Jump to content

LINDEN RESEARCH, INC. TO BE ACQUIRED


You are about to reply to a thread that has been inactive for 1091 days.

Please take a moment to consider if this thread is worth bumping.

Recommended Posts

4 minutes ago, Extrude Ragu said:

I think part of the key issue there is the 16+. The original teen grid was 13+ and I think at that age people are more willing to experiment and learn new things, an opportune time to 'create' creators and innovators in SL in general I think, before they're swept away by other platforms.

I've encountered minors who attempt to sneak into SL during my time in SL, and it is always kind of sad when I have to send them on their way and have nowhere to send them except out of SL because I know at their age I too loved SecondLife and it was those early years that got me hooked and interested in creating.

Many if not most of the most established, creative people I know in SecondLife came in from the teen grid, so I do think it's a shame that it is gone.

13-15 year olds are still allowed on the grid just with certain restrictions and must be part of an affiliated organization.

Quote
  • 16-17 years old you can access regions and search results that have a General maturity rating.
  • 13-15 years old, you can access Second Life through an affiliated organization and will be restricted to the private estate of that organization. Only avatars approved by that organization will be able to enter these estates. You can't use Second Life search or purchase items from the Marketplace.

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Solar Legion said:

13 - 15 year olds can still access Second Life, though under tighter restrictions than they had on the Teen Grid. At least the last time I checked they could - they'd be restricted to specific Private Estates and Educational regions.

While this changes tings a fair bit from the older system it is somewhat better in the long run as well.

I don't think they can unless an organization sets their account up for them. You have to be one of the 'lucky' people who belong to a school or whatever that has a region in SecondLife. I don't think it's possible to register an account otherwise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Extrude Ragu said:

I don't think they can unless an organization sets their account up for them. You have to be one of the 'lucky' people who belong to a school or whatever that has a region in SecondLife. I don't think it's possible to register an account otherwise.

Hence "under tighter restrictions".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Solar Legion said:

Hence "under tighter restrictions".

Yes but I think it is a bit disingenuous to say that 13 to 15 year olds can access SecondLife in the context of whether or not we need teen grid. For the vast majority of this age bracket, they simply can't. It is only a 'lucky few' who happen to belong to the right organization, which again is pretty rare as far as I know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Nick0678 said:

Sure as long as you play by the book and tell them they can't have any kind of sexual activities in those parcels regardless if people see them or not, all their furniture should be cuddles only and their avatars should always be dressed properly otherwise they will get banned. Talked about G-rated not M-rated.

 

My sim is a retail sim (my store only) so no parcels, nor rentals.    Your statement said if you make a business with houses/skyboxes.... feel free to take a look (it's been open since 2006).

My hobbyist business sells just those things (business can mean content creation, not just "land rentals")....  Hope that clarifies and why content creation can remain profitable within Second Life in key sectors on G Rated Sims.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Extrude Ragu said:

Yes but I think it is a bit disingenuous to say that 13 to 15 year olds can access SecondLife in the context of whether or not we need teen grid. For the vast majority of this age bracket, they simply can't. It is only a 'lucky few' who happen to belong to the right organization, which again is pretty rare as far as I know.

Who was arguing over the need for the Teen Grid again?

Last I looked, the last few responses were a back and forth between someone simply stating the actual history, reasoning and such behind the merger of the Teen and Main Grids and someone trying to put their own spin on it while trying to pass it off as a total closure.

As for the changes where access by the 13 - 15 bracket is concerned? All things considered they could not simply lump the original age bracket together when allowing for access to the General portions of Mainland - if you think the current crop of users that occasionally clamor to have the 16+ age group locked out wholly is bad, just imagine how much worse it would be if they hadn't changed things up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

/me sighs and plows ahead thinking about LL's acquisition.

Here's what I want to know about any putative venture fund that may have been put together by Mr's Waterfield & Oberwager for this acquisition.

Can I buy in?  What's the lower limit for investment?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

/me ponders what Philip & Randy might talk about. 

Thinks about the buzzy way High Fidelity wanted to run its commerce.  Then stares at the press release for the Upland deal for a bit.

I wonder what LL's Tilia developers learned while putting together the service for that deal?

Brings up a list of Waterfield Group's companies.  My, there are a lot of companies from ... that one industry ... there.  Not the biggest players, but good-sized.   Small enough to move quickly, large enough to need some optimization in their business models.

/me goes and watches a couple of videos about new developments in ... that one industry.

You know, if Tilia wanted to put together a ... sort of suite ... of services for that one industry, Randy could put them in contact with a lot of potential customers.  Maybe even lean on one or two a bit.  LL would have to move pretty quickly, big players are already assembling services for them.  But this industry moves slowly.  And Tilia could underprice them, I think.  And move very very quickly into deployment.

Lot of "ifs", lot of hurdles to be jumped.  But if that were to happen, well, Tilia could ... could ...

GROW INTO A BIG, FAT, MONEY TREE!

