Goodbye Rodvik!

Yesterday the part of the metaverse which focuses on SecondLife exploded with the news that Rod Humble, formerly known also known as Rodvik Linden, is no longer CEO of Linden Lab (The Makers of SecondLife).

This change first became known through a private message Rod sent to blogger Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley's Second Life (url)) on Facebook yesterday, where he informed her that he had "left Linden Lab last week". A short while later he posted the following message on his timeline on Facebook.

My first reaction to this rather surprising news was to check Linden Lab's (url) webpage, and sure enough, Rod Humble was no longer listed as one of the company's management.

It seemed rather amateurish to me that no official announcement about the change had been made - and still hasn't, but then I remembered that no announcement has ever been made by the company concerning my Philip - to some of you better known as Philip Rosedale - stepping down as Chairman of the Board. Linden Lab seems to really need someone with skills in communication.

However, I would like to thank Rod for all the improvements that have been made during his three years as CEO and  like my darling Sergeant of Arms sirhc DeSantis in a comment concerning the news on New World Notes (url) I say "Best of luck to (you Rod). Now...who wants to step up to be vilified next (because we are so supportive are we not =^^= )"

Linden Lab® Acquires Blocksworld

Linden Lab announced in a press release on Thursday January 24, 2013, that they have acquired the Blocksworld building toy from the Swedish company Boldai.

Blocksworld is a tool created for iPad "in which players use cubes, wedges, rockets, wheels, motors and more to easily create 3D models of anything they can imagine - from race cars to animals to robots and more. These models come alive with realistic physics simulation, and users can play, interact with, or even explode their creations."

“Blocksworld is a great fit with what we do at Linden Lab,” said Rod Humble, CEO of Linden Lab. “It’s a very user-friendly complement to our portfolio of shared creative spaces. We’re happy to have the Blocksworld team join Linden Lab and are looking forward to bringing Blocksworld to the App Store worldwide soon!”
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It will be interesting to see what this leads up to. Will my darling Lindens integrate it in someway into their flagship SecondLife, I cannot help wondering?

Must Read for Rod Humble and Linden Lab

Rod Humble and the rest of you guys and girls at Linden Lab must already know that I love you all and that I am usually a staunch supporter of what you guys provide us with. But...

We - the residents that have been here a long time and still come back - have seen you perform several changes in our in-world experiences that do not seem to address our immediate concerns and problems. This has continued despite repeated promises from both my beloved Phillip Linden and from you too dearest Rodvik Linden.

We did not ask for "mesh", you shoved it down our throats, neither did we ask for "pathfinding", which you are force feeding us now. If any of these things are happening to fix the stuff we have been praying you to fix, you have been awfully bad in communicating it. And if it isn't, why the hell don´t you fixed the promised things first before doing things that are cool only for the tech-geeks?

Please read the plea from another frustrated resident (and a very smart and cute cookie at that) Mr. Ziggy Starsmith Thank You, Linden Lab ... Thanks Alot! (url).

Last Names Are Coming Back

My blogger friend Sven Idyll over at Svens(k) Idyll just published the news that Rodvik Linden (in first life a.k.a. Rod Humble, CEO of Linden Lab makers of SecondLife) dropped a bomb today announcing that last names will be back in SecondLife hopefully by the end of January 2012. (source).

This news comes after an extremely long and powerful campaign by users that last names should be re-introduced.

Rodvik says, "Hopefully we will roll out what we are thinking early January latest. Identity is very important so as we touch it we need to make sure we are adding something great."


(P.S. It seems that Daniel Voyager also has the story, but I saw it first at Svens blogg.)

SecondLife Makes Premium Better

Today I got a mail from Linden Lab, owners of SecondLife, informing me that they were now making SecondLife better for those of us with a Premium Member account.

This is of course a start to follow up on the promises made by Rod Humble, CEO of Linden Lab, at the recent SecondLife Community Conference 2011 (SLCC 2011) of adding value to the Premium accounts.

My main reason - although not the only one - for having a Premium account is to be able to hold land directly from Linden Lab, i.e. the Southern Charm sim that Ars and I bought together before he passed away.

"September's free Premium-only gift is an interactive furniture set that includes a sofa, tables, plants and lamps to make your home feel cozy. Each light turns on with a simple click! Don't like the color or texture of the furniture? Click it to change the look!"

Even if I don´t intend to get the customizable furniture set and do not need a Linden Home or access to a Premium Only Sandbox I do think it is a good idea to offer the paying customers some benefits and I am sure that those that only have a Linden Home must need a Sandbox to build. As Linden Lab says in it´s message "...this is only the beginning".

I am confident that something will be offered in the future that will suit me better.

Excellent Service, Linden Lab

Today I got the weekly newsletter from the Calas Galadhon group in SecondLife. In it my friend Ty Tenk, owner of the Calas Galadhon Park sims together with his partner Truck Meredith and gardener extraordinaire, tells us about the how the excellent customer services of Linden Lab came through for them after a recent mishap.

Ty tells us he was cleaning up at the wonderful Misty Mountains sim, and was returning stuff that visitors had carelessly left there, when he by a mistaken click on the mouse ended up sending back all of the beautiful sim to his own inventory. The woods, streams, grasses, flowers, animals - in short everything!

Ty called the customer service at Linden Lab and within thirty (30) minutes of his call for help the sim was rolled back and everything was restored to it´s former pristine condition.

In spite of the constant badmouthing of the customer services at Linden Lab going on among some residents, I have always maintained that they do a great job and handle the issues presented to them with as much speed and empathy as possible in the given circumstances. This just - once again - proves my point.

