Above: Survey results after 6/9 layoff news, then after 6/24 Rosedale return news
Now this is what I call a reversal: On June 10, shortly after news that a third of Linden Lab's staff was being laid off, I ran a reader survey, and over 70% expressed pessimism over Second Life's future. But on June 25, just two weeks later, shortly after news that Philip Rosedale is returning as interim CEO, replacing Mark Kingdon, I ran another reader survey. This time, nearly 70% registered optimism over Second Life's future. Yes yes, it's an unscientific survey (though the sample sizes are roughly the same); still, the parity is remarkable.
I guess people hope/assume with a new leader SL will take the right direction forward. I hope so too. Will we have to wait another 2 years to see the results? I hope not.
Posted by: Metacam Oh | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 10:35 AM
ain't no love, like founder love. excited to see philip back at the helm.
Posted by: hunter walk | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 10:51 AM
I think it's worth noting that the question in both cases was about the immediate trend, not overall feeling.
I voted for "more pessimistic" in the first case and "more optimistic" in the second case. I remain pretty pessimistic in general, but both are true. Figure that on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 = most pessimistic and 10 = most optimistic, I went from 2 to 1 after the bloodbath, and then up to 2.5 after the Second Coming. It's a change worth noting, and I do indeed feel more optimistic about SL now than I did at the same time last week, but I'd be wary of reading more than that into these results.
Posted by: Samantha Poindexter | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 10:55 AM
Philip Rosedale knows how to love SL right. :)~
Posted by: Adeon Writer | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 10:57 AM
one has to wonder what kind of influence Hamlet Au's polls have on the Board of Directors of Linden Lab.
Posted by: Wizard Gynoid | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 11:11 AM
I would also note that both surveys asked readers how they felt about two separate issues in each.
The first asked about LL layoffs AND Facebookization.
The second asked about Mark Kingdon's departure AND Philip Linden's interim return.
Speaking personally, I feel very optimistic about the departure of "M". I am very much "wait and see" about the return of Philip. I have heard much the same from others.
Posted by: Fogwoman Gray | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 11:23 AM
"Wait and see"? But Our Lord Philip can do no wrong! It's a scientific fact!
Posted by: Rev. Samantha Poindexter | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 11:40 AM
Good point, Fogwoman. Would be better metrics to focus on one question at a time so you have more meaningful data to interpret.
I'm INITIALLY in the "Yay, Philip's back!" camp, but at the same time, I think the general zeitgeist is so dark that we're all looking for a bright spot. Under Philip, the world had a great sort of free-wheeling and fun style that hasn't been there in a while; whether his return can bring back that style AND supply substance remains to be seen.
But boy, I sure hope he can.
Posted by: Arcadian Vanalten | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 12:09 PM
Hopefully Linden Lab will capitalize on this moral boost before it fades away because of the ongoing major issues.
Posted by: Ann Otoole | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 01:07 PM
@ Ann Otoole: Maybe Hamlet would like run a poll to see what we think are the three biggest problems that residents are having. This could range from IP protection for sellers to response time of the asset servers.
Posted by: Nightbird Glineux | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 02:43 PM
A trisket, a tasket, a zeitgeist in a basket.
I'm on the optimistic side a bit. I'm hoping Philip will pull some sort of miracle out of the box. I really want better graphics \ realism. One of the biggest things that people always mention is how bad the graphics are in SL compared to regular PC games, etc. I hope SL can be on top in that category sometime, instead of dead last. Let's start to use those GPU instruction sets for once. That would be nice. And stable shadows in the main viewer so we don't have to go third party Kirsten, etc.
_____________________
Little Lost Linden
http://thebotzone.net
Posted by: Little Lost Linden | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 05:28 PM
If Phil just gets the broken things fixed, I'll be 1000% more optimistic.
Posted by: Ghosty Kips | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 05:49 PM
While I voted for the first choice, it was only because you didn't have an option that said "I am more optimistic that there are more people who are now more optimistic about Second Life's future."
While the Lindex prices have stabilized about 2% above their previously managed level (which obviously reduces LL's L$ related liabilities by 2%, another nice profit to report to the board! WOOO HOO!), the number of limit sell orders continues to outnumber the number of limit buy orders by ratios of between 5-1 up to 10-1, which indicates a continuing systemic lack of long term confidence in the economy by the bulk of the business community in SL.
Philip will need to inspire people to reduce this ratio down to less than 3 to 1 on a sustained basis in order to bring prices back to their historic level (there is always some imbalance between limit order buyers and sellers because sellers tend to be pragmatic business people and buyers tend to be impulse shoppers who buy at market.)
As a show of good faith I've offered to settle my lawsuit and help Philip with promoting and managing the SL economy, but no response yet means the Linden arrogance toward the property rights of their customers remains in full force despite the purges.
Posted by: IntLibber Brautigan | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 07:43 PM
I'm simultaneously pessimistic about the impact of the layoffs and optimistic about the return of Philip. If customer service emerges more responsive to all residents, then hang the speculators, I'm all aboard the feel-good train.
Posted by: Arcadia Codesmith | Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 08:32 PM
Now Mark the hatchet has gone
Phil is back to fix SL
If Linden labs return to profit, then Phil will be given sainthood.
Posted by: archie lukas | Friday, July 02, 2010 at 03:35 AM