LLs management of SL: tragic
Secondlife is run by a company called Linden Labs. They've gone from a one building show, to running server farms etc in several major cities. They're still nowhere close to Blizzard in success. Not even Habo Hotel in success.
There are some reasons SL has failed to show steady growth, and continually fails to really retain users after their first experience. I'm offering my opinions on why I think that is, as well as a record of all the bad decisions and stumbling blocks along the way.
SL's original motto was "Your world, your imagination". This has often gone by the wayside in favor of flailing about on all manner of legal issues and snafus. Original founders (and those that made up the slogan) have all turned over and departed. I believe only one has stayed on as a creative adviser or the like- an emeritus position probably of little influence.
SL is a commerce place where people can shop for the creations of others. This requires currency. And yet you can buy mmo/online marketplace currencies at any number of gas stations, retail chains, and even grocery stores. Linden Lab has yet to offer 'Lindens' (the SL currency) in this format.
Legal crackdowns don't look good. First, Europeans were forced to pay 'VAT' (value added tax) on all purchases. Then gambling was banned, and the 'easy money' folks attempted to push all the loopholes they could (and still do). Then all adult content got pushed to its own continent. But then not as much. Wishy washy also looked bad. Also, a crackdown on 'child avatars' led to much face-palming.
ACCOUNTS and related incentives. Ugh the inconsistency. First accounts were $10 to set up, and required a bank card on file for verification. This also meant that 'alts' were likely linked by bank info as well as IP address. The cost for a 'premium' account ($72 annual) remains unchanged, and is required to own (but not to rent!) land. Land ownership is tiered, and the more you hold, the more you owe on a monthly basis. BUT, as an incentive, basic users got something like L$100/ week provided they had logged in that week, and premium users got L$500/week regardless. [aside: some math. Currently L$260=$1 US. L$500 weekly x 52 weeks in a year=L$26,000. 26k/260=$100US, which is greater than the $72 annual fee.] Even now, the old 500 rate is grandfathered to original premium users, but new premiums only get L$300/week, and basics get nothing. Verification is also no longer required. Nor is bank acct info. This has led to a flood of bots and trolling alts. There used to be one other incentive for bots that has since gone by the wayside: traffic stipend. The idea was, if you were running shows/ entertainment on your land, it would draw more avatars to your area. This meant you were an asset to the community and so should be rewarded. On a weekly basis, the top 'traffic' (represented in individual avatar hours spent on your land) would get a kickback that I am fairly certain didn't come close to covering land tier fees. I don't recall if this stipend died before or after the flood of bots came into play to skew traffic results, or if their open/ no verification accounts were at fault.
Bank fiasco. About the time that there was a massive bank fraud in the game 'EVE Online', there existed a bank in Secondlife called 'Ginko' that seemed credible, and offered a ridiculously good interest rate, something like %15-20 if I recall. Needless to say, due to a lack of regulation, someone took the money and ran, leaving many players burned. I do not believe anything was ever really done- a friend who sadly got caught in this mess was issued some basically worthless 'IOU' type 'stock'.
User concurrency per sim (area). If more than 20 or so people gather in an area, there will be crashes, or the system will become otherwise unusable. This is partly due to the ability of users to load up the appearance with unlimited shapes. And I mean *thousands*. *each*. A lack of regulation from LL, or restraint from (some) users, has made gathering a crowd an impossible task. If crowds lag/crash, this makes being social in large groups VERY unappealing to many.
Content development. Along the vein of imagination and creativity, content creation is key to my personal interest in second life. There are gaping holes however.
-Competition. Odd I don't hear this mentioned often but: a blessing is unlimited [sale-able] copies of your resources (shapes, items, etc) that you created, and the ability to set them as 'copy, modify, and/or transfer' (or negate any of those options). But when a content creator leaves, sometimes they leave a bomb in the marketplace by MAKING THEIR STUFF FREE. I'm not sure what compels them to up and say "Hey, maybe I don't need this source of free income", but after many years of SL's operation, the amount of free content is staggering. Also a kick in the teeth are the people who gather up these free things and then attempt to sell them, safely knowing the creator has departed and no longer cares what happens to their work.
