Watershed Welcome Area - the real problem

The discussion in this thread about LL auctioning parcels around a new Welcome Area so far seem to revolve around aesthetics and some semblance of virtual ethics which would prefer new users not be exposed to resident commercialism the moment they leave Orientation Island.

The real problem that I see however has yet to be mentioned.

What LL is really doing is selling unfair business advantages with sims like Watershed and the fact that it is auctioned land is what legitimizes this since its equal opportunity for purchasing the advantage of having Welcome Area proximity resident owned content. I see this is as a direct challenge to so many places that are already built around telehubs (which I personally find disgusting when seen on the mainland). Whoever gets these spots for retail is going to have a huge income of newbie cash thanks to LL.

Right now a newbies "first shopping experience" is so completely random, they can end up anywhere from a mall sim to a mainland mall to a single store in a mostly residential sim. Welcome Area resident owned content will definetly redefine where newbies have their first shopping experience and spend their first Linden Bucks.

LL should try to expand and improve upon SecondLife without competing against content creators by not promoting commercial retailers and by expanding with new sims in a way which does not impact the status quo - and that status quo being no commercial retailers or resident content in the welcome area sims.


Briana Dawson

What's "unfair" about selling an oportune location to the higest bidder? If LL did decide to auction off land around Waterhead for comercial use (not that I want them to), then it's fair game for the free market: anyone willing to try has a chance at winning the land and claiming that oportunity.

Not even close to being true. The only people who will have a remote shot at getting any of that land are those on the leaderboard.

I think the Lindens should offer this land in a lottery, like they do Luna, with leases so there is a rotation and so that TRULY, everyone has a shot.

That's part of the reason why I think that we should set up a welcome area committee, who try and create a smaller version of SL in that area, to give the new residents a taste of SL. It's why I think we should set up a small club, and have a small mini mall, maybe with 3 or 4 vendors who are selected in a completely random lottery. Of course, we'd need to police the club and the vendors to ensure that they are as lag free as possible, and to make sure everything is still on the up and up. None of this is going to be for profit either, any money the club makes, and if the shop owners choose, any money they make can go to a pool to be given to new residents or something in the form of $L to use in the world. I feel that if we give the new people a taste of SL, they will be more suseptible to looking at the world in a different view, see what SL has to offer, without having to move too far from home until they are used to SL. Of course there will be concerns about people doing it for money, or hidden agendas, but you get that with any project.

I like that idea Aaron, I was about to suggest the same thing. Since Luna doesn't get much traffic anyway, I know some people who are giving up on it entirely. Maybe the area surrounding the "new WA" should be under a lottery setup.

I posted my ideas for this in the other thread... mainly giving a home area for the Mentors and Live Help, as well as community services organizations like VERTU. Any remaining space could be lotteried off.

Regards,

-Flip

Ah...I did mean "willing to try" as implying "having enough money to try", since if you don't have enough, you're probably not willing.

It's also possible that a different person or a group who wanted it badly enough could raise enough money in order to get it.