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An Open Letter to M Linden
Jul. 9th, 2008 10:57 pm[In response to this blog post; this is a reiteration of the comment I left here.]
Dear M–
Not bad. Can I make a suggestion, though?
The hugest and most fundamental mistake that Linden Lab has made has been overemphasizing the economic aspects of Second Life.
Second Life is not an economy as much as it is a creative medium. It is a creative medium that some people can make money at, yes. But just as not everybody who picks up a guitar is assured a rock star life, not everybody who enters Second Life is going to turn a profit on their creative endeavors.
Funnily enough, the people who bitch the most seem to be people who don’t actually create anything, but find out that speculating on virtual land, running an illegal casino or reselling crap from a Business In A Box is not as viable a means of income as they expected.
So quit yammering about How You Can Make Money At This and you won’t be dealing with the inevitable backlash when that fails to materialize. Put more emphasis on the ability to be, do and create just about anything you can think of. That’s amazing stuff right there.
Just as the medium of film can be used to create training instructions for businesses, the medium of Second Life can be put to use for business. That’s not a big deal. But nobody sensible thinks that Peter Jackson needed to knock it off with that Lord of the Rings stuff and do some more corporate work.
Dear M–
Not bad. Can I make a suggestion, though?
The hugest and most fundamental mistake that Linden Lab has made has been overemphasizing the economic aspects of Second Life.
Second Life is not an economy as much as it is a creative medium. It is a creative medium that some people can make money at, yes. But just as not everybody who picks up a guitar is assured a rock star life, not everybody who enters Second Life is going to turn a profit on their creative endeavors.
Funnily enough, the people who bitch the most seem to be people who don’t actually create anything, but find out that speculating on virtual land, running an illegal casino or reselling crap from a Business In A Box is not as viable a means of income as they expected.
So quit yammering about How You Can Make Money At This and you won’t be dealing with the inevitable backlash when that fails to materialize. Put more emphasis on the ability to be, do and create just about anything you can think of. That’s amazing stuff right there.
Just as the medium of film can be used to create training instructions for businesses, the medium of Second Life can be put to use for business. That’s not a big deal. But nobody sensible thinks that Peter Jackson needed to knock it off with that Lord of the Rings stuff and do some more corporate work.
