Drum roll, please: the date and time of the registration of the millionth user was October 18th, 2006, at 08:05:45 AM, SL Time. The one millionth resident's name is Farley Atlantis, and I'll be contacting him/her soon for an interview (if he/she will have me!), but I know that you're all waiting for the name of the winning resident.
Interestingly enough, only 3 people guessed the date correctly. With a prediction of 8:30 AM, the winner is ...
*bated breath*
Mystra Hyde!
Mystra, congratulations! I'll be contacting you soon with your winnings, and an offer to have an interview up on the site, which you may of course decline. If any of you know Mystra, let him/her know he/she's won!
I'd like to thank Torley, Robin, and Jim Linden for providing the precise date and time, and all of our wonderful prize suppliers: Coal Nelson, Six Kennedy, Jakkal Dingo, Trinity Serpentine, Mistress Midnight, and Ordinal Malaprop! Please patronize these artists; they make wonderful things! Thank you all for your entries, you made this contest fun! *tail madly wagging*
1. Congratulations, Mystra!
Too bad, Second Life!
Now that SL has passed the 1,000,000 "accounts created" mark, what do we do? According to the official blog, Linden Labs is straining from the influx of so many new accounts. The SL system, still reeling from update problems and grid attacks, now has to absorb tens of thousands of new members and likely more in the coming days. Current users are bitter, disgruntled and frankly more than a bit perturbed at the level of service LL has been providing both in SL, its remaining forums and the LL blog.
My suggestions? Here are some, which I'll offer up for your comments, criticisms and critiques:
(1) Delete all non-verified accounts that have not been accessed for the last 90 days. We all know that there are thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, of unused alt accounts or accounts from people that logged in once or twice to SL and didn't find it to their liking. Time to clean house, LL, and delete all of those "dead" accounts from the SL system registry. Yes, this will decrease the number from 1,000,000. Mystra still wins, however!
(2) No more updates until the current one is as bug free as it can possibly be. I will speak presumptively on behalf of all subscribers to SL and tell you what it is we all want: a stable platform. We don't NEED to have any more "new" features right now. Let's just concentrate on trying to get the ones you have offered working right ALL of the time.
(3) Fix the griefing problem. If you think things are bad now in SL, just wait a couple of weeks as the "Yahoo! inflow" starts to get off of the help islands. While there are certainly a large number of good, non-griefing people who will be joining us, there will also be a lot of griefers. Don't believe me? Take a look at the comments section to the Yahoo! story about SL.
There are two aspects to the griefing problem: (a) prevention and (b) prosecution. Prevention is a primarily a software issue and prosecution is an identity issue. They are not mutually exclusive. The most logical way to minimize the griefing problem is to limit the operation of scripts to accounts which have been verified. Potential residents can still come into SL and check it out. If they want to use scripts, they have to be verified. I simply do not believe the argument that some people in SL do not have access to a mobile (cell phone), credit card or PayPal. To even access SL you have to have a fast computer, high-end graphics card and broadband. To take the position that someone can have all this yet can't get a PayPal account is simply not credible.
I would advocate instituting such a policy across the board. However, to quell the "I'm an unverified user so why should I be punished" outburst which will presumably occur, LL could simply institute the new policy tomorrow. All accounts opened on or after 10/20/2006 are considered temporary accounts and are unable to use scripts. Temporary accounts expire after 30 days. To remove the temporary status, simply get the account verified.
As for those griefers that already are in SL, presumably have verified accounts and an in-depth knowledge of LSL, I'd suggest LL (if it is not already done so) figure out some way that any and all scripts contain the name of their creator and the current owner. This would allow for simple prosecution after such a script has been used in a griefing incident.
While the above suggestion will not take care of all of the griefing incidents (such as those involving harassment), it will certainly go a long ways towards resolving the grid-wide problems that have been plaguing SL.
If you have bothered to read this far, then you obviously enjoy SL as much as I do. You also will agree that LL will most likely do none of the above.
I look forward to your responses.
Niko
Posted at 12:14PM on Oct 19th 2006 by niko donburi