We’re terribly sorry to report that Second Life CEO Ebbe Altberg has passed away after a long illness. Linden Lab posted the news to the game’s community over the weekend.
“Ebbe Altberg started with Linden Lab as our CEO on February 5th, 2014. He took the helm of the company and immediately went to work on reinvigorating our spirit and culture. Ebbe brought a profound openness, and transparency in his operation which was key and that had many effects on all of us internally, and externally. Lindens were encouraged to be part of the vibrant community in Second Life, to participate in and to cherish it as part of our daily duties. Ebbe also worked internally on embracing all aspects of Second Life, learning about its many nuances to understand impacts of decisions we make; while being sensitive to those and utilizing all of our resources, which firstly included you, the community, and many of us who are deeply embedded in Second Life. Ebbe’s goals for Second Life included promoting Second Life as the world’s best virtual world, community and platform. He also sought new adventures in building next generation products.”
“I commit to all of you to carry forward with our mission of making Second Life the biggest, best, most vibrant virtual world that there ever can be,” VP of Product Ops Patch Linden wrote. New World Notes has further compiled a trundle of memories and tributes to Altberg.
Longtime MassivelyOP and Massively fans know that the original Massively was born out of a Second Life blog back on AOL, and in those early days the MMO/lifesim/virtual world was a cornerstone game for coverage. I’m not sure we’d be here without it. Our hearts are with the community.
