The Alphaville Herald

Disaster Averted – Lab Will Not Fix Bugs

by Alphaville Herald on 05/06/08 at 7:58 am

Prospero Linden confirms double prim land bug — twice!

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

The inexplicable inner workings of Linden Lab were on display in the aftermath of shocking revelations of an impending SL server update. As reported earlier, a planned update and bug fix could result in massive prim return, devastating Gorean slave quarters, baby unicorn stables, and possibly causing some 100-position sex beds to go missing. Clearly, the future of the 3D Internet was at stake. Experienced, pragmatic residents quietly returned excess prims to their inventories and went off to go play WoW, as a precautionary measure.

However, the Lab then confirmed the bug and changed its direction, as Prospero Linden stated not once, but twice that the double prim land bug exists – and went on to say that it will not be fixed this week. This may mark the first time the Lab’s notoriously slow response to bugs was greeted with cheers by the long-suffering residents of Second Life.

Linden Lab scholars remained divided on the question of how the mixed messages about double prim land bugfixes occurred.

One theory is this is a symptom of disagreements between the developer and support factions within the Lab. The developer faction would like to keep the server software as neat and tidy as possible to increase the likelihood of salary bonuses for releasing new features.

The Lab customer support faction opposes this view, and hopes for less turmoil and fewer irate residents. Apparently the customer support Lindens won this round – though we wonder why the game gods don’t simply grandfather-in the current prim violators and avoid this potential conflict with the residents. Can’t the Lab afford a few spare prims?

Another theory suggests that the longtime pattern of leaks and official announcements seemingly designed to cause maximum resident angst are simply the Lab’s way of checking to see what it can get away with.

After measuring the outrage level, plans are adjusted, and weasel-worded announcements follow. The drama created in this process is thought to enhance the user experience and help distract residents from some of the more glaring problems in Second Life – such as the plight of un-loved prim babies languishing in residents’ inventories.