On Friday Linden Lab announced that it had acquired Enemy Unknown, the Swedish developer behind Avatars United. Avatars United provides a social network for avatars, connecting users' virtual world identities from across platforms into one bundle on the Web. The move allows Linden more control, though Enemy Unknown says Avatars United will continue to support connection not just to Second Life, but worlds like Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft, and EVE. It will also allow users who want to tie their Second Life identities to the real world.
"Second Life has always been inclusive, and although there are many Residents who keep a strict separation between SL and the rest of the Web, others wish there was a better way to actively link their SL account to other Web services, and do things like share screenshots, locations, wish-lists, experiences and stories more easily," blogged Linden CEO Mark Kingdon. "Our proprietary stance on naming and social networking hasn't served that second set of Residents as well as we would like, and that's one of the things we'll change and improve. But for those who don't want to opt in to an arrangement like that, nothing at all will change."
Certainly plenty of users will want to opt out–for many Second Life really is more about creating a new world than building on their existing identity–but many users, particularly those interested in social, business, and organizational uses that spill into the physical world, should find this of use. Those cases will likely bloom as Linden works on its other priorities for the year, including "Optional registration and sign-in using credentials from other properties (Facebook, Yahoo!, etc.)," which sounds a lot like tying Second Life to Facebook Connect and one of the largest collections of real-world identities online.
Even for users who aren't interested in connecting worlds, Linden says a benefit of the acquistion is the chance to create an app industry around Second Life. Certainly the wealth of user-generated content and in-world tools hints at developer creativity and community interest. What remains to be seen is how users will tackle the developer APIs of Avatars United.
"One exciting side effect of this acquisition is the prospect of having an ecosystem of Second Life apps grow up around Avatars United," wrote Kingdon. "The AU team already has an active and growing developer program, and we're looking forward to seeing what the endlessly talented SL dev community can do there."
The terms of the deal weren't announced, though the AU team will be joining Linden Lab. This is the second acquisition Linden has made since Kingdon joined the company. The first, snatching up virtual goods marketplaces XStreet SL and OnRez, also provided technology and services for the Second Life property.
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Here’s what you’re missing on this story.
A legion of widgeteers find it in their own self-interest to demand that systems and platforms be “open” and that they “be more like the web” so they can make APIs and sell them. *They* need everyone to fork over all their RL data so it can be hooked, linked, and scraped to push ads. Understood. They constitute a class interest that isn’t necessarily consumer-friendly, however. Let’s not confuse *that* with the idea that there are legions of people who “need” to have their RL and SL linked inextricably and very publicly. They don’t.
The other piece of it is is that Avatars United destroyed the one thing that avatars of Second Life established not through code, but through organic customary law, and that is identity and reputation adhering to a virtual world avatar that stands up as “verified” enough to participate meaningfully and rewardingly in relationships with other people, including financial relationships.
There are numerous avatars in SL who are trustworthy, reliable, safe, good people with excellent business reputations or reputations as philanthropists, writers, helpers of newbies, etc. These avatars aren’t tied to their RL names or credentials, but it doesn’t matter, because the existing tools of the virtual world even without some special wonky reputational widget have made people’s reputations in the “lore” surrounding the world in and out in a zillion blogs, IMs, etc.
Avatars United broke that by not setting up a simple system, as many SL blogs do, that create a scripted touch event with the avatar key inworld that enables an avatar to prove to the outside online forum that he is the same character as the person seen inworld. That would be easy to do, but would slow down sign-ups, which is all the suits want right now.
Worse, anyone can take any name, without any verification system, and in fact, the name can be taken multiple times, so not surprisingly, there were three “Prokofy” accounts in the first few hours, only one of which is mine. There were also fake Lindens because the company didn’t see to that end of it.
Saying these things will be fixed down the line doesn’t cut it, because even if they are, a social contract has been breached. The AU site was created as a sop to people who didn’t want to be frog-marched to Facebook, and serve as a ghetto to house to house non-RL-identified avatars, but it turned out to undermine the very real support structures that people make in spite of code which should never be law.