The Alphaville Herald

Rod Humble: Current SL Players Key to Growth

by Pixeleen Mistral on 05/02/11 at 11:38 pm

Better shoes might help, too

Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble believes giving current Second Life players better tools for content creation is a key to increasing interest in the struggling virtual world. The new leader of Second Life said Friday that first step in getting more players to sign up is "to have more people come and enjoy the world you have all built, i would say empowering our current residents to enable easier creativity and better creativity".

Pete Linden (left), Rodvik Linden (right) – does Rodvik have tiny feet or supersized sandals?

Humble went on to point out immersion-killing artifacts of the aging Second Life platform are a problem which he hopes to deal with by "addressing lag and other fundemental issues that kind of take you out of the expereince and address in a very significant way the usuability mountain new customers have. SL is a very very deep experience and many new users are overwhlemed by Ui issues. In general those are the areas i would think about. Obviously the hard bit is in the details of how each area is apporached."

Indeed.

unexpected difficulties on the server get the meeting off to an immersion-killing start

I was happy to hear that Rod has mastered the basics of bonding with other SL players — complaining about lag and the crappy user interface of the SL viewers. Mr. Humble still needs a little help with his shoes, but there is some hope that this CEO might fit in better than ex-CEOs "chainsaw" M Linden and Philip "Love Machine" Linden.

The news that the Lab’s latest CEO might have a clue came in response to a question I posed late in a press event Friday, when we were finally allowed to query Rodvik Linden – Rod Humble’s in-game avatar. At that point, I’d spent an hour – that I will never get back – at an informal suckup session meet and greet for the media orchestrated by Pete Linden.

This was around the the time I noticed that Rodvik’s feet had worn through the bottoms of his sandals. As I snapped a few pictures of the foot faux pas, I thought I caught a horrified Pete Linden following my camera then whispering to Rodvik that his sandals made his feet look a bit off.

alerted by the sound of a camera shutter, Pete Linden follows my gaze

oh noes! Rodvik!! – your sandals!!!

We can only hope that Rodvik’s sandals will fit better before he next appears in public. The importance of shoes is clear – when I described my interests in SL as faction wars, game god governance, and shoe shopping, the assembled press agreed that shoes are quite important in Second Life [11:56 - 11:58 in transcript].

Linden Lab CEO has worn through the soles of his shoes

why Rodvik avoids treading on hot pavement and sharp stones

Pete Linden’s meet and greet was not supposed to be a press conference. Instead, we were meant to meet Rodvik avatar-to-avatar in a casual setting – if any event where representatives of the Justice League Unlimited vigilantes are present can be considered casual. The JLU superheros are a serious meta-gaming militia who score by getting other players suspended or banned from the game – and filing frivolous DMCA takedown notices.

JLU reporter Emiley Tomsen arrives early

The tone for the event had been set well before Rodvik arrived when I encountered Emiley Tomsen – a writer for the JLU propaganda outlet Krypton Radio – and asked her "who watches the watchers?"

My question went unanswered – perhaps Emiley was busy updating the JLU enemies list in their secret Brainiac wiki? I wondered if a terms-of-service violating Brainiac wiki HUD was part of the welcome gift bag Emiley handed Rodvik’s during the meet and greet – or does that come later?

Faction vs. faction meta-games are the best that Second Life can offer to long term players, and as the meet and greet progressed it became clear that a number of Second Life media outlets felt they were pitted against each other in a text-chat based competition to see who could most successfully win the favor from the new game god regime [complete transcript below].

Blue Mars refugee and ex-Linden staff member Hamlet Au of New World Notes was a surprising no-show. But Hamlet doesn’t log into the game much, and so could easily have missed Pete Linden’s invite earlier in the week – the absence of my reluctant dance partner Hamlet was not a surprise. Hamlet may get his chance to play again. Both Pete and Rodvik gave the impression that there would be in-world press conferences in the future.

Real in-world press conferences would be a significant – and positive – change from the practice of the previous administrations, assuming the SL press can muster the will to ask critical questions on behalf of the players and hold the game gods accountable. Based on the deferential demeanor of most of the media Friday, this seems unlikely.

Among the media luminaries at the event was Pooky Amsterdam, who went on and on [11:50 - 11:54 in chat transcript] about her game show and ‘toon video empire. I’m sure Rodvik will forever treasure the periodic table of the elements Pooky presented to him, but will he also accept an invitation to appear on one of Pooky’s game shows? Ex-CEO M Linden only lasted two months after his appearance – but Pooky did change the rules during the contest to make sure M won, so maybe it was a worthwhile investment of time.

The JLU representative wore her heart on her sleeve with a transparent play for special superhero powers to ban other players. But those hopes were dashed when Rodvik snubbed Emiley Tomsen’s request for "improvements to the service to deal with the increase in griefers" [12:03 in the chat transcript].

