Location: SL Web Site

Linden Lab recently invited residents to fill out a survey about their experiences, preferences, and prognostications for SL. My responses follow…been a long time since, while still on Orientation Island, I gave a good scream…

How long have you been in Second Life? 1 year (as of Jan. 11, 2008)

How did you find out about Second Life? From news accounts in late 2006

What were your original goals when you became a part of Second Life? Have they changed? 

I wanted to see if William Gibson were right about the ability of people to immerse themselves completely in unreal spaces. I also (he admits) did not want to miss what I saw as “the next big thing” in Internet use.

Now I’m a writer, educator, and social critic who loves the metaverse for its open-ended creativity and resident-created content.  My goals are now to report on the best content, encourage LL to push stability as a goal ahead of “gee whiz” (see our tongue-in-cheek revolutionary group “Stability Now!“) yet cover innovation in my blog and my classes.

Was there anything in-world that surprised you, something that you may not have expected? 

On the bad side, I did not expect to learn, so quickly, that you have to have a unique walk and some halfway original clothing to be treated with respect.  On the good side, I noticed how many experienced residents stand ready to give newcomers free items to assist them in getting past that “stock avatar” look.

What do you hope to achieve in-world?

Become LL’s next CEO.  Oh…did I hit “send”?  Seriously, I hope to be a part of the evolution of the Internet.  I had this “aha!“ moment when I saw a screen-shot of Mosaic in, I think, 1993.  I knew that the world had changed for good.  And when I say SL for the first time, I knew that you or a competitor would develop a standard, like Apple’s GUI (and Microsoft’s imitation of it—grin) or Netscape’s look-and-feel that would mark a next step in the way we use computers.

What is your motivation?

Techno-utopianism combined with an odd neo-Luddite tendency to use appropriate technology. I strongly feel, and have written professionally about this, that the Age of Oil and the Automobile is in its twilight.  The future is likely to be more local—walkable villages and neighborhoods and locally produced energy—than sprawling and wasteful suburban expanses. I’m an organic gardner and beekeeper, and I see no contradiction between my 1952 Ford 8N tractor and SL.  In both cases, the tools will enable me and millions more to live out their dreams. Even as oil supplies globally peak and slowly decline, we’ll have this marvelous broadband infrastructure that, paradoxically, will make us more rooted in a physical place called home.

How many Residents frequent your island/business? Daily? Monthly?

We have a small number who come to Richmond’s island. Our folk-artist-and-moonshiner-in-residence, Pappy Enoch, has a good number of friends and fans (“erspeshully purty-gal avamaters,“ Pappy told me to let you know. “Thank’ee miterly fo’ makin’ every gal purty in Secund Life. Ain’t tu bad fo’ a fake wirld.“)

How do you measure your success in-world? Is it by money or another means?

By watching more folks use virtual worlds for more than sex and griefing…I love the non-game nature of SL.  So when I see folks collaborate to make things, I consider it success (even the Jessie Sim’s cupid-shooting contest counts as collaboration in my book).

What are some of your favorite places in-world?

Revolutionary HQ of Stability Now! (pictured), Jessie, Kula sims, Svarga, Calleta, Ross Infohub, Tombstone/Broken Rose…anywhere I can drive my Dominus Shadow, and Pappy Enoch’s “camp.“  actually don’t spend too much time at edu sites…

What do you think makes Second Life interesting?

WE create content. That makes it worth my while, If you took that away, I’d leave. I don’t play online “games” (cupid-shooting and role-playing a brave Red Army Stalinist in the Soviet Communist Party excepted).

What are the pros and cons of doing business in Second Life?

The big con for me is that we do not have the ability to back up inventory out-of-world. I park extra Linden with an alt and I back up inventory that way….I don’t think big companies will go for that.

On the pro side of the coin, it’s RESIDENT CREATED CONTENT (repeat 25 times). I detest the blandness of global fashions and styles.  SL looks different and should….this is why most big companies do not “get it” or if they did (as Pontiac did with Motorati) they fold up their tents too quickly.

What do you see in the future for Second Life?

Cloudy…either a “also ran” or “the standard” for virtual worlds.  As “niche” worlds like MTV’s VLES emerge, will people with limited time be able to pick and choose their metaverses?  We don’t all have time for 5 of them…

Adding third-party servers running your client and linked to the main Grid would help you mightily in this evolution…

But that is speculation.  I feel that I can speak with authority on this: if LL does not add more stability to the economy and our inventories, you will not be the standard for virtual worlds in 5 years, just as Netscape lost the browser wars to MS’ crappy Internet Explorer (yet Netscape’s energy survived in the Mozilla project).  You need to add multiple clients, including a simplified client like Onrez for non-creators. The interface is a mess, though I am fine with it…but I’m a geek. Lots of CSI fans showed up after the SL episode, but how many STAYED around?? The client works against that, even though Electric Sheep did release a special client—you might push that more.

If LL does accomplish these goals, it will become the standard for virtual worlds…as MS did for GUIs and office software.

Say, what is that snow-monster doing on my shoulder???

Be sure to check the “In a Strange Land” Archive for old posts

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