Trust: the Lindens and the Residents

So – the Sim War has come to an end.  An olive branch has been offered, taken, sniffed at – and accepted grudgingly.

The Lindens are left holding most of the aces (so no surprises there).  A new product has been created (which everyone could see that there was a crying need for) at a rather higher price than the old Open Space sims, but not the huge price hike that had everyone up in arms and fury.  Looked at coldly, the price positioning (US$375) is probably where it should have been.  The giveaway of April was a tad too generous – and I bet that they’re regretting it now.

The tier price rise on offer (of US$20 dollars a month from January – June 2009) is probably small enough to keep residents on price alone.  After June – well, I imagine that quite a few residents are adopting my attitude to the price rise promised then to US$125 – we’ll wait and see.  Hunker down on your Homestead for the moment, and see what happens.  After all, a lot of things can happen in a virtual world in eight months.  I suspect that Homesteads have become pretty much locked down against tinkering (apart from the scripts) now until July 2009.  But … the Lindens have surprised me with random acts of idiocy before.  They could do again.

However, as I said, it should keep residents on price alone.  There’s another huge issue that won’t spring back into nice fluffy shape so easily, and that’s the whole question of Trust.

Residents have lost trust in the product – not just the Open Space sims, but in Second Life itself – and that will take a helluva lot to regain – precisely because the residents of Second Life are, as a whole, not the average constituency, but have a tendency to be older, better educated and hence more cynical.  They can spot that, long term, they have not really gained anything, but have lost a lot – especially the poor sailors, who will now have to have regattas of less than ten sailors with no spectators to cheer them on, and pay exactly the same price for the privilege – honestly, have the Lindens NO idea of how these sims are used?  Don’t the words ‘sailing communities’ give them a clue?  Do they never even watch SLCN?  The last option, incidentally, is soon going to be the only way that most SL residents will be able to enjoy regattas …

Pardon the digression.  Let’s back on the subject of Trust – which has now become in shorter supply than prims in a Homestead that you’ve given to ten top designers to do a makeover.

The outcome of the sim war is apparently that Linden Lab have made an offer that has been grudgingly accepted.  But the reality is that a great many residents went to look at the Open Sim options, registered a name, opened the package and had a reaction along the lines of “Hmmm … looks familiar.  That’s nice.  Hate being a newbie.  Wanna hit my favourite stores – fast!  Urgh.  Keep crashing.”  And so they left and came back to Second Life – but with a knowledge that Open Sim options will get better – and perhaps also a realisation that a lot of key movers and shakers have already established a presence there.  Hunker down in Second Life for six months, they seem to be saying, and then we’ll see.

So, although Linden Lab seem to have won the battle, it may well be that they have lost the war – or are in danger of losing the war.

How can they pull back from this?

Well, M Linden himself has suggested that proposals are in the wings …

“One thing I learned and others were reminded about in this process is that we have a very connected, passionate Resident base and we need to bring you into the dialog earlier, before putting forward these decisions. The input we received after Jack’s announcement was prolific and by-and-large very, very constructive. Second Life is at a size where 1:1 conversations are difficult and the forums are inadequate for full dialog. Office hours come up short, too. We have some thoughts on how to bring Residents into the dialog earlier which we will cover in a future blog post and Forum discussion.”

So what are they proposing?  A consultative Board of Residents?  A gathering of the great and good that they can tap for resident opinions?  There are certainly residents out there who would fit that criteria, many of whom have a long term and proven commitment to Second Life – and not necessarily a reverential one.

The danger, of course, would be that anyone they wanted or chose to represent residents would promptly be seen as a favoured son or daughter, and open to flame wars and attacks by people who rather like that sort of thing.

Democracy is, of course, rather in fashion at the moment.  But a risky strategy.  Linden Lab would run the risk of finding themselves faced with a bunch of angry agitators, more than ready to chuck tea into any of a number of Second Life’s harbours (for myself, I think Babbage had a rather good tea-chucking harbour line, were one so inclined … ).

But, if Second Life is to survive as the market leader, perhaps this is what must be done.  The days of benevolent paternalism are coming to an end, and Second Life is at a point where it can move forward and assert itself as an organisation that does things in a new and revolutionary way, working with its customer base in a fuller partnership … or it can go the tried and trusted route of corporate management, and risking, in the long term, becoming a side note, an AOL-Online in the history of virtual worlds.

Of the Open Space sims shown in this article, only Quiet Island survives unaffected.  Ebbets’ Field has been destroyed; 46664 has moved to a full sim, the two Open Space sims that compromised Snooks Garden Centre have been coverted to half a full sim, and the Isles of Fatima are undergoing re-modelling as a result of residents leaving or moving to full sims within the Isles.  The time and hope that went into these sims has, of course, been lost.