Second Life, the communication platform that became famous in the early 2000s, could return to the metaverse. The news was in things given the marketing and public success that the word metaverse is enjoying. However, this is not news but an afterthought of Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life. “No one has come close to building a virtual world like Second Life,” Rosedale said in a press release. “Big techs by offering virtual reality headsets and building a metaverse on their advertising-based commercial platforms will not create a single magical digital utopia for everyone. Second Life has managed to create a positive and enriching experience for its residents, with room for millions more to join, while at the same time building a thriving subscription-based business. Virtual worlds don’t necessarily have to be dystopias. ” That is to say, we were visionaries, they are just trying to make money. And maybe he is also right.
But Philip Rosedale was the first not to believe in his virtual world. Today he is out of Second Life. Indeed, it has been since 2008, five years after its launch. In 2013 he founded High Fidelity, a company not very lucky given the results centered on a new generation virtual reality platform, with very realistic avatars, 3D audio and a real economy based on the blockchain. The news is that High Fidelity has invested in Linden Labs. It has sold some of its assets, including numerous employees and patents, to Linden Lab and is also making a cash investment. Rosedale will become strategic advisor to Linden Labs, but will remain on the High Fidelity board of directors. Rosedale will then work with Linden Lab Executive President Brad Oberwager. The agreement includes distributed computing patents. Basically the attempt is to turn Second Life into a more popular metaverse application. Good luck.