Burn2 Conception

So in these days before the event opens, you might see the first signs of something stirring over yonder.

Cables snaking across the ground from generators infrastructural tents of various sizes for staff and performers.

Sounds of animals as they are trundled into place in their cages inside their own tent.

The wind whistling and playing with tent flaps and testing the strength of guy wires holding poles and supports in place.

Folk in drab work clothing pulling, lifting, pushing things into place.

Preparations are well underway for this next event!

We have a tradition of inviting community members to sign up to play on the stage or create something magical on a plot...

Amidst an array of acrobats, fire dancers, and interactive exhibits, participants are encouraged to embrace their inner child, engage with artistic expressions, and experience the transformative power of art in a unique, immersive environment.

Placements will not be sent out until the week of June 22nd, when building opens; however signups are open, and it may be to your advantage to sign up sooner then rather than later, to get best placement for what you want to create on the playa.

If you are a new artist at Burn2, don’t worry, we encourage participation and learning, sharing knowledge and guiding each other. Fellow burners with experience will be on hand to help - it's all about Communal Effort!

Here’s what you need to know:

We follow the:
Ten Principles of Burning Man,
AND SL Terms & Conditions,
AND SL Moderate "M" Maturity Rating.

As with all Burn2 events, we follow the Decommodification Principle (as required by the Burning Man organization), so please refrain from putting out:

• Tip jars
• Group joiners
• Club or event advertising
• Commercial or promotional items
• Landmarks or slurls to off-playa locations

IMPORTANT! In the events we run on Deep Hole during the year, we have more room for creative license with our themes and structures in our virtual environment. Please carefully read through all the rules and the rest of the information before you fill out the plot signup form!

Note: In this context, when we say "artist" we are referring to both artists and camp builders.

It is a fact of life that in any big community there will be some rules to help things run as safely, smoothly, and as fairly as possible for all in the community.
Artists, please be considerate of your neighbors on nearby plots and the fact that we are sharing space on one region.

Maturity Rating

In keeping with the "M" (Moderate) maturity rating of Burn2's regions, adult (sex) animations are not permitted.

Plots

• There are three plot types and two plot sizes for this year's Conception event, which will be allocated on a first come, first-served basis while available:
  • Plot type: Midway - 20m x 20m x 25m
  • Plot type: Clown Town - 20m x 20m x 25m
  • Plot type: Circus - 20m x 24m (with two different orientations) x 25m
• Placement in specific plots will be based on plot content: the better detailed your plot description, the faster a placement can be assigned.
• Any floating/hovering structures must be tethered to the ground and kept stationary.
• Maximum Land Impact of your build is 300 LI.
• No terraforming or underground building permitted.

Technical Details

Objects

• Minimize the use of lag inducing physical objects.
• Megaprims and prims larger than your plot size are not allowed.
• Make objects phantom wherever you can. One exception would be an object that is meant to be walked on.
• No items may be set for sale for greater than L$0 (zero lindens).
• Mesh is allowed, but please use it wisely.
• No Temp-on-Rez objects.
• Large Environment Boxes or other items that obstruct the sightlines will not be permitted.

Textures

• Please keep texture sizes as low as possible (512x512 or its equivalent) and reuse textures when possible - this makes your build rez quicker and "pop" for visitors.
• If you use PBR materials, please be considerate and also use Blinn Phong textures as "fallback" for those who are not using PBR-enabled viewers.

Scripts

• Also to minimize lag - do not use sensors or collision scripts.
• Do not use any scripts that require interacting with the region server or external servers/databases, such as scanners, visitor logs, etc. Keep script times to .02ms or less, if possible.

Media

• We are not using cut parcels for this event and the entire region is on the same stream which means media can be heard for long distances and interferes with the audio at other art plots and at the stage, so because of that we don’t allow:
  • Plot radios (or anything setting the audio stream).
  • TVs and prim media
  • Sound camps

Sounds

• No continual or repeating sounds that interfere with the music at the stages.
• Plots near the stages should plan on being sound free.
• Regular sounds in objects may be used, but should have their range limited so as not to be audible in neighboring plots. Please use the llSetSoundRadius() where applicable. For more information: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LlSetSoundRadius.
• Each builder is part of our community and thus is responsible to build in a manner that does not adversely affect others, so check in with each other.

Lighting

• Use glow sparingly. The effects of glow multiply in an area, so if few sources, strive for a maximum of 0.05, if a lot of glow sources, a total maximum of 0.02.
• Lighting should also be kept within the boundaries of your plot wherever possible. Control the brightness and radius so that you accomplish this. If you need assistance, ask one of the event staff to help you.
• Think about how your build looks at various times of day. Is it visible at midnight? How about midday?

Boundaries

• Please keep all parts of your build inside your designated plot.
• Objects that slightly overhang your plot boundary are fine, so long as the overhanging items do not prevent movement under them (make them phantom). They may not encroach on any neighbor’s plot. Objects outside the plot boundaries ("MOOP", or "Matter Out of Place") may be returned to you - but we will make every effort to first contact you and ask you to make adjustments if needed.

Burning Your Build

• YES! Before you take up your build on LNT day, you can BURN YOUR BUILD! In fact, for those moving into the town, your building WILL BURN.
• We encourage this as part of cleanup on Leaving No Trace day. It actually makes cleaning up easier!
• If you are interested in doing this, keep it in mind when you build, because you will need to make sure that the parts of your build you want to burn, are those where you can add the burn scripts.
• There are team members who are experienced in working with the burn scripts who will be happy to assist you.
• You can burn down your build during Afterglow Week - we recommend toward the end of the week or even on LNT Day (3rd of July).

PLEASE do not build a giant box and put everything inside it! Nobody likes having their sightline to the Effigy blocked because if a giant box in front of their plot.

If a "big box" build is seen on a plot, even just during the build period. we will ask you to remove the box structure. We REALLY don't want them for this event. Not sure about your build plan? Ask the event or placement leads.

As usual for our minor events, participant vehicles will not be permitted at Conception 2025. Rangers will be enforcing this.

DMV will provide art cars for Conception 2025. DMV Rezzers will have a curated set of vehicles for all visitors to use. Large art cars that hold bigger groups will be available in the sandbox and will be drivable by anyone in Access.

If you have any questions about participant art cars, please contact one of the event leads.

Got Questions?

If you do not understand something that is stated in these build guidelines, please ask.

We love people to be better informed and feel better about what we do and why.

Contacts

Creative Vision, Can I Have/Do?: If you have questions about the guidelines or your plot, talk with:
Event Coordinators Lily Von Magic (lilyvonschtupp) or Huntress Catteneo, or
Event Placement Coordinators iSkye Silvercloud (iSkye Silverweb) or Lily Von Magic (lilyvonschtupp).