Socially|Mundane

Yes, "Blizzard" - meaning to me, intense cold storm:

bliz·zard - [bliz-erd]
–noun
1. Meteorology.
a. a storm with dry, driving snow, strong winds, and intense cold.
b. a heavy and prolonged snowstorm covering a wide area.

2. an inordinately large amount all at one time; avalanche: a blizzard of Christmas cards.

–verb (used without object)
3. to snow as a blizzard: Looks as though it's going to blizzard tonight.

When I say "blizzard entertainment", I'm not referring to the company of the same name, creators of World of Warcraft. I'm referring to the entertaining way Linden Lab slowly freezes over. And though it might seem like hell to some, I don't mean in a way 'hell freezes over' - as in something accepted as an impossibility has come to pass in reality.


I'm referring to the way Linden Lab sucks itself into it's tortoise shell, becoming colder and a lot quieter toward anything and everything outside it's physical walls in freaky San Francisco.

With regard to Second Life, Linden Lab has been through an on-going learning process. How to manage the virtual world without putting a hand into it. Just allowing it to grow on it's own toward whatever direction it leads.

There always has been passionate friction between LL and residents. The vocal minority was indeed very vocal. When the rate increase for the initial cost of and recurring tier for private estates was doubled, the outcry was shrill. However, when the alertist news media went over the top regarding avatar 'age-play' and claims there were 'real life pedophiliac pictures being passed around' - which they allegedly were never able to produce - that's when things started getting really bad. The downward sprial began to spin quickly.

LL intended many new policies regarding resident conduct, the residents had knee-jerk panic reactions. But through it all, Linden Lab still maintained an open channel directly with the users of Second Life. office hours in-world and the now-deceased Second Life blog.

The big blow came when Linden Lab outlawed any and all gambling or game-of-chance that involved the trading currency "Linden Dollars". This is a sticky issue anyway because high-ranking employees of Linden Lab have proclaimed L$ to be worthless tokens. I won't bother to link to these other references, all of this was big news at the time they came to light, so they are easy enough to find.

The immediate and complete outlawing of 'casinos' - the term most used to lump all 'games of chance' into a single phrase - caused the Second Life economy to take a nose dive. People panicked and made a run on the in-world bank called Ginko. Why in the hell anyone would put their L$ into an in-world bank other than for pure greed (ridiculously high interest rates) is completely beyond me.

Ginko folded under the crush. Of course a lot of bonehead fools lost money. What did you expect? Of course, the outcry was shrill and loud. Linden Lab put a stop to all 'banks' or any 'play' with Linden Dollars that promised any kind of additional return, unless licensed and verified to be registered to be certified in the real world.

All the other banks went bust. That left the stock markets. They, too are all but bust, if not already.

This leaves land-flipping as a means to make money with "worthless tokens" called Linden Dollars. Even the land barons were definitely busy long before the other issues really broke into the scene, but it became the forefront 'problem.

The 'legitimate' efforts were made through private estate land-leasing: owning a sim and selling or renting the land on it. Make enough to pay the tier and pocket the difference as profit. Anshe Chung did this from the beginning.

Then LL introduced and started selling "open space" sims. Only a about a quarter of the prims allotted on the same 'size' area (generalization here.) Why pay tier on the mainland and be surrounded by horrible builds and ridiculous lag when you can simply own from LL or rent from another resident a full open space sim and have complete privacy?

The land business doesn't go bust, but it slows way down.

There are a lot more little scenarios mixed in there that I've skipped over. But speaking of skipping, let's skip forward to right now.

All of this put Linden Lab and Second Life in the real life news. Most of it was bad public relations.

As open a dialog Linden Lad have had with the outside world and residents, those days are gone. LL is turning a cold shoulder to us and everyone else. All communication about Second Life will from now on be entirely on there terms. And than means even more spin than before, and a lot less often, and usually about boring subjects they thing is newsworthy information that casts them in a positive light.

Fair enough.

The Second Life blog is dead. The Second Life forums have been revived, but fewer people bother participating in the forums than the throngs at the blog.

Barely a peep out of Robin Linden, we never hear from Torley Linden and Katt Linden - the official voice of LL is a ghost. Things are changing drastically in-world, too.

The exciting, vibrant landscape has been quieting down, the bright colors are fading, everything is becoming mundane. It's like the grand block-party is finally starting to wind down.

One of the staples of in-world entertainment and news, The Avastar is even shutting down:

The AvaStar: The AvaStar says goodbye: "The AvaStar has now completed its virtual mission – and would like to thank all its readers for their contribution and support. The experience has been both fascinating and rewarding for The AvaStar and its parent company BILD.de, which will continue to track the development of Second Life and other virtual worlds."

Let's face it, it takes money and effort to run such an operation. To me, it's a sign that the money is drying-up. Only a year ago is cost me $150 worth of Linden Dollars to put in a full-page advertisement for a few issues.

But the money dries-up all over the grid. Fewer people are advertising - for whatever reason. They obviously can't raise enough funding to support their operation.

Will the boom-town go bust? No. It's like the frontier town of Tombstone: the town that refused to die. The exciting 'wild west' is gone as mundane lifestyle moves it.

The government (Linden Lab) slides quietly into the dark shadows to be out of sight, where they can legislate our knowledge or notice. Policies will be forced onto us a little at a time, slowly but surely. And we are the frog in the pot.

I know you may likely disagree with me. Well, this is from my own perspective and maybe it's really all an illusion because i've been in SL for so long. The magic is gone and it may be simply because I am so accustomed to it and nothing is new anymore. And I must be one of the only premium account holders left. Even Linden Lab knows there is zero incentive to hold a premium account.

I have no idea why I have any hope whatsoever that Linden Lab will change that - add something, anything as a value-add for premium account holders. The truth is they don't care about premium accounts. They make their money in hosting sims.

I really need to get my head out of my rectum and cancel that 'membership." Not to send any kind of message to LL. They wouldn't even notice, much less give a care. But for my own wallet, I guess.

Perhaps I'm getting tired of Second Life? I don't think so. We always look fondly on our memories of activities and events gone past. The now is always now. and the future always will be unpredictable. As most people would agree, I just wish things are now the way they were then. But back then was the now and we were wishing things were then the way they were before then. And the cycle goes on.

As for Linden Lab's cold shoulder...
They are only doing what 'grown-up' business do. Dictate from behind closed doors. If you don't like it, leave.

There are simply too many others who are happy to take your place.

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