What’s Going on in Second Life?

 

Study the past if you would define the future.

Confucius

 

          I thought my opening question would get your attention.  (You’re here aren’t you?)

          No, this isn’t a bait ‘n switch ploy. 

          It’s just that after what seemed like some hopeful new beginnings for Second Life (SL) earlier this year, nothing seems to have happened!        

          First, we lost Rod Humble only to have replaced by Ebbe Altberg. 

          Then the highly touted and overrated SL Go appeared.  (Which I still won’t use by the way because of its ridiculously short trial period.)

            (N.B. After this blog was first posted, a reader brought to my attention that SL Go now had a one week free trial in response to user demand.  I checked this on their website and this is now the case.  When I'd rechecked my facts for this story earlier the change hadn't been made yet.  One week is a fair period for a trial and I'll write a review of SL Go as soon as my blogging schedule permits.  My thanks to the reader for pointing this out and sorry for the confusion!)

          New starter avatars were to be available and have appeared.  Rumors of the return of Lindens inworld were about. 

          A new Golden Age was to be upon the loyal fans who had stayed the course and hung on to being residents of SL even as Real Life (RL) friends went from making snide comments about our participation inworld to asking what it was.  (I don’t know about the rest of you but the latter really annoys me.)

          Now, mid-year, where are we?  Are we any better off?

          At the risk of being accused of nay-saying and alarmism, I really don’t think we’re any better off than we were six months ago. 

          Ebbe started strong, met with many, was engaged, but I haven’t heard a lot lately.  Haven’t heard of any new investments.  He recognized the IP issue with terms and conditions brouhaha but hid behind that old saw of business leaders and politicians everywhere, “The lawyers are working on it.”  Someone should point out to him that the lawyers work for him.

          (If I’m wrong and great strides have been made and I missed the memo – I won’t go into how nobody talks to me anyway – then I’ll happily apologize once the evidence is produced.)

          Then there was SL Go which was going to permit to all be mobile while we were inworld.  I was not a fan of the original pricing model or the twenty minute free trial but the company has addressed these issues.  Folks still find it pricey and compare it to less expensive alternatives.  This may be a case of too little too late. 

          Let’s talk about those new avatars.  Seems they have become something of a nightmare to support with the new mesh technology.  A SL friend who volunteers at a newbie support center inworld speaks of the frustration of new members who are trying to change their appearance and can’t do it readily.  Oh, and BTW, seems that the new avatars don’t work too well with SL Go.  (I’m sure a twenty minute trial really goes over well here.)  

          Then there were the rumors of the return of the Lindens inworld to lead us all to Nirvana.  (I once thought this was a wonderful idea until I realized that all the experienced ones had either been let go or left for greener pastures.  Linden Lab (LL) will be hard put to place experienced Lindens inworld who can hold their own with many residents.)  There have been a couple of sightings.  Although, from the descriptions that I read, they sounded more like they were lost and didn’t respect any of the local sims’ guidelines for dress and behavior. But, when you’re a god…

          Speaking of gods…

          Anyone remember Philip Rosedale?  You know the guy who got the ball rolling way back when SL was just a silly video arcade game for the shopping malls.  Seems he’s made the big time – again.

          Seems he was recently on CNBC talking about his latest foray into virtual worlds with his new company High Fidelity.  (I’d have included a link here but my anti-virus software didn’t like its security certificate, hmm.)  Oculus Rift is part of his strategy.  If he succeeds, and note I said “if”, then what happens to SL?  Enough said.

          OK, got the picture?

          Lots of things happening in SL but they don’t appear to be coordinated very well.

          Lack of involvement with the customer base by LL who appear to be taken for granted.

          New threat on the horizon and a lack of vision and capital to deal with it.

          Have I missed anything?

          Normally, I try to be positive and upbeat.  I can ignore dumb things inworld and focus on the positive.  But, what I’ve blogged about here affects all of us and the future of SL.

          LL has to focus on these issues and do something about them.  More to the point, they should be communicating more directly with more if not all of us.  I know Ebbe meets with some prominent residents from time to time and I applaud him for that.  It’s just not enough. 

          I’ll wrap it up and get off my soapbox with one last question to LL:

          “What’s the plan?”

