To Save Second Life, Linden Lab Must Create Something Successful Besides Second Life (Guest Post)

Guest post by Robert "Dizzy Banjo" Thomas

Like many, I was very excited to hear CEO Rod Humble’s announcement at SLCC about a new Linden Lab project. It’s still unclear what that project is exactly, but it’s so far described as a “light”, separate version of an SL-like experience for web and tablets/mobile devices. I think this project is a huge opportunity. Hamlet asked me to contribute some ideas about how Second Life could recapture the public imagination with it.

Some of what I’m about to write may seem harsh, so before I go on, I want to say that Second Life is still a really special place for me. I spent a lot of time in it with amazing people making wonderful projects. It is still an incredible, visionary, and hugely ambitious project, and I have vast respect for many Lindens and ex-Lindens. There is nothing else like it.

Creating a new product, however, will be extremely hard to pull off well, and require bold moves that in my opinion, Linden Lab hasn’t done for many years. Because Linden’s new project must:

Feel Great, With A User Experience that Sings, Feels Intuitive and Instant

When you use Second Life a lot, and understand exactly how ambitious it is to try and stream a real time, modifiable, scriptable 3D world, it’s easy to slip into the thinking that Second Life’s user experience is relatively OK. I think over the lifetime of SL, there has been a culture at Linden Lab and in the community of understanding this ambition. That has skewed expectations, in regard to quality of user experience.

Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn’t understand or care how ambitious SL’s underlying architecture is. They just know it’s not easy or intuitive to use. If this transfers over to a new product, it would be fatal.

Since 2003, users have been embracing slicker and slicker user experiences. Think about the iPhone, and Apple’s App Store. Linden Lab’s new product needs to deliver at this level. If it doesn’t, mainstream users simply won’t put up with it, in the same way they don’t put up with SL now. Delivering this means a shift to architecting within good performance limits for devices and their networks -- something Second Life’s architecture still doesn’t deliver 10 years after its creation!

Be Relevant -- To 2012, not 2003

At the time of SL’s launch, computer and Internet usage was in a very different place. In 2003, it was all about the desktop/laptop. Online MMOs with long session times were huge, with World of Warcraft about to be released. Mainstream user identity was generally much more anonymous than it is now, and Facebook didn’t even exist. Most importantly, people generally sat at devices of some kind and “went to the information”. The core idea of Second Life fits beautifully into this era. However, that era is long gone.

So I think Linden needs to think about the world of 2012 and beyond. A world moving into the post-PC era, where quick agile mobile user experiences are huge. They are often intrinsically linked to or around the physical activities and often real identities of people. Angry Birds between three stops on the subway. Ten minutes of Facebook over lunch. Reading the hashtag at an event. In this world, information increasingly comes to people, intelligently, when and where they want it. They don’t sit for hours to get it. There are also far more people online now “as themselves” than before Facebook.

Because of this shift, the core ideas of Second Life seem irrelevant to most Internet users. It’s why I think advertising Second Life isn’t that effective right now. I don’t believe this makes SL any less amazing and unique. But this is shift is happening. Fortunately, it also doesn’t exclude the possibility of exploring new trajectories.

This is why I suggest that if Linden wants mainstream success, they should think about making a different product and NOT create a light version of SL. For one thing, Second Life requires deep immersion over time for its magic to work. I don’t think that tablets or phones are the right medium to deliver this kind of experience, at least not yet.

Be Magical and Fresh - Innovate through New, Unique Ideas Not SL

As I've said before, this video is magical:

In 2003, this video was a vision of something new. It was a totally crazy idea which was super exciting. Just hearing about the ideas of Second Life created a “Wow!” moment. That idea is still amazing, but it’s 10 years old. To put it bluntly, if Linden want to create a mainstream, successful new product now, they need to stop milking that 2003 wow, and create a wow for 2012. This means a different idea. Something nobody else is doing now. Something amazing and more relevant to today.

What is that idea? I think they need a bunch of people like Linden founders Philip, Ryan, Cory, and Hunter around a table again. I hope they have them now. For example, in a possible future where augmented reality becomes mass market, Linden Lab is well positioned to adapt their asset server technology to serve an augmented reality virtual world. (Though I don’t believe that era is with us yet, at least in visual terms.)

