More on Patch Linden's Sudden Exit

 

After it was announced in the Linden blog that Patch Linden was no longer with the Lab, word quickly got around. In the Bellisseria group, Dreamer Pixelmaid gave the news, "Very upsetting News ... Patch Linden gave us Bellisseria and made it what it is today. 'Reorganization'??? My *ss!!! So many things I could say... and they wouldn't be good."

 

Prokofy Neva, who has been critical of Patch a number of times in the past, would announce the news in the SL forums, commenting if Patch had to go, he deserved a better farewell, "The Lindens have provided a terse announcement about the departure of Patch Linden. I think they should have listed his many accomplishments and history starting from a creator and manager of a men's clothing store in the old days as a resident going up to his last position of VP of Product. The Lindens' absolute greatest product from the perspective of business is Bellisseria, and Patch Linden was responsible for much of this, guiding and shaping and troubleshooting it and inspiring the staff and retaining residents through many iterations of its development over the last decades. Patch was also crucial in Linden involvement in resident-organized activities such as Relay for Life including what was advertised as an upcoming Fantasy Faire Jail & Bail, Halloween contests and much more. I think the announcement should have listed some of these accomplishments. I hope the Lindens have an inworld goodbye party for Patch Linden as they did for Oz Linden. I think we will never know the half of all the jobs Patch had to deal with in Second Life and his virtual shoes will be hard to fill."

 

But there will be no inworld party for Patch Linden. Already, his account has been deleted.  

 

In Bellisseria group chatter, there was some discussion about Patch leaving. Someone brought up the Ageplay Allegations controversy of 2024, of which Patch was among those accused. But it was reminded that if there had been any evidence of wrongdoing found, Patch would have been gone a long time ago. 

 

Further in the SL forums thread, many had other questions. How will the Lab's Department of Public Works be affected? Why was he given such a sudden exit without a chance to say goodbye? How come he didn't even get a chance to do his Jail and Bail for the Fantasy Faire this year, which as of the writing of this article is still listed on the FF blog. Who will give the opening speech at the Second Life Birthday? Would this mean less interaction between the Lindens and the residents? A couple commented the way things looked, it appeared something happened and Patch was fired. 

 

One commented even if he was, there should have been at least a chance to say goodbye, "The announcement seems a bit sudden and corpo speaky. I've always felt this corporate double speak approach to things doesn't really suit second life. I know it's a business and all but still. Every time something like this happens, LL feels like a less trust worthy steward of our world. We're talking about people that we know. His bear has sat in my sim for many years. I've seen him up close in all the LL Birthdays and events. Laughed at his dumb jokes at that Casino. I get it. They're employees. They can do things that get them fired. Would be nice to get to say bye."

 

Another would say, "I think the announcement could have been done in a better way, as it doesn't come off very well. For someone that's worked for the company so long, been an important part of major projects, and been a big 'face' of LL inside the SL world, whatever you think of Patch, it comes off as very cold, and 'terse' as other's have said . Even though they 'thank' him for his work. Or maybe it's just standard for LL ? I can't find any other official announcements of depatures in the past to compare it to. I think they had to announce it as otherwise there'd be a lot of speculation where Patch was, not showing up at the Faire and SL Birthday celebrations this year etc. But the announcement is just fuelling more speculation."

 

There will almost certainly be more chatter and comments. And no shortage of people asking "why?" 

 

Top picture from Diamond Marchant

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

More Sansar Layoffs, Kona Linden Among Those Cut

For the second time in three months, Linden Lab is laying off a number of Sansar's already small staff. Following a report by Ryan Schultz on his blog, CEO Ebbe Altberg would confirm on the Sansar Discord channel that some of the virtual world's staff were dismissed.


Yes, there were layoffs today. A truly wonderful group of people. But as you can see, Sansar is up and running. We are still in discussion about next steps. Including with the wonderful group of people. More to come. Don't give up yet. Go create and have fun. Not much point in speculating until we can tell you more.


Schultz had originally written that "a very reliable source" had told him "there were over 40 people laid off, and a small number of software developers were moved from Sansar to Second Life." The source had also told him that further development of Sansar had been shut down, though not the virtual world itself. This number of those laid off, as well as the claimed state of development have not been confirmed by other sources. What has been confirmed is one name among those dismissed. Kona Linden (Kona Gurion in real life), would contact Hamlet Au and inform him he was among those laid off. Hamlet would call Kona's layoff particularly sad, "With his layoff, Linden Lab loses its last known link to Second Life during its founding, and glory days of 2006-2008."

