Commentary: Linden Lab Continues to Shoot Itself in the Foot

By Bixyl Shuftan

With the Relay for Life now over, time to focus more on other issues, such as Linden Labs and its recent blunders.

When Ebbe Altberg took over as CEO of Linden Lab, at the time a number of residents were having serious doubts as to its commitment to the residents of Second Life, the content creator rights controversy being the big issue at the time. When the new leader of the Lab spoke more on the issue in five minutes than the company had in five months, many residents became hopeful things were changing for the better. When the controversial section of the new terms of service that had created the mess was rewritten, more felt certain better times had arrived. A few longtimers held their enthusiasm in check though, commenting they'd seen hopeful signs followed by disappointment before, saying chances were, this was just a honeymoon period for the new CEO.

It would seem the honeymoon has ended.

A few months ago in April, residents were surpised to hear about the closing of the SS Galaxy, the three sim ocean liner which had been around for over eight years, the largest build on the grid. It came as an even greater shock as to what led to the closing: a severe griefing assault followed by Linden Lab telling the ship's managers they would get only one sim rollback to repair damage, and then no more. All that money spent by a longtime customer, and when they asked for customer service were essentially told to stuff it. No surprise the owners decided they could no longer promise the experience they offered to Second Life's cruise liner fans before, and announced they were closing.

Sadly, the closing of the SS Galaxy would not be the only Linden blunder in recent weeks. In June, Linden Lab announced they would be calling off the deal they made with third party currency exchangers two years before, telling them after July to leave Second Life. They stated they had improved their Lindex and solved the problems people complained about the previous time they tried closing down the exchangers two years earlier. However, Second Life residents, notably those outside the United States, have complained about problems with Lindex, saying their ability to buy Linden dollars will be compromised, if not outright shut down, once the third party exchangers are. Despite two petitions totaling over 1200 signatures, Linden Lab shows no sign of backing down from it's course, leaving those dependent on third party exchangers with an uncertain future in Second Life.

This month, Linden Lab almost had a public relations disaster when the noted Grendel's Children store was almost taken down along with it's sims because of it's co-owner Flea Bussy, the one who paid for the virtual land, being locked out due to a technicality. Flea and his partner Toady Nakamura are topnotch builders whom recently got attention with Toady's exhibit at the Second Life birthday. Bussy so impressed Philip Linden, he was quoted as saying, "As goes Grendles, so goes the Grid. Imagine what it would have looked like if the store once seen as symbolic of Second Life had been shut down due to a technicality?

Incidents like this are nothing new. One friend told me she once lived on a Fantasy roleplay community of which the sims suddenly went offline, and when they didn't go backup, the owners suspended payment. After two months, Linden Lab told the sim owners they were ready to bring them back online, but demanded the teir for the two months the sims had been offline. They refused, and the sims were reopened just long enough for the community members to gather their items before the land went down for good. Granted this didn't happen recently, the sims in question going down a few years ago, but it was a reminder of Linden Lab's "customer no service," to borrow an expression from financial commentator Clark Howard.

Linden Lab, what is going on?

Despite some raised eyebrows of your announcement of SL 2.0, or Project Sansar as you insist on calling it, your reputation had recovered from the messes you'd gotten into earlier. And now with two high profile failures plus a strategic move that will make it more difficult for residents outisde the US to purchase Linden dollars, once again you're looking like the uncaring, incompetant beast criticss accused you of being. Such incidents do not make you look well when people think about whether or not to buy a sim or renew one, or purchase Linden dollars to help their Second Life experience.

You've worked on bells and whistles to improve how things look around here, to try to get things to rezz more smoothly, to get the items closer to someone to rezz first to him. her. This of course is great, but how good is it if residents can't be sure the Lab will help if something goes wrong?

There's more to this then just Second Life, but your planned sequel to it, Project Sansar. You say you're going to make it "so good, people will want to leave Second Life for it." But if they see you as goofing up with Second Life, why will they trust you with it's sequel?

I've stated it before in previous commentaries. For businesses, trust is a valuable commodity. Trust that you will honor your commitments. Trust that you have the competence to run your business and manage your product well. It cannout be gained quickly or bought, only earned over time.

And right now, the trust you're regained over the course of a year is being lost.

Bixyl Shuftan

Commentary: Linden Lab Continuing to Destroy Residents' Trust

By Bixyl Shuftan

It was about a year and a half ago in which I wrote a commentary questioning Linden Lab's decisions in March 2012 after what had been a period of competence in which the residents were largely pleased with its performance. A week of questionable moves, such as saying there would no longer be quarterly economic reports and stating third party viewers could no longer have unique features, eroded the confidence that had taken months to rebuild.

But those moves were less Grid-shaking than two decisions by Linden Lab this year.

