The Holiday Stories were chosen to really allow your creativity to shine. Please keep in mind that designing a region for a mega event is much different than designing for other regional purposes, whether residential, commercial, roleplay or simply for photogenetic reasons.  The large number of avatars visiting a region and how we “move them through” the region is very important.  We have special event areas where several avatars congregate at once, while others continue to move about the region. Our shopping regions are designed to move avatars past every store in the region via a one entrance, one exit movement.

Here are the requirements for each region to help guide you in your region design.

REGION BUILD TIMELINE

You will have access to the regions beginning 5am slt, Friday, November 18.

All regions are to be completed no later than 8pm slt Monday, November 28, 2022.

 All stores in your region are to be in place no later than 8pm slt Friday, November 25, 2022.

See the Timeline tab for complete details.

WALKWAYS

Walkway must go by each store entrance.

Walkway must not loop back on itself, go in circles, or go in a block pattern. A cul-de-sac is fine in a region if needed.

There will be one entrance / exit at each end of the region located at centre of the region crossing.  We will let you know by July 15 if this is to be located on the North / South, East/West, or if the walkway will be L shaped for corner regions.

REGION CROSSINGS

We will have a transparent region crossing sign as you enter a region indicating the “story” of the upcoming region and the designer name.

We require to have a 5m wide x 1m depth space left at the crossing for this to be placed out.

WORK WITH YOUR NEIGHBOR

We encourage you to reach out the designers on either side of your region to  make the crossings esthetically pleasing along the borders.

PHANTOM

Wherever possible, all decor items (trees, rocks, walls, roads, etc) are to be phantom. This includes main walkways whenever possible.

REGION LANDING AREAS

A Region Landing Area is required in all regions and is to be located near the Region Sponsor Store.

The Region Landing Area contains sponsor signage, raffle information, entertainment schedules, etc.

Sponsor signage will be required at each Region Landing Area.  We will confirm the required signage no later than October 15 .

2 Options For Region Landing Area Signage
    1.  The Xmas Avatar can modify the signs you place out in order to place the textures on and drop landmarks/ scripts in the contents.
OR
   2.  We provide the textures / landmarks and the designer places them in the signage

SPECIAL EVENT AREA

Some regions will require a Special Event Area to be designed.  The One Of A Kind Auction Area, Breedables Auction Areas and The Snowman Contest Area are examples.

We will work with you regarding the Special Event area, what is needed in the area itself and any signage required.

2 Options For Special Event Area Signage
    1.  The Xmas Avatar can modify the signs you place out in order to place the textures on and drop landmarks/ scripts in the contents.
OR
   2.  We provide the textures / landmarks and the designer places them in the signage

Shopping Regions are the main focus of the Expo and Winter Faire.  While, the Region is your canvas for bringing your holiday story to life, your shops and stores should coordinate with the story as well.  

STORE TIMELINE

📌 All stores and walkways in your region are to be in place no later than 8pm slt Friday, November 25, 2022.

Merchants will set up their stores November 26, 27, 28, 29.

You will have access to the regions beginning 5am slt, Friday, November 18.

📌Any filler space, as a result of a store being removed, needs to be completed by 6pm slt November 30. (see below re: filler space)

STORE SIZES & AMOUNTS

We will provide you the initial size of the shops to be in your region no later than July 30.

Estimate your region design  to accommodate 15 – 20 stores

Example
2 region sponsor shops
XXX of this size
XXX of this size
XXX of this size
XXX of this size

📌** Note: some spaces will be “outdoor” with no formal store build, however, there will need to be a “fence” or some appropriately theme marker around the area.  Outdoor spaces are flat areas (no merchant terraforming or buildings are permitted)

Winter Faire Regions are 90% outdoor spaces. If a building is required, we will let you know as soon as possible.

Will provide the estimated final amount of each size in your region on or before November 18.

We will confirm the merchant pre-set up store count on Nov 26.

