Op-Ed: It’s a Beta, Beta, Beta, Beta World
by Alphaville Herald on 14/01/05 at 6:27 pm
by Walker Spaight
While the Herald’s editorial board remains skeptical about certain aspects of the recent economic changes put in place in Second Life, the Lindens are to be applauded both for their effort to rein in an overheating economy, and for their attempts to keep the world of Second Life as creative as it needs to be.
With money supply growing faster than the Lindens were comfortable with, something had to be done. Though many residents have over-reacted to the recent changes — which involve cutting stipend bonuses and eliminating most event support — many have also taken a wait-and-see attitude that’s probably increasing their enjoyment of SL.
The changes also serve a social function: concerns had been growing among Lindens and residents both about residents gaming the ratings system and about club culture growing out of control.
The Lindens clearly had this in mind when considering the changes. It’s unfortunate that Philip Linden made no mention of this in
While they’re not the perfect solution, the changes will probably help the game in the long run — especially given the commitment the Lindens have consistently shown to continually monitoring conditions and trying to steer Second Life toward a more creative and enjoyable place for all.
More tweaking will probably be necessary. As a recent addition to Second Life myself, I found it delightful to fly up to a gathering of avatars I’d never laid eyes on before, only to be rated positively before I’d even spoken to anyone. How much more welcoming can a place get? It would be nice to find a more sophisticated rating system that would allow for this kind of encouragement without leaving people free rein to enrich themselves at little cost through rating parties and the like, though that’s admittedly a difficult task.
One thing is clear: we’ll all have to become a bit more creative. That’s not a bad thing.
Even before the economic changes, there was a lot going on in Second Life. New games, new GOM ATMs, new business models from admittedly controversial figures like Anshe Chung, big projects like the Second Life Public Library getting under way, and the constant
flow of drama that makes the SL experience so rich (or poor, depending on your point of view).
The changes have only brought the action to a new level. Residents who’d settled into a comfortable routine based on their event support income have now been thrown into a tizzy, scrambling to make ends meet under an economy that now more closely resembles the real world’s (slightly more closely, anyway).
That’s a good thing. The real world is not a stable place. Changes take place all the time. Businessmen rise to positions of power while others are thrown down overnight. (How many SL residents who lamented the withdrawal of event support would also argue against government bailouts for bankrupt airlines?) Popular cultural icons are thrown in jail. Scandals break out as often as stories of striking
philanthropy. You never know what’s going to happen next.
In short, the world is in a constant state of beta testing, always progressing toward someone’s version of perfection but never quite reaching the mark. Why shouldn’t Second Life behave the same way? The powers that be–God, the US armed forces, Bill Gates, Al Qaeda, Mother Nature, what have you–have a hard enough time making the earth run smoothly, however rough their version of smoothly may seem to someone else. The Lindens have set themselves a similar challenge,
albeit on a much smaller scale. Can they be right every time? No. But the collective SL consciousness should be able to demonstrate that we’re more resilient than many residents give themselves credit for. SL is one of the most creative communities in the virtual world. Nothing has happened lately that we can’t absorb, enjoy, and even profit from.
It’s a beta, beta, beta, beta world. Let’s learn to roll with it.
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