Saying Farewell to Avatars United
Dear Avatars United Member,
In January of this year, Linden Lab purchased Avatars United for its underlying social technology and to integrate powerful social networking capabilities into the Second Life experience.
Today, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue Avatars United and will be taking down the site on September 29, 2010. Over the next week, we encourage you to save any pieces of content (such as pictures, friend’s names, etc.) that you want to keep. We will also soon update you on your AU Coin refund, if you have an account balance.
Over the two and a half years since launching Avatars United, we have welcomed avatars from many virtual worlds and MMOs to connect on our platform as the only social network catering to the needs of virtual identities. We are proud to have served those needs and honored to have shared this journey with you all.
Going forward, pieces of the Avatars United technology will be integrated into the Second Life platform to support a richer, and more dynamic, community experience. Read more about these efforts on the Second Life blog.
Thank you for being a member of the Avatars United community, and part of the Second Life family.
Sincerely,
The Avatars United/Second Life Team
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So, all the folks from world of warcraft, even online and the other MMO’s will be left with a bitter pill in their mouth.
Linden Labs is nothing more than a vulture…they buy up competition and cherry pick the dead carcass…cause once they buy something they intentionally kill it. Linden Labs already has a bad reputation in the other MMO communities, and are a laughing stock in the gaming industry as a whole, the closing of AU and the merging of its best parts into SL is not only a slap in the face to the folks outside of SL who used the service, its a slap in the face to the folks within SL who supported this take over.
i thought the move to buy AU was badly advised expansionism. I don’t see SL being in the same category as most MMO communities.
Based on my WoW and EQ2 buddies, they make fun of SL anyways. This was just fuel for the fire.
most folks i know in rl tend to make fun of all them .. *grins*
Yea, that’s the case here too.
There was a time when I’d argue with it sometimes, but having read some of the comments on youtube and the like I don’t bother anymore.
They are not doing much better with their Xstreet mutation. (What ever they call it now) Their business model does not make any sense to me.
I hate marketplace!
can’t say i’m that surprised
The strategy behind the decision to buy AU was sound on one level (expand SL’s visibility beyond SL, expose non-SL users to SL), and misguided on another (Hey! people are playing Farmville! Tech analysts think it’s the next big thing! How do we get a piece of that action?! I know! Let’s figure out how to let people play games as their avatars outside SL!). This is what comes from having a CEO who didn’t get the basics of what SL is.
The decision to undo it and focus on more immediate concerns is wise, and a good indicator of how decisively Rosedale is leading.
AE i guess that is an interesting .. take
Bottom line
1)It did not produce for LL ie not a money maker !
2) It did not increase new traffic for the grid !
* end results be a cost to LL for bandwidth !
**market place on the other hand is just LL taking a proven money maker Xstreet and taking a wee bit more of the pot for themselves ..
***In any world, I continue to ponder: Is Greed Good ?
****My thoughts with out Quality Customer Service, There can never be successful expandtion !
Ah jes’ read dat dere’s reports of marketplace takin’ your lindens and not givin’ you nuffin…… Imma hold onto x-street until de last possible second.