Brad Oberwager Explains Why Linden Lab Promoted Second Life With Stock / AI Images -- And Why They've Now Stopped.

Originally posted on my Patreon here

UPDATE, March 4: This story continues here.

If you've visited Facebook recently, you may have noticed new official ads for Second Life which incorporate video and images that are AI-generated. (And at least in one case, uses an Adobe Stock image.)

After seeing complaints about this from SL creators on social media on Wednesday night (see some samples below), I reached out to Linden Lab head Brad Oberwager, who spoke with me while standing in the rain outside his Boston hotel during a family trip.

As we spoke, it quickly became clear to me that this was probably an honest mistake -- and clear to Oberwager how upsetting this ad campaign might be to many in the SL community.

These are not official ads for Second Life, he explained, but only A/B tests using mock-up ads, created in preparation for the eventual, actual, official Second Life advertising campaign -- which will, he confirmed with me, only use SL-based content by Second Life creators.

"I'm preparing to spend millions of dollars [promoting Second Life]," as he put it to me. "Until I know what works, every dollar is wasted."

He was actually surprised community members had even seen these A/B tests, because Linden Lab has only spent a very modest amount (i.e. three figures a day) on them.

"We can't guess [on an ad campaign] and hope for the best," he explained. "We're going to run test ads and once we find out what works we'll talk with all the creators", on creating SL-based ads.

"Is it dragons? Is it relationships? We have no idea what works [with SL ads]." He really means it: The ad campaigns they've launched up to now have done nothing to grow the active user base.

But why not just use existing Second Life screenshots and video created by the community for these ads? There's even a promotional clause in Second Life's Terms of Service, granting the company the right to use any user-made content "to advertise, market, and promote [SL]."

On that point, my impression is Linden Lab didn't want to use SLer's content without their permission for an ad. But seeking permission takes quite a lot of time, especially since you technically need to get permission from every single content creator whose work is featured in an image/video, including any creator of the literal sky. (This very dilemma was raised by HarperCollins' lawyers with the cover of my first book!)

"I couldn't test fast enough creating these [ads] in SL", as Oberwager puts it. "I've got to get the best 8-10 messages, then you get the creative."

In other words, he adds: "100% of the actual ads will be Second Life-based. "

So ironically, while apparently trying to be highly respectful of creators' content, Linden Lab went with an approach that's inadvertently made many of them even angrier (see sample below).

In any case, now that the Second Life community has complained about these mock-ups, this A/B test has been halted:

"I've already told the team, stop doing it," Oberwager told me yesterday.

But he takes the blame for these mock-ups going out at all.

Or as Brad Oberwager puts it, saying it loudly enough to startle two old ladies passing by him in Boston:

"I fucked this one up!"

While apologizing to the SL community for this test campaign, he also has a request to Second Life creators:

"Send me videos. Look at these bad ads [we made], and make them better."

Hat tip to SL blogger Alicia Chenaux who wrote on Facebook yesterday:

Dear Second Life - I love you. I've supported you. I've cheered you on for almost 20 years of my life. But y'all know ding dang well that THIS ISN'T AN SL PICTURE.

If it is - IF IT IS - it's so heavily edited with AI, someone coming to SL for the first time will be so disappointed. And it's not, anyway. I found it in the Adobe stock photos.

Please fix. SL is so beautiful in so many ways, there is no need for fake photos to try to draw people in. Stop. Get your marketing person in charge of the sponsored ads to go to Flickr and find artists. There are thousands of photos just in the Second Life Official flickr group! Go to Primfeed and browse! Don't do this. This is lazy.

 

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Comments

[Lex4art]

Sadly, but I feel only one reason behind it: SL looks so old and dated that you more likely to repel potential customers showing its true content. Old SLers are all about "graphics doesn't matters" and stuff, but it's one of the pillars for virtual world to be competitive (other "pillars" are also matters; graphics & tech alone can only be an sparkling shell around inner emptiness, that won't hold people attention for long; graphics is like hygiene - it should be on the modern standards level; without it product won't look appealing to dive in)...

[sirhc desantis]

:) Oh we saw them alright - Boss really should check his own forums more often =^^= Even I took a trip to the dark side to have a gander and told a few others. Reactions were - well, a few had wished they had not just eaten...

Still nice to see the response - hopeful sign. I suggest ser Oberwager nips over to the forum to say the same before the usual suspects start up again.

[D]

Mistakes were made. Thank you for getting some clarification on this. Alicia Chenaux could give hours of feedback for great SL creators.

[Judas]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite
Some people want to prevent progress.threy don’t want other people to make what they can make.its like only there way of using a computer to work counts

[NoSleep]

Imagine spending budget on garbage A/B videos like this, and proudly tell people about it, let alone "spend millions" in the future. Another $ burner, just like the mobile app that will soon be defunct.

Brad is not saying the truth, the garbage video is still up, and the reason they resort to this garbage now is because they also got rid of the linden who made their video contents.

Did Brad produce this video himself? Can't wait until he learns how to record machinima! Promising!

Brad self-admittedly knows nothing about marketing SL since day 1, but he learned about A/B testing so we're good now!

The blind leading the blind.

SL stands no chance with leadership like this.

[Nah]

How many mistakes do LL need to make before they start hearing their community, not just listening.

[Wow]

There's nothing professional about this.

[sirhc desantis]

Yep as expected the usual suspects over at 'official forum' awakened - and for once they are right. The deafening silence from ser Oberwager et al is telling.
Oh dear. I know they turn up from time to time inworld as I have seen them (actually seeing good old Phil popping in and out 'testing' recently was hilarious). Would a little mea culpa in what is supposed to be their official yak space be too much?
Whats that thing the kids say - SMH?

[Friedrich Welevich]

The Great Wizard of Oberwankers has spoken.

[Laramie]

They haven’t stopped and they lied to you, cheers, they made you a liar with them.

[Galaxy Littlepaws]

They haven't stopped like he said, they've posted new ones. Some don't even make sense...
You can view all their ads and variants on the FB page via Page Transparency.

Like look at this one example: https://imgur.com/a/70OTVIF
The other variant is an AI girl with two sliders for hair color, which makes even less sense.

Why did he lie? This is another thing happening that makes me concerned for the future of SL. Is it going to be run into the ground? I really, really hope not. SL means so much to me and I hate seeing all these poor choices that make SL worse - like firing so many support staff and so many devs leaving.

[Tia Rungray]

I saw that Sammy shared this article in the Japanese community. The graphics in Second Life are by no means outdated. I suspect that Linden Lab is either ignoring or failing to recognise the professionals within Second Life who specialise in directing, filming, and editing, or perhaps they fear having to compensate them financially. According to Second Life’s terms, Linden Lab should be free to use content that has been created and published within the platform.

By the way, although it is from three years ago, my recorded performance should also be usable. Please check it out.

Tia Rungray - LIVE: Ghostmarch ver. 1.0 - Full Performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnPrZQTYcZo