Something wicked good this way comes, and it is happening today

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

All those survey numbers and spreadsheets are beginning to register what most Residents of the bustling city that is our Second Life® already know firsthand: Virtual worlds for more than games are popping with potential for the serious stuff… business, education, science, and the arts. The naysayers are still out there, Twittering about how they don’t even have enough time for their first life, etc., etc., but they are off-world. They aren’t here to witness how this 3D world is getting stickier than molasses.

While the Real World is staggering in a recession economy, this virtual world is humming merrily to the tune of $120M in user-to-user transactions during the 1st Quarter of 2009, up 65% from the same quarter last year. Moreover, according to a recent in-world business study, 20% of Second Life’s businesses earn all their income in Second Life, with approximately 2,000 full time businesses in operation.

At the very heart of this bubbling stew is an organization called Metanomics that explores the serious uses of virtual worlds in the company of tout le monde: the executives, educators and artists that are making it all happen. It’s a virtual talk show. It’s a forum for hundreds of conversations going on simultaneously at a dizzying rate of speed, both in voice and in text chat. In fact, I defy you to attend any of these sessions without perceiving… without recognizing that something really important is going on: potential and yes, even success.


The new set and studio for Metanomics - Photo by Keystone Bouchard

Something wicked good this way comes today, and it’s big. For as long as I can recall (and I rezzed in January of 2007), the leadership of Linden Lab, the company that owns and operates the platform of Second Life - and governs it, too – has gone into hiding whenever the Residents of the world they created convene. But changes are afoot, and the citizens have been in agreement lately… dare I say it? Linden Lab is starting to step out. The Lindens are actually becoming involved with, and becoming a part of the Second Life community.

Oh, they still infuriate us with unsurprising regularity over one thing or another, but I can’t begin to tell you how welcome their participation is. The more we communicate, the better things get… and stickier… and more fun. And successful.

So it is with mild astonishment that I find myself typing the following words: Today, May 6th at 1:00pm SLT, a real first… M Linden (aka Mark Kingdon, CEO of Linden Lab), will join host Beyers Sellers (aka Robert Bloomfield) for the kick-off of Metanomics' new season at its sparkling new studio and set created by acclaimed award winner and architect Keystone Bouchard (much more on that structure soon).

Something wicked good this way comes, indeed.

Teleport to it directly from here.

Earth Primbee's reaction to Linden Lab's revamped policy on Openspaces

Earth Primbee is, among many other things, a NPIRLer, a talented machinimator, and a co-creator of the much loved and spacy Inspire Space Park (teleport directly from here). After reading Mark Kingdon's (Linden Lab's CEO) latest missive on the Second Life blog regarding revised policies for Openspaces, Earth wrote this guest blogpost, which reflects his opinions of the situation.


by Earth Primbee

I'll be the first to admit sometimes you don't know you have a problem until it blows up in your face. In the case of "openspace" regions in Second Life®, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had no real concept of the amount of these regions that were in use by residents. I did know that my obligations to keep Inspire Space Park alive prohibited me from having any private land of substantial size to build my "home" on. I rented around the grid and lived in some great communities. Ultimately however, I found myself wanting more space and less stuff.

When a good friend of mine bought two of these style regions and offered half of one to me I jumped at the chance! I gladly accepted the prim limits and ended up building a nice natural area with a submarine to live in under the water. It worked out perfect for me and my share of the tier was comfortable enough to endure for some time. We had maybe 4 people max in this space at once for the months I lived there. I was very happy!! It seemed like a perfect product. I suppose it is true that some things are too good to be true.

When the first proposed changes came out and seemed so set in stone I was pissed!!! I know I wasn't alone, but the main problem I believe was the perceived lack of concern for how this would affect my fellow residents and I but mostly I. Coupled with the "abuse" connotation as justification for the changes this was quite enough to motivate a red alert. There was no way I could afford the tier increase let alone the estate owner.

