Display Names: Bringing Greater Self-Expression to Second Life
Posted by Jack Linden on Aug 17, 2010 10:06:40 AM
As Philip mentioned this weekend in his speech at SLCC, I'm excited to tell you more about a new feature that's on the horizon for Second Life. Known as Display Names, it's a project that will not only give Residents the tools to better express themselves, it will also help us grow the population of SL further, making it a richer and more robust social environment for all. Most importantly, it brings a new element of creativity to your avatar, combining the ability to adopt virtually any name you like in Second Life with the stability of having a persistent underlying identity that lets everyone be sure at all times which avatar they're communicating and transacting with.
In a nutshell, Display Names, set to roll out in a project release at the end of August and be deployed gridwide in late September, gives Residents two aspects to their identity in Second Life: a username that is unique and does not change, and an optional Display Name you can change periodically and can be set to nearly anything you like -- including foreign Unicode characters, more than two words, and many other possibilities. The change means that Residents are no longer forced to choose from a limited set of last names (which has scared off new users in the past), and makes it possible to use your Second Life name as a more powerful and expressive aspect of your online self. Whether you use your current SL name, your real name, a pseudonym, gamer tag or other ID, Display Names gives you more freedom to express your identity inworld -- not just in avatar form, but in name as well.
Why Display Names?
Moving to a system of usernames and Display Names has a number of advantages. Above and beyond the greater self-expression it allows, Display Names also relieves new Residents of the need to choose a Second Life last name. New users signing up for Second Life often abandon their accounts when they're asked to choose from a list of last names; Display Names removes this choice from registration and lets them get into Second Life more quickly.
Display Names also supports European, Asian, and other Unicode characters -- an important feature for our international Residents (who currently account for about 60% of the SL community). For years, Residents have requested this capability and we are excited now to be able to share what's coming.
Display Names lets us provide more choice and at the same time provides a consistent and unique identity for individual avatars. While you may change your Display Name from time to time, the username associated with each account doesn't change, and will always be easily discoverable by anyone dealing with a particular Resident. That means there should never be a question over who you're talking to inworld.
Endless Possibilities
Display Names gives you more freedom than ever to express your inworld identity. You can use your real name, a fantasy name, hyphenate with your inworld partner, promote your organization or inworld business name, or anything that you want other Residents to refer to you as. Torley Linden has created the video below that will give you an idea of what you can do with this new feature:
[video=youtube;eGoHjGz2OaQ&featur]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGoHjGz2OaQ&featur[/video]
More Information
We will continue to update you as we roll Display Names out. In the meantime, here's where you can learn more and share your thoughts.
Posted by Jack Linden on Aug 17, 2010 10:06:40 AM
As Philip mentioned this weekend in his speech at SLCC, I'm excited to tell you more about a new feature that's on the horizon for Second Life. Known as Display Names, it's a project that will not only give Residents the tools to better express themselves, it will also help us grow the population of SL further, making it a richer and more robust social environment for all. Most importantly, it brings a new element of creativity to your avatar, combining the ability to adopt virtually any name you like in Second Life with the stability of having a persistent underlying identity that lets everyone be sure at all times which avatar they're communicating and transacting with.
In a nutshell, Display Names, set to roll out in a project release at the end of August and be deployed gridwide in late September, gives Residents two aspects to their identity in Second Life: a username that is unique and does not change, and an optional Display Name you can change periodically and can be set to nearly anything you like -- including foreign Unicode characters, more than two words, and many other possibilities. The change means that Residents are no longer forced to choose from a limited set of last names (which has scared off new users in the past), and makes it possible to use your Second Life name as a more powerful and expressive aspect of your online self. Whether you use your current SL name, your real name, a pseudonym, gamer tag or other ID, Display Names gives you more freedom to express your identity inworld -- not just in avatar form, but in name as well.
Why Display Names?
Moving to a system of usernames and Display Names has a number of advantages. Above and beyond the greater self-expression it allows, Display Names also relieves new Residents of the need to choose a Second Life last name. New users signing up for Second Life often abandon their accounts when they're asked to choose from a list of last names; Display Names removes this choice from registration and lets them get into Second Life more quickly.
Display Names also supports European, Asian, and other Unicode characters -- an important feature for our international Residents (who currently account for about 60% of the SL community). For years, Residents have requested this capability and we are excited now to be able to share what's coming.
Display Names lets us provide more choice and at the same time provides a consistent and unique identity for individual avatars. While you may change your Display Name from time to time, the username associated with each account doesn't change, and will always be easily discoverable by anyone dealing with a particular Resident. That means there should never be a question over who you're talking to inworld.
Endless Possibilities
Display Names gives you more freedom than ever to express your inworld identity. You can use your real name, a fantasy name, hyphenate with your inworld partner, promote your organization or inworld business name, or anything that you want other Residents to refer to you as. Torley Linden has created the video below that will give you an idea of what you can do with this new feature:
[video=youtube;eGoHjGz2OaQ&featur]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGoHjGz2OaQ&featur[/video]
More Information
We will continue to update you as we roll Display Names out. In the meantime, here's where you can learn more and share your thoughts.
- Read our Frequently Asked Questions, complete with helpful images
- Share your thoughts on Twitter: #slviewer2