Comments on Where Did Linden Lab Go Wrong With Second Life? (Comment of the Week)TypePad2021-03-01T23:27:54ZSLHamlethttps://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/tag:typepad.com,2003:https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2021/03/linden-lab-second-life-minecraft-roblox/comments/atom.xml/Luther Weymann commented on 'Where Did Linden Lab Go Wrong With Second Life? (Comment of the Week)'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef026bdec41afd200c2021-03-15T15:20:11Z2021-03-15T15:20:11ZLuther WeymannLeadership failure. Software companies have a design plan. They know where they are going and figure out the best way...<p>Leadership failure. Software companies have a design plan. They know where they are going and figure out the best way to get there. Real competitive software companies do at least one minor and one major update a year. And after another three years, they put out the code rewrite they have worked on for three years, which excites the user base with all the new upgraded features. It even feels like a new product. Linden Research was in business for about eighteen years before they sold. That would have been perhaps 17 minor updates, 17 significant updates, and about 5 code rewrites to get them to where they wanted to be. But no. It was chaos. It was emergency bug fix releases and whatever seemed trendy. Obviously, the code is a mess, any veteran of the software industry could tell you that after all those bug fixes and no rewrites. And in the end, the money for perhaps five code rewrites over eighteen years was spent on a brand new product that not only failed but competed for market share with their bread and butter product. SL could have been enormous. But like I said. Leadership failure.</p>Wili Clip commented on 'Where Did Linden Lab Go Wrong With Second Life? (Comment of the Week)'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef026bdec2d8ba200c2021-03-09T21:16:42Z2021-03-09T21:16:42ZWili Cliphttp://www.goldtokens.netSecond Life is very much alive and it needs some investments, young coders, younger management and much more social media...<p>Second Life is very much alive and it needs some investments, young coders, younger management and much more social media presence.</p>
<p>I think Second Life should start getting updates to appeal to more age groups.</p>
<p>The current older age group of users that is biggest may not like that but it can be done in a way so that everything newly added is backward compactible. </p>
<p>New features to Second Life that change the user experience can be added in a way so that their use is optional. This way Linden Lab doesn't risk breaking things that already work.</p>
<p>I update/upgrade my game system like that all the way. If a new feature is added that radically changes the user experience I offer it to existing users as an option.</p>Bryan Ogden commented on 'Where Did Linden Lab Go Wrong With Second Life? (Comment of the Week)'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef02788019c04d200d2021-03-05T11:57:45Z2021-03-05T11:57:45ZBryan Ogdenhttp://www.ninjamoba.comThe thing that killed SL IMHO wasn't a specific technical feature - better looking avatars... meshes vs sculptys ad nauseum......<p>The thing that killed SL IMHO wasn't a specific technical feature - better looking avatars... meshes vs sculptys ad nauseum...</p>
<p>It was web based shopping for stuff. And point to point teleportation. It was an attempt to make SL convenient and consumer friendly . Why?</p>
<p>When I first got to SL it was mostly new adopters and mall based shopping - in order to find new content you had to move an avatar in the world. I built a theme based store and a community formed around the items I sold For a time I was in the top sales categories. I advertised using the in world ad system. But then the entire ecosystem and economics changed from an immersive in world participation - to buying stuff on the web devoid of community - or an engagement with creators.</p>
<p>The same problem we are facing with Amazon and other massive online retailers - we faced in SL and it didn't go well. Small creators who gave great service and friendships and immersion were wiped out by commercial designers (and real life brands)who were skilled at moving inventory at volume - and presented the same products and services you could find at major brands. This is why SL got reduced to lowest common denominator - and why there was a brain drain. SL was a small town place of fantastic creativity - that got run over by marketing people and venture capitol - who drove governance and meta world issues for a grab at maximum profit. These people killed the goose that layed the golden egg.</p>Justin Bovington commented on 'Where Did Linden Lab Go Wrong With Second Life? (Comment of the Week)'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef02788019616a200d2021-03-03T21:13:11Z2021-03-03T21:13:17ZJustin Bovingtonhttps://profile.typepad.com/d172238033362427915Actually, this might be of interest to the question posed. A little known fact, the author Tim Guest who wrote...<p>Actually, this might be of interest to the question posed.</p>
