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Jahman Ochs

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    Linden Lab

    Posted

    Linden Labs has never shown any evidence of being able to follow through on things much less complicated than a change in course of platform concept. They can't even get regression testing right on the grid itself, and their enforcement of ToS is selective, at best, throughout. I do not expect anything more from them - they have one of the poorest quality assurance records of any service provider with whom I've been compelled to deal, which is part of the reason why I divested my land holdings this week. No more tier payments from me until I see a change in behavior.

    Linden Lab

    Posted

    The SIMS Online was a bomb; it closed years ago. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims_Online) Just because someone is rich does not make them smart, and it definitely doesn't make them dedicated customer service providers. "I like to fire people" seems to be the rule around Linden Labs, anyway.

    I will *object* to the policies of a service provider whenever and wherever I feel appropriate; since they asked for feedback on this new offering, I have and will continue to do so. I do not whine. What they have done here is divert resources (and, in this case, it's clearly competitive resources for what could otherwise be repair and improvement of the grid software infrastructure) that *I*, among many others, pay for directly out of my pocket.

    And I am not cynical, I am pragmatic. If it comes to the point where I actually see a negative impact that impedes my ability to achieve my own goals with the platform they have provided, I will stop using it. "Linden Realms" does absolutely nothing for me; having sim crossings create ghosts, having inventory caches that continuously fail, having physics engine failures, etc. etc. etc. impact me very much. There is no contest, for me, to which I would rather see them apply their effort.

    Linden Lab

    Posted

    @Mal - Hah. Ok, if that's how you want to interpret what I've written, go for it. My intent has never been to egrandize my own accomplishments over anyone elses. I know my own the best, needless to say; I could speak for others, but would rather they do so for themselves. If you take offense at my asking you what your investment is, either in time or money, to demonstrate the depth of your commitment here, so be it.

    And I may be a ranter, but I'm certainly no whiner. I'm passionate about the subject, not selfish about its value to me alone. I make my opionions known to Linden Labs in as many ways as possible, both verbally and with my hard-earned dollars. I won't go into your comments about the nature of business and government and their relationship to those whom they service or serve - I could wax on that for more space than on the topic at hand, but this isn't the forum for a discussion of economics (at least on that level) or politics. If you don't like what I'm writing, and feel like you need to attack me for it, have at - and I'll respond in kind. That's what forums are for, after all. If Linden Labs objects to my opinions or the way I express them, they're welcome to ban me. You have no such power, and you certainly won't cow me by trying to rally the troops against me. I could just as easily ask "How many of you feel like I'm expressing your sentiments?"

    @Freecilla - my whole point precisely. If this is research and development, then where's the beta test? Why is this being promoted front and center in the login splash page? If this is for us to improve our own environments, where's the interaction with the existing userbase that creates those environments, ensuring that what they are building addresses what we think we need to make compelling content that will attract and hold new subscribers? Please read the links I posted earlier - this is not some benevolent process to improve the quality of life for those of us on the grid. This is the end result of a series of steps that recently included the head of a failed "SIMS Online" project taking over the helm of this ship, and I consider it hostile to the original intent of this platform - which has failed not because it was inherently flawed (I give Philip a lot more credit than that) but because of a failure to adhere to the fundamental commitment of the plan.

    If Linden Labs expects this new content to be of value to us, then they should be making us part of the process; as someone who specifically is involved in Second Life as a content developer dedicated to creating environments that engage the attention of residents, I certainly have an interest in such, but no solicitation for advice was made, as far as I know. If there are any of you on this thread who've been involved in the design stages of "Linden Realms", I'd be very, very interested to hear about it.

    Linden Lab

    Posted

    @LillyBeth - I would say EXACTLY the same things to Rodvick that I'm saying here. If they want to promote SL, there are a lot better ways to do it than produce an inferior "game" that will make the new user think "Oh, this is Wizards 101, and not as good". That will do nothing to promote what Second Life has (had) to offer over the past eight and a half years.

    You're right, it's not a rocket science business move at all - it's a move of desperation motivated by a lack of understanding about what the original intent of the platform was - and trying to patch previous mistakes with a direction which does not adhere to any logical market niche into which they can fit it.

    You want big picture? I can talk big picture all day. This is small potatoes, and they're doing it wrong. So, fine - call me the 1%, but I don't see myself as expressing anywhere close to the worst of humanity...

    Linden Lab

    Posted

    Quoth the real "god" here:

    "One of the key goals of Linden Realms was to learn more about what tools Residents could use to develop richer experiences in Second Life — and boy, did we learn a lot! In Q1 2012 , we will be releasing new tools used to develop Linden Realms, which will allow Residents to create even richer original experiences in Second Life. To prevent abuse of these tools, we will introduce a "creators" program in which verified members will be given access to these very powerful capabilities."

    (This from http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Featured-News/CEO-Rodvik-Humble-Shares-Highlights-From-2011-and-his-Outlook/ba-p/1298823. Another interesting article is here: http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2011/12/2012-linden-lab-pivots-from-second-life.html.)

