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.
Torley (l) and Brett (r) flanks by Jessica with a slice of watermelon and Saffia
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.
Monday, June 20th saw Torley and Brett Linden sit down with Jessica Lyon and Saffia Widdershins, this article hopefully presents some “selected highlights” of the chat, complete with audio extracts from my own recording of the event. To hear the conversation in its entirety, please refer to the video at the end of this article.
About Brett and Torley
Brett Linden is the Digital Content Manager at Linden Lab, as is most likely best known for his work overseeing the Second Life Destination Guide. However, he is involved with multiple marketing initiatives for the company, and while his primary focus is on Second Life, these also involve the Lab’s other two products: Project Sansar and Blocksworld.
A website editor, web content strategist, Brett also teaches digital content creation and promotion at a major university. He is a former print and on-line journalist, who has been published in Billboard, Rolling Stones, Vibe, and Hollywood Reporter, among other publications. He’s also held managing editor positions at Amazon.com and Real Networks.
Torley Linden really needs no introduction for most people engaged in Second Life. Known for his love of watermelons and their bright, happy colours, he’s been involved with the platform since 2004, initially as a resident before joining the Lab directly, where he has been Amplifiying the Awesome in Second Life through his famous TuTORial and QuickTip videos, promoting new Second Life features and providing quick bites on how to use the video and do things in-world, his photography, by word of mouth and his very genuine, very infectious enthusiasm.
How did you come to work at Linden Lab?
Torley: I was in a really hard place in my first life, and I discovered Second Life through various sources, and I was reading a lot of cyberpunk and transhumanist literature at the time, thinking about a brighter future for my whole life. And I soon found myself – well, there’s no nicer way to put it than I was utterly obsessed with being here every day, and my Mum would be like, “What are you doing?” “I’m in Second Life!”
So, after several months of this, I had a dream, and I basically sent this crazy, rambling note card to Char linden at the time, And she, Robin, Philip and Daniel Linden – those are some OG names, if you remember those! – at the time they gave me the opportunity to apply. So I went through that – guess it turned out OK; so yeah, leading up to the present, I’m so very grateful and also very thankful to be here.
Brett: Well, since I had a background in journalism, I first heard about Second Life during the so-called “hype era”. And you might remember a lot of corporations jumped in, and Reuters, which is a journalistic outlet, had a bureau in Second Life. And I thought that was really crazy, just so random and strange that a legitimate organisation would be in a virtual world . I’d actually played around with other virtual spaces prior, like worlds.net or worlds.com back in the day, and others, so I’d been an enthusiast for a long, long time.
So when Reuters jumped in, I had to check it out. That was my very, very first taste of Second Life. When I was there, I met a lot a people and had a lot of deep and interesting conversations about world events; it was just a whole different type of experience to what I’d expected, at much deeper level.
The thing that sort-of locked it down for me was at the end of that conversation, about a two or three-hour text chat, because it was even pre-voice, somebody gave me a hug, which was such a strange thing to get hugged in a virtual world; it was just a nice parting, basically. And that just clinched it for me emotionally; I just thought, “Oh my gosh, this is really something else. You can connect with people and actually form really deep relationships. And that’s what did it for me; and I’ve never looked back since.
So when you first came in, Brett you had that really positive experience, Torley, you were very committed to it right from the word go. Have you become full residents, do you have homes and places you see as special to you in Second Life?
Brett: As you can imagine, I do spend – and not just with the Destination Guide, which I’m sure we’ll talk about, but outside of my Linden “identity” – I have several alts, many of which are long-time residents and established. And yeah, I do have a place, and I love, for example, the music community and going to live performances. And I love the museums and the arts. I love what is happening with the LEA, the Linden Endowment for the Arts. Not only professionally as a Linden and putting that in the DG, but also just checking them out and being blown away by what is constantly being refreshed in those sims and even outside those sims, across all of the grid.
