SL .. the future might be bright

Philip Linden posted this very interesting letter in the SL blogs and I think it might be a good idea to comment on it and write up some of the thoughts I had while reading it. After all, he is mentioning a few interesting things and gives a bit of an insight of what might be going to happen in the future of SL. Or rather, he gives some fuel to speculations and rumours that will for sure once again spread throughout the grid. That is not preventable, humans are like this and every half truth is instantly repeated and believed leading to more people screaming and the usual 'the sky is falling'-attitude visible everywhere on the grid. However Philip has cheered people up and now those people will surely say, that the future is bright and rosy. And this group will not only consist of hopeless optimists and equally hopeless LL groupies as well as people blinded by the demise of M (Mark Kingdom) who did manage to have all the focus of the SL userbase's hate directed on him, but also of people who still believe in the future of SL and virtual worlds in general. Now I am definitively in the last group and I am not ashamed to admit that even after all those years in SL, I am still entraced and fascinated by the vision presented by the idea of virtual worlds. Not only SL but all of them and while I have written something about communities in a former blog post, I should focus one on the economy and structure of the metaverse as a whole and the visions on what might happen if the different virtual worlds truly merge and become interoperable. But that is a topic for later and I need to think about it myself to gather all the different thoughts and ideas I have into a text that will not become a long rant full of incoherent and half baked ideas. Any ways, The topic for this post is Philips post on the SL blog:


http://blogs.secondlife.com/community/features/blog/2010/07/16/update-on...


He starts with mentioning, that in the past 3 weeks he got up to speed enough to communicate with us, what actually would mean, that he was not really in touch with what was going on in his creation, while still being in the company even when the CEO was someone else. That is of course a negative interpretation of that short beginning sentence, but one could ask if the decision of stepping down as CEO was accompanied by the order for the new one in that position to go ahead and do what he liked. It actually truly looked this way if one would try to find a explanation for the whole 'facebook' move and viewer 2. That focus is wrong for a world full of people who actually create avatars to get away form what is going on in the real world. Or who decide to explore fantasies that are not that well accepted when being connected to that persons real existence. Of course the fact that most of those fantasies are of the sexual kind makes it even more important to really understand the difference SL has towards it's users then a site like Facebook. They are different and while both parts of the web 2.0 social media drive, the people targeted by those two sites are for the most part very different. Not always of course but where SL differs is the fact, that it creates a true online existence while the traditional social networking site only brings the offline existence into the online environment. With all the dangers included with it and the strange willingness of so many people to share their entire life with a whole world full of strangers and then the surprise when it all comes back to bite them. Of course the true or believed anonymity of the online existence through a avatar brings in a bunch of even more problems with a different set of crimes and exploits connected to it. And some sort of rudeness and lack of manners normally connected with the screaming orgies visible on almost all online forums.

But then, one could ask, which of the two ways of the online existence is the true one? My own answer would actually include the point, that what people do on facebook and similar sites has little to do with anything that should be described as 'existing' online. Far more they are extensions of the offline world that most likely even reinforce the drive of self presentation and the urgent need to 'be some one' so visible in all the different blogs and Vblogs and forums all over the net and those rather disgusting talent-shows in TV. Don't get me wrong, blogs tend to be great, but it is difficult to filter the good ones out of the ever increasing noise of all the people only driven by the need to accumulate the largest number of 'friends' on their social-media sites. The use of that word is almost a devaluation of the word 'friend' as those contacts are often shared with people who never speak with each other or have more in common then clicking on a button visible on their computer screen. But I am getting away from the topic and from what I have written about the difference in the appeal SL would have towards people in difference to what is going on on 'normal' social media sites. When I go back to what I have written above, then the wrong direction SL has been seemingly taken in the past was by not catering to the true online existence on the internet through the creation of a avatar that becomes a extension of some ones personality. Now that is a bold claim and not always true, but I know that many people use the opportunity presented in a virtual world to explore and experience different aspects of life. It might be simulated but one should not underestimate the effect such things have on the human brain. They can be felt as real and reading posts where people say how it all helped them to become more sure of themselves, how they discovered new things about their own personalities and how in some cases they got so far to change their RL gender then one can only become curious about all the effects such virtual worlds can have on the society as a whole. Not like they would have appeal to the whole society but just like the flatweb first, then social-media and web 2.0 the web 3.0 might bring new movements that are yet not possible to foresee. Of course we are far away from that point I think, but looking at SL, I do ask myself about how much of the world population would turn neko if they would get the possibility to do so in RL. Now of course the world has bigger problems then how to make a human grow a tail and cat like ears, but the overall drive to explore new ways of existence is very much present in reality just like it is in virtual worlds. But in a virtual worlds it is easier since science is not yet far enough to give a tail to those who would wish to have them or make them grow fur all over their body. But this exploration is one of the strongest points in a virtual world and I say, the more the better and if I would look for what to focus the future of a platform like SL on, it would be exactly this vision of exploring new ways to be. Exploring our own personalities and abilities. Right up to new ways of community forming and political organisation because if there is something that badly needs improvement then it is the socio-economic system of the real world. And where would be a better place to explore new ways then a virtual world? However once we get to this point the offline world comes back and while we surely can build communities in virtual environments the issue of how to organise democratic voting will almost gets impossible to solve. Now that is another topic for future posts here so I leave it for the moment and come back to SL and the Philips post.

