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Captain Jack and The USS FIC

December 20, 2008 by Ciaran Laval
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At times when a ship hits choppy waters we need a captain who can steer that ship through the turmoil and into calmer waters. Step forward Captain Jack who has decided to bailout form a partnership with the united sailing sims to give a boost to both the sailing community and mainland.

The blog announcement details the plans of the partnership with USS but doesn't give us any indication where this concept came from. I've been at office hours where people have volunteered to help build roads, build parks, complete railroads and their advances have been given short shrift. This is a positive step and I hope to see Linden Lab forming more partnerships in this fashion, but (and there's always a but) the timing however is somewhat concerning.

The United Sailing Sims are not just about sailing, they offer music, golf, shopping and residential areas too. Nine estate owners have got together to form the sort of community and alleigance that Second Life should encourage. However there are a lot of openspaces in there and the simple fact of the matter is that openspace owners are being shafted hard by Linden Lab.

So now one set of owners are getting something back for their efforts and this is where it gets a bit sticky, a set of owners who make good use of openspaces are getting a helping hand whilst others are told to go forth and multiply.

Not only that but most of the sims will be homesteads, not the new openspaces. If this isn't an indication that the new openspace product isn't fit for purpose I don't know what is.

Jack tells us on the forum that the only courtesy being extended to USS is the free move. That's quite a courtesy by the way. Would they allow Desmond Shang with Caledon or Anshe Chung with Dreamland a free ride if they wanted to move their sims?

However there's more than that, there's a big blog announcement, there's the link with mainland promotion. Now a partnership should work this way, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours but let's get it all out in the open and invite other people to share their visions with how to improve mainland with the assistance of private estate owners.

I like the concept of a sailing community in Second Life and I like the extended waterways but the complaints from the sailing community about the openspace tier increase and the fact that they don't see the new openspaces as a viable product are something that Linden Lab should address, because Linden Lab have caused problems not just for the sailing community with their policy change.

Plenty of people are hurting right now, Linden Lab have started the ball rolling with a quite spectacular boost for USS, now they should extend that courtesy.

Re: Captain Jack and The USS FIC

Submitted by GwynethLlewelyn on Sun, 12/21/2008 - 07:48.

Jack Linden allegedly didn't approach only USS, but several others; however, negotiations are rarely easy. The USS residents were not all happy about the deal; just a majority who saw they really had no other reasonable option (except shutting down or reducing 95% of their landmass, as they threatened to do).


I'm neither applauding LL's decision about the openspace sims price/conditions change, nor saying that Jack is a Saving Angel. Just that Jack's another non-omniscient employee of LL, who doesn't know everything that happens in SL. However, he's naturally open to be approached by any reasonable request, that is formulated with politeness (and not with griping, whining, complaining, and insults).

Most people simply resorted to grumble and complain in-world or on websites, where very few of the 1.4 million active resident population — much less LL employees — ever notice what's going on.

Don't attribute to malice what might simply be ignorance. Jack might just have a vague idea of what communities are really around with lots of sailing openspace sims ready to be converted and eager to accept some kind of deal from LL.

It's up to the affected residents to push their demands — politely and peacefully — to Jack and see what he can come up with. I understand that in some cases, no deal will be done — both LL and residents' suggestions might not be conciliable, and this just means the deal will fail. In the case of USS, there were quite a lot of implications and a long discussion and negotiation until both parts were able to find some middle ground. From what I heard, it was anything but plain, simple, or good. But it was a "lowest common denominator" kind of agreement. Other communities might not be able to go for that (or LL might simply not be willing to accept their demands).

Re: Captain Jack and The USS FIC

Submitted by Zontick on Fri, 12/26/2008 - 07:54.

Complaints: Sure, lots of people whine. But then, whining usually is a form of passive aggressive criticism where people do not feel that their constructive criticism would be used appropriately. Linden Lab has been consistent in creating the conditions for whining.

As far as motivation: Malice or ignorance, the results are a continued skew. An extreme example: Hitler thought killing Jews was a good thing. The world disagreed. The world got rid of Hitler (good choice! It took some work, but he's gone.). Motivation has little to do with PERCEPTION. See above about creating the prerequisites for whining.

You say it's up to residents to push their demands. This is true, to a point. However, it seems more true that Linden Lab push to accomodate those demands more if they wish to continue to be an entity with a marketable product.

Success, most of the time, is simply not failing. You know that, Gwyneth.

Re: Captain Jack and The USS FIC

Submitted by Ciaran Laval on Sun, 12/21/2008 - 11:58.

Gwyn from the comments I've seen, LL poached one of the USS guys. LL said they were going to provide sailing, LL offered USS the chance to move all of their sims next to the mainland in an unprecedented move that undoubtedly boosts their business.

This doesn't appear to be an issue of lobbying or polite requests. USS and sailing communities were amongst the most vocal on the openspace tier increase.

For Jack to say this isn't favouritism is absolute balderdash.

Re: Captain Jack and The USS FIC

Submitted by Zontick on Fri, 12/26/2008 - 07:49.

Concur.

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