Rewarding long-term SL users

Tags

anniversary, gifts, linden lab, longtermers, second life

I’ve made this suggestion in previous posts before, come to think of it, I’ve subtly mentioned wanting a gift from Linden Lab every time my 1920s Berlin Project sim celebrated an anniversary.
But during SL’s 17th anniversary celebrations Ebbe and some of the other Lindens showed interest in this idea and hinted at that is is being discussed at Linden Lab, so I thought I’d write a blog about it, just to, subtly, try and steer Linden Lab in the right direction.
Because you know me, Fraulein Subtle.

In 1920s Berlin people who have been a tenant get rewarded every year on the birthday of their tenancy.
They get a note of thanks from me, their picture in the Long Term Tenant’s gallery at our inworld city hall, they get congratulated in our Facebook group and… they get a month of rent, for free.

The Long term tenants gallery in 1920s Berlin

Second Life has now been around for 17 years and of course much of the success of our virtual world is because of the people who have been living, working and creating parts of this world.
I think it would be nice if those of us who have been here for a while could be rewarded.
Here are a few suggestions on how Linden Lab could celebrate our rez days;

Ideas for regular SL residents rez anniversaries;

• Congratulatory message;
  It should be relatively easy for LL to program an automated IM message that gets send to a SL resident on their rezday.
  Although not very personal or original, it would be nice to once a year get a little message from Linden Lab, thanking us for being in SL.
  It could also be a nice reminder for those of us who haven’t been online for a while to check in.
• Profile badge;
  It might be fun, especially for bragging purposes, to have a badge displayed in your profile showing everyone how long you’ve been active in SL.
  Imagine one day checking your profile and seeing a little cocarde or medal there with a 5 or 10, depending on how long you’ve been inworld.
• Inworld gift;
  Always nice to receive a little gift, nothing fancy but exclusive!
  A nice cake, a picture frame with a photo of all the Lindens, a golden trophy, etc.
  Just something fun you can rez in your home.
• Real world gift;
  Yes, why not!
  Linden Lab/Second life has/had merchandise, or merch as the kids call it these days.
  Unfortunately we can’t buy it from the SL website (why not?!) but it would be really great to receive a present from your virtual world on your real world doormat.
  A t-shirt, a plastic plywood prim, a poster or even just a postcard.
  It should be only for very special anniversaries, for instance for when someone has been an active member of SL for a decade.
• Attention;
  Getting attention is always nice, well for most people anyway.
  On special anniversaries, like 5th, 10th, etc. it would be fun to be mentioned on SL’s Social media.
  What about “Congratulations Jo Yardley on her 20th anniversary as a resident of Second Life!” on Facebook/Twitter perhaps?
  Not just would this be fun for the residents, it’s also a bit of publicity for SL, I mean how many virtual online worlds can brag that people have been living there for years?
• Discount;
  Although SL is of course free to use, many of us, especially longtermers, are premium members.
  This costs you USD 11.99 a month.
  Even a small discount would be a nice gesture that would eventually add up.
  Imagine if your premium account only costs you USD 10.- a month after your 10th anniversary?
  I bet a lot of people would appreciate that.

Besides residents there are also communities, exhibits, clubs, shops, etc. that manage to survive in Second Life for several years.
This is perhaps even more remarkable as it involves keeping people happy, making publicity, managing events, paying lots of tier, creating new things, etc.
If you can keep a place going that not only keeps people from leaving SL but also lures new users in or simply creates another place of interest that makes SL worth everybody’s while, you deserve gifts!
Here’s my list of suggestions of how managers/owners/founders of these places can be rewarded;