Sansar was already reportedly operating under a "skeleton crew" following the previous round of layoffs. Inara Pey would state that Sansar will still be running events in March. But with this latest round of dismissals, the long term future of Linden Lab's next-generation virtual world has become more uncertain than ever.

Sources: Ryan Schultz, New World Notes, Modem World

Bixyl Shuftan

News and Commentary: Linden Lab Lays Off Over 20 of Sansar Staff, Next-Gen World Faces a Mediocre Future

On Monday November 4, it was reported by blogger Ryan Schultz that Linden Lab had dismissed over 20 of the part of it's staff running it's Sansar virtual world. The news of the layoffs was just two days after news that the next-generation virtual world had undergone a major staff shakeup. As Linden Lab won't confirm if anyone's lost their job or not, Schutlz and then Hamlet Au got the news from insiders in the Lab. Inara Pey would state of the sixteen names she knew on the Sansar team, four were no longer active.

While Sansar has had a few enthusiastic fans, it's following has remained small. While it initially got a large number of curious visitors after it's introduction in July 2017, most didn't find a reason to stay and it's numbers dropped to less than fifty users a day, sometimes as low as ten. By January 2019, the number increased a little to 79 a day. A report on New World Notes last month brought up an infographic from September stating that Sansar was third of social VR platforms in peak concurrent users at 220 compared to 475 of Recroom and 10610 of VRChat, which has become the next-generation virtual world of choice. The report stated what the numbers didn't show was that most were coming on for a handful of popular events, and between them normal usage of the next-generation virtual world was closer to 20. These statistics are a tiny drop compared to the tens of thousands on Second Life and the several thousands of VR Chat, "220 people for Hello Kitty during TwitchCon 2019 on September 27... And after the event, tumbleweeds as usual."

Hamlet Au would put part of the blame for Sansar's failure to draw in bigger numbers on Linden Lab changing direction with the virtual world during it's development and after it's release, such as making content creation available only with offworld tools and pairing it with VR gear, the latter which is too expensive for most computer users. The current direction seems to be a focus on live events, which as stated earlier provides a temporary boost to it's mediocre numbers. Sansar developer "Gindipple" would comment, "They've changed direction so many times now. They are winging this and hoping. I gave up on them a while ago, so don't care as much now. They lost a lot of good people in this cut back, some went to SL but many [are] just out."

Second Life's future is still secure, as the Lab is still hiring people for it. But for Sansar, it looks like it will be operating with a "skeleton crew" as it faces a mediocre future. It's highly unlikely the Lab will close down the virtual world. Hamlet predicted it would "eventually be run as a spinoff company and product separate from Linden Lab." In any event, Linden Lab long had high hopes for the virtual world, despite most users of Second Life giving it a thumbs down. Now it appears even they have admitted, at least to themselves, that it's next-generation virtual world won't be attracting numbers anything close to the one that's been going for over sixteen years.

Sources: Ryan Schultz, New World Notes, Modem World

Bixyl Shuftan

Linden Lab Lays Off Twelve, VP of Product Leaves

Linden Lab is a little smaller as a small number of employees have been dismissed. Also, one of the people higher up has left to accept a new position elsewhere.

Hamlet Au recently stated in New World Notes that, "A highly reliable source tells me Linden Lab recently made workforce staff reductions. ... this most recent layoff impacted about a dozen employees: 'It was like one person from each department, totaling 12 ... mostly shared staff ...' "

There were also two recent former employee reviews of the Lab on Glassdoor, which may or may not be two of the twelve. One who called himself a software engineer remarked, "Massive layoffs, but got rid of the wrong people." While he felt, "Some of the people I worked with were smart, passionate and really wanted to create something amazing." He had a mediocre view as a whole of the company, "Leadership has no vision and don't have the skills to run something as ambitious as Sansar. ... The same old people have been there for the longest time. (They) keep hiring the wrong people and putting the wrong people in positions of power."