__________________________________________________________________________________

So here's the real point of this post:  if any readers actually work for LL now, STAY THERE!  From Ebbe on down to the lowest paid employee, STAY!  If Tilia were to successfully go this route (which I don't even know is possible, do your own research), really, just cleaning up the leaves it drops would be lucrative.

So if you're considering going, maybe stay until you see which way these two want to take the company.  When the acquisition goes through, you will all have to sign new employment contracts, I bet.  Some of you might want to pool your resources and hire a really good compensation lawyer, and put together some language for profit-sharing (or equity), that the new owners might find acceptable.

Oh, and somebody get back to me about that fund, willya? ;)

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Nika Talaj said:

When the acquisition goes through, you will all have to sign new employment contracts, I bet. 

Hmm. That might be problematic for folks with certain kinds of compensation under the previous employment contract, so it would be super interesting to know if this actually happens. I've been assuming that Linden Research Inc's articles of incorporation will not change. Nor Tilia's. But yeah: they could, and that would be interesting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Qie Niangao said:
20 minutes ago, Nika Talaj said:

When the acquisition goes through, you will all have to sign new employment contracts, I bet. 

Hmm. That might be problematic for folks with certain kinds of compensation under the previous employment contract, so it would be super interesting to know if this actually happens. I've been assuming that Linden Research Inc's articles of incorporation will not change. Nor Tilia's. But yeah: they could, and that would be interesting.

My company (Fortune 200) was just acquired, no new agreements for us lackeys yet, at least. (I've been there 23 years.)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, Extrude Ragu said:

Many if not most of the most established, creative people I know in SecondLife came in from the teen grid, so I do think it's a shame that it is gone.

I don't know many of those people, but this gets at what I think was the intent of the original Teen Grid, and why the current approach might be worth some further consideration. The intent, I think, was to lure the next generation of SL participants. It may not be a huge market in itself, but it doesn't need to be if some of those folks end up being peer "influencers" at any point: they may make SL a socially acceptable way to spend some time, and maybe even a viable entertainment platform as their cohort matures (for some value of "maturity").

The current approach doesn't completely close off that pathway, but it doesn't fully develop it either. (Is this how Zuckerberg/Sandberg would cultivate the future demographic for their platform?) If there's anything to this "education in the time of pandemic" angle, it might be worth somebody's time in Marketing to think about how this generation of teens might become the future of the grid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, Nika Talaj said:

/me ponders what Philip & Randy might talk about.

You've articulated what I've been thinking. I think the keystone to this acquisition is Tilia. Whether or not the possibility of spinning off or selling Tilia was a primary reason to create Tilia way back when it certainly may have been a one of the focuses of the new investor/owners.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Solar Legion said:

That's nice....

Look things are very simple and easy to understand, no need to make them complicated.
Open your front door and have a walk around your neighbourhood.
Ask your neighbours if they know what Facebook is, now ask them if they know what Second Life is. (Both are same age, started in 2004.)
Find the kids now in your neighbourhood (dont be creepy,nervous) ask them what games they play.
Your friendly neighbours will give you all the answers you need about product target groups, value etc.

Over here  its Saturday night, the weather is amazing so i will have to leave you and go for some nice cool drinks. Regardless what we write and say Kids still dont care about SL and NEVER WILL. Same way most people still won't care and NEVER WILL. Take care.

  • Haha 1
  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Nick0678 said:

Kids still dont care about SL and NEVER WILL.

Kids have cared about SL and continue to do so and I can speak from experience.

I used to play SL as a kid with several other people from my school (My friends liked to troll people in Sonic Avatars and edit the pop gun to shoot crude prim dicks they made at people because that's what 13 year olds do).

There are definitely kids coming on SL and playing, only a couple of days ago I had to ban someone from my sim because when I asked them about their occupation they said they were in middle school, the occurrence that something like that happens isn't rare. I have a younger sister IRL who caught me playing and was very interested, we got her the sims. Kids do like the idea of playing in a virtual world, hence minecraft and the like are so popular

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/10/2020 at 10:51 PM, Love Zhaoying said:

Some of the "shortage" is artificial..oldbies like me, abandoning our old Linden homes, and getting Bellisaria homes (or trying to get them). LL essentially created "new demand" with Belli.

Yes but have you seen the new ones (still being built) next door to the birthday event?  Soooo beautiful.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Nick0678 said:

Adult content won't be removed, actually its the only part of SL that keeps Second Life still active and "realistically" kind of profitable, without it Second Life would have the same fate as Teen Second Life (closed 2011).

This is a misconception that's often repeated.

Yes, adult locations are among the busiest locations, but only because they focus people into few locations for extended periods of time (and for simplicity's sake, lets ignore all the AFK places).

In terms of "keeping the lights on" it's shopping events, in which one event can pack multiple regions 24/7 all day every day, and a constant churn of short stay visitors who are only there to spend money. It brings in significantly more income than all those people at clubs or adult places standing about in silence or poseball hopping.