• Congratulatory message;
  As above, let these people know you appreciate the work they put into creating a place, community, venue in SL.
• Profile badge;
  As above, but the badge/sticker is seen on the group’s page.
  This can be quite nice to have as it would show people who are interested in perhaps visiting your Sim that they’re going to a well established place.
  If you’re going to a roleplaying community that has a 10 year anniversary badge on their profile, you know the odds of it vanishing within a few weeks like those other places you’ve visited are slim.
• Inworld gift;
  As above.
  But a nice trophy is perhaps even nicer to give an honorary spot in your club than it is to place it on your mantelpiece at home.
  “Oh honey this club has received a reward, let’s see what it says, oh my they’ve been around for a decade! This must be a swell joint!”.
• Attention;
  As above.
  Of course getting attention is extra nice for a venue as it can bring you extra traffic!
  Being mentioned on official SL social media or the website can give your place a huge boost in traffic which in turn can result in new tenants, regulars, sales, etc.
• Destination guide;
  Perhaps there could be a special category in the destination guide of all the places in SL that have been there for an X amount of years; the oldtimers.
• Discount;
  Although SL has gotten cheaper the last few years, renting a piece of land or even regions, homesteads etc. is still not cheap.
  Making sure you can pay your tier every month is a big task and for many sims tier has been the reason of their demise.
  It would be great if the communities/shops/venues/clubs/etc that do manage to keep going for several years get rewarded with a tier discount.
  Perhaps lower their tier permanently or allow them to to not pay any tier at all during the month of their anniversary.
  Having to spend a little less every month can make a real difference, having a bonus once every few years because you don’t have to pay any tier can be very welcome.

So, in short; reward those of us who stick around and those of us who (also) create and keep places & experiences going.
Have you got any ideas & suggestions on what kind of gift you’d like to receive for your rezday?

Second Life’s new infographic & the old one

Tags

"second life", anniversary, birthday, infographic, linden lab

I love these, the media loves these, everybody loves these.
The infographic quickly gives you some interesting information packaged with pretty pictures.

Linden Lab just published this fresh new one as part of the 15th anniversary of the biggest user build virtual online world Second Life.

I’ve decided to dig up the infographic Linden Lab made for the 10th anniversary and compare the two.

Up to today 57 million accounts were created, that is impressive but doesn’t say very much about how well SL is doing or how many people actually use it because we all know that many of these people who sign up don’t use SL anymore ands some are alt accounts, I for instance have roughly 2 hundred thousand alts myself 😉
5 years ago there were 36 million accounts created, so that is another 21 million in 5 years!

Today the total time spend in SL is 482.000, now that is a lot.
It would be nice to know how many people actually are responsible for these hours though.
On the other hand, I really do not want to know how many hours I’ve spend in SL!
Five years ago this number was 217.000 years, so in the last 5 years we’ve spend more time in SL than people have in the first 10 years!
Now that is interesting.
SL may have stopped growing and is in slow decline but it is being used more intensely than ever before.

On average 350.000 people register for SL every month, even if many of these are alts and even if lots of new users only stay for a short time and don’t become “lifers”, it is still quite a high number of people who are still interested in checking out and trying a 15 year old product.
However, 5 years ago this number was 400.000, so this number has gone down.

$68 million has been paid to creators in 2017, I wish I was paid a million.
This number was not mentioned 5 years ago but in 2015 Ebbe said that users cashed out $60 million, so it looks like SL’s economy has gotten better the last 2 years.

 

5 million virtual goods created for the marketplace, back in 2013 this was 2.1 million, so this too seems to have grown rather a lot.
In the last 5 years we’ve been creating and/or selling more items on marketplace than in the 10 years before!
Mind you, with this number you have to ask yourself if everything that is being sold is actually created by users for sale or sold one, the cacha market is huge and consists of people selling stuff they did not create.

The top 3 categories most popular in the destination guide are games, editors picks and photogenic spots.
I had not spotted the photogenic spots category yet, all my sims should be in there of course!
It is interesting to see that 5 years ago the most popular categories were games, events and adventure & fantasy.

50 million chat messages sent daily, that doesn’t surprise me, I reckon I get at least half of all those messages!
Or at least it feels like it sometimes.
Unfortunately this number was not shared 5 years ago, but I think it has gone up because those who chat the most are the people who spend a lot of time in SL and it looks like we’ve been spending more and more time in this virtual world of ours.
I wonder if the real world becoming less and less pleasant might have had something to do with that…

Most popular shopping categories; avatar apparel, avatar accessories, home & garden.
In 2013 this was not shared but we did learn that women’s hairstyles were the most purchased items.

