I'm sad.
Not sad that Linden Lab has chosen to build the market that will replace GOM. Not sad that relations between Linden Lab and GOM have become strained. Not even sad about the wave of criticism we've received recently in the forums.
Nope, I'm sad because I've lost my passion for Second Life.
When Philip first contacted us back in November 2003, we were stoked. Here we were launching a service that would eventually violate EULAs in ten different games, and we were actually
asked to list the L$. How cool is that?
Over the next 20 months or so, we built the foundation for the Second Life economy. Before us, no one bought or sold L$. And after us came IGE, Hank Ramos, Anshe, heck even Schwanson is selling on eBay (for a hell of a profit I might add - way to go kid. Yer momma will be proud... in 25 to life...
). We were the first to help circulate L$ from the wealthy content providers back to the content consumers. We were the first to build "ATMs" - now you see them all over the place for all sorts of services. We were one of the first (if not the first) to have full web-server XML-RPC/email integration. I had a hell of a lot of fun building that stuff. It was frustrating from time to time when things didn't work, but for the most part, simply being at the forefront of SL resident development was a blast.
At the same time, we hooked up with Sarah at VERTU. You might have known her as Bhodi Silverman. If you didn't know her, you missed out. Sarah was one of those truly inspiring individuals. Sarah, I miss you piles and wish I knew where you were. Sarah got me hooked on in-world fundraising, and to date we've assisted in raising well over $25,000 for a variety of charities including most recently the American Cancer Society. (IGE tried to copy but last I checked they had raised a whopping $263.00 over about a year. Goes to show the difference in generosity between you folks and your average Everquest player.)
I am
very proud of what our passion has helped us accomplish in Second Life. And with that in mind, I'd like to speak briefly about what has happened here.
There are two ways that you can look at what Philip and Linden Lab have chosen to do. The first is that they really should be spending their efforts building and solidifying (and bug-fixing) the platform, and not duplicating mature resident-developed services. This is the way we looked at it from the start of the discussions. Of course we're biased, but at the same time, we strongly feel that Second Life should be a platform on which the residents are allowed to innovate freely - without the threat of losing what they have built.
The other way to look at it is that the platform really
includes a unique form of commerce, and that all users should have easy access to it. Sacrificing one set of resident innovations so that 40,000 others can prosper shouldn't be a tough decision. This is the choice that Philip has made and I can certainly understand why.
Unfortunately, we haven't been able to convince him to change his mind and this leaves us wondering about the future of GOM. Sure, we could change our business model and become another re-seller like IGE, but that was never the plan. We built a market because we wanted to trade. We didn't want to be a store. And sure we could write the code to automate the use of an HTML interface meant for a user, but as an experienced software engineer, I have no intention of doing so. We could wait for a real API, but for how long? Who knows?
And so I am moving on.
Tom will continue to run GOM until he decides it's no longer in his or the company's best interest. I am very confident in his abilities - plus he has a teensy bit more tact than I do.
To all of Second Life: innovate. Passion is the fuel, and if you have it, you must innovate. If there are bugs, build workarounds. If the tools come up short, bridge the gaps on your own. Until they change their policy, Linden Lab can take from you what you've built,
but you must still build it. It is
very important that you still build it. Without your builds, and without your passion, Second Life is nothing.
To Philip, while riding these emotional roller coasters for the past 6 or 8 months has been both exhausting and exhilarating, it has taken its toll on me personally. And on
my passion for Second Life. I had so many more things to do here but now it just doesn't feel right. And as I said, I'm sad.
I've been pretty blunt with you - maybe even impolite - and to be fair, you've taken us for granted, and from time to time treated us quite poorly. I've put it all aside and I hope you can too.
I truly wish you
all the best of luck.
"Farewell to all my darlings and fellow criminals. See you when the comet hits."
Sincerely,
Jamie Hale
aka ex-President - Gaming Open Market Corp.
aka Jekyll McHenry
aka Zeppi Schlegel