Save Second Life by Succeeding Beyond Second Life

It may seem I’m suggesting abandoning Second Life. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, Linden Lab now has the opportunity to do two mutually beneficial things at the same time: Fix Second Life and really deliver it as a great user experience, AND create a totally new project, possibly linked to SL’s vision in some way, but also different and fresh. I think the new project should aim to be both a massive financial success and an exciting, new and innovative experience. Both products, sharing revenues, would enable Linden to grow and improve SL and the new project at a much faster rate, which would then propel user growth in both products. A partner to Second Life, fascinating in its own right, helping to forge an exciting future for Linden Lab and us all.

Robert "Dizzy Banjo" Thomas is a longtime developer of interactive SL projects and creative director for RJDJ, developer of the bestselling Inception iOS app and other "sonic experiences" including the upcoming game Dimensions.

Comments

[Hitomi Tiponi]

I would add something but I think this post nails it!

[Khannea Suntzu]

I am losing it.

I mean I may be in a severe depression IRL but even then SL has always served to drag me out of it. But not this summer. I can't focus on anything, images and letters just swim in front of my face and even in SL I feel totally lost. I sure hope they can rekjindle my old vybe because right now I am totally not feeling it.

[Noirran Marx]

great article!

[Lord]

hmmmmmm, perhaps something like holobands and New Cap City ...only on a global scale ?

[bongo]

Yes. screw the platform for the metaverse. Give us faddish toys for child-adults!

Success!!..well maybe,

[Orca Flotta]

I don't understand this article or what the author is trying to suggest here. SL is a virtual world, it is immersive and time consuming. It has a not too steep learning curve (basically to move your avatar you must use all 4 arrow keys, doh). Deal with it.

In SL you're dealing with real people behind the avatars, real people that need your attention as much as you need theirs. SL is not the place to satisfy your need for information or fun or whatever you expect from your online experience. The old motto of Your World, Your Imagination holds still true. You get out of SL exactly what you put in. If the author wishes to satisfy his daily fix of whatever between 3 stops on the subway I guess he's wrong in SL, just in the wrong place.

SL isn't a social network, it's not a browser game, it is a virtual world. Real world transferred into virtuality, real world skills are needed to success here. It takes time. It takes thought work. It needs interaction. It needs you to be imaginative and creative. Just like in RL you won't be rewarded anything without working for it.

What's wrong with that principle?
Nothing I guess.

In my eyes the question should rather be if most of the new users, if the "mainsteam" is fit and good enough for SL.

[Chantal Harvey]

Hi there Dizzy!

You are looking at SL developments from an app-creater's point of view, which is very understandable. I much enjoy reading your blog, but it did not strike me as relevant? There are plenty of innovative developments right now, you as a member of LEA surely have more up to date information about what is happening in Second Life. The new profiles posting, mesh, basic mode, for exapmle. The one thing I really dont get is why a light version wouldnt be the right way to go - I expect this to go to mobile devices soon, hopefully. We disagree, lol.
Would love to debate this with you ;o)

Hugs,
Chantal.

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

You, sir, hit that Post-PC nail just right. LL has long acted as though most users will connect on high-end PC desktops or Hamlet's Alienware laptop.

Everyone on my campus in the know, from the technologists to the bookstore manager, are talking about the growing % of kids who don't even bring laptops to campus any longer....part of a broader cultural shift. Almost none of the rest bring desktop systems.

[Dizzy Banjo]

Interesting discussion thread going on about this on Google+ here :

https://plus.google.com/104625241288501781571/posts/5c6qkECh4Xv

[Harper Beresford]

Perhaps a different view of SL needs to be taken. I thought Gwyneth Llewellyn's blog post at http://gwynethllewelyn.net/2011/08/24/innovation-yes-but-wrong-turn/ was much more insightful. She calls for LL to realize it has a niche market and to develop and serve that niche market. In other words, stop trying to be everything to everyone.

Calling for a "user interface that sings" is kind of vague and wishful thinking. You can not compare SL to Apple. Apple has more money than the US government right now and a staff to match--they can afford to make it sing. The rest of the computer world has to bumble along as they may. (BTW, I would like my iPad to function as it should--I sure don't get all I was promised or paid for. It ain't perfect.)

Lastly, keep in mind the name of the company: Linden Lab. SL is still, at this late stage, an experiment, a platform for investigation, a way to integrate the prevailing technologies, innovations and philosophies into something.. whatever one wants to call it. (And I agree with Orca, it's a virtual world.)

P.S. @Ignatius, when *I* was in school, most students didn't bring laptops to school either. It wasn't that long ago :P

[Dizzy Banjo]

@bongo

As I said at the end of the post, I'm not suggesting abandoning SL or
metaverse related ideas.

