A Lack of Vision

I read an interesting article about how the power users of Second Life are holding back the development of Second Life as they pressure Linden Labs to do the things that they would like rather than allow them do things the ordinary user would like. There are certainly no end of things of things that would make the Second Life experience better for average users. Security could be better. There could be a lot less lag. There could be better management tools and better development tools. There could be a whole host of better better applications. And yet, Linden Labs keeps tinkering with a small set of specialized issues such as mega prims that most people do not give a hoot about.

It raises the question of whether applications should follow technology or if if technology should be developed to support applications. While this is an interesting question and worthy of discussion, I believe that it misses the point. The point is why is Second Life in the shape that it is in after more than five years of serious global exposure. And the answer is very simple - a lack of vision.

Linden Labs appears to have absolutely no vision of where they would like this wonderful technology to go. They have some vague claim about a world created entirely by its users. This is no more a vision than getting a job to put food on the table would be a vision for one's career. I am a big fan of the mass collaboration movement and applaud LL for its support of the concept. But mass collaboration does not work automatically. It takes a lot more than just a simple notion. It requires a vision of where all the efforts of the mass collaborators should be directed. Otherwise you just get a lot of people milling around and nothing getting done.

The power users apparently have little vision either. If they did, their collection of efforts would amount to something. Instead, they view the next technical achievement - such as mega prims, or allowing you have more than 25 groups, or allowing you to hide your groups - as worth goals. But, I would ask - why do you need to have more than 25 groups or why do you need to hide your groups? Since LL has no vision of where it is going, it cannot say whether these are worthwhile changes or not.

This is a symbiotic self destructive relationship between LL and its power users. LL doesn't know what it is doing and the power users give it something to do. This allows them to ignore what they really should be doing which is developing a long term product strategy and a vision for the technology. The power users, on the other hand, are unhappy with the progress that their efforts in Second Life have made and think that if they have mega prims, they will be happy. But they won't. Mega prims are not the problem. They are just a diversion. A lack of vision is the problem.

I think the clock is ticking for Linden Labs. This is a wonderful technology and somebody is going to figure out how to take it to the marketplace. Sadly, as the clock ticks, the likelihood that this somebody is Linden Labs decreases.