    In summary, apparently we will be getting these new toys, but they'll be restricted to those who are "approved" (and probably pay a fee, no doubt, since the name of the game is generating more revenue since all of their previous efforts have been so disasterous to the SL economy) - can you say "Blue Mars"? - and, from what I've seen, that will be a good thing only if they can improve performance. Otherwise, just one more way to make your sim lagged to hell.

    And, as Rodvick and the NWN blog suggest, SL will ultimately take a back seat as Linden Labs trys to become Zynga.

    Oh well, it was a nice dream while it lasted. Too bad Philip left and we had to wake up from it.

    Linden Lab

    Posted

    @Malcom - How long have you been in SL? How much have you invested? I have an opinion alright, and it's of infinite value if you have any idea what I'm talking about. If you don't (and I suspect not, given the nature of your response) then please do not take my objections to task. Linden Labs is doing one of two things: they are either changing the mandate, direction and audience of Second Life, in which case they owe those of us who have spent time and money building it into what it was; or they are wasting resources on efforts that are either, at best, obtuse or, at worst, a complete white elephant. Either way, I object, and I defy anyone to argue that I don't have the right to do so, here or anywhere else.

    @Joni, Linden Realms in no way, shape or form has any prospect of competing with ANY of the products you suggest; anyone playing any of the games you mention (and just about any other MMORPG out there, for that matter) would laugh at the idea of spending even a moment on what Linden Labs has produced here. As mentioned elsewhere, this is more akin to a lag-ridden, simplified version of a 3D platformer - a bad attempt at Mario-style gaming. To paraphrase a political classic: I've played World of Warcraft (and Star Wars: The Old Republic, for that matter), and this is no World of Warcraft.

    What it REALLY is: a waste of MY (and everyone else's) subscription and tier fees writing garbage that is being foisted on the community for reasons that have yet to be clearly divulged by a company that has become increaingly opaque over the past three years.

    Linden Lab

    Posted

    The whole premise of this is contrary to what Second Life is supposed to be. If you're looking for a gaming platform, the Second Life viewer is mediocre at best; you would even do better with Adobe Flash or Shockwave.

    But Second Life was NOT supposed to be a game, in any event.

    While it is possible to create games with the platform, I DO NOT AGREE IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM that it is Linden Labs' mandate to take MY MONEY and spend time working on creating such tripe.

    To those of you who enjoy it, is that really what you're paying your premium subscription and tier for? And if you're not paying subscription and tier, then frankly I don't think you have any opinion of value to express in this matter.

    Linden Lab

    Posted

    @Toni Deir: Exactly, precisely correct - Linden Labs has built something that is, in and of itself, a complete waste of time. If they were producing new functionality to be shared with the residents and showing it off here, that's great, except we've seen no indication of such. Even if they were preparing to transition Second Life to target the 10- to 14-year-olds in a new version of Free Realms or Wizard 101, so be it - I'd be pissed, but that's their choice.

    But no, what they've done is apparently wasted resources (which I have partly paid for, through the thousands of U$ I give them every year) on crap that is dead-end for those of us who are using Second Life as it was originally sold and intended: a platform for creative development BY THE USERS.

    Linden Lab

    Posted

    And @Mal Avro - I have no idea where you're coming from, but your experience with Second Life and Linden Labs is clearly completely different from mine, and from just about every other veteran with whom I've interacted.

    @Ergo Brandeis: ALSO well said. Q: "What's this game about?" A: "It's not a game, it's a platform for the imagination - YOUR imagination, if you are ambitious enough."

    I'm really sick and tired of people defending behavior on the part of Linden Labs that would get very bad attitude from both them and others, were it being conducted by the people who PAY THEIR SALARIES. In as much as, yes, Mal, we could just leave rather than complaining, like some of the others who have expressed their discontent here, I have invested over 5 hard-fought years to make Second Life something to be proud of - and when Linden Labs, whom I have given tens of thousands of U$, continues to welch on the implicit deal they struck with me at the beginning, I do indeed get pissed off.

    That said, ultimately, if it gets stupid enough here, I *will* walk away rather than throwing good money after bad. Eventually, someone else will do this project right, be it Microsoft or Sony or whoever, and Linden Labs will end up as an asterisk in the virtual reality platform saga, if they continue to flounder as they have in the past three years.

    Linden Lab

    Posted

    Yeah, I'm in late on this thread - and I agree that this is yet another white elephant. Will anybody at Linden Labs care about my opinion? No. Is what they've created no different from the kind of "campers for traffic get paid to spend time on a sim" that they claim to abhor? No. I spent over U$6000 in Second Life last year. I've reduced my commitment to about U$2500 this year specifically in response to changes in their business model. If they continue to change for the worse, and my own needs are not met, I will indeed leave and not look back.

    Jack.Linden

    Posted

    Yeah, this is just about the silliest thing I've seen promoted as an important new feature to come out of Linden Labs in four years.

    I'm very unhappy that they're spending time/money on this stuff, instead of *really* fixing lag hits when an avatar arrives, or, dare I say it, making Search work in some way that makes sense. Any way that makes sense, really.

    Anyway, one more example of them being completely out of touch. So it goes...

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