Hanging with Humble (Linden Lab's Rod Humble, That Is)

I'm off to a slow start blogging today because I was out late at many and various GDC parties last night. Among them was a stop at Linden Lab's mixer, where I got a chance to meet Linden's new CEO Rod Humble, formerly of Electronic Arts' Sims division. He's a tall and gregarious geek, and we talked about many things, such as the future of virtual worlds (which he wants to discuss in another interview) and the recalcitrance of SL's existing userbase to change (which I'll write more about soon.) And then Rod Humble said he was late to a dinner with other developers of art games (he is a creator of such) and "people who want to change the world with games", and he was off. I agree with the desire, so thumbs up from me too. (And for the kickass crab cakes.)

By the way, Linden Lab held the party because they are hiring developers like crazy, so if you want to be a Linden, go here to see if there's an opening for you.

Comments

[Saffia Widdershins]

Maybe it's just me, but chatting with journalists about "the recalcitrance of SL's existing userbase to change" doesn't exactly seem like the way to win friends and influence people among said existing userbase.

That one sentence undercuts a lot of the positive work with the userbase that has been happening recently, and seems to echo some of the bad old days of sneering at the customers.

[JoJa Dhara]

Did you Whisper in his ear that you still have a date with a dutch girl to eat the best kabab in Amsterdam and that it would be great if he could join you during MetaMeets in june?

;-)

[Hamlet Au]

I brought up the topic, Saffia, not him.

[qarl]

> By the way, Linden Lab held the party because they are hiring developers like crazy...

Babbage, Tofu! in addition to our talents - our familiarity with the codebase is a huge asset. not to mention our positive relationship with the customers.

i wonder - will we need to resubmit our resumes? can either of you write me a recommendation?

[Hamlet Au]

Ya know, with the HR guy from M Linden's days gone, I bet LL might be more open to re-hiring Linden vets.

[Saffia Widdershins]

That's reassuring. I must admit I'd have been surprised if he'd undercut the positive work that's been carefully going on re-connecting with the userbase in a short interview. But the Lab have surprised me before now!

And I think there's also space for a debate as to whether the userbase IS recalcitrant about change ... or if their changes and adaptations are just in ways that are unexpected (and not necessarily in line with what the Lab might want).

[qarl]

well then - let this be my open letter to the lab - i remain passionate about this world we've created - and i would love to resume the difficult tasks in building its infrastructure.

best,

K.

[Toxic Menges]

Good for you qarl, good luck, I hope passion and expertise count for something at LL.

[Toxic Menges]

The recalcitrance of change is also something that may still need stomping out at the Lab, Hamlet. I have seen the signs of some change, but i am more than sure that is a pertinent question both ways in the organic relationship that is Residents and Linden Lab. I hope you also cover that.

[Casper Jideon]

re-open the damn JIRA to popular vote!!!

[Ezra]

Queue derailing asking about the crab cakes to an impromptu rehire Qarl petition.

Ready. Go. *signs*

[Toxic Menges]

I know .. lets open a jira to get qarl rehired. We can all watch and comment.

[Mitch Wagner]

Hamlet, I don't know if the user base is recalcitrant to change so much as thinking that LL's ideas for change are *bad.*

The user base would rather LL fix the numerous bugs in SL before adding features that are unnecessary and are, frankly, not so much features as bugs themselves (such as most of the so-called "features" in Viewer 2).

(One of my great regrets as a SL journalist is the positive review I gave of Viewer 2 when it came out -- the more I've used it, the less I've liked it, until now I barely use it at all anymore. Of course, I barely go into SL anymore either -- but when I *do* go in, I use Phoenix.)

[Graham Mills]

+1 for qarl.

[soror nishi]

Recalcitrant.... like outdated ideas about megas for example??
This is pure projection.

...or could he mean we aren't queueing up to use the worst viewer ever designed....??

