Category: Linden Lab

Dio: Linden Research register a trademark and put-up a beta site

Posted on by Inara Pey

Update 31st May: Tateru has provided the following update with feedback from Linden Lab on the new website: “The Dio staging/test server has now been closed off, and Linden Lab expresses thanks for the notice of the security issue. Linden Lab also adds that yes, it is not ready to talk about it in any detail other than that it will be something new and completely separate from and unrelated to Second Life and that it is not yet ready for public consumption.” As such, the links to the site given in this article no longer work. (With thanks to Tateru for permission to quote her update.)

Tateru has reported on a new trademark having been registered by Linden Research Inc. You can find the full details on her site, but the key point is that it is for an entirely new product – called Dio (which, among other things, Wikipedia points-out is the Italian name for “God”).

The name would appear to be connected to a new website, which has a rather interesting home-page:

New website

Any attempts to go further than this page leads to a log-in page with confidentiality statement (as identified initially by Miro Collas):

Log-in page

The metadata for the pages supplies a clue to their purpose: “Dio allows you to create and play user-created stories.” As such, it’s a reasonable to assume the website is connected to Linden Lab’s range of “new products”, first alluded to by Rod Humble at SLCC-2011. Details were vague then, but have become clearer thanks to various clues dropped by Humble himself and as a result of other goings-on, including:

Given the site links to a secure log-in, complete with confidentially statement also points towards it being connected to Linden Research’s call for product Beta Testers, initially made in March this year and which still appears to be open.

Call for Beta volunteers – opened March 2012

Speculation on the site is open to all – doubly so given, as Tateru points out, security is somewhat billoxed – allowing people to discern rather a lot, including URLs for image assets, one of which is rather novel to say the least, and another to what appears to be an Apple-related wallpaper. Others appear to be more “game / story” related.

One of the images gleaned via examination of the Dio site’s source-code

Commenting on Tateru’s article, Psyke Phaeton points out that site’s URL’s might be an oblique reference to Baron Bwimb of Ooze, the self-proclaimed baron of the Paraelemental Plane of Ooze, in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, and provides a link to  another webpage from the site, entitled “Baron’s Test Story”.

Speculation is bound to continue now the cat is out of the bag. Tateru is seeking further feedback from Linden Lab, and will update her article if / when any feedback is forthcoming. I’ll follow suit here, depending on the amount of information that is forthcoming. In the meantime, for more speculative analysis, keep an eye on her comments page.

With thanks to Tateru Nino, Miro Collas and Pyske Phaeton. Note that some of the image links given in this article may become unresolvable, depending on how the apparent security breaks in the Dio website are fixed.

Linden Research seek Beta testers

Posted on by Inara Pey

Daniel Voyager is once again on the ball, noting on Plurk that Linden Lab has put out a call for potential beta testers.

The opportunity is presented on the Lab’s official website home page:

Call for Beta volunteers

Clicking on the link will open a form requesting various information from you.

The form (click to enlarge)

Some have taken this to be about Second Life, and have questioned the need for LL to ask for information “they already have”. However, it should be clear from the form itself that the call is not specifically about Second Life, but rather about Linden Lab’s upcoming new products.

There is no guarantee that those submitting details will be accepted for any Beta trials of products, and there will clearly be more involved in the process than simply filling-out a form (NDAs almost certainly will be involved).

Even so, it’s an interesting step for the Lab to take, and suggests that at least one of their new products is reaching a point where it is ready to be seen by something of a larger audience. If this is the case, then it would suggest that Rod Humble will be a step closer to his goal of talking more openly about the products – something he was finding hard not to do in a recent interview with Games Industry, which I reported on earlier this month.

With thanks to Daniel Voyager

Seeking new horizons: Humble and Short talk new products and more

Posted on by Inara Pey

Games Industry today carries an interview with Rod Humble and Emily Short. Along the way, Humble discloses what drew him to Linden Lab in the first place.

Humble’s reasons for joining the company are enlightening – he’d actually forgotten about the platform and had been thinking of developing something along the same lines when the opportunity to join Linden Research popped-up. A nice example of serendipity in action.

Since joining Linden Research, Humble’s focus has been on the platform’s usability, which the article describes as being “far from perfect” – something many users would doubtless regard as an understatement. While there is still a good way to go in making things “better”, only the churlish would refuse to accept there haven’t been improvements in a number of areas, and that Linden Lab is working to get some deep-rooted issues – stability, performance, region crossings, even (dare I say it) the official Viewer – properly addressed.

There are also some comments that are liable to have users cringing in some quarters. Humble’s comments on gaming mechanics in particular may well offer little comfort to some as to the future of the platform. While SL may not itself be a game, it is a perfectly valid platform upon which users can develop games of their own if they so wish. Indeed, one might argue many have been doing precisely that almost since the platform entered open beta 10 years ago. That LL are now making the capabilities to do so easier to use is demonstration that the company is working meet user demands and provide more effective means by which the platform can be leveraged by users themselves.

