Second Life 2009 Recap: Numbers, Money, Policy, and Company Announcement Highlights

For Second Life, 2009 was a year of interim. With the departure of Robin Harper and the resignation of Philip Rosedale, all the founding executive members of Linden Lab have left the company. (Indeed, I believe the only Linden from the pre-launch days still regularly involved in Second Life on a public basis is, well, me.) In their wake, a new Linden team slowly but steadily instituted new regulations, policies, and strategies meant to make Second Life more inviting to real world organizations and consumers beyond the Burning Man era. In 2009, we just saw glimpses and beginnings of those changes, which strongly suggests they'll come to fruition this year. First up (perhaps): the new, greatly-revamped Second Life viewer, which was promised to arrive "by 2010", but that deadline passed, hopefully hitting very soon. For now, the end result is a company that remains profitable, but a world that has hit another growth plateau, as if the market is waiting to see what comes next.

That said, here's a look at the business side of Second Life from the year that was:

FEBRUARY '09

• Robin Leaves: Last of the Founding Linden Execs Quits; Remaining Mgmt. Sparse on SL/Virtual World Experience

MARCH '09

• Amsterdammed: Linden Lab to Segregate "Adult" Content in Second Life to Red Light Continent (Real Life ID Required)
• Sexed Down: Second Life's Latest Release Candidate Hides "Adult" Content From Unverified Users

APRIL '09

• Newsfeed: Taser's Lawsuit Against Linden Lab Sign Of Things To Come
• New World Newsfeed: Second Life's Growth Plateau Ends
• Enforcers of Dune: Frank Herbert Estate Targets Dune Roleplayers In Second Life

MAY '09

• New World Newsfeed: Second Life Concurrency Competitive With Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike
• The New Second Life: Lindens Announce Dramatically Improved Viewer and Website for 2009; Interactive, Dynamic Web Media in SL by 2010 <<== THEN WHERE IS IT?

JUNE '09

• New World Newsfeed: Linden Gets New Investor, But Why?

JULY '09

• Linden Lab Worth $658-700 Million, 2009 Revenues Forecast at $100 Million - Analyst
• Unconsumed: Just 465K of Second Life's Active Residents Spend L$ In-World, Under 200K Spend USD$10+/Mo in L$

AUGUST '09

• Lindens Announce Upcoming "Content Seller Program" -- The End of (Most) In-World Content Theft to Follow?
• Unbranded: Lindens To Ban Unauthorized Virtual Copies of Real World Brands on Ecommerce Site

SEPTEMBER '09

• Second Life Median Concurrency Trending Down Since March (Evidence of Traffic Bots Going Into Exile?)

OCTOBER '09

• Avatar Fashion/Accessories Represent 40% of Second Life's Marketplace, But Only 20% of Its Economy
• Lindens Send Trademark Infringement Notice To SL Educators... 18 Months After Announcing Trademark Policy

NOVEMBER '09

• Second Life Stat of the Day: Only 6% of SL Land Is "Adult" Rated For Pornographic Content
• Philip Rosedale Unveils New Company: "LoveMachine Inc" Offers AI, Destruction of the Ego, Lots of Money-Making

Did I miss any news here that will be relevant this year?

Comments

[Net Antwerp]

Well, you missed the part where Linden Research *customers* are extremely unhappy at some of the destructive announcements/changes made since Philip stepped down (as CEO).

Along with Kingdon censoring my comment on the Linden Blogs and firing off an "Congratulations! Your post has been digested and shredded by Linden Research!" e-mail at the same time.

@Kingdon:
Recapping a man's history doesn't fit the "Personal Attacks" category.

[Balthasar Bookmite]

Yeah not a fan of M. Who is that with Philip?

[Maxim Alley]

Love how people have such a 'golden era' view of Philip.

This type of statement is loco:

"Well, you missed the part where Linden Research *customers* are extremely unhappy at some of the destructive announcements/changes made since Philip stepped down (as CEO)".

Philip is still behind SL, he's now hiding behind M and the new management team. LL have never individually cared for you. It's a business. Get over yourselves.

Looking at this blog, it would seem it's heading in the right direction. It may not please the old users, who I know for a fact probably don't even have a premium account. They constantly gripe about how good it was way back when, how it should be all free love and burning man!

The truth: LL should have made these changes between 2003-2008. They would be in better position now if they did, it's catch up time.

P

[Vooper Werribee]

Hi Hamlet - the link to the April 09 Dune Enforcers article is broken - seems to have gotten a bit mangled - here's the correct link: http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2009/04/enforcers-of-dune.html

[Hamlet Au]

Ack, fixed. Thanks for noticing, Vooper!

[Tinsel Silvera]

Hey Hamlet. I am curious as to why you would say that Philip has resigned when he is still Chairman, still coming in-world and still blogging about SL? I thought he was just no longer involved in the day-to-day operations. Also, I thought you stopped being a Linden back in 2006. If you still are, can I have a Bear for my collection? Thanks.

[Hamlet Au]

Hi Tinsel, I think I still have a copy of my Linden bear, IM me. But you're right, I stopped being a Linden in 2006; what I meant was I'm the last person from the early SL era still involved on a regular basis. Philip is still Chairman, but he's just doing occasional blog posts and appearances from time to time.

[Net Antwerp]

@Maxim:

Please take a look at all of the awesome! comments Linden Research *customers* are making towards the Kingdon management (last 18 months):

https://blogs.secondlife.com/message/62625#62625

Philip wasn't perfect, either. But Philip didn't make all those destructive, community-crushing and unwanted changes that Kingdon's team made. Philip's modest approach to Second Life brought substantial growth to the platform - something that Kingdon is beginning to erode with his "My way, *MY* way only" approach.