I see that there is a new survey asking if SL residents recommend Second Life to our friends...I think that the answers on the survey are kind of short...and obviously there is a lot more to say to LL about our REASONS for answering the way we did...but they dont give us the opportunity in the survey to enter any anecdotal comments...so I created this forum post to do just that...
In my own case, I seldom speak about SL to my friends anymore...even ones I know are heavily into MMORPGs...simple reason is I make it a point to only recommend products to my friends that I know have great value for the amount of money the product may cost...a product that will give them a great experience...just like I would recommend a particularly good book, or a great movie to a friend...I want to make sure they will not be disappointed in the experience...a year ago, I was a great proponant of SL...telling my friends that were into gaming that it was the greatest virtual platform I had seen to date...and while SL may still be the best technical platform...the policy changes that LL has made over the last year, has me convinced that it is no longer a product I can in good conscience recommend to anyone I wish to remain friends with.
The devaluing of mainland and island property values done seven months ago when they dropped land acquistion prices, without dropping tiers...a false savings, to say the least...
The release of double prim mainland (Nautilus Sims), while still charging the same tiers for single allotment mainland, further devaluing mainland property values more recently...The property I have in SL has declined in resale value in the last seven months from around $2,200 US dollars...to less than $500 US dollars because of these policy changes.
The open space debacle...and the resulting exodus of land owners from SL...
The continuing delay in releasing the region server code, as they promised almost two years ago now...
Broken promises...and short-sighted manipulation of the economy of SL for the profit of LL, at the expense of SL residents...all of these are reasons that SL has an unsure future, despite the rosy picture that we are presented concerning SL's progress, and profitablity.
All of these are reasons I will NOT recommend SL to any of my friends...