          And, don’t worry. I’m still going back inworld and will keep blogging for as long as SL and I are both still around!   I believe in SL.  I just wish it did more to justify this belief.

          Finally, if I’m missing something then I’ll be the first to admit I’m wrong.  (Significant Other sees to that.)  Just drop me a line with what I’ve missed and I’ll be happy to apologize! 

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.   

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

So Someone Really Does Want to Run Second Life

 

Ability is nothing without opportunity.

Napoleon

 Well, it happened.

          No sooner do I start blogging about not having a CEO at Linden Lab to replace the recently and suddenly departed Rod Humble (AKA Rodvik Linden) then the board of directors appoints a new one.

          As usual I find these things out first from Frau Jo Yardley.  (I’m convinced she’s actually a high ranking Linden who’s managed to keep her deep cover for the last ten plus years.  Edward Snowden could learn a lot from her. Or, whomever she is.  This is a joke.  The real Frau Jo would never live in California!)

          The new CEO of Linden Lab and by extension the boss of Second Life (SL) (Kinda makes him sound like Tony Soprano doesn’t it?) is Ebbe Altberg.  A veteran of Microsoft, Yahoo!, and BranchOut, he is Linden Lab’s latest attempt to turn the S.S. Second Life around.

          Inara Pey has done an exceptional job of charting Ebbe’s life and career starting with his place of birth in Sweden, tracking down his academic career, and then his time with the various companies of America’s technology revolution during the latter part of the twentieth century.  (Sounds so long ago now when I say it that way doesn’t it?)  He seems to have been at each employer just at the peak of its particular niche.  Microsoft when PC’s ruled.  Yahoo! when the Internet began to be all the rage.  BranchOut when Facebook and social media were taking off. 

          Ebbe has either the good sense to know when to move or he has been an unfortunate victim of what happens when giants or wannabe’s falter.  (There’s a lot of that going around these days.)  This is not meant to diminish his accomplishments.  (Remember what happened to Steve Jobs?  Anyone really remember Jim Sculley?)  His responsibilities and positions became increasingly important as he rose through the corporate ranks.

          But, now, Ebbe’s at Second Life.

          What’s the deal?

          In my prior blog, I had two possible scenarios for Rod’s replacement.  The first, an investment banker/finance type to figure out how to either shut down the company or sell it off to someone like a Microsoft.  (Hold that thought for a moment.)  The other was to bring in some sort of visionary who would sprinkle pixie dust all over and magically transform the situation.  Note that both of these scenarios involve protecting investors’ monies because I don’t think anyone wants to spend any more of their own money here.

          Where does Ebbe fit in all of this?

          Not sure, but, let’s go back to that Microsoft comment I just made.  If Linden Lab wanted to sell SL to Microsoft, who better than an old Microsoft hand to lead the charge?  (Presumably Bill Gates wasn’t available because he had better things to do.) 

          Let’s do a quick recap of what Ebbe is getting himself into.

          SL is an aging infrastructure which will require significant capital investment (not to mention time) to catch up with the technologies that have grown up in the last decade.  There has been significant turnover with the executive and staff ranks during this time as well.  I suspect that one reason Lindens are never sighted inworld anymore (There, I’ve said it.  Prove me wrong folks, come and meet me!)  is that they’re frightened by the strong expertise and culture that now exists within the SL community.  Real Life (RL) is safer for them.  The bifurcation of residents and Lindens is a major issue in my mind in any attempt to revive SL. 

          All this leads me to my next point.

          What is the strength of SL right now?  Where’s the value proposition?

          I return to the argument that I’ve been making for some time now.  (Significant Other says that I’m a terrible “I told you so.”)  SL’s strength and value comes from its community namely us.

          That’s right, us.  The residents of SL who come in and make things, have social lives, and sometimes spend RL monies in exchange for Lindens to buy things.  The technical, financial term is “intangibles”.

          For someone like a Microsoft, or even Yahoo! let’s not forget that one, SL is an opportunity to acquire an existing, thriving (if somewhat quarrelsome) community and do with us what it wills.  (Think of Britain’s deportations to Australia in the eighteenth century, “Shove off mates and fend for yourselves!  We’ll send a mail packet to check up on you once we’ve invented them.”)

