Now here’s an interesting announcement right before Christmas.  Linden Labs, the company behind Second Life, has just announced a new CEO, and the selection might surprise you:  Format EA executive and man behind the scenes of EverQuest and The Sims Rod Humble.

“Rod is a great new leader for Linden Lab,” said Philip Rosedale, Founder of Second Life. “Second Life has become a consistently large and profitable business with a thriving virtual economy built together with its passionate Resident community. This has always been a big, long-term vision, it is still early and there is enormous opportunity for growth. With Rod’s fresh insights and deep experience in creating and leading the development of fun, intuitive, immersive entertainment experiences that have attracted massive audiences of loyal users, he’s the right leader to understand what makes us special and bring the next level of growth to Second Life.”

“Joining Linden Lab is a very exciting opportunity,” said Humble. “I have a long standing interest in the how the boundaries of society and economics change as communications evolve in new ways. Second Life is unique: it sits at the intersection of virtual worlds, avatars, and human contact. The Residents and developers of Second Life have built something very special, I am honored to join the talented team at Linden Lab to help expand this new frontier.”

While I’m glad to see someone with some experience come to the job, I’m a bit nervous that Second Life may turn into a type of open-area Arcade.  All in all, I suppose that wouldn’t be all bad but I hope they don’t begin to sacrifice features for the sake of ‘gameplay’.

via Second Life’s New Leader: Rod Humble Becomes CEO of Linden Lab | Linden Lab.