Torley: The first day I was ever in Second Life, it was sort-of like arriving at the most amazing of airports, you know? Where people are all over, and [there’s] this diversity of avatars. And I’ve mostly been a nomad explorer; I have had homes, and full regions – I still do in fact. But I think the prime thing that really drives me is the force of discovery, and to share those discoveries, and I really get curious, and I love asking people “where did you get your avatar?” or “did you make these parts of your avatar?” or comment on a cool build they’re making – and finding connections. I love introducing wonderful creative minds in Second Life to each other, and we’ve had so many over time.
So I would say that keeps me going, and it’s really a positive feedback loop. Because when I hear from one resident, that I’m reminded of another resident and I want to introduce them to each other. And as some of you may know, I’m frequently on some of the social media channels. Well, mainly Plurk, but I really, really like to ask, “what’s hot in Second Life right now, what do you enjoy exploring?”
Jessica, Torley, Brett and Saffia
And like Brett touched on, some of the most creative people here, they are very shy and very modest about their work. They don’t see all the awesomeness in it, and sometimes their friends have to kind-of drag them closer to the spotlight even though they don’t want that attention, necessarily. But, we still like to shine a light and say, “Wow!” And once they have that admiration and recognition, they can see their creative work makes a very real and very vibrant [contribution]. It affects other residents when they come and explore, or they take pictures and they post it on their blog and more word gets out.
So, I’m always looking for those sorts of under-mined, under-rated gems that are out-of-the-way of Second Life. I randomly teleport – I got this recent cool backpack to that, this neat device …. but its sort-of this interplay, this dynamic between the chaos and the order, and that’s the stuff I really love; the serendipity – the things that you don’t expect to find, but when you look back, and they sort-of relate to s sort-of grouping. For example, a collection of futuristic, cyberpunk-looking – there’s that word again, but I’m not locked to any single genre.
And I’m always driven to listen to people’s stories. Just like in an airport, someone catches your attention and you start a conversation as a stranger and they may end up telling you the most fascinating, fascinating tales. so for me, yeah, it’s that relentless urge to discover and explore.
SL13B: The Auditorium by Anthony (ADudeNamed Anthony), with Egyptian sculptures by Garvie Garzo
Second life celebrates its 13th year as an open virtual world on Thursday, June 23rd. To mark the event, Second Life resident will be enjoying a week-long celebration, in the form of the Second Life 13th Birthday (SL13B), which runs from Sunday, June 19th through Sunday June 26th and features a wide range of entertainments and events for people to enjoy.
The seventeen regions are now open, the stages are alive with music. Exhibits from individuals, groups and community from across Second Life are ready for you to see and enjoy, and a host of entertainers will be bringing music and dancing and more to the grand stages spread across the regions, whilst talks and presentations are also to be found.
As always with the birthday celebrations, there really is a lot to see and do across the regions, and the exhibit builds offer a mix of the breath-taking, the sublime, the wonderful, the stunning and the fun.
One of the things I particularly enjoy with each SLB celebration is the imaginative approach taken to the major aspects of the event – the stages, the auditorium, the welcome area, and once again, this year the builds are simply phenomenal. At the heart of the event is – naturally – the four-region Cake Stage in the shape of Miktaki Slade’s familiar design and approach (above). Almost bracketing this to the west and east are the Automaton / Stage Left and the Live Performance stage.
SL13B: Stage Left by Walton F. Wainwright (Faust Steamer)
The Automaton / Stage Left is a truly amazing two-region design (SL13B Stupendous and SL13B Mesmerize) by Walton F. Wainwright (Faust Steamer). You may recognise that name as belonging to the man who designed the SL12B Welcome Area – and you have to see this stage to believe it; it is a mighty design guaranteed to mesmerise you, it is so stupendous in its scale and in the breadth of imagination it encompasses. Stage Left will be hosting the Linden Lab sponsored Music Fest on June 24th through 26th, and it also hosts some secrets for visitors to discover!
The Live Performance stage, by Cube Republic, is located on SL13B Dazzle, and while it may only comprise a single region, it is for me a beautifully attractive and imaginative stage design. The flying turtle-style ship, hovering over the water immediately caused me to recall the tenth anniversary’s amazing giant turtle stage by Flea Bussy and Toady Nakamura, whilst inside the turtle’s shell we get a wonderful echo of Cube’s own design from SL12B and Kazuhiro Aridian’s DJ stage from 2015’s SL12B. The entire sci-fi loo and the use of a local experience to access the stage make this a fabulously imaginative setting.
