Deltango Vale

My immediate reaction was that I had been sent to a spoof site, but relaxed when I discovered I was automatically signed into the main account page. I then read this thread. I got a couple elastic bands, some sticky tape and an old coat hanger and managed to get this forum to load. I see that Linden Lab has not posted anything on the main blog site for, oh, three months now. I presume there are janitors somewhere in the main building that keep the servers running - though, obviously one of them hit a switch with a broom handle, which is why logins are not working properly. Echo...echo......echo.......... Anybody here? Earth calling Linden Lab.

Linden Lab never claimed that such a law applied to SL. see: http://deltango.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/linden-lab-gambling-policy-2007/ Linden Lab chose to initiate its own policy based on its own interpretation of the legal ambiguity of the situation. It was an LL policy decision from start to finish.

Gambling was removed due to LL, NOT US federal law: http://deltango.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/linden-lab-gambling-policy-2007/

Second Life is currently over-governed. That's part of its current problem. Linden Lab Social Policy 2006 GDC 2006 Our World. Our Reality, by Torley Linden The Mission of Linden Lab, by Philip Linden Things started to go wrong in 2007 with the Disneyfication strategy. It was followed by the Facebook 3D strategy, which was followed by Disneyfication II. Second Life today is a shadow of its former self. As with RL, it was governed into oblivion.

"It's interesting Deltango, that in so many ways I agree with you. Babies that survive a rough upbringing WILL be stronger and that's good for the species in the long term. On the other hand sub-saharan Africa still has the highest infant mortality rate in the world so you're asking parents to put their children at a higher risk of death in order to toughen them up. This is eugenics, exactly as Medhue says." --------------------------------------------------- No. Eugenics is manipulation of the genome, usually through controlled breeding. Nor was I suggesting that if my daughter had Chicken Pox I would feed her arsenic wrapped in poison ivy then toss her naked into a malarial swamp in the middle of a cold, rainy night. I was talking about strengthening the immune system through exposure to historical, childhood diseases and environmental 'noise', which is a natural and necessary function for good health. @ everyone ETA. Here is a link to a superb book on the history of disease by one of the world's top economic historians: http://www.amazon.com/Plagues-Peoples-William-H-McNeill/dp/0385121229

The real reason why Second Life went down:

"I don't know that Deltango was responding to the anti-vaccine idea so much as the "pro dirty childhood" idea, which is one I think we both agree with." --------------------------------------------------------- I have no opinion on the vaccine debate. I had every childhood disease in the book (Mumps, Measles, Rubella, Whooping Cough, Scarlet Fever, Chicken Pox). Our house was full of cigarette smoke. I swam in polluted rivers. Thank all the gods I had such a healthy childhood (seriously). I strongly recommend the following film. No doubt about it, the African baby got the best deal.

"I do not believe in giving kids a chicken pox vaccine that is far inferior than them contracting the disease and using their innate system, which will give them immunity for LIFE, not just a few years. Contracting the disease later in life has far more risks than when they are younger. This is just 1 example, and there are many." ----------------------------------------- Agree. Kids need to be allowed to get sick in order to boost their immune systems. Antibiotics should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Kids need to play. They need dirt. They need to get scratched up a bit. Keeping kids in a plastic bubble, isolated from the world, protecting them from every dust particle or breath of stale air, is a form of slow murder.

I have never understood the forum 'rating' system - and LL still hasn't fixed the join date.

My preference is mod / transfer / no-copy

Considering that SL was actually launched in 2002, Linden Lab should be doing a major 10-year celebration and marketing campaign. Yet LL is nowhere to be seen. The official blog is almost empty, rarely updated. Most people have fled this GD forum. It's as if Linden Lab has packed up and gone on vacation. Does Torley still work for the company? Does the company still have an office in San Francisco? Who knows? Compare Linden Lab to CCP. Why can't Linden Lab hold a 3-day 'fanfest'. Why can't Linden Lab make presentations about its current situation and future strategy? Why can't Linden Lab produce Youtube ads for Second Life? Check out the following video: Why can't Linden Lab do that?

"I was on Firestorm 27000 for about a week or so. Loved it for the tweakable FUI and Phoenix-ish appearance ... BUT I just can't get my head wrapped around the weird logic of the V2/3 communication stuff. Group notices and IMs showing as a small symbol in the upper right hand corner ... what were they thinking? Lately I have to wait for hours for reply by other users who are clearly shown as online. Sometimes I don't receive anything at all. Most of the time they tell me they just missed my message becase they didn't see it. I guess that's a showstopper. Communication is 99% of what we do in SL; everybody knows that but LL." --------------------------------------------------------- This is my experience as well. I'm staying with Phoenix.

