Konner McDonnell's blog

As first reported by famed blogger and SL icon Prokofy Neva and confirmed here by Nobody Fugazi, Linden Lab has acquired popular commerce websites XStreet SL (formerly SL Exchange) and Onrez. By way of reminder, LL’s announcement stated that the company intends to ‘build upon’ XStreet SL’s platform, but will discontinue Onrez after February 11, 2008.

For many (myself included), the looming question isn’t “what will this mean for my business” or “will this reduce instances of IP theft,” but instead “what will become of XStreet SL’s currency exchange?” A fair question, really. XStreet’s currency exchange rates are typically better, the fees more reasonable, and those who sell their ‘limited license right’ can immediately have their funds transferred to Paypal.

This looming question remains largely unanswered. In a crude Q&A session taking place on the SL forums following T Linden’s announcement, T and Colossus fielded every question except those concerning the currency exchange. Many people asked, with one poster noting that the Linden Duo had sidestepped the question time and again – which probably means the XStreet SL currency exchange will go the way of the Dodo. { Read more }

Last September, I bid farewell to Y2P as a contributor. Embedded in my farewell article was a silent vow that, should the WSE declare insolvency or otherwise withdraw as a virtual exchange, I would return to cover the event.

In his December 2008 address, Luke Connell announced that his exchange would be severing all ties to Second Life and Second Life-based companies. Though the announcement provoked some applause and cries of victory from the virtual exchange cognoscente, the majority dismissed the address with an indiscernible shrug – comfortably nestled in the latter camp was yours truly.

In the two month period between my announcement and Connell’s, RL had whisked me away. Until two weeks ago, most of my involvement had taken place via email. When the holiday break afforded me a bit of leisure time, I sat down to make good on my promise, but the words didn’t come. The distance had given me a new perspective. So I stepped back, caught up, and drew some disturbing conclusions.

Where the WSE is concerned, it’s gone from Second Life. Good riddance. The periods of unannounced halts, disinformation, fear mongering and revisionism -which I’ve flippantly dubbed “retConnelling”- are someone else’s problem.

But this by no means constitutes a victory. When I think of the “old investors” whose money has hitherto been made unavailable to them while “new investors” deposited and withdrew at will, I can only conclude that the sole winner here is Connell himself. But that was always the case. Besides, people like myself weren’t trying to beat Luke Connell at a game he dominated. We were simply creating an archive. As VSTEX PR Director Samantha Goldflake likes to say, “The internet does not forget.” I concur. { Read more }

When I came to write here a few months ago, it was to consider this issue of 'shareholder's rights' as they apply to the SL Stock Exchanges. In truth, everything I had needed to write can be found in my earlier articles. After that point, practically every event I wrote about was merely an example of the individual problems.

Hard to miss that I was conflicted about my continued coverage. I began announcing 'breaks' and felt more and more burdened by the issue.

I didn't quite understand it until a couple of days ago, when my girlfriend and I were watching 'Field of Dreams.' One of the main characters a former author, 'Terence Mann(modeled after J.D. Salinger).' Mann was '60s activist and writer that became the subject of unintentional acclaim which he never really wanted. He became a 'voice' and 'leader' in a cause. Mann eventually withdrew into isolation out of fear that he'd replaced the individual voices . Instead of promoting individual thought, perhaps he'd stifled it? Became the thing he hated most.

I'm no Terence Mann. But I can relate. I continued to write on a problem out of concern that, if I didn't, nobody else would. If I quit, perhaps I'd be letting people down. I stopped writing for ME a long time ago. Whether you think this an admission of a well-meaning kid previously untested in the ways of journalism, or indicative of unseemly vanity, the fact is, I took myself to a place I didn't want to be. Involved myself in ways I didn't care to be involved. Might seen kind of cliche that "a movie made me understand." It's not the movie itself. Just empathy. And uh, I could do a lot worse than Field of Dreams. Imagine: "Everything I learned about life I learned from Gigli." { Read more }

Shortly after writing my last article, virtual exchange habitue Arnaud Villota called me on a statement I had made regarding patterns of behavior amongst those utilizing virtual exchanges. The comment itself opined little effort and a predelection towards rants with little follow-through. When I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

Vitolla directed me to an SLCAPEX thread that announced the creation of a WSE Watch Group complete with a website. While I have my concerns, I have to admit existing information pertaining to the WSE is spread far and wide. Lots of oddly-titled forum threads laced with off-topic rants often overshadow critical information. It's not a remedy, but it has potential. Done right, it may send a very powerful message. And there's no denying this kind of community response is to be applauded.