I and many others expressed through various ways other changes that could accomplish the same goal as the proposal. Judging by today's announcement, it looks like our voices have been heard. I do understand the technical challenges faced by a virtual world of this size and complexity. Nothing is ever easy and everything takes a lot more work than anyone who hasn't seen under the hood can imagine.

It is good to see this new direction. To see feedback heard, considered, and acted upon. I don't know if I will be able to afford the July 2009 price increase but I do suspect that many who haven't already dropped their openspace regions may now hold on to them. I can say I'd be much more likely to purchase a homestead than a private island unless my $ituation substantially changes.

This situation reminded me so much of my last virtual life in another virtual world before Second Life. I'd placed all my virtual eggs in one basket and that meant that any changes to this world became very personal. It is VERY important to remember that these worlds contain people who just like in Real Life become emotionally entrenched and attached to places and things they love and create. When you mess with that, you are messing with people's emotions. This is why such fiery backlashes such as we have seen flare up. It is not just a bunch of pixels that have no meaning. It is part of people's lives and in a lot of cases their business!

Following this line, I do wonder if I branched out to other virtual worlds would I be less apt to cry foul if major changes happened in one or the other. An international corporation has many advantages over a company that solely exists in one country. Even a stock portfolio spread out in multiple markets and companies has some advantages. So the real point I want Linden Labs to remember is actions like this openspace situation, feel a lot like a "taxation without representation" kind of thing. It shakes people and sometimes wakes them up to a reality they didn't see before for better or worse. This is why you see people rushing off to other worlds and looking for alternatives to the unacceptable situation they are faced with cause when will this happen again? How long till another unacceptable situation comes up that they have no input on?

I applaud them for taking a moment to step back and listen to what people are saying but more so for taking real action to attempt to bridge the gap. Despite what has occurred that is a good sign that the customer is important. If Linden Labs stays true to the goal of bringing the community input into decisions and problems like this one, it will go a long way to reestablish trust. People put so much into this world they deserve to have input. Our creations are only as fantastic as people believe they are. Without people believing in your world, you will find it empty very fast.

When I came to Second Life, I told myself "never again" will I become so caught up in a single virtual world that it will hurt me if it suddenly changes. Well I did! The community of Second Life and the power of thousands of full time developers working alongside thousands of part time developers is intoxicating and a wonder to behold. The concept to creation ratio is higher than I have ever experienced. I rarely find myself saying I wish the "devs" would make this or that because I can do it myself. This Openspace region issue was one of those rare times when I wished the Second Life "devs" would do something different. It looks like they are. I appreciate that and no matter what other worlds I take part in, as long as they keep that up, I will maintain a presence in Second Life.

Can Linden Lab stop the exodus?

I dropped in on my new friends over at the Openlife Grid this afternoon and learned that they've enjoyed 30,000 sign-ups and over 1,000 land orders, just this week.

Meanwhile, Hamlet Au (aka Wagner James Au) has just reported that in his phone conversation today with Mark Kingdon, Linden Lab's new CEO said that "in the next few days, the company will post an update to this policy which will incorporate feedback from Openspace owners."

Too little, too late?

* Second Lifers have banned together in the many thousands to protest... well over 5,000 in the SOS group alone, and that's just one of four groups that I'm aware of.
* The LeavingSecondLife email address has received dozens of fascinating emails already from people that, while not claiming that they are leaving Second Life® for keeps, have made it clear that they are upset and looking elsewhere, especially on the Opensim grids.

Is Kingdon just putting a finger in the dam?

Mark Kingdon - Come down, come down from your Ivory Tower and listen to your Residents: A dose of perspective

The first 100 days as the commander of a company should be a time for absorbing information, discovering the strengths and weaknesses of the team, and putting all those puzzle pieces together. You became Linden Lab's CEO and adult supervisor in mid-March of this year, which would put you at about the 225 days mark, or 8 1/2 months.

225 days later, Mark Kingdon (aka M Linden), I'm disappointed in you. I was so optimistic about your arrival, too.