Let me tell a story. About ten years ago, I played a series of games: Myst, Riven, Zork Nemesis and Myst III. I loved these games. I had a BF who was into Command & Conquer: Tiberium Sun, but I never cared for wargames. I loved the puzzles, the strange and beautiful worlds, the music. Not much happened after that until I encountered Second Life. I have been completely absorbed by SL for over 5 years. As is well known, I believe Linden Lab has failed to realize SL's enormous potential. I believe SL is now about three years behind the curve and unlikely to recover. I believe Linden Lab is neither capable nor willing to develop or promote Second Life. I believe LL will simply sell SL in order to reinvest the proceeds in new ventures. Two things struck me recently. First, I dug out an old copy of Myst (which won't play on Windows 7). Second, I interviewed a bunch of teenage girls about The Hunger Games. Putting all the pieces together, I started searching for MMORPGs that might be mutating away from blood & guts warfare toward Second Life territory. At the risk of starting a war here in this thread, let me say that WoW is not the answer. Then, unexpectedly, I discovered EVE. Okay, well, I can see that I will need at least two years to even begin to qualify as a noob in EVE. From what I have read and seen on YouTube, EVE has the steepest learning curve in the history of the human race. In other words, it takes as much time to learn EVE as to get a doctorate in astrophysics. BUT I was impressed by the 'emergent' complexity of the world. It is Second Life on steroids and cocaine. It has 300,000 residents (95% male), most of whom probably already have a doctorate in astrophysics. It is ten years old and has roughly the same revenue stream as Linden Lab. Right. EVE is for boys and SL is for girls. The Hunger Games is also for girls. Imagine, then, if a feminine component were added to EVE. I don't mean converting EVE into a doll house; I mean adding the whole universe of SL fashion and design, interpersonal relationships and social networking to EVE. While at first glance the two worlds seem incompatible, they share similar economic systems and 'emergent' philosophies. In many ways, EVE overlaps the VR space that Second Life should have filled three years ago. I doubt SL can ever catch up. The big question I ask myself is whether an 'SL2' could be integrated into EVE in such a way as to provide a user-generated, creative economy to offset the emphasis on warfare. Perhaps a protected galaxy could be added with a new 'race' (EVE terminology) of 'designers', 'builders' and 'socialites'. As for World of Darkness, no, it's not the same thing. It's a story system. Moreover, The Hunger Games has probably destroyed the vampire space. If it were me, I'd shut down WoD completely. It seems Linden Lab wants to take SL toward a story system like WoD. I believe this is a mistake. I believe the true value of virtual worlds is economic. By buying SL and integrating it into EVE, I believe CCP could dominate the VR industry for the next 30 years.

I was looking around at MMORPGs and stumbled upon the following: http://consumerist.com/2012/04/congratulations-ea-you-are-the-worst-company-in-america-for-2012.html Well, I sure hope EA doesn't buy SL. Then I stumbled upon EVE Online. Should CCP Games buy Second Life? If so, should SL be maintained as a separate world or merged in some way into the EVE universe?

There was an infamous land scammer back in 2006-2008 who used to buy a 512m2 in the middle of other 512s then erect the biggest junkpile possible. Her trademark was flaming KFC buckets and huge posters. She would then set her parcel for sale at an inflated price. If a neighbor bought her land to get rid of the junk, she would immediately buy another 512 nearby and repeat the scam. If anyone tried to speak with her, she would scream - and I mean scream - in the foulest language imaginable - that she was being persecuted. She made a hell of a lot of money running that scam before LL finally kicked her out. Those were rough days on the mainland.

"The single name system pre-dated Rod by months, didn't it Del?" -------------------------------------------------------- @ everyone Yes. Rod's mistake was to tweet that the Resident Names problem would be addressed. He did so in response to years of complaints about the mononame system. He offered to put forward a win-win solution. He then reneged (again in a tweet), thereby achieving a lose-lose solution. Rod thus made two mistakes. The first was a failure to present his proposal to the residents in a coherent manner for the purpose of soliciting the advice of resident experts. His second mistake was to build expectations for the resolution of a long-standing problem then washing his hands of the problem without adequate explanation. In both cases, he failed to use the official LL Blog, which, after two years work, was specifically designed for that purpose, instead tweeting from on high like Moses on the mountain. Now, had Linden Lab's track record not been such a shambles and if Linden Lab had not had a reputation for blind arrogance, he might have gotten away with it as a 'new guy' management mistake, but, considering the litany of failure at Linden Lab over many years, it was a luxury he couldn't afford - especially so early in his tenure. What bothers me is that these are high-school level management mistakes. Contrast Rod's aloofness with Oz's open and sincere participation. One need not be a rocket scientist to achieve good customer relations through dialog with one's customers. It's standard procedure. It's Public Relations 101. Oz generated more good will and accomplished more for the company in an hour than the rest of the company combined over the space of six months. It's massive positive leverage at a very low cost. Torley used to do this nicely, but he has vanished from the face of the Earth. As for Twitter, it is a wonderful mechanism for transmitting trivia or, if you are a fashion goddess, for sprinkling water on your disciples, but it is utterly useless for serious communication between management and customers in a virtual world social network.

