Second Life just celebrated its fourth anniversary, and from the look of the early days of 2003, the metaverse and we avatars have come a looong way.

Though I’m still a newcomer, I have learned many things from avatars with more experience in SL.  In fact, one trend disturbs me; I know that it will enrage the anti-corporate streak in my friend Beeble Baxter. It’s not the mere presence of content and sims created by major companies, such as American Apparel stores, Scion and Pontiac cars, or a virtual NBA site.

Lore in-world and on discussion forums is that Linden Lab is gradually taking away the benefits of SL for “ordinary residents.“ This means paying and non-paying residents who individually constitute a small part individually of the metaverse’s virtual economy but, like real life, a huge part overall.

I’m too new to SL to speculate what “premium customer service” or “concierge membership” could mean, but they smack—to this resident with payment info on-file—of social stratification. So if I were in business in SL and shelled out hundreds of real dollars monthly to Linden Lab, would I get better service?  This seems at odds with Phil Rosedale’s original utopian vision for SL.  What will it mean for the EDU crowd, as colleges and universities increasingly come in-world?  Will only schools with Tech’s or Richmond’s deep pockets have a presence in the metaverse?  While Linden Lab generously grants semester-long plots to educational visitors, that may not be enough for sustained work in-world, as we are finding on UR Island.

Lore also has it that LL wants to tame the SL world even more to serve better the interests of those who spend or invest lots of real money in-world. To me that would be as depressing as seeing a gallery district in a funky part of town run out by yuppie condos, upscale restaurants, and high-end chain merchants.  Such a place remains beautiful, but its creative soul withers.

At some point I’ll try to contact the well known SL activist Prokofy Neva, who has been warning about LL’s policies for a while.  I bumped (almost literally) into Neva near Memory Bazaar one day, and I plan to ask for an interview.  He’s a gadfly, but maybe SL needs more of them. . .

Readers, has LL changed your SL experience in the time you have been around?  Let’s hear from you.

I suppose what I am seeing more of is SL being used as another tool of the marketing machine.  Will SL become another way for crap-corporate mediocrity to get shoved down our throats just like TV and hollywood films?  Only if residents allow it, I suppose. But I understand LL needs to make money to keep improving the site and pay employees.  Will their thinking be more in line with traditional RL marketing ideas?  I’m afraid so.  But, you know the creative thinkers in the WORLD will find something better, freer and allow for independence.  If SL wants to be on the cutting edge, they need to keep this in mind.

Yours truly
Cecil of borg

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