Pioneers in Virtual Worlds

and why your time is always now.

John LesterStrategic Planning and Market Development for Online Communities, Virtual Worlds and Social Media

Second Life Community ConventionBoston, 2010

This presentation is

Well, not really. But there is some adult language and violence.

John Lester        

Pathfinder Lester

5 yrs @ Linden Lab

• Evangelism and market development in education and healthcare.

• Started Boston Lab.

12 yrs @ Mass General Hospital / Harvard Medical School 

• Online communities for patient support and education.• Virtual worlds, neuroscience and emotional bandwidth.

Who am I?

What have I been doing since leaving Linden Lab?

My Life after Linden LabExploring cultural evolution and adaptation. 

• How do people share knowledge?

• How do cultures grow, adapt, and evolve?

• How can one help them succeed?

My Life after Linden LabHelping build a Tibetan Buddhist library.

• Online system for collaboration between monasteries.• Preservation and evolution of cultural heritage.• Diaspora can lead to new opportunities.

My Life after Linden LabI'm interested in orgs and tools that connect people.

I want to build this.

• How to build the tools that support communities.

• How to integrate the online world with "reality."

• How to cultivate creativity.

My Life after Linden LabI'm still very interested in Second Life.

• Immersive Narratives

• Exploring Game Design

• Education 

• Art and Neuroscience

My Life after Linden LabImmersive Narratives in Second Life.

Frank Lloyd Wright Museum in SL.

Potential to build interactive stories.

Advisory Board.

www.flwvm.org

My Life after Linden LabExploring Game Design in Second Life.

Designed by a pro game designer.

Amazing community and customer support.

I'm one of hundreds of addicted players.

www.logos-cards.com

My Life after Linden LabEducation and Support in Second Life.

Rockcliffe University Consortium.

Nonprofit group helping universities succeed in SL.

Advisory Board.

www.urockcliffe.com

My Life after Linden LabIntersection of Art and Neuroscience.

Oddfellow Studios.

Tools for entertainment and therapeutic/nootropic applications.

New art forms.

Advisory Board.www.oddfellowstudios.com

My Life after Linden Lab

But still looking for more.

I'm currently a free agent looking for a major gig.

I love uncharted territories.

Hit me up on LinkedIn.

Plus other advisory, speaking and writing gigs.

Now you know my perspective.

Enough about me.

Let's talk about you.

Yes, you.  The Pioneers.

 Two Essential Pioneer Strategies

It's tricky being a Pioneer.Let's be thoughtful about what it involves. 

Two Essential Pioneer Strategies

1) Predicting the Future 

2) Remembering your most Precious Assets

1) Predicting the Future

Some Pioneers solve thisby inventing the future.

• Engelbart and the Mouse• Invention of Virtual Worlds

Much of the time the Future simply happens, and we need to adapt to it.

• OMFG <insert new feature here> changes my plans!• How we work with change is how we succeed.

Really Hard

We usually get it really really really wrong.

• Extrapolation errors• Wishing vs Reality• Disruptive Innovation• Beware ...

Beware Pretty Pictures

Impressive graphs usually tell us only what the creator wants us to believe.

Beware Empty Words

The only thing worse than no strategy is meaningless strategy.

Apply repeatedly for proper inoculation

www.whatthefuckismysocialmediastrategy.com

A valuable lesson from Tuco

A valuable lesson from Tuco

When you have to shoot....shoot.

Don't talk.

Pioneer Strategies

1) Predicting the Future

• Work with Change• Ignore Noise• Take Action

2) Remembering your most Precious Assets

You probably forget these assets all the time. Please stop doing that.

A valuable lesson from Frith

A valuable lesson from Frith

Whenever they catch you, they will kill you.

But first they must catch you.

We forget what makes us Awesome

• The things we are best at doing tend to be things we take for granted.

• "Oh, I can do that with my eyes closed.  It's no big deal."

• We forget who we are.

• And how lessons learned enrich our Wisdom, which is always with us.

We forget the Communities around us

• Communities we have built.

• Communities we belong to.

• Power of Adaptive Culture.

Hope or Despair.  Both are a choice.

No, not that kind of hope.

Try again.

Hope or Despair.  Both are a choice.

No, that's delusional hope.

Pretty funny.

Try again.

Hope or Despair.  Both are a choice.

Perfect.

Optimism + critical planning.

That's the kind of Hope I'm talking about.

The kind worth choosing.

Pioneer Strategies

2) Remembering your most Precious Assets

• Wisdom is Portable

• Hope (optimism + critical planning) is a Choice

• Community

Summary of Pioneer Strategies

1) Predicting the Future

• Work with Change• Ignore Noise• Take Action

2) Remembering your most Precious Assets

• Wisdom is Portable• Hope (optimism + critical planning) is a Choice• Community

But what about the future of Second Life and Virtual Worlds?

No, I'm afraid I'll need a bit more convincing.

And some inspiration would be nice. 

Second Life is not dead

If "SecondLie" didn't truly care about Second Life, he'd be tweeting about something else.  

Attention means you care.  And parody is thoughtful attention.

Watch the Colbert Report and you'll see what I mean.

It would be silly to pretend that these are not Challenging Times

Time will tell.  Meanwhile, focus on things you can control.

Virtual Worlds are not deadAirplanes do not exist because we are clever.

They exist because we have always yearned to fly.

Virtual Worlds are inevitableOur minds yearn for the freedom to shape and share dreams.

And so Virtual Worlds will always be.  In some shape or form.

Here's the Secret

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, 

divide the work and give orders. 

Instead, teach them to yearn 

for the vast and endless sea.” 

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Quiz: What do these Pioneer Strategies all have in common?

1) Predicting the Future

• Work with Change• Ignore Noise• Take Action

2) Remembering your most Precious Assets

• Wisdom is Portable• Hope (optimism + critical planning) is a Choice• Community

Answer: They apply EverywhereLinden Lab's customers may be smarter than anyone.

Edison invented motion pictures, but brilliant directors invented what became cinema.

Do you watch movies because they move, or because they move you?

Use the tools of today, but plan beyond them.  Or build new ones.

Mind the storms, but focus on reaching your goal.

You have goals, right?

When the going gets tough, we tend to focus on tactics.

It is deadly to focus on your tactical goals without being clear on your strategic goals.

Write them down before you go home.  Seriously.

"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory.  Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat."  -Sun Tzu

Everyone Here is a PioneerYou're already a Pioneer, an explorer of unknown opportunities in strange new worlds.

You wouldn't be here today if you weren't.

The time for Pioneers is always now.

In Second Life.

In Virtual Worlds.

In Life.

 Just be cunning, and full of tricks.

And your dreams will fly.

Thank you Twitter: PathfinderEmail: john.e.lester@gmail.comSL: Pathfinder LesterBlog: http://becunningandfulloftricks.comSlides: http://bit.ly/SLCC2010_John_Lester