Live on Reuters island in Second Life, Adam Reuters interviews SL CEO Philip Rosedale, currently discussing entrepreneurship. Philip disagrees that there is a PR strategy problem, and says that transparency is the way to go, but pre-discussion of policies may be more damaging than just announcing policy changes when they are made. He also suggests some sort of currency/billing changes by May 1st, but I missed that part of the conversation.
posted by Fleep Tuque on Reuters using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]
Additional edits post crashing, not sure if any of the other bloghud posts got sent:
Rosedale said the two things limiting SL growth is the stability of the system and people’s first experience with it, and that he wished they could go back in time and capture more of those people, but the one thing LL can’t control is what people find when they get in world – the people, the things users create, the things there are to do – and expects that as SL matures, more people will stay as more things are offered. (paraphrasing)
In response to a question from Adam Reuters, Rosedale says his purpose for attending the World Economic Forum is to serve as not just an evangelist, but also to explain that Second Life is fundamentally about the people, it’s not just an advertisement or a website, and that there are opportunities for entrepreneurship.
I missed the first half and then crashed, sorry for the lousy reporting! Hopefully Reuters will be doing a much better job, and Hank says to check their site for the schedule and more interviews coming up.
Some commentary:
Well that was hectic, thanks to iAlja for the tweet that brought me in world for the interview, sad to say I missed most of it because of Time Warner Cable’s flaky broadband connection at my house. Grrr. At some point in there, Adam Reuters remarked that in some ways, 2007 was the Year of Restrictions in Second Life, and Philip responded that it really made him sad every time they have to restrict behavior, and that despite these changes, SL is still an incredibly open platform.
Two thoughts about that, the first is that I can’t help but believe him when he says the restrictions make him sad. I’m always interested in the individual, the person, at the center of these zeitgeists, and I’m always listening for clues to Philip Rosedale the person, rather than Philip Rosedale the spokesperson in these PR stunts. The consummate professional never sounds really _human_ in my mind, humans admit to mistakes, humans recognize their stumbles, while talking heads and empty suits admit no error and promise an ever more perfect future. I don’t hear that from Rosedale, sure there is the evangelizing, but when he said the restrictions made him sad, that’s such a funny thing for a CEO to say. It sounds almost hokey, and that if anything makes me believe its sincerity.
The other thought is that I haven’t commented much on the restrictions and changes in Second Life, not because I don’t think they are important or controversial, but because it seems to me the issues are so incredibly complex, I’m still trying to figure out the implications for myself. The banking restrictions on their face make sense to me, that the company took a position to say hey, you can’t come in and claim you’re a bank and be completely unaccountable, that’s a good thing. Was this specific implementation a good thing? I have no idea, I’ll leave that up to those who consistently give good analysis of such things, like Aldon Huffhines and Beyers Sellers, but I do think _something_ needed to be done, and Philip’s presence at more events like the World Economic Forum will hopefully help better inform him of the options when considering these major policy changes in the future.
His heart may be in the right place, but when I hear “transparency” I’m reminded of our local transit authority claiming transparency but stonewalling on every FOIA report and fighting them with armies of lawyers.
Instead of wanting to express transparency, demonstrate it.
Thanks for the link Fleep. I’m glad you’ve liked the coverage I’ve done of Second Life restrictions recently.
I must admit, I feel for Philip too. I do believe that he is truly is ‘sad’ about what has gone on. However, it isn’t enough for me to cut him slack. He is the head of an influential corporation. His decisions affect the future of the corporation as well as the lives of the corporate stakeholders, whether they be investor, residents, people trying to do business in Second Life, or many others.
Being ‘sad’ just isn’t good enough. If he is going to be a corporate leader, he needs to start acting like one. Linden Lab needs to get a team of people that understand community, which is a crucial component of the Second Life experience.
For more on my rant, stop by at
http://www.orient-lodge.com/node/2748
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