We will advise if a store needs to be removed by 6pm slt Nov 29. 

📌 Please have a “filler” available for store space that may need to be removed or is not being used.  Either remove the shop and fill in the area, or close the door / entrance in an esthetically pleasing way.

STORE SHELLS 

Wherever possible, the entrance / store front must be wide and open in the front.  No full walls and small door openings.  No doors that need to be clicked to be opened.  Windows are fine.  Our Expo merchants love when people can easily see inside the stores.

📌 The initial store designs are to be ready by October 15 for review.

📌 The final decorated version, of the stores are to be ready by November 6.

Shop shells that are sent to the merchant do not have to be the “final” version. They can be undecorated shells that accurately reflect the dimensions, window and door spaces of the actual store.

A Copy version of each final decorated  store size needs to be given to the Xmas Avatar by November 11. This is in the event a filler store is needed or a last minute addition occurs and you, the designer, is not reachable due to time zone differences or RL.

📌 Store Shells are required to go to the merchants on November 13.

There are 2 options for delivery.

1. Provide the Xmas Avatar with a Copy / Tran version of the shop.  This will be made Copy only and sent to the merchants.
2. We an provide you a list of the merchants in your region, the size of the store they need, and you can drop the shell on them.  This is a good option for designers who wish to include extra textures or inside props to the merchant.

📌 There are to be no scripts in the store build.

Stores should be at least 10m high inside.

The inside of the store should be square or rectangle. It is hard for a merchant to place vendors on walls that are curved or circular.  (The outside can be whatever shape fits with your region theme).

STORE LOGOS

Each store is required to have space for the merchants logo. This area must be clearly visible in a location on the front of the store, hanging on a sign from the store, or on an object outside the entrance to the store. 

📌 QUICK REMINDERS

See the texture tab for size guidelines (512 x 512 when / wherever possible)

Region pathway is to pass by EVERY store entrance.  (see Region Design tab)

Region sponsored stores are to be near the welcome area. (See Region Design Tab)

Stores are to be no more than 10m above ground level (See Region Design tab)

LANDSCAPING

Tree Usage – for rezzing purposes, please use only what you absolutely need. Using excess trees simply as filler only increases rez time of textures for people’s computers and increased lag.

Try to be consistent with the trees you use and other region decor. Keeping textures consistent helps reduce rez time and lag.

TERRAFORMING

You will be able to terraform in your region, however, please be mindful of the region on the other side.

Terraformaing height of the main shopping area must be kept between 20 – 40 meters.

The placement of the stores are to be  no higher than 30 meters.

The exterior of the region can be “higher” than the main shop area. 

No underwater / under ground builds
No sky platforms
No sky domes
No surrounds 

Ice is fine to use

EXPLORATION

We encourage other areas in your region which an avatar can venture off the main walkway to explore.  These areas must be clearly marked and cannot use the main walkway texture / design.

PHANTOM

Wherever possible, all decor items (trees, rocks, walls, roads, etc) are to be phantom. This includes main walkways whenever possible.

In an effort to make the SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedable Fair enjoyable for all individuals, we have Scripting & Texture Guidelines in effect to help both the Server Side and the Client-Side Lag. 

Remember there will be a possible 20 merchants in your region with in excess of a combined 200 + vendors.  We are asking everyone to do their part to help keep things running smoothly.

If you have questions on any of the policies, please reach out to us and we will be pleased to help.

TEXTURE SIZE 512 X 512 

To lower lag and improve visitors experiences, we ask that wherever possible textures used in your region design, including buildings, roads, trees, decor items, (really anything) should be no larger than 512 x 512.

📌Anything larger than 512 x 512 takes 4 times the memory on a persons computer to rez in, hence, causing undo load time / frame rates / lag for our Expo visitors.

SCRIPTING POLICY

We strongly recommend using scripts only if necessary.  If you do need to use items in your design which do contain scripts, we ask that wherever possible to ensure they fall into the Low to Moderate script time listed below.