[Kimberly Winnington (Gianna Borgnine inSL)]

+1 for qarl as well *signs petition*

In the short time that I've had the privilege of working with qarl on various projects, he has been an extremely positive asset who has consistently performed above our client's expectations! I have yet to meet anyone whose experience, knowledge, and passion for virtual worlds and Second Life exceeds qarl's. He would be an extremely valuable addition to any company, but especially strong back at the Lab.

In other words... YOU NEED HIM! For all of our sake's.. HIRE HIM BACK ALREADY!

[Judi Newall]

Most useful feature implemented in the last year is the ALIGN tool .. from Qarl .. after leaving LL .. He sure gets my vote!

[Draxtor]

Get Qarl back in the game ASAP!!!

[Saxon]

Qarl *IS* a feature!! (And a damned great one.)

I thought it interesting how yesterday Steve Jobs commented about the absolute necessity of blending technology with the humanities. Qarl seems to embody that school with both formidable technical skill and the passion to make it count for something.

+1 for Qarl

[Hitomi Tiponi]

LL still seems to have more managerial or senior engineering vacancies than developers - but in a way getting rid of some of those managers was probably a good thing.

+1 for qarl

Aalso LL should be open to employing those not in the US again - they should be looking to get the best wherever they can find them. If you believe in SL and other internet methods of doing business why not use them.

[Mitch Wagner]

Getting rid of managers is ALWAYS a good thing.

Oh, wait, I'm a manager now. Crap, I forgot. Time to get rid of myself, then.

[Balla]

Umm...didn't they just fire about a 1/3 of the Linden staff and now they are trying to hire more...why don't they just hire the staff they fired?

[Laetizia Coronet]

What you need is a translator who speaks five languages but couldn't code or script her way out of a plywood box if her life depended on it, Mr. Humble. You know you do.

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

Though I won't bias the results of a survey now underway, educators remain dedicated to the SL platform. Many of us are "recalcitrant" about change, including leaving SL for increasingly competitive (and far less expensive) OpenSim grids.

LL is making changes, but are they the right ones? What I'm seeing is changed marketing, emphasizing a message not likely to win friends among education and enterprise users.

A damning moment came up in our weekly VWER meeting. One of our panelists had a few colleagues wanting to try SL. They did not get further than the SL Web site. One look at the Valentine's Day vid on display, however, ended their interest.

Sorry, Mr. Humble; tattooed love-boys with their Celtic ladies fair might work for grown ups who want The Sims Plus, but whatever actually goes on in-world, you'll lose your remaining educators with marketing like that.

[Skate Foss]

I agree with Saffia, saying the 'recalcitrance of the existing users' -worries me. I have great respect for Mr Humble, but 'we' the dedicated residents here Are Linden Lab's partners. He understands that the Lab provided us with the canvas and tools, we created the the trees, mountains, cities, spaceports and Clubs. Without the dedicated resident base, there will be nothing for the Lab to use to draw in the new waves of users. Please Mr Humble avoid the road others before you took, remember if we have recalcitrance to certain updates...maybe It's because the patient knows best

[Hamlet]

"Sorry I've been slacking, but I've been PARTYING LOLOLOL. WITH THE CEO OF LINDEN LAAAAAAAAAAAAAB. OMG NAME DROPPER!"

[Rusalka Writer]

I am completely not resistant to seeing Qarl return. Neither am I resistant to seeing lag get better with every viewer rather than worse, having a desktop-style viewer developed that will allow the user to control what their viewer looks like, having land prices fall, seeing the graphics improve, and having mesh someday make it to the main grid after all the months on the beta team.

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

Forget the hob-nobbing...I just want one of those crab cakes, Hamlet :)

[Hamlet Au]

They kicked ass. As did the prosciutto. Drinks, however, were not open bar, but limited to beer and wine, and free only if you had drink tickets (which the cute blonde Linden up front distributed frugally.) This is the sign of a company that is watching its costs.