As the Book Says “Don’t Panic”
I got something of a surprise yesterday as I logged in to
see a message from a certain TPV maker to talking about “the Future of SL”.
A read later, I actually felt, much as everyone else who
read the article, a little sick.
Cutting it down to a rather over dramatised sound byte.
“SL2 is now in development – it will be in the spirit of
Second Life, but you won’t be able to take anything from SL to SL2 inventory
wise and SL may have as little as 18 months left”
Before you start running around with your hair on fire
screaming refer to the title... DONT PANIC
One thing I have learnt over the years is that certain
communications officers for certain TPV makers really don’t have a clue how to
communicate things clearly or logically, and while the things above were said,
they were said out of context, and in a very very poor way that could easily
incite panic.
Which over the last 10 days, is exactly what has happened
with the web, forums etc catching fire with rumour, doom and gloom, and blind
panic.
Honestly – after I read the article, my heart sank
through my stomach with the thought “5 years work down the drain”.
However to learn more, I decided to check out a few
places including Nalates’s blog which I have trusted for many years to give
clear, unbiased information written in a clear, easy to read way.
Thanks to Nalates and the intense work that’s been put in
by her to get CLEAR information, here is the facts.
Where did this all start?
Apparently at a TPV meeting Ebbe Linden (our new CEO of
Linden Lab) made a classic Faux Pau and got over excited and accidentally
slipped the SL2 was in development much to a shocked and surprised gathered
mass.
From what I understand, he didn’t say a great deal about
it outside of the fact it will be an entirely new platform, it will be in the
spirit of SL and it would be separate to SL which the original would continue
and have continued development.
Got that bit?
What happened next?
Said certain TPV maker posted up a second Faux Pau and in
effectively a Chicken Little Style, wrote “The Sky is Falling” article,
inferring to fill in the blanks over what had actually been said, and leaving
very open ended statements that could then easily be construed by readers to be
something else entirely. They have since this backpedalled over what was said,
and tried to clarify the position and make themselves out to be champions of
the new SL (which is Ironic considering the mass panic they caused amongst SL
users).
What was the Aftermath?
From here, the discussions went effectively viral over
the web, with forums and blog lighting up over this shocking news. Ebbe
obviously by this point realised he really had put his foot in his mouth and
surprisingly for a LL’s CEO, did some real time damage control, going to one of
the largest Panic Threads out there, and actually filling in the blanks with
what is Official Information.
So, let’s actually
get down to facts here and as the Hitchhikers Guide says, Don’t Panic.
The big question that’s got everyone foaming at the mouth
is this.
What is going to happen to Second Life?
From everything I have read, nothing. It will be here for
probably the next 5 years or more.
It’s not going anywhere, your inventories are safe, your
sims are safe, there are no issues.
It will be developed further, improvements made and it
will be continued to be supported.
This is not conjecture, rumour or me filling in the
blanks. This is from Ebbe Linden.
What is Second Life 2?
SL2 is a separate development – a whole NEW grid based on
vastly improved all new gaming engine which can finally break free of the
constraints imposed by the prehistoric SL original software.
It is going to be developed parallel to Second Life – so as
a user you will be able to use Second Life and Second Life 2, but you will most
likely need to swap viewer to log in to SL2.
SL 2 is NOT going to replace Second Life.
Again, this is fact direct from Ebbe Linden.
Will SL2 be Sanitised?
One thing that people have been seriously worried about
is will SL2 be a PG rated Playground. Ebbe Linden has confirmed that whatever
you can do or is available in SL will be allowed in SL2. So adult products,
Adult sims etc etc, all available. It will be in the Spirit of SL. Which is
good.
Can you Transfer your Inventories between SL and SL2?
Right now, they are saying no although there is a caveat
to this (see time scales). However it doesn’t mean that in time some transfer won’t
be possible.
In addition, you are NOT going to lose your inventory.
Your Second Life Inventory will remain exactly as it is,
as for the simple fact, SL itself is NOT going away. The SL2 Inventory will (at
the time of writing) be a blank sheet which you will need to repopulate,
however again as said above, in time this may change.
What are the Time Scales?
This part hasn’t really been commented on outside of
saying 2015/2016 before release.
There is a good reason for this being so vague though,
and it goes back to Ebbe’s original Faux Pau over letting slip that SL2 is in
development.
Ebbe has only been CEO of LL’s for 6 months. I would
guess from statements made and from the short amount of time he has actually
been in the job, that the SL2 project is currently in its Embryonic stages –
probably less than a few months old.
From what I have read, the software engine hasn’t been
chosen, decisions over the scripting languages, Animations formats, etc etc etc
have not been chosen .
What this says to me is this project is still in
information gathering stages.
Having quite a bit of experience in large software
development, we are probably a good 9-12 months away from a semi operational
Beta and considering the mountain of features that SL offers that have to be
adapted and ported over to SL2, the beta itself could be 6-12 months.
There are of course, commercial games engines they could
buy in with ongoing support which may reduce that time down, but we are looking
at a year to two years minimum.
But... Even when you have a live system running, you have
to remember, this is a blank sheet.
No sims, No products to buy... Nothing. SL’s greatest
selling point is the fact it has such a massive volume of products to buy,
places to visit.
It is then up to builders like myself and many others to
adopt SL2, build stuff of them and make SL2 a fun place to be. That process by
itself could potentially take years to do before SL2 could even rival Second
Life itself.
So realistically, designers and users shouldn’t really
expect SL2 to be viable before 2018 and for SL2 to be fully established, think
more like 2020.
In conclusion then, perhaps now people should think less “the
sky is falling”, and more “Don’t Panic”.
Bring it on?
Hell yeah. I was talking with Addy from AW Design
yesterday about this and she remembered the rumours of SL2 first appearing as
far back as 2007. Of course, they decided to flog wheezing SL engine more and
more, trying to add in more and more features, but the fact is, SL is a
dinosaur only propped up by the sheer volume of creators that enjoy building
for it.
I don’t think any builder on SL would disagree, SL as an
engine isn’t fit for purpose compared to the other games engines out there and
it takes rather large nuts to actually embark on this project.
Kudos to Ebbe Linden for making this move.
I personally can’t wait to see what they come up with,
although it has to be said, while SL2 shouldn’t be built by user committee (as is
being kind of proposed on certain sites), Linden Lab should engage with
creators before they commit to things. I would recommend a board of creator
advisers who could put forward ideas without the “mob mentality” forcing
issues. Collaboration is far better and we do need to remember that even as
creators, we are users, not owners.
We all want to see SL succeed though and the Lab should
recognise the valuable input creators can put forward in helping to shape this
new engine.
As a creator, I am looking forward to seeing what they
come up with, and being able (I hope) to finally realise the products I would
love to built, but I currently can’t due to SL’s Limitations.
Where do we go from here?
Well. Nowhere really.
The fact is we know something we didn’t know before. SL2
is now in build, but it’s going to be some time before we even get to see it,
let alone use it.
Second Life itself isn’t going to change, is still going
to be around so nothing changes there.
All we can do, is sit back, get on with things just like
we did before knowing NOTHING is really going to change in the short or long
term and wait to see how things take shape with the Second Second Life.
