I recently wrote a post in reaction to something Timeless Prototype wrote on his blog. Timeless contacted me immediately because of incorrect assumptions I made. So, I changed the original post to reflect the facts and I spoke with him about the issues raised in his and my post.

The long and short of it is, Timeless Prototype is looking to sell his multi-gadget business because he’s been improving it, but is now tired of it. He’s not going to quit Second Life; he’s going to get out of his multi-gadget business and is looking for a buyer.

Why?

“The whole thing is energy exchange. My time is converted into energy,” he says. “Support. Bug fixes. Linden Lab breaking things. You commit a lot of time to the product. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life on it. I have other things I want to do.”

Now, he wants his time back because he has other ideas he wants to pursue. So, this great scripter is looking to sell this one product business so he can create cool new things. That’s great news. I was wrong in assuming that selling his multi-gadget meant he was going “out of business”. On the contrary.

I asked him why he built the multi-gadget. “I’m the type of person that needs a creative outlet,” he said. ” I’m one of those rare types that got an A in art and an A in math. I just need to do it. It gives me a nice feeling.”

“I tried Neverwinter Nights ; basically you can only design and script your own maps. I tried to get the same kick out of There.com, but it was simplistic. You could paint objects they gave you, but you were just customizing. It wasn’t adding scripts. Second Life allowed both. It offered total control and was accessible. There was little barrier to entry. You don’t need 3D Studio Max. SL was just ideal for me. I had all the tools in front of me. I could start scripting. There was enough reference to get by. ”

But as he got hooked, he needed to spend more time. “A lot of the quirks of scripting were not yet covered,” he says. “I would spend hours and hours tweaking code and understanding it. Some were two lines of code. I’ve spent a lot of energy to find out these quirks and to make use of them properly. For my grappling hook, for example, to get a smooth swinging motion, you have to really understand how it’s working in the simulator, otherwise it’s going to be jerky.”

As for multi-gadget, “It doesn’t seek it to be everything to everybody. I want it to be at least one thing to everybody.”

Which leads us to the heart of his post. Should there be software patents in the metaverse, just like the real world? It’s his position that “Metaverse solutions should mesh well with the real world; they should support real world concepts.” He wrote his post to begin the discussion of patents. Why? Because real companies are coming into Second Life and may patent work on ideas that he originally created.

Like IBM.

IBM has entered Second Life. They’re building out stores for Circuit City and Sears. They’re serious about “V-Commerce.”

And, they’re serious about patents. So, Timeless Prototype does have a point. How can an in-world scripter avail him or herself of the same protections as an IBM, who has attorneys on staff?

“It’s inevitable that business will come in and patent work. I want to see what their point of view is on this. We’re at a disadvantage if we don’t have access to the money and the lawyers to patent and enforce,” he says.

“Lesbian Vandyke pointed out to me that the Linden Lab Terms of Service has some restrictions around patenting. My big question to that is, ‘Did Kermit Quirk patent Tringo?’”

Indeed, these questions merit further discussion. While my first inclination to Timeless’ post was, “Forget about the lawyers, compete by making better stuff,” I’m thinking a discussion around patents and the role of real world companies in the metaverse is worthwile. Copyright seems like easy stuff compared to software patents!