And, He's Back

First, let me apologize to Guardian, the other bloggers, and the readers for not having posted lately. Quite honestly, I have no excuse except neglect due to other priorities.

Life has been a little hectic lately. After a couple months of retreat, I have decided to go back to work full-time. Job-hunting is the one thing I truly hate doing.

I always feel like I am being extremely "fake" in the letters of interest I send to potential employers. I always get so sick to my stomach writing my resumé, as I am forced to write flowery descriptions of past jobs that in all honesty I have truly hated.

Then... scheduling interviews. I actually do not drive anymore (long crappy story), so I rely on either public transportation (which is really BAD where I live) or friends/family to get me from Point A to Point B.

I've been dealing with all of it, though... quite nicely. I am almost 100% certain I will be back to the grind stone by the first of February.

Not sure why I went into all of that, LOL, but it somehow ended up here and frankly I am too tired at this point to edit it.

Perhaps, though, because of my hatred for job hunting... when I found out about the Linden Lab banking ban, I glued myself to the computer screen once again... to help out, to write, to just generally "observe" as this latest and greatest financial drama unfolded.

The day after the announcement, I logged in to see what I could do, and ended up helping at JT Financial. While we had a few angry customers, all in all everyone was very supportive, primarily upset at Linden Lab....... but mostly frustrated with the situation.

As I have read the policy, it would appear that banking as we know it is dead. With the cessation of interest payments, there will be virtually no reason to set up or continue shop with any form of banking script as we know it today.

Now, that being said... the existing banks out there have an opportunity. If they truly have the liquidity that most of them claim, they will be able to make investments into retooling their businesses. Shopping portals, financial service providers, payment services... all are fantastic possibilities with the right marketing and the right transitions. Customers may still be unable to access all of their funds in the short term, but at least the bank owner would be making a clear effort for the continuation of business.

I don't understand how some people, including me in the past couple days, have blown things so out of proportion through over-analysis and just "freaking out" in general.

I can only say that some of banks' (and customers') actions in the midst of this crisis are confusing. Some are totally ignoring it, some are overreacting to it, and some are clearly overthinking their forward path. A few of the ideas I have heard passed around about how to continue operations are incredibly ridiculous, unrealistic, or unworkable.

I truly applaud people who are trying their hardest and "thinking big" but sometimes it just helps to take a day off, watch television, or go swimming... to get a grip on reality and take control of your thoughts.

There are other banks that I have seen who are truly responding to the matter calmly, to the best of their ability. They're telling the truth to their customers and doing what they can to take care of a bad situation.

The one thing I love about almost every single bank in SL is this... every week for the past six months AT LEAST, it seemed like a different bank owner was name-dropping the Lindens in some form or another. By their own accounts, every single bank owner in SL was a friend of Linden Lab. "Bob Linden told us we could do this" or "We've been working with our contact at Linden Lab."

I find it curious that all of the second-cousin and blood-brother Lindens just kicked the floor out from underneath the people that they seemed to talk to the most... virtual bankers.

In any event, I think that Second Life will survive this latest blow. I think we'll see the successful bankers go on to become successful in other areas of business, and I think in the end everyone will agree that in-world banking has significantly contributed to the history of our virtual world.

For now, like you, I sit back and wait... ;)

In any event, that was my quick update for now... quite broad and dull, but the only thing I could possibly come up with after writing so much at SL Reports the past couple days.

On that note, as well... I should mention that I am uncertain how much I will be around the next couple days. I will try, at minimum, to keep track of the latest SL News to stay up to speed with things... but will probably be somewhat silent barring the appearance of something else interesting at the official Second Life blog.

Xavier Mohr