The important news for people with any sort of commitment to or involvement with the Second Life grid was finally confirmed this morning: Mark Kingdon, otherwise known as M Linden, is stepping down as CEO of Linden Lab. His replacement is Philip Rosedale, otherwise known as Philip Linden, the founder of the company, who is returning as temporary CEO.
The Linden Exchange, which has been in fluctuation since the recent layoffs of a third of the staff, appeared to stabilise on the news. There also seemed to be general rejoicings among residents – although several well-respected voices (including Prad Prithivi and Crap Mariner) have been sounding a note of caution.
Join us for a TV panel discussion today: MetaNews Update on Rezzed.TV at 2pm SLT at Rezzed.TV’s site on SL7B.
It was generally agreed that M Linden had lost the faith of the residents. A series of disasters have happened on his watch – including the Homestead debacle and the appalling Viewer 2.0 which was meant to draw in new residents with its each of use – and succeeded instead in alienating and frustrating the old residents, without bringing in any more. There was the attempt to bring in business with closed communities – but business in a recession wasn’t particularly interested in a high-end product. Education, another declared target area, was alienated both by the homesteads debacle and by the sudden rigid enforcement of the trademark a well-established wiki that had won SL awards was forced to change its name.
Once people are changing their names to reflect the wider metaverse, it is perhaps not so surprising that they actually start to explore the wider metaverse. The Open Source grids have come along amazingly – also on M Linden’s watch – although this was a development enthusiastically encouraged by Philip.
Nevertheless, M Linden tried. He read blogs and responded to them – he attended events and tried to engage with what the residents were doing – the Linden Endowments for the Arts seems to have been his latest initiative. And the Linden Homes initiative, even if some land barons felt that it was undercutting their market, did give a boost to content creators in the homes and gardens market. It also suggested a recognition of an element that is core for many, many Second Life residents – the desire to reside, to nest. M appeared to get that, in perhaps a way that Philip did not.
But there were just too many failures. And they add up.
So … what will Philip Linden’s return mean for Second Life? Will it be a new outpouring of energy and good will? Will he move swiftly to address the issues that really matter to people, such as the hopelessly broken search? Or will he be more concerned to develop projects that most residents find decidedly peripheral to their experience?
It is undeniably hard to make any predictions about virtual worlds. As Dirkk Talamasca, long-time resident, creator and observer said to me today:
“With virtual worlds we all know a little and not a single one of us knows exactly what will happen with a precision that is targetable. We have to take a little piece at a time and try to break it. And when we break it, we fix it. Sometimes better, sometimes crippled until we can mend it or supersede it. That is just the way things are. There are no icons in that industry. Not even Philip, yet.. although he certainly has that potential. The only credence I give anyone that speaks on virtual worlds is that they are interested in them, never that they know anything about them.”
Bearing that in mind, do join us for today’s discussion: MetaNews Update on Rezzed.TV at 2pm SLT at Rezzed.TV’s site on SL7B.
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