I think this is just an opportunity for Linden to explore the
technology and marketplace of today. This could also be a great way to
fund faster development and improvement of SL. There is a huge way to
go to get SL up to today's standards in user experience.

In regards to the type of experiences Linden could explore. Yes the
app store and many light web apps do have a throw away nature. But
many do not. These functions often come from the evolution of a
product through the way users behave with it. Twitter is a great
example of this. It has a wide reaching cultural impact while being a
very lightweight user interaction.

I'm not suggesting that Linden become another Zinga-alike. Far from
it. I think they need to do a similar leap ahead of the pack to the
one they did in 2003. What that leap is could be super exciting, rich
and immersive in a new way and take advantage of all of today's
technology. It's a very positive opportunity :)

[Dizzy Banjo]

@orca

I understand SL is a virtual world and the amount of engagement that is necessary to immerse and really understand it. I've done it myself for many years since 2005. That time resulted in a deep involvement in the community of SL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Pz6M9p_Og and the creation of many projects in SL : http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/01/speaking-in-lig.html
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/04/music-for-the-m.html

I'm not suggesting that SL should change, or that it should try to be something it isn't. In fact I think this would be a very bad idea.

As I said, SL is a very interesting and wonderful place - for a particular demographic who have the time and inclination to engage in this way.

You ask if the mainstream is 'good enough' for SL. My question would be simply is SL interesting for them ?

My suggestion is that if Linden want to do something on iOS, or a light web experience, they should consider NOT creating a light version of SL, precisely for the reasons you state - that it takes time and engagement to work. Hence my suggestion to do something else that does work with todays technology and marketplace

[Dizzy Banjo]

@chantal

I don't think I am looking at it solely from an app developers point of view really. I'm also looking at it from the point of view of someone who loves SL as a place, the history of it, its culture and creations and its possible futures. These things continue to inspire me, especially in my advisory role with the LEA.

Additionally, I'm looking at it from the outside and trying to assess its placement in todays marketplace, both culturally in terms of engagement patterns and technologically / user experience wise.

There are many developments going on in SL, that is true. But this is true of any product or platform that is still in development.

I think a light version of SL may not be a good way to go, as for me, SL in particular, requires deep immersion to work. This normally comes from a sit down / block out the rest of the world and immerse experience. Its much more difficult to achieve this on a mobile device, especially an iPhone. Its possible on an iPad, but even those are used in a much more mobile and 'exposed to reality' way.

One factor in this is the way the user actually touches the data with their real body. I believe this can also be a barrier to immersion in a third person viewed avatar.

My post was addressing issues that are wider than the development of SL. It tries to address the situation for Linden Lab at this time, and what they could do with this opportunity - which I think is a great one.

However, the ramifications of this choice, could be huge for SL. If LL had a very successful second product it could actually help SL.

[Dizzy Banjo]

@harper

Unfortunately comparing user experiences directly, regardless of the size of company behind them is what users are very good at doing.

I understand the difference in size between Apple and Linden Lab, however I wasn't referring to Apple per se, I was referring to the thousands of developers who deliver excellent user experiences in the app store. Many of these are actually much smaller than Linden Lab.

I love SL as an experiment and a lab project. However this understanding of it as being that is one of the things I mentioned as being a factor for it never really competing at the same level as other products. I think this means that its also not reasonable to expect it to reach into the mainstream in the way other products do.

I think its fine to recognise that SL only appeals to a niche market. I would hope that my post clearly illustrates that I think it is. I also think its ok for a company like Linden Lab to try to cater purely for that market. As I have said in previous comments, I don't think SL should be changed to become something it isn't at a basic conceptual level.

This is also part of the reason why I don't think SL could really work as a light version. I think its interestingness lies in its richness and complexity. Dumbing it down could ruin it. I also think there are immersion problems on touch devices.

I'm suggesting a second, perhaps completely different project, which could work in tandem with SL. I think this is a great positive opportunity.

[Harper Beresford]

@Dizzy

But lots of us are already using Pocket Metaverse. Maybe all they all they are after is doing an enhanced version of that TPV?

[Hamlet Au]

Harper, Pocket Metaverse has a userbase in the low five figures. If there was a high demand for mobile SL even among the hardcore userbase (which is still a niche), it would probably be much larger.

[Orca Flotta]

Yes, finally I heard the magic word: niche market!

