Trouble With ABC Breedables

Breedable virtual pets have been a part of Second Life for most of it's history. And over time there have been a number of companies who have made them. But sometimes they run into trouble. One of the first to make it big was Ozimals. But in 2017, the company folded due to an internal dispute. Thankfully it's last act was to save the pet bunnies it's customers had. But those of another company may not be so fortunate. 

For some years, Awesome Breed Creations has been in the business of selling breedable horses and the feed for them, as well as medicine and accessories. People would breed them for desired traits, as well as auction them and hold races. But a few days ago came some trouble that may spell the end of the business. The person in charge of the scripts that brought the horses to life, Sentire Bravin, had resigned. 

I am writing to formally announce my resignation from my role as a software and content developer, effective immediately. This decision was not made lightly, and I deeply regret having to take this step.

I have the utmost respect and admiration for the staff and developers I’ve had the privilege of working alongside. Their dedication, talent, and passion for creating one of the finest breedable experiences in Second Life have been both inspiring and enriching. It has been an honor to collaborate with such a talented and exceptional team.

But, he stated he hadn't been paid in over a year. As a result, he was quitting, and had turned the scripts off.

As a result of the prolonged lack of payment, I have removed all of my code and data from ABC servers. Additionally, I have formally notified the owner of ABC to cease and desist from any unauthorized use of my code. I understand this will impact the functionality of ABC products, but this is a matter that Stephanie (the owner of ABC) must address. ...

Unfortunately, the results of the code and data removal was that the horses became frozen, the stats display above them showing red. They were now little more than props, static, not able to walk around, breed, be ridden, or anything else. Kitacelia, an ABC breeder for a number of years told me the "Pasture" where horses can be stored was inoperable and nothing could be taken back from there. The ABC website was also down. 

"I lost 1000's of dollars worth of pets," Kitacelia told me, "... not be able to turn on accessories/horns/wings on them or movement/sound ... I can't even get my remaining pets out of pasture ...  can't turn movement on or off or add accessories to the ones in inventory or inworld." Checking Penny Shuftan's horses in the Sunweaver community where the Newser office is, they were glitched as well.

Besides Sentire, there was also an announcement of two others on the team resigning, Saphear Saunders and Krystal Silverweb

After an incredible 10+ years as the artists behind Awesome Breed Creations, it’s with a heavy heart that we share the news of our departure from the development team. This decision has not been made lightly, but unfortunately, we’ve reached a point where it’s no longer financially sustainable for us to continue under the current circumstances.

Since August of this year, our development team has not been paid, and despite numerous attempts to contact Stephanie Merrienboer (the owner and CEO of ABC), we’ve been met with silence. We’ve received no explanation or reasoning as to why this has happened. We are aware that Stephanie has internet access and has been in touch with others, so there’s no reason why she couldn’t have spoken to us or even laid us off respectfully if the company was experiencing financial hardships (which, to our knowledge, it wasn’t). We’ve poured countless hours, effort, and love into ABC over the years, and we feel deeply disrespected to be treated in this manner. It isn’t right.

As a result, we’ve had to find other work and make the difficult decision to halt the development of any new horses or content for ABC.

Nikki Detritus, the Racing Commissioner, would also comment. 

I need you all to know that the RA and myself are all saddened by what has happened. I am still trying to hold out with some hope but that is hard to hold on to when you have no clue what has happened. None of us.. Not the RA, the VSRs, the auctioneers, the managers knew about this. The only ones who knew are obviously the ones not getting paid. BUT even THEY held on for so long because the loved ABC.  I know people are angry and emotions are high and rightly so.. But please lets stick together as family and treat each other nice as it is none of our faults and we are all sick over this. Jockeys and Owners.. I need you to know ONE thing..  I NEVER wanted to be the Commissioner.. I have worked as an RA member for close to 10 years now and I never wanted that position BUT I am so glad that I did take it. I learned a lot and I got to know all of you.  It was some of the BEST times of my SL life!  I care about each and everyone of you and will always cherish the memories of the great times!

While at the ABC store, I ran into a couple people, one who was quite upset, "I spent 30000 Linden ...  I had 150 horses cost me in food almost $ 150 a month. ... There are breeders who have 500 horses ... we have all been scammed!" He mentioned the Auction House had been closed for a month.

As of the writing of this article, there has been no comment from ABC's owner. What we do know is the horses are broken, and there are many upset and sad owners. 

Bixyl Shuftan

Jessica Lyon, Founder of Team Firestorm, Steps Down as Project Manager

 

 

Since she founded it in 2010 as Team Phoenix, Jessica Lyon has been in charge and in control of Team Firestorm, the people behind the Firestorm Viewer, the most popular viewer used by Second Life residents. Not only was she it's CEO, but Project Manager. But as of January 1, this has changed. The day before, Jessica had announced on the Firestorm blog that she would be stepping down as Project Manager at Midnight. 

What you may not know is that for the past year or so I have been taking a back seat to the management side of things as I deal with matters in my personal life. These matters are on going and demanding of my time. The members of this team, and all of you deserve and require an active and present Project Manager to keep this ship on an even keel.