Will the SL media adopt the posture of representatives of SL customers, as opposed to humble supplicants for game god favors? If Rod Humble spends his time on real platform problems rather than appearing on Pooky’s game show and resists the JLU vigilante’s paranoid fantasies, perhaps there is some hope for SL.

the meet and greet begins

transcript:
[11:07] Rodvik Linden: heya!
[11:07] Pooky Amsterdam: Ahoy Rodvik!
[11:07] Rai Fargis: Hi
[11:07] Saffia Widdershins: Hello Rodvik!
[11:07] Malburns Writer: Hi Rodvik
[11:07] Bevan Whitfield: hello Rodvik
[11:07] Surfaqua Oh: hello Rodvik
[11:07] Angie Mornington: Hi Rodvik
[11:07] Garmin Kawaguichi: Bonjour Rodvik, we are very pleased to meet you.
[11:07] Rodvik Linden: hey everybody, let me take a sec, looking at the cool avatars
[11:08] Rodvik Linden: sweet
[11:08] Rai Fargis: meow
[11:08] Pooky Amsterdam: S’-p
[11:08] Bevan Whitfield:
[11:09] Xon Emoto: Hello,
[11:09] Bevan Whitfield: hi Xon
[11:09] Pete Linden: so… let’s get started!
[11:09] Pete Linden: Welcome everyone, again! and thanks so much for coming this morning
[11:10] Rodvik Linden: Hey!
[11:10] Pete Linden: As I mentioned in the invite and a bit earlier, the aim of this mtg is to be an opportunity to meet avatar-to-avatar
[11:10] Pete Linden: and really just to make introductions we don’t have an announcement to make today, and this isn’t meant as a press conference of Q&A
[11:10] Rodvik Linden:
[11:10] GoSpeed Racer: Rod learns fast
[11:11] Pete Linden: As members of the SL Press Corps, I imagine you all probably read the press release and BK Linden’s blog post announcing that Rod was joining us, and I hope you’ve also had a chance to read the blog post Rod published in his first week at the Lab.
[11:11] Rai Fargis nods
[11:11] Bevan Whitfield: nods
[11:11] Saffia Widdershins: yes
[11:11] Pete Linden: From that, I think you’ll probably know a bit Rod and have some sense for the perspective he’s brought to Linden Lab and his thoughts on SL, but I wanted to kick off today’s meet-and-greet by having Rod introduce himself and answer a very broad question -
[11:11] Malburns Writer: yes
[11:11] Chestnut Rau: I loved that post. It was great
[11:11] Angie Mornington: yup
[11:11] Pete Linden: Then, I’d like to go around the group and have everyone introduce yourselves and share your thoughts on that same question, as a way to get to know one another a bit better
[11:13] Pete Linden: So…Rod, turning things over to you, the question is: we’re now just a few weeks into your time at Linden Lab. today, what’s most exciting to you about Second Life? – what makes you excited to come into work at the Lab?
[11:13] Pete Linden: feel free to answer from whatever angle you like, whether it’s something you’ve seen or done inworld, some opportunities you see for where SL could go or what it could become, some aspect of the community, or the technology, or whatever comes to mind.
[11:13] Rodvik Linden: Thanks, firstly thanks for all the welcomes!……
[11:13] Bevan Whitfield: nice to see you here
[11:14] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: d
[11:14] Xon Emoto: Welcome to SL
[11:14] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: welcome Rod
[11:14] Rodvik Linden: ..I fell in love the open ended creativity of Sl from when I was first approached about the opportunity. I found it amazing all the things you could make. Immediately I felt this was a natural fit for my interests..
[11:15] Rodvik Linden: add on top of that the fact that the world is not only entirely user made but shared by other live people, figuring out new ways to interact was facinating to me.
[11:15] Rodvik Linden: (end of short answer0
[11:16] Pete Linden: fair enough
[11:17] Pete Linden: Toxic, would you mind kicking off the group introductions? the media you publish, how long you’ve been in SL, and your thoughts on the same question – what’s currently most exciting about SL to you?
[11:17] Toxic Menges: Okies .. short intro coming up
[11:18] Toxic Menges: Hi there, my name is Toxic Menges, I am primarily a machinimatographer in SL – I’ve made machinima for Peter Greenaway, and had my work broadcast on TV around the world and also exhibited at the Shanghai World Expo this past year. I am a podcaster and twitterer, and am a community manager in real life, I have worked on the core team for Linden Lab events such as SL Birthdays and Burning Man.
[11:18] Toxic Menges: I’ve been in SL for coming up to 4 years
