Improving the Premium Experience

That seems only fair, since it already is not retroactive (your L$ stipend isn't.)

So, what do you think, Des? What'd make you bite at an offer from LL to host newbie premiums at Caledon?


This I'm not quite convinced of yet. Maybe M has changed the game but it's always seemed like they'd like to rid themselves of the need to have a gteam and mainland management and all that. Like they're more interested in providing the tech than managing what people do with it. Dunno..

Does sound like an easier job doesn't it? More profitable, too.

If you can get the natives interested in forming their own governing bodies, of course.

My first thought on reading about the Linden Home initiative is "yuck!" I sure wouldn't have wanted that. As a newbie land shopping, I wanted to build my own home. I even had a house in my inventory ready to go on my 512. Yes, houses are not that hard to make, and the sandbox time is one of the best experiences I had. Building is fun. Building is good for users.

Having a no build option and pushing it as the norm saddens me. I think Linden Lab should always tell newbies considering premium that there is an option for budding builders. And I am one of those premium members who until a few days ago (I have a store there now but I still have a yard) had a little home and a yard on a 512.

It could be like post WW2 prefab/tract housing...or it could feel like govt built housing...

Depends on what/how maybe. Hopefully there will be a bit of oomph about it.

Themes might be good too - foresty, goth, or suburby. For a few.

Oh, I missed the bit where it said that the 'Linden Home' land was no-build. Talk about cripple-ware! I think it would be only fair for the new residents to be able to build on their 'Linden Home' land. How else are they going to rez that table lamp, 1-prim chair, dreamcatcher or rug that they just bought? How else are they going to unpack the boxes of clothes and other goodies they just bought? They probably don't know the workaround to attach sales boxes to your avatar or HUD in order to unpack them in no-rez areas.

My first impression is that these linden home areas will be good value in that they're a n00b's equivalent to estate value-added residential communities: themed, relatively grief and scam-free and a safe place for them to find their grid-legs.

No, I don't think the 'Linden Home' land scheme will appeal to existing residents, least of all land-owning premium residents. Basic estate residents have made their choices for economic and other reasons so there's little likelihood of them biting the 'Linden Home' hook either. No, it wasn't pitched at existing residents but rather at new arrivals to offer them some shelter