From Second Life User to Second Life Developer - Dave Kap's Linden Memoir

Dave at Linden Lab (note the nerf guns) - photo by Alexi Kostibas

With a well-known Second Life social media star recently joining Linden Lab as an employee, I reached out to Dave Kap, an indie game developer who began his own career that way, first as an SL user from a small town in upstate New York, to share his own experience. This is his memoir of his time with Linden Lab, starting as a user, then working at Linden Lab as an engine developer,  then in operations, support, management, and finally release engineering -- and what he learned about Second Life "from the inside" along the way.

I was a super old resident in Second Life. I signed up for the beta and got invited in January of 2003, shortly after the beta had launched. It was my first year of college and I was joining any game beta I could in the hopes that, down the line, my experience beta testing for a game company could get me connected to the industry when I graduated. However, upon realizing the power Second Life had as a platform, I quickly became addicted to both the software and the community within. I put work in, made cool stuff, became a popular resident, made friends with many of the amazing creators of the time, and also made friends with the alternate accounts Lindens had, only a fraction of which I knew were Lindens until I was officially hired.  

I eventually moved across the country to work for Linden Lab as an engineer. My first visit (I was flown out to help out with Linden's plans for GDC 2005) was the most impactful.

Next: From growing up in a small town to living and working in San Francisco

At a rooftop party in San Francisco hosted by ex-Linden Charity Majors, now CTO of dev ops startup honeycomb. (Photo by Charity)

At the time, the furthest West from upstate New York I'd ever traveled was Florida (seriously, it is), so getting off the plane and smelling the air of San Francisco was in itself an experience. I don't know how to explain it other than "different" from what I was used to. It took getting to the hotel to realize what I was in for with this city. It was in the lobby that I overheard a woman on the phone commanding some business in a way that reminded me of something out of a movie. Between her and the various kinds of people I saw walking down the sidewalk while waiting to check in, I felt like I was in a city full of characters.

Linden Lab in 2005 (Dave took the photo; New World Notes' editor is in the bathroom) - Photo via Jeska Dzwigalski Kittenbrink 

The idea that I was surrounded by characters hit its peak when I met Philip. I'm sure a million words have already been written about the guy so you don't need me to tell you what he's like, the usual description is accurate. Big smile, bright eyes, and ready to converse about things on an existential level. Cory was a down to Earth guy in a no-bullshit sense. Every other Linden I came into contact with was amazing in their own way, as well. It’s worth mentioning that Second Life really was what every employee put into it, not just the vision of any one person.

Working at Linden was pretty much everything I expected "real life" to be like. I'd wake up in the morning, go in to work, hang out with the coolest people I had ever known (sorry to all my high school and college friends but upstate New York was not exactly a diverse center of culture), and either spend the night continuing to hang out with the awesome people, staying in the office late because it was where my computer was, or heading home to bed. Perhaps the location of San Francisco and the work of "startup tech company" made it a bit less adult, what with the Peter Pan syndrome running rampant here. I'm certain Linden made it all the more whimsical. I mean, just look at Second Life.

Although I can't say for sure when exactly it happened, there was a point where I logged in a bit less on my resident account and a bit more on my Linden account. My goal at the start was, after all, to land a job through beta testing. So with the goal accomplished, I focused more on my job (the responsibilities expanded over time) which meant focusing less on my... well... Second Life. I still logged in and hung out with friends plenty, it just wasn't the primary focus of my computer use anymore.

What Second Life Users Misunderstand About Linden Lab

To be honest, only one big misconception stands out to me as someone who was once a user and then became a Linden. Primarily, the idea that Linden doesn't listen to the residents. Mind you, this is a big misconception among all software companies so this isn't really a Linden-specific issue. Getting inside the office and seeing how much people were trying to do the right thing by the residents was kind of sobering. It's never an issue of people not wanting to do work, it's merely an issue of priority and budgeting, both of money and time. Only so many people can do so much work and Second Life is a mammoth of a product to work on. Any individual thing that you think should happen is likely already in a pile of hundreds of similar requests for similarly important things. It's always been this way and it will always be this way, that's just software development.

From Resident to Employee

My relationship to Second Life as a resident melted away rather quickly. Part of it was the fact that most of my friends in Second Life were now my friends in real life. There's no need to socialize in Second Life when you see these people at the office every day. Part of it was the fact I had already drifted away from Second Life over the two years it took to finish college. Part of it was the fact that Second Life's engine wasn't being developed fast enough to keep me interested. Although I saw it as a fantastic game development hub that could have been a "Unity but with friends" before Unity even existed, it never got there. Now that I was in the office, I could directly ask the people in charge "why this" and "why that" about Second Life's engine. I eventually came to the realization that my game development ambitions would have to wait.

