Well, it's that time of year again boys and girls -- the SL Birthday Season! -- when we have that very, very special announcement for you that I know you have all been waiting for so anxiously!
And yes, I've gotten an early leak of it and of course I'm *hastening* to share it all with you! I hate to rain on Mitch Kapor's parade, but it's better you hear it from me first!
And yes, it's the long-awaited update to the FIC 2.0 list of 2007, the FIC 2.5 list!
Ok, ok, I'm hearing some sighs of disappointment in the room that we're not at FIC 3.0 yet. Yes, I said, last year, "Dare to Dream!". And yes, after another fun-filled, but, uh, challenging year, we still have some bugs and some bugs-disguised-as-features that we haven't worked out yet. But I think you'll agree that we're better off than we were before. We're that much better off than we were last year, or last week, or a minute ago, when we were younger, stupider, laggier...and less closer to our goals of a Better World That Pays Us Online.
What is this FIC of which you speak, you may ask? For those of you playing the offline home version of SL, I realize the FIC, or the Bosses, may not matter to you deeply, or you may wonder why this term is always used, or find it "an interesting myth" as Robin Linden once called it. Google it. And read on...
FIC -- which rhymes with "bike" and not "Bic" -- stands for Feted Inner Core, which you can think of as "the kool kids" or "the jocks and cheerleaders" or "the inside dopes" or however you called it in your high-school or your office, where perhaps you rage and gnash your teeth at the fact that people who seem to do less work or have less talent or even less fabulousness than you still get ahead through connections, favour-banks, or sleeping their way to the top. Or even if they DO deserve their spot in the Hall of Fame, because they DO work their asses off and DO have talent, you feel, but wait...what about the people with no talent? What about justice? What about fairness? I work hard, too!
The wonderfully magic software of Second Life has shown itself to have astounding transformative powers. It can take a shy store clerk with barely a high-school education in Colorado and make him a famous virtual building contractor with tens of thousands of real-life dollars flowing in the door. But, you say, I'm a shy store clerk with barely a high-school degree in Colorado *too* and it's just not coming together for me! Well, your world/your imagination. With my handy lists here, you'll know to whom you have to suck up, or "fete", and whom you have to avoid as last year's spent nuclear rod.
FIC 1.0
Even without the flexy-prim storebought prim hair, even without the AOs and the bling, even without the Herald exposes, FIC 1.0 proves itself to be as durable and stable as, well, AOL. You *do* realize that AOL is still in business and completely pwns the teenage instant messenging mindshare, correct? Ok, then! And even *with* the most dazzling, blinding Windlighty wonderfulness, FIC 1.0, the leaders of yesteryear, are sometimes still clawing and scrabbling to keep visibility on the blog or the forums, but they are receding into the past faster than your hairline. Still, for many of us, they will always live in our memories.
Philip Linden
Aimee Weber
Siobhan Taylor
Teeny Leviathan
Jeska Linden
Flipper Peregrine
Jennyfur Peregrine
Taco Rubio
Cristiano Midnight
Neph Protagonist
Neil Protagonist
Moopf Murray
Eric Linden
Ben Linden
Siggy Romulus
Weedy Herbst
FIC 2.0 are the folks who think they still run things -- and maybe still DO run things but are having to run in place more -- and yes, they still get paid even RL dollars, but they have a lot more inworld inworld business contracts than the outworld contracts they used to, or they are vaguely doing "consulting" on "social media" somewhere else now, or they are assigned to writing complex budgets for other people to spend. They have metaversal agency jobs; gigs on panels at game conferences; but younger, newer people are starting to edge them out. Sigh. It's like the song says, "Wonder whyyyyy/only my avatar gets laid." Real life is no substitute for Second Life, kids! 90 percent of being FIC, as Woody Allen sort of said, is just showing up -- inworld.