EASY STUFF

No Temp Rezzers
No Greeters
No Listening Scripts
No Traffic Counters

WHAT DOES THIS SCRIPT STUFF MEAN?

Desired script time per item
Low < 0.05ms per item;
Moderate 0.05 – 0.1ms per item
High 0.1 – 0.5 ms per item;
Extreme > 0.5 ms per item

Combined (aggregate) script times per creator:
Moderate (<1.0 ms) per creator
High (1.0 – 1.5 ms) per creator
Extreme (>1.5 ms) per creator

📌 What does that mean?

Low – Moderate:
Going good! Nothing to do.

High & Extreme:

• Item is recorded with script time and / or aggregated time is noted
• You will be notified via IM & Notecard identifying the high scripted item or high combined (aggregated) script time.
• Assistance will be provided to help identify the item and see if there is a way to reduce script time. Ie: turn off scripts, remove scripts, replace the item with a non-scripted item.
• The item will need to be removed if the script time cannot be reduced to low or moderate range.
• Aggregated creator total script time will need to be reduced.
• Aggregated script time in excess of 0.5 per item is not sustainable in the Mega Event environment.

📌 When removing a script from an item, be sure to set it to NOT RUNNING before removing. Simply removing the script without turning it off essentially does nothing.

✔️ If both creators and visitors help keep an eye on their script time, we can make the SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair as lag free as we possibly can.

Content At The SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Faire: 

DMCA, Copyright Infringement – No copyright or trademark infringement (real-life or virtual name brands, logos, sounds or graphics). You will be asked to provide the usage license for any such items.  If that cannot be provided you must remove the items from your Expo build. 

Items determined by Linden Labs to be botted, copied or violating copyright or intellectual property infringements by a designer shall be returned if and when a DMCA is effected against them. Note: The SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair, nor the Relay For Life of Second Life or the American Cancer Society,  cannot take the responsibility to remove any items until ordered to do so by Linden Labs. We can not, and will not, mediate disputes between creators or participants for any reason unless deemed necessary for the good of the SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair and at its discretion.

Limited License Use – Logo / Ads – Exhibitors grant the SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair a limited license to use any logos and product ads provided to promote their participation and/or sponsorship of the event in Second Life and on third-party websites, such as, but not limited to in-world  promotional materials, event signboards, Expo related blogs, social media, and websites, RFL of SL / ACS websites, and other online sites and services.

Photos, Videos, Machinima – Exhibitors and/or sponsors agree that the Expo regions will be open to photographers and machinima producers and that photography and filming will not only be allowed but also encouraged before and during the event.

All content at the must be rated for general or moderate audiences.

📌 Absolutely no adult content or nudity depicted in any of the region designs.

 If you have to ask if it is allowed… it probably isn’t 🙂

Items found not in compliance with the above may be returned without prior consent or any liability due to loss of any kind to the SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair or the organizers, The Relay For Life of Second Life, The Relay For Life, or the American Cancer Society.

Disclaimers, TOS, Community Standards –

All persons, behavior, and objects at the SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair must follow the Linden Lab Terms of Service and the Second Life Community Standards.

We reserve the right to deny any application without explanation. You will be notified should your registration be denied.

📌 By apply as a region designer for the SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedable Fair, you agree that you have read, fully understand and accept all policies, guidelines and disclaimers governing the event. 

General Policies – Participation at the SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedable Fair is at the discretion of the Expo.  Items may be returned if they are breaching any of the guidelines governing the event.  

Region designers / builders are responsible for their conduct and the conduct of their representatives at the event.  Violation of the Second Life Community Standards may result in removal from the event. 

Items found not in compliance with the above may be returned without prior consent or any liability due to loss of any kind to the SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedable Fair or the organizers, The Relay For Life of Second Life, The Relay For Life or the American Cancer Society.