Voice of the User, Part 1

The User Says: I'm Confused!

In the space of less than 24 hours, two well-established third-party viewers (TPV’s) have departed Linden Lab’s 3D virtual world and made the move into open-source territory. The Lua coded Luna Viewer transitioned to a more accessible team coding repository at Github, and will run only in an Open Sim world. Imprudence will no longer run in LL’s Agni (the Second Life production environment), either. The developers announced their move to OSGrid, Reaction Grid, Third Rock or another non-LL virtual world yesterday. Reaction Grid focuses on the growing and favorably perceived educational applications of virtual worlds. Privately held Linden Lab is merely one option for the social-gaming and commerce Metaverse, albeit the largest in terms of active users, name recognition, and level of systems infrastructure and application development.

So how important are these viewers? Very important.

Alternative viewer development benefits the user in the same way competitive markets always lead to better functionality.  To-date, legitimate viewers have been open source. If they were fee-based, competitive offerings would still benefit users, with lower prices and product differentiation. The number of viewers available or in development may seem excessive, particularly at a time of declining discretionary income globally. However, applications for the metaverse concept is enormous, extending far beyond combat, RPG (role-playing games) and social interaction. Corporate and government organizations grasp the potential and join educational institutions in actively contributing to development of the virtual world. Despite the nascent technology, they want to show a visible presence now not later. However, none has taken a visibly active role in sponsoring viewer development.

What is the problem? Well, the residents of Second Life are testing its functional and ethical  boundaries. Second Life has experienced content theft, griefing, and recently confronted the social issues of gambling, child avatars and adult subject matter ratings.  A large part of content-theft and griefing activity is accomplished with “hacked” or copybot viewers. In contrast, OSGrid has none of this tumult. There are tech limitations, namely no scripting. OSGrid has no monetary system, land is donated, and all products are free or bartered, which fosters collaboration in a frontier world.  However, OSGrid is a very quiet place, with an alpha-version atmosphere.  While nurturing, such utopian settings are not designed for long-term use. Variety is the spice of life and the human condition: Second Life, with its dramas and growing pains, has more vitality than the “outer Grids”.  Note an exception:  educational institutions and some corporate users will likely find their goals more attainable in most of the Open Sim worlds, once sufficiently stable to give structure and reliable access.

Second Life View Wars: Audible in OSGrid?

Ironically, the growing content-theft, including the part associated with rogue TPV’s, may be a more formidable obstacle than gambling, public yiffing and pre-teen avatars ever were for Second Life.

The issue is not clear-cut, as there are legitimate reasons to continue support of alternatives to Linden Lab official Second Life viewer ver 2.0 release.  Reasons include ease of use for SL business people as well as the specific requirements of certain sub-groups of the SL population, an obvious example being the RL viewer. LL did release a controversial final draft version of a TPV policy which may have since been amended. Despite claims to the contrary, many thrive on the drama and vocal exchange of opinions in the “Viewer Wars,” as clear by the high post counts in LL’s official Second Life Forums. Yet the issue must be resolved, because the firestorm of user activity and heated involvement in the controversy is due to concern and dissatisfaction.

If a solution is not brokered between Linden Labs, Second Life business people, residents and viewer developers, the resulting dissatisfaction will result in an exodus of some part from SL. Maybe they will go to OSGrid and Open Sims?  Or the Red Light Center in the Utherverse? Or return to whatever they did pre-SL while waiting for the dust of strife to settle?  It doesn’t really matter, because a declining resident population trend of any sort should be anathema to Linden Lab’s business strategy.

Death Comes to Second Life. Again?

Some very special treats have floated by as I idle away my unemployed days.

Farewell, Pathfinder Linden!  I enjoyed happy hours rummaging through your bookshelves, playing your harpsichord, dredging through the copy-mod-transferable sheet music, personal RL photos and CD cases you thoughtfully left strewn on the floor of your in-world office.  Although rumored to be aloof, Pathfinder did appear to be a critical thinker, successful advocate of educational applications for Second Life, and contributor in the RL healthcare field. It would’ve been prudent for Linden Lab to keep him on staff, rather than eliminating his job.

Perhaps Not-so-full-of-Crap Mariner’s Vinnie Linden could be a SL eulogy for Pathfinder? Fly-in-the-ointment with that theory is the timing discrepancy. “Ode to Vinnie” was released in 2008.

On the Viewer War frontlines, many have noted the passing of young Master 5050, noted by NexisONLINE Status blog and at SLUniverse General Discussion.  Advisory to all native and non-native speakers of the English language: the Notorious 5050 has risen and blogs again. I personally hearken more to Mr. Poenta’s campaign to “avenge the banning of the innocents”.

To end on an equally somber note, I was saddened to read of the demise of Luna viewer, discontinued on Agni and no longer running anywhere else as of March 22. Nexis ONLINE experienced no end of complications, ranging from Linden Lab’s viewer policies to the negative impact of copybot activity on Nexis’s SLX-type product FlexMarket.

Massacre at Braunworth: Slaughter of the Newbies

Memento mori. I dedicate this post to the deities of the internet and transformation.  Horus and Hermes, Legba and Shiva, you are having quite a field day in our little corner of virtual reality.  T.S. Eliot always says it best, excerpted from The Four Quartets:

In my beginning is my end.  In succession
Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,
Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place
Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass…
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire
Is the wisdom of humility. Humility is endless.

What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make and end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from.