In May, Linden Lab ordered the third party Linden exchange services shut down, stating their LindeX would be the only way residents could buy Linden dollars. It was possible the Lab was worried by the attention the US Treasury department was giving virtual currency following controversy over Bitcoin. But Lindex could be slower, some residents saying it took days to a week at times. More importantly, a number of residents outside the United States preferred methods of payment that third party exchangers accommodated while LindeX didn't. There was talk that many of these residents were going to leave Second Life.

Then the Lab finally relented, at least partially. The exchangers could continue to sell Lindens, BUT only the LindeX could buy them back. While the residents were largely satisfied, I ran into a couple residents who lived overseas saying they had no easy way to convert Lindens back into the currency of their home countries.

Just a few weeks later was the Second Life Tenth Anniversary, and the controversy was largely forgotten as the residents celebrated. People were talking about what the next ten years would bring, and what they would be doing at the SL15B and SL20B.

I felt like writing a commentary then about why Second Life was most likely to still be around ten years in the future, but decided to wait a few months, given Linden Lab's history.

Today, the long term future of Second Life is looking a lot less brighter.

Earlier this month, Linden Lab changed it's Terms of Service with no announcement. Earlier, Linden Lab had rights over content within Second Life, but that was it. And it was accepted it was for the purpose of keeping things on the Grid stable. The new terms basically stated anything uploaded was the property of Linden Lab to do with as they pleased, including publishing and selling it elsewhere.

This was a move many content creators saw badly. For texture websites whose own terms of service stated their goods could not be resold, so far two have stated Second Life residents can no longer use them. For Second Life content creators themselves, they had a decision to make. Would they stop building, or would they accept the Lab's statement assuring they would continue to respect their rights, even though the new Terms of Use remained unchanged?

For Tuna Oddfellow and Shava Suntzu, the creators of one of Second Life's more unique performances, Linden Lab's move was nothing short of an unjustifiable power grab, "you just broke the social contract with me as a creator in Second Life BIG TIME." Their performance was meant to entertain the residents of Second Life, not to be potentially taken and sold without their permission, "I actually do sign contracts … that sign away perpetual rights to work I do … But they PAY me!"

And so Tuna and Shava never held another performance in Second Life once they found out about the new rules. Instead, they picked up and moved their act to the virtual world of Inworldz. And with them they took one of Second Life's unique shows.

Since their decision, there's been much talk and speculation across Second Life's residents. And it's not just by the peanut gallery on forums by residents I don't know.  I've seen residents from the Steelhead and Sunweaver/Angels Estates discuss the matter in both Facebook and inworld chat. People have decided to stop producing goods for a while, unless this move is reversed.

Shockwave Yareach commented, "Other companies manage to sell digital merchandise without making the artist surrender their rights to their creations - the only thing they actually own. If LL cannot accomplish the same thing, then not only do they forfeit the right to claim to be a visionary tech business, but they will forfeit the right to be in business at all. Another exodus has just begun, with creators abandoning their parcels and heading to Inworldz. And these people are the ones who make the stuff which makes SL fun. And just like all the others LL has pushed out, when they are gone, you will NEVER get them to come back and lose more money with LL again. This TOS mess must be corrected immediately! Not in a few weeks. Not even in (a) few days. Immediately. If you thought you were losing lots of sims per month, you haven't seen anything like what has just started."

While it was Linden Lab that created Second Life, the actually content has been almost entirely built by residents. It's the content creators that made it from empty virtual land to the landscapes, cities, castles, and more that have attracted the masses. And with them comes money that keeps the Lab going. Linden Lab has in effect bitten the hand that feeds it.

Compared to Second Life, Inworldz has just a tiny population. But that could easily change now. The issues before were worse lag, not as much content, fewer options for avatars, or in the words of some friends, "I don't want to look like a Ken (or Barbie) doll!", and less people. But my visit to Inwordz was actually less laggy than typical days in Second Life in the days since Project Sunshine. And if content creators migrate over, this will mean more goodies, and more options for what your avatar can look like, including nonhuman avatars for any of my neighbors who wanted to give the place a look.

Several years ago, the Microsoft corporation began replacing it's successful "Windows" software with "Vista." As it turned out, "Vista" was a highly buggy product that PC users reviled, and a number of computer owners found themselves switching to Macintosh computers. The running joke was "Vista was the best commercial for Mac ever made."

The Second Life ToS controversy is turning out to be the best advertising ever made for Inworldz. That grid very well may end up with a population explosion because of it.

In the meantime, Linden Lab has stated nothing new since it's statement following the announcement by CGTextures. While they've been called drama-shy in matters such as these, making anonymous announcements from their "bunker," their silence is only encouraging more people to join the skeptics, encouraging people to stop making content, and encouraging people to go from giving alternative grids a look to making their virtual home there.

 Just what is Linden Lab trying to do?

The opinions I've heard are numerous. Some feel these were simple power grabs by Linden Lab. Their objective was strictly short-term profits, greater control over the Grid, or both.  I've also heard people wonder if this was a sign Linden Lab was preparing to sell Second Life, or getting ready to close it down months down the road.

