STA: Follow-Up

The STA sim may be gone (see Explore - January 27), but a piece of it lives on. Sparklin Indigo, one of the members of the STA staff, had the Orientation Island globe and a few sets of chairs and tables brought up to the roof of her club Sparks Ignite for "a little STA-esque hangout." On a nearby wall is a picture of the main STA building. Next to the globe is a screen flashing different scenes of the STA every few seconds, the images contributed by a number of people who took pictures.

And there's a DJ spot, made for the STA's #1 DJ in mind, Blarion Gazov. Next to the equipment is a sign, "No Thriller, No Green Day," two things people are asked not to request.

Former head of the STA GlobetrekkerBob Lane will not be around to see it for some time, though. He sent us a note saying he'll be gone from Second Life for a while.

Bixyl Shuftan

STA - A Great Sim Comes to an End

Group Notice From: GlobetrekkerBob Lane

Guys, I am truly sorry to tell you that STA Travel decided to discontinue the SL project today, and will shut the island today as well.  Thank you all for everything, you have been the heart of this place, and I am going to miss having all of you here more than you'd believe.  This was one of the best jobs I've had, and I truly had hoped that we'd be able to continue on everything we accomplished last year.  If you have any questions, IM me, I'll be at the Orientation Island while it's still open.

Bob



Group Notice From: Eruanna Rossini

I just wanted to say my personal thank you to all of you for helping make STA such a warm and inviting place for the new residents and a fun place to hang out. I'll miss hanging out there, as we all will, but I'm sure we'll meet again, somewhere out there, beneath the pale SL sky.
And for those who want to keep helping new people, I'll be more than happy to add you to the Help People Group. Good luck everyone, and see you around!

Eruanna Rossini



I can't exactly remember when I first came across the STA, possibly August  2007 when my first close friend in Second Life sent me a teleport to join her there, and for the first time I saw the sandbox, followed by a run north to a bigger island to sit at a table and chat with her and her friends.

Since then, we continued to meet and hang out over there time to time. Sometimes it was for them to build something in the sandbox. Later on, we would attend the parties that began appearing there, even a couple special events. Often it was just to chat about going's on. It wasn't long before we ran into and became friends with GlobetrekkerBob Lane and Eruanna Rossini who ran the sim. They would always chat with voice while until recently we answered with just the keyboard. As Bob had been a world traveler, some of what he had to say was quite interesting. Then there were the staff, August, Aellyn, Gemini, StormShadow, Maccy, Blarion, Keli, Sparklin, Ivanna, Rashed, and others. Then there were others I met there and became friends with. It was also the place I took a number of my funny pictures for newspaper "cartoons." Blarion himself had the job of being the regular DJ every Monday for dance parties at the dorm.

For newcomers, the STA was often their first real location inside Second Life, a circular track set up in the center STA Orientation Island for them for learn some basic skills, with staff on hand to help them out. I would often join in with the helping out, and eventually Bob made me a part-time staff member as well, just keep on doing what I had been doing while there. While chatting with my friends at the tables around the globe in the center of the sim, say hello, offer help, and answer questions. And with the dorms, newcomers had a place to call home for a while. With the globe's landmarks to counterparts to real-life locations, newcomers and experienced had places to explore.

Problem was, the backers of the sim felt they were not getting their money's worth. Bob was getting hints of trouble for a couple months. Then at 9:00 AM on January 25, 2008 he got the news: the sim was being closed down. He and Anna told all they could who were on at the time what was about to happen, and they gathered one last time. Shortly after Noon, it was over. The sim was gone, nothing more than an image on the map to remind us of what was.

The STA is gone, but already plans are being made to make up for it's loss. "Shade" at the Empathy sim is planning a place of it's own for newcomers "to meet, greet and be informed in the spirit of The STA Community. They were good, let's try and make this better for all new arrivals in SL." Sean Voss, who's Landmark Island had partnered with the STA, will continue making his weekly tours in Second Life.

As for Bob, he's taking a few days off Second Life, then plans on coming back to try something new. Whatever it is, no doubt he'll succeed.

Bixyl Shuftan

2007 was a difficult year for Second Life. 2008's not looking much better

 

By Deltango Vale

The establishment of anonymous accounts in June 2006 opened the doors to underage players. This resulted in international legal scrutiny, increased exposure to legal liability and damaging media coverage.

Linden Lab responded by intruding into residents' sexual relationships and expelling two consenting adults for underage roleplay - even though no underage players were involved.

