Developers Rule, OK?
by Pixeleen Mistral on 23/06/07 at 2:02 pm
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
Apparently standard-issue residents of Second Life are so glutting the market that it is not important for the Lab to consult with them on fundamental changes to the game metaverse monetizing platform. As far as we can tell, even concierge-level land owners – those with a sim or more – are not worth consulting — unless those land owners have signed up as “Second Life Developers”.
At issue are the sorts of for-fee support the Lab will provide – something that all land owners would have an interest in, one might suspect – given the well-known stability of the platform, and occasional social problems found in our shared garden of cyber delights.
News of Glenn Linden’s secret conclaves arrived when a little birdy avatar stopped by and started chirping about Glenn’s special treat for developers – two forums at secret locations to discuss how SL names are selected during registration and for-fee support for “a set of services”. Perhaps undisclosed location fan Dick Cheney will also be in attendance?
Registered developers were instructed to IM Glenn Linden in-world, or e-mail him at glenn@lindenlab.com for the meeting locations. This would seem to allow Glenn to pick and choose attendees – a standard Linden approach to seeking feedback. Vigorous discourse has been known to blunt that fine california high, and is to be avoided if possible.
The good news for developers is that the Lab wants to tailor the program to meet their needs. Too bad there was no word on tailoring a program to meet land owner’s needs. A small oversight, perhaps?
For those that feel a sudden need to become SL developers, you might be able to participate some meetings if you hurry – and the Lindens like you. Perhaps this will lead to more SL developers – as land owners role-play being software developers to get the inside scoop.
Dear Second Life Developer:
We’ve scheduled the following two Forums to get your input into
upcoming changes.
If you’re interested in either one, please IM Glenn Linden or email
glenn@lindenlab.com for the location.
1) Registration and Name Selection
Tue 26 Jun 11AM SLT
Join Jesse Linden to provide input on changes to name seleciton during
Registration. Name selection is a major drop point during
registration; we’d like your input on alternatives to the current
process.
2) Paid Tier Support
Thu 28 Jun 11AM SLT (PDT)
Join Jack Linden to discuss For-fee Tiered Support. We’re considering
a for-fee tier level that would have a guaranteed SLA (response time
- SLA=”Service Level Agreement”) and provide a set of services. Many
of you have asked for this. Help us tailor this tier to your needs.
For the Linden Lab Developer Program Team – Glenn
Glenn Fisher
Director, Marketing & Developer Programs
Linden Lab
Espresso Saarinen
Jun 23rd, 2007
i am not sure an sla from a disfunctional support organization is much good. in 12 hours you get a form letter asking if you remembered to plug the computer in.
this is probably an attempt to fast-channel support requests from folk with clue so they can devote some clue to responding. but, if the concern is fixing problems as opposed to fending off customers (we do know what a customer is, yes?), the root causes of the support requests are proportional to the problems, not the number of avis experiencing the problems. and often, by pure mass, a non-privileged customer will be the first to notice. so triage is the key, not more filtering.
Prokofy Neva
Jun 23rd, 2007
Yeah, this institutionalization of the FIC is really awful stuff.
They do this secret stuff with their dev friends — who include landowners of course, just the ones THEY like — because if they were to announce anything special that involved even a large class of people like “all who own a sim or more” or “all who pay any tier even on a 512″ the socialists and communists on the forums would scream “unfair!” and tear them apart — like they tear apart anyone who suggests that major griefing incidents deserve some rapid response team that is accessible to major venue owners. In the interests of fake eqalitarianism, then, the Lindens become even MORE elitist and oriented only to those they think have “value add”. Mere land ownership isn’t enough; it has to be land ownership plus that elucive “value-add” of “rich content” plus friend status.
Paid help is what every computer software company in the universe has, just because they *can* charge for the right to use their arcane and complex products. Telephone companies and ISPs, however, usually let you access live help for the mere price of your standard subscription. So if the Lindens introduce some fanastically tiered scheme where the person with 10 islands or 50 islands gets Jack Linden’s speed dial and the person with only 1 sim gets “live chat” only when they aren’t busy, and not on weekends, that’s something fundamentally wrong. They need to make tiered level attach to the subscription itself. So they need to make subscriptions that anyone can buy, and expect the service built into it. 10 work station licenses gets you X. 100 work station licenses gets you Z. Not “buy the 100 work stations and then later decide to buy which service level you need”.