Other opinions suggest something less conspiratorial. As I mentioned, the third party exchange ban came shortly after the Department of Treasury took a greater interest in virtual currency. So perhaps the Feds knocked on Linden Lab's door, and the reaction of the company was panic. The ban, some residents reasoned, was a hastily done move with no intention of ill will, just to keep the Feds from auditing the company, or worse.

And their recent change in their terms stating they could do what they wanted with uploaded content, even distribute or sell outside Second Life? I've heard opinions that this wasn't done out of ill will, to make money from the content should Second Life end up having to close, but rather a "cover your butt" move done by Linden Lab's lawyers. The new ToS was done to help insure against a lawsuit.

Still, if the intention was to help against a lawsuit, this could have been handled a lot better.

Linden Lab, it's past time to admit you goofed up, and change the Terms of Service back.

And if you answer "don't let the door hit you on the way out" like one of you told a third party viewer team member when he suggested he might take his services to an alternative grid, you just might find a LOT of residents stepping through it.

Bixyl Shuftan

Commentary: Linden Lab Is Destroying It's Newfound Trust

Longtime users of Second Life are all too familiar with the days of M Linden. Before him, Second Life was truly seen as "Your World, Your Imagination." But then, Linden Lab began making a number of questionable moves that didn't seem to make any sense, except possibly for short term profits at the expense of long term, or just made no sense at all. People began to have less and less faith in the Lab to run the virtual world in a competent manner. The doubt was to the point among some as to question any new move Linden Lab would make out of fear they'd just screw it up and end up making the Grid worse off.

Following the layoffs in 2010, people could be forgiven for saying Second Life was going downhill and headed for shutdown. The return of founder Philip Linden briefly raised hopes, but they soon fell again with more questionable decisions such as the Teen Grid merger and the end to nonprofit discounts. Residents were less eager to invest as before. People began to check out the alternative worlds and in a few cases move and all but leave their former virtual home behind.

Then came Rod Humble, and with his competent record, residents began to think maybe just maybe the Lab was starting to get serious. In contrast to many Lindens who seldom used their own product, Rodvik Linden as he came to be known, was willing to spend time inworld and see what he could do with it as a run-of-the-mill resident. Things were far less than perfect, as the decisions about the teens and nonprofits were not reversed, but residents began to feel the Lab was starting to get it's act back together. The Lab began to work on viewer developments, and work on ways to entertain new and old residents alike such as the Linden Worlds game areas. And with bringing in "gaming god" Will Wright, people began to think Second Life had a bright future after all.

When Linden Lab announced in December it would soon be working on new products besides Second Life in December, a few people expressed worry that it was about to all but ignore the Grid or even close it down altogether. Had the announcement been made a year earlier, that might have been the general consensus. But people were more confident, beginning to invest more despite the bad economic times in real life, and some of the people whom had left to other virtual worlds were supposedly coming back under new account names. The Linden's move was instead seen as no big worry at worst, and at best an opportunity to attract new people through publicity if the new product turned out to be a hit. As the end of February neared, residents in general were fairly confident.

What a difference a week makes.

First the Lab announced changes to their third-party viewer policy. The biggest change was that no longer would they allow them to make features they didn't have. Rightly or wrongly, the official viewers have a poor reputation among many residents, and this was seen by some as basically a power grab. Linden Lab, they charged, was willing to kill further innovations of the viewing experience out of embarrassment of most residents using viewers other than their own.

While this news was still fresh in people's minds came two more developments. First, despite committing itself to do so earlier, Linden Lab stated they would not be giving newer accounts last names after all. The responses were of disappointment and grumbling, people not buying the Lab's explanation that this was too difficult to pull off. As newer residents have reported feeling left out because their single name marks them as "newbs," Linden Lab's claim of concerns over "bulling" by official viewer users by third party viewers are probably looking pretty hollow to more than a few.

Then came word about Linden Lab's quarterly economic reports of Second Life. There would be no more. As Hamlet Au, the one time imbedded reporter of Linden Lab put it, "This is bad." When most companies stop doing so, this is a sign of trouble. And as Tateru Nino reminded, they have been cutting back on their reports for some time.

Linden Lab, what is going on?

For businesses, trust is a valuable commodity. Trust that you will honor your commitments. Trust that you have the competence to run your business and manage your product well. It cannot be gained quickly or bought, only slowly earned over time.

The trust people had, it took a year for you to rebuild. And now in a week, you've wrecked it.

Once again, residents are distrusting your competence and your intentions.

Once again, residents are having doubts about the future of Second Life.

Once again, residents are hesitating about committing their time and effort into the Grid.

Once again, people are using your name as a curse: "to pull a Linden" meaning to take a great product and drag it into mediocrity.

And don't think what goes on here won't haunt you. When you try to sell your new products, people will ask what else you've made, and then ask, "Second Life? How has that been doing lately?"

How will you answer them?

Bixyl Shuftan