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By Xavier Mohr, CEO
SLReports.net  If you are not yet aware, I have resigned as CEO of SL Reports effective January 1, 2008. No, I have not had a "falling-out" with management or anything scrumptious like that for you to eat up, it's just that my time here has come and passed, and I am man enough to know when to step back and let someone else take over.
There are a lot of reasons for this - none of them just massive. You can read about it in the full letter. More than anything though, it was just several smaller reasons that all "piled up" to make me think that this was the right thing to do at this time. A lot of it comes down to time, and scheduling. I'm not the carefree single guy I once was. There are a lot of things that I should be doing in RL, but have put off time and again for the sake of SLR.
Sure, I'm not really in-world that much any more, but remember that this is a web-based business that can basically be sustained from a browser. That being said, one of the "smaller reasons" for my resignation that I mentioned a minute ago was just this - the fact that I believe a suitable CEO for this position ideally needs to spend a certain amount of time logged in to Second Life participating in the financial community. I would be a hypocrite to say that's any *major* reason, though. As I have indicated, I plan to remain active in the Second Life community as much as I am able to. There's just a lot to be said for freedom. For those of you that don't know, I love to travel. Aside from a short Monday through Friday trip to Miami Beach this summer, I haven't really been able to do a lot of traveling due to obligations with SLR, and to the exchange. And I'm already planning my first big escape. After Christmas, I will be heading off to Will Rogers World Airport to begin a journey to South America. Where specifically? Not quite sure yet. Odds are I will be hitting the destination with the cheapest airfare, but the "short list" right now consists of Santiago, Chile , Quito, Ecuador , or Buenos Aires, Argentina . I have an affinity for off-the-wall places, I know. Lest we forget I was the one who dragged my partner across Latin America more than once to explore active volcanoes - me speaking enough Spanish to order my martini and him speaking none. That being said, one of my "alternate" destinations (or perhaps a selection for another trip) is Managua, Nicaragua . No, I am not a communist. Again, I just enjoy going off the beaten path. It's been my experience that when you hit these places that are less tourist-infested, you get better deals and people are far more appreciative of your visit - that goes for destinations here in the USA, too. I can't tell you how many times we've been given free tours of historic sites that appear on no maps, explored old buildings, sampled native cuisine, and just generally "made friends" with locals that we would have never met by staying exclusively in the tourist hot-spots. Bottom line is I could never hop on a plane and just leave for a month while I was working at SLR. I could never "forget" about obligations to the exchange and shareholders. Is this selfish? Probably. I don't really care, though. As I have said more than once, and as Guardian Market reiterated on his Second Chaos blog, never sacrifice your first life for your Second Life. Sorry guys, but unless you're making $50,000 USD a year or more - or whatever is considered a "full-time living" in your respective geographic region - you need to treat this as what it is: either a game or a part-time effort that earns you a little extra cash. So many people I see on here spend 12 to 14 hours a day - or more - logged in to SL. At some point, you have to assess how realistic it is for you to do this. If you are on here for fun - playing a game - spending that much time on here, your involvement sounds to be bordering obsession. Very unhealthy, to say the least. If you're spending that much time on here, earning a little extra cash beyond your regular income... I could say the same plus more. If you argue that you aren't "obsessed" specifically, but "working," I have to ask you a couple questions. How much are you making? Is the amount you are cashing out really worth the time you spend making it? Could you make the same amount or more from real-life efforts utilizing the same skills? Let's say you do earn your full-time income on here. Let's use the same standards we use for real-life jobs. If you're making $50,000 USD a year, but you're spending 15 hours a day earning it, you're by most standards "overworked and underpaid." Automate, hire a staff, do what you have to do to spend less time logged in. Guardian also pointed out how, when he was working with WSE, he allowed SL to consume him. The same happened to me: with SLR, CapEx, and other things. For God's sakes, don't let Second Life hold you hostage. There's a lot you can do in our virtual world, but it is not - and will never be - the same as real life. The content is intangible. You can't experience the smells, the feelings, and the general aura of the things you're looking at... and the places that you're teleporting to. If you prefer these virtual things and places over their real-life inspirations, that's your choice. Fine with me. I don't agree with you though. My own resignation from SLR was mainly spawned by my desire to have the freedom to get out and experience more of real life. You'll still see me logged in, and you'll still see me writing here at SLR. It will be on my own time, though. Don't ever let anything take your freedom away from you. Bottom line, no matter how much money you're making from your imprisonment, is that it is not worth it.
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