Bagman checks in

Jeff Petersen, Also now known as Bagman Linden, has been appointed VP of Engineering at Linden Lab and looking at his past history, this is very much a Rod Humble appointment. According to Wikipedia, Jeff Petersen was a developer on a game called Infantry, the lead developer on that game was; Rod Humble. Therefore it’s safe to suggest that Mr Humble has great faith in the abilities of Mr Petersen.

Bagman has an interesting gaming background Everquest, Everquest II, Star Wars Galaxies, Planetside, Untold Legends PS3, Field Commander PSP, FreeRealms, and CloneWars Adventures.

Purveyors of Adult activities in Second Life may have got excited when Bagman mentioned Subspace, but he was talking about a game, which I don’t recall, I don’t recall Bagman either!

I personally find it positive that someone with experience of MMO’s is onboard, I’m sure there will be some wailing that Second Life is not a game, and I agree it isn’t, but people playing games within Second Life is something that happens and with better options more immersive and interactive games and sims could develop.

The bigger question would be, who is going to develop these experiences? Linden Lab currently have quite a few job vacancies, a couple are very interesting, one is for the position of Creative Director:

“Linden Lab seeks an experienced Creative Director to lead the concept and design of rich interactive experiences, to own design practice and standards and to provide leadership in the evolution of the Second Life brand. This person will be an innovative thinker with a deep understanding of design principles as they relate to current technology.

The Creative Director is responsible for artistic vision and provides leadership and mentoring to the design team. He/she will collaborate on a variety of projects across multiple functional teams. The candidate should provide demonstrable knowledge of leading-edge design and technology trends. The ideal candidate will also have experience with motion graphics and strong knowledge of game mechanics, social media and mobile platforms.”

Hmm me thinks here, are they going to start their own development ideas and build their own interactive environments and if they are, would this be so bad? We can’t complain that the new user experience is poor and then complain if Linden Lab start creating experiences that help new user experiences and even existing user experiences, there is potential for conflict, but, there’s another vacancy that suggests Linden Lab fully recognise the value of user created content and will be looking to nurture it further, the position is that of Social Media Marketing Manager:

“Linden Lab is looking for a high performing Social Media Manager to manage social media communications on Second Life’s Twitter, Facebook, and other social media accounts.

This role requires a passion for digital media and intense curiosity about the future of how customers interact with each other, consume and engage with content, and develop affinity to Second Life. It is a blend of creative and technical skills to develop the strategy behind Linden Lab’s social media marketing efforts and lead tactical execution across popular and up-and-coming social channels, utilizing industry best practice to guide the way.”

Oh no, not social media I cry! However it’s amongst the responsibilities that you find the gems with this role, especially this one:

“Post and promote interactive content that encourages participation and the development of member-generated content to ensure that the community is actively engaged and meeting objectives.”

Phew! They still get it! I’m optimistic about the way things are heading at the moment, I’m sure there will be some pain points but Linden Lab seems to be getting ready to go for it again and there seems to be a degree of enthusiasm, even if there does also seem to be a degree of forking roads, that’s to be expected as virtual worlds evolve, you can’t sit still and expect to party like it’s still 2002.

Now all they need to do is to appoint Ron Gilbert as Monkey Island developer,  Matthew Smith as Manic Miner developer, Jeff Minter as pet Llamas and Camels developer, Will Wright as developer of umpteen sims, port all the Ultimate Play the Game games into sims, employ the Bitmap Brothers and Robin Harper and I’ll be as happy as Larry ….I’m not sure if this would be as much fun for the rest of you as it would be for me though!

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