I’d like to have seen how many users visit monthly these days and how large SL’s landmass is.

I wonder if my analysis of these two infographics makes sense.
The most important things I notices are that although SL is in decline, those of us who do make it our home spend more time and money.
Which I reckon is pretty good news.
Of course we have to keep fighting to make sure more people join and stay once they’ve joined, but the locals, the regulars, the oldtimers, are doing a great job of keeping the world alive, active, fresh and interesting.
I reckon we deserve some nice gifts during the anniversary… subtle hint….

Three years of Ebbe Linden

Tags

anniversary, ebbe altberg, ebbe linden, linden lab, rezday

Three days ago Ebbe Linden was ‘born’, his avatar was activated shortly after his RL counterpart Ebbe Altberg was appointed the new CEO of Linden Lab after the unexpected news of former CEO Rod Humble leaving just a few weeks earlier after having been the CEO for 3 years.

And not much later he stumbled into my bar in 1920s Berlin to be entertained with 1920s Swedish music, the best Schnaps in VR and pretty frauleins (und herren) making eyes at him.
He looked much younger then.

A lot has happened in the last 3 years, Second Life has improved significantly, tier (per prim) has gone down, the tech has improved, we’ve experimented with headsets with mixed results, the hamsters in the wheels that keep the LL servers running have been given fresh straw, Lindens have been released back into the wild and we learned about the brand new world they have been building.

Of course some of these things were set in motion before Ebbe joined the club but a lot changed under his watch and an interesting and exciting future awaits us.

Generally it seems that most people in SL are quite happy with our current captain on the bridge and personally I must admit I think he is doing a cracking job and I’m happy it is him in charge at this, I think, very important time for VR.

One thing Ebbe completely messed up… is his profile.
Really Mr. Linden, after 3 years your profile is still empty, you should fill it up with nonsense quotes, ridiculous disclaimers, an up to date profile picture and your favourite picks, you know, like that 1920s Berlin sim….

Seriously though, what do you think, has Ebbe done a good job?
Are you happy or unhappy with him as CEO?
Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Linden Lab amongst tech companies who filed immigration legal brief opposing Trump

Tags

immigration, linden lab, politics, trump

After a public statement of disapproval regarding Donald Trump’s immigration policies, Linden Lab is now on the list of 127 Tech companies who have signed a legal brief.

The so called amicus brief argues that Trump’s immigration order is illegal and mentions the important contributions immigrants have made to the tech economy.
It also mentions that the policies will make it harder and more expensive to hire new employees from abroad or to do business there because of travel restrictions.
In short, it is bad for business.

Some of the other companies on the list are Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Twitter, Paypal, Ebay, Tesla and SpaceX.

If I understood correctly, the legal background of an amicus brief is that it is an official way of supporting a lawsuit without being a party to it.
Although of course this might still change if the companies decide to step up their involvement.
But it’s a bit complicated and it has been years since I’ve dated a lawyer.

News was first reported by Bloomberg, you can read their story here.

Linden Lab versus Trump

Tags

announcement, immigration, linden lab, politics, trump

Much to my delight, Linden Lab released a statement regarding Trump’s Immigration policy yesterday;

LINDEN LAB STATEMENT ON TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER ON IMMIGRATION

2017-02-02 00:00:00 UTC

We at Linden Lab are extremely disappointed in and adamantly opposed to Trump’s recent executive order on immigration. We reject racism, intolerance, and xenophobia.

We are proud to include immigrants among our leadership, colleagues, and customers, as well as our families, friends, and communities. We value diversity, compassion, and understanding, and we are proud that our products enable people to come together and form meaningful connections regardless of differences in their offline lives.

Trump’s order is counter to what we value and antithetical to American ideals. We join the many voices calling on the US government to remove this restriction as quickly as possible and to refrain from imposing additional barriers that threaten opportunities for immigrants, under-represented minorities, and women.

Well done Linden Lab.