          The SL community can talk about communications with Linden Lab all we want.  The unavoidable fact is that SL will be all about return on investment for the original investors.  Now may be the time for their payoff.  Now may be the only time for their payoff. 

          Only time will tell what happens here.  Ebbe is going to need time to come up to speed.  Let’s see how long until his avatar walks among us if he even walks at all. 

          Expect some minor changes to keep the residents happy because we’re where the money’s at for Linden Lab.  Virtual ghost towns sell about as well as RL ones do.

          I welcome Ebbe and wish him all the best and every success.  As my English friends like to say, he has a sticky wicket here.  (Sorry about the Australia jibe earlier everyone.)  SL is very important to many of its residents and we all win as long as SL continues to go on and thrive. 

          I just don’t think it’s going to be business as usual for very much longer. 

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.    

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

Does Anyone Really Want to Run Second Life?

 

Ambition is the last refuge of failure.

Oscar Wilde

 

          There’ll be a break from my regularly scheduled writings about Second Life (SL) this week because of events in Real Life (RL) which affect SL.  (No, it’s neither American politics nor the Superbowl.  Nor has Significant Other banned me from going inworld.) 

          What I’m about to write about is probably no surprise to anyone who is even faintly familiar with SL. 

          Rod Humble, the wunderkind brought in about three years ago to turn Linden Lab and SL, around resigned last week to pursue his own projects. 

          This began as a near rumor when I saw Frau Jo Yardley’s post and quickly became a fait accompli.  (My parents would be so proud to see how I’m using their investment in my learning French.) Rod’s gone.  A replacement has not been named as of this writing.  The world goes on. Justin Bieber gets more ink than does this story. 

          I have to ask myself (Because Significant Other’s eyes just roll when I bring up this topic.) why did this happen?  Being a scarred and wearied veteran myself of American corporate politics I never for one moment ever believe the line about leaving to pursue one’s own interests.  (Not unless there’s a simultaneous winning of a Lotto Super Jackpot announced somewhere.)  But, scant information is available so I’m left to my own thoughts.  (Notwithstanding Significant Other’s claim that this is a scary place to be avoided by the unwary.) 

          Did the board of directors finally grow impatient with the lack of results?  Sorry friends, in the harsh world of venture capital this means financial results which are continually improving.  Could the terms of service (ToS) brouhaha have led to Rod’s demise?  Did Rod just get fed up with trying to make a silk purse out of a pig’s ear and really did leave to pursue his own interests?

          Or, could it be all of the above?   

          Me?  I never believe in simple solutions and silver bullets.  The real reasons for Rod’s leaving are probably some combination of the above and a couple of things my overactive imagination hasn’t thought of yet. 

          Which then leads to the next question.  Just what does all this mean for those of us who reside in SL?

          Well, so far, there is no heir apparent.  The RL media doesn’t really seem to have done much with this story other than a few desultory mentions.  Inworld, things seem to be business as usual.  So far. 

          Who should replace Rod?  Frau Jo Yardley has, I believe, come up with the most practical solution of an outsider, and she’s supplied a short list, advised by a council comprised of different types of residents.  Of course, since this is a very logical recommendation and with her being an outsider, LL won’t listen to her.

          Who do I think should get the job?

          My question is who would want it?  I don’t recall reading of anyone stepping forward on the Titanic to take command once they hit the iceberg.  The damage has been done and all we’re talking about now is extrication with the minimal number of casualties (i.e., losses of investors’ monies). 

          Any type of turnaround at SL will require significant capital investments.  Who will invest in an aging infrastructure? 

          Whoever takes the job, and someone will, will tell us a lot about what the board of directors expects.  An investment banker type means shutdown or sell off to someone like Microsoft (which might not be the worst thing).  A visionary, turnaround specialist with a proven track record means hope.  Sadly, I don’t think we’ll see a Steve Jobs type riding to the rescue to save his beloved company. 

          SL has issues.  Dated technology, an aging resident population which is barely at replacement levels with new members, and stalled growth.  One is almost tempted to ask does it really matter anymore? After a run of ten years is SL showing its age?