Computer companies always try to hawk you service contracts for hundreds of dollars more than the computer cost itself. The warranty is free with the cost of the computer, but taps out after 90 days. Most people look at their laptop, know it will burn out or break within 2 years and they’ll have to buy a new one, and don’t spend $239 on a contract that will have fine print that won’t fix a lot of the things that get broken anyway. Sounds to me like the Lindens are offering something like that $239 contract…
People drop out at the name selection stage for 3 reasons:
a) the names are goofy, wierd, and stupid. If you see names like Blouwme, Catalafaque, Pedestrian, Yybothhere, etc. you figure this is not for you, the developers hate you, and they don’t want you here. When they can start putting in more normal names that aren’t plucked off Wikipedia pages, they will do better. There are some names that lie fallow, never getting 100 takes. These should be eliminated as retarded when they see there are no takers.
b) people need an option where they can just put in their own RL names by pressing a button and paying not $150, which is ridiculous, but no more than $50 for a one-time fee.
c) even people who put in their RL names in the template and a valid email are being told “Sorry, we reserve the right to control the number of alternative accounts”. It’s absolutely and profoundly fucked to enable every script kiddie to come in and put in the wrong or invalid information and get a free griefing alt, but not allow adults who wish to add to their existing accounts for whatever reason to put in valid information, a valid email and credit card, and not get an account. A lot of drop-outs are from existing accounts rebuffed when they try to get a valid alt. Once the Lindens get over their ideological frenzy about *that* then this drop-out problem will stop.
Some people just start the join process — like I just did — just to check the list of names to see if either their own RL name or a useful last name is coming up — and BTW, when I see names like Ballinger, Cealwin, Etchegaray, Fimicoloud — actual names in the list right now — I see my made-up name list just above wasn’t far off. THAT is the problem. They could take the Manhattan phone book and do a better job. I don’t care if these are famous people or something off Wikipedia, the names are still hard to spell — and retarded.
2. Regarding paid tier support. They have discussed this vaguely at office hours where they float it and see if it lands. But very informally. They’ve mentioned it here and there. And they already started this system by making concierge live chat available for those with a sim or more. But obviously, they need a way to distinguish
Artemis Fate
Jun 23rd, 2007
Sometimes I wish there really were an FIC, so they could just ban Prokofy and be done with it.
Nicholaz Beresford
Jun 23rd, 2007
The thing about the names is interesting. I remember when I logged on. I saw that “please choose wisely because you can’t change it” message, could not get my first name combined with any of the last names, could not even find a first name I wanted (Nicolas) with any of the names because they were blocked by one of those 6 million dead accounts and just left to think about it and forgot about the whole thing for two weeks.
Hazim Gazov
Jun 23rd, 2007
I don’t know what I’d do with myself if Profoky was banned.
Inigo Chamerberlin
Jun 23rd, 2007
Duly noted Artemis. Your wish is our command.
Jessica Holyoke
Jun 23rd, 2007
I would miss prokofy.
Cocoanut Koala
Jun 24th, 2007
Okay, now tell me where I have this wrong:
The Developers Directory is largely made up of people and companies who build things for outside corporations.
These developers are now being especially consulted about name selections and about paying for support.
So . . .just what IS it about being on the Developers’ Directory that makes these people useful experts on the subject of name selection and customer support?
As opposed to, you know, anybody and everybody else?
—–
Yes, the names suck and have sucked for a long time.
I myself like a whimsical name – such as Koala, and Cookie. Those names were hard to find when I joined – I took what there was that WAS whimsical – and virtually non-existant now.
Esoteric, hard-to-spell, impossible-to-pronounce, and downright dumb names take up most of the space on the name list. I mean, one is hard put to find a name that isn’t actually distasteful.
Someone with ZERO imagination is coming up with those names; I could come up with dozens a day that would be better out of my hip pocket.
Course, they haven’t changed the names in a long time. I suppose they can’t manage to do that until the DD people come up with a new, impressively complicated techy algorythm (doubtlessly automated) to do what I could have done a hundred times over yesterday, off the top of my head.
I am being somewhat facetious there, but to be serious, it does just KILL me the time LL spends constantly trying to figure out new ways to get machines and programs to do what people could have done dozens of times already, if they would just actually TAKE ON the task.
(But then, the only task they ever feel like taking on is how to get machines to do the things they don’t want to! hehe)
That the names are dumb and hard to spell couldn’t POSSIBLY be an explanation, though, because it is too simple!
No answer is an answer for the Lindens unless it is hopelessly complex, both in reasoning, and to implement.
coco
Thraxis Epsilon
Jun 24th, 2007
“and BTW, when I see names like Ballinger, Cealwin, Etchegaray, Fimicoloud — actual names in the list right now — I see my made-up name list just above wasn’t far off”
Ballinger Family Crest – http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.fc/qx/ballinger-family-crest.htm
CEAWLIN (CEALWIN) King Of Wessex
Etchegaray – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Etchegaray
Fimicoloud – Obscure English Term meaning: Living in a dung heap
So of the 4 names you picked as justification to say the names weren’t good… The first is an ancient scottish surname. The second is the name of a King of Wessex (southwestern England) circa 593. The third name is the surname of a French Cardinal Bishop of the Roman Catholic church. The fourth is probably the closest one to something you could complain about due to the definition.
Three of those names may seem odd or worthless to someone in the USA. But SL is accessed by people from all over the world, and those names may be just what they were looking for.
————–
Now for those of you who aren’t technical and totaly missed what those two meeting notes said.
The first one: Registration and Name Selection
Says NOTHING AT ALL about picking what last names will be available. What it does say is they are looking for a dialog on how to improve the process, to make it easier to get to the next step.
