OK…I had this stone in my shoe. I kept popping over to Pixels and Policy to see what was up and finding myself grindingly irritated. And I wrote the editor something along the lines of: stop posting provocative-sounding pieces with so little basis in fact. At which point I figured I’d call it a day and remove the site from my reader.
But phrases like the following on PixPol still jumped out at me:
- “Now, no one at Pixels and Policy believes Second Life will be dust in five years – Linden Lab is turning a profit off of its virtual playground, after all – but the era of rapid growth in active accounts may be drawing to a close.” (Um, we’re in a period of rapid account growth? Damn. I missed the rush!)
- “Even the Navy’s project – complete with nuclear submarines and some cool lookout points – is doomed to the footnotes of Second Life history. In over a dozen visits this week, no one was ever there. Its foot traffic hardly ranks in Second Life’s search feature. For corporations and ambitious government bureaucrats, every business is an island. ” (All of which presumes, of course, that traffic is why the build is there in the first place).
- “Second Life players” (The gravest sin of all is to call the Residents or users of Second Life players).
But then it struck me as incredibly unfair. As much as the PixPol posts seem to have a lot of, well….misguided opinion….the reality is so are my own. Now, mind you, I spent a year in Second Life before I started posting random thoughts, and another year before I posted anything that came close to being a statement of fact rather than some highly footnoted speculation, but still. Even now, I don’t claim to actually KNOW very much, or if I make those claims I try at least to make them with reservations.
So I started writing a longer response to one of the posts, and the longer post turned into a rant, and then after a pause I decided that it’s far better to have intelligent voices in the metaverse than not, even if those voices are a little wobbly at times, or I disagree with their slant. The more voices the better, and we can always self-correct as we go.
So in that spirit, I edited my rant and sent it along. It covers my own view of the policy issues in virtual worlds, and gives a bit of a status update on where Linden Lab is at with governance of Second Life.
Oh, and as the editor of PixPol said in relation to my posting: “We’ll see what kind of readers we can attract to the Dusan Writer Web site”….so…well, welcome all you new readers. 
Never heard about Pixpol, but like others people here in France, i am a fan of the great Dusan Writer blog
After having seen this post, i will not change my mind
Best regards and thank you for your talent.
Hugobiwan
I have only responded to their posts here once before. And mentioned i would not respond on their site since i found almost all i read there “didnt match any of my reality of virtuality” thinking.
I have found maybe two or three posts that seemed to ring true with some understanding of real events or motivations or activities… most havent.
Frankly, web3d dosent need a DRUDGE REPORT.. not yet at least… but it does need more perspectives that are based on history and experience, as opposed to wishfull company worship of the moments.
that site just makes noise, but then again you all love twitter:) and never had a CB radio, or a keep on truckin T shirt Ill bet.
Sounds almost like he thinks he’s doing you a favor, like you need help getting readers. Hopefully I misread the intent and he’s not really that arrogant.
Good post… way LONG in coming. I read a post ripe with experience and a history of the last 3 years with VR worlds and the cult…
now , yes, maybe, the work begins, or we just end up in another loop and bubble with all new pixols and dusans in 5 years….
yes, nothing is free, everything has a cost. and those who dont get this will only find out one day anyway.
again, good post. some reality in virtuality shines through the lovemachines.
You can be sure I meant only good things, as I’m a huge fan of Dusan Writer and the content he produces.
Glad you gave me the chance to post your article on Pixels and Policy, Dusan. A good debate and difference of opinion are always good things when tossing around ideas.
I think this “cross-pollination” speaks well for both of you, and for the cloud of meta-commenters about Second Life in general. I hope to see more of it.
By the way… as a Boomer, I grinned to see “Kremlinology” invoked. For those who remember those times, it’s a perfect metaphor for the way concerned Residents are forced to analyze the obfuscated pronouncements from On High.
great post, thanks.
I hear Khrushchev had a Love machine…..
I agree with much of what you say but as an aside I would like to observe the “free” information/data argument was, rather ironically, initially created by the print media over decades when they interviewed people for “free” and then packaged the whole as news wrapped in advertising and sold the repackaged “free” information for massive profits. It is also ironical that those who initially “stole” the “free” information via their journalists are now those who cry the loudest against “free” information or data. Murdoch probably has it right with his chequebook journalism – information/data should not be and is not free, even if it is from the ordinary man in the street – and its about time all those with information (eye-witnesses etc) started charging for the information/data repackaged by the media industry into a salable commodity. Afterall there is an old saying in print media that, news/data is something someone does not want published, everything else is advertising and should be paid for.”
Despite my disagreements with neo-colonial “regionalisation” in a global world (eg your kindle experience, and the US – Microsoft and Apple come to mind – is worst at dividing markets to make extra bucks) I believe that the originator of any idea/information/data should receive some recompense, be it Linden Labs, those who work on Linux, or any other with information/data/technology that someone else wants.
As you note someone has to be paid: it’s just that there are academics out there – normally paid by the Government – who have convinced many that information/data/technology should be OpenSource and free to all.
That’s a proposition I cannot buy. But, as an afterthought, I am pleased the media etc have been hoist by their own petard.
@Radar, for a new blog, Pixels and Policy already has quite a readership. Per Website Accountant , they are already close to half of DusanWriter’s readership. (Cue snarky comments about web metrics and accountants … now!).
Allow me to share my own peeve with policy discussions in virtual worlds: not enough reference to traditional policy. Virtual worlds are not that new and different. Virtuality doesn’t alter the basics of economics or political science, it just provides an opportunity to apply them to a new setting.
I feel the stone in my shoe whenever I hear people suggesting that virtual worlds, or new media and the digital age more generally, needs a completely different perspective. Virtual worlds “changed everything” the same way 9-11 did…which is to say, not at all. Just a new set of problems.
They are hard, of course. But so are health care, freedom of speech, and other issues that policy makers still puzzle over.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10/sequoia/
no everything is ez.;). just open source it and watch the civic lovemachine happen.
note the “linked stories about sequoia and 50% flawed machines, and the 2000 election..
and of course todays SL “community” blogs are filled with the results of SL open source communities..
“the burning man content rippoff of 2009.” FREE FREE ME ME ,, good luck all.