Face-lights are the lights people attach to their faces because they think being well-lit makes their avatar look better.
And it does, it is a great tool for when you’re doing a photo shoot.
However they can look rather odd for those around you, imagine being in a nice dark bar staring through the smoke filled air at the glowing face of your loved one as red light from a small table lamp shines on you both… as suddenly someone with a flash light as bright as a solar flare tight to their face walks into the place making it seem like an atomic bomb is exploding.
It can ruin the atmosphere, especially in a city like Berlin with many dark streets, small dingy clubs, etc.
We can disable them in our viewers but that won’t stop them being a nuisance to those who are new to SL and haven’t quite figured out how to do that.
That also doesn’t lower the impact yet another portable script & light source has on the sim’s resources.
In short; it adds to all those things that together cause lag.
And we all know Berlin has plenty of lag already.
Fraulein Morales was kind enough to demonstrate the effect of facelights on atmospheric locations;
Without facelight;
With facelight;
And of course during busy events there may be more people with facelights, all adding to the general brightness of the scene.
The facelight used in this screenshot (at medium graphics setting) isn’t even a very bright one!
So for the sake of immersion, atmosphere and lag I’ve decided to now officially BAN face lights.
I’m sorry if you love using them but I’m sure you’ll soon get used to being without them and will realise how it will actually improve your experience in our sim.
A sign will be added to Teleportplatz and visitors wearing one will kindly and politely asked to remove it, in IM, by one of our admins.
The 1920s Berlin Project 
There are still a lot of old, really badly-made, facelights out there. The big problem is that the original Second Life lighting system only rendered a limited number of light sources. And there are facelights with more light sources than anyone can ever see. When advanced lighting came in, it removed that limit, and handled total brightness a bit differently, without clipping to 1.0
And that’s how the thermonuclear facelights come about.
Those classic images of the 1920s, the pictures of the film stars such as Clara Bow, were lit by people who knew what they were doing. Maybe somebody should build a portrait studio in 1920s Berlin?
There *is* a portrait studio in 1920s Berlin. But that opens a sad subject, related to the only Memorial Service I’ve ever attended in SL.
It is a great studio, though.
And yeah, thank you, Frauline Jo. Smart move. It had to be done.