Ciaran Laval

I’ve said for a while that too many geeks spoil the broth and so it seems again that this is the case as I read on Prok’s blog that there’s a project to redesign landmarks and navigation.

This might sound promising given a cursory glance but it ignores, yet again, business interests. This isn’t the first time and nor will it be the last time that business interests are ignored in Second Life. The estate price drop ignored inworld business interests, the new search ignored business interests and the showcase, although useful, ignores business interests because there’s no way in hell that fashion would be in there if one iota of respect was given to inworld business interests.

What’s wrong with the project you may ask? Quite simply put landmarks are used in all sorts of product designs, it’s an easy point of reference and the notion of taking away that side of business quite simply beggars belief.

There has to come a time at some point where the voice of inworld business users is listend to. Yes things need to progress, yes improvements are welcome but time and again the geeks make decisions based on geek culture, not business culture. There needs to be a balance between the two camps. Things can’t stand still for business, but neither should business be isolated by progress.

The new search was, and remains, a heinous slap in the face for business owners. There was at one stage talk of improvments to the classified system, nothing has been mentioned about that for ages so we’re stuck with this silly search system that has some fandangled relevancy feature when all people want to do is find a pair of bloody shoes.

There seems to be an issue in a user created world with people using options as they see fit. Picks for example, plenty of people use picks for shout outs, FAQ’s, store policies. These aren’t the intended use of picks but it’s how people are using them. Leave them alone, that’s where people want to put such information.

Picks and landmarks overlap is the claim of the project, not really. Picks are far more useful in terms of information and no landmark is going to feasibly carry that much information. That’s why people use picks the way they do, because you can put all that information in there.

Having landmarks removed from inventory and then placing such landmarks in a web browser feature misses the basic business opportunity of giving a user your address. That’s what landmarks are in Second Life, we don’t have street names to teleport to, we have landmarks. Business therefore put landmarks in inventory so a user can easily return to that store.

Prok in his blog post calls for an inworld business lobby and he’s onto something but the most striking point he makes, whereas not directly pointing it out, is the lack of an Linden who liaises with inworld business owners, listens to their concerns and actively works with them from a business angle. I’m not talking about someone who advises business on how to succeed, I’m talking about someone who looks at the world from a business angle. The lack of such a channel is rather alarming when you think about it.

Business is an important part of this world, as are the geeks, the consumers, the heretics, Goreans and furries. However business should have a voice, it’s about time something was put in place.