...and guess what, Ty didn't even have to tweet Rod Humble once!

Attaboy Rodvik!

Video streaming by Ustream

This video from the SecondLife Community Conference this year.(SLCC 2011) is going completely viral on the SecondLife blogs. It shows Rod Humble, CEO of Linden Lab (in our world better known as Rodvik Linden) giving his keynote speech.

Noob Rodvik is actually starting to gain my confidence. I like what I hear him say in this speech. Testing and bug-fixing are a priority for him, as are lag, usability and added value features for the paying customers.

Best thing is that Rodvik reveals he doesn't much like the Viewer 2 either and actually hates the sidebar like many of the rest of us!

Keep this up Rodvik and you may become my second favorite CEO. There is no one that can beat my dreamer Philip Linden, but they can come pretty damned close.

Will The Last Elves Emigrate?

I leave SecondLife for real life a few days and it seems like all hell breaks loose.

The big story is of course the decision of ElvenMyst, presumably the last Elf clan in SecondLife with over 2 000 members, to leave for a lesser virtual world.

I was really sorry to read that news. I have never had any dealings with the elves of SecondLife - not that I know of - but my Ars always spoke with great admiration of their talent, creativity and skillfulness. As I understand it there were many elves in the earliest days of SecondLife, but they had for some reason or other moved on to other worlds in the course of time.

This last emigration seems to have been brought on by a hiccup in the Linden Lab billing system, which started when one of the Eldars of The ElvenMyst clan got an automatic e-mail from the billing system about being late in paying tier, which he then actually tried to do several times but the system did not accept the payments. The Eldar then filed a ticket with customer support, when it did not get an immediate response or solution the four Eldars decided to pull up stakes and move to InWorldz (of all ghastly places).

Although they have now, according to the clans blog, - a day after the ticket was filed and after direct involvement by Rod Humble (the cute new CEO of Linden Lab, a k a Rodvik Linden) - already been given an both an excuse and a very generous offer of compensation although the Eldars want more.

As I understand it the Eldars are now in communication with the membership to find out what they wish to do in the present situation.

I must say I would be very sad to see the last elves leave, but I cannot help thinking that the decision to leave was an overreaction which was too hastily made. We cannot presume that the people working at customer service know who we are and our standing in-world. Most of those working there probably only visit in-world for work purposes and are not involved in any of the communities.

In my own experience the people at Linden Labs customer service are mostly benevolent and helpful, even if they are not always able to solve your problem fast but then again neither technical nor legal problems can usually be solved by snapping one´s fingers, no matter how huge the customers business is.

I am hoping the elves choose to stay in heaven!

Show Me Some Skin, Rodvik

Stolen from "Tinas universum"

Well as you all may know I finished a project on my blog with naked avatars from SecondLife (Nakna avatarer i SL) on Christmas Day.

Today I went out on the Internet in search of nudie pics of Rod Humble or Rodvik Linden, I was even going to be satisfied with semi-nude pictures.

Believe it or not but I couldn´t find a single picture of either of them without a shirt on and not a single one of them in bathing trunks or sexy white American boxers.

Rodvik, you better get your act together and send me a picture of you in bathing trunks or white underwear or - if you should happen to prefer it - just without a shirt!

This is an example of what I am looking for, stolen from www.eddihaskell.com

...or perhaps even something like these, if you dare, Rodvik! This is Ryce Skytower, one of Eddi Haskell´s beautiful creations.

Come to think of it, perhaps you even should let Eddi style your SecondLife avatar, Rodvik!

We really need a CEO-avatar that is way sexier than Philip Lindens was, before and after the remake!

The funniest picture I came across during my search was this one, and it doesn´t even show any part of you.

Send your pictures to lundamats@gmail.com.

And while you are at it you might as well answer my message to you on Facebook, dude. (Don´t even for a moment think I haven´t noticed the answers you have already sent to other bloggers!

JOY - a sneak preview

I am going to tell you more about this event later today, but there is really only a few things you need to know.

Mark the date and time in your calendar, be there, be there in time, bring your wallet along and have fun! 

And for the love of Rod Humble, aka Rodvik Linden, don´t complain about lag in local, it´s so boring and the rest of us are already dealing with it on our own. If you really, really, really need to verbalize your frustration write a note card about it and send it to yourself or one of your alts.

"JOY" is brought to you through a joint venture between "Ventura Arte & Jardin" and "The Bock McMillan Art Foundation (a part of the BMcM Corporation)"

Welcome To My World, Rod!

On December 23rd, 2010, Rod Humble was announced to become the new CEO of Linden Lab, the makers of  SecondLife. He is to lead the company’s strategy and the development of SecondLife.

Rod (born 1 June 1964) has a 20-year career in the game development industry which has included work on more than 200 games.

He joined Linden Lab from Electronic Arts, where, in his role as Executive Vice President, he led the EA Play label, which includes the best-selling PC game franchise of all time, The Sims. In 2009, he was ranked #2 on the annual list of the Hot 100 Game Developers from gaming publication Edge. Prior to his work at Electronic Arts, Humble served as Vice President of Product Development at Sony Online Entertainment for the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) EverQuest.

Read more about Rod here "New World Notes" and see him talk about his view on "toys not games". I think he may be a good thing for us in SecondLife.
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Welcome to my world, Rod, I hope to learn to know and love you!

Don´t piss in my pool or muddy the waters and give me 50 groups and I am sure we will get along handsomely.