" I simply point out that Rodvik sees a bigger picture than we do." ----------------------------------------------------- @ everyone For five years, Linden Lab said, "Trust us; we know what we are doing. We see the bigger picture." That ship sailed, hit an iceberg and sank. The CEO was fired, 30% of the staff were fired and the international offices were shut down. Philip was dragged back from C&P to perform emergency surgery. Rod and another big gun were brought in from Electronic Arts to rebuild the company. On Rod's watch, the Resident Names issue was a PR disaster. Linden Lab's credibility remains buried in mud at the bottom of the ocean. "Trust us; we see the big picture," ain't gonna wash anymore.

I'm very impressed with this new Firestorm release. I work a lot with groups, so having the V1/Phoenix interface is essential. The V1/Phoenix interface also puts the media controls back down on the bottom, where they can be useful (instead of squished into the top right of the screen). Thank you Phoenix/Firestorm team - and all other third-party developers - for your years of hard work during a long, dark period in SL history. Finally, there is a flexible, unified viewer for Second Life. Well done!

I wish to thank Oz Linden for his recent appearance on Treet TV with Jessica Lyon. The hour-long interview is the first open and sincere communication I have seen from Linden Lab in many years. Not only was it refreshing to see two skilled professionals engaged in an intelligent discussion, but it gives me hope that Linden Lab might emerge from its ivory tower and reconnect with its userbase. Many thanks to Oz, therefore, for taking such a bold step. If by any chance Rod reads this post, may I strongly recommend hiring a Customer Relations Director to act as a liaison between the company and the residents. Use the official SL Blog to provide information on a regular basis. Begin a process of communication. Rebuild trust. Seek advice. The bunker mentality of the past five years has not been fruitful. For example, the interview with Oz should have been posted on the official SL Blog. So too should the resident name problem have been addressed openly and up front. Skulking in the shadows, micro-tweets here and there, hints and evasions are not only a poor method of communication, but it destroys trust - if fuels the fire of suspicion and generates hostility. The residents are not your enemies; they are your customers, your friends and advisers. You need them for your business to prosper.

"Don't you know there ain't no devil, there's just God when he's drunk." - Tom Waits

The problems at Linden Lab go much deeper. The company does not understand its own product. It does not understand its residents (customers) and it does not understand the market. Here is a textbook example from business history: And here is a recent example: Coca-Cola changed its product for all the wrong reasons. Kodak clung to its product for all the wrong reasons. In both cases, these companies failed to understand the nature of their products, customers and markets. Linden Lab has combined the errors of Coca-Cola and Kodak. It then shrugs and says it plans to develop new products. Meanwhile, the goose that laid the golden egg is starving to death.

"If you were CEO of say Electronic Arts how would you make the pitch to your Board of Directors to buy LL? How would you justify the massive up front capital investment to buy the company, not to mention the investment needed to handle the numerous technical issues we all know about? What about ongoing R&D, advertising and promotion, customer support costs?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yeah, Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell had the same problem. Gray had the drawing ready a year before Bell, but his financial backers said they didn't want to waste money on his stupid 'telephone'. Bell's backers said much the same thing. Who needs a telephone when we have the telegraph? Unlike Gray, Bell said FU to his backers and developed the telephone. A year Later, Gray woke up and rushed to the patent office. Bell beat him by a day. Bell offered to sell his patent to Western Union for US$25,000. Western Union threw him out the front door. Bell started his own company. Western Union finally woke up and offered Bell US$25 million. Bell told Western Union to take a hike. The mobile phone began as a niche product. In the early days, one was ridiculed for using it in public. "Hey, look at that airhead with a mobile phone. Who does she think she is?" Sure, it took a decade to catch on, but how many VC are considering suicide for having missed that train? Second Life is the new 'telephone'. It is the new 'cellphone'. It is the new 'Facebook' x 1000. At the moment, it has crude graphics and a horrible interface (V2/3). It runs on an antique platform that cannot handle heavy loads. Will it require a large financial investment? You bet, but, what successful product didn't require a large financial investment? IBM spent US$5 billion to develop the IBM360 (yes, $5 billion, the same cost as the Manhattan Project to build an atomic bomb) and made a fortune! The problem is not the money; the problem is a lack of vision, intelligence and leadership.

