Kermitt Quirk

In a revolutionary first, the Resident-made game that swept Second Life will be commercially licensed to sweep the world—beginning with the Game Developers Conference. It began as a simple, multiplayer board game with elements of Bingo and a fast-action jigsaw arcade game, created by Australian Resident Kermitt Quirk. Since its appearance in Second Life this year, however, the addictive gameplay of Tringo has dazzled Residents beyond all expectations. In recent weeks, for example, one in four Resident-run events were based around Tringo matches.

One Resident took particular interest in Tringo, but he wasn't just a fan. He also happened to be Sean Ryan, former CEO of Real Networks, now founder of Donnorwood Media. After some heavy in-world negotiations, Kermitt sold the worldwide licensing rights for Tringo to Donnorwood, and in the process, business history was made: a game originally created in an online world had been sold by its designer for commercial distribution outside it.

For an independent game developer, it's a dream come true—made possible here by the Intellectual Property rights that Second Life gives all its subscribers: you create it, you own it, and it's yours to sell, rent out, or give away for free.

If you're planning to be at Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this March, meet Kermitt at the Linden Lab GDC party (see below)—and join us in welcoming an era of Second Life as a full-featured platform for the next generation of online game development.

Celebrating over two years of fostering a thriving community of artists, builders, visionaries, and non-stop fun seekers, Linden Lab is hosting a landmark party during the famed Game Developers Conference. Open bar, food, and a video showcase of Resident-made games, all held at the fabulous Varnish Fine Art gallery in downtown San Francisco. Best of all, if you’re reading this and can be in the Bay Area when it goes off, you may be able to join us. E-mail rsvp@lindenlab.com for your chance to secure a fast-dwindling slot on the invite list. (Special preference given to active Residents, so be sure to include your Second Life name in the e-mail.)

If you can’t make the real world festivities, there’s still room to join us in-world in avatar form. We’ve created a scale model of the party space in Second Life, named Virtual Varnish, and we will broadcast the virtual party on a screen in the real Varnish Fine Art gallery. (Check March 9th Events for more details.)

An assassin with sideburns and an unstoppable heroine square off, and the shell casings go flying! Watch the video here — then teleport over to Chinatown and the ice map of Abraxas, to join all the combative fun.