Refusal to close the anonymous accounts and dogged insistence on an ineffective and unsound ID-based age verification system cost Linden Lab considerable political capital with no benefit. ID-based age verification is no better at screening underage players than credit-card verification, nor is it more 'fair'. It rarely works for residents outside their home jurisdictions and, in many countries, it may not even be legal.

While anonymous accounts may have launched Second Life's dramatic growth phase (October 2006 to June 2007), failure to formulate a land management strategy resulted in a speculative bubble as Linden Lab first starved and then flooded the mainland market. Islands ceased to be an attractive alternative when LL raised tier charges from $195 to $295 early in the cycle. Worst affected were the very residents who comprised the growth phase. The unexpected policy reversal on gambling in July further undermined Linden Lab's credibility. Growth stopped. Premium accounts and total hours remained flat throughout the second half of 2007.

The overnight imposition of VAT (15-25% sales tax) on European residents (40% of SL's population) in September not only trashed European landowners, but it caused considerable friction between European and North American residents as Linden Lab, a supposedly global company, began charging based on regional factor prices. It also led to the crazy situation whereby European landowners (some owning dozens of islands) who shifted their tier to North American business partners lost access to Live Chat support.

Longstanding problems of asset management, grid instability and poor customer service have undermined residents' confidence in Second Life's entire technological and managerial infrastructure. While organic development was the correct approach to building Second Life, expectations of success amplified perceptions of failure. The year ended with the resignation of CTO Cory Ondrejka due to “irreconcilable differences” with CEO Philip Rosedale.

Just days into 2008, without consultation or discrimination, Linden Lab banned all banks, regardless of their history, reputation, structure or business practices. In a matter of minutes, SL's evolving financial system was demolished as sound and responsible banks closed their doors in the ensuing panic. More residents lost money because of LL's clumsy intervention than from all bank frauds combined. Good businesses were crippled and good people hurt - not so much by scammers as by Linden Lab itself!

So, what went wrong?

Philip Rosedale and the Board of Directors are highly skilled engineers with little or no knowledge of economics, economic history, strategic planning or customer relations. As Second Life grows from a technological startup to a mature business, they are out of their depth. They are making serious mistakes. They are destroying the wealth and confidence of the entrepreneurial class who risked enormous time and money to build Second Life in the first place. More importantly, they have lost sight of their original vision.

Second Life was about user-generated content, remember? It was about "your world, your imagination". That was the business plan and founding principle: to create a world that was VIRTUAL, VOLUNTARY and ADULT - framed by the philosophy of individual liberty and responsibility. Second Life was NOT intended to be a pale imitation of real life. It was NOT meant to be a playground for Republicans and Democrats to 'govern'. It was NOT about majority rule through public opinion. Yet this is what has leaked into Second Life since 2007, drip, drip, drip. The sad irony is that now, out of ignorance and a naive desire to 'do good', Linden Lab is poisoning the very world they created and seek to protect.

How do we fix it?

Linden Lab is a private company, so they can do with Second Life what they wish. We 'residents' have the choice of being here or not. At the moment, there is no viable alternative to SL as a comprehensive virtual world. Therefore, Linden Lab still has time to prevent Second Life from becoming the 'Lotus 123' or 'WordPerfect' of the virtual universe.

1) Regain integrity of the system. Announce the closure of all anonymous accounts on 1 March 2008. 'Anonymous' accounts may now be described as accounts without payment information on file or have not been age verified through the ID scheme. Keep the ID scheme during the transition process, but consider phasing it out by the end of the year and returning to credit card verification.

2) Stabilize the financial system. Lift the ban on banks. Present the following message on the login screen: "Rate of return (interest or profit) on any investment is proportional to the amount invested, the length of time invested and the RISK OF NONPAYMENT." Give residents information, not regulation, and the system will evolve in a healthy and productive way. Reputable businesses providing good customer service will always prevail against fly-by-night operations.

3) Reassert the founding principles of individual liberty and individual responsibility. Resist the temptation to sanitize Second Life. The road to hell is paved with good intentions; the desire to protect residents from themselves will only lead to a downward spiral of regulations to offset the harmful effects of other regulations. Also, Second Life is NOT real life. It is NOT a nation-state. Second Life is virtual, voluntary and adult. We are here by choice precisely to escape the restrictions of real life - and there is no Berlin Wall to prevent us from leaving. As for those who want SL to become more like Disneyland, well, Disneyland already exists. We don't need another one.