To the north-west, at SL13B Impressive, sits the Welcome Area, a giant sailing ship by Catboy Qunhua, floats serenely in the sky, close to the top of the towering form of a great lighthouse, and with more ships sitting in its shadow on the waters below. This is the place anyone new to the SLB celebrations should commence their visit. The landing point provides an information pack, whilst down on the main and lower decks are teleport portals and landmark givers to the major points of interest in the celebration regions – the stages, the auditorium, the pod tour centre, etc. Or, if you prefer, you can mark your way down through the lighthouse to ground level and start your explorations by crossing the bridge.
Across to the north-east side of the celebration regions is a park of rolling hills, gently flowing waters and trees of many hues from which rises the mighty Linden Tree, bearing upon its massive trunk the DJ Stage by Zuza Ritt. The stage will be the home of a lot of entertainment through the week, whilst the park below offers many opportunities to escape the bustle of the celebrations without actually leaving the regions, and take time to wander and catch your breath.
And then there is the Auditorium by Anthony (ADudeNamed Anthony) – seen at the top of this article. Another inspiring design sitting at the boundary of two regions – S13B Astound and SL13B Enchant, the Auditorium will be the home of a range of talks throughout the week of festivities, including the Meet the Lindens series every weekend at 15:00 SLT.
Set within formal garden featuring sculptures by Garvie Garzo, the Auditorium is another stunning design, looking out over a reflecting pool to the west, beyond which stands this year’s SLB Time Capsule display. Eastward of the Auditorium is the sepulchral dome of the Grabbers of the Last Freebie, which contains a surprise of its own.
And of course there are the resident-built exhibits in all their many styles and approaches. Some offer art to see and enjoy – and I confess to immediately loving We Began as Wanderers by Krys (Krystali Rabeni), a simple, elegant sculpture which encapsulates the basic truth about all of us who have come – and stayed – in Second Life.
Within these myriad exhibits are things to do, things to try, things to learn, rides to enjoy, experiences to be had – so much so, that all those passing through the SL13B gates during the course of the week will doubtless have their own stories to tell following their explorations. And of course, there is The Big Hunt to encourage people in their explorations as well!
The SL13B celebrations commence this year, and Linden Lab has announced their involvement in the festivities which will roll through the week of Sunday, June 19th through Sunday June 26th inclusive.
Alongside all of the resident-led events and activities planned to mark SL’s 13th anniversary, the Lab is running a number of events and activities at the SL13B Community Celebration regions.
Full details are available in the official blog post, but here are some highlights.
Hear senior Linden staff talk about Second Life and more at the SL13B auditorium
Meet the Lindens – Monday – Friday, 15:00 SLT
A chance to meet with some of the people who keep Second Life working, who bring us new tools and capabilities, and provide support to the community. They’ll be discussing all things Second Life and doubtless taking questions at the Astound Auditorium and Enchant Stage on the following dates:
Monday 20th June
Brett and Torley Linden from the Community team
Tuesday 21st June
Ebbe Linden, CEO Linden Lab
Wednesday 22nd, June
Landon Linden, VP of Operations and Platform Engineering; Oz Linden, Technical Director, Second Life
Thursday 23rd June
Xiola Linden, Lead Community Manager, and Pete Linden, Senior Director, Global Communications
Friday 24th June
Patch Linden, Senior Manager, Product Operations, and Dee Linden, Land Product Specialist
SL Music Fest
Following the success of the Sl12B Music Fest, the Lab are hosts another series of concerts over the weekend of Friday June 24th through Sunday June 26th. For four ours each data top SL musicians and singers will be performing at Stage Left at SL13B.