To further that pursuit, I'd like to request that anyone who has had their WSE account locked come forward and make it known either as a comment here or at the SLCAPEX thread dedicated to discussing the WSE.

This request is inspired by a message WSE CEO LukeConnell Vandeverre sent to an unknown number of individuals:

(Posted with Vittola's permission):

"[16:07] LukeConnell Vandeverre: (Saved Mon Aug 11 00:07:24 2008) Hello. WSE has over 27000 accounts of which less than 10 are locked due to breaches of the WSE Terms of Service by those users. I've noticed that you have been making it your business to you spread false allegations about the WSE and I'd like to know why you are doing this? what do you stand to gain? Your account isn't even locked. Regards, Luke. { Read more }

Readers likely remember that Delicious Demar Enterprises (DDE) was one company entangled in a mass delisting after WSE CEO Lukeconnell Vandeverre (RL: Luke Connell) froze and liquidated ("delisted") several companies due to their congregating en masse without his approval to discuss key issues pertaining to their future on the WSE. DDE itself was not delisted, but the company's namesake and CEO, Delicious Demar, felt compelled to voluntarily delist.

Last week, Delicious Demar announced that Vandeverre had locked her account at some point just before the WSE's "reopening." Decrying the act as a theft of her shareholder's rightful assets(reportedly 234,000L$ PLUS share holdings), Demar summarized Vandeverre's decision as being due to her having

...an opinion that isn't popular with the owner of the WSE - i.e. that it is a highly risky endeavour, and the owner has shown himself to be without honour. In his megalomaniacal mind, that justifies the theft of OUR assets.

Since my own account was locked due to what Vandeverre has phrased "fostering a negative opinion of the WSE," I've no doubt that Demar is correct. In the months between the WSE's abrupt trading halt and reopening, we've seen more than a few instances of frozen accounts, delisted companies, and disappearing announcements.

Appearing at the end of that blog was a comment left by Ivan Halfpint, former advisor to WSE-listed Fund Second Life(FSL)-rebranded "Fund Virtual Shares(FSV)" due to copyright issues- who left due to conflicts with FSL's management in their decision to remain listed at the WSE. Halfpint provided a log of an encounter with Vandeverre, which, while excerpted, would appear to be nothing new, save for the clarification of Vandeverre's position:

(Posted with Ivan Halfpint's permission)

You=Ivan Halfpint { Read more }

If you've spoken casually with Sarah Nerd for more than two minutes, you're probably well aware that she's a devout (read: obsessed) fan of Nine Inch Nails(NIN) and the band's frontman, Trent Reznor. Sarah recently became a finalist in a local contest to meet NIN and Reznor. From a glimpse at the MySpace page Sarah has created for the contest, it's clear she's pulling out all the stops.

Recently, Sarah requested that SL users take inworld and/or RL photographs of themselves holding a sign promoting the contest.

Sarah's contributed a great deal to the SL Community. She's also become a dear friend. So I'd consider it nothing short of a personal favor if people would take a few minutes of their day to help make Sarah's dream a reality. That may sound melodramatic, but if you know Sarah, then you know I'm speaking in earnest.

The sign is available at SL Exchange and onrez . The contents of the photo beyond the sign are limited only to the user's imagination. { Read more }

Users of The Sims Online(TSO) will be enjoying their last day today. The servers are set to go down tomorrow (August 1st). Though my knowledge of software technology is so basic that I should have a bumper sticker reading "Enduser 4 Life," I can't help but think The Sims was a stylistic influence of Second Life. As a viable online platform, I have no doubt that TSO was itself influential. In fact, several users of Second Life have told me that they were formerly TSO users.

I was among the first. I signed up for the beta test in November 2002 - one month before the game went live. Though I bought the released game and became a 'charter member,' within two weeks of sporadic use, I was gone again. TSO simply did not hold my attention. The single-player counterpart had that problem for me as well. To this day, I pull out my original "The Sims" game once every 2 years for 2-3 days and then return it to my collection. The user behind Konner McDonnell is very much the introvert. He likes his games single-player and his interaction with others to be constructive in a specifically 'real world' sense. I've always considered myself as being somewhat 'unusual' so I suspect my reasons for abandoning TSO are lost in the numbers of people who were simply "too bored, too fast." But that certainly can't be the extent of it.

While I'm sure people that use Second Life have a diverse history in the MMOG world -and many have no such history- the similarities beg the question of whether SL somehow took ideas like TSO and expanded beyond the limitations of that platform to create something with more realistic implications. In effect, 'sealing TSO's fate.' { Read more }