Linden Labs, the powerhouse behind the virtual world Second Life, issued a release about the re-structuring of the company.  In it, Linden Labs says they will be focusing more on the company’s consumer business and the ease of use for their systems through browser based and mobile applications.

This restructuring will also lead to staff changes and Linden Labs expects to reduce their staff by 30 percent.

“We’ve emerged from a two-year investment period during which, among other things, we’ve spent a considerable amount of time improving reliability and the overall user experience. Today’s announcement about our reorganization will help us make Second Life even simpler, more enjoyable, relevant and engaging for consumers starting with their first experience.

It will also enable us to invest in bringing 3D to the web and will strengthen our profitability,” said Mark Kingdon, chief executive officer of Linden Lab.

This comes as no surprise to the members of Second Life as rumors about the changes has been around for days.  Still, folks are sad to see loved Linden mentors leave.  The population of Second Life has been dwindling and this new restructuring looks like Linden Labs wants to take the game into the direction of social networking rather than a place for role-players to congregate.

I’m actually decently new to the Second Life scene (only been playing for a few months as opposed to my five years with World of Warcraft) and I find that unless you involve yourself in the world, you will not get the best out of your experience.  Unlike the real world, you can do whatever you like here- you make your own experience.

I certainly hope the remaining folks at Linden Labs know what they’re doing.  They have a lot of unhappy current customers on their hands that they’ll have to appease.