Of corporate zones and land bridges

There's (poorly supported) rumors about LL being in trouble financially. And there's the tension about sims purchased with $US and the threat of corporate ownership. Here's what I propose:

LL should eventually lease sims to corporations, and perhaps use their servers, but charge for the connection to SL.

Geographically seperate the corporate servers from mainland SL.

So that we don't have shards, and we don't have to get near if we don't want, make a few land-bridge sims (like Tan) between the mainland and the corporate world. That way we can go shop or play in Squaresoft's sims if and when we like.

Corporate land need not be totally corporate of course. You could have recreation sims out there, or a few places where people can build within a local theme.

My points are that (1) geographic seperation makes travel between corporate and non-corporate space deliberate, without dividing the world, and (2) some corporations can do some nifty stuff! ^_^

My only caveats: (1) corporations have to follow the rules just like everyone else, but no stipends for them so that they HAVE to contribute, and (2) SL proper continues to grow on the mainland. ^_^

I understand that there are lots of possible bad points to this solution... but I think interaction between corporations and normal SL players is gonna happen eventually anyway. We gotta find some way to prepare for it. I, for one, don't want Disney moving next door to me. I'm kewl with zoning.

So stop spreading it.

If SL goes comercial, I go elsewhere. As for LL finances they are doing just fine no need to worry about that

Cat Cotton

> Geographically seperate the corporate servers from mainland SL.

This is actually a good idea. Whether it is really feasible to diversify into two separate markets only Linden can decide. But it does seem there are two distinct markets:

- Hacker's Paradise. Like SnowCrash but without real corporations. This is how SL was up to 1.1. This is one market

- The other side of Snowcrash: SL is actually intimately linked to the real-world. Companies invest in SL. You can get a job in SL. This is another market.

You can probably tell I like the second market the best myself

Having two worlds with an impressive-looking bridge between, like that from China to the Leased Territories in the Diamond Age, could be a pretty good way to do this.

Azelda

Edit: P.S. Perhaps we could migrate these threads to Offtopic before they get Slashdotted?

This whole thread sounds exactly like Alphaworld

I don't think this rumor stands up to examination. Look at the amounts of money being raised with land fees: $195/month for an entire sim? For a high-tech startup, that's not enough to pay for the coffee.

There are perfectly legitimate reasons to charge $US for land in SL. As has been discussed before, when a game becomes sufficiently popular, there inevitably arise connections between the game economy and the real-world economy. I think LL is simply planning for the future, trying to establish a model now that will work later if/when SL becomes well established.

I think I was unclear about the factors motivating this kind of change. Even granted that LL is NOT in financial trouble, I would very much like for it not to be in financial trouble EVER. And the way, it seems, to secure SL's future would be for LL to find a way for the corporations who will invest in the world and the present inhabitants to get along peacefully without turning into There(c)(tm)(r). And having an established framework for peaceful interaction, preferably one where we have a choice about when and how we interact with big businesses, will make SL a lot more stable when things start a-changin'. Take this scenario:

LL is totally fine financially. Joe Shmoe buys a $10 tourist account. One week later, a sim goes up for auction and he tiers up to the teeth and buys the sim with $5000 of cold hard cash. Turns out that Joe Shmoe is Nike and now he lives next door to me. Uncool!

Now, if SL is as successful as it really ought to become, corporations will take an interest. Wouldn't it be much better to have rules for corporations who want to get involved? See, Joe Shmoe can now wander around and sell Nike(r)(tm)(c) prims just like on There, and there was no good way for LL to see Joe Shmoe coming. But if we keep businesses zoned from the git-go, there's at least a precedent for peaceful interaction that keeps that Nike billboard out of my back yard.

I think 1.2 is a needed step in making sure they don't have financial trouble now, or in the future.

We now pay for the space we take up on the sim servers, so there is no threat of LL having to add server after server to keep up with demand but not getting any money for them.

Bandwidth is a mystery to me. The one time fee account type seems liek it could eat up bandwidth and cost them money.. but it might turn out that those types rarely use it and move to monthy accounts with land if they are frequent users. I'll trust LL to kill the one time fee acccounts if they threaten to down the company in the future.

Joe Nike is then permabanned from Second Life, as LL is a private company and can do what they please.

I think someone like Nike or Microsoft would call up LL first and try to get some sort of positive arragement with them first, rather than guerrila tactics with prims and avatars.

So if the Big Companies are going to go to LL first anyway, what's to worry about? About the only people that would maybe try this Guerrila Marketing would be small-time businesses with something to sell online... like me, for instance (musician selling cds). Not so bad, as long as I'm not dragging trademark chains all over the Sim

LF

Am I the only one feeling a little dirty talking about Linden Labs' money in their forums..?