Category: Linden Lab

Jeff Petersen has joined Linden Lab as the new VP of Engineering. Going under the name of Bagman Linden, Petersen is the second major hire the Lab has made from the gaming community, following-on from the recruitment of Rod Humble as CEO.

He’s certainly an interesting choice, as he notes himself:

For me, the challenges and the opportunities at the Lab are a perfect fit for my background. I come to the Lab with over 20 years of experience as a game developer and engineering lead, primarily in the MMO area. Prior to joining Linden Lab, I spent 10 years working for Sony Online Entertainment doing MMO RPG development (with a focus on the networking, servers, and core technologies), along with PS3 and PSP development. Some of the titles that I worked on include: Everquest, Everquest II, Star Wars Galaxies, Planetside, Untold Legends PS3, Field Commander PSP, FreeRealms, and CloneWars Adventures.

Old timers may remember an early entry into MMO gaming that I developed in a game called Subspace, published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in 1996. The unique relationship I had with the player base of this product mirrors the relationship between the Lindens and the Residents in many ways. If there is one thing I’ve learned about MMO gaming over the years it is that MMO products have a life of their own, and the player investment in the product is a key aspect of that. Second Life is no different in this regard.  The Residents of Second Life want to see the product succeed every bit as much as Linden Lab does.

Reading this, one cannot help but think that Humble himself had a direct hand in the recruitment of Petersen: the words may be a little different between the two of them, but the sentiment is the same. It is certainly refreshing to hear yet another senior at the Lab talking in terms of player investment in the platform; something that has been a theme of mine for a while now – and to which I’ll be returning.

Another theme that Humble himself has frequently raised in various interviews is the fact that one of the biggest impediments to people getting to grips with Second Life remains the Viewer; and not just new users. From the comments he has made, it’s pretty clear that Humble would like to see the Viewer overhauled for the benefit of the community as a whole. Given this, it is going to be extremely interesting to see what Petersen brings to the table in terms of Viewer development.

Beyond that, it is also interesting to note Petersen’s extensive background in console game development at Sony. There have been more than a few suggestions made that one way in which SL might reach a wider audience might be through the development of a console-based Viewer. It’ll be interesting to see if, over time, any moves are made in this direction as a result of Petersen’s appointment.

Q Linden will be leaving Linden Lab tomorrow, Friday March 4th.

He has been a major force in Viewer development, and since Esbee’s departure has been acting Product / Business Lead for Project Snowstorm.

Last year Q suffered a stroke, which left him hospitalised – but he still called-in to SLCC-10 to join Esbee and Oz in announcing Viewer developments and the launch of Snowstorm itself.

Q has always been approachable and personable. He’ll be missed; I certainly wish him well for the future and with his health.

After about four months as interim CEO, working closely with Bob Komin, the management team, and the board, we’ve decided we are ready to start the search for a new CEO. I’ll be leaving day-to-day management of the company and continuing in my role on the board, including helping in the search to find a great CEO. I will also be continuing my work with my new company, LoveMachine. Bob will lead Linden Lab while we conduct the search. It’s been an intense few months of transition, and we all feel like we are in a better place now, with a clearer sense of direction and more focus, and are ready to bring someone new into the mix as a leader.

So sez Philip Rosedale today. I find this news interesting on two levels. Firstly, as Ciaran and others point out, it’s not surprising. Philip made it clear his return was an interim thing following the departure (voluntarily or otherwise) of one Mark “Target” Kingdon. Nor is it a surprise that Philip is “returning” to LoveMachine – the latter has been his first love for a goodly while, and one in some respects cannot fault him for wanting to “get back” to it.

And yet…the timing of the move is a little odd. In the general scheme of things, “interim” CEOs are brought in / step in to oversee a transitional period in a company – and it is very odd to see one depart when the transition is less than 50% done – and with a new CEO yet to be found, leave alone recruited, then it is more than fair to say the job is less than 50% done.

Indeed, it is also fair to say that the departure of an interim CEO during a transitional process can usually be taken as an indication that the CEO and the Board have had a difference of opinion and have reached an impasse of some form. Now, I’ve never been entirely sure that Philip’s original “departure” from the day-to-day running of Linden Research was as rosy as was portrayed at the time, coming as it did  at the time when other Board members were becoming ever more belligerent towards the user base as a whole (vis-a-vis Kapor’s “step aside” speech at SL5B). And while you can accuse Philip of many things, he’s never lost his respect for the SL user community as a whole; as such, his attitude could be said to be in sharp contrast of that of other board members at the time – and this contrast might have encouraged his “departure” from the CEO role. Could it be that the very same contrast has come up again, forcing his “premature” departure from the interim role?

Or could the reason be a lot simpler to explain: that he has in fact already “found” the next CEO of Linden Lab in the form of Bob Komin – but the Board have yet to accept / appreciate this?

Lets face it, Bob Komin has been effectively running the company alongside Rosedale since the latter “returned” so dramatically. It was Komin (apparently) that spearheaded the staff cuts and the realignment of much of LL’s satellite business (SLE, etc.).  He’s be brought out of the relative shadows for in-world meetings, and his name has been extensively linked with things like the “back to basics” campaign as much as Rosedale has hitched his own name to that particular wagon.

