The Virtual Kingdom of Second Life has a new sovereign. Linden Research, Inc. found themselves a new CEO after Phil Rosedale (on the left in the picture above) announced he’d step down. His name is Mark Kingdon (the right), in Second Life know as ‘M Linden’.
“He is a person with the rare and unusual combination of business leadership, creativity, and passion for Second Life that we were looking for. In terms of history, he has a background in art, economics, and business. He has been in successful and highly regarded leadership roles at two companies that are bigger than Linden Lab: PricewaterhouseCoopers and Organic.”
Reading some of the former outings of Mark Kingdon I think we will see a strong focus on the actual development of the software rather than the perception of the software, which is a tremendous step in the right direction. With his own expertise in user experience, and a background in business, economics, art (he is a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences), and a passion for virtual worlds it seems Linden Labs has chosen the right person, and he has his work cut out for him.
I’d very curious to his mission statement, but it seems M Linden will focus on performance, user experience, and the actual content of the world itself. I hope his statement will be something along the lines “Making Second Life a better experience for its users”, rather than “Telling everyone why it’s so good and drawing in the crowds” - Second Life is simply not ‘ready’ yet, and I get the feeling M Linden understands this from the Reuters interview he gave:
“Maybe it was the right place but definitely the wrong time for most big brands,” Kingdon said. “I’d like to see a continuation and even acceleration of the incredible in-world development we’ve seen from engaged, highly participative residents. that will create the richness of experience and vibrant economy that’s so important. If there are companies that can participate in the organic growth of Second Life, it’s a great place for them.”
Over the next few weeks the new CEO will be available for in-world meets, and I expect to attend at least a few of them, hoping to see my rather optimistic perception of him confirmed.
Source: Official Second Life Blog
Posted on: April 23, 2008 | Share on:
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Second Life’s New User Experience | Digado said on April 28th
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