SL13B: Ebbe on the Lab, Second Life, Sansar and more

Update: Pey’s law came into effect. 45 minutes after I published this report, the video of the discussion appeared on YouTube. I’ve therefore embedded it at the foot of this introduction.

Meet the Lindens is a series of conversations / Q&A session with staff from Linden Lab, held as a part of the SL Birthday celebrations in-world. These are opportunities for Second Life users to get to know something about the staff at the Lab: who they are, what they do, what drew them to Second Life and the company, what they do, what they find interesting / inspirational about the platform, and so on.

Tuesday, June 21st saw Zander Greene and Jo Yardley putting audience questions to Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg, in his persona of Ebbe Linden. The following is a transcript of the session, focusing on the questions and answers, including audio extracts from my own recording of the event.

The discussion started with a brief re-cap of Ebbe’s background prior to his arrival at the Lab in February 2014. You can read my own short profile on him, and also his own feedback on that profile and the comments which followed it.

This transcript picks up with questions around Ebbe’s times at linden Lab, and I’ve attempted to split topics logically between those between Ebbe and linden Lab, Project Sansar and Second Life. As such, the questions in the following sections are not in the order presented during the discussion, and may not reflect any video of the event which is produced.

Please use the links below to jump directly to topics of interest.

Quick Links

• Ebbe on Ebbe and the Lab
  • How did working at Linden Lab come about?
  • What were your fist impressions on joining the Lab?
  • Which part of the job do you like the most?
  • What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced
    • Can residents help attract users?
  • What is your management style?
  • What are the things you see SL residents doing that you admire?
  • Do you think critics are right when they say the digital age has made us more isolated?
  • Do you have a Linden Bear?
  • Are the monetisation issues for Blocksworld a / the reason for it not reaching the Android platform?
• Ebbe on Sansar
  • Is the approximate SL / Non-SL creator ratio known for Sansar Creator Preview applications?
  • Land
    • Will there be regions / different land types and sizes / parcels in Sansar?
    • Will you be able to purchase land in Sansar and parcel it for collaborative projects?
    • Are scenes land-based like SL, or is ground / gravity optional?
  • Avatars and Freedom of Expression
    • Are Sansar avatar movement controls comparable to SL?
    • Will we be able to customise our Sansar avatar?
    • Will we have as much freedom of expression in Sansar as in Second Life
    • Will the intended age of a Sansar avatar be evident from its appearance?
  • Identity
    • Avatar Profiles and user identity
    • Means of identification
  • Will there be recommended hardware specifications for Sansar?
  • Are we anywhere near a name for Sansar?
• Ebbe on Second Life
  • Is there any explanation for the recent LindeX exchange rate fluctuations?
  • When can we expect a version of the SL viewer supporting the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive?
  • Has the Lab considered cubemap reflections?
  • Does the Lab have and plan  / strategy for Mainland / re-populating abandoned Mainland?
  • When will we have more control for environmental factors in SL / Sansar?