Playing dress up and house is the primary passtime in SL and a huge portion of the player-base do it alone. It rarely gets the attention sex does for obvious reasons. Also keep in mind there is a big difference between dressing up super sexy and actually doing anything.

Edited by CoffeeDujour
  • Like 12
Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, CoffeeDujour said:

This is a misconception that's often repeated.

Yes, adult locations are among the busiest locations, but only because they focus people into few locations for extended periods of time (and for simplicity's sake, lets ignore all the AFK places).

In terms of "keeping the lights on" it's shopping events, in which one event can pack multiple regions 24/7 all day every day, and a constant churn of short stay visitors who are only there to spend money. It brings in significantly more income than all those people at clubs or adult places standing about in silence or poseball hopping.

Playing dress up and house is the primary passtime in SL and a huge portion of the player-base do it alone. It rarely gets the attention sex does for obvious reasons. Also keep in mind there is a big difference between dressing up super sexy and actually doing anything.

In order to have good pixel sex you first play dress up; go shopping and doll yourself up and then go for sex

There's no way a healthy, young, able-bodied SLer who spends lots of money shopping to look pretty does it for nothing unless the person has some kind of condition or is an old fart

  • Haha 2
  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, ItHadToComeToThis said:

At least then, should I choose to, I can move to open sim and take most of my creations with me.

Yes, that is at the very end all we can do. Just hope Second Life as it is now thrives also under the new bosses. If not .. byeee (wiping off tears) and time to get creative elsewhere. Not a bad thing may be!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

48 minutes ago, CoffeeDujour said:

This is a misconception that's often repeated.

Yes, adult locations are among the busiest locations, but only because they focus people into few locations for extended periods of time (and for simplicity's sake, lets ignore all the AFK places).

In terms of "keeping the lights on" it's shopping events, in which one event can pack multiple regions 24/7 all day every day, and a constant churn of short stay visitors who are only there to spend money. It brings in significantly more income than all those people at clubs or adult places standing about in silence or poseball hopping.

Playing dress up and house is the primary passtime in SL and a huge portion of the player-base do it alone. It rarely gets the attention sex does for obvious reasons. Also keep in mind there is a big difference between dressing up super sexy and actually doing anything.

Yep!  I agree with this.  I've been trying to go to event for three days now and gave up, but you can even find some sims with older event items at 50 to 70% off too and with no one on the sim.  That was cool, getting the items for 50% off and more and I went there yesterday.

However, looking sexy is one of the biggest things "keeping the lights on".  I do it too and it's just for pictures as I'm not into pixel bumping.  I'm a builder and in Photoshop most of the time and I love photography both rl and sl.    But, the looking sexy sells.  I'm sure some people want to find some lindens looking sexy too.  lol  Okay, let's not go there.  

Edited by FairreLilette
Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, Anna Vanilla said:

In order to have good pixel sex you first play dress up; go shopping and doll yourself up and then go for sex

There's no way a healthy, young, able-bodied SLer who spends lots of money shopping to look pretty does it for nothing unless the person has some kind of condition or is an old fart

I didn't even see this response before I wrote that I agree with CoffeeDuJour.  

SL Photography is a huge hobby and that why tons of items sell.   You should look at Second Life Official (photography) Group on FLICKR sometime as these photographers are exceptional and some of those photo shoots probably took weeks to set up with all the props and poses. 

Why on Earth would you think somebody has some kind of condition or is an old fart if they don't want to engage in pixel bumping?  You've never seen all the artistry that goes into the making the items here for Second Life?  It takes a lot, a lot of work.  There are many creators here...how many actually go for pixel sex...I have no idea.  I've tried it.  It's like silly acting to me.  I don't "act" nor talk in rl.  I want to have real life sex and as far as the pixel sex, I'd do the afk thing but wouldn't be interested in being at the keyboard nor emoting so actually you end up sounding like the one with the condition or are an old fart -- too old to go out in real life.  

Edited by FairreLilette
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I expect from the new ownership is more attention to SL's marketing problems. Neither Waterfield nor Oberwager has a tech background. They understand marketing and will probably look at that end of the business first.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Anna Vanilla said:

In order to have good pixel sex you first play dress up; go shopping and doll yourself up and then go for sex

There's no way a healthy, young, able-bodied SLer who spends lots of money shopping to look pretty does it for nothing unless the person has some kind of condition or is an old fart

Nice generalizations, but maybe they have a satisfying RL and are in SL purely to dress up their dolly. 

🙄🙄🙄

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Sylvia Tamalyn said:

Nice generalizations, but maybe they have a satisfying RL and are in SL purely to dress up their dolly. 

🙄🙄🙄

That was for the comment about adult content made prior to it

But you're right .. I should speak for myself

I digress  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are about to reply to a thread that has been inactive for 1091 days.

Please take a moment to consider if this thread is worth bumping.

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...