As well as wanting to get issues around SL’s usability sorted out, Humble reveals that one of his overall goals would be to expand LL’s portfolio of products – to put the “Lab” back into “Linden Lab”. Reading this, one is tempted to wonder if this desire formed a part of his  pitch for the CEO position, and was thus one of the reasons he was hired. Thirteen years with just a single product is a remarkable achievement for any company – but it is also a precarious position to hold.

In terms of the acquisition of LittleTextPeople, it appears to be something of a natural symbiosis more than a straight buy-out: Humble / LL were working in a particular direction and at the end of last year it became apparent that Short and Evans were working towards the same destination. Thus, the acquisition was to their mutual advantage. It’s also interesting to note that the Humble / Short / Evans relationship is a lot deeper than the EA Games link between Humble and Evans many of pointed to when news of the acquisition broke.

As to the product itself, little is said in detail, but what is mentioned helps frame the product more clearly. It will be primarily text-based with 2D graphics. It will be a story form, but deal with social interactions – how people treat each other and what say to one another. Most intriguingly of all however, is that it appears the product will be capable of supporting user-generated content. “Although it will launch with some very, very well crafted content, the overall plan – just like all Linden lab products – is to democratise the actual creation process. Other people will be able to make things on that platform. That’s really the business we’re in: building platforms that allow people to express themselves in different ways.” Humble informs Games Industry when mentioning the product.

Of the other two products currently being developed at the Lab, even less is said other than the intimation they will also support user-generated content – although Humble did hint this would be the case when the development of new products was first announced at SLCC-2011. However, this is the first time we’ve had it directly confirmed that three products are currently in the pipeline. Again, Humble has only previously hinted at this in a comment on New World Notes, wherein he made reference to the LTP project being “Product 3”, and there being a “Product 2” under way at the Lab as well – although at the time, some did speculate as to whether “Product 1” was perhaps Second Life.

The interview isn’t going to satisfy everyone within the SL community, but for my part, I found it a worth-while read, not so much the for the titbits of information that emerge about the upcoming new products, but because it again shines a light on Rod Humble’s thought processes and some of his strategic thinking where both the company and SL are concerned. Given the company has been pretty quiet when it comes to talking to the community as a whole on such things, it’s refreshing to gain this kind of near-candid insight, and actually does help restore one’s faith that, overall, SL is in a safe pair of hands right now – a perception that has been slipping a little of late.

Obviously, the new tools being rolled-out / developed for SL and the new products themselves aren’t going to lift LL out of the perceived mire, and it fair to stay the company is facing further clouds on the horizon –  particularly around the stormy issue of tier. But taken as a whole, this is a positive piece and carries with it the promise that we may well be hearing a lot more from LL as whole in the coming months – and that in itself will be refreshing.

Don’t just take my word for it – go read the article, and don’t miss the side-bar piece as well.

With thanks to Daniel Voyager for the pointer.

Esbee and Charlar – gone

Posted on by Inara Pey

Tateru posts news that Chalar and Esbee Linden have both been laid-off from the Lab.

Sarah Kuehnle

Esbee – aka Sarah Kuehnle (nee Hutchinson) in real life, had previously had responsibility for the SL Viewer, prior to departing from the Lab in January 2011 of her own free will, but returned in June. While active on Twitter, her public-facing profile at LL was quite low following her return.

At SLCC-2011, she was part of the team that demonstrated some of the gaming mechanisms the Lab were then experimenting with (some of which eventually found their way into Linden Realms). During the presentation, it was announced that she would be taking-on the role of “Subject Matter Expert” for “role-play” – but so far as I’m aware, did not have a major user-facing roles as such, and didn’t host and user group meetings related to this.

I didn’t really “know” Esbee (as much as anyone can get to know Lab personnel), but we did swap a few tweets and other bits, and she always came across directly as someone who was warm and fun-loving, and I remember that at SLCC-2010, after coming in for a lot of criticism for the level of spin around Viewer 2, she Oz and Q had and open forum on the (then) new Project Snowstorm, and that by-and-large they were more aware of worries and concerns from both users and devs than perhaps they’d been given credit.

Charlar’s famous tree avatar

Charlar has had a fairly high-profile role at LL, firstly with regards to mesh, which rolled out last year, and then within the Content Creators group. He’s enjoyed something of a mixed reputation in the eyes of users, but I will say that I had the opportunity on several times to chat with him one-to-one, and we swapped ideas and points-of-view via profile direct messages, and I always found him to be polite, thoughtful and with a keen sense of humour.