Now Komin is moving from a position of co-pilot alongside Rosedale to actually piloting the company on a day-to-day basis. Given this, I can’t help but wonder if he is not being given a chance (by Rosedale himself) to demonstrate to the Board that not only does he have the wherewithal to make the hard choices and drive through extensive cuts – he can also lead the company as a whole, managerially as well as fiscally.

Let’s face it; bringing-in a CEO from outside is fraught with risk – as the Kingdon Years demonstrate. Second Life – let alone the quirky nature of Linden Lab – is not the easiest thing for one to get one’s business head around; so bringing anyone in from outside is a massive gamble. This is where I differ in view to Ciaran and others: the risks in bringing-in someone from outside, to me, are far greater than the risks inherent in having someone like Komin take the helm “from within”, so to speak, full-time.

Right now, LL doesn’t need more upheaval. It needs a period of steady, considered management progress and stability. This is more likely to come from within, where the egos involved have already gone through the arc of putting down a stamp of authority on matters, than it is by bringing in a “big gun” (assuming one can even be found and hired) from outside who is going to put their need to exercise their own stamp and brand of leadership on things ahead of what actually needs to be done.

For that reason, I’m hoping that Philip’s oddly timed departure from the CEO seat is at least in part because they have a CEO-in-waiting in the form of Komin; that this move is, in fact, a canny means of allowing Komin to demonstrate this is fact to the Board, and the “search” will result in a further announcement in, say, a month, that he has been appointed to the role full-time.

So we have another round of departures from LL – among them Catherine Linden. Some have praise Catherine’s tenure at LL; I’m not entirely in the same mindset. As the architecture of the LL Trademark documentation, she opened up something of a can of confusing worm – particularly with regards to the use of every day words such as “Life” (which LL “banned” the likes of TPV developers from using, claiming it was a breach of their trademark / copyright). As someone with a degree of responsibility for communications (at least at one time), she also made a pretty poor communicator herself; although that is pretty much par for the course for many at LL.

Her departure is somewhat “balanced” by the announcement from Terrance Linden of the move to bring in younger teens to the main grid after the inevitable decision was made to come clean and close Teen Grid. And for once it shows a degree of common sense. Those who witnessed Philip Rosedale’s SLCC 10 address – particularly the closing minutes when he was challenged by an educator over the Teen Grid decision, could not help but feel his sympathetic ear was somewhat closed to her pleas: the move was a done deal. It is therefore refreshing that those at the Lab have taken the time to listen to a section of their community (educators) and take steps to ensure that needs of that sector of their community continue to be met. In a nutshell the move announced by Terrence means that 13-15 year olds will soon be able to access the main grid BUT – and before people start shouting and screaming, they will not be able to:

• Move outside the educational sims / estates hosting their affiliated educational organisation(s)
• Use search to make purchases via in-world stores or the Marketplace

This is still not an ideal solution – a dedicated Educational or “Teen” Continent would perhaps be preferable – but it does mean that risks of lawsuits etc., are drastically reduced so long as educational organisations themselves are restricted to private (and discounted) sims. It also means that there can be greater and more positive interaction between youngsters and others on the grid in a “controlled” environment: educators will have to ability to vet others on the main grid and invite them into their sims to give talks, presentations, etc. Undoubtedly, this could be a major boon for a range of educational projects that schools, etc., may undertake: one can well imagine in-world science lessons being enlivened by a visit from representatives from NASA, ESA or the International Space Museum.

Nevertheless, as others point out, it still begs the question why LL didn’t simply create the aforementioned “Teen Continent” that might have provided both a contiguous experience for youngsters that come in-world for educational purposes and an environment for those aged 16 and 17 (whose presence on the wider Grid is still very much a potential minefield for LL and adults alike). Indeed, if what I’ve been told is correct,that the Teen Grid was pretty much a Continent in its own right, albeit it one with additional access restrictions, why not simply merge it with the main grid as a “new continent”, complete with safeguards to avoid the pitfalls of the “wrong” kind of adult / teenage interaction (I’m not talking sex here necessarily…the “wrong” kind of interaction covers a broad spectrum of what might possibly happen – up to and including an adult “looking over” their teenager’s shoulder and getting completely the wrong impression of what goes on in SL). Doing so would have removed a “caretaking” headache for LL, removed the heartache for teens, still provided the environment Terrance has announced and – most beneficial of all – allayed the fears (real and perceived) of the adult community already on the main grid.

Sadly, however, we’re not going to get anything like a “teen” or “PG” (or even “G”) continent; that was made clear during the Adult Policy / Zindra fiasco, so campaigning for such – as some have been attempting to do since news of the closure of Teen Grid was announced – is a waste of time. It simply doesn’t fit with the LL “roadmap” – whatever that might be. But – in the case of 13-15 year olds, this move is perhaps the best compromise for all concerned. It doesn’t provide an answer for everything, but it is potentially enough to help reassure both sides of the youngsters-in-SL argument that things are not going to end up an unmitigated disaster; at least where those in the younger age range are concerned.