And as much as you bitch and moan. The DEVELOPERS… yes the people you complain about because they get paid for their skills… are the people who will most likely know how to make meaningfull suggestions and who may have some experiance that will help with this process.
As for #2: Paid Tier Support
This is that extra level of payment everyone has been wanting the “Corporations” to pay.. Yes they would then get more support then Concierege, who get more support then Premium, who get more support then basic..
The extra services would be most likely be things like data access for places like SLBoutique or SLExchange for their transactions. And whatever other premium services that a huge portion of the grid would have no need for.
———
Did I know about the meetings? No
Will I be at the meetings? No
But hey I’m one of those people you like to complain about all the time… you know.. the ones who are helping work on the Open Source client… So after the next patch comes out, you can curse my name and how I’m helping with the downfall of the modern world, when you find you have more control over your chat logging… like the inclusion of dates and the ability to have the regular chat log timestamped.
Lewis Nerd
Jun 24th, 2007
Ever considered that, because these people are on the developers directory, and more likely to be in contact with the bigger corporations coming in to SL, that they are in a better position to know what their clients are saying?
I myself am on the list because I have a small building company. I get a lot of enquiries, but few of them turn into actual orders because I try to be honest and explain what SL is, and what people need to do to truly be a part of SL instead of being ‘in’ SL, and they realise perhaps it’s not for them. I could just lie through my teeth, take the money and run, having provided a half-assed job like some of my bigger competitors who make a living out of SL – but that’s not my style. Many people who I do speak to say they like my “no bullshit” approach that they experience with other developer companies.
Anyone who knows me in SL knows that I’m the same in pixel format.
Lewis
Prokofy Neva
Jun 24th, 2007
From what I gather, it’s not a machine that is used for the names, but Daniel Linden picks them out of lists of things on Wikipedia, like “all Supreme Court judges” or “famous Canadian hockey players”. It’s quite possible that this didn’t “scale” and knowing of their love for programming, the Lindens cooked up some name generator that is little different from the thing that tries to dodge your spam filter on Yahoo.
Barney Boomslang
Jun 24th, 2007
And here am I thinking that my concierge level allready was making me a special tier worth of support. Oh well, I guess 200 US$ each month just won’t cut it, then. But really – does anybody else think the idea of an additional tier added to your allready probably high tier just to get service is kinda insulting?
Inigo Chamerberlin
Jun 24th, 2007
Jessica – you need to zero those sights in properly then.
Inigo Chamerberlin
Jun 24th, 2007
And ‘blocked by those 6 million dead accounts’ is a very valid point.
Residents to LL: ‘Just DELETE the millions of unused accounts please – you can still have your fake numbers up to impress the credulous, that’s fine, but do some housekeeping please.
LL to Residents: Is housekeeping fun and cool? We don’t think so! So the answer is NO!
Jessica Holyoke
Jun 24th, 2007
I meant that sincerely Inigo. Without Prokofy, the discourse on any comment board would be fairly bland.
Cocoanut Koala
Jun 24th, 2007
1. I haven’t been wanting the corporations to pay for an extra level of support AT ALL, Thraxis.
NOT ONE BIT.
I’ve been wanting them to pay more for LAND, as sponsors.
(The idea of having corporations pay the same for land as us is similar to the idea of a married couple deciding that each will pay 50% of everything, when one of them makes $30k a year and the other makes $500k.)
Now you are talking about paying for level of support? This would translate into: REAL support for corporations who could afford it, but not for regular people, who could not.
Unlike charging corporations more for land, which is the same commodity, this would amount simply to pricing real support out of reach for regular people.
2. I don’t “bitch and moan” about the Developers Directory, because it was MY bloody idea in the first place that the Lindens create one!
Suggested to them by me! So obviously, I’m happy they have this directory.
As for these name issues, including “how to improve the process” and “make it easier to get to the next step – NO, the developers aren’t the be-all and end-all for these issues.
No, they don’t have any special insight into this that the rest of us who’ve tried to make a name don’t have. And no, they aren’t the only people in SL with techy ability.
The Lindens just happen to have this handy little group, and they are using it for EVERYTHING, without consulting anyone else. That’s always bad.
coco
Nicholaz Beresford
Jun 24th, 2007
Btw, admittedly being a tekkie, I find many of the names, especially those who are wordplay pretty cool. Now, I did pick a normal one, but being inworld for months now and coming across a wide variety of those names, I’ve smiled many times when it dawned on me that there’s an extra layer of meaning in those. Like a builder choosing Stonecutter, or Payne being popular among the BDSM folks. Reminds me of some of those names Terry Pratchett is using for his book characters, like that dwarf called Stronginthearm
shockwave yareach
Jun 25th, 2007
When this first started, they asked for the residents who were developers to sign up. I did so. Now the developer group is created and running, and I’m not a member? Did I do something wrong? I have received no notice.
I’m one of the coders and builders for three islands and two clubs. Losing the “cred” bit won’t bother me in the least. It does, however, make me think this is nothing but a clique instead of a professional skill-development organization. You asked for volunteers and I volunteered. If your principle requirements for membership were running a business selling stuff to the public and knowing the right people, I wish you’d said so at the outset.