[11:18] Toxic Menges: The possibilities are what excites me .. every step anyone takes here is right on the cutting edge, and thats amazing
[11:18] Toxic Menges: we all need to think outside the box.
[11:19] Toxic Menges: (done)
[11:19] Rodvik Linden: very cool, pleased to meet you!
[11:19] Pete Linden: thx, Tox!
[11:19] Toxic Menges: and you
[11:19] Pete Linden: Surfaqua, you’re up!
[11:20] Garmin Kawaguichi: Sorry but I’ll speak for the both of us
[11:20] Pete Linden: if taht suits you, or someone else, please feel free to jump in
[11:20] Pete Linden: oh, that works!
[11:20] Garmin Kawaguichi: Bonjour Rodvik, we are very pleased to meet you. Surfaqua Oh (a Swiss citizen) is the editorial director of Le Canard Virtuel published in French for a French-speaking audience. Our goal is obviously to inform readers, but also give them food for thought on both the virtual worlds and the North American culture. We also present a second release: Avatars-3D.com for technical training and tutorials
[11:20] Garmin Kawaguichi: Allow me on behalf of the Francophone community of Second Life, to congratulate you for this new mission as head of Linden Lab and let me hope that these first weeks will be very favorable to you.
[11:20] Garmin Kawaguichi: The Francophone community of Second Life, along with our readership, covering several countries (France, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Quebec but also North Africa, Middle East and many territories in the Pacific and Indian Oceans).
[11:20] Garmin Kawaguichi: Many of us are involved in the translation of the viewer and help develop
[11:21] Garmin Kawaguichi: We sincerely thank you for allowing this visit
[11:21] Garmin Kawaguichi: You have something to read now )) I hope I was not too long ))
[11:22] Rodvik Linden: Bonjour and thank you! I love France! The Parisian location in SL was one of the first places I visited!
[11:22] Surfaqua Oh:
[11:22] Garmin Kawaguichi: Oh thank you very much ; you’re welcome!!!
[11:23] Pete Linden: Emiley, you’re up
[11:23] Emiley Tomsen: Greetings Mr Humble, I’m Emiley Tomsen a staff writer with Krypton Radio, a Superhero themed current events/news site and radio station. I’ve been in SL for over three years. I find SL a very exciting place to develop communities and friendships like no other. Also I’d like to give you a Welcome to Second Life bag on behalf of Krypton Radio, has some information on our station and other assorted items you can try out at your convenience.
[11:24] Rodvik Linden: Thats great thank you! I never thought of superheroes but it makes total sense. Thank you for the bag! I will check it out!
[11:24] Emiley Tomsen: You’re very welcome.
[11:24] Pete Linden: perhaps we could jump the aisle and hear from Rai next?
[11:25] Rai Fargis: Konnichiwa, Rodvik. I am with radio FM4, Austrian Broadcasting Corp, where I do segments and shows about politics and IT. I also occasionally write for print magazines. I am also a musician. SL fascinates me because of its complex creative tools and the way you can express yourself through them. I think it’s a good thing SL is complex , as opposed to simple and dumb. With SL I expanded my skills, from music and writing towards graphics and 3D design. I own a private region in SL, which is used mostly by the kid avatar community and fur cubs.
[11:26] Rai Fargis: I love SL and hope it will be a major factor in the development of the internet in the next years.
[11:27] Rodvik Linden: Pleased to meet you! Veinna is one of my favourite cities by the way. It feels like the center of the European intellectual tradition when you are walking around there. Pleased to meet you!
[11:27] Pete Linden: Next up is Bevan
[11:27] Bevan Whitfield:
[11:27] Rai Fargis: Thanks
[11:28] Bevan Whitfield: Thank you Pete for inviting me and welcome to Second Life Rod – so very nice to meet you.
[11:28] Pete Linden: thanks for coming!
[11:28] Bevan Whitfield: I’ve been an International Business Analyst for 20 years, live between the USA and France – fell in love with SL almost 4 years ago and never looked back. Do marketing for Metanomics, Rockcliffe University and Nokia in SL (plus others). Tireless 3D Internet proselytizer. Non-stop micro-blogger. Love to meet SL people in RL.
[11:28] Rodvik Linden: Awesome! great to meet you!
[11:29] Bevan Whitfield:
[11:29] Pete Linden: GoSpeed, you’re up!
[11:29] GoSpeed Racer: Hi! I am GoSpeed Racer and I have been a resident for over 4 years.

Media wise I am an active virtual world blogger (SL, Blue Mars, & EVE Online). I am active "photographer" and I post my pictures to Flickr where I run several SL related photo pools. I also help run KONA Stream. It’s an SL based radio station that has been streaming in world since October 2006 where we serve many residents with quality music ( we also play music by SL artists too).

I am impressed by the adaptibility of the residents and the flexibility of the platform. If you can imagine it then someone has tried it in SL.
[11:30] GoSpeed Racer curtsies
[11:30] Pete Linden: love how you put it "i If you can imagine it then someone has tried it in SL."
[11:31] Chestnut Rau: so true
[11:31] GoSpeed Racer smiles
[11:31] Rodvik Linden: Pleased to meet you! I have been realy blown away by the in game streaming channels of various kinds. Loved EVE by the way, that is a really cool dynamic economy! Great to meet you!
[11:31] Rai Fargis: EVE is awesome, yeah. But I stopped playing it because of SL. ^^
[11:31] Rodvik Linden:
[11:32] Pete Linden: Mal, your turn
[11:32] Malburns Writer: tks
[11:33] Malburns Writer: Welcome Rodvik. I am Mal Burns – UK (London) based, I run metaverse/newslinks feed from twiiter.com/malburns and TV/video aggregation at http://mbtv.live.nu – also work with MBC on inworld news shows Inworld 4 years or so – came in as saw potential of moving information from web into 2d space. Now more involved with projecting SL and the metaverse from inworld outworld through TV broadcasting and social web. We also bring evebnts inworld. Inspired by the unique crerative and collaboration possiblities here, the global nature of the platform as a coomunication tools. I continue to explore virtual immersive spaces for their power to augment other activites and sometimes improve on conventional methods. Also broadcast a marathon metaverse webcam show each Sunday. Excuse the typos – i am more voice person /me giggles
[11:33] Draxtor Despres: so awefully sorry!
[11:33] Pete Linden: welcome, Draxtor!
[11:33] Draxtor Despres: son home from school, sick, delayed everything this morning
[11:33] Malburns Writer: Hi drax
[11:33] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: Hi Drax
[11:33] Bevan Whitfield: hey drax – hope he feels better
[11:34] suzy Honi gave you secret story.
[11:34] Draxtor Despres: hi everyone’
[11:34] Pooky Amsterdam: Ahoy Drax!
[11:34] Rodvik Linden: Pleased to meet you! I am from the UK as you may know (Worcestershire)
[11:34] Toxic Menges: Yay for us Brits!
[11:34] Poptart Lilliehook: Yayyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[11:34] Bevan Whitfield: yay you Brits!
[11:34] Rodvik Linden: (last night of the proms seat dance)
[11:34] Rai Fargis: Hi Drax ^__^
[11:34] Malburns Writer: yes – i gathered – live by old Virgin Interactive office in kensington – you may know it
[11:34] Saffia Widdershins: Marmite and Morris dancing
[11:35] Pooky Amsterdam: mmmmmmmmm Marmite
[11:35] Bevan Whitfield: that’s such a lovely area Mal
[11:35] Rodvik Linden: I do! I used to work at VIE in irvine back in the early 90′s
[11:35] Toxic Menges: not at the same time saffy would be messy
[11:35] Bevan Whitfield: lol Toxic
[11:35] Saffia Widdershins: true
[11:35] Malburns Writer: Greyhound pub there is local metaverse hangout
[11:35] Rodvik Linden: Oh cool. Never knew that.
[11:36] Bevan Whitfield: it’s a lot of fun!
[11:36] Saffia Widdershins: Next time you’re over …
[11:36] Malburns Writer: indeed!
[11:36] Pete Linden: Saffia, you’re up
[11:36] Bevan Whitfield: we hope to have one when Slim and I visit London before Metameets in June -> mark your calendars!
[11:37] Saffia Widdershins: (deep breath)
[11:37] Saffia Widdershins: Like Mal, I’m UK based – Oxford, for me. I produce Prim Perfect magazine – which is the magazine for homes and gardens in Second Life and other virtual worlds, the Primgraph magazine, which is aimed at steampunk and vintage sims – and which is starting to pick up a real world following, the Quest for the Golden Prim, which is a steampunk web comic that uses SL as its canvas and avatars as its characters
[11:37] Saffia Widdershins: and on treet.tv I’m the co-host and exec producer of Designing Worlds, the show for design and designers in virtual worlds, and exec producer of Metaverse Arts, which is a show for virtual worlds art and artists
[11:37] Saffia Widdershins: and I’m woefully uncreative. Prims look at me and wither or hide themselves, never to be found again. I’ve been in SL for 4 years.
[11:38] Saffia Widdershins: Doing what I do here, I am bowled over by the creativity and excitement of what I see … and I also love the amazing communities that have formed here – ranging from cookie eating dragons, to respectable steampunk engineers who might go kraken shooting on weekends, to kids who have fun at camp, to the people who are raising awareness and HUGE sums of money for charity, and basically to people who are living the most astonishingly diverse and rich dreams here.
[11:38] Saffia Widdershins: It’s great to meet you, Rodvik, and I appreciate you making time for this.
[11:38] Rodvik Linden: great to meet you! I would love to get a guide to the best SL gardens. On my land I went a bit crazy with trees, but I assume you could do some really cool ones. pleased to meet you!
[11:38] Pete Linden: amen! (and still chuckling at "prims wither or hide")
[11:38] Pete Linden: Poptart, would you please go next?
[11:39] Bevan Whitfield: claps @Saffia!
[11:39] Rai Fargis: I like cookie eating dragons too. But they dont take kindly to my stealing their cookies.
[11:39] Poptart Lilliehook: Okay
[11:39] Poptart Lilliehook: Rod hi – I’m a Londoner and have been in SL since 2007. You mentioned creativity as the main drawcard for you in SL – I absolutely concur. Apart from hosting an in-world press group which I am representing here today, I also head up a fashion marketing company which publishes a magazine and blog and produces fashion events and the thing that keeps me bouyant about the job is the interaction with talented designers, photographers, graphic artists and stylists.
[11:39] Poptart Lilliehook: Be it translating RL trends into wearable designs in-world or creating unique digital couture – SL has some seriously talented artists. I find working with them all immensely energising. I would like to take this opportunity of welcoming you to this world and thanking Linden Lab for their ongoing support of both ISP and Modavia.
[11:40] Rodvik Linden: pleased to meet you! Fashion is very cool. I got given a report on an inworld fashion show the other day. it was awesome.
[11:40] Rodvik Linden: and thanks!
[11:40] Pete Linden: thx for coming, Poptart! Chestnut, would you please go next?
[11:40] Chestnut Rau: sure thing
[11:40] Chestnut Rau: For the past two years I was the events writer for New World Notes and wrote a weekly column about happenings across the grid. Last month I quit that job and have been writing a daily post on my own blog about fun and interesting things to do in SL. I am primarily interested in art, music and builds that make use of the full range of possibilities of a virtual space, meaning I focus on "not possible in real life" as much as I can. I have been in world for about 3 and a half years.
[11:40] Chestnut Rau: What inspires me about SL is the potential for creative engagement with people from all over the world. I am into my second SL based 365 photography project and I like to play with prims too!
[11:41] Chestnut Rau: I am very happy you have taken the time to meet us and hope the signals of a "new day" we have been seeing from the Lab signify a real change in how Second Life is managed. I welcome this approach and thank you for the chance to be here today. Welcome to Second Life Rodvik!
[11:41] Rodvik Linden: Pleased to meet you! Whats a 365 photo project? Every day you take a photo inworld or something different?
[11:41] Chestnut Rau: I do, yes
[11:41] Rodvik Linden: Very cool! Thanks!
[11:41] Chestnut Rau: last year I did 365 self portraits and now I am doing 365 places to see or things to do in SL
[11:42] Pete Linden: so cool!
[11:42] Pete Linden: Mr. Despres? your turn
[11:42] Chestnut Rau: you missed Angie!
[11:42] Draxtor Despres: ahhh
[11:42] Draxtor Despres: Angie?
[11:42] Pete Linden: oh my! yes
[11:42] Pete Linden: sorry, Angie!
[11:42] Draxtor Despres: Ladies first?
[11:42] Draxtor Despres: oh Pete, that will cost us!!!!
[11:42] Draxtor Despres:
[11:42] Angie Mornington: lol that’s ok
[11:43] Pete Linden: lol i blame my camera position. Please go ahead, Angie
[11:43] Angie Mornington: sure
[11:43] Angie Mornington: Hi Rodvik my name is Angie Mornington (Brooklyn NY), I first rezzed in September of 2007, as a creative person I was immediately drawn to SL and the fact that it is a user created world. SL is a level playing field to literally create anything you want. My RL background is in television and media, so I naturally gravitated to media in SL, and eventually had my own tv show called ‘Fabulous Fashion’ which was broadcast on Treet TV, ‘Fabulous Fashion’ gave me the opportunity to interview SL fashion designers from all over the world. Treet TV provides quality television entertainment from dedicated individuals and I’m proud to be a part of it. I am now a part of the Treet TV Management team and I’m currently working on marketing as well as rebuilding our two sims. I am renovating Tropical Treet to be more public friendly where viewers, noobs and teens feel welcome to watch our shows and to hang out.
[11:43] Angie Mornington: Once the two sims are completely renovated I’ll send you an invite for a personal tour.
[11:43] Angie Mornington: I am also a big Sims fan going back to 2001 so I was excited to hear that you were coming, EA understands what their customers want and I can tell that you already want to understand SL from all different levels including the resident perspective, which I think is crucial to the future development of this platform. Welcome to SL and I look forward to seeing what you will do.
[11:43] Rodvik Linden: Hi very pleased to meet you! Would love to see it!
[11:44] Pete Linden: nice to see you, Angie. And now it’s actually Drax’s turn
[11:44] Draxtor Despres: Hi everyone thank you so much for inviting
[11:44] Draxtor Despres: and welcome to SL Rodvik!
[11:44] Draxtor Despres: so what I do in SL is: I make machinima reportages, mainly on social and political issues and how "real life" intersects with virtual worlds. The latest documentary was the "Kansas To Cairo" Project for the US State Department.
[11:45] Draxtor Despres: I have been doing this for almost 4 years now, really started as a hobby and is now providing a modest income.
[11:45] Draxtor Despres: IN real life I am a musician and audio producer
[11:45] Rodvik Linden: Wow that sounds facinating, great to meet you!
[11:45] Draxtor Despres: former radio news director – about 90 miles south of where you guys are Pete and Rodvik
[11:45] Draxtor Despres: SL has soo much possiblities to "change the world"
[11:45] Draxtor Despres: yes…sounds corny perhaps
[11:46] Rodvik Linden: Woops sorry I interupted! Pleased to meet you!
[11:46] Draxtor Despres: but there is tremendous interest [still and new] in using the world for that purpose
[11:46] Draxtor Despres: we are also in post production
[11:46] Draxtor Despres: on a documentary called Login2Life
[11:46] Draxtor Despres: for German Public TV ZDF
[11:46] Draxtor Despres: which will air in July this year
[11:46] Draxtor Despres: so thats it!
[11:46] Draxtor Despres: pretty darn busy
[11:47] Draxtor Despres: and earlier today I played SIMBALL
[11:47] Pete Linden: oh! I’ll be pinging you about that after this thanks, Drax!
[11:47] Draxtor Despres: strictly a private matter hahaha
[11:47] Pete Linden: (the documentary that is)
[11:47] Pete Linden: Aquila, would you please go next?
[11:47] Rodvik Linden: Very cool! very pleased to meet you!
[11:47] Rai Fargis: I play Draxtor’s films on my sim, they’re truly awesome
[11:47] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: Thanks for invited me Pete, I’m from Rome Italy, and welcome to Rod and for his new mission!
[11:47] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: joined SL at the beginning of 2008, for to explore business potential of virtual worlds. after 3 years I can say that it remains as potential, not a possibility at the moment. I trust in the future of virtual worlds, and I’m trying to let ppl know what good happen in SL, despite the bad news they read on the magazines. I founded a magazine a year ago, with this goal: Virtual Worlds Magazine
[11:48] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: I think Linden Lab has to think a new era for its grown
[11:48] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: and hope Rod will leand soon to contribute to this mission
[11:48] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: learn*
[11:48] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: I think VW has a great future
[11:49] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: but its future pass across applications
[11:49] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: and not only the games
[11:49] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: In RL I’m a manager
[11:49] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: in an international software company
[11:49] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: and see the thing by a business point of view
[11:50] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: I hope new project will start by you
[11:50] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: that’s all
[11:50] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: tks
[11:50] Pete Linden: thanks, Aquila
[11:50] Rodvik Linden: Thank you! Great to meet you! These intros are a real introduction to some very cool stuff and ideas I have to say.
[11:50] Pete Linden: Ms. Pooky, you’re up!
[11:50] Pooky Amsterdam: Ahoy Rodvik!
[11:50] Pooky Amsterdam: It’s great to meet you – great that you so get it & us -
[11:51] Pooky Amsterdam: that one of the first things you did was to open the group limits – that said you were really listening to us.
[11:51] Pooky Amsterdam: You hit the nail on the head when you say – "this world is shared by live people"
[11:51] Pooky Amsterdam: we are passionate, innovative and yes smart and ahead of whatever curve there is out there.
Thank you for the desire you bring to also wanting to be a part of this
[11:51] Pooky Amsterdam: it says so much
[11:51] Pooky Amsterdam: First I would like to say we all want you to be immensely successful and to help Second Life fulfill a lot of its potential . I honestly believe that SEcond Life allows and encourages people to live up to their own great abilities. Its great you are amazed, it is wonderful, unpredictable and very meaningful.
[11:51] Pooky Amsterdam: Jane Goodall said we are meaning seeking creatures us humans, we find meaning here.
[11:51] Pooky Amsterdam: Virtual Worlds are a very important platform and medium – you see it today with people being able to go to virtual Egypt in the midst of incredible real world turbulence in that country
[11:52] Pooky Amsterdam: -and in the very dynamic entertainment arena we have here – in so much.
[11:52] Pooky Amsterdam: I am Pooky Amstrrdam and I have an award winning machinima company that is using real time animation to its fullest potential -
[11:52] Pooky Amsterdam: we have two sponosred webseries we are doing now for outworld companies -
[11:52] Pooky Amsterdam: – and Pookymedia films have been in every major festival -that has had a machinima component -
[11:52] Pooky Amsterdam: Second Life is a media platform for me and I develop game shows that are played live, and with the audience inworld – I
[11:52] Pooky Amsterdam: I have a science quiz show on treet.tv called The 1st Question which is fast and funny , (which I will invite you onto)
[11:52] Pooky Amsterdam: and the Dating Casino which will be on Valentines day, which I hope you will watch
[11:52] Pooky Amsterdam: – I have 10 game shows I would like to produce additionally.
[11:52] Pooky Amsterdam: Sit back & relax has become lean forward and engage – I believe we are in the Golden Age of The Internet
[11:53] Pooky Amsterdam: – what entertainment will be is sowing its seeds now in here, with what many of us are doing.
[11:53] Pooky Amsterdam: – I am on the forefront of live online viewer log in entertainment – this I am 1000% commited to and could almost guarentee we will see increasingly in this next decade. and for many reasons.
[11:53] Pooky Amsterdam: I have been producing virtual world entertainment since 2003 when I produced romeno & juliet on habbo UK and have hosted and produced thousands of shows online since that time
[11:53] Pete Linden: I’m so impressed by the # of things you have going on!
[11:53] Pooky Amsterdam: I have been here really since March of 2008 and over 145 shows and 40 films.
[11:53] Pooky Amsterdam: I love the potential we have here for media and relish every day because of what can be done. So excited to be here & thank you again very very much -
[11:53] Pooky Amsterdam: and have a 1st question goody box for you – including your own periodic table -
[11:53] Pooky Amsterdam: S;-D
[11:53] Toxic Menges: (Yay for Habbo – I was comm mgr there LOL)
[11:53] Draxtor Despres: damn Pooky YOU ARE A WORKAHOLIC!
[11:53] Pooky Amsterdam: thank you from the bottom of my Pooky heart Rodvik
[11:54] Pooky Amsterdam: this is really great to meet you
[11:54] Rodvik Linden: Thank you for your kind words I am really delighted to be here. I am delighted to meet you! I have to say I like the idea of drama and classics in world.
[11:54] Draxtor Despres: you gotta come to California and relax!
[11:54] Pooky Amsterdam: exclelnt!
[11:54] Bevan Whitfield: come to the South of France and relax
[11:54] Pete Linden: thank you, Pooky! I’m sorry to have to keep pushing us along and hope no one feels too rushed, but we’re coming up near the end of the hour and I know Rod needs to run then.
[11:54] Pete Linden: Xon, would you please go next?
[11:54] Chestnut Rau: Pooky is from NY like me. We don’t relax!
[11:54] Draxtor Despres: darn Bevan – they speak French there!
[11:54] Xon Emoto: Hi Rodvik, welcome from Hamburg.
[11:54] Xon Emoto: I am Hanno in RL, founder of BÜRO X Media Lab, long time participant in the German creative industries. I jumped in for Holger Gilruth of Vienna Freebies, who couldn’t make it today, and who says to say hello
[11:54] Draxtor Despres: YEAH XON!!!!!
[11:54] Xon Emoto: hi DSrax
[11:55] Xon Emoto: We started the "Hamburg 3D" initiative late 2006 and the Campus Hamburg project for immersive education in 2007, in conjunction with the University of Hamburg, HAW, HafenCity University for urban planning, mhmk Media School, and TÜV NORD Group.
[11:55] Bevan Whitfield: lol Drax
[11:55] Xon Emoto: We helped create and promote the first Linden Lab case study from continental Europe, http://secondlifegrid.net.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/Second_Life_Case_TuvNord_EN.pdf, we publish videos on YouTube, issue a newsletter and press releases and hold meetings for the RL media, supported by GameCity Hamburg and the Chamber of Commerce. And we’re just starting a blog.
[11:55] Xon Emoto: UFF
[11:55] Xon Emoto: We love the chance to create a better way of learning and sharing knowledge here, game based, in 3D, interacting as avatars, and I personally love the people from all over the world I get to meet — like tonight.
[11:55] Xon Emoto: Thank you very much for letting me in.
[11:55] Pete Linden: thank you for coming, Xon!
[11:56] Rodvik Linden: Thank you! very pleased to meet you!
[11:56] Xon Emoto: Me too
[11:56] Pete Linden: Pixeleen, would you go ahead?
[11:56] Pixeleen Mistral: Hi Rodvik! I’ve been playing SL since 2005 and for the last few years I have run the Alphaville Herald
[11:56] Pixeleen Mistral: The Herald is the longest running virtual tabloid covering SL. We moved to SL when our founder Urizenus Sklar was permabanned from The Sims Online
[11:56] Rodvik Linden: Sorry for delay, looking at the link
[11:56] Pixeleen Mistral: What interests me is taking a critical look at how the various online communities, factions, militias, and vigilantes interact, along with game god governance
[11:56] Pixeleen Mistral: that, and shopping for shoes.
[11:56] Pete Linden: hehe
[11:57] Pixeleen Mistral: Oh, and thank you for holding this meeting in text! Its sooooo much easier to get a transcript this way.
[11:57] Chestnut Rau: LOL. Pix you are too funny
[11:57] Rodvik Linden: Lol, awesome. Great to meet you!
[11:57] Bevan Whitfield: (oh shoes!)
[11:57] Chestnut Rau: mmmm….shoooooes….
[11:57] Saffia Widdershins: dam’ straighht about the shoes …
[11:57] Pete Linden: Barbarella, last, but certainly not least, you’re up!
[11:57] Angie Mornington: *perks up*
[11:58] GoSpeed Racer: and the hair….
[11:58] Bevan Whitfield: (we heart shoes here)
[11:58] Pete Linden: (we’re just doing quick introductions)
[11:58] Bevan Whitfield: and trees
[11:58] Barbarella Noel: Thanke you Pete
[11:58] Pooky Amsterdam: anyone who doesnt know how to run a business in Sl shouldlook at Stilettos moody
[11:59] Bevan Whitfield: yes, an amazing business model in SL
[11:59] Barbarella Noel: Hello Rod, a pleasure to meet you. I just wanted to say thank you for being one of the reasons I stumbled into SL over 3 yrs ago.
[11:59] Barbarella Noel: I was looking for a world to visit that was similar to the Sims And found this marvellous place.
[11:59] Rodvik Linden: Thats awesome
[11:59] Barbarella Noel: I loved your blog, and feel that wonderful things are in store for us. Welcome
[11:59] Rodvik Linden: Thank you! Great to meet you!
[12:01] Pete Linden: So, it sounds like Rod does have a little extra time to field a question or two, so I’ll open the floor to whomever would like it.
[12:01] Saffia Widdershins: I hope meeting all of us has been useful!
[12:02] Emiley Tomsen: I have a question if, there’s time.
[12:02] GoSpeed Racer: Sadly I have to run It was a pleasure to meet you Rod!
[12:02] Chestnut Rau: how often do you expect you will engage this group? Will there be formal press conferences?
[12:02] Rodvik Linden: My lunch date can wait a couple more mins. My stomoach is a little less understanding
[12:02] Pixeleen Mistral: Rodvick, how will you get more people to sign up for SL?
[12:02] Draxtor Despres: hahaha
[12:02] Toxic Menges: Please excuse me all I have to run to a meeting with Rhett and Kim Linden – welcome Rod and thanks for taking the time to meet us all
[12:02] Bevan Whitfield: by Go!
[12:02] Bevan Whitfield: bye*
[12:02] GoSpeed Racer: byeee!
[12:02] Pooky Amsterdam: we arent in voice so the rumblings have been quiet
[12:02] Pete Linden: Ah- Chestnut, that’s one for me I’m hoping to use the SL Press Corps group more this year, and yes, we likely will periodically do proper press conferences
[12:02] Saffia Widdershins: Bye!
[12:02] Pooky Amsterdam: bye Speed!
[12:02] Rodvik Linden: k let me take those two. (no prob with those who are leaving0 great to meet you!)
[12:02] Xon Emoto: by Toxic
[12:03] Emiley Tomsen: Mr Humble, can you comment on any improvements to the service to deal with the increase in griefers?
[12:03] Bevan Whitfield: btw getting a lot of SocNet feedback re this meeting – if you could do this more often, think it would really be a good thing
[12:03] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: Pete it’s necessary to have more occasions like this to share ideas and information in the future too
[12:03] Rodvik Linden: firstly to have more people come and enjoy the world you have all built, i would say empowering our current residents to enable easier creativity and better creativity…
