmation details were released for SL11B community celebration. Again it was a successful event. Thanks to all that took part and made SL11B happen. 🙂

In late April 2014 there was a special tribute show by Designing Worlds to celebrate Dirk Talamasca life.

May 2014

At the start of May 2014 there was mention from Ebbe Altberg that new starter avatars were on the way.

In mid May 2014 Ever Dreamscape sadly passed away from liver failure.

in mid May 2014 Linden Lab announced new starter avatars for Second Life. The new starter avatars were designed to improve the new user experience during their first hour or so in Second Life.

In mid May 2014 Bay City celebrated its 6th anniversary in Second Life. There was an exciting parade, live music and over 50 avatars attended the annual event.

The first SVVR Conference and Expo featuring Philip Rosedale and Ebbe Altberg took place. Philip Rosedale talked about Second Life and High Fidelity.

Ebbe Altberg, Philip Rosedale and Drax at SVVR 2014. More details here.

In late May 2014 the 1920s Berlin Project in Second Life celebrated their 5th anniversary.

June 2014

OnLive changed SL Go trial period from 20 minutes to 7 days.

Linden Lab launched a photo contest for SL11B and everyone had a chance to win L$10, 000.

Linden Lab announced details about working on the next generation virtual world.

in mid June 2014 SL11B Community Celebrations opened. Second Life officially turned 11 years old on 23d June 2014.

July 2014

In early July 2014 there was a live Q&A session with the Firestorm team/Linden Lab about the future of Second Life.

In mid July 2014 Linden Lab announced new experience keys and the return of the cornfield.

In mid July 2014 Linden Lab updated the Terms of Service regarding user content in Second Life.

The 10th annual Relay for Life of Second Life weekend kicked off. Stats can be found here.

August 2014

In early August 2014 Linden Lab revamped the Second Life viewer login screen to make it more simple and cleaner for new users.

in late August 2014 many residents took part in the ice bucket challenge in Second Life.

Ebbe Altberg confirmed that Oculus Rift DK2 support is coming along.

September 2014

In early September 2014 Firestorm Viewer team celebrated their 4th anniversary.

Joe Miller (Joe Linden) sadly passed away

Linden Lab announced that from Saturday 1st November 2014 the new enforcement of the updated Skill Gaming Policy will come into effect.

October 2014

In early October 2014 Ebbe Altberg had a special interview with Designing Worlds. Highlights can be found here.

Linden Lab ceased development for Patterns.

November 2014

Draxtor Despres went on a road trip with SL Go featuring Torley Linden.

OnLive announced a new SL Go “Refer-A-Friend” program in mid November 2014.

December 2014

The 4th annual SL Christmas Expo 2014 officially opened

Linden Lab launched new feedback & suggestions page.

Linden Lab releases two new promotional videos for Second Life.

The year ahead in 2015

I can’t wait to see what 2015 has to offer and I’m up for another year of blogging for sure. What are your highlights of 2014 in Second Life ? Are you looking forward to 2015 ?