Linden Lab decreases land setup fees!

Tags

"second life", linden lab, setup fees, tier

Today Linden Lab announced that they have lowered the land setup fees!

I quote from the announcement on the SL website;

Decreased Land Set-Up Fees and Changes to Transferring Regions

by Linden Lab on ‎11-17-2015 08:00 AM

We are pleased to announce two changes that make it less expensive to get your own Private Island in Second Life!

Price Drop for Land Set-up Fees

Effective immediately, all new Private Island set-up fees are up to 40% cheaper! Whether you’re looking to expand your estate or just getting started with your first Private Island, it’s a great time to buy.

Here are the new, reduced set-up fees:

• Full Private Island  – previously $1000, now $600
• Developed Full Private Island – previously $1029, now $629
• Homestead Private Island – previously $375, now $225
• Developed Homestead Private Island – previously $395, now $250
• Openspace Private Island – previously $250, now $150

Qualified educational and nonprofit organizations will continue to receive a 50% discount off the applicable set-up fee (as well as 50% off ongoing maintenance fees). For more information about our discount program, please visit this page.

If you have paid a region set-up fee in the past 14 days, you will receive the difference in fees back as a credit (in US Dollars) to your account balance.

I think this is a very, very good idea.
The costs of land have in the past stopped me from expanding my project and I am sure it has kept many from even starting one.

It will make things just a bit more attractive for people to take that big step and start their own sim.

I have suggested lowering and even scrapping these setup fees in the past and am happy this is now happening.

I  don’t want to be rude and look a gift horse in the mouth but I still think it is too expensive,  $600 bucks is a lot of money especially as the tier remains the same and we still don’t have the option to for instance buy half or even a quarter of a sim, or maybe sims that are only online in the weekends.
Something I’ve also suggested in previous posts here and here.

But nevertheless it is a great step in the right direction and it makes things a lot more attractive for those of us owning sims and wanting to expand and those who are thinking about starting their own sim.

And who knows, maybe more news like this will follow and other prices might start going down as well.
I for one am keeping my fingers crossed.

Let’s see if the amount of regions, which dipped below 25.000 recently, will now go up again.

 

Lab Chat, a talk show with and about Linden Lab is coming!

Tags

ebbe altberg, ebbe linden, Lab chat, linden lab, saffia widdershins, talk show, talkshow

No matter how many blogs are written, interviews are done and stories are published, it seems that there are always questions about Second Life, Project Sansar and Linden Lab that people can’t find the answer to and want to ask.

During the 12th birthday celebrations of Second Life several talk shows were organised, well known VR TV host Saffia Widdershins and co-hosts interviewed several Lindens and it was very interesting to notice how many questions the audience had to ask if they were given the chance.
Clearly the people of Second Life have lots of things they want to ask the Lindens themselves and even though they sometimes show up on the forums and at inworld meetings, it seems that we do not all get as many chances to ask them things face to face as we would like.
So every time a Linden was interviewed there at SL12B, lots of people showed up and when the public was given a chance to ask their questions things often got very interesting.

This made me think of a famous UK tv show called Question Time where regular members of the public get a chance to grill their politicians.
I love this show and I don’t even live in the UK!

So I thought that it might be fun to have a similar show in Second Life but with Lindens in stead of politicians and I wrote this blog about it (click).

Not much later I was one of Saffia’s co-hosts myself and we interviewed Ebbe Linden (aka Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab) together.
When the interview was about to end Ebbe mentioned that he rather enjoyed the chat and that we should have one more often.
This made me think back to my Question Time idea that I also had talked about with Saffia before the show.
And so the plan was made.
You can read how it all exactly happened in this blog I wrote about it (click).

So behind the scenes we’ve been working on this idea and now it is going to happen!

We’re going to try and keep it as basic as possible, just like Question Time, you ask the questions, one or more Lindens answer them.
The show will be recorded live in front of a studio audience and then broadcast later.

