You could argue that Philip Rosedale has done more than anyone else to help millions of people live their dreams. As the founder and CEO of Linden Lab, the San Francisco-based company that created Second Life (which we’ve blogged about now and again),
he has taken virtual reality to a whole new place.
A technology whiz since childhood (he built his first computer in the fourth grade), Rosedale started a computer software company in high school and eventually developed FreeVue, a video conferencing system for PCs. After his startup was acquired by RealNetworks, he became the larger company’s vice president and CTO. In 1999 he left to start compiling research for Linden Lab, and in 2003, Second Life was born.
Now, with 11.2 million registered users (about 1 million of whom have logged in during the past month) and with nearly 4 billion “Linden Dollars” a year being spent on property, goods, and services (of all kinds), Second Life has become the most prominent truly interactive virtual world in history. (It is so prominent, in fact, that IBM makes fun of it in a recent commercial.)
Rosedale has kindly agreed to answer questions from readers of this blog, so fire away.
Addendum: You can find the answers to these questions here.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
Have you ever read “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson? I don’t know much about Second Life but it sounds similar to the Metaverse in the fiction novel.
Have you ever read “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson? I don’t know much about Second Life but it sounds similar to the Metaverse in the fiction novel.
What steps have you taken to prevent collusive or otherwise anticompetitive activity in Second Life? Do you have personnel dedicated to regulating that aspect of the economy?
Do you ever wonder if we are simply characters in a Second Life in some other world?
What steps have you taken to prevent collusive or otherwise anticompetitive activity in Second Life? Do you have personnel dedicated to regulating that aspect of the economy?
Do you ever wonder if we are simply characters in a Second Life in some other world?
How do you feel about accusations that by providing a literal “second life” you’re contributing to a trend of physical isolation thats damaging the social abilities of an increasing number of teens and adults?
How do you feel about accusations that by providing a literal “second life” you’re contributing to a trend of physical isolation thats damaging the social abilities of an increasing number of teens and adults?
Mr. Rosedale
Second life is not working out for me. In fact, it is almost worse than my first life. Do you have a Third Life option I can move to, since 1 and 2 are dead ends?
Moe
Mr. Rosedale
Second life is not working out for me. In fact, it is almost worse than my first life. Do you have a Third Life option I can move to, since 1 and 2 are dead ends?
Moe