I have seen the problem and the problem is us...

One of my very favorite bloggers is Inara Pey partly because she is intelligent and articulate but also because she has always been very kind to me.  If you don't have Inara's blog on your regular rotation of important SL writing, please follow this link and add her to your blog reader.  Thank you.

Today Inara wrote about an issue tossed around in the blogosphere a lot lately -- communication between Linden Lab and the users of Second Life.   Like many, she takes the position that shouting from the rooftops that the company behind Second Life is a malicious entity is just plain ridiculous.  I have to agree with her wholeheartedly.  Linden Lab is a company made up of individuals and to suggest that the company is evil is sort of silly, isn't it?

I was not around in the early days of Second Life but I did read Hamlet Au's book which describes some of the early conflicts between users and Linden Lab.  Over the years I have seen first hand many of the conflicts.  It seems like the relationship between SL users and the Lab has been a bit broken since the beginning.  Lately I have noticed a change in the public discourse and I wonder if I am seeing this clearly or not.

During the trademark usage conflict I don't remember bloggers arguing with each other about the frustration expressed about the policy change.  When LL laid off a large number of staff and people questioned the future of SL I don't remember users turning on each other. When LL increased prices for educational and non profit groups I don't remember vitriol aimed at people who were upset with the company.

Certainly during each of these conflicts, and many others I have not mentioned, there were ugly words directed at Linden Lab. I remember expressing the belief LL makes business choices and sometimes people have to put on their big kid panties and grow up.  I also remember being chastised on Twitter for stating such an opinion during the Open Space fiasco.  So the back and forth, pointed discussion and disagreements have always existed and have shown up all over social media and on blogs.

What I am seeing lately is a new level of beating each other up.  A recent "naming and shaming" in the fashion community comes to mind.  There have been twitter conversations, blog posts and podcasts where it feels like we are turning on each other in frustration.  Overall, I firmly believe we all need to do a better job listening and responding respectfully to people with whom we have disagreements.

Still, I wonder when we decided to define the problem as each other?

Like Inara, I look to Linden Lab to take a leadership position and begin a productive dialog to heal the wounds that threaten our community.

Real Influence. I know it when I see it.

A few days ago I wrote about influence and in that post I denied wanting to influence anyone and also denied being influential in the Second Life blogosphere.  Botgirl has written two thoughtful posts in response because, well,  I apparently got her thinking.   Which is to say, I influenced her and in one simple post proved myself incorrect.

Damn.

Botgirl's writing and the comments made by people in response to her post got me thinking.  Making this influence stuff come full circle.  Which is to say, I think, we are having a conversation and exchanging ideas and possibly even teaching each other a thing or two.

*pregnant pause*

Now that is the kind of influence I can wrap my arms around!  I love that across the miles and through our vastly different experiences we talk and bounce around ideas. We build a conversation through social media and our virtual lives and all of that begins to create a community.

And while I am on the subject of community, I hope you will take 20 minutes to watch this TED talk by a friend of mine. She exerts the kind of real influence that impresses me.  I think you will know her when you watch and I *know* you will be influenced by her words.

Enjoy.

Exploring the Premium Wilderness

The other day I got an email about the Linden Lab-produced Premium Wilderness sims available only to those of us who have paid memberships in Second Life.  My first thought was something like "here we go again. LL is trying to do something that makes business sense and it is going to at best disappoint and at worst anger users."

I purposely have not read anything and I have kept my conversations about the Wilderness to an absolute minimum.  I wanted to go and explore and not be predisposed to like or dislike what I saw.

My understanding is the Wilderness sims are an incentive to get people to buy Premium memberships at a discount and a way for LL to show off some of the new building tools that will be available in the near term.  So tonight with about an hour to spend I teleported to Tapir.  I took a few photos and have a few observations to share.  All of these photos are completely untouched to give you a clear sense of exactly what I saw.  Please click on the photos for a larger view.