Notice how some of last year's FIC 2.0 fell off the lists completely, some by opting out of Second Life almost completely (Spin Martin, SNOOPYBrown Zamboni/Jerry Paffendorf), to start other businesses, or some by having their companies bought out by CBS (GreeterDan Godel/Daniel Terdiman)
FIC 2.0
Hiro Pendragon
Johnny Ming
moo Money
Boliver Oddfellow
Adam Reuter
Desmond Shang
Gwyneth Llewelyn
Caliandris Pendragon
Lordfly Digeridoo
otakup0pe Neumann
Tao Takashi
Forseti Svarog
Robin Linden
Andrew Linden
Paisley Beebe
Vint Falken
FIC 2.1, like 1.0 and 1.1 before it, is a kind of mutant -- determined to keep others at bay, to block, mute, ban, eject, push overboard. FIC 2.1 not only actively bans from worlds and blogs and conferences -- it victory-dances. Some on the list not only celebrate copyleftism, or justifies ad-farm extortion, or dubious banking schemes, it makes money from them. It's about Snowcrash, aiming not only to become superior and elitist, but to block all future dissent and challenges, to use anarcho-capitalist or state-capitalist or socialist-utopian if not communist means to take power. FIC 2.1 is about stubbornly trying to stay in your face, no matter what.
FIC 2.1
Torley Linden
Gigs Taggart
Tateru Nino
Pathfinder Linden
Angel Fluffy
Intlibber Brautigun
Plastic Duck
Pixeleen Mistral
Jessica Holyoke
Strife Onizuka
57 Miles
Onder Skall
Lillie Yifu
Ginsu Linden
Ancient Shriner
Chrischun Fassbinder
Tizzers Foxchase
Pastrami Linden
So...here you are, this year's FIC 2.5 edition! I don't claim it's complete; I don't claim it's accurate. But it's my working list, and you are welcome to correct it. These are the people who run Second Life -- and let you know it. They *really* run it, even if you don't see it, and they *do* want the credit and the perks for that. Many of them are *deservedly* FIC. As I've always said to the Lindens, have your FIC, just make sure it's *good* FIC. And I think they're getting better and Feting and getting results, don't you think?
FIC 2.5
M Linden
Zha Ewry
Templar Merlin
Jack Linden
Cyn Linden
Barnesworth Anubis
Nylon Pinkey
Flea Bussy
Heiko Decatur
RightasRain Rimbaud
Fleep Tuque
Carl Metropolitan
Larry Pixel
Phaylen Fairchild
Nexeus Fatale
Dizzy Banjo
Adam Zaius
Joshua Nightshade
CodeBastard Redgrave
Poid Mahovlich
Beyers Sellers
JenzZa Misfit
Zero Linden
Rik Riel
Larry Pixel
Hamlet Au
Saijanai Kuhn
Light Waves
Qie Niangao
FAQS
1. But but but *sputter* this is entirely subjective and completely arbitrary! It's completely biased!
Yes, it is! : )
So...Make some lists yourself, and link!
2. Butbutbut it's all English-speakers, mainly Americans, and people you know! What about all those Brazilians and Japanese and Australians! You're leaving them out!
Right! So, make your own list, and link : )
3. Butbutbut *sputtercough* some people who weren't on some of the lists like FIC 2.0 last year suddenly now show up on it. And some just plain do not deserve to be on FIC 2.5.
Yes! Because they got on it during the year. And yes, again, but some of them sleep their way to the top.
4. But wait, this list just doesn't track! Why, Cristiano runs Sluniverse.com, the most popular resident website! Why, Robin Linden is the only adult at Linden Lab who's minding the store!
Yes, but since when are third-party resident sites talking about inworld news and drama from internal SL communities news, and influencing the future of Second Life? They aren't! That's just it. SL is being used for all kinds of things now and has hundreds of thousands of more people on it who never heard of these people, and also never buy animations or skins, except perhaps once for a meeting.
As for Robin and other Lindens holding up the world like Atlas, it's precisely because they are doing that work that they don't show up in the news, real and virtual, to keep their spot on the FIC 2.5 list--they'd have to be spending more time being fabulous.
5. How did Hamlet go from the dreaded mutant 2.1 to 2.5? Did he have a conversion at the altar call?!
No, but he criticized Torley and Windlight, and did so in about 3 blogs running, so I felt he had to be rewarded with upgrading.