As the sun sets for the last time in 2023, and rises for the first time welcoming in 2024… So too will an era change for Firestorm. The time has come for me to resign my position as Project Manager and hand the helm over to someone else. I will remain CEO and stay involved for life eternal, but will no longer steer the ship… though I may still influence the wind in our sails.

She also announced Beq Janus would be taking over the role as Project Manager, "Beq is not new to you or to us… in fact she has been performing this role for over a year in my absence. She has more than proven herself to be exceptional in all the aspects this demanding role requires and I have every confidence in her. Beq brings new hope to me for the future of the Firestorm Project."

And so the team behind Second Life's most popular viewer finds itself with a new leader for day to day matters. 

Hat tip: Daniel Voyager

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

Peter Gray/Peter Linden Leaving Linden Labs, To Join Facebook

One of the more familiar Lindens to Second Life residents, Peter Linden, will soon be departing Linden Labs. Known as Peter Gray in real life, he was known as the Lab's public relations spokesman, officialy their Senior Director of Communications. But no longer.On Tuesday January 2, Hamlet Au and Inara Pey had received emails from Gray that he was leaving Linden Lab. His new place of employment: Facebook. He will be working at the communications team of Facebook AI Research

"After about a dozen years doing marcom in the virtual worlds/VR space (starting way back in '06 as part of Linden's external PR team), it's time for a new adventure, and I'm excited to be moving on to join Facebook's comms team for AI."

"I'm not sure if anyone else has been doing marcom in the virtual worlds / VR space longer, but 12 years is a pretty long time (in the tech world, at least). What's helped to keep it interesting, exciting, and rewarding all these years is also a big part of what made becoming a Linden appealing in the first place: the enormous range of stories to tell. I'm grateful to all the SL and Sansar users who are doing such interesting and creative things with our platforms, and in particular to those who have gone out of their way to share their stories over the years. "

Peter Linden had spent over eight years at Linden Lab, joining in 2009 and serving under four different CEOs and went through a number of turning points in the company's history such as when 30% of it's staff was laid off. His avatar has been seen in a number of events such as the Second Life Birthday and Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education.  It is not clear who will replace him.

As for Peter Gray's new job. it's likely to be an eventful one as last year, Facebook had to squash rumors that they had pulled the plug on an AI that had gotten "dangerously smart."

Sources: New World Notes, Modem World, Gizmodo 

Bixyl Shuftan

Michael Linden Has Left Linden Lab

Following some questions about Michael Linden, the Newser discovered through an article by Marianne McCann published though Modem World that he had left the Lab after ore than 13 years in service. He was noted with his direction of the Department of Public Works, which has created many projects from Bay City to the recent Horizons Residential area and game. The Newser got permission from Marianne to reprint the article. One might also want to check out Hotel Adriano, Michael Linden's home in Second Life, at Shamon (65/96/29).

*  *  *  *  *

Over the weekend of February 11th and 12th 2017, it was noted that Michael Linden’s profile was not showing up in Second Life search, nor was he showing as a member in several groups within his profile. Many began to question if he had left Linden Lab, and – given he was known as the head of the Linden Department of Public Works – if the LDPW was being shuttered.
At the Bay City Alliance meeting on the 14th of February, a trio of LDPW staff, Shaman Linden, Squishy Mole, and Sylvan Mole, attended in part to address these concerns.

Speaking at the meeting, Sylvan Mole confirmed that Michael has indeed left Linden Lab, but was unable to give many specifics. It is assumed that he left of his own accord.

Michael Linden started with Linden Lab in the autumn of 2003 as an in-world Liaison, moving briefly to Governance in 2007 before becoming one of the heads of the LDPW with the former Blue Linden. The LDPW has expanded to include several Linden staff members and a fair number of “Moles,” as the resident contractors working on content for Second Life are known.

One of the first projects released by the LDPW under Michael was the Bay City mainland regions. Last week, Michael added a rail and boat terminal to Bay City, in the Grub Beach region. It is believed that was his last project under his Linden name.

Michael has been heavily involved in the past with vehicles as a Resident, in particular with Second Life railway projects. It is expected that he will again do so, but no longer as a member of Linden Lab’s staff. Resident and Linden alike will miss his presence within the LDPW.

As to the question of the LDPW’s future, they are most certainly still an ongoing department under Patch Linden, with Shaman, Dee, Keira, Kona, and Vitae Linden as an active part. As we’ve seen, the LDPW has just recently completed the multiple-region residential and experience-laden Horizons project, and they have several current and future projects on their plates.

Those of us who know Michael will miss his presence and guiding hand as a Linden, as well as his sense of fun. We all hope he enjoys every success wherever his career and work take him, and offer three cheers as he sets sail to pastures new.

Many thanks, Michael for your years of work within Second Life!

Marianne McCann

Egypt Sim: Protests Turn to Celebration at News of Egyptian Leader’s Stepping Down

Events in the country of Egypt have taken some dramatic turns this week in real life. In Second Life, these events were reflected at the Egypt sim as people protested strongman Mubarak's refusal to resign one day, and the next were celebrating his departure.

Read the article in Events.