Deltango Vale

Agree. The new SL viewer was a disaster from day one. Without Phoenix, I'd have packed it in.

I have long argued that SL's technical infrastructure should be rebuilt from the ground up, but I envisioned a better SL, not a new and separate SL2. Linden Lab has a proven track record of incompetence in terms of vision, strategy, design, construction, pricing, social engineering, land management and customer service. Failing to post the news on its own blog just reeks of the same old crap we have had to deal with for the past seven years. Sadly, Linden Lab's reputation is so poor that I cannot conceive of it succeeding with a new world after buggering up the old one. LL lacks almost all knowledge of economics and human behavior. It's business decisions have been tragic. My fear now is that SL2 will bankrupt the company once and for all.

Okay, then maybe it's time to rebuild the hardware infrastructure. I watch other companies such as CCP Games investing huge resources in upgrading its systems. For over 10 years, there have been two major upgrades of EVE Online per year. Recently, the company has been cleaning up and rebuilding its core infrastructure. As the previous link shows, it's already running on military-grade hardware. It seems silly for Linden Lab to be wrestling with antique systems design.

Thank you Linden Lab for communicating with us. It's a long time coming, but much appreciated. Years ago, someone suggested replacing the MySQL databases with professional-grade systems. I'm not a technical expert, but this seems like a smart idea. Somehow, I can't imagine Air Traffic Control or NASA using MySQL. To the best of my knowledge, MySQL is for Wordpress and other lightweight applications. Maybe it's time for serious investment in SL's infrastructure.

Your mention of Waring brings back good memories. The first parcel of land I bought on the open market was in Waring, back in November 2006. At the time, the neighboring sim of Shubelik was for sale in parcels. Someone bought them all in order to have the complete sim. He built a huge complex that included artworks lining the walkways that spiraled up to a store. If you remember a build in Schubelik that was kinda like the Los Angeles airport tower, then Waring is your sim. Land in Waring was selling for roughly L$8 per m2 in November 2006, which was rather cheap at the time. There were a couple nice builds on the eastern cliff, but Waring was generally empty. I loved the peace and quiet. The view was spectacular.

While I am horrified at the prospect of Facebook buying Second Life, it would make sense. The ancient technology of SL is not important. What's important is the brand, the history, the userbase and the experience of Linden Lab's employees in managing a full-scale political economy. Needless to say, the ancient technology of Facebook (including its lousy interface) has not impeded its success.

This is a big move - and completely expected - though I'm surprised it was Facebook that bought Oculus Rift. Perhaps Zucherberg realizes that VR and virtual worlds such as Second Life and New Eden (both over 10 years old) are the next 'big thing' - that they will replace FB as the global social network. Remember that it took 10 years for the cellphone to become a global technology. Expect a lot of attention to focus now on Second Life. As I have been arguing for years, the potential for Second Life is HUGE. Sadly, Linden Lab lacked the vision and competence to capitalize on their first-mover advantage, but with a new CEO, perhaps Linden Lab is finally waking up to the new economic and commercial reality of virtual worlds. Facebook's purchase of Oculus Rift is certainly a wakeup call - the loudest alarm bell in the industry.

And so Rod joins M on the scrapheap of failed SL CEOs. Good riddance. Perhaps now Second Life can emerge from its 5-year stagnation (2008-2013). Could it be that Ebbe actually understands Second Life? A good start is the dumping of several side projects. Has the company finally figured out that SL is not 3D Facebook (M's big idea) or Super Mario Minecraft (Rod's big idea)? It has been a long, slow, painful slog, but maybe the Board of Directors is finally, slowly, painfully starting to understand Second Life and appreciate its full potential. We live in hope.