News of the departures is bound to bring mixed reactions across the community. However, being laid-off is never a pleasant experience, so I certainly hope that both Esbee and Charlar find safe havens work-wise soon.

LittleText Prople: Lab acquires, users speculate

Posted on by Inara Pey

It’s been over a year since Linden Lab last put out a Press Release – long enough for most of us to have given up looking at the official Linden Research PR page (I was checking monthly up until December, then lost the will after a year of silence). Fortunately, Tateru Nino has kept a weather eye on things, because yesterday, Linden Research did slip out a release, announcing the acquisition of LittleTextPeople, a move linked directly with the company’s upcoming new products, as the press release states:

Best known for Second Life®, Linden Lab will grow its digital entertainment offering by launching several new stand-alone products this year. Now part of Linden Lab, the talent and technology of LittleTextPeople will support the development of these new forms of interactive entertainment.

LittleTextPeople was founded by Emily Short, and Richard Evans. Short is perhaps best known for her work in Interactive Fiction, starting with her 2000 title Galatea, and her psychology-complex NPCs, while Evans was formerly the Senior AI Architect at Electronic Arts (spot the connection! 🙂 ), where he was involved in the development of The Sims 3.

The press release describes LittleTextPeople thus:

LittleTextPeople explores the gameplay possibilities of nuanced social interaction. The company’s core technology is a simulator able to model social practices and individual personalities. Combine the simulations with the expressive freedom of fiction and the result is gameplay that more closely resembles the rich emotional dialogue of a novel, rather than a fight scene in an action movie.

In breaking the news to a wider SL audience, Tateru’s piece has drawn very mixed reactions, some fairly negative, some speculating on how the acquisition might fit with LL’s plans for the development of NPCs (Non-player Characters) within SL. However, at this point in time, such commentary is only speculation – Linden Research give absolutely no indication that the experience gained via this acquisition will have wider application within Second Life. As Rod Humble himself comments in the press release:

“LittleTextPeople brings a depth and breadth of AI and interactive story development expertise that is a great fit for Linden Lab as we launch multiple new products,” said Rod Humble, CEO of Linden Lab. “The result of this investment will be a new type of digital entertainment that modernizes the novel as a shared story-telling experience.”

Note the emphasis on the intended product – “A new type of digital entertainment” – rather than any overt link to Second Life. However, one cannot deny that the acquisition may have a broader fit for Linden Lab further down the line as products and ideas mature, particularly as NPC capabilities are seen as a major development for SL during 2012 and elements of which are even now entering a test phase. As such, it may well be interesting to see where this relationship leads over time.

The negative reactions to Linden Research broadening its product brief appear to stem from the belief that doing so detracts from on-going development of Second Life. However, there would seem to be little in the way of substantive evidence that this is so. As evidenced by the Linden Research recruitment page over the last few months, the company is clearly recruiting fresh talent clearly aimed at the development of these new products while continuing to recruit talent for the development and support of SL. Similarly, as has been frequently pointed out, currently Linden Research is somewhat exposed in the fact that it does only have the one product – Second Life – in its portfolio. This weakens the company’s position somewhat in terms of attracting wider investment and places a lot of pressure on SL to perform well financially. Over time, and assuming the new products are successful, diversification should be beneficial for the company and Second Life in both of these areas.

Obviously, the main problem here is that, when all is said and done, we actually know very little about the new products themselves and how they will be marketed and their likely appeal. As such, it is possibly easier to voice concerns than might otherwise be the case.

Nevertheless, this is an interesting move, and one is curious as to what comes next where these new products are concerned – and how soon it will be before we do start seeing more substantial information emerging about their development.

Related Links

With thanks to Tateru Nino

FJ Linden departs

Posted on by Inara Pey

Frank Ambrose, Senior VP of Global Technology, departed Linden Lab last week (with thanks to Hamlet Au for the pointer).

Known in-world as FJ Linden, Frank Ambrose joined the Lab in 2008, and while rarely seen in-world, he was responsible for instigating a major overhaul of the grid’s hardware infrastructure, work that resulted in both some bumpy times – but also in very welcome and continuing overall improvements.

I’ve personally long been a fan of FJ – his blog posts were always honest, open and articulate, and gave valuable insight into the operation of the platform and the goings-on at Linden Lab.

The reasons behind Mr. Ambrose’s departure are unclear, but he is the second member of the senior management team to depart LL in recent weeks, following on the heels of Kimberly Salzer.

Whether their departures are in any way linked in terms of either the overall direction the company is taking or as a result of Rod Humble “cleaning house” ready to appoint his own team, is entirely speculative at present.

Wheatever the reason, Frank Ambrose’s departure from the Lab is sobering and a little sad. I’d like to pass on my best and good wishes for his next endeavours (which aren’t currently listed on his LinkedIn page).