Abstract
With the release of Second Life in 2003, an eccentric group of gamers, entrepreneurs, and academics broke ground and surprised its developers by pushing usage model boundaries. Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life, made a series of decisions around user-created content and intellectual property law that turned the development of a virtual environment into the development of a virtual platform. The ability to exchange US dollars for the Linden dollar, the limited license object used to exchange virtual goods, would open up a new method of conducting online business. The ability to have a 3D space provided a teaching and development medium for daring educators. In this chapter we will discuss the early development decisions, whether intentional or reactionary, that supported education, internal development of businesses inside Second Life, and external businesses entry into Second Life. We will take a closer look at the notable examples in business and education that influenced development decisions and how organizational structure influenced business and education.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Full disclosure: I retain a financial interest in Linden Lab to date due to my employment. For this reason, I rely primarily on my interviews to give perspective and endeavor to present my observations analytically and fairly.
- 2.
- 3.
A prim is a single part object in Second Life that you can attach to other prims in order to create different kinds of objects. It is like a building block.
- 4.
CYA is an acronym for cover-your-ass.
References
Au, W. J. (2008). The making of second life: Notes from the new world (p. 274). New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Cheney, G. (1999). Values at work: Employee participation meets market pressure at Mondragon. Ithaca and London: ILR Press and Imprint of Cornell University Press.
Collins, C. (2011). Interview transcripts with Chris Collins. Interview done by J. K. Miller (San Francisco), p. 15.
Colosi, C. (2011). Interview transcripts with Christopher Colosi. Interview done by J. K. Miller (San Francisco).
Ferlatte, M. (2011). Interview transcripts with Mark Ferlatte. Interview done by J. K. Miller (San Francisco), p. 6.
Fisher, G. (2010). Interview transcripts with Glenn Fisher. Interview done by J. K. Miller (San Francisco), p. 14.
Harper, E. (2011). Interview transcripts with Everett Harper. Interview done by J. K. Miller (San Francisco), p. 13.
Harper, R. (2010). Interview transcripts with Robin Harper. Interview done by J. K. Miller (San Francisco), p. 17.
Hock, D. (1999) Birth of the Chaoridic age. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
L’Amoreaux, C. (2011). Interview transcripts with Claudia L’Amoreaux. Interview done by J. K. Miller (San Francisco), p. 7.
Linden, A. F. C. (2011). Interview transcripts from Anonymous Former/Current Linden. Interview done by J. K. Miller (San Francisco).
Linden Lab (2004). Second Life officially opens digital world to college students for exploration and study of design and social communities. http://lindenlab.com/pressroom/releases/04_09_20. Retrieved: 3/21/2011.
Linden Lab (2006). Vision and mission: Tao of Linden Lab. internal Linden Lab Wiki, the official blog of Linden Lab. http://blog.secondlife.com/2006/07/25/the-tao-of-linden. Retrieved: 3/21/2011.
Linden Lab (2010). Second Life’s new leader: Rod Humble becomes CEO of Linden Lab. http://lindenlab.com/pressroom/releases/12_23_10. Retrieved: 3/21/2011.
Llewelyn, G. (2010). Linden Lab turns residential; OpenSim embraces business and education. http://gwynethllewelyn.net/2010/08/19/linden-lab-turns- residential-opensim-embraces-business-and-education. Retrieved: 3/21/2011.
Malaby, T. (2011). Interview transcripts with Thomas Malaby. Interview done by J. K. Miller (San Francisco).
Malaby, T. M. (2009). Making virtual worlds: Linden Lab and Second Life. (p. 165). Ithaca, NY, USA and London, UK: Cornell University Press.
Malone, T. W. (2004). The future of work: How the new order of business will shape your organization, your management style, and your life. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Miller, J. (2007). Organization culture at Linden Lab. San Francisco: University of Southern California.
Nino, T. (2008). The new Tao of Linden. http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/12/15/the-new-tao-of-linden. Retrieved: 3/21/2011.
Nino, T. (2009). Linden Lab launches Second Life enterprise beta, Second Life work marketplace to come. http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/11/04/linden-lab- launches-second-life-enterprise-beta-second-life-wor. Retrieved: 3/21/2011.
Nino, T. (2010). Linden Lab explains slashing education/non-profit discounts. http://dwellonit.taterunino.net/2010/10/05/linden-lab-explains-slashing-educationnon- profit-discounts. Retrieved: 12/15/2010.
n.n. (2010). Linden Lab revises teen grid plan: 13–17 year olds coming to main grid (sorta). http://www.betterverse.org/2010/09/linden-lab-revises-teen-grid- plan-13-17-year-olds-coming-on-main-grid-sorta.html. Retrieved: 3/21/2011.
Ondrejka, C. (2010). Interview transcripts with Cory Ondrejka. Interview done by J. K. Miller (San Francisco), p. 8.
Ondrejka, C. (2011). Some context on Linden management history. Interview done by J. K. Miller (San Francisco).
Staff (2007). Wells Fargo expands online game for financial education stagecoach island teaches young adults about budgeting, saving, credit and investing. https://www.wellsfargo.com/press/20070111_StagecoachIsland. Retrieved: 3/21/2011.
Stephenson, N. (1992). Snow crash. USA: Bantam Books.
Terangreal (2010). Second Life Wiki timeline. http://secondlife.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline. Retrieved: 3/21/2011.
Terdiman, D. (2004). Fun in following the money. http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2004/05/63363?currentPage=all. Retrieved: 3/21/2011.
Torrone, P. (2011). Sony’s war on makers, hackers, and innovators. Make:technology on your time. http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/02/sonys-war-on-makers-hackers-and-innovators.html. Retrieved: 3/21/2011.
Trompenaars, C. H. F. (1998). Riding the waves of culture: Understanding cultural diversity in global business. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Wallace, M. (2006). Mitch Kapor on the power of Second Life. http://www.3pointd.com/20060820/mitch-kapor-on-the-power-of-second-life. Retrieved: 3/21/2010.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Miller, J. (2014). How Linden Lab Built a Virtual World for Business and Education. In: Hebbel-Seeger, A., Reiners, T., Schäffer, D. (eds) Synthetic Worlds. Integrated Series in Information Systems, vol 33. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6286-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6286-6_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6285-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6286-6
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)