As long as LL are recognizing the little fact that their product SL isn't for anyone, isn't made for the mainsteam, isn't made for consumers and dummies, we don't need to fear any bigger atrocities than V2 :)

But when I listen to Rod's keynote speach ... "65% of interested people are not able to finish the registering process, we must try to make it easier for them" ... grrr, stuff like that makes me angry.
They should preferably take care about and consider that: 65% of sim crossings fail, 75% of servers are running on idle while the rest are overutilised and lagging like hell, 85% of their profit comes from established, immersed users, not from noobs, 95% of the userbase have no need and no intention of ever logging into SL from a mobile device ... and so on.
In short I guess LL are going wrong when they try to make SL mass compatible. For. It. Just. Isn't. And. Hopefully. Will. Never. Be.

[Melissa Yeuxdoux]

Alas, Dizzy, due to Google+ policies, a lot of us can't participate in that discussion. I'd like to think that SL's more than just an "island of misfit toys" that Mitch Wagner effectively describes as the people virtual worlds appeal to.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Over the years I've watched the dance of virtual worlds and noticed a pattern.

When text-based games were introduced, they sacrificed the improvisational skill of the gamemaster for a fixed narrative. But then, over time, they began to reclaim that ground with spaces that the players could design and sophisticated parsers that could approximate improv.

When graphic environments were introduced, they sacrificed the evocative power of prose for crude sixteen-color landscapes and dungeons. But as time passed, those environments have grown increasingly detailed and subtle.

We sacrificed a great deal of design flexibility to make spaces suitable for mobile deployment... but the devices are again regaining the ground that was lost and the games are growing in depth and sophistication.

If you're designing for current trends, you're already a step behind in the dance. Tomorrow's mobile VW environment will look a lot like yesterday's desktop VW environment, as devices grow in power and we regain the ground we lost in the conversion.

I agree that Linden Lab should be experimenting with other projects -- cross-pollination is a valuable asset in itself. But in terms of the virtual world, Second Life is still the future. It's neither a niche or a dead end... it's just pausing and waiting for the world to catch up.

[Dizzy Banjo]

"If you're designing for current trends, you're already a step behind in the dance. Tomorrow's mobile VW environment will look a lot like yesterday's desktop VW environment, as devices grow in power and we regain the ground we lost in the conversion."

I agree that technology is of course always going to become more powerful and will allow things like SL to reach more and more devices.

However, I disagree that power of technology defines the type of experiences that we as humans find engaging and useful - Twitter is a great example of this. Who would have thought 140 text characters could do what it has?

I think fundamental ideas from SL and many other places will inform our future, but they will probably form in a new way, possibly superficially very distant from an immersive VW like SL.

I guess that is what comes next : TEXT IMMERSION > GRAPHICAL IMMERSION > ???? IMMERSION or perhaps not immersion at all, but augmentation..

[Toysoldier Thor]

Dizzy,

Reading your post even two times I was seeing mixed messages from you.

On one hand you are suggesting that the WOW factor that made SL so attractive in 2003 has fizzled because its not in touch with 2012 mainstream culture (i.e. the 3 stop interaction with a simple mindless start-stop at any time game). And that SL needs some pull from the sky awesome new idea that leverages this new culture and leaves behind the old WOW.

On the other hand you fully endorse that SL is still an amazing immersive world and not left behind and somehow leveraged.

There are several aspects to your visions that are either too vague for any LL Exec to take serious or has flaws to the vision.

First of all, I am sure LL Execs & even ex-Execs like Philip himself have not turned off their perpetual mind of innovative & entreprenuerial thinking. I am sure ppl like Phillip are constantly thinking outside the box on "what is that next WOW for the marketplace". They also imagine how this new WOW could leverage the old WOW and its successes and leadership in the market. Its easy to say "LL needs a new WOW". The trick is to identify that magic WOW that will be the next major success in the market.

Secondly, lets be very clear on what has already been stated. SL has been, is now, and will always be a NICHE MARKET product/service in the market. That is not a bad thing. It is the leader in its niche. Most things on the market can never evolve to mainstream - only a few ideas have all the ingredients to allow this. FB, Twitter, youtube.

So since SL will never be a mainstream solution - asking LL to make it mainstream is a failing form of advice that you could offer.

The trick to SL's success is to more quickly evolve technical weakness in the existing 2003 WOW and Revolutionize the 2003 WOW with game changing new features that leverage advancements in technology. MESH is one of them.

Lastly, SL needs to more strongly interface the Virtual world with Real World 2012 cultural fads without trying to become it. What do I mean by this... example, dont try to build a viewer that is more like Facebook as we all saw the Viewer2 results from that horrid strategy.