The other review from an anonymous employee, "Make LL Great Again" was less critical. But he still had a negative outlook, "Company is too focused on its new product; those who work on the mainstay feel set aside and taken for granted. HR is nearly non-existent; most team members are remote or barely in the office. Too many org changes lately have left folks feeling insecure, morale is low and sinking. I hope they can turn it around." His advice to the Lab's leaders, "You have some really awesome people there; get out of their way."

In June 2010, Linden Lab had a massive layoff, or "restructuring" as they called it, in which about a third of their staff was given pink slips. Followed by the CEO then stepping down, it was a sign of a company in trouble. This news following the Lab's decision to raise fees for it's users a few months ago can be considered a sign the company is more pessimistic about it's long-term profitability. Part of the reason may be Sansar having a small base of regular users, despite Linden Lab's large investment in the next-generation virtual world.

One Linden whom left the company recently did so on his own. Bjørn Laurin, who was the "Vice President of Product, turned in his resignation. Joining Linden Lab in March 2015, Laurin was most associated with Sansar. Inara Pey described him as "one of the popular Lab reps (alongside Ebbe Altberg and Jason Gholston (Widely Linden) ) for his willingness to offer broad-ranging views and comments on Sansar’s direction, upcoming releases and ideas being discussed for the platform back at the Lab." Laurin left to pursue a job at HTC Vive.

Sources: New World Notes, Modem World, Glassdoor

Bixyl Shuftan

Oskar Linden Dismissed From Linden Lab: Full Story

A few days ago on the SL Universe forums, Oskar Linden posted that he had been fired by Linden Lab. Rumors had been going around for a couple days in SLU before Oskar finally responded.


To solidify all rumors, yes my employment was terminated by Linden Lab last Friday. It was a surprise Skype call with the manager of my department and HR. At the same moment all my accounts were locked and I was told a courier was on the way to my house to take my laptop. This is standard operating procedure at the Lab. The reasons given were quite vague, but at the root of it was complaints from a griefer who I had banned from a private testing sandbox that I managed after he was harassing people and threatening to crash them and the region.

I was also told that there were issues with my communications. I don't understand that because I have operated in the role of public communicator for the lab for three years and have always had stellar reviews. It's not like the reasons really matter anyway. When the Lab wants you gone it's over.

To be quite honest this has all come as a surprise and a shock. I have known for a while that this would happen eventually though. All Lindens fear 'the skype call'. The old Linden culture is long gone. Many Lindens are disappeared in that way when the Lab no longer has use for them. It has been difficult working through the changes at the Lab the past few years. I could have left, perhaps I should have left on my own. I would have been better off. I did not choose to do so because I was dedicated to the wonderful residents I have met during my 4 years working on SL. I was committed to all of you and committed to making Second Life and Linden Lab a better place. I felt I was fighting the good fight and didn't want to just run away. I felt that I was making a difference. I hope that I did.

I have no idea what is next for me. I have varied passions that I will follow until I feel the need to pursue further employment.

I have nothing disparaging to say about Linden Lab, in fact I am not legally allowed to because of the wording of my separation agreement. :-) 
 
Linden Lab is cotton candy and kittens, unicorns and rainbows.

I greatly appreciate all of you who friended me and were so passionate about helping me make Second Life a better place. Your enthusiasm to help find bugs greatly helped the quality of the server code. You are all amazing. You are Second Life, not Linden Lab. Never forget that. I love you all and will miss working with you greatly!

In his profile, Oskar stated he was he Technical  Lead and QA engineer.

Someone in the SL Universe forums thought that last weekend's Grid glitch happened after he left was no coincidence, "Oskar leaves LL and SL breaks for 7 hours, does that say anything?"  Daniel Voyager commented that questions about his sudden leaving will probably be around for weeks. " I think many appreciated Oskar Linden’s work and SL/LL communications over the years. Oskar Linden ... will be missed deeply by the SL community. I wish him all the best for the future!"

 Images from Daniel Voyager and Oskar Linden.

Breaking News: Oskar Linden Dismissed From Linden Lab

In the Second Life Universe forums, Oskar Linden annouced that he has been terminated from Linden Lab.

More details to come later.

The Linden Memorial

One year ago, Second Life's residents were shocked to find out a third of the Lindens had been dismissed from the Lab, their avatars deleted. Residents expressed their thoughts in many ways. Codebastard Redgrave expressed them by building a memorial. A year later, she has a more lasting memorial to the laid-off Lindens up.

