but theres a few things that even after talking it over with some people and sleeping on it, still really bother me.
1) A Wholly Consumer Economy
Under the new system, it sounds like there will be VERY little to do with money you make other than spend it on tshirts (or the wacky cool SL equivalent thereof, taco trucks, particle lasers, etc... but still)... Since everyone gets a free ride tax wise... theres' no real pressure in the game to 'do' well to keep yer position or standing.
It jus sounds too much like the hillbilly idea of paradise.. everyone sittin around on their couches eating twinkies and watchin oprah while gettin our new tshirts stained. I really liked that certian 'pressure' the current system had to do well to stay afloat, especially if you have a particularly grand home or several shops.. and what i see with the new system is pretty much you get a free ride at whatever level you pay for RL and that brings up my next point
2) Your rich neighbor is already 'better' than you are in SL
One of the things ALOT of us really loved about sl is that you as a person was all that mattered in determining in game success. I'm one of a large number of people who've gotten sick of bein stepped on RL by paddington von henkelshire the third's snooty teenage kids.. In the old system they were exactly as hopeless or powerful in game as they've had the talent and personality to maintain.
In the new system, no matter HOW hard i work or how skilled i become... i can *NEVER* compete with someone who can shrug off $200 a month and buy a sim. It just kind of seems like it sucks that freewheeling we're all on the same footing kind of feel that made SL such a cool community to try an better yeself in.
3) Its not 'just a game' anymore.
Once you start trying to really pay people for content and use that, rather than some form of in game reward system (mostly made moot by #1
) its really not just a game anymore. It becomes more of a gamble and i can see alot of problems with idea copying and idea sharing. Aka right now there must be 20 seperate snowmaker scripts in the game.. mine's one of mebbe 8-10 that're actually being sold. And right now thats cool... people can choose one from someone they know or one with the snow patterning they like the most etc.In the new system what do i do if i make a snowmaker and it nets me $50 cold cash, but someone in game who swears they had the idea 'first' or it belonged to them suddenly decides to make my life miserable? Its not so much a problem now cause its 'just a game'... but once someone thinks basically someone else has been ripping them off, at the wallet level... it could really get ugly
As to what to do about any/all of these... #1 and #2 could be cured by allowing some amount of in game rewards aka l$ to translate BACK to yer wallet, probably with some form of monthly charge 'rebate' but then that might undermine the sustainability of the system if people can go back to owning a $100 RL a month to run system for $20... its a very fine line... as its been explained to me so far, and alot of other people, the value of currency in SL is going to be only how many tshirts you can buy with it.. and thats a FAR weaker currency than the one that currently pays yer prim provider and texture company
#3 just kind of seems endemic with the new system (as well as #2 if ya consider sustainibility as a major goal, which we should)... i mean both are kinda sucky for people who really liked the current system... but neither is game-haltingly bad for most of us.
As to the rest, people will be give and take on it as always, but for the sake of sustainability the wealthiest few are going to HAVE to be cut back to some degree... people owning the lions share of sims was just stupid.. i don't care how creative or cool you are... the combined creativity and coolness of 20-30 people HUGELY outweighs that, and thats not an insult to those best off in the current system, its just a fact that LL has recognized.
Did i get any of this wrong? or do you have something else that bothers you with the new system and want to talk out with the rest of us? lets get this thread going and mabye enough people will get involved that we can collectively chill about the small/silly bits and push some lindens' to take a second look what changes really *will* most concern people playin this game. I understand the need for focus group stuff that they did do when coming up with this system, but i guarantee gettin more heads inta thinkin bout some of this stuff seriously has *GOT* to be better for SL as a whole
