Linden Lab execs speaking at conferences

[animats]

From VentureBeat:

“[Engagement] hasn’t come down,” Linden Lab chief financial officer Aston Waldman said during a discussion on stage at the GamesBeat Summit this week. “We had a few record months, but it’s continued to go up. The reason is that with these user economies there is an investment of time. People are spending time building their avatars, expanding their properties, and rekindling connections with other players. So even though they’re allowed to go outside again, they are still reengaged with the game and still enjoying it.”

That's encouraging. Almost everybody else in this business loses money. Profitability means Second Life stays around.

From GeekWire:

Rosedale.. recently spoke at Madrona Venture Labs’ Launchable event.

Reporter: "Most of what metaverse boosters have been discussing is something that’s already possible in Second Life, and Linden Lab has already had many of the problems that companies like Meta will have to deal with."

"According to Rosedale, speaking off the cuff, roughly a million users still use Second Life today, but there aren’t a hundred million because “it doesn’t work for grownups yet.” The problem with an avatar is that it can’t match the amount of information that’s communicated by looking directly at another human’s face, which is why Rascoff’s interview was being held in a shared Zoom meeting rather than Second Life. An avatar can’t yet match the experience of a face-to-face human interaction.

“What happened at Second Life was that we were good enough for people who were committed enough to really want to live there, and in many cases, to give up their real-life identity and project themselves wholly into a virtual world that they could call their own. What I think we did right is that we gave them enough power and ownership over the space”.

This is consistent with Rosedale's usual comments.

It's good that Linden Lab execs are showing up at game industry conferences. For a long time, LL was very disconnected from the industry.

 

[Coffee Pancake]

3 hours ago, animats said:

"According to Rosedale, speaking off the cuff, roughly a million users still use Second Life today, but there aren’t a hundred million because “it doesn’t work for grownups yet.” The problem with an avatar is that it can’t match the amount of information that’s communicated by looking directly at another human’s face, which is why Rascoff’s interview was being held in a shared Zoom meeting rather than Second Life. An avatar can’t yet match the experience of a face-to-face human interaction.

“What happened at Second Life was that we were good enough for people who were committed enough to really want to live there, and in many cases, to give up their real-life identity and project themselves wholly into a virtual world that they could call their own. What I think we did right is that we gave them enough power and ownership over the space”.

Although I fundamentally disagree with Philip's assessments of SL users, the emotional bandwidth on offer and the sad-sack over committed user trope.

We seek better avatar control because playing static fixed animations are, at best, only close enough. We're not dependent on avatars to deliver emotional context into interactions in SL, It's frustrating that minor variations in base proportions stuffs arms though a friends head should the dare to sit on the same piece of furniture, or spend the rest of the time intersecting with their own bodies. The animation system we have is the absolute bare minimum, which might have been passable two decades ago, but not anymore.

We do not need a web cam pointed at our faces so voice chat can lip sync better and pull silly faces, in the context of the base animation system, this isn't even gilding the Lilly or lipstick on a pig. It's a painting a poop gold.

We do not desire to "live in SL", we know how it works, we're not stupid. We must invest significant time in our avatars because the avatar systems are expensive, complex and propriety. High session length here means no more that being logged into discord all day long.

SL works perfectly fine for grownups prepared to put the time in and willingly, knowingly, look past the glaring problems. Most new users run face first into the jank, balk at the significant time and financial investment needed just get to mainstream body and some pants, don't have the establish personal relationships and don't understand why anyone would jump though all those hoops when the platform can't even communicate what's happening, where the people are, and why on earth they shouldn't just go play any other social game.

 

Philip does not use SL, does not engage with SL, does not shop, dress his own avatar or experience the hoops we must navigate to achieve a cohesive end result. He has not formed meaningful deeply personal relationships here, shared a seat with another user, nor has he waded though dozens of AO's to find one that works with his shape. He doesn't log in every day because this isn't where the bonds that define his friends are. He find text chat cumbersome and doesn't know anyone here well enough to compensate. 

His portrayal and views on SL are bordering on willfully ignorant, if not outright damaging and demeaning.

When he does log in, it's as the rock star game god who birthed the world, it's performative at best.

 

Yet he's a special advisor to the highest levels of management.

 

I like and respect Philip a great deal, he is woefully out of touch and needs to approach the platform with fresh eyes, this is not the same world he birthed twenty years ago.

I deeply wish he would spin up an alt with the specific intention of making a true, personal, inner-circle friend. The kind he would greet in person with a heartfelt hug. Needing to get to grips with all the world as it exists today, navigating all the technical and social complexity, with only the resident generated assistance we depend on to accomplish that goal.

This world is our world, not for the land ownership model, or economy, or approach to moderation. But for all the things you can't task a developer to create or resolve in a meeting. It's love. Plain and simple.

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by Coffee Pancake

[Jules Catlyn]

While i do agree that SL has quite the steep learning curve, i do not agree that you have to invest a large amount of money to get a decent avatar. There are plenty of good looking affordable options when it comes to avatar bodies and heads. Even the "mainstream" avatar head and body creators have occasional promos and even free parts. When it comes to clothing, skins, AO's and other items you might need to dress up an avatar, there is plenty to be found inworld for free or a marginal amount of money. 

As for Philips engagement with SL. I would not be surprised if he (like many other users in SL) makes use of alt accounts to further look into what is going on inside SL. I do not totally agree with his views either but at the same time we have no idea if he uses other means to explore SL and engage with people.

[Mollymews]

i think it was prudent of Linden to take on Philip Rosedale as a Linden company special advisor, given what is happening in the industry. Philip Rosedale major strength/skill is the ability to communicate to high-level industry people (board/ceo/venture funders/etc) the potential rewards and associated risks in developing virtual worlds. And because he can communicate at this level then he is able to advise the Linden board of where the broader industry is placed, and what challenges that Linden may face from potential Linden competitors

all the face synching that Mr Rosedale goes on about, is what he understands the potential competitors to Linden are looking at providing to their potential customers in the future and Linden should take this into consideration in their (Linden) future planning

a thing is that Philip Rosedale's view of virtual worlds is not the same as the views that we the residents have.  Mr Rosedale viewpoint have always been set about 5 years into the future. He has always been that way. Whenever a SL resident says, now and in the past, to him: What about this or that which is broken or incomplete? His answer has/was/is always: yeah! thats not good. I will get my people to have a look at it. And then he goes back to gazing into the future and trying to discern what that future will be for the industry

[Silent Mistwalker]

7 hours ago, animats said:

“it doesn’t work for grownups yet.”

Yet somehow SL is for grownups and has been occupied by grownups since the beginning.

Very poor choice in wording. Quite insulting really.