Yes, I would certainly solicit Prok's opinions, in spite of the fact she hates my guts. (I can imagine her reply: "No, dear, I don't hate your guts; I'm utterly indifferent to you."). I was amused how she slapped down Celest for actually saying something nice about her, but I digress. If I'm not mistaken, Prok was instrumental in getting Linden Lab to understand some basic concepts of commerce in Second Life. I believe she beat Philip repeatedly over the head with an iron bar until he reformed groups and land permissions. For that small step forward, I am eternally grateful. Strangely, Prok and I are very much on the same side. Unfortunately, she believes I'm a Communist Hippie Junkie Linden Clone hell bent on restablishing the Soviet Union. How anyone could imagine me as a leftie is one of the world's great mysteries, but such is life. Perhaps I used the word 'community' twice in the same post. I am astonished at the success of CCP Games' EVE Online. The company has released its 20th major upgrade in the past 10 years - gathering momentum, expanding and deepening the user experience. I'm overwhelmed by the technical prowess of the engineers, but even more impressed by the functional political economy the company has created. It is a human world with human incentives and rewards. CCP has tapped into the human spirit and found gold. Meanwhile, SL shrinks and dwindles away. Yes, California is definitely the wrong place to build a virtual world. Half the population is getting therapy from the other half of the population. CCP is based in Iceland, where the concept of 'reality' is alive and well.

If I had the capital to construct a virtual world, I would probably hire Philip as a consultant. He is certainly a half-decent engineer and, yes, one does need engineers to build virtual worlds, but for such an enterprise to succeed, one must design from principles of human nature, not from principles of data manipulation. It's all well and good to build a bridge or railway, but they have to go somewhere for a reason, not just sit there looking pretty - unless, of course, you live in Alaska

I'm unimpressed. Philip is an engineer. He should work for a games company. Even after all these years, he still doesn't understand virtual worlds. Notice too the VCs - the same dinosaurs who have been fumbling SL. I hate to say it yet again, but the only company that understands virtual worlds is CCP Games. It is the only company that understands the human condition within an economic framework. Without that understanding, engineers produce pretty pictures and little else.

Twitter could use the cash to snap up Linden Lab dirt cheap. It would bail out the LL VCs, who have obviously given up on SL, and give Twitter an income stream. All Twitter needs to do then is manages SL properly and reap the rewards.

So, Linden Lab missed its chance. Twitter is going for $11 billion, half my original estimate. Cheep Cheep http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24664145

Having surveyed yet another thread about the problems at Linden Lab, a few brave residents sent a team to San Francisco to discover what was going on. Here is what they found:

"It's like school disciplinary action in reverse; instead of putting the naughty children in isolation, the Principal has locked himself inside a windowless sound-proof room so he can pretend that anarchy does not exist outside. Who is it that is living in a fantasy world?" ----------------------------------------- Kudos for a perfect description of Linden Lab. Meanwhile, the other guys (CCP Games) are all over the net, racking up points not only with their customers, but the games community, academia, the media, publishing, film, television, and entertainment. While Rod Humble hides in the broom closet, the CEO of CCP addresses players, the games industry and the world at large at the 2013 annual conference: Imagine if Linden Lab had invested the same vision, intelligence and enthusiasm into Second Life over the past seven years.

Fair point. Yes, perhaps I am sounding like a broken record, but the topic is interesting and relevant to the future of Second Life. Moreover, the only way to Linden Lab is through the residents - and few residents understand the issues that affect their adopted home. As for those who are informed, Lab ignores them - and everyone knows it - but that's no reason to stop trying. Why the comparison with CCP Games? Two reasons. The first is that healthy competition is good for any company. Linden Lab has had little competition for many years. Now they do. Perhaps Linden Lab will wake up and see what the other guys are doing. The second reason is that media and academic interest in virtual worlds has shifted to EVE Online. No one writes about Second Life anymore. For example, here is an article (published today) about virtual worlds and realworld politics. As for a substantial comparison between products, one need only have a foot in both worlds. On every count, CCP Games, as a company, blows Linden Lab out of the water. It's actually painful to see the scale of the differences. Yes, perhaps what I'm saying is boring. Maybe three pages of spam daily in the forum and yet another thread on child avatars is far more interesting, but, hey, my goal, however foolish, is to dig Second Life out of the hole Linden Lab has dumped it in. For anyone who saw SL's amazing potential back in 2006, the past seven years have been heartbreaking.