He said next, that he is going to announce a in-world meeting and while everyone who remembers the Town Hall meetings from 3 years ago (I have actually seen the last one held) will roll their eyes and be joined by all those who rightfully say that LL has claimed to improve communication with their customers many times in the past without ever holding to their promises, it might be a good signal into revitalising the faith people have into the platform. Many residents have invested a lot into it and while it often gets reduced to money it is most likely the social and creative investment that will hurt most when falling away. There are always people out there who will say, that if you don' like it, then go and leave, but when reading such statements I ask myself if those people have never developed any social contacts or maybe still think that all the other avatars around them are computer controlled NPCs. Truth to be told it is almost too funny to pretend to be one to the occasional game-socialised newcomer and even more to observe two bots getting into a conversation, but that's another point). I think the proposed meeting is a good idea and the sim it will be held on will surely be full hours before the start. And most likely it will be chaos with people on one side screaming how much they love Philip and how much all he touches is good and fantastic and people on the other side screaming about how all the bugs need to be fixed and how LL is spiralling downwards with ever increasing speed. I am totally trying to be there when I can and I really hope, that LL will figure out a way to make as many people participate as possible. Not that I expect any results but the speech given and maybe at least some of the questions asked might give a good insight into what is going on. Philip rightfully says, that he hops to revitalize the exchange between LL and the SL community, but sadly I don't really believe him here. He can't expect the meeting to be anything but total chaos and too many people remember all those promises from before. That is, some will still believe in everything but too much trust has been lost to simply hope on another business-speech infested meeting to fix it all again. But fixing is needed if LL not only want SL to survive but also stay on the forefront of virtual world development. And I don't mean graphics and other whizz that only those on high end gameing computers can fully enjoy, but the social implementations and community development that might lead to the development of new outlets for human creativity, new forms of existence and new streams of revenue not yet thought about by the corporate managers who claim to think about the future but only repeat all the old ideas that have failed in the past. I guess having a MBA means being able to shut their brains off and repeat what was written in some textbook that should better be put into the shelf as something only with historical value. But once again I move to far away from the topic so lets go back to Philips blog post.

Now he continues with saying how it is a time of great change. He is right with that but I think if he would admit that there have been mistakes made then the confidence gain into the future of LL would be greater. But sadly no company will admit mistakes since they have to be perfect for the investors. Now every investor believing company announcements and cheering their leadership for how great they are working is nothing more but stupid. It is sad to say it, but it seems like people have forgotten that mistakes not only happen but are often the true driving force of innovation and development. You just need to admit them!

