The Most Famous Linden?

As my son and avie namesake Evan and I were driving somewhere — probaby the video store so he could try to sneak another M-rated game past me — he turned to me and asked, over the din of his Dragonforce cut from Guitar Hero, “Mom, who do you think the most famous Linden is?”

Naturally, my first thought was “Philip,” the former CEO, and then M, the new CEO, but as I thought about it, I thought the one who certainly deserves the fame is Torley Linden, who has a lot of jobs with Linden Labs but whose official title is Resident Enlightenment Manager on the Community Initiatives Team. It’s a mouthful, but it certainly does encapsulate his job, which I think is “try to help every resident have the most fun legally possible in Second Life.” You want tutorials with entertaining commentary? Torley’s your guy.

A trip to his Here Island is a trip indeed, kind of a watermelon-colored theme park that crosses getting lost in Bugdom (without the mosquitos and poison slugs) with a slip down the rabbit hole. Giant flowers, birds and blades of grass surround you, and if you don’t pay attention, a giant cat head will come rolling at you out of nowhere.

Take in a tutorial or two, grab some of Torley’s textures, all free, or check out his Flickr page. Gape at the giant pink robot. As Torley would say, “Amplify your awesome!”

(Top photo)
Standing on a cat head (made by his RL wife and fellow SL enthusiast, Ravenelle Zugzwang. Torley’s public declaration — “I love life, wife and watermelons” — is also one of his more endearing traits).
(Bottom photo)
The giant Torley head, his signature greeting (”Friendly greetings!”) and me on Here Island