When I landed on the dock I noticed the sim around me loaded very very quickly, which I appreciated.  I have been having a heck of a time running SL lately with slow rez times really being a problem. I have done some work on my computer and I also was running the new Firestorm viewer so I can't say if it was my tuned up rig, the new viewer or a well built sim that made all the difference.  But, my first impression of the sim was "wow that loaded super quickly."  I was off to a good start.

The "good stuff" and where I show off my Wackadoodle street cred is after the break

How do you find interesting places to explore in Second Life?

I am not entirely sure why, but lately it has been hard for me to find places to go that inspire me to take photographs and wander around drinking in the atmosphere.

Now, before I unintentionally start drama by saying there is nothing to do in SL and thereby cause the downfall of Linden Lab, virtual worlds, the Internet and the end of life itself -  let me be *abundantly clear*  - I am not saying there is nothing to do in Second Life.  To the contrary, there are live music shows at any hour of the day or night, there are storytelling and poetry events, LEA offers 20 sims of art, there are galleries on sims all across the grid.  There are opportunities to role play as everything from faeries to gladiators.  Second Life has an absolute abundance of things to do, I know this to be true.

And yet?  When I log in I have a hell of a time using search and coming up with places that are not stores. When I use Koinup "coolest" places on twitter I find more stores. There are a few blogs that routinely provide links to great sims.  However, when I want to write about a new and interesting place, those sources don't help because I don't want to reiterate something others have recently showcased.

The problem I am having is not a lack of activity or a shortage of things that interest me.  My problem is connecting with new and innovative places because I don't know how to find them.

So, how do you find interesting places to explore in Second Life?  What sources do you use?

Self indulgent self expression, nothing more.

Its funny.  Yesterday I was included in a list of 10 influential bloggers in Second Life.   Crap suggested a whole bunch of people who should have been on that list and I have to agree with him.  There are so many people who are smarter and more insightful than I and while I am very flattered, I just don't think I am influential.  I don't even want to be influential.

I don't have anything to sell or any well planned agenda whatsoever.  I don't want to spur other people to do things.  I don't want to change your opinion.  I do not seek to influence the debate about LL, virtual worlds, the state of the economy, politics, nature vs nurture, punk or pop, whether or not Elvis is really dead, who should be voted off the island or even what book you should read next.   Honestly.

Here is how my writing works.  I might be taking a shower or listening to music or talking to a friend and words start banging around inside my head.   So, I sit at my computer and my fingers run over the keys and within a few minutes...boom...there it is.  A post.  I run spell check and hit publish.  That is it.  I write so the ideas inside my head will quiet down.

When people suggest I have influence over things and when I find people discussing what I have said here on my blog elsewhere in all honesty I am surprised.  This blog is indulgent self expression, nothing more.  If you read what I write I am grateful for your time and attention. Thank you. If you don't agree with me then by all means let's talk.  I would love to explain myself and hear what you have to say.  But, I promise, unless you are one of a handful of people who I consider my "inner circle" I will never try to influence you and what I write here is not about you either.

I am a Wackadoodle

I was trying to figure out where the label "Wackadoodle" came from. As near as I can tell, Karl Steifvater was quoted as saying " You know what's the best part of being non-Linden?  I don't have to deal with the wackadoodles any more."   You can find the quote on New World Notes here.    I can understand why Karl said it as anyone who deals with the public has to cope with insane customers now and then.  If you combine that with the "celebrity" status Lindens have I imagine it can get tedious.

I personally take my Wackadoodle status to heart! I am guilty of spending way too much time in Second Life over the years and I am guilty of caring a hell of a lot about the future of SL and virtual worlds generally.  From time to time I am angry with Linden Lab and I say so right here on the Internet.   Its true.  All of it.

So I decided to wear my Wackadoodle title proudly.  If you want your very own title message me.  I will add you to my personal group which I created to manage land way back in 2007 but which exists now only so I can create titles that amuse me.  Like Wackadoodle.

