There’s a rather spiffing interview with Rod Humble over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun. However, before you head over, a word of warning, it’s a general gaming site, they’re very cynical about Second Life and the comments are particularly cynical, but that cynical nature actually makes the interview somewhat interesting as you get questions from a different perspective to that of the average Second Life user.
There’s the shocking revelation that Rod Humble is an Aston Villa fan, so that’s Rod Humble, Prad Prathivi and me… of course, I’m more suave, sophisitcated, better looking, wittier and conceited than those two, they may have a headstart in the success stakes though, but you can’t have everything! Where was I? Oh yes, the Rock Paper, Shotgun interview, this gives a good sense of Rod being enthusiastic about Second Life.
The good points from this interview are that Rod embraces Second Life being a place where people create what they want, that this reflects a wide and diverse choice and that this includes some warts and all creations, but Rod doesn’t seem to be afraid of that, indeed whereas he sidesteps the adult issue to a degree, he acknowledges that Second Life’s open ended nature leads to content that is popular with humans.
Rod admits that Second Life’s hard to define nature makes it intriguing, and this is something I wholeheartedly agree with, although there are plenty of people who don’t, to me that’s one of Second Life’s greatest plus points.
One interesting angle is that they ask Rod about Entropia Style licensing or unique worlds as spin offs, Rod indicates this could be a consideration, which could lead to some very interesting possibilities but that’s something to be seen in the months ahead.
The interview was yet again refreshing, I’ve liked most of the public interviews and comments from Rod so far, he’s shown enthusiasm, a zest for growth but at the same time he doesn’t seem to be on a headlong rush to turn the world upside down. The interview at Rock, Paper, Shotgun has an element of fun but as I said, take caution, it’s an interview that thinks its funny to say “Cocks” …that’s gaming publications for you!
I like his enthusiasm, despite the rolling out of some of the same-old, same-old (better new user experience, fix the lag….).
I’d like to see his enthusiasm for in-world creativity translate into something palpable and embracing in the months ahead.
I sincerely hope there are no moves from within the LL hierarchy to curb his enthusiasm….
Indeed, the rock, paper, shotgun interview showed more of an enthusiastic side, which is the advantage when non Second Life centric folk get to do the interview.
Growth will come if Rod can re-ignite enthusiasm from existing or former users, this is how Blizzard’s expansion packs work, they attract people back as well as capturing the imagination of existing users and whereas LL don’t have the resources of Blizzard, they can follow a similar model in their own way.