Survey: How Does Philip Rosedale's Return to Second Life Change Your Outlook on the Future of the Platform -- And The Metaverse in General?

Note: Take this survey on laptop/desktop for best results!

Now that everyone has had time over the long weekend to process the news of Philip Rosedale's return to Second Life, here's a survey to express your sense of how that will shape the future of Second Life -- and other metaverse-type platforms. If history is a guide, Philip's return to active virtual world/metaverse development will make him a leading voice in the industry, while his last startup High Fidelity has technology being licensed to other metaverse platforms.

 So what's your high level sense on this move?  

And please expand on your opinion in Comments below!

Comments

[Feorie Frimon]

I think Inara Pey is RIGHTON with everything she’s written so far in her blog. I am super excited because I know he had a love for the mainland once long ago - I hope his journey in the industry will provide valuable insight to the Linden Labs team and that they listen to him when he offers his insight.

[Kaylee West]

Super, super excited! Philip is one of the most experienced and visionary sandbox virtual world (not game world) entrepreneurs around.

[Ilsa Gutrune]

There is no “Effin A! “ level of excitement so I am not sure it is a valid survey!

[Susan Wilson]

I sincerely hope that Philip can convince the Lab to do more to improve performance which has noticeably degraded the last few months. I get the feeling that they are trying to see how much money they can save on their use of Amazon server network and hardware resources and have gone too far.

[lludmila]

I welcome Rosedale back as a long-lost beloved uncle. His comments will be of interest, but I'm not the visionary that looks forward to SL improvements. In fact, I tend to grumble about "upgrades." But I sure as heck prefer his visions to Zuckerberg's.

[djehan]

With High Fidelity, I was lamenting that Philip Rosedale was focusing on realistic communication in between avatars more than having the virtual world look its best visually. Back then we were constantly told SL looked bad and ugly, so much that it seemed to be the number one priority, but, that was from a "game industry" perspective. And now that it is clear that SL is a metaverse and that the metaverse is not a game, this comparison wont stand anymore. Today we see new emerging virtual worlds claiming to be metaverses too, and all things considered, in comparison SL ends up on the extremely good looking side.
That being said, Philip Rosedale back is like a surprise gift under the Xmas tree, we don't really know what the surprise will be but we know it is of the highest quality. I would personally hope for the tech aimed at realistic communication in between avatars, the comeback of the HMD viewer..I think a lot of SLers would love face tracking to interact with one another, or to establish an online presence outside SL, from within. But this is turning into a letter for Santa Claus now so I will stop here. Whatever Philip's plans are for SL he has my trust.

[Cisop Sixpence]

I'm not sure yet, but I'm optimistic.

[0xc0ffea]

I'm hopeful that he will keep the Lab away from any sketchy crypto nft dreams they might be having.. as for the future of SL .. well, his job hasn't ever been to make it better, it's been to make it look better .. the question is to whom.

*Adds 'LL sells out to bigger metaverse player in 2022' to her bingo card*

[Joey1058]

I will curtail optimism. I am curious as to how the Oberwager Group will implement the Hi Fidelity patents with their own Linden Research patents from Sansar development. This becomes everyone's "Let's not f*ck this up a second time" moment. They will either come out like the world's darling, or they will personally put another nail in SL's coffin.

[Ladym Mills]

I am happy and glad he is back

[Robert L McNay]

Optimistic, about Second Life. Other metaverses? Meh.

[Valentina Kendal]

Optimistic!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/valentinakendal/51822961252/in/dateposted/

[Dee]

I am MUCH more optimistic than I have been for a while where SL is concerned. I hope that Philips' return will bring renewed enthusiasm and fresh ideas that are outside the Linden Lab "box". I hope that he attends the creator group meetings held every other Thursday, or hosts a series of town hall meetings perhaps.

And the thing that is highest on my wishlist is a new avatar body. Where people can continue on with the system + alpha + mesh this that and the other OR a new integrated body. The body I envision is one where existing body and head creators could make deformers to create all of the body and face types they had in mind (and to sell of course) but one single thing to be worn and arranged. No more neck seams, no more crazy fiddling with all of the complexities of the current way of doing things. Just one seamless system way of adding a shape, a skin, applied textures, etc. Like the original system body, on beauty steroids. A body where clothing makers would only have to create ONE single version of their rigged clothing item and have it work with the blend shapes right out of the box.

I think it is critical for LL to address the current complexity (and expense) of trying to have a decent looking avatar in world. Even folks who have been in and out of SL for years quickly become frustrated with all these new complexities, mesh everything, BOM, etc. Dressing yourself should not require an advanced fashion degree!