The Virtual Whirl: A brief history of Second Life (2004)
2004: Features, bugs and Tringo
In 2004, versions 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 brought a slew of new features and enhancements: new group tools and abilities, expanded estate controls, new prim shapes and settings, audio streaming on parcels, custom animations, XML-RPC communication with scripted objects from outside Second Life and more.
Version 1.5 was slated as a bug-fix release, but ironically it was perhaps the buggiest version of Second Life to date.
Tringo
In December 2004, Nathan Keir (aka Kermitt Quirk) created Tringo -- a blend of Tetris and Bingo -- that could be played by a large number of players at once, and often involved wagering and cash-payouts.
Tringo was later licensed for the web, the PC, and for the Game Boy Advance.
Overall, a pattern generally started to emerge this year. When we considered Linden Lab projects from conception to production, a timeline of 14-18 months seemed about normal. This overall timeline held true through subsequent years.
2004 is still regarded by some as being something of a Golden Age for Second Life content creation and communities, but in practical terms the scale was very small compared to the levels that it reached just two years later.
2004 may not have been that big a year for Second Life and Linden Lab (though it was certainly a big year for bugs!), but 2005 was something special. Tune in next week for more!