Friday June 24th
Saturday June 25th
Sunday June 26th
11:00: JueL Resistance
20:00: Oblee
16:00: Zachh Cale
11:30: Phoenix J
20:30: Oblee
16:30: Mavenn
Noon: Phoenix J
21:00: Evely Lane
17:00: Shannon Oherlihy
12:30: Taka Coeur
21:30: Toxic Darkmatter
17:30: Ambrosia Kamala
13:00: Tempio Breil
22:00: Jerry Angel
18:00: Frogg Marlowe
13:30: Engrama
22:30: Paul Nowles
18:30: Spiral Sands
14:00: Engrama
23:00: Tzaryna Gracemount
19:00: Amforte Clarity
14:30: Zoz Quandry
23:30: Acoustic Rhapsody
19:30: Psiquence
Dress, Dance and Win
In addition the Lab will be hosting two costume parties during SL13B, with L$5,000 for the best in costume at each party.
Monday, June 20th 10:00 through 12:00 noon – The Roleplay Mashup Party at the SL13B cake stage. Wear your absolute favourite role-play costume (remembering the region is rated General) – prize rules
Wednesday, June 221t 19:00 through 21:00 The Flashback Party again at he SL13B cake stage. Wear something old and bring your oldest Second Life friend to celebrate the past in all its glory and share some amazing stories from the Second Life days of yore – prize rules.
And There’s More…
Check out the official Linden Lab SL13B blog post for more on what the Lab is doing to celebrate Second Life’s 13th anniversary alongside the residents.
The first round of the SL13B Music Fest Auditions, held in Bay City
Friday, June 3rd saw the first round of auditions take place for the SL13B Music Fest. The event saw Linden staffers Xiola, Torley, Rider and Simon join music fans and local community members in gathering at an outdoor stage in Bay City to hear some of those who applied for the auditions (see my blog post on the auditions announcement).
Held between 12:00 noon and 2:00pm, as originally scheduled, the event venue hadn’t been advertised at the time of the original announcement, although SL residents were invited to attend as members of the audience. There didn’t appear to by any follow-up announcement on the selected venue (at least, none that I saw), and I only found out about it by dint of perusing the Destination Guide out of curiosity given there had been no update to the original official blog post, some 20 minutes after the event had started!
Xiola (to the front left) dances while Simon Linden (seated, front centre in his trademark top hat) listens, at the first round of the Music Fest auditions
Nevertheless, those who did get the news and had hopped along to the event were all enjoying themselves (Xiola was bopping along nicely!), with folks taking the opportunity to join the judging panel seated in deck chairs, or simply standing in the open field and showing their appreciation for the acts.
If you’re interested in attending the second round of auditions as a member of the audience, you can do so from 18:00 through 20:00 SLT on Saturday, June 4th, and the same venue. The music fest itself will form a part of the upcoming SL13B celebrations later this month.
Second Life’s 13th anniversary takes place in June 2016, and already anticipation is mounting about the week-long event, which will take place between Sunday, June 19th and Sunday June 26th.
One of the popular pre-event activities which occurs each year is the Press Day, which presents bloggers, machinimists and other “press” with the opportunity to have early access to the celebration regions, tour them, find out about the infrastructure and build, take photograph, record video and (above all) blog about the forthcoming coming celebrations.
This year, the Press Day will take place on Saturday, June 18th. If you would like to participate, then please make sure you complete the Press Access application sooner rather than later.
I’ve again been asked to produce some teaser videos for this years event, and so to hopefully further whet appetites, I’ll leave you with the first, and a reminder of the key dates.
Monday, May 23rd to Wednesday, May 25th: First round exhibitors notified via email
Wednesday, May 25th: regions open to exhibitors
Friday June 10th: Performers notified
Wednesday, June 15th to Friday, June 17th: regions closed to exhibitors for walk-through
Friday, June 17th and Saturday, June 18th: regions open to exhibitors for adjustments
Saturday, June 18th: Press Day
Sunday, June 19th, noon SLT: Opening Day
Thursday June 23rd: The Birthday
Sunday, June 26th: last day of celebration performances and activities
Monday, June 27th to Sunday, July 3rd: regions open for viewing, no performances
Sunday, July 3rd: Staff party
Monday, July 4th to Wednesday, July 6th: Breakdown
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 