Linden Labs Loses Direction

Heading: Announcing the $10,000 Linden Prize
Monday, November 10th, 2008 at 10:55 AM by: Robin Linden
I am very excited to announce the inaugural Linden Prize.
The Linden Prize will award one Second Life Resident or team with $10,000 USD, paid in Linden dollars, for an innovative inworld project that improves the way people work, learn and communicate in their daily lives outside of the virtual world. The award is intended to align with Linden Lab’s company mission–to connect all people to an online world that advances the human condition.


It strikes me that Lindens labs, having failed by botching up several measures intended to grow the lindens lab purse content while at the same time eroding the benefits and effective game play for those who not only supported Linden Labs, but contributed to their income and once again being shafted, although this time, is the guise of 'winning a prize'. A prize and I doubt the use of that word explicitly denotes something of sparkling gain, it should mean something of great value, something maybe unique or even outstanding, but in this case refers to the monopoly money or linden dollars, of which there are about 250 to a USD.

So the ‘winner’ of this purse is going to have to convert a load of loose linden bucks back into USD as we cannot spend Lindens lottery leaflets in the shops to the best of my knowledge. Why not pay the money outright to the winner in USD? Why not lodge it now with a third party?

Oh wait, the winner, in converting it will pay you a fee, OH YES!! Of course... You profit yet again!

Ok, so you don’t actually have the prize money, the real incentive, you have funny money worth only a 250th of the real deal. The fact this was earned on the backs of the business and entrepreneurs that have filled Second Life for the last two years may have little to do with it. Point is, you have lost direction, have no sound ideas for the future and everything you try backfires on you.

Let’s look at your objectives for the winner to satisfy to gain this effervescent multitudinous income. (Incalculable riches),

1) Work in Second Life that also achieves tangible, compelling results outside of Second Life.

Ok so we have to create a solution or propose a solution or dream up an idea, or suggest something that might work if.... er, and has to have tangible results, so you mean we have to design or create a solution and implement it, ( how do you measure an abstract like ‘compelling’, maybe you mean addictive, results outside second life. Outside second life? Wait

Create a second life solution inside second life that has compelling and real results in real life that has tangibility? I think this could be like using second life to teach people in the back waters of some dry forgotten country how to use Vaseline to save their children’s lives. But we can do that without lugging around computers and satellite systems to show people cartoon like figures speaking in a foreign language. Maybe that is not what you mean. Hmm then I am not sure what you mean at all here. Maybe the second definition will help me understand better.

2) Distinctive, original work using Second Life that clearly demonstrates high quality, execution, function, aesthetics and technical sophistication.

Distinctive original work, (ok with you so far) using Second Life, that clearly demonstrates (execution, function, aesthetics and tech sophistication) something happening that looks good and is technically clever! So putting 1 and 2 (above together, we get make something, a solution, that employs second life to solve a real world problem or dilemma in a way that is original, clever and looks pretty).

Now forgive me for being Naive, but any business man worth his salt does exactly that to survive in their chosen line of business, and 99.999 percent of them don’t use second life to do that. It’s called finding a niche and exploiting it. Here you want us to do that so that you can show how good second life is, and if we succeed, you pay us in funny money that will cost us a fee to turn it into real money! Am I on track so far?

Please look at your members and people who have been doing exactly that for the last two years that I have been here. We have been creating clever articulate solutions, that people have found sufficiently rewarding they paid real money to be here and join in. We sold land, clothes, gadgets, we sold the sky and smoke and mirrors, we made libraries, we made business, from newspapers to photographic studios, we created so many diverse businesses, you had to invent restrictions as we were getting too good and they included you less and less.

Mr Linden, that prize money should be paid to all the content creators and land estate agents that have spent the last year growing your business for you, they have been the real winners. You know the folks I mean, the ones you raised vat on and then cut their investment by 40%, those guys, the ones that supported you nonstop.

Ok let’s look at the third definition as so far all you have asked for is that which you should be doing, so maybe I am reading this all wrong.

3) Work that has the capacity for inspiring and influencing future development, knowledge, creativity, and collaboration both inside and outside of Second Life.

Wow! You mean you want us to create the tool or vehicle that will construct an ongoing business flow for you to enable you to gain a perpetual income flow based upon the work of another person or group, and for this, you pay what, a one of f, ten thousand USD dollar equivalents in Fuzzy Money.

You have got to be kidding Mr Linden.