Tiering Down, Scaling Back?

Well, as one of 'the others' I mirror your sentiments. Like yourself we dont own an island but we do own most of a sim and for many many weeks we've battled through awful awful performance and added to the log in problems it just made feelings white hot.

In the cold light of day, now the log in problems are better, we are taking time to consider scaling down where as before we we're going to buy a full sim. The overall performance of Second Life is poor to say the least and telling me I'm a 'pioneer' no longer makes up for paying hundreds of $'s for a poor service.

We love this place and the hundreds of diverse & crazy people here, but the time has come to consider our stance here.I've sometimes been overly critical of many folks here & of Linden Labs but this was because of the passion I have for what they do. I find that passion is turning to anger more and more and I dont want that - I want to leave Second Life with good memories, so maybe now is the time for me.

I second this Snakekiss - you do awesome things with sims. Your work at Tehama was magical and I really hope that people in SL get a chance to see your work. SL would be less of a place if you left.

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I have a small amount of land (about 3700 m2) I'd like someone to hold for me for awhile - temp. tier down...

Anyone?

IM me, I'll see what I can do.

Reve and I just got more land in Limantour where we live. We were trying to sell our land in Verbier since acquiring more in Limantour...

But downsize? No way... we slowly built up our land and the memories there are too precious. I could not part with a single square meter lol. Oh and did I mention we are prim whores too!?! lol

I've dramatically reduced the amount of time I spent inworld. I no longer build anything. I have sold all my land (since I don't build anything, I can't see any value in having land). I don't find SL to be technically stable enough to invest my time in creating objects (lag, prim drift). Also the lack of import/export tools has killed my will to give SL my creation hours. I'd rather build things in other programs where I can actually re-use the creations across a range of formats. I don't consider SL's economy to be stable or reliable. The recent exploit issue has raised further economic and content-creation issues related to security and stability.

Basically I only log in when there are inworld meetings that I have time to attend, such as the SL Future Salon series, or people/places/things worth seeing "in person." I probably log in once a week or so. I am still interested in SL as a budding virtual world, but for now, it's more observation and less participation.

My landlord recently tiered down (perhaps even sold his island, I'm not sure) and my home was taken down. I've considered buying land, but the amount I'd have to pay per month to have enough land to have a house that isn't spartan just isn't 'worth it' to me for the amount of time I spend here (little these days, for various reasons).

I'd really like to see LL open up on prim allowances, but I can understand why they do not. Between asset server limitations and requirements to host items as a permanent part of the world, I suppose they really can't afford it without cutting themselves on revenue.

Ultimately, having prim allotment tied to tier/land keeps me from doing more in Second Life. I enjoy the place, the people, and the possibility.... but the comparison to 'games' wherein I pay a monthly fee and have access to everything still results in a feeling that there is not as much 'value' to the dollar spent on SL.

It's a shame they either cannot or will not allow you to buy prim allowance direct. That would make things much more interesting and beneficial here. I'd be much more likely to buy prim allowance than a sim. (shrug)

I sold everything and tiered down to basic. I have better equipment, a better-tuned OS, a faster connection, and better performance in everything I do. Except Second Life. Lag, prim drift, and other problems are worse than when I started six months ago.

But that's just an inconvenience. Mostly I'm tired of the bickering, bad attitudes, and lack of real discussion - here and inworld. Very bright people who have something meaningful to say or contribute - and I am not counting myself among them - are ignored or drowned out by the drama. A standard has emerged in SL that is disappointingly mediocre: Instead of exploring what it means to create and live in a different, virtual world, many people here are satisfied to create a pale copy of the real one. And play Strange Barbie dress-up or stage interactive soap operas. And engage in insider-outsider games.

The current multi-multi-page thread on automobile trademarks in SL is a classic example; automobiles in SL are meaningless - mere toys. Who's asking the real question: What is a efficient, thrilling, desirable personal transportation system for people who can fly and teleport? And why do we need a common two dimensional surface to exist on, anyway? Except, of course, when we want one....

I asked myself: Why do I want to spend $50 a month to live in a Burton-esque toy copy of the real world? When the real world is so much more interesting? I couldn't answer the question. I like to build large structures, and I'm good at it. But as Cienna suggests, the prim allotment is far too small to do anything really meaningful except to play around, unless I want to commit time I don't have, and thousands of dollars per year that could be better spent on other things.

Interesting thing about all this is, I believe tiering down is exactly what LL wants you to do. It is indeed the intended effect.

You give up the land, more of it is available for either serious land/community devs, and/or new accounts.

LL has been largely defeated in their efforts to provide enough land for everybody. They keep throwing out Linux boxes, the same people keep buying the land. That's no good. Especially since there appears to be only a specific kind of land most people are interested in (look at the price, and availability, of snow sim land).

We all tier back...well, fill in the rest. Don't forget that changes by the Lindens are intended to have widespread and longtermish effects on the community and economy. I actually have been wondering when they would implement models to discourage (however, not prevent) people from owning nothing (which has been in place since day one), or too much (the current rules being a step towards resolving the opposite extreme).