So instead of staying invested in Second Life as a game development platform, I stayed invested in Linden Lab as a company. My resident days were over as my post-college "real life" began. As a human, I grew into a more social adult (thanks in large part to the amazingly cool friends I made at Linden) and enjoyed life in "the real world"... as much as San Francisco counts as a real world. All in all, it felt like just another natural transition to me.

I think the ease of socialization at Linden Lab is matched by the ease of socialization inside Second Life, so going from Second Life to Linden Lab was a really smooth process. Although I had lost touch with any Second Life friends I had made, I would occasionally see them again in real life, either as a new Linden, as a visiting resident, or as a part of the few expos held in the city.

Linden Lab in 2014, a few years before Dave's 2018 departure (in black/yellow shirt) - photo via company

Over the dozen years I spent working at Linden Lab's office, my interested in Second Life may have waned as a resident and as a game developer, but my interest in supporting it for everyone else stayed strong. I still think Second Life is too important to too many people not to care about it and I know there are still plenty of current and ex-Lindens who think the same thing.

Dave Kap is currently working on his first self-published game -- follow him on his Twitch for updates

Comments

[Connie Arida]

Good Piece

[irihapeti]

this is good, thanks

i see that Dave's path is pretty similar to many others. When play becomes work then the next door beckons

maybe a different approach. Maybe a content influencer shouldn't get a Linden named account. When don't have a named Linden account then inworld the person is just like any other resident. Nothing special or god like. Maybe their job is to continue playing as a resident and that's all. As Dave says he become less vested in SL and more invested in the company as time went by

[Clara Seller]

Agree with the sentiment of irihapeti.

No hard feelings to Dave Kap's personal account of his success, but when I read this, I walk away with the feeling that the moral to the story is that the cool part of life really begins when you stop being a customer of SL and start being one of the LL gang. Isn't this really illustrating the disconnect that customers have been suffering for a long time?

The part that rings a little hollow in this story is "What Second Life Users Misunderstand About Linden Lab". No, I think he confirms that customers have been seeing the problem pretty clearly. Dave isn't a problem, but he isn't the entire solution. I would take a different approach than irihapeti and let the Dave's of LL become the god's they need to be in their creative space. I just think there needs to be a higher vision in leadership who doesn't see themselves as part of the "coolness", but rather a servant to the losers who write the all of these god-making paychecks...customers. Dave probably shouldn't have the feeling that LL is one big happy forever family. If leadership were doing their job right, he should be feeling that SL is one very big forever family that you can't really ever just "stop being a user".

[Ivy Lane]

Once upon a time, LL hired mentors to welcome new comers.
I was a mentor for many years, that personal touch made all the difference
As far as I am concerned, serving and helping new people learn
And enjoy the amazing benefits of second
Life were some of the best experiences of
My life. I was blessed to merry many brilliant loving minds.
I really miss this aspect of second life, having
A mentor was a wonderful way to start in the
Meta verse, with a built in friend. That personal touch
It's gone and so many come and leave so fast
Because of the learning curve and no personal connection
To help them feel it's a worth while investment
Of their time.

[Gabe Gallager]

I for one agree with Ivy Lane, I can't find the"Like" button...

@Lindens, if it's a matter of priorities and there is only so much the employees can do, then hire more employees to serve the customers the residents and keep SL alive...

One thing is indeed critical, it's too important for too many people

[Soda Sullivan]

"Getting inside the office and seeing how much people were trying to do the right thing by the residents was kind of sobering."

That would have been such a huge statement, if he had followed it by just listing one single example. Just. One. Single. Example.

I would be curious to know actually how many Lindens even bother to log into SL on a regular basis and talk with people about what they want.

[Alexa Bagels]

This sounds like a description of a very dysfunctional, cult-like work environment.

[JohnC]

Sounds like a great place to work, but not necessarily a great place for work to get done.

[Asaff]

Not what I expected to read. What I read here is that SL is a game and now that Dave has because an adult he went on to do more adult things. No. That's not what I wanted to hear. SL is not a game for me. It's a way of life. I literally live a second life in SL. Reading that a LL employee sees it as a game exposes a big problem. I guess that at the end it's just going to the office to work for them. As fun as it can get.