Second Life's Second Wind

Second Life's Second Wind

In what tech pundits at Gartner Research call the curve of hype and gloom, Linden Lab's virtual world, Second Life, has officially entered the gloom stage.

In October, Reuters pulled its full-time Second Life reporter Eric Krangel, who had written daily news stories about the virtual world's economy for a year and a half, out of the virtual world. Krangel, who now blogs at Silicon Alley Insider, wrote that Linden Lab needs to recognize that "Second Life's reputation is now a liability," and that hanging out in the virtual world was "like watching paint dry." In November, Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) seemed to echo the bearish mood toward virtual worlds when it shut down its own online microcosm, Lively.

But Mark Kingdon, Linden Lab's new chief executive argues that Second Life has some life in it yet. In fact, Linden Lab's economic statistics from Second Life show that in-world user hours and the volume of virtual land rented by users are both growing. And the number of in-world transactions between users, typically a measure of the world's economic health, has rebounded to its record high after dipping earlier this year.

Forbes.com spoke with Kingdon, who came to Linden Labs last May from digital communications firm Organic, about his drive to make Second Life more welcoming to newbies, its questionable appeal as a business application and why Barack Obama doesn't have a Second Life avatar