Prims that natively can interface with email, youtube, FB, Twitter, Skype as attributes of the prim. Major improvements in virtual realism so that walking around in SL is like walking around inside an interactive movie set (no lag & and photorealistic perfection of avatars, attachments, prims, etc.).

Make SL a better SL not a different SL to fit into mainstream when its not mainstream.

(PS I do not use Google+)

[Dizzy Banjo]

@toysoldier

ok let me try to clear up some of these mixed messages :)

Yes I am saying that SL doesn't connect with the mainstream of 2011 or 2012.

I'm not saying that SL should pull something from the sky, or that SL should change to become mainstream. I don't believe it can. I do endorse SL a a great place and I do believe that its still super interesting for a niche.

I'm saying that Linden Lab, not Second Life, now has a chance to do something which does engage with a different market.
These things are not mutually exclusive.

Many Linden founders are indeed have done and are doing many interesting projects. For example Philip at Lovemachine and Coffee and Power, which I think are interesting projects. I think Linden Lab, now has a chance to do something different as well.

In terms of vagueness. I'm deliberately thinking about strategy here, rather than suggesting ideas for Linden to explore. I'm paid to explore my ideas at the company where I work, not on Hamlet's blog.

Once again, as I have stated in the piece, and in comments afterwards - I am not suggesting LL should try to make SL mainstream. I'm suggesting a different separate product from the same company. Rod Humble has already indicated publicly that this project will not be connected to Second Life directly.

As I replied to Harper, all the improvements to SL are great. They should be expected of any platform that is under development, and I think SL has a long way to go before it reaches acceptable modern standards of user experience. But like I said a lot of this is due to its immense ambition.

I hope that clarifies some of those points I was trying to make.

I hardly use Google+ either actually, but Mitch Wagner has been using it to respond to this thread, so I thought I would link to it :)

[Toysoldier Thor]

Thanks for clarifying. But now the concept of LL creating a new concept or next WOW product that does not tie to SL or engages a new marketspace for LL to run with brings up yet another and more serious risk to LL... "lost focus".

LL is already a horribly under-resourced corporate entity whos staff is desperately trying to both plug the growing number of leaking holes in the current SL product while at the same time trying to create the next wave of SL WOW needed to keep SL in vogue with the current SL customers (or risk losing them).

I have done tons of outsider-looking-in business assessment on LL position along the evolutionary cycle/path of a corporation as it moves to maturity. LL has been and continues to struggle moving to the next stage of maturity as a relatively young startup.

This company is far to too immature in business / customer support processes and controls,and a more business mature management/staff culture to even contemplate taking on any completely new product / venture / WOW idea in addition to SL.

I stated in SL Forum discussion back in 2009/10 when the previous Sr LL management decided to take on the idea of trying to re-mold SL to compete in the Enterprise Collaboration space (SLE) that this was a HUGE MISTAKE! For several reasons I predicted that LL would fail on this new venture real quick, but mainly because they would have been an also-ran bit player in that market AND because this would cause LL staff to lose further focus on their prime objectives. IT FAILED AS PREDICTED.

So do you really think its a wise idea for a company in the condition and level of maturity it is in now to take on a completely new WOW Product? If so, explain to us how this company could resource this new product when they can barely support SL and barely support the huge wishlist of SL growth plans?

So again, nice post you submitted but you are asking a company with no feasible capability of executing on a great new idea even if they could come up with one. It would fail in execution regardless of how great an innovative it is.

So I dare say your idea that suggests that to save SL LL needs a new product.... it will actually do the opposite... your idea would surely kill LL and the SL product that LL owns.

Here is an idea for you... if there was a cool rocking new product/idea... why should LL do it? PS... your idea is already happening... Phillip has already created a new venture of new products. And it would likely work to get its own funding and grow on its own.

There are dreamers... and there are those that can wisely make dreams happen.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

I'm not prepared to give up on immersive VR yet. I think there's a deep-seated human desire to experience different worlds, a longing given expression by the movie Avatar and Star Trek's holodeck.

I think the VR plateau is very much due to the limits of current tech. We're just starting to experiment with interfaces that let us leave the keyboard and screen behind and really step into the virtual.

And I think that as that tech matures, it's going to open up new vistas for immersion. But many of those vistas are going to be direct linear descendants of the little brown books that Gygax and Arneson unleashed on the world in '74.

SL is a slightly different branch of the family tree, but among its other virtues, it has great potential to be a platform for building compelling immersive experiences. We just need the tech to get a little bit better to fully realize that potential.

[ColeMarie Soleil]

(grabs me some dinner and sits down to catch up on all this reading)