Read more in Places.

Qarl Linden: He Will Be Missed

On August 4, 2010, Linden Labs killed off Qarl Linden. As the word spread quickly through SL and RL, residents were shocked and sadden by the departure of such a skilled and well-liked creator. A texture was sent to many residents, including this reporter, and posted throughout the SL blogger world, protesting the decision and demanding an explanation. So far, no one from Linden Labs has responded.

Even Qarl himself was shocked at the decision, especially since he had gotten glowing job performance reviews. As he wrote on his blog, “honestly, I’m completely baffled at the decision, as are all my coworkers (and my boss, and…)”. Check out the details at his blog: http://www.qarl.com/qLab/?p=64.

In real life Qarl was Karl Stiefvater, a multi-talented programmer. His credentials include two “Matrix” and “300” movies. His background and professional history was very broad. Most importantly, he loved Second Life and its possibilities. “SL is the coolest thing on the planet - the world we’ve all built is literally incredible - beyond belief,” he wrote on his blog.

I talked with Samantha Glume, CEO of Samantha Glume Enterprises, who builds communities and creates worlds with an emphasis on sci-fi. Like many creative people, she knew Qarl best through his work on sculpts, Jira and other projects. She described him as a talented programmer who had a spotless reputation.

His departure has had a devasting effect on the morale in SL among creators. Glume characterized the news of his removal as demoralizing. Because he was one of their best programmers, she said the Linden decision “just makes no sense.”

Qarl was working on mesh compatibility, which Glume said will enable the sci-fi community to build ships that look realistic without requiring thousands of prims. His work on sculpts was invaluable because sculpts are what make SL look and feel real. He was also working on the shadow engine, which will allow things in SL to cast a shadow, just like objects do in RL. His departure will be a huge loss to the creative community because, as Glume explained, he was responsible for actually building the systems.

“He will be greatly missed,” she said.

Source: Quarl's blog

Grey Lupindo

The 30%

Last week, Second Life Newser reported on the appearance of a memorial set up in the honor of those Lindens whose jobs were terminated in M Linden's "Restructuring." A few days later, our reporter Gemma Cleanslate went to the place, and found people were still visiting there to pay their respects.

To read more, go to People.

Memorial Cemetery Set Up for Dismissed Lindens

At the Rouge Lounge and Boutique nightclub, the owner CodeBastard Redgrave set up a graveyard with rows of headstones as a tribute to the Linden staff whom were laid off in the “Reorganization” announced on June 9th. Porting in to the place, it was gray with lag, and half over water. The gray took some time to fade as people were continuing to port in to pay their respects, including a few Lindens. Blue, Teagan, and Mia Linden’s stones were particularly full of tributes.

Being thanked by one visitor, Code commented, “It’s only normal. I didn’t know what else to do.” After building the memorial, residents had been porting in, and leaving flowers, bears, and other items in tribute. When asked about the turnout, Code told that it had taken her by surprise, “it’s been capped all of the last 24 (hours). I had to lower the avatar count to make it less laggy, but it’s been from 40-80 people non-stop. ... I have no idea how many people circulated around here ... since my visitor counter busted over memory usage.”

“I didn’t plan anything, to be honest, but I am on the lookout for a place that could host it better than here, a more permanent one. ... I just wanted to pay my respects to them, for serving us for so long and being so patient with us. I'm just so in awe of the response.”

People continuing to drop in asked about leaving flowers, finding they no longer could. Code explained she had disabled that option, but left at least one flower in front of every stone. She had also made headstones for a few Lindens let go before the purge yesterday out of requests by visitors, such as Pathfinder.


A number of Lindens dropped by, including Zen, Aimee, Cayle, Fisher, Kona, and Coyote. Most spoke nothing. Some greeted the others hello. Only Kona spoke with any degree of boisterousness, “lol ... wow.” Other visitors expressed their sadness for those let go, occasionally one asking one of the visiting Lindens how could they let this happen. Coyote Linden remarked that he couldn’t say anything not in the press release, “Now please let me be,” and he walked to the memorial to contemplate what happened to his peers.

The graveyard is at the Rouge sim at (152, 51, 21). Code plans to house the memorial until a more appropriate place is found.

“Thank you CodeB for giving us all this chance to show the Lindens how much we appreciate them.”

Bixyl Shuftan