Other people will do it too when they see good reason to. The orientation process could certainly be improved but it’s pretty incidental really – what people really need are more good reasons to stay.

Slight sidebar on the issue of IP protection: Interesting comment made by the founder of Atari: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/encryption-chip-will-end-piracy-open-markets-says-bushnell

If it will work against game piracy then could it work against content piracy within virtual worlds, which are using the same game technology? I know the common assumption is that we’ll all end up on one homogenised grid one day soon – but imagine if we don’t. Imagine Linden don’t knock down the walls of their (already profitable) garden…

Gif – thanks for the clarification, and while I agree with you, just as I agree with Christian’s predictions, I also think that if you don’t establish a deeper culture then it’s a game, or a diversion, but it’s harder to get the kind of stickiness that’s everyone’s dream. (Although, also don’t get me wrong – brands are a source of culture on their own – MTV is a culture, and even a micro MTV might have more staying power than some 45,000 prim OpenSim).

It’s not to say it can’t happen in a micro space, just that it might be harder – but frankly, I haven’t thought this through that much and defer to your far better judgment.

As for OurWorld….hmmm. Apologies, and I’ll correct the post. But have a look at the screen shot – Microsheep I thought was your new venture into smaller “casual games”!

SL could have that – the ability to adjust your avatar while not being inworld. I think Linden Lab’s priorities are on getting the grid more stable, which means changing the whole underlying grid architecture, including how avatar data is stored and managed. Once that’s all sorted out, I imagine it would be straightforward to write a stand-alone program to edit your avatar in private, as it were.

Now I’m all puzzled what you are referring to — we haven’t done anything with FlowPlay/OurWorld.

No, I was referring to a conception (I sense) out there that vworlds must be these big things. Part of is the term “world”. I think we can take these technologies and concepts and make them smaller, easier, more focused.

However, I don’t believe it is a one-or-the-other thing. This industry will fragment into a lot of different approaches as it grows up and focuses on solutions to particular problems, rather than “here’s this neat thing, now go figure out what to do with it.”

If one thinks that the metaverse is somewhat separate from the Web, then one wants to see a huge overarching platform. But I believe that it will be very much part of the Web for quite a while.