When Rod Humble left Linden Lab he did so with a statement on Facebook that said in part :
I am starting up a company to make Art, Entertainment, and unusual things! More on that in a few weeks.
Since then, many many weeks later, we haven’t heard a lot. Puzzled by this I decided to do some investigating but could only really find links to articles about Rod Humble leaving Linden Lab. I had heard a whisper that I should be looking for a chap in a hat, but that really didn’t take me far. I did find one or two odd links, links that left one saying “No, that can’t be him.”
I was about to call for assistance, I was halfway through writing a telegram to Inara Holmes when a certain odd link cried out to me :
Can I pimp my own stuff? I just released a techno / EDM album on iTunes & Amazon, woot!
My bands name is Chaphat and my Album is Outsurge.
This leads to an album on iTunes called Outsurge by a band called ChapHat.
Now you may be wondering what on earth stood out about that link, well it was the user who posted it, a certain Rod Humble, AKA Rodvik, from the San Francisco Bay area who also happens to be a fan of Aston Villa. Coincidence? Identity Theft? Neither can be ruled out, but there’s more.
My investigations uncovered a website : http://chaphat.com/ This website advertises consulting on request, music in the form of the aforementioned ChapHat album I’ve already discussed and, probably more interestingly games.
The games link goes to a game that sounds Rod Humblesque, it’s a game called Cults and Daggers, set in a time before Christ and is a turn based strategy game. The website suggests the game is pencilled in for release on the PC/Mac this summer.
However the whole website feels a little incomplete to me, so maybe this is an under the radar venture that hasn’t yet reached its goal. This could also be one idea amongst many, only time will tell if the chap in the hat really is former Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble, but the omens do suggest that it is indeed him. Hopefully more will be unveiled in the near future.
I have a vision of him now…dressed like Dieter from Sprockets.
I was thinking more Sparks and “This town ain’t big enough for the both of us”.
Of course it’s Rod. He has pretensions, like Aston Villa, but is living in the past, also like Aston Villa. If you look at his LikedIn entry, he claims to be CEO at ChapHat. Mind you, his entry also claims that he is still CEO at Linden Lab!
Pep (Maybe he’s on gardening leave, working out his non-cometition notice.)
PS Although presumably he is competing with Torley . . .
Ouch Ouch Ouch Pep! Villa have just signed Arsenal legend Philippe Senderos!