Huzzah!

"They don't care about users enough. They just don't" ...Gary Vaynerchek

Have you ever heard of  Gary Vaynerchuk?  He is a successful Internet businessman, writer and regular speaker at events like SXSW.   I like Vaynerchuk because he has a NY swagger and the requisite subway language so he feels like a neighbor when I listen to his keynotes and random video blogs.  Beyond that, Gary is a hell of a smart guy who has interesting things to say about how companies need to think and act in order to be successful in an online world.

Gary talks about the "thank you economy" and has written a popular book with the same title.  The idea is businesses need to use the Internet to engage customers and build positive relationships.  He thinks most businesses use the Internet like "19 year old guys" who want to "close the deal too fast."  Rather than take time to understand customers and respond to their needs, most businesses use internet tools to spam out links to sale opportunities and push out "content" to potential customers.  Vaynerchek contends that businesses "don't care about users enough. They just don't."

Gary talks about when he was building his online wine business he would search twitter for words like "Merlot" and answer people's questions.  He did not spam them with a link to the site where he sold Merlot, he just answered their question thereby building trust and planting the seed of a relationship.  Eventually he had a customer who turned to him for their Merlot purchases.  Vaynerchek doesn't pretend to care about his customers, he demonstrates that he *does* care.  What a concept.

I was listening to the video below today and I got to thinking about the latest kerfuffle between Linden Lab and users.  LL put out policy statements that did not sit well with the user community.  Predictably, users got mad and used all the tools available to them to make their displeasure known.  Loudly.  Various bloggers have admonished other bloggers about the unproductive way in which they lash out at Linden Lab.  The dysfunctional cycle continues, to the dismay of all.

The new business reality is a single disgruntled customer can really fuck a company up.   When there is a group of pissed off customers, it can be a big problem for an organization.  Any individual with a cell phone can spew all kinds of garbage, true or not, to thousands of people in an instant. That is the environment in which we live and it is the environment in which Linden Lab and all other businesses operate in 2012.

So what would Gary Vaynerchuk say about the dysfunctional relationship between Linden Lab and its customers?   I can guess he would wonder why Linden Lab is not reaching out to the angry, loud, critical community and talking to them. I can guess he would say LL should care enough about users to develop personal relationships with them, particularly those who have a habit of writing critical things about Second Life on the Internet.

Most importantly, I think Vaynerchuk would suggest the responsibility for repairing the broken relationship falls squarely on the shoulders of Linden Lab if they want to cultivate a growing, happy customer base.  If customers are that unhappy with the relationship they have with Linden Lab they will eventually lose interest and move on to other competing services.  It really is that simple.

Hat tip to Will Burns who pointed me to this video.  It is long but I really encourage you to watch.  I promise you it is worth your time.

Important tip for rendering mesh clothing in Second Life

I decided to jump in and buy some mesh clothing today. When I tried to put on my lovely new clothes I could not see them.  I had no idea why so I asked my friends on Plurk and got an answer about what I needed to do within moments.  I have such a great bunch of people on my plurk timeline!  They are always so helpful and seem to know everything about everything.

If you have trouble seeing your mesh items follow this advice from Tymmerie Thorne

If your mesh items disappear, try this:

1. Go to Advanced>Show Debug SettingsPreview

1. Type or paste MeshMaxConcurrentRequest into the dialog box that appears.

1. Set MeshMaxConcurrentRequest to between 75 - 100. 

1. Close the dialog box. 

Once I changed my debug setting I was able to see my beautiful mesh clothes from coldlogic.  I figure I must not be the only person who did not realize the default setting for MesMaxConcurrentRequest is too low to see most mesh clothing items and it would be worth passing this tip along.

Why does LL set the default so low as to make it impossible to render mesh clothing?  I don't really understand but I would be interested to learn.

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The picture above was taken at a sim called Crimarizon and it has absolutely nothing to do with this post!