"Dont forget, LL staff is mostly a bunch of technicians who have no clue what its like to create and live in SL. Been here 5 years and not once I saw a message from them indicating they understand their product." -------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ everyone Other than Kodak, I can think of no company that has made such a mess of things. Here is Linden Lab sitting on the hottest product in the history of the human race and the company flaps around like a headless chicken. As for customer relations, I suggest watching this video: http://treet.tv/shows/phoenix-firestorm Whether you like the Phoenix/Firestorm product or not, notice the venue, the media, the information content and Jessica Lyon's level of professionalism. It is a superb example of a team of residents who get Second Life. Meanwhile, the CEO of Linden Lab tweets occasionally from the company's ivory tower. What I cannot understand is why Linden Lab holds onto Second Life. Sell it to someone who understands it, take the money and do something else! Philip has his Coffee & Power (which I understand he is messing up with new restrictions). Go and create a new product (and mess it up if you must), but why cling onto Second Life when you obviously don't like it, don't want it and can't manage it?

I logged onto my account page tonight to check out a few things. At the top of the page, I noticed a large ad for MySecondLife. Gee, I haven't been to that site in ages, so I click on the link to take a look. I see some comments running in the feed, Lillie's performances and a few cheerful replies. Hey, and there is an interesting comment from Marianne McCann. Something about history of SL, which should be interesting. As I read her post (http://marianne.secondlifekid.com/2012/03/04/the-old-frontier-feel/), I notice something about the Last Names problem that LL is working to solve. Hmmm, what? Something is wrong? I then log onto the SL Blog to scan the threads. Nothing about Last Names, whew! I pop over to the SL Forum and scan the list of threads. Nothing new about Last Names. Okay, I guess I misread something in Marianne's Blog. On a whim, I scroll down the list and take a peek at the long-running thread on Last Names. Wait, something is not right... I work my way backwards through the posts until I hit this: http://dwellonit.taterunino.net/2012/03/01/rod-humble-updates-on-last-names-announces-new-round-table/comment-page-2/#comments What? I then click on the link: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Your-Avatar/Update-Last-Names-Roundtable/m-p/1409403 If I had not checked my account, if I had not clicked on a comment by Marianne, if I had not gone backward through an old thread, I would never have found Rod's post. Why, because a post of this magnitude would not be buried deep in a sub-forum; it would be on the official Blog, obviously. So, I am not in a good mood at once again having come across an important announcement by sheer luck. My negative opinion of Linden Lab has not been improved. As to the announcement... I am disgusted. Furious. How can this company be so paralyzed, so unable to accomplish a simple task? There are no less than 200 million threads spread across the internet about this Last Name problem. It was a foolish mistake to have buggered with the system in the first place, but to be unable to fix it - and then to abandon it - strikes me as the height of gross incompetence. I normally seek to take a measured tone in posts. I normally seek to withhold my passions at Linden Lab's utter disconnect from the human race and the world of business, but, after all these years, the unwillingness of Linden Lab to fix a simple problem has burst a blood vessel for me. It is normal that a person suffering a delusion will find ways to ignore evidence in order to cling to a belief. Well, I have been clinging to the delusion that one day Linden Lab would grow up and become a real company. For five years, I have lived in hope, waiting, wondering, praying that Linden Lab would finally get a grip on Second Life - would actually begin to understand it - but no, no, no, no. There seems to be a genetic defect that prevents Linden Lab from understanding Second Life. As in the novel Neuromancer, Wintermute says, "I knoweth not the word. I am incapable of knowing the word. If you tell me the word, I cannot know it." Thus Linden Lab and Second Life. Yes, I should delete this post. Yes, I should wait until tomorrow when I have a cooler disposition, but I am so goddam angry after so many years waiting for this company to wake up that perhaps, this one time, I should let my rage flow unimpeded across the screen. Thousands of reasonable threads containing thousands of reasonable posts are pointless, pointless, pointless. Linden Lab simply doesn't give a damn about Second Life, never has and never will! I am so angry I could spit!

"It's bizarre how LL sprinkles it's announcements here and there rather than consistently blogging them." ------------------------------------------------------ What? LL post announcements about its own products to its own customers on its own blog?