          At the risk of sounding like I can’t make up my own mind, I’ll say it does.  SL residents have made considerable investments in time, emotion, and money (RL money that is) to create wondrous builds and form tight knit communities.  Maybe these don’t figure on LL’s balance sheet but they have to count for something.  SL is not a child’s board game that can be folded up and put away to be taken out years later when one’s own grandchildren drop by. 

          For now, we must wait and see.  (Significant Other wants to know if SL will go the way of the dodo bird.)  The old soldiers’ adage of “Hurry up and wait.” applies here now.  Somewhere in San Francisco, a group of people who probably have never been inworld themselves, or if they have, not for very long, will make decisions which will affect all of us and our inworld lives.

          I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m not too crazy about this. 

          As for Rod, he did many things while he was among us (I’d hoped for an interview this year, that won’t be happening!) and I wish him well in his future endeavors!  Time and history will judge his impact.  Godspeed Rodvik Linden!

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.    

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

Interview with a Mad Scientist

Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence- whether much that is glorious- whether all that is profound- does not spring from disease of thought - from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.

 

 Edgar Allan Poe, Eleonora

Yes, dear readers, you read correctly.  I met with and interviewed a self-confessed mad scientist.  This was no garden variety mad scientist.  This one had her submarine base, homemade monsters, and cloud base.  Ian Fleming would have been proud.  To say nothing of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. 

How, you may ask how did I come to meet this person and end up in a death defying meeting with the indomitable Glorf Bulmer?  Therein lies a tale.

Like many of my past adventures, this one starts in one of Perryn Peterson’s Hunts, the Renaissance Faire to be exact.  While enjoying myself and partaking of the festivities, I met a young woman, Glof Bulmer.

Always looking for new people to meet in Second Life (SL) then to hear and tell their stories, I became friends with Glorf.  She was kind enough to include this blog on her blog’s blogroll.  Glorf describes herself as an “adventuress, occasional educator, and breeder of tentacle monsters in the metaverse of SL”.  I had to interview this woman. 

Before I go any further, I should tell you how Glorf Bulmer came to be called “Glorf Bulmer”.  Seems when she first entered SL, she took the Kingdom of Loathing game name of a friend and that of a scifi writer of low renown for a surname.  If it all sounds too improbable, check it out for yourself in her blog. 

So, after Glorf kindly agrees to meet me for an interview, I set off to join her.  We meet at what is known as Miss Bulmer’s Bijou Submarine Pen and Bomb Lab located on Aether Isle. Whereupon, she quickly tells me that if I see anything marked “Do Not Touch”, I’d better not touch it.  (I suspect that my reputation has preceded me.) 

We begin talking about what brought her to SL originally.  Glorf says that it’s the creative aspect which is why she dropped into the “mad scientist” role she has in Caledon.  (In case anyone is wondering if I’m disparaging Glorf by continually calling her a “mad scientist”, she revels in the name.  If you don’t believe me ask her yourself.  Just watch out for her tentacled pets!) 

Glorf adds that mad scientists make the place interesting adding local color, much of it red, but never mind about that she says. 

She started out in Caledon, helping out at the Oxbridge welcome center.  Moving from professor to nutty professor was an easy step for her to take she claims.  Glorf’s a big fan of the major writers of the steampunk canon, H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, as well as other lesser lights like William Hope Hodgson, David Lindsay, and J. D. Bernal. 

Glorf talks about her creative processes, thinking of projects "in character" gives her definite ideas to work with. She doesn’t  think "I'm going to make a piece of furniture" so much as "I'm going to make a mad science device, what will it do?"  Or, in most cases, fail to do!  Adding that making things which are interestingly broken, can be fun.

Aethetically, Glorf finds steampunk an interesting setting.  She’d heard of the SL steampunk sim, Caledon, prior to arriving in SL.  She claims to have arrived in Oxbridge originally by accident but stayed because of the Caledonian virtues: Tolerance, Civility, Innovation, and Cake.  Her first weeks in SL had been spent bouncing around infohubs and she found these somewhat low on civility.  The quasi-Victorian setting in Caledon puts a value on politeness and she finds this a good thing. 