[12:04] Rodvik Linden: ..addressing lag and other fundemental issues that kind of take you out of the expereince…
[12:04] Rodvik Linden: …and address in a very significant way the usuability mountain new customers have. SL is a very very deep experience and many new users are overwhlemed by Ui issues.
[12:05] Angie Mornington: yes indeed
[12:05] Rodvik Linden: ..In general those are the areas i would think about. Obviously the hard bit is in the details of how each area is apporached.
[12:05] Draxtor Despres: i think the destination guuide, linked to Facebook & the videos that Brett does are GREAT
[12:05] Draxtor Despres: more and more I say!!!
[12:06] Chestnut Rau: well it would be if the SLurls in the Destination Guide worked
[12:06] Rodvik Linden: …As for regularity of communications. Not sure. I enjoy talking with custiomers, I feel SL is blessed that we have customers who are willing to take the time to help us by pointing out new actions to take. (end)
[12:06] Pooky Amsterdam: Video is Sl greatest ambassador
[12:06] Angie Mornington: I’m glad you want to work on smoothing our the user experience
[12:06] Malburns Writer: yes Pooky
[12:06] Rai Fargis: I’d like to ask a question about Europe: Linden Lab closed it’s Netherlands HQ (I think it was in Rotterdam?) last year. I recently visited Japan and no one is using SL there. What plans are their to support and to promote Second Life in other parts than the US?
[12:06] Draxtor Despres: Nobody using SL in Japan?? Are you kidding?
[12:06] Draxtor Despres: They make such awesome machinima, there are musicians
[12:07] Saffia Widdershins: SL can be a tremendous setting for so many media.
[12:07] Rai Fargis: well… not the people I talked to. but I dont know the numbers.
[12:07] Draxtor Despres: they have their totally own aesthetic in SL!
[12:07] Bevan Whitfield: also sharing good stuff about SL to outworld people and make them curious about how wonderful this all is
[12:07] Rodvik Linden: For international customers, I need to understand the technical issues but for sure we intend to support fully customers world wide.
[12:07] Rodvik Linden: (end)
[12:07] Garmin Kawaguichi: Is your magnificent costume a Roman Senator toga?
[12:07] Draxtor Despres: awesome band from Japan – Chouchouhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8B1MGW64fg
[12:07] Pete Linden: love them, drax!
[12:07] Bevan Whitfield: OH I love ChouChou and what an amazing sim!
[12:08] Barbarella Noel: yes!
[12:08] Rodvik Linden: My costume was meant to be a greek philosopher looking robe. It ended up a hair too grand.
[12:08] Angie Mornington: there is a good sized Japanese community here they tend to be more quiet
[12:08] Rodvik Linden: (end)
[12:08] Garmin Kawaguichi: Waoh!
[12:08] Draxtor Despres: Rai – we all have different experiences
[12:08] Pooky Amsterdam: *wants to take Rodvik shopping*
[12:08] Chestnut Rau: for shoes Pooky?
[12:08] Draxtor Despres: Where I live in small town USA – nobody heard of SL either!
[12:08] Pete Linden: I think we probably have time for just about 1 more question for Rod
[12:08] Bevan Whitfield: (oooo shopping)
[12:08] Pooky Amsterdam: lol!
[12:08] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: I think it’s necessary a new marketing and communication campain too
[12:08] Angie Mornington: there are plenty of women here who can give you great tips on fashion should you need it
[12:08] Pooky Amsterdam: agrees with Aquila
[12:09] Poptart Lilliehook: coughs
[12:09] Garmin Kawaguichi: )
[12:09] Rodvik Linden: sounds good, my stromach is reaching out and batting my hands away from the keyboard..
[12:09] Rai Fargis: forget what I said about Japan. I just was interested if there are any plans to reopen the european office which was closed ㋡
[12:09] Malburns Writer: Thing I miss most in SL is the defunct SLim project – for a year or nmore you could connect IM and call ppl inworld without full log-in – helpful when mobile
[12:09] Draxtor Despres: Yes – can you share anything about upcoming marketing campaigns?
[12:09] Bevan Whitfield: but this is a wonderful start to see that you are and will be involved with this huge and unique culture
[12:09] Draxtor Despres: because i DO NOT believe the Silicon Valley bubble opinion that SL is "damaged goods"
[12:09] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: lol
[12:09] Rodvik Linden: Drax, actually I am getting briefed next week on them. So I dont really know myself in detail right now
[12:09] Draxtor Despres: [that is how some folks have expressed it to me]
[12:09] Bevan Whitfield: (they are just jealous Drax)
[12:09] Pooky Amsterdam: would be good to have your screen just say – Step Away from the Keyboard and go have lunch!!!!!!!!!!!!
[12:09] Pooky Amsterdam: Thank you rodvik!
[12:09] Angie Mornington: I’d like to see more strategic marketing as well
[12:09] Pooky Amsterdam: we can’t him he is hungry
[12:10] Draxtor Despres: I talk to folks EVERY DAY who never heard of it and when I show them a demo they are FASCINATED!
[12:10] Saffia Widdershins: Thank you for this meeting.
[12:10] AquilaDellaNotte Kondor: Thank you all guys, tks Pete and Rod
[12:10] Draxtor Despres: room to grow IS THERE!!!!
[12:10] Pooky Amsterdam: *APPLAUDS*
[12:10] Draxtor Despres: thank you Rodvik!
[12:10] Rodvik Linden: 9done). Ok I think i need to bail. THANK YOU ALL for taking the time to come by, it was very educational for me!
[12:10] Saffia Widdershins: And I would love to have you on the show sometime!
[12:10] Saffia Widdershins: We are very friendly …
[12:10] Bevan Whitfield: Drax just got back from Imagina in Monte Carlo – the SL potential is huge
[12:10] Draxtor Despres: now FOCUS on important stuff and DO NOT TWEET ALL DAY hahaha
[12:10] Emiley Tomsen: Thank you for the chance to meet you Mr Humble, have a good day.
[12:10] Surfaqua Oh: thank you Rodvik and Pete for this meeting.
[12:10] Pete Linden: Thanks, Rod!
[12:10] Chestnut Rau: Thanks so much Rod and than you Pete