I talked to Jeska Linden and she invited me for a tour on Friday afternoon. It was a hot humid strange day in SF and I was running late.
The offices are in this nice white warehouse building and there is no signage except for the cool glass doors with the Linden Lab logo. Overall the office's appearance from the outside was very discreet. No one would guess that a whole digital world was being run out of there. (Yes I know that the servers are someplace else
Jeska was busy with another visitor so I hung out with the a very friendly receptionist, who is also a Linden. I was so out of it due to the heat, being late, and the crazy cab ride that I completely forgot his name. My apologies. He was a great sport, and we chatted for the longest time.
Once we could tear the other visitor away from Jeska, only if somewhat temporarily, Jeska and I met and proceeded on with the tour. The other guy who was before me joined us for some reason. It was a little awkward, but it was the guy's weird behavior and the fact that he was taking pictures of everything including the carpeting and ceiling tiles. Jeska was gracious and was a great host.
I have not met many lindens in game, so when she asked me which lindens I wanted to meet, I had quite a short list. The only linden I had conversed with at lenght was Kona Linden. It was nice to meet him in RL.
People kept referring to me with my ingame name; No one in the office recognized the name of my sim (yes SL got really THAT big). I almost felt like I needed a business card with my name, my shop's name and a SLURL on it. Dorky yes but it would have helped.
For 3PM on a Friday afternoon, the office was HAPPENING. Almost every desk was occupied and people seemed very busy or alternatively, they did a great job of looking busy for me. LOL Just kidding. People were hard at work, I am sure.
The main coders area was a typical dot-com arrangement with desks and work areas but sans cubicles. It gave the office a clean, open feel. Jeska said that it facilitated collaborative work between the employees.
What was cool was to walk by Phillip's desk and see that he was sitting in the main area along with the other people at a desk that looked like anyone else's. Now I don't know if he was just sitting there for the moment or if this is his real desk. I just was not expecting to see him and/or run into him.
By the time we were done touring the main coders area, the guy that had joined my tour was done photographing everything including the employees and now he had moved onto taking pictures of progress charts and other confidential information around the office. LOL This I know because after a couple of flashes, Phillip came over to find out who this over-zealous photographer was.
Oh, I forgot to mention, common courtesy had made me leave my camera at the front desk. I would not want someone to show up at my workplace and take pictures of me, I was not about to bother Lindens with my camera. At this point the other guy wanted a picture with Phillip. Well, I said to hell with it, if he can get a picture with Phillip, I can too. Plus Phillip is used to getting his picture taken. *run*
Anyhow, Phillip was awfully nice to both of us. He chatted briefly with the other guy who seemed like had a thousand words to say to him. I did not get in a word. Oh well. It was nice to meet him anyway.
Overall, the tour was great and I really appreciated that they made time for me.
I regret that I did not have more time to talk to Jeska, and I wish I could have been less restrained and taken more photos. But that's just me. Always too kind in person, and too rude in writing.
Thanks again Jeska, Phillip and the other Lindens I met.
Troy Vogel