6. How come there are so many more Lindens on this list?! Where are the mortals?
Well, because damn, there are just shedloads more of these Lindens now in general. They are everywhere. You can't spit, and not hit a Linden on your lawn these days. They are more intrusive, more controlling, more domineering than they ever used to be, and therefore more and more, they get to be the FIC, and not you. Hey, cry me a river. It's their game.
6. Wait a second. Wait JUST A DAMN MINUTE here. Aren't *you* FIC? Nobody Fugazi always says you have hook-ups with the Lab.
Nobody...who? He's not on any list anymore ROFL. But, actually, I'm not FIC, because I have never been included in a single institutionalized FIC body, and I'm permanently banned from the forums and the blog.
FIC means being able to influence the society of SL *and* get in the RL news regularly *and* obtain access to the Lindens *and* succeed in publicity, popularity, business etc. I may have my influence now and then; I may get in the RL news from time to time, but I'm not in power in SL, any "access" I have to Lindens doesn't do a thing to get me unbanned, or on the Showcase, or business clients, etc. -- FIC means FIC!
Lately, I was stunned when some nice Lindens I barely knew did some favours. But those same Lindens, or other Lindens I barely knew, kicked me in the teeth. Plus the Lindens that have long been gunning for me continue to gun for me. It all evens out, and keeps me off any FIC list : )
7. How did you pick these people?! It makes no sense. You pick one person from this or that group, or two people, but not others who really do the work/are more important/are more talented.
Well, sue me. I just pick what I pick. I can't pick ALL the Bay City Moles, because I don't know who the names are. I can't pick the absolute top Japanese designers because some are my tenants and you'll say I'm just FICing them because they're my internal FIC lol. I can't pick the most successful "solutions provider" because I don't have any problems that need their solutions lol. Ingrid Ingersoll may be out there in fact really being FIC 2.0 or FIC 2.5, but I just didn't get the news yet. Perhaps SignPost Marvin still really pulls strings somewhere instead of lying in a ditch, emitting radons. Etc. Etc. Like I said, make your own damn list!
8. What about the Noospherists? You used to have a list of the "good guys" that quietly did their work, that occasionally got the credit and were in the news, but weren't the type to make people grit their teeth. Of course, a lot of them are just your friends, right?
List below. No, I don't even know some of them, and as you can see, some fell off the list after last year for bad behaviour (Ginko's founder who finally just fled SL without staying to try to restore people's money). This is one of those very subjective lists, in a way, because it's one of those issues of "there is no limit to the good you can do if you are not willing to get the credit" sort of stories. "Their Father, who is in Heaven, sees them, and rewards them." So you might not see them! I may glimpse them if they happen to be friends or I see them around. Again, I can only ask you to think about these qualities and make your own lists!
The Noospherists
Fizik Baskerville
Simone Stern
Joe Linden
Sidewinder Linden
katykiwi Moonflower
Abramelin Wolf
Ordinal Malaprop
Eggy Lipmann
Anshe Chung
Guni Greenstein
Alliez Mysterio
Dana Bergman
Bub Linden
Jesse Linden
Rob Linden
Apotheus Silverman
Frogg Marlowe
Jaycott Nino
Foolish Frost
Jeffronius Batra
Khamon Fate
Jeff Gomez
Peter Newell
Adri Saarinen
Cocoanut Koala
Guy Linden
Blue Linden
Everett Linden
Catherine Linden
Sue Stonebender
Baron Grayson
Tom Bukowski
Ziggy Figaro
Suezanne Baskerville
Lilith Heart
Eric Reuters
John Zhaoying
Malburns Writer
Tara Yeats
Sarah Nerd
Ciaran Laval
But wait, you say, this is all stupid! The way to become FIC now is just to buy a seat on the exchange for $25,000 US a year! Why all this jockeying and wasting time in office hours and trying to get Beyers to invite you to speak at Metanomics, or get noticed on the Herald or Prok's blog?
Yes, FIC 2.5 is now offering more and more automated features. We do hope that by the time FIC 3.0 is ready, you will be able to go to www.secondlife.com and click on an ADD TO MY SHOPPING CART Icon that says "Make me FIC, M Linden! Pleasepleaseplease!" and it will just *happen*. The speed-dials. The private Twitter DMs. The Metanomics panels. The right parties after Virtual Worlds expos, the newbie streams to your venue -- it can all be yours -- but for a price. That's the American way!
