Updated July 11, 2008
VR: Virtual Reality. In the context of this blog, primarily referring to 3-D Internet based games and societies.
Frank writing: Telling it like it is, no beating around the bush, no brown-nosing, no “politically correct” egg-shell stepping.
Trademarks: Linden Lab and Second Life are trademarks of Linden Lab Inc. Not that this matters a whit, because this is a commentary/opinion blog and in this country at least, we have the right to freedom of speech… which includes identifying a company’s name and product in such a venue.
Wayfinder Wishbringer is the founder of Elf Clan, one of the oldest and most popular fantasy groups on a virtual world called Second Life. He’s also the founder of the Poetry Guild on the same system, one of the oldest (if not the oldest) and most active literary groups on the grid.
This blog is a frank discussion of Second Life and the VR world in general as well as miscellaneous subjects. It especially focuses on Second Life, both to help new members be aware of inner issues not clearly visible upon joining/investing in such a system, and to provide feedback for the Linden Lab Corporation, host of Second Life.
One should not expect rose-colored, optomistic everything-is-fine posts here. I tell it like it is, both good and bad. Some of this is my personal opinion; much more is the professional educated opinion of a business/computer consultant with almost three decades of experience. No brag, just fact. I’ve made my living advising companies how to improve their business, customer support and bottom line. The success of Elf Clan as a group is testimony to what can be done if one deals with people in a friendly, respectful, honorable, drama-free manner… and especially if you treat them like people instead of just-another-avatar.
This blog doesn’t beat around the bush or avoid stepping on eggshells. If you’re offended by honest, frank discussion with a proven track record*, this isn’t the place to be. If you’re looking for something to sink your teeth into and causes you to think about the future of SL and VR in general, welcome!
– Wayfinder
PS…. About comments: I totally welcome those who wish to comment with insight, respect and honor. Whether you agree with my posts or not is irrelevant; your opinions and insight– no matter what they are– are the spice of the pudding.
Those who wish to troll, insult, get personal or leave spam and drivel irrelevant to the subject will have their posts wiped faster than a foggy mirror. Post with maturity and intelligence, or waste your time. You choose. To those who choose the former… welcome! : )
* “proven track record”. People invest heavy amounts of money into Second Life and Linden Lab. That’s fine if the platform is stable and the company honest and reliable. When that is not the case, those in the know need to speak out so others can be forewarned.
Over the past 3 1/2 years (as of this date), I’ve set somewhat of a record for both predicting Second Life failures, and for exposing problems on the grid both in technology and in company activities. Two blogs in particular were invoved: “The Lag Monster Myths” and “Sim Owners Beware”.
In the Lag Monster Myths, which was written back in early days, I exposed that customer content and computers was NOT the source of lag Linden Lab consistently claimed it to be. They blamed everything from number of textures on a sim to user graphics cards to user scripting to number of prims, telling customers that lag was the fault of the customer, not the company. I was the first to blow the lid off that nonsense and point to the asset servers, poor coding and database management as the real culprits. These days such is common knowledge– but back then it was very controversial. (Reading back over that forum post is almost humorous when one sees Linden Lab and the trolls constantly presenting statements that were obviously total nonsense).
In “Sim Onwers Beware” I blew the lid off of Linden Lab stacking multiple sims on a single server box. Their advertising and customer agreements had been that each private sim would operate on a single dedicated server– thus their near-$1000 price tag for setting up a sim. I discovered that this was not the case, that they were stacking sims 2, 3 sometimes 4 to a dual-core server box. At first Linden Lab heavily denied doing so. When it became flippin’ obvious that they WERE, then they claimed that they were dual-core machines and that such machines could handle sim stacking. When they were asked repeatedly by users if those sims shared a common hard drive, ram, bus and network card– Linden Lab repeatedly refused to answer. When it was learned that yes, they shared resources, Linden Lab claimed that they had “fully tested” such systems and found no difference between “dedicated servers” and “dedicated CPUs”. My own tests proved such was total nonsense– as every technician who understood how dual core works understood as well. Today, we have lag, sims causing lag for other sims, and such is general knowledge. But way back then, no one knew it until the matter was exposed in that forum. Simply put, Linden Lab switched from promised dedicated servers to stacked servers without informing their customers, and the speed of private sims dropped like a rock. Fact.
