How about a petition to Linden Labs regarding a half-sim product?

Hello fellow residents. After reading through the latest outrage with the new grandfathering of Homestead sims, it's pretty clear that a lot of people are unhappy with the fact that you can't buy one without owning a full sim first. In addition, I think many people would like to see a 'Half-sim' product that any premium member could purchase, without the requirement of owning a full sized sim. So, I'd like to get some feedback from all of you that might agree with this idea, and to see if starting a petition might be a good way to get Linden's attention.

Personally, I've had some very bad experiences with Landlords in SL. I had the sim I was in sold twice in less than one month (after being there for a year). The first time was to a greedy land-flipper that basically pushed everyone out and then sold it for a profit, screwing dozen's of small business owners in the process. I would love to buy a 'half-sim' product directly from Linden Labs, as I think $150 or slightly more is a reasonable entry point. But I don't really need a full-sim to myself, and I don't really want to be a landlord and rent half of it out. I also don't want another landlord that can sell out from under me at any time, with no accountability in this anonymous environment. So, I'm left in a dilemma of sorts, because I really don't want to shell out a car payment each month for a full-sized sim, and I don't want a landlord anymore. And no, I don't want mainland either. Ugh.

So, it seems I'm not alone with this desire, and I think that Linden Labs is leaving a huge section of it's population out in the cold here. My proposal is simple:

Linden labs offers a new 'half-sim' or Jr. Sim product.
Same Sq. meters as a full sim.
7500 Prim allowance.
30 People Limit.
$500 buy in. (still high but it's half of 1k)
$150 to $165 a month Tier.
Anyone with a Premium membership can purchase.
Full estate controls.

This to me seems like a very smart move for Linden Labs. Linden is in fact at this point a glorified web host, that also develops the server software and maintains the database. It doesn't cost you 1k and 300 dollars to get into the world of hosting your own website, and you can even get your own server for substantially less than $300 a month with only a $50 setup fee. But Linden is keeping the price barrier for Sim ownership high enough that it's preventing many a business owner from owning their own sim.

Personally, I'll invest less time, energy and money 'into' SL until I can own a private half-sim type of product directly from LL. I can afford a full sim. I easily have the money to buy one and I earn more than enough to make the $300 tier, but I don't need it, and I would be throwing money away.

What do you think? Would you buy one? Can we get noticed if we start an online petition?

I realize the land baron's probably won't like this plan, as many people would buy directly from Lindens and not from them, but in the end, Linden Labs would win, because owning land would be more stable and reliable, and it would keep businesses in world and allow for a lower price point of entry for them as well.

Based on the Homestead pricing of $375 starting and soon-to-be $125/month for new homesteads (essentially a 1/4 sim product), you could expect your theoretical half-sim to run about $850 starting and $275/month. Would finding someone to rent out half or even 1/4 of your sim really be that bad?

Homestead pricing should be adjusted. Your pricing for a half sim is rediculous. $20 dollars less than a full sim?

Trying to argue that your pricing is more reasonable because LL's current prices are too high is a bit silly. A half-sim should be more useful than 2 Homesteads (or else you'd just get the Homesteads), and therefore it will cost a little more than 2 Homesteads, but still less than a full sim. 2 Homesteads would be $750 starting and $250/month (if you get them in July or later).

I've been in favor of them releasing 1/2 and especially 1/4 region estates for ages. I don't hold much hope that would ever happen, but it would be exactly what tons of people want.

You basing your pricing on homesteads alone is silly. At the very least it should be in between a homestead and a full sim. Homesteads should stay at 95 a month. The point is also that you shouldn't need to own a full sim to buy a half-sim product.

Nah, it's the other way around, if a homestead is a quarter of a sim, then this new half sim should cost somewhere between half a full sim and 2 homesteads. Larger sims are more efficient for LL. Fewer customers, less servers, fewer simulator instances, whatever

So monthly fee, m
250>m>150

Buy price, b
750>b>500



So $200 a month for the half sim and $625 to buy.

That's believable.

And gasoline should be free and candy should be healthfood. If you want homesteads at $95/month, get them before July 1.

That would be a reason to charge an additional premium.

without a doubt the worst 'landlords' ive ever dealt with are LL. i cannot even count the number of ways they have screwed me over the years.
i couldnt care less what new sim offering they put on the table. i will never buy land again, and i will warn everyone i can not to fall prey to LL themselves.

Oh well if we're talking about our dream scenarios then every estate sim should have a slider for the number of prims it has allocated and then we pay either per prim or using the sort of tier like pricing they use for mainland.

You would be able to adjust the number of prims at a whim every day if you like and they'd just bill for the maximum number of prims allocated in the previous month.

This is the thing for which people in the land market should prepare: sub-sim Estates. It's just inevitable that some new "entry level" private land product will be available sometime before that Homestead price increase in 2010. (I'd guess much sooner than that.)

If current Estate owners are lucky, the new product might be priced at a discount to them (that is, a substantial premium might have to be paid if it's the only land product owned by an account).

Such a product would also hurt the Mainland market, theoretically, because it would offer a competing way to own sub-sim land directly from LL, besides Mainland parcels. In fact, however, it probably won't have a discernible effect, with the Mainland market already teetering on the brink and the Adult Content changes kicking the props out.

I just wish you could take over, or buy some homestead sims that have been abondened... but from what I understand they are no trans... so I think they should make these trans to full sim owners...


I think they should allow more prims on the full sims...... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmooooooooooreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee primssssssssssssssssssssssss

so would have to be premium to buy these 0.o, I can buy full sims right now with a basic account (full ownership) from LL. so I would suspect and believe that they would do the same thing and not limit them to just premium accounts only.

I agree that the size and cost of initial buy-in should be MUCH less. I've been saying this for some time. It would 'stimulate the economy' just like dropping prices and taxes do IRL.

Exactly Melita. If LL wants more of my money, then they're going to have to allow me to buy a half-sim type of product directly from them. Otherwise, I'll keep my money, thanks.

Oh and is it true that they run 4 full Sims to a server? If that's the case then they are truly raking everyone over the coals.