Say sorry and show that you can do better. It is now LLs turn do that. However I would like to see them doing it more then saying it. So Philip, you got lots of hope and trust put on your shoulders now and delivering what the customers want will be key. Not that it would be easy to find out what such a diverse customer base as the SL community might actually want, but it still can be tried. Now that would truly 'tear down the walls' for the use of SL because then people will actually start telling others to join in. On the other hand, the user interface still need work and viewer 2 is like a disaster for many people and good news for 3rd party viewers. At least from my own observations it seems like there are more emerald users out there then ever. Maybe that is good considering that every problem usually drives someone forward to offer a solution and while the emerald developers are not profiting from the viewer they for sure now have a product that become so successful that they can present it as a proof of their abilities. Their own professionalism is another matter but they have made something that become highly successful and they can be proud of that. LL helped a lot by not being able to provide what people wanted and it might be a good idea for them to actually stop trying. If the platform has lead to the development of a business model that provides a service better then LL could then it is stupid to pump money into this field and better concentrate on other things. LL does not need to care about the viewer (as long as it does not support disruptive functionality) to get their money out of the system. And the same is true for the merchants who will get their money as well. As I have said, a lot of SL is driven by the worse capitalistic greed and while it pains me to admit that money indeed rules everything, I think it has done a lot to make the idea of the virtual world grow beyond the perception of something only for a few geeks living in their basements. LL and the residents have truly crated something together and in some form it was shaped by the desires of both LL and many of the residents. Produce, consume, get rich with little work! That have been the buzzwords of the previous years while the slogan of 'your world, your imagination' seemingly has been forgotten. But that was always only partially true. While it is right that people wanted to grab the money in any way they could the other driving force has always been the imagination and willigness to create and explore. Again, both in LL and in the residents. Only that the LL part of this has fallen victim to the more corporate drive of the past years. SL is, just as Philip says, a breathtaking social, creative, educational, and entrepreneurial platform. It is that and much more and despite what Philip has written I am convinced, that we have not gotten ahead of ourselves. We surely have a lot work to do (we both, LL and the residents) but we are not as far as we could be. Of course humanity as a whole is not as far as it could be so maybe I want too much, but slowing down isn't what I want to read in LLs announcements. But maybe, this means, that whatever M tried to force upon the residents is truly the way Philip too envisions for SL. I guess that if that is true, it would be a big disappointment for all those now cheering and clapping their hands. Does Philip too thinks that the normal social-media and the avatar-based online existence can go together? Or maybe I am not seeing it right and the exploration possible in a virtual world will become a footnote in history soon to be replaced by a world where the same social constrains exist as in RL. Of course RL and SL are not divided. They are part of each other and the avatar is more often then not a extension of ourselves and sometimes even a mirror to what we wish to be or have and believe. For good and worse. I don't know what work LL has slowed down now and what has been done in the wrong order. Basic features have been said to be the focus more then one year ago so it is once again a point where LL has not stayed true to their words. However the stability has increased but this has been in part a result of third party viewers that increased stability where the LL viewer lacked. A 'back to basics' approach as mentioned by Philip might be a good idea however one would expect the basics to be done by now. SL needs to grow not only in numbers and money but also in vision and creativity. Any ways, the parts where Philip describes what he understands under this read like he is admitting that viewer 2 needs to be redesigned. The majority of residents seem to agree on this and it is correct that the right viewer means a lot for the experience any single resident has in SL. I have of course giggled a little when I read that getting clothes on is something they want to become faster. What people in SL seem to like more is to get them off as fast as possible what in turn can be rather bothering but to each their own and I am not hanging around at those kind of places. But what is Philip saying next? That SL needs to rapidly improve and innovate to recapture the technology leadership position. I doubt it ever had that and the leadership was far more in more social fields then technological. Besides the call to rapidly innovate does not really go hand in hand with the call to slow down and return to the basics mentioned before. Wanting both things at once wont get SL to mature. Besides, I think it already is mature and the only thing that holds it back are the technological problems that LL wanted to address years ago but obviously forgot about. Now, I am no programmer or in any way knowing about the ins and outs of a virtual world but Philip should not be worried about people copying SL, but about those racing ahead. Copies will always stay behind and should not be looked at as the main competition. This will always come form those able to exceed in vision as well as in the use of any given technology. If Philip wants to get back to 'being the first to invent and deliver the solutions that evolve virtual worlds' then he better start to make his people work harder. On the other hand the words chosen might indicate, that, and I must admit that I believe it, SL has lost it's leadership position and it is now to gain it back. So M's rule would not only have lead to widespread hate and anger towards LL, but also towards the company's loss of it's former leadership position. SL is, as Philips says, 'still at the very beginning of a huge market'. He seem to be right about that but with SL being the biggest player in the field he should be much more aggressive here and push forward not only on the technological side, but also by reinforcing the vision that lead to the creation of this massive virtual world that brought that idea into the mass market. You can't build without a vision and the imagination behind it. Trying it differently is futile since rather sooner then later the competition will move ahead and leave SL on the side where it is still trying to get around 'the basics'. There is a lot to do but the remark about greatly shortened release cycles across all of SL systems only brings back the whole fiasco around viewer 2 and the strange fact that the beta was forced through without any apparent reaction to tons of customer feedback. It was the epitome of the shortened release cycle with the release happening before the product was even near being ready. It would be great for the new viewer to become the best and most widely used, but then LL needs to do better and truly get into their own world and understand how people use the interface and what they are trying to do with it. That it will become the base for the code for all viewers in SL is a given fact, but the base code does not matter as much as what is build on top of them.