Oh, I realize plenty of skeptics remain. Why, there isn't any FIC! There's just people who Work Harden Than You, as Loren Feldman of 1938Media once famously put it in a vlog.
Still, look over the official website these days, and you would have to confess that my theories have become not only validated, but institutionalized in ways I never imagined:
o SL Views -- the special focus group where 8 people are flown to San Francisco at the Lab's expense
o SL DEV -- there's a Developer's list that isn't SLDEV the hackers' list but those with big projects who get a heads up on all the upcoming features, who sign the NDAs, who get the media coverage and the spots on conference panels
o Showcase -- more than any other visible proof of Feting I can't find -- the Lindens subjectively pick venues to feature on the website, and soon to come on the viewer itself, ensuring a windfall of traffic and business for the lucky chosen ones
o All the other web site feting -- lists, examples, pictures -- SL Grid in particular is the spot to watch for upcoming FIC 2.5 talent.
o Library -- yes, often overlooked, your Library inworld in your inventory is now an absolute goldmine for those lucky enough to get in there. You now have not only their works, but cards and landmarks that take you to store's like Grendel's Children. Can you imagine how many gadzillion clicks those people will get from being in the friggin' *Library?* Ok, then.
o SL Certified -- this seems to be on moth balls at the moment, but it was an idea to certify people in "SL skills" and that spells trouble, and needs watching
o SLB5 -- organizers and displays are in some cases FIC, but in some cases not. For example, I'm on a speaker's list on a panel, but that hasn't put any peas in my pot. The day I get a rental or a Showcase placement out of it, call me and tell me to put myself on the FIC list. For most people, attempts to work on the SLB5 probably earned them a quicker trip to the Noospherist list than anything else LOL.
o Office Hour Pets -- the people the Lindens call on, nod enthusiastically to, joke with, and approve by name -- probably the most nauseating form of FICness
o Architectural Working Group and AWG Groupies -- the Lindens clearly care more about open-sourcing and moving to create an SL Grid that is interoperable with (read: can control and influence) other grids probably than anything out there -- so this is why IBM and others are in this as well as all kinds of grasping and clawing wannabees and those actually running everything like Zha Ewry.
o Forums FIC -- while there is improved moderation, compared to the egregious outrages of yesteryear where people were being allowed to stay on despite awful behaviour (Ulrika Zugzwang), there is still definitely roosters ruling the roost, and one way people clawing to the top get mindshare is to post a lot there, where they sometimes get thunderous head-pattings from Lindens, or even get to be mods.
Yes, these institutions, some only formed in the last year, baffle some of us no end and even exasperate people. Why is gwynethllewelyn.net, Gwyn's blog, on the HOT SPOT HEADLINES when she's been banging on the Lab ferociously lately, and isn't cultivating her act for FIC 2.5? Answer: the website still has what we might call "legacy features" of the earlier versions : )
Obviously, we don't have access to all the behind-the-scenes capers. I have to wonder, for example, how something like Riel Estate can land on the Showcase -- I TP'd there last night and found what many of us would agree are awful builds with badly tiled textures too large for avatar immersion, steps too high for avatars to step on, benches that my avatar sat on and got swallowed up by, horrible camera angles that made my avatar bang his head or feel boxed in, paths that my avatar couldn't walk...but wait.
That isn't the idea. The idea isn't for these buildings to be *usable by avatars immersed in the world*. The idea is merely to make a prototype that looks good for clients. So they can look out over a pastoral, rustic scene and say "Ahhhh, this is Second Life." It doesn't matter if anybody can sit on the chair or step up the step, as long as it looks good.
You Look Good. We Look Good. That's the new Linden motto as we know.
Or, what does Shakespeare & Co or some Slovenian TV station showing up in the picks and the showcases mean about the new FIC? Perhaps they *are* FIC 3.0? Perhaps the FIC has been *gasp* reverse-engineered and open-sourced already?
I'm quite prepared that may be true. We always knew that Second Life was really a lot like First...
Oh, I have an update already for FIC 2.5 -- Ugotrade -- her name in Second Life is Tara5 Oh.
