Events, Second Life

Philip Rosedale Phoning it In: Second Life Community Convention Update

With Second Life in a state of, hmmm, flux I guess is a word, the upcoming Community Convention to be held in Boston next weekend strikes me as an important time to network, share notes, and get a sense of what’s next for the metaverse.

Last year, I called SLCC a giant support group (see 3:30) and it doesn’t feel so much different as we head into this year’s event:

Last year, Linden Lab owned the main stage, with keynote presentations by M and Philip, and then Tom Hale. The Lab provided book-ends that helped to shape an understanding of where they were at and where they were headed. (Whether where they were headed ended up being where they arrived is, of course, another story). So I was actually kind of excited to see that Philip would open SLCC with a keynote.

He doesn’t have a more critical audience: if you’ve signed up for SLCC you’re an evangelist, a power user, a fan, or are at least passionate about what Second Life is or could be. So to learn that Philip won’t be attending in person strikes me as an astonishing decision.

I personally can’t think of anything more important than Philip (and BK) being in attendance at SLCC – in the sessions, the hallways, hanging out at the social events.

The fact that he’ll be phoning in his keynote may say something about the power to connect through virtuality, but it says something else about his priorities, and you can decide for yourself what you think that message might be.

But regardless of Philip, I’m looking forward to a great conference. Fleep Tuque and the team have done an astonishing job putting things together in an incredibly short period of time. And those conversations we have in the hallways may well determine the future of Second Life. See you there.

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