It also empties out the new "concierge" queue. Of which I am a member, but can't think of a single use for insofar as my style of play is concerned. The concierge service was obviously designed for a very specific kind of land owner, even though it is billed as available to anybody in the $125 bracket.

This emerging state is no surprise to LL, I'd bet on it. They are no doubt prepared for the backlash, which will be minor compared to the overall THERE IS NO LAND ANYWHERE problem.

You are pawns subject to the forces LL exerts in the SL world. Always consider that. It helps explain a lot. If the effect was unintended (i.e., the tax thing), it would already be on the way out.

Actually, your theory is one I have already considered and fairly figured for accurate. I'd point you to the blog entry, but it is down... perhaps permanently. -sigh-

At any rate, much of recent moves seem counter-productive to the goals as repeatedly stated. You don't encourage people to buy more land by dumping the market to what amounts to lobbyists/special interest groups. (No offense, that's just the best example I can think of in a comparison.)

Nor do you encourage people to want more land/prims by charging so much to purchase them that an immediate disparity can be seen when looking at 'required investment to enjoy' this place as opposed to the many other offerings (SL is still considered a game by most -- a serious marketing flaw, in my honest opinion).

As mentioned previously, if I wanted to enjoy this place, I'd have to commit $40/month for it... that's over twice what I would pay to any other product provider in the online world/gaming genre. Add to this that I get none of the 'benefits' that come standard with those other offerings (e.g., solid tools for content development, since that is the core of the offering.... convenient and highly customizeable interface.... solid performance... etc etc...).

The various avenues of possibility here tend to work against one another, and a somewhat reactive mindset on the part of LL often contributes to the general malaise.

Add to this the cost of entry to actively compete in the various marketplaces are prohibitive to most casual players (the larger market they seem to be reaching for), and LL would seriously alienate the existing playerbase by introducing in-world tools to accomplish some or all of what many now create. Catch-22.

In many ways, the entire offering is fighting itself. I wonder if the savings from turning the land market over to the players (in effect) is really the benefit they believe it. I suppose time will tell.

The cycle of 'burnout' so many speak of is, itself, a warning sign. For myself, I've put SL on the back burner as one of those things it would be nice to afford, but out of reach for reasons above listed.

I was pretty taken aback by what happened earlier this week. I've heard nothing from LL so far, except for Philip's announcement. I don't know how to take that (there are several ways I could) so I am reserving judgment.

Despite the asset problems, I bought a nice swath in Behrii for my projects. I expect to see a bit of traffic to it soon.

I have recently purchased a significant set of real estate around waterhead for my upcoming SL university.

I am now landless in SL, having tiered down to 0m.

The whole grid is now my home - invitations gratefully accepted!

My RL business is very demanding these days and I'm not able to spend much time inWorld - but do keep one eye on things.

So long, Second Life, Alex Ludovico writes, 9/3/2005:


"Due to "crashing" issues that Linden is apparently unable to fix, my virtual movie theatres arent a workable concept in Second LIfe at this time. If viewers cant make it thru an entire film with having their SL crash, then the idea is untenable. Regretfully, Ive deleted my theatres (formerly in BISHOP), and Im selling off all of my land and tiering down to $0. Until Linden has fixed the technical problems to an acceptable degree, I wont be back except as an occasional freebie visitor to friends' land.

Also, they are going to have to lower their monthly fees, because in this worsening world economy, many people cant afford $50+ a month for a decent stretch of virtual land (and a decent amount of prims to use on it). I would ask this question of the Lindens: of all the "newbies" streaming into Second Life in "record numbers" ... how many of them are landless, and how many of them are signing up for the monthly tiers and purchasing large tracts of virtual land? Have a look at all of the empty land available currently, even in prime quality sims, for the answer to that.

See you at the movies again someday ... maybe."


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I am massively tiering up.

Ok Merwan, yer getting predictable and boring.

Rules are: you can't bump a thread no one else is posting too. At a minimum.

I am?

This is the only update I have watied this long to download...But then again, this one does seem to have some still unresolved issues...

So the time has come - swallowing mellon pits of laughter!

I have to admit, SL is starting to abuse their customers a bit more agressively lately.

Not entirely sure why. Financial desperation?

Stay on topic are you Tiering Down or Scaling Back in any way?

I no longer own any land. I rent from Hiro Queso.

I'm also thinking about going back to a free account, as the only reason I had a premium was to be a land owner.

I am not tiering down and scaling back. On the contrary, SLuniverse is about to move to its own dedicated server this week, since Snapzilla sucks up bandwidth like a vampire and the site has grown so large. Onward and upward, now I just need to move 36000 pictures

Me and my partner have tiered down from nearly a sim to the base amount for our accounts (which is 0.9 hectares as we are both lifers) almost entirely because of the decreased expectation of utility (not value) of land since the release of 1.6.

I just tiered up!

coco