SVVR Recap: SL Creator on Second Life's Influence on VR

SL content creator Moe Capp has a good long summary of his experiences at SVVR (sorry I didn't meet you there, Moe), which makes for good long reading over the long weekend. This point in particular stands out:

Second Life seemed to end up dominating several of the panel discussions at the conference. This was both good and bad in some ways. I was glad because often it seems the significance of SL as a gigantic functional virtual world, just waiting for the hardware to catch up with it, gets left out of many VR discussions. But after being at SVVR, I got the impression that Second Life will remain a very relevant part of the VR discussion for now.

That's definitely my impression too. Also this, from the talk with Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg (which I missed):

Ebbe Altberg said that Second Life is still very much a startup, which I take to mean that Second Life is open to additional funding or even acquisition. It re-ignited some years-old fears in me of what happens if SL gets acquired by a much larger company? It could be a very good thing or very bad thing for residents, depending.

Much more here.

Hat tip: /secondlife.

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[melponeme_k]

"Ebbe Altberg said that Second Life is still very much a startup, which I take to mean that Second Life is open to additional funding or even acquisition."

Oh snap....

[Account Deleted]

Well their is only about a dozen company's in the world with related expertise that could be a parent company for SL.

Bigger could be better involving an expensive system overhaul taking SL into the clouds but
it could also spell neglect of the system by a parent company who does not understand its product.

Now if linden lab was looking for an exit strategy from a legacy product i would say that splitting the company up by divesting SL from the lab would be the right way to go.

Ebbe remaining the new CEO of a free SL while allowing Linden lab to focus on other products and investments

This would allow Ebbe to prepare SL to become a publicly traded stock while trying to tap into its millions of residents for investments

If a million residents bought 3 shares at 33 dollars a piece that would be 100 million to overhaul the grid & data centers.

Due to the special nature of SL a divested independent SL would be a much better option then a buyout because inworld life would change but a a slower pace then if auditors came in from a strange company trying to slash costs that would lead to the entire collapse of everything.

To sell the stratagy to residents Ebbe could be seen as a liberator of SL by making it a seperate company in many ways seen as a hero.

Selling the company to just any company or a company that destroys SL with changes the residents just cannot accept at all will paint him in SL history as the monster who killed SL.

"Second Life is open to additional funding"

That could be the way to go to with the right investment partner's who bring something new themselves to the table as well besides a bank draft.

All the past money from investment angels seemed to fall down a rabbit hole to never be seen again
maybe this time would be different.