Saturday, June 12, 2010

Rezzable to Pull Greenies from Second Life

Greenies--gone soon!
Location: Cat Bowl

It's my favorite scene in SL: the little alien trying to appease a giant cat. Now if my students want to see it next year, they'll have to go elsewhere.

In a comment to an interview Mitch Wagner had with Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon, Rezzable's CEO Jon Himoff notes "We are deleting Greenies this month btw--it will only be on our Rezzable opensim-based grid after June. Fed-up paying money to Linden Lab and seeing others waste their money also."

I asked Himoff for confirmation that this comment came from him, and he added this short note. "Yeah that was me and that will happen. I think LL actions speak enough -- Nebraska, viewer 2.0 and all the great revenue growth . We have other topics to think/talk about ! ;) "

I'll look forward to Greenies at Rezzable's Grid. The content has been there for some time and I'm glad it won't vanish into 0s and 1s.

Rezzable's final departure from SL is another sign that while Linden Lab chases the casual social user to build a sustainable revenue stream, the cultural creatives will look elsewhere. The metaphor of a once-edgy arts and culture district turning into a gentrified and more boring place continues in SL.

My next litmus test will be whether they hold Burning Life 2010. My friend Olivia Hotshot has pictures from Spring Fling 2010 labeled "Burning Life 2010," but I can find no references elsewhere to the forthcoming event. If BL 2010 happens, it would be a great venue for some subversive art about the changes at the Lab.

1 comment:

SpotON3D said...

It is sad to see such a staple of SL go away. I hope the people follow the greenies to their new home and the Historica project they've been working on for a couple of years now. I've seen the images and, as usual, their work is amazing - a real testament to the power of virtual worlds as a teaching tool, brining history to life.

((Hugs)) Wish you well Rezzables.