-Copy protection of unique work: ultimately, failed in the same sense that game consoles cannot keep people from hacking them: update system, crack released/circumvention method becomes known, update system, repeat. Copying isn't easy, but as far as I've seen, there are some methods that seem they would be impossible to prevent (such as taking the 3d data directly from your graphics card's ram and importing it to a 3d program, then exporting a sculpt of it as your own creation)
-System requirements and performance. WHY does LL not like ATI? NVidia cards are basically the go to if you want SL to run well at all. If you report problems or bugs, it has been my experience that they are generally ignored and blamed on you/your incorrect system/settings/etc. Not their fault. You will be painted with the same brush as X comment that was 'posted months ago, geez didn't you check the forums first' no matter how carefully you researched your issue to no avail. Maybe they need to develop for a console and get consistent hardware for everyone.
-CONSISTENCY of appearance. This is actually what I started with the intention of writing about. As a content creator, if I make something, I want it to look the same to everyone. Instead, because the platform is choppy for most, there are a series of settings where folks can take your careful work and dumb it down to crap in order to view it. Imagine: CNN.com or something, rendered with no pictures in size 20 comic sans glory. Kinda steals your thunder (esp when said clueless people want to know why it is so ugly).
Land glut. Virtual land used to have value. Now it has gone the way of Detroit, with the value of sale not holding a candle to the taxes (monthly tier) you would owe on it. Sloppy management again. Every month becomes a battle to let go of something I've loved in the past vs paying tier. At least WoW never deleted your character. SL shouldn't in theory, but land is another issue. If you sell your home, it WILL be bulldozed.
LL: ever oblivious or willingly negligent has continued to ignore many longstanding issues/limitations while only adding more new features (that cause problems/break or otherwise can be disabled, which then varies individual user experience). Their latest 'initiative' is to 'improve the new user first hour experience' to aid user retention. They also redesigned their main website (via a 'renowned' studio [aka a contractor]). The talent came from without, not within, and the results are 'eh'. Their interest, as usual, was money, and... whatever.
Can someone please come along and offer a stable alternative, PROPERLY managed, please?
There are some reasons SL has failed to show steady growth, and continually fails to really retain users after their first experience. I'm offering my opinions on why I think that is, as well as a record of all the bad decisions and stumbling blocks along the way.
SL's original motto was "Your world, your imagination". This has often gone by the wayside in favor of flailing about on all manner of legal issues and snafus. Original founders (and those that made up the slogan) have all turned over and departed. I believe only one has stayed on as a creative adviser or the like- an emeritus position probably of little influence.
SL is a commerce place where people can shop for the creations of others. This requires currency. And yet you can buy mmo/online marketplace currencies at any number of gas stations, retail chains, and even grocery stores. Linden Lab has yet to offer 'Lindens' (the SL currency) in this format.
Legal crackdowns don't look good. First, Europeans were forced to pay 'VAT' (value added tax) on all purchases. Then gambling was banned, and the 'easy money' folks attempted to push all the loopholes they could (and still do). Then all adult content got pushed to its own continent. But then not as much. Wishy washy also looked bad. Also, a crackdown on 'child avatars' led to much face-palming.
ACCOUNTS and related incentives. Ugh the inconsistency. First accounts were $10 to set up, and required a bank card on file for verification. This also meant that 'alts' were likely linked by bank info as well as IP address. The cost for a 'premium' account ($72 annual) remains unchanged, and is required to own (but not to rent!) land. Land ownership is tiered, and the more you hold, the more you owe on a monthly basis. BUT, as an incentive, basic users got something like L$100/ week provided they had logged in that week, and premium users got L$500/week regardless. [aside: some math. Currently L$260=$1 US. L$500 weekly x 52 weeks in a year=L$26,000. 26k/260=$100US, which is greater than the $72 annual fee.] Even now, the old 500 rate is grandfathered to original premium users, but new premiums only get L$300/week, and basics get nothing. Verification is also no longer required. Nor is bank acct info. This has led to a flood of bots and trolling alts. There used to be one other incentive for bots that has since gone by the wayside: traffic stipend. The idea was, if you were running shows/ entertainment on your land, it would draw more avatars to your area. This meant you were an asset to the community and so should be rewarded. On a weekly basis, the top 'traffic' (represented in individual avatar hours spent on your land) would get a kickback that I am fairly certain didn't come close to covering land tier fees. I don't recall if this stipend died before or after the flood of bots came into play to skew traffic results, or if their open/ no verification accounts were at fault.
