Why does LL have such a bad image?

Hey all,

When browsing the SL forums I see many negative comments about SL and LL, about the way that everyone hates what they are doing, and that they are giving a bad service etc...

Why is everyone so negative? At the end of the day we have to face the fact that ICT is finite. It is always changing and improving, and our expectations are always going higher and higher.

To be honest I am very impressed with most of Second Life and Linden Labs on the whole, especially In World Live Support. I think they are very helpful and deserve more credit (esp Joppa).

So what is your opinion on why LL has such a bad image (in many of the topics in this forum) or do you think the opposite, or that the negative comments are of a small minority.


Interested to see what ya'll think,


~~ Dannoth Dagger

LL deserves credit for the creation of SL and keeping it going as long as it has. But they are not a very good company business wise. They communicate poorly, they make decisions before considering the effects, and really don't listen to their customers, in my opinion.

Their back end operations, from Billing to Support/Customer Service is spotty at best, and they are horrid at keeping essential information related to the game updated and easy to find.

There are individual Lindens who manage to excell it seems, and they deserve a tip of the hat.

People complain more than they praise, it's human nature. The ebay forums are full of complaints, far more than you see here.

I think that's a fair comment - there are many more things which they could ask for user input on. However, I think they are hearing us - They opened that forum regarding mainland comments, and I am sure something good will come of that.

I stick by my sig

There's lots of positive stuff. But people don't bother to come in and write positive stuff. You'll get marked as a rah-rah fanboi for that. And that's a bad thing.

Even the negative stuff is revealing: it takes a lot of personal investment to actually bother to complain. Otherwise, people just go elsewhere.

There's been a lot of really good and really stupid moves made on the part of the Company over time.

Pretty much like any company - well, no, perhaps slightly better. For instance, The Sims Online was recently closed by its parent company. What can one say about a world-ending move like that? We are, at least, still here.

Perhaps. But they have a history of asking, receiving and then doing nothing. But maybe since M is a Corporate Heavy, the business culture will change, without destroying SL

if I remember correctly we were told originally that IDV was to help people trust one another, not for age verification

Still, things could always change.
I'm not exactly one of the most optimistic of people, but I think it just takes time.

I'm not a fan-boi, but I do think they're doing something right (because as Desmond said, we are still here)

And to this day, that was one of the most asinine things I've heard come from them. You needed hip waders to get through that pile of Bullshit.

The OP is right. We are still here, even the most bitter critics. I quit and came back, so there is something there. For now, anyway.

its because of the people, not SL that so many of us remain or return.

I always saw it as: LL has an internal meeting about X and decides to do Y. Some Linden then asks "shouldn't we ask for some community feedback to make us look good?" and they all agree because it will take a certain amount of time to do Y anyway so they might as well fill it with pretending to listen to residents. When they're almost done with the work they close the discussion, announce that they considered all resident feedback very carefully and announce Y in a clumsy fashion and then take a week to get it right with a second announcement.

what she said....

Then they order out for Pizza, have it delivered to the wrong address, and can't pay for it becuase their overseas bank keeps denying the credit card transaction.

A lot of the trashing of LL is due to the message-boarding culture exemplified by the term 'fan-boi'.

I've been on a few message boards (some for years); it's expected that you will trash the company that runs the board. It's considered normal and right to be cynical and snarky, and it's considered brown-nosing and fan-boi-ish to defend the company.

No matter what company it is.

This is not to say that All That Linden Lab Does is Good and Right. No doubt they've made decisions that turned out to be counter-productive, and no doubt there are changes that they could make that would increase the effectiveness of their product and the happiness of their customers.

(Also, no doubt, we wouldn't all agree on what these decisions and changes should be!)

Meh.

There's lot of users also that enters in SL thinking that it is a game. So they complain when they can't ride their cars like GTA, or the RP sims are much laggier than World of Warcraft. They don't understand the technical differences between SL and GTA or WOW.

And if you go to a place and it's laggy, before blaming LL you should think about how many sensors and listener scripts are around. And how many 4mb 1024x1024 textures your viewer needs to download.