Four times in Linden Lab history, based on nothing more than user-available evidence, I became aware of serious system problems. Each time I contacted Linden Lab and told my close friends in Elf Clan that the grid was going to crash within 2 weeks if something wasn’t done to correct matters. The first three times apparently Linden Lab ignored the warning… and the grid crashed (once for almost an entire week due to a failed asset server with no mirror backup). The fourth time, after the warning, within 2-3 days I noticed the symptoms I’d warned about suddenly disappear. No contact from the company, no acknowledgement… but the grid didn’t crash.
The fifth time I noticed serious problems, was much later, after I and Elf Clan had experienced some significant problems with Linden Lab that cost our group several thousand dollars. That time, I had no desire to warn them of anything. I told a couple of friends and kept it to myself beyond that. Four days later.. WHAM. Grid down, almost half a day before they got it back up and running.
That’s a pretty consistent track record.
Not blowing my own horn at all. There are a number of people on Second Life who can do the same thing I do, and who have done so even from before my time on the grid. In my forum posts, while there were many, many opponents, I was never alone in my observations; other techs verified such (and were equally poo-pooed by the trolls and fantatics). So there are people all over SL who know how to guage SL future performance (in fact, some seem more capable than the employees at predicting what’s about to happen. We could have told LL about the predictable “Dazzle” uproar after 30 minutes of use). We have been trained to do such, have built careers doing such. It should not be surprising that some customers know as much about computers as Linden Lab employees.
Just making two points: a person’s RL expertise can clue them in on things going on with SL. That’s a valuable asset LL often ignores. But in addition… if a user can discern these things without being on the inside, without knowing how SL is technically put together, without having the “inside dope”, just by observation… why can’t Linden Lab employees do so when they have ALL those benefits? Why didn’t THEY see the grid crashes coming? Why didn’t they foresee the uproar to sim stacking and the fact that people would eventually figure out where the primary lag is coming from? There are two possible answers: 1) They’re too close to the problem to see the solution and/or 2) They don’t care. They’re focused on other things.
I’ve seen evidence of both in my time on Second Life. Several customers have a long and proven track record of making accurate predictions about the future of the system. It doesn’t mean we’re always right… just that historically our VR predictions and observations have been pretty much on the button. I blew the lid off two major SL issues while LL was blowing smoke up our backsides. There’s a chance that’s not the last time such will happen (although it may not be me who does so)– unless LL wises up and changes their ways. I’m not the only one capable of putting together two and two and saying HEY! In fact, from what I read in the blogs and forums more and more people show up every day who are capable of correctly evaluating the status of Second Life. I applaud such people for having the courage to speak out.
Thus, for whatever it’s worth, these blogs. If I can help someone make a better decision in how to use SL, if my blogs warn people of impending disasters or company problems, if it helps people adapt to VR and what the future brings, if it prevents people from making bad investments**, terrific. Better use of my time than vegetating on television. ; )
** how many people recently lost their shirts on land investments when LL without warning dropped VR land prices form $1650 to $1000? Yet that kind of thing is not uncommon. Almost 2 years ago as of this writing Linden Lab policy cost my group THOUSANDS of dollars, and alienated one of the best-known and most successful groups on SL. That is just poor business and bad attitude. Such things hurt their customers on a regular basis, alienates potential clients by the millions (literally) and makes actual enemies out of others. Not the best way to run a customer-service entertainment business. Kinda leaves the market open for takeover… something else I’ve been warning LL about for the last three years.
— Anyway folks, that’s who Wayfinder is and that’s what this is about. It’s not all negative. It’s not all positive. It’s a realistic examination of SL and VR. If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read so far then I invite you… read on! : )