<p>A little known fact, the author Tim Guest who wrote the book Second Lives (all about Second Life), had the book optioned by Plan 9 as a feature film. They planned to make a film based on how the 'players' took over the world and created a utopian virtual world (which turned into Lord of the Flies). It was going to star Brad Pitt as the CEO. They had also optioned Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network... the rest is history. </p>Justin Bovington commented on 'Where Did Linden Lab Go Wrong With Second Life? (Comment of the Week)'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef0263e9942bef200b2021-03-03T21:04:46Z2021-03-03T21:04:47ZJustin Bovingtonhttps://profile.typepad.com/d172238033362427915I don't think it failed. The vision of the founders may not have matched what the denizens wanted it to...<p>I don't think it failed. The vision of the founders may not have matched what the denizens wanted it to be. </p>
<p>Let me explain (as someone who was very much there, and also worked with LL on products during that period).</p>
<p>There was always an uncomfortable approach to marketing, it was the outlier in a predominantly 'coder culture'. Also, the market changed. Think about those dates: 2006-2009. This was the time of the emergence of Facebook and the iPhone. The conversation moved on very quickly to these other platforms. Also, I bet on the fact that the internet would evolve in a similar way from radio to television... when in fact, it went backwards and became a 'telephone directory' e.g. facebook. </p>
<p>Only this week, during a meeting with a major brand someone in the meeting mentioned SL (to this day they thought it was amazing!).</p>
<p>Showreel:<br />
<a href="https://vimeo.com/user3194931" rel="nofollow">https://vimeo.com/user3194931</a><br />
Immersive Workspaces (how this would have flown in 2020 - many years too early!)<br />
<a href="https://vimeo.com/user3194931" rel="nofollow">https://vimeo.com/user3194931</a></p>
<p><br />
</p>Mint commented on 'Where Did Linden Lab Go Wrong With Second Life? (Comment of the Week)'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef0263e993f389200b2021-03-03T00:22:11Z2021-03-03T00:22:11ZMintWhat's interesting about Roblox is just how young its audience is - a good portion, if not the majority of...<p>What's interesting about Roblox is just how young its audience is - a good portion, if not the majority of their players, are under the age of 18 (if not younger). This is not to say that kids are necessarily less tech-savvy than adults because of their age, but that the audience SL and Roblox are working with are very different. </p>
<p>While Roblox certainly does offer the chance for people to make money, I don't think making money was a major draw for the under-13 crowd that plays. From what I've seen of Roblox YouTubers, a big reason they play the games because they find them fun. </p>Rogue commented on 'Where Did Linden Lab Go Wrong With Second Life? (Comment of the Week)'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef026bdec13ef6200c2021-03-02T23:37:02Z2021-03-02T23:37:02ZRogue Realism is where it's at. If you want to play with blocks or cartoons, you don't belong in SL.<p>Realism is where it's at. If you want to play with blocks or cartoons, you don't belong in SL.</p>Adeon Writer commented on 'Where Did Linden Lab Go Wrong With Second Life? (Comment of the Week)'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef027880191402200d2021-03-02T17:55:19Z2021-03-02T17:55:19ZAdeon WriterMesh was not a mistake, but it was a mistake to not make improvements to the prim building system. We...<p>Mesh was not a mistake, but it was a mistake to not make improvements to the prim building system.</p>
<p>We should have had more shapes. We should have had Boolean cutting of shapes. We should have had outer shell optimizations.</p>
<p>We should have had bake prims to mesh.</p>
<p>We didn’t get any of that, that’s why it failed. It wasn’t mesh. People loved mesh.</p>Iggy 1.0 commented on 'Where Did Linden Lab Go Wrong With Second Life? (Comment of the Week)'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef026bdec103ac200c2021-03-02T00:30:42Z2021-03-02T00:30:42ZIggy 1.0A place to shop..for toilet animations in your HUD. Yes, SL took a different path from its “your world, your...<p>A place to shop..for toilet animations in your HUD.</p>
<p>Yes, SL took a different path from its “your world, your imagination “ days. If LL makes money on pores and porn, so be it.</p>
<p>That is far from the utopia for creatives imaginable in 2007 or so. In utopia, we would not need toilets. Ever see anyone on the Enterprise say “Hold that thought, Spock! I gotta GO,”</p>