Bank fiasco. About the time that there was a massive bank fraud in the game 'EVE Online', there existed a bank in Secondlife called 'Ginko' that seemed credible, and offered a ridiculously good interest rate, something like %15-20 if I recall. Needless to say, due to a lack of regulation, someone took the money and ran, leaving many players burned. I do not believe anything was ever really done- a friend who sadly got caught in this mess was issued some basically worthless 'IOU' type 'stock'.
User concurrency per sim (area). If more than 20 or so people gather in an area, there will be crashes, or the system will become otherwise unusable. This is partly due to the ability of users to load up the appearance with unlimited shapes. And I mean *thousands*. *each*. A lack of regulation from LL, or restraint from (some) users, has made gathering a crowd an impossible task. If crowds lag/crash, this makes being social in large groups VERY unappealing to many.
Content development. Along the vein of imagination and creativity, content creation is key to my personal interest in second life. There are gaping holes however.
-Competition. Odd I don't hear this mentioned often but: a blessing is unlimited [sale-able] copies of your resources (shapes, items, etc) that you created, and the ability to set them as 'copy, modify, and/or transfer' (or negate any of those options). But when a content creator leaves, sometimes they leave a bomb in the marketplace by MAKING THEIR STUFF FREE. I'm not sure what compels them to up and say "Hey, maybe I don't need this source of free income", but after many years of SL's operation, the amount of free content is staggering. Also a kick in the teeth are the people who gather up these free things and then attempt to sell them, safely knowing the creator has departed and no longer cares what happens to their work.
-Copy protection of unique work: ultimately, failed in the same sense that game consoles cannot keep people from hacking them: update system, crack released/circumvention method becomes known, update system, repeat. Copying isn't easy, but as far as I've seen, there are some methods that seem they would be impossible to prevent (such as taking the 3d data directly from your graphics card's ram and importing it to a 3d program, then exporting a sculpt of it as your own creation)
-System requirements and performance. WHY does LL not like ATI? NVidia cards are basically the go to if you want SL to run well at all. If you report problems or bugs, it has been my experience that they are generally ignored and blamed on you/your incorrect system/settings/etc. Not their fault. You will be painted with the same brush as X comment that was 'posted months ago, geez didn't you check the forums first' no matter how carefully you researched your issue to no avail. Maybe they need to develop for a console and get consistent hardware for everyone.
-CONSISTENCY of appearance. This is actually what I started with the intention of writing about. As a content creator, if I make something, I want it to look the same to everyone. Instead, because the platform is choppy for most, there are a series of settings where folks can take your careful work and dumb it down to crap in order to view it. Imagine: CNN.com or something, rendered with no pictures in size 20 comic sans glory. Kinda steals your thunder (esp when said clueless people want to know why it is so ugly).
Land glut. Virtual land used to have value. Now it has gone the way of Detroit, with the value of sale not holding a candle to the taxes (monthly tier) you would owe on it. Sloppy management again. Every month becomes a battle to let go of something I've loved in the past vs paying tier. At least WoW never deleted your character. SL shouldn't in theory, but land is another issue. If you sell your home, it WILL be bulldozed.
LL: ever oblivious or willingly negligent has continued to ignore many longstanding issues/limitations while only adding more new features (that cause problems/break or otherwise can be disabled, which then varies individual user experience). Their latest 'initiative' is to 'improve the new user first hour experience' to aid user retention. They also redesigned their main website (via a 'renowned' studio [aka a contractor]). The talent came from without, not within, and the results are 'eh'. Their interest, as usual, was money, and... whatever.
Can someone please come along and offer a stable alternative, PROPERLY managed, please?