It is at least good, that Philip says that LL has finally identified the virtual content marketplace as a long-term area of focus. It is about time I think and it will for sure make the screaming lot in the SL -merchants group happy. Some of the people there are rather strange in their willingness to erect barriers everywhere so only they would be able to do business and apparently also like to get rid of the customers. But strange people are everywhere and that group is not free of them as well. It is a valid point, that there are 10's of thousands of entrepreneurs, creators, and merchants and they are for sure part of what LL would see as their key metric of collective success, but the focus need to be equally on the customers as well. And on all those who are not in SL to make money. The creative people who got a kick in the gut by the art censorship incident during the last, rather mishappen in my opinion, SL birthday exhibition. But well, the last sentence of this paragraph will for sure get some rolled eyes and disgusted moaning: 'Optimizing from end-to-end the process of searching for, trying, buying, and using virtual goods will be our first focus here'. Nothing is or has been worse to the SL economy as the constant problems with the search so if LL manages to deliver a solution here, they might be almost half way solving the rest. I hope now, that for once LL will stay true to what they say. That Philip will not forget what he has wrote here:


We will make our changes, develop code, and discuss plans in the open. Before the end of July, we will also hold an in-world gathering where we can talk more about these plans and take questions.


This is the quote that we should look for to see if it will be fulfilled or if it will be forgotten like the other times LL has claimed to listen to feedback and suggestions. They never have and now that I read back and see that I have written, that I hope that now it is different, I can't help but get a small cold grin that reminds me of all the time I read one of their announcements and the only thing that came to mind was 'lie' or 'corporate spin'. Of course, those words mean more or less the same but one is generally not socially accepted while the other is being taught to our great economical leadership. I can however still say, that I still have hope and that maybe finally somehow somewhere people will realise that talking with each other is generally better. LL might be at this point since if they truly have been in financial trouble then they might try something drastic like asking their customers for advise. I bet the economic elites are rotating in fear of someone thinking about such revolutionary concepts like actually asking the people who use the products about what they would improve on it!


And now the final note. I guess it is about time that someone in SL mentions this. I mean, there is a lot of screaming about one group of people or another. Most often it is about furries, child avatars, 2.4m orange skinned amazones or free accounts that are all evil copybotters. I am however sure that LL is really focusing on some specific demographic model but as a globally operating company, they have to think and act on this globally as well. They have to improve the core experience for all categories of users and that in turn means, that SL wont ever look like the latests playstation game. That will for sure make some people scream, but not everyone in the world has easy access to high end computers or live where 9,95 US$ is cheep. What SL has to customize for different markets is the advertisement for it. But then they would have to start advertising it on a bigger scale since the few misguided efforts are hardly worth being mentioned here.


Anyways, in closing, I'd like to thank the SL community as well. But in difference, I would rather not only thank those with the heart-warming emails but also those who scream and shout and give LL the tough love they seem to need.


Maybe they like it ^_^