Ener Hax had quite the weekend with the very hard decision to shutter the iliveisl Second Life estate (end of a Second Life chapter). The resulting outpouring of love and support was amazing. The residents banded together and have scheduled to buy 90% of the sims as individuals but keep the spirit of the community going.
While no comment was made by Linden Lab, it was interesting that support came from the estate’s residents, residents from other estates, facebook friends, and even the co-founder of OpenSim! It looks as though there have been over 200 tweets of support and blog traffic tripled. Ener is very good about communicating openly and honestly and at building true community spirit. The use of the iliveisl blog and twitter helped calm fears and set direction for those affected.
Most private estates simply vanish in the night with no warning or consideration of their residents. That type of behavior could be discouraged by Linden Lab (perhaps a refundable sim deposit based on sim activity?). Ener is keeping the estate going a full month after the announcement with a soft transfer date of February 16th and this is clear with a formal blog announcement and the distribution of notecards in-world, both easy to monitor and verify. There are other ways this could be done as well.
For those not using virtual worlds as an income tool, shop owners and content creators spend much time developing traffic to their shops and the associated landmarks. Once a sim is gone, that landmark no longer works.
Of course, I am biased but so very glad that Ener will be our chief builder for the Reaction Grid endeavor we are launching. Ener will no longer need to worry about the financial side of being a virtual world estate manager (19 sims at the peak of our 25 month effort – all of which was 100% run by Ener) and can concentrate on just building – a true passion.
Why did we leave Second Life?
Costs and politics.
I could list my issues and Ener could too, but from a training and eLearning perspective OpenSim is superior. Scripts run faster, higher frame rates coupled with higher anti-aliasing make for better video, and about 10% the expense.
I’ll be talking at the end of May in Chicago about eLearning and the use of virtual worlds, namely hosted solutions like Reaction Grid, and more details are coming soon.
Also, the launch of a rich free resource (Enclave Harbor) for educators and businesses thinking of looking into virtual worlds will be unveiled soon.
A note to Ener: great job with this hard choice and it is clear that you are very much loved and that your work in Second Life was enjoyed by many. I’ll miss the Eville Atomic Lounge but I see that you started on one in Reaction Grid today as a way to unwind (you should try a martini to unwind!).
