Second Life – The Early Days

Second Life is already older than ten, but the forthcoming tenth birthday celebrations will mark the tenth anniversary of Second Life moving out of closed beta. Taking a look at the old forum archives, one can see that Second Life was a very different place than it is today, but some issues, have been here all along and some new features, are actually similar to old features.

Back in the early days the term resident wasn’t in popular usage, the term was “Lifers” ….. I’m glad they got out of that habit! Residents were also given incentives to build places for people to have something to do, with an appeal from Hanley Linden on behalf of the public works project:

“Second Life is seeking a few imaginative residents to help design, construct and test sports sites for team vs. team competition. We’ll pay for the land and objects. If the resulting game is successful we will reward you with a huge Linden cash bonus.”

The billing model was very different, with incentives for people prepared to live near each other and a tax on objects, as explained by Hunter Linden:

“Previous to this release, the taxation scheme for objects was that each shape received a fixed charge of L$3/week regardless of size or position within the world.

With this release, the per shape charge will be variable, based on the size of the shape and its height above ground. Small objects or those near ground level will generally enjoy reduced taxes, while large objects or those high in the air will be taxed more.

 For example, under the old scheme, a default shape created near the ground would be assessed L$3/week, whereas under the new plan, it would be assessed L$1/week. Similarly, a maximally scaled (10 meters) box raised to 20 meters above ground would be assessed L$3/week under the old scheme, but charged over L$30/week under the new plan.”

Hmm, in some ways we’re heading back in this direction because the new mesh accounting system for objects makes more complicated shapes more costly in terms of land impact. Hunter also talked of land taxes:

“Land taxes now have a discount awarded for land located close to other land owners. The discount is based on the percentage of resident-owned land near the center of the chosen parcel, and can reach as high as 50% (this number will be subject to tuning during the beta). In other words, if you buy a plot which is completely surrounded by neighbors, it could be as much as 50% cheaper to buy and maintain than a plot sitting alone in the countryside.”

Yes a very different model there but one designed to make people grasp the fact that this was a shared experience. Stipends were at L1k a week, although the system was complicated by limits on how much people could go into debt via taxes and there had been an issue with people hoarding their Linden Dollars.

There’s an early chat log from a town hall meeting, where the main focus seems to be on sims designed for fighting. Also, note that whomever copied that chat log was a friend of Governor Linden, as Governor Linden comes online during it!

Then as the official opening got closer, Philip Linden posted an FAQ, with a long time favourite of Second Life users over these last ten years being a concern:

Will there be too much ‘lag’ as a result of launch / lots of new users?

Hopefully not. We’ve been substantially reducing lag and increasing simulator performance with incremental releases, and have many more improvements in the works. Additionally, we will be adding simulators so that the number of members/simulator remains roughly constant.

We’re still talking about lag but there have been many imrovements over the years.

I’ll be here all night if I go through these forums and I haven’t got to release yet, but a couple of other interesting things to note, one is on pricing for premium memberships. Philip Linden posted a forum message, starting with “Dear Lifers” that detailed pricing, as well as discounts for those closed beta testers and prizes:

“Second Life will be released to the public in just a few weeks, and starting today, Beta Residents and Early Creators will be able to take advantage of special discounts on Second Life. Discounted rates for Beta Residents include a reduced first month’s rate of $9.95, in addition to a fixed lifetime option at $159.95.

Beta Residents who convert their accounts before midnight (12AM Pacific Time) on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 will be entered into a drawing to receive one of 15 special launch prizes:

* 5 framed, one-of-a-kind Second Life posters featuring your avatar, signed by the entire Second Life team (the Lindens)!

* 10 First Edition copies of famed sci-fi author William Gibson’s latest novel, “Pattern Recognition,” signed by the author!”

I’ve never seen these posters, of course I wasn’t here back then, I’ve never seen the T-Shirts either, these were physical items, not inworld items. The only thing I can recall is that Jack Linden once asked us if we’d be interested in some real Linden Lab items in a swag bag.

Just before launch there were town hall meetings, one of which covers renting land, scripting functions, teens not being allowed in and griefing! Even back then griefing was a concern.

On the 23rd June 2003 Philip Linden posted in the forum that Second Life was out of closed beta and open to the general public, after a “Ball Drop” ceremony the evening before. Many users would over the years comment that Linden Lab had dropped the ball, but that’s a different issue!

The old forum archive makes for an interesting read, if you have the time it’s worthwhile taking a look. I’ll delve into it more before 23rd June …. I think!

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