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Five Questions with Philip Rosedale, Founder and CEO of Linden Lab, Creator of Second Life

Authored by Jay Baage on December 21, 2006 - 11:03am.
Philip Rosedal - CEO, Linden Lab, smallPhilip Rosedale has an extensive background in the development and pioneering of streaming technology, having built his first computer in 4th grade, and started his first software company while still in high school. In 1995 he developed FreeVue, a low bitrate video conferencing system for Internet-connected PC's, resulting in the acquisition of his company in early 1996 by RealNetworks. For three and a half years, Rosedale served at RealNetworks as Vice President and CTO, where he was responsible for the development and launch of RealVideo, RealSystem 5.0, and RealSystem G2. In 1999 Rosedale returned to San Francisco, joined Accel Partners as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, and began the basic research that would become the technology behind Linden Lab. Rosedale holds a BS degree in Physics from the University of California at San Diego.

What is unique about your virtual world when it comes to offerings and value to your customers, advertisers and partners?
Second Life is a completely open-ended experience – an online world where our residents create whatever they can imagine and do whatever they want. We think of Second Life as the Internet in 1994 – a free platform for the development of games, goods and services, educational tools and entertainment that anyone can take advantage of.

Our Terms of Service agreement recognizes residents' right to retain full intellectual property protection for the digital content they create in Second Life, including avatar characters, clothing, scripts, textures, objects and designs. This right is applicable both in-world and offline, both for non-profit and commercial ventures. You create it, you own it – and it's yours to do with as you please.

The in-world economy is thriving – user-to-user transactions averages $7 Million (US) per month – and the resident community is growing exponentially.

Describe your business model and why it is the best for your company, customers and partners?
Linden Lab generates revenue by selling virtual land to residents, and via monthly premium subscriptions fees. We do not tax resident transactions, nor do we charge any additional fees to companies and brands that want to participate in the world. From an economic standpoint, the goal of Linden Lab is to provide the Second Life community with the entrepreneurial tools necessary to succeed.

How many active members do you have and how much time and money do they spend on average in your virtual world?
Just to give you some idea, about 800,000 residents have logged in the past 60 days, and in the last 24 hours, about $840,000 (US) has been spent in-world. Additional stats about the Second Life economy are available here:
http://secondlife.com/whatis/economy_stats.php

Other facts – the average time spent in-world is 40 hours per month.

What grade would you give your company for overall customer satisfaction (touching on topics such as technical performance, ease-of-use, virtual crime, etc.)?
As with any growing community, there are both opportunities and challenges. But I think Second Life residents appreciate our transparency and responsiveness. We’re growing, and we want our residents to grow with us.

Philip Rosedale, CEO, Linden Lab, Avatar smallWe periodically hold town-hall meetings in Second Life to hear and address residents’ concerns and discuss any current issues. We also use the official Second Life blog (http://blog.secondlife.com) to provide residents up-to-date information about any and all issues affecting Second Life – from technical problems to interesting news. [Editor's Note: Rosedale's in-world persona is pictured to the right.]

Where do you go from here? Can you reveal something about your virtual world that are not widely known?
Second Life is poised to grow significantly. In terms of how large Second Life will become, who can say...Ultimately, the market will determine where this is going. Back in the early 90s, who could have predicted what the world wide web is today? Maintaining a virtual presence may become ubiquitous in a few years, as perhaps cell phones and email addresses are today, and we’d like to be there to facilitate that transition. As far as future plans, we’re looking forward to international expansion, with support for more languages and country-specific versions in 2007.

Joakim Baage

Related Links:
The Future of Social Networking According to Second Life and Habbo Hotel
Five Questions with Teemu Huuhtanen, President, North America, Sulake, Creator of Habbo Hotel
Poll: Which Area of Digital Media Do You Think Will Get The Most Attention in 2007?
tags: Internet | Advertising | Social Networking | Linden Lab | Interviews | Second Life | Virtual Communities |



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