Growth vs Technology

I'd just like to make a quick comment, please regard this as my opinion based on my own personal experiences and observations.

Over the last month Second Life has experience an overwhelming population boom. congratulations on that milestone of One Million residents! However, while I rarely poke my head in here to comment on the state of Second Life, and Linden lab's management I feel compelled to do so now after attending the community roundtable last night.

Currently, I reside very close to one of the starting locations for new residents. A great many of them stumble across my little downtown and I'm happy to help them. Sometimes I have ten or more people around my sim at any given time and lately this has been rather consistant. I have also recognized a steady decline in the performance of Second Life during this time. I have regular sim crashes, an inordinate amount of lag, especially when the sim is very populated. Due to this, i often lose items; Things rezzed or packaged prior to a crash are usually gone upon returning and my location is reset to wherever in the sim I had been about ten minutes prior, sort of like a small rollback.

I realize I live on the mainland, and that said, I do not expect the performance of a private island; but I do expect some level of stability and at this point the mainland is below mediocre.

Linden Lab has been pushing for fast growth, but the consequences are unforgiving. They want the subscribers, but it seems they don't want ti invest anything back into the system to improve overall performance of Second Life. Havok 2 was mentioned so long ago that even that's out of date now. At this point, I cannot see anything Linden Lab has done to improve the state of their servers in an effort to prepare them for a large international population boom, and as a result it seems to be crippling the service entirely. I adore Second Life and want to see it succeed, but i think thus far it has left a very sour taste in the mouths of countless new customers who find themselves unable to move. You campaign for growth in the media has fetched results that your outdated technology cannot support, and the grid is being pulverized under the stress.

I was startled to learn about the server cost increase. It definitely seems that Linden Lab is going more the path of commercialism than appealing to average users. I was alarmed when, last night, it was mentioned by a Linden that this increas was just "the fist step in the process." I interpret that as meaning there will likely be more price increases in teh future. As it stands now, they are phasing out sim availability from average residents in favor of corporate entities who can spend marketing dollars on a sim. I don't know how many Sim owner are going to be able to make their tier with the continue price hikes, because simple rental methods simply won't procure enough resources to pay for it anymore. I think we will see a lot of comunities suffer as a consequence of higher prices, while the mainland suffers due to the dramatic population increase and lack of grid performance.

I have a lot of questions going through my mind. I wondered is Second Life has outgrown Linden Lab capabilities. I know the grid has definitely outgrown the level of service (liasions, customer service, mentors) required for sustinance. Residents have been pulling up the slack from lack of service for some time, in groups like Live Help (where no one ever responds) the Mentors group, and the ill-fated ResMod program. I don't think it is viable to continue asking your subscribers to perform administrative tasks. Liasions are few and far between, and often subjected to an insurmountable amount of work requests from those needing help. I see a lot of fluff being added to Second Life, but t has been a very long, long time since I have actually seen anything implemented that improved performance for all users. Yet, I see Linden Lab requesting more from the community.

I also wonder if Linden Lab has fogotten it's roots, when each individual resident was considered valuable. I am saddened to see preference given to in-world corporations and those affiliated with them. Not only does it diminish the morale of your loyal consumer base, but the reality of the outpouring of resentment from these people seems more and more valid with each decision Linden Lab makes. Considering these choices impact every single Private Island Owner, I was shocked to discover you only let a few chosen owner know of the plans beforehand- and only because of their corporate ties.

I have always believed Linden Lab was a fair-minded, professional corporation and I've never bought into claims of favoritism or prek recipiants. I didn't think a professional company that advertised itself so widely as "Your World" would intentionally tip the scales in favor of any singular resident or in-world business, nor could I imagine them treating any entity in world to liberties while dismissing the efforts of others. This was not the Linden Lab I have always known, and yet this is what is happening. It doesn't seem like the paranoid cried of a jaded resident anymore, but the actions of Linden Lab speak louder than any fanatical blogger lately, and validate the claims often dismissed for a year or more.

Bluntly, if i were to bottom line this, it definitely appears that Linden Lab is not supporting average customers if they are not bringing them business or visibility. Linden Lab is the only corporation I have witnessed commit such an act, most certainly other Massive Multi-participant organizations, be they gaming or other, outwardly pick residents/players from the pol and paythem specific mind. That the community is outraged is now completely understandable. While the issues at hand were discussed with in-world entities, like Electric Sheep, I also noted last night, atthe community round table where probably one hundred picketers attended wanting conference, Linden Lab allowed four to actually speak. This alone suggested an extreme disinterest in what the general public thinks, how they feel, and wether or not they continue business with the company. This is divisive acivity, breeding contention between Linden Lab and it's consumers - and in some cases, between residents and in-world entities.

Thats just my two cents, thanks for allowing me my opinion.

Phaylen

Thanks for your comments, Phaylen. Regarding the Community Roundtable session, the initial meeting was slated for one hour (the standard time for Roundtables). Several Lindens remained after the hour to facilitate dialogue that extended for another few hours. That was the largest Roundtable to date and we realize that going forward, we will need to make adjustments in how we do these meetings (length, location, speaker queue process). All attendees were invited to send questions and comments in follow-up. The transcript is posted on the blog. As stated at the Roundtable, the Community Roundtable email list provides a place to discuss concerns. From the transcript: [16:49] Jeska Linden: ...remember that the Roundtable mailing list is where much of these conversations begin.
Directions to join the list are on the blog if you want to discuss topics for the next Community Roundtable (planned for December 7, 2006 @ 9 AM PST)