AND a Noosphere update: Crap Mariner.
Additions welcome!
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | 06/28/2008 at 04:41 PM
Is it bad that I pronounce it Fetid Inner Core?
Posted by: Eris | 06/28/2008 at 05:16 PM
Yes, that's an error a lot of people make because they don't understand what the word "Feted" which comes from the French "fete" or "celebration" means. "Fetid" means they are mouldering and they stink. It's another spin on the concept, but not one I use very often.
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | 06/28/2008 at 05:27 PM
Wake me when it's over.......
Or if they IPO. I hope it's a hostile takeover.
Posted by: Rebecca proudhon | 06/28/2008 at 05:58 PM
"FIC -- which rhymes with "bike" and not "Bic""
Why?
Seems logical that it should rhyme with "Bic" not "bike", since the "I" stands for "inner" as in "dinner" and not as in "kind".
Right?
Posted by: Kryss Wanweird | 06/28/2008 at 06:00 PM
It's because I say so, Kryss : )
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | 06/28/2008 at 06:00 PM
Fine, that means I'm right :P
Posted by: Kryss Wanweird | 06/28/2008 at 06:13 PM
No, because I invented it : )
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | 06/28/2008 at 06:23 PM
Awww man.... and the blog was getting good the past few days too. Oh, well.. check again later.
Best,
Dirk
Posted by: Dirk Talamasca | 06/28/2008 at 06:34 PM
Your word, your imagination?
I SEE.
Posted by: Kryss Wanweird | 06/28/2008 at 06:42 PM
Another disgruntled customer, mad that he isn't on at least SOME list!
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | 06/28/2008 at 06:44 PM
Hook us up, Prok!
Tell us what the big announcement is. At least that way, they can spend time hunting down whomever it was that stole their shit. Maybe then they will understand what it is like for residents to spend all that time tracking down the people that stole THEIR shit.
Posted by: Dirk Talamasca | 06/28/2008 at 07:09 PM
Sigh. I'll never make any list.
:D
Posted by: Ann Otoole | 06/28/2008 at 07:34 PM
Prok, you forgot Travis and Mera again.
I don't have stats handy, but BanLink has become practically institutionalised and more widespread than you'd think.
Right on the money with Carl Metropolitan too - he's a rising star.
And Dirk, I hear ya, though I doubt many will understand the reference here.
Posted by: Desmond Shang | 06/28/2008 at 07:46 PM
No, I didn't forget them. They don't qualify. Travis BTW is pretty much out of SL for personal reasons. Mera is pretty much invisible, so if YOU want her on YOUR Noosphere list, put her on; I don't care for the Shelter, as they were the ones to bring Ban-Link to SL, and if anything, I'd put them on 2.1. In fact, it IS institutionalized, even Lindens use it, and that's a BAD THING as far as I'm concerned, I've blogged about this many times before.
Yes, Carl now qualifies as FIC. It shows that after all, we do have a meritocracy, that some people can achieve FICness by long hard work and patience with Lindens.
Desmond, you need to suck up more and you may get on 2.5 next year.
Er, the big announcement is who is on the FIC 2.5 list! Ta-da!
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | 06/28/2008 at 07:57 PM
I'm really disappointed that my new fake wife, Money Moo, didn't make the list. She runs the Bayjou Theater in Bay City.
Not really. Carry on.
Posted by: moo Money | 06/28/2008 at 08:28 PM
Hmm. I always thought FIC meant Festering In Chains..
Festering: From fester ( a suppurating sore : pustule)
In Chains :Self absorbed pride chains the person's soul into the darkness? ..no?
..but seriously, I am glad to see Light Waves be recognized. He seems to stay behind the scenes and yet still have a huge impact in SL with his sculptures.
--Razrcut Brooks
Posted by: none | 06/28/2008 at 09:22 PM
"And yes, again, but some of them sleep their way to the top."
You said you weren't going to tell anyone about our special night.
Posted by: Gigs Taggart | 06/28/2008 at 09:47 PM
While its quite true I'm mostly out of SL for personal reasons, I am 'plugged in' in a limited sense:
I only pop in-world these days to take care of BanLink issues, and once in a while to say hello to old friends. I post to the forums occasionally, and regularly browse the SL-Media (this blog included).