For Glorf, Victorian aesthetics are very cluttery and fussy and full of fiddly bits, which is a challenge when you have only a limited number of prims to work with!  So, she continues, it makes you learn to build efficiently. 

I ask if we can now see her tentacled pets that I’ve heard so much about and Glorf leads me off to meet them.  Along the way, she points out that her walkways are without safety railings because they are for wimps.  Although, she tells me that her bravado does not prevent her from falling off regularly. 

Passing through a nearby wormhole (only in Star Trek and SL and they only really work in the latter) into another location.  We arrive in an open sided room dominated by a large organ with two skulls on either side.  Yes, Glorf plays.  (What self-respecting mad scientist would not have her own organ?)  Walking outside, we come to Glorf’s first pet.  This is a potted, tentacle, big toothed plant.  (Not of the potted geranium variety.)  It’s called a lilium bulmerii periculosum and took first place in last year’s Evil Botany speed-building contest. 

Unlike breedables, this creature doesn’t require to be fed.  Glorf says that she has only one killer tentacle monster at the moment and she doesn’t let it out.  (Thank Heaven for small mercies.) 

Glorf next takes me over to the water’s edge to see the big tentacled monster.  I intrepidly mount a platform (I really should get myself an assistant for these dangerous bits) whereupon a large, tentacle beast jumps out of the water and tries to grab me.  Despite Glorf’s assurances that it was not flesh (or pixel) eating, it sure sounds hungry! 

Before we leave the area to go to Steam SkyCity (SSC) , Glorf takes me into a patch of what looks like green quicksand where we quickly sink in up to our wastes.  (What I won’t do for a story!)  She tells me that below this is the entrance to a series of abandoned tunnels that she’s trying to get her mad scientist friends to agree to reopen.  (Am I really writing this?)  Unfortunately, she says that they cooperate like the proverbial cats in a sack. 

Using a local cannon, we shoot ourselves skyward into SSC.  We arrive in as impressive a sim of steampunk craftsmanship as I’ve seen since arriving inworld myself.  However, I do not get too spend much time here with Glorf. 

Caledon and SSC are prim rich environments and, for whatever reason, I keep crashing out.  Even taking pictures is difficult.  So, I have to cut my visit short.  I do encourage my readers to visit Caledon, if they can, and see the very impressive work done there.  (Avoid the tentacled pets.) 

Before I fall off the grid, I do talk with Glorf about what she derives personally from SL.  For her, it’s the creative and social satisfaction.  She enjoys doing her offbeat builds and enjoys the camaraderie in Caledon.  People are motivated to take on land here and to maintain the community. Again, this theme of community is a recurring one in my travels across SL. 

We manage to spend some time talking about Linden Lab (LL) and Glorf’s quick to point out that “bashing LL” is an interest in her SL profile. She feels that sometimes they get bad press unfairly but other times they get what they deserve.  Although, she says that this is happening less under Rod Humble. 

She predicts that SL Marketplace will continue to grow at the expense of other inworld commercial ventures.  People will focus more on what she calls “beauty” projects such as her next one in Burroughs. 

By now, I’m struggling to stay inworld and Glorf has to go feed her typist.  I thank her again for her time and the doorbell for my house that she gave to me.  I take my leave and go back to wherever it is that I come from. 

This week’s visit for me is a classic trip to an extremely well built world within SL and a chance to meet with one of the “mad scientists” who make it all happen.  Despite Glorf’s “cats in a sack” analogy, people are working together in Caledon to bring it all together.  I wish them well and hope to visit again someday soon! 

Finally, I continue to apologize to those whom I still may have appeared to have simply fallen off the grid.  I’m working my way back through my open commitments, albeit slowly.  I hope I haven’t caused any inconvenience and I look forward to seeing everyone again very soon!  As always, I’m open to any and all ideas for places to visit and people to meet. 

As always, I’m grateful to all for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives. 

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

     If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.

Photo No. 1: Glorf Blumer

Photo No. 2: Submarine Pen and Bomb Lab

Photo No. 3: Tentacled Pet No. 1

Photo No. 4: Tentacled Pet No. 2

Photo No. 5: Glorf’s Organ

Photo No. 6: The Entrance to the Lost Tunnels