To make matters worse, the way I see it, Linden Lab owes me $950US + a reimbursement for my time.

Shall I just email the bill over to you? Oh, you don't know what I'm talking about? Well, come on down from your Ivory Tower, dear man, and let me catch you up on things.

Just one week before your arrival, Linden Lab introduced a new product called Openspaces. The official description of the product reads as follows, and there was no mention of special rules:

What is an Openspace?

An Openspace is a type of private island intended for light use countryside or ocean. Unlike normal regions that effectively get a CPU to themselves on the server, there can be up to four Openspaces on a single CPU, sharing the resource (hence them being ‘light use’).

Back in those days, I was the care-free owner of a bit more than a quarter sim upon which Chakryn Forest (V2) sat. I had purchased that island land about 8 months before, and paid a creator several hundreds of dollars to make me the virtual forest of my dreams.

A few days after the Openspace announcement, my friend thomtrance Otoole offered me an Openspace to create a new, sim-wide forest. My only financial commitment was to pay tier... $75US a month. This was rather enticing, because at the time, I was paying $125 for about the same number of prims but not nearly as much land. I gratefully took him up on his very generous offer, and put Chakryn Forest up for auction.

Now then... by this time, the fever for Openspaces was gripping the Grid, and many people lost interest in buying regular island land or mainland. I don't mind telling you that it got so you couldn't give away regular island land, cause Openspace tier was just so much cheaper.

The forest and I got lucky. A dreamer and forest lover like me purchased my land and the forest for less than what I had paid for the land, but he promised to keep the forest intact and that, in my mind, made it a good deal.

By then, Openspace Chakryn was mine, and for two months I rolled up my sleeves and worked with Andrek Lowell and Eshi Otawara - two of the best creators in Second Life - to develop a rich and enchanting forest brimming with secrets and its own special lore. Because I value these creators and their time, I paid them for it and as generously as I could afford. Several hundreds of dollars later, and on July 15th, I proudly opened the new Chakryn Forest to the public for everyone's use and enjoyment.

Oh, I should mention that Andrek Lowell worked tirelessly for many extra hours to create the entire sim-wide forest with only 1,400 prims. Why? Because it was my plan to showcase great virtual art throughout the sim and I needed every last prim. He delivered, and just last month the art shows began with a great installation by Glyph Graves:


Music: Narayanam, performed by Suchita Parte
Video: Bettina Tizzy

It made me proud to see the daily traffic numbers, which average 5,000. Now, was this hurting anyone? I don't think so, because Chakryn shares the server with at least three other Openspaces that I know of that hardly get any traffic at all.

Did I act with evil intent? Certainly not. In fact, all along I thought I was being an upright and conscientious citizen and providing Second Life®'s Residents with a park.

Then, out of the blue... an announcement from our government, regarding a certain "policy change:"

"Beginning 1st January 2009

We will increase the monthly maintenance fee from USD$75 to USD$125 per month. This price increase will apply to all owners of Openspaces on January 1st as well as new purchases after that date. There will be no grandfathering of Openspace maintenance pricing."

That's $600US you want to bill ME extra, every year?! Why, not even George W. Bush is ... enough to pull a stunt like that: increasing our taxes by 67% for an 8 month old product!

Now over at GigaOM, Wagner James Au (aka Hamlet Au of New World Notes) has just published your statement in response to the outrage you are hearing after the stinging blow you have dealt us. Part of it reads...

“To be clear,” Kingdon continued, “this price adjustment affects only a portion of land in Second Life; it does not apply to private islands or regular mainland property. We made this change to ensure an optimal Second Life experience for all Residents.”

Um...

I can give you the actual breakdown for my bill in person, and at your convenience, but here is an overview:
- Cost of developing Chakryn Forest (V2), which I never got back
- Cost of tier for two months while Openspace Chakryn was in development
- Cost of developing Openspace Chakryn (many hundreds of dollars)
- My time (like Mastercard says... it is priceless)

Come down, come down from your Ivory Tower, dear man, and take stock of the situation.