The time away has definitely given me a different perspective on things, because I'm not as emotionally invested in Second Life as I once was. Still, I feel a commitment to both the projects I helped create: the Shelter & BanLink, and seem to suffer from an unshakable desire to finish what I started. Unless I get hit by a bus, I'm committed to each being around as long as people feel a need for them.
Point of note: BanLink was originally created in 2006 to link the ban lists between the Shelter & NCI only. Because we attracted a similar audience, we began noticing a repeat pattern of griefers as well. I represented the Shelter, and Mera represented NCI from a technical perspective - so that's where the connection originates from.
The idea of creating a 'trust' based system with multiple participating venues was a complete afterthought - but due to the after-effects of 6/6/06 - it seemed like a logical next-step at the time. For better or worse, Pandora's box has been open ever since. To this day we've stayed committed to the non-interference policy, and I firmly believe the trust-system works; albeit sometimes slower than I'd like.
The Shelter was turned over to a board of Coordinators over a year ago, all of whom had a long history of involvement with the Shelter. I've empowered the board to be self-sufficient, and have successfully weaned them off of needing me to make decisions. While I still pop in from time to time, and everyone still considers me the 'Founder', its become much more of an honorary title rather than an active one. Much of the community that inhabits the Shelter these days doesn't even know who I am.
So, while the Shelter & BanLink are two projects I indeed helped create, they are fundamentally different tangents of my SL experience, and really only one do I consider myself actively involved in. I'm not much for astrology - but I suppose its no mistake that I'm a Gemini in RL ;)
Posted by: Travis Lambert | 06/28/2008 at 10:38 PM
The Ban-Link is not a trust system, Travis. It's an untrust system. It causes stampeding behaviours, false positives, political banning, and can't help against the day-olds problem.
It also prevents people from working on the harder problem of why people behave badly.
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | 06/28/2008 at 10:54 PM
Gees I was in the FIC and out of it before I even knew..ah well easy come easy go as they say. One day cock of the wall next day a feather duster,....ahhh chooo!
Posted by: Paisley Beebe | 06/28/2008 at 11:03 PM
No, you're still in the FIC, Paisley, not to worry, you're just in an earlier edition, not 2.5, and who knows, that may turn out to be less crashy and buggy : )
What can I tell you, more inworld events, links on blogs, lunch up the right people, well, there's always next year!
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | 06/28/2008 at 11:12 PM
That reminds me, update:
Wiz Norberg, Noosphere.
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | 06/28/2008 at 11:13 PM
I was going to say: Where's Wiz?
As for Pais... nah. Sure, the show fills a sim, but it's single-sim. Even with the podcast reach, doesn't get the street that, say, a Torley vid does.
Fleep's more noosphere, wired for good, not self.
Dolmere Talmasca's pretty high up on my list of do-gooders-for-do-good's sake in the music realm.
Freestar Tammas/Circe Broom?
Posted by: Crap Mariner | 06/29/2008 at 12:03 AM
Well, you did convince me of one thing:
Cylindrian Rutabega has to go on FIC 2.5 -- there's one update.
Fleep is very, very consciously adding titles and roles to herself. That's fine, that's what you do at that age. But, it's in part for the resume.
Dolmere is an evil fuck who goes on 2.1 if he goes anywhere, but he's not important enough.
Freestar I never heard of. Like I say, you're welcome to fire me from my job as FIC society columnists and do a column yourself : )
Circe Broom is the salt of the earth, but I have to say, this was my thinking about musicians, kind of as a whole: they do not influence the power, politics, society of SL. They are in the world, but they don't really get involved in the levers of it, or in commenting on it sort of philosophically or making political or social songs about it (because Frogg and Jaycatt do, they went on the list of the Noosphere).
It's like a lot of dress makers or widget makers. Timeless Prototype is probably gnashing his teeth that he's not bad enough to be on bad lists or good enough to be on good lists but that's because he is overly cautious and looking at his resume and business profile.
Paisley has tens of thousands of hits after the show on YouTube.
Posted by: Prokofy Neva | 06/29/2008 at 12:08 AM