@ everyone Never in seven years have I said LL should get rid of free accounts, not once, nor am I saying it now. I am simply asking to get rid of FUBAR accounts, which is far from controversial. As for the naming problem, it is well known and understood. I'm not going to start the 275th thread on the issue, but if you really want to know more, you can find it here. As for CCP Games, yes there was a big protest - . Btw, the company holds an annual convention to present its strategic plans to its users. Linden Lab could learn much from CCP Games.

For the record, I have been active in Second Life for seven years. Requiring payment information is straightforward. It raises the hurdles (supplying financial info) to potential spammers and griefers and leaves a paper trail that LL can use to restrict access and combat fraud. EVE Online offers a 2-week trial period with functional restrictions. Thereafter, it's about $20 per month, dirt cheap by any standards. The current naming system is a huge embarrassment to Linden Lab, particularly since it is so easy to offer a choice between a single name and a double name (as is done with EVE Online). This issue has been presented to Linden Lab on so many occasions that the company's refusal to deal with it has become legend - the naming problem and LL's recalcitrance both badly damaging SL's reputation. So, no, EVE Online does not have these problems. In fact, CCP games has perhaps the best reputation in the whole games industry because of the intelligence of it's designers and its commitment to user participation in strategy and policy. The contrast between the sloppiness of Linden Lab and the professionalism of CCP Games is huge. My point is that Linden Lab can no longer bathe in idle complacency.

The particular names are unimportant. Just look at the names on the spam then look at the section "please welcome our newest community members".

Compare Linden Lab's policy of allowing Free Unlimited Basic Anonymous Resident accounts... ...to CCP Games policy of Pay to Play. Oh, and notice how much the Second Life experience has improved since Linden Lab eliminated last names.

Compare Linden Lab's policy of allowing Free Unlimited Basic Anonymous Resident accounts... ...to CCP Games policy of Pay to Play. Oh, and notice how much the Second Life experience has improved since Linden Lab eliminated last names.

Oscar Wilde in Paris sent a telegram to his publisher in the UK to inquire how his new book was doing. His message read: “?” The publisher replied: “!”

Dear Storm, How delightful to receive your charming love letter. I can't say I'm surprised, I mean, after all these years, but it comes now at a most inopportune time. Sigh, as you know, I must fend off dozens of such letters daily and do so with grace and sympathy. Fortunately, in your case, you are courted solely by women and, being a wise and experienced man of the world, you need only employ a single style: the gentle deflection of amorous glances and subtle entreaties. I, on the other hand, am courted by both sexes, the fair and the fearless. The deflection of a tender kiss (of which you are so familiar) compares poorly with the rebuffing of coarse solicitations. These, my dear, require an extra layer of tact and understanding. You no doubt begin to read into my words the direction of my heart. As a suave and sophisticated man, you perceive the layers of meaning sprinkled ever so gently in this reply. Were it any other man, I would employ greater precision of language, sacrificing, of course, much of the civility I am showing you as an old and trusted friend. It is with sincere tenderness, then, that I encourage you to seek another woman more suited to your immediate needs. It is not that I don't admire and, indeed, respond physically to your wit and charm; it is more that my die is cast on another board far distant from your own. We are, sadly, separated by forces far greater than any feelings we may have for each other. As you know, I am bound by honor to another in ways that you, as a man of honor, would respect and admire, nay seek for yourself in a partner. We are, dear friend, of a single mind and, as I have always known you to be gracious toward the fairer sex, I know you will extend the same courtesy to me. With kindness, Del

Let's try that again: In January 2007, an iPhone 1 cost $500 + contract cost. In January 2007, an estate sim cost $295 per month. In July 2013, an iPhone 5 costs $200 + contract cost. In July 2013, an estate sim costs $295 per month. 2013 cellphone contracts offer more and much better services at a lower price than 2007 contracts.

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