We will pick 4 questions from the SL forum but if time allows it, we will also open up the floor to people in the audience to ask theirs.
We are not selecting questions as a way to sensor out the negative ones or tricky ones, but to make sure things aren’t asked that are already common knowledge or should be if you bother to ask around.
Also it is sometimes important to give the Lindens a heads-up, just so they can bring some facts and figures with them or so they can make sure they have the latest news from their colleague working on that very subject.
And we also do this because not everybody is interested in that personal issue you have with someone else in SL regarding a dress you bought but somehow the texture didn’t look as good as on the picture, etc.
We want questions everyone wants to hear the answers to!
We also pick questions for technical reasons, we need to get in contact with you for the show, see if you’re willing to use your voice for the recording or if we need to read the question for you, etc, etc.

But remember, if we have time left, we will, just like during SL12B, take questions from the audience text chat.
So even if your question wasn’t selected, bring it along to the recording.

The show will be recorded Thursday, November 19th at 10:30am SLT at the Linden Endowment for the Arts Theatre, Saffia and I will be hosts and our guest will be Ebbe Linden — CEO of Linden Lab.

You can read the official Linden Lab announcement here (click) and leave your questions on the forum here (click), make sure to ask it by Friday the 13th (!!) of November.

The Lab Chat logo, made by Marianne McCann

Project Sansar login page online

Tags

linden lab, project sansar, sansar

The Project Sansar website has recently come online and shows the login page.

You can see the page yourself by clicking here, it is animated and several wireframe creations appear.

As those invited to the workshop at Linden Lab tomorrow will have to sign an NDA, these images may be all we’ll get to look at for a while.

I did try and send an email to the ‘forgot password’ address, but alas, it came back to me, no luck in trying to blag myself into the Project 😉

Make sure to check the collage of all the wireframe images made by Ernst Dommershuijzen at the bottom of this blog.

What do you think of the page?

Collage of all the wireframe images, made by Ernst Dommershuijzen.

The end of Desura? Desura Owner Files For Bankruptcy.

Tags

desura, linden lab

Several news sources are saying that Bad Juju, the parent company of Indie Royale and Desura, has filed for bankruptcy.

Desura is a digital distribution platform that was once owned by Linden Lab, who sold it to Bad Juju last year.

Recently they had already been negatively in the news because they weren’t paying some of their developers and now it seems the problems may have been even bigger than that.

Although it is not yet official (so it seems), but according to the Gamasutra article (which you can read here) their employees have been told not to speak to anyone by the company lawyers and have been ‘locked out’.

Other employees also found an online bankruptcy file for the claim.

Probably a good thing Linden Lab got rid of it in time.

New Second Life promotional videos

Tags

"second life", commercial, linden lab, promotional, video

Linden Lab has just uploaded 2 new promotional videos.

The first one is a basic tutorial on how to start your Second Life, I must confess I’m not too excited about this one;

I have shared my displeasure with the current new user experience and it seems that most SL users don’t like it very much either.
So when I see the Learning Islands mentioned I think of all the confused people standing around there not knowing what to do or where to go.
And to be honest, I had to laugh when step 4 mentions connecting with the community and shows people chatting in one of those arrival spots where, if you’ve been there, you know that in stead of a casual ‘connecting with the community’, it is more likely that there are people screaming abuse trough their microphone, you’re being spammed or freakish avatars are making you want to wash your eyes with bleach.

On the plus side, it shows that SL has a LOT to offer, more than just shopping or chatting.

The second video I liked a lot more;

Here they show off what in my eyes is one of the most important things of Second Life; creativity and the freedom to build whatever you can imagine.
They have stuffed a very wide range of things into this video, something I’ve suggested before.
SL is so many things, show that, not just one side of it.
I’m glad they have now done this with this video and they show that you can biuld whatever you want.
Only thing I miss is perhaps a few more steps of the creation process, I’d like to see someone stick a few prims together, texture them, use them.
Not just the very fancy experienced builders making amazing stuff.
But, as I said, I like it.
It shows off what people can do in SL, that we can be creative, that we can sell our stuff and that there is SO much to do and see.
A much better message than suggesting you may come spend some time with babes in bikini.