That's the price we pay for freedom. A freedom that you don't have in GTA...have you ever tried to build a cube there?

Hey Dannoth ask this question at sluniverse! Most of them have been banned by LL for complaining too much. Wear your fireproof clothes.

It's also due to the fact that none of us know the inner workings of Linden Lab......some think they do but they don't. We all are sitting on the outside and see all the problems and, since we don't like problems, we bitch. We tell each other how simple it would be to fix "that problem" and many take that as fact......it is not that black and white.

A prime example is the constant bitches about log ins being restricted. No one likes that and many get pissed off about it. Come here and spout BS about now stupid LL is......or they imply some conspiracy about LL doing it on purpose. They say things like "get newer hardware". They believe it would be simple to fix the problem......but it is not. If it were simple it definitely would how been fixed long ago. It's some of the IT types that "know" how to fix it that sometimes really gets the crowd in an uproar.....afterall, they are the "experts". I know of no other game, platform, system that is doing what LL is doing.......and neither does anyone else. Second Life is one of a kind......that may change in the future but as of now, it's all alone in this venture. Which only shows it ain't that easy.......if it were, there'd be dozens of "SL's" for us to choose from.

The biggest disappointment for me with LL is customer service. It seems no one in the Company wants to do it and the way the Company is organized with their TOA no one has to do it..........naturely it does not get done. Which is a shame since that fosters a lot of this trash talking about LL.

You don't see many people like this in the forums though, you might meet them elsewhere, they'll say SL is rubbish. The people on the forums generally care about the platform and want it to be better, they want the platform to prosper. That's part of the motivation of having a say about how things are.

There are those who like to complain about everything, and those that don't.

A lot of venting goes on in the forums I think, by otherwise satisfied folks who just get frustrated at certain times by things. Also....it is the same in ANY industry.....even the best service oriented company is going have an unhappy customer from time to time. And all it takes is one bad incident....and the squeeky wheels are sure to start rolling.....and a reputation can fall like dominos.

Personally I've had nothing but positive experiences with SL. But, I also really don't get all that wound up when things aren't perfect, or even absolutely yucko. I have a RL that takes priority and I choose to view SL as purely entertainment. What I spend my money on is my choice, therefor I take responsibility for my own decisions ..... anotherwords I don't freak because I'm premium member and LL aren't catering to my every need or whim. I've spent years in customer service ... dealing with people.... trying to make everyone happy (ever when what they demand is next to impossible) and that's just the way it is. There are some people who simply wont be happy with anything......there are others who will be delighted with even the smallest attention.....and those in between who choose their battles carefully.

I love SL and am constantly amazed by what I find. I think over all, LL does an outstanding job maintaining and 'trying' to keep everyone happy. It's not an easy task. Ask anyone who deals with people in any capacity.... they'll tell ya.....it's an impossible task to always deliver the best .... everyone's idea of good service and care is slightly different. Those are variables every company deals with. I can't even fathom how LL handles a world wide customer base. Boggles the mind.

Dannoth....

The overall view of the forum clan does not represent the overall views of those who are busy living and creating in Second Life. Be assured. Those who are busy creating and socializing and experiencing what SL has to offer, in a positive way.....do not have time to come in here, and complain all day. Same holds true with any forum on any subject.

So....in a nutshell.....any overall view that you see from the forum clan......is not that of the SL society in general. Don't be tainted. Personally....I have a much more enjoyable day in SL, and don't notice any negatives, or glitches, and only see brilliant creations, and beautiful people.....unless, of course, I come in here, and start reading.

I know and work with several CEOs and executives from major corporations.

When I mention the "Love Machine", they burst out laughing.

I agree, I can't go anywhere without someone there complaining about lag, or giving their none too flattering opinion about LL or Lindens. The forums are quite tame in comparison .

You mean to tell me that companies everywhere don't embrace such a wonderful principle? Colour me totally surprised!

Well, I for one, am very happy with SL and LL's progress. Is my nose brown?