Well, we’ve come to the end of yet another year! I wanted to spend a few words on what we’ve accomplished in 2014 and where we will be heading into the new one. 

Overall, I think we’ve made steady progress considering the team that supports DE also touches CD; and soon, we will be adding new one. Of all the role-play communities in Second Life, we’re also very proud to know we’re one of the oldest - we’re going into our 8th year.

2014 In a Nutshell

There a number of items that we addressed:

• 4,215 New players signed up for DE
• Character Evolution System & Deviants Roles launched
• New immersive OOC area launched
• New emergency vehicles designed
• Security HUD 2.0 released (redesigned the way the system communicates in-world and to servers to make it more reliable in Second Life)
• Abuse Reports released (streamlined documentation and handling of abuse within the community)
• Website updated (major patches applied to fix a number of issues; still in progress)

Dead End History

I know there were some awesome scenes and stories that happened this year - what were the most memorable to you? Submit them here to get them highlighted!

The Future

Over the past couple years, I’ve been on a constant blitz of new feature releases to make the role-play experience cutting edge and innovative. Soon, the all-new Outbreak community will be released with its own set of features that will redefine survival role-play in Second Life. With the following in mind, I’m dedicating the next year to improve support and the efficiency of the systems in place today:

• Expansion - New Sim (submit your ideas for the sim name here!)
• Staff Overhaul - beef up security presence in all timezones, redefine roles and areas of focus, add new admin/GMs
• ALTERSCAPE Support Portal - All new intuitive website to handle support related issues for land, rentals, and reporting bugs seen in-world and on the web.
• Security HUD 3.0 (add ability for moderators to handle RP-related abuse reports, automate kicking of griefers by community if staff isn’t around)
• Mentor Assignments - system to automatically assign new players to a mentor if desired
• Furniture Audit - The number of differentiated furniture and objects account for the significant spike in lag for players. I’ll work with designers to create several high quality and well-scripted objects to replace them.
• Mother Nature Facelift- similar to the objective above, I think there’s an opportunity to bring a little more realism to the RP area with more 

Final Word

As always, life is unpredictable. While the above are goals I am hoping to keep, I also have a full time job, my own consulting gig, and a relationship to maintain. I’m expecting some big changes next year and one my own goals to simplify life a bit. Second Life has been a source of inspiration to me - I love the challenges and opportunities to solve them. Remember, as you think about your own year and what you want to accomplish, make sure Second Life continues to be your own source of inspiration - don’t let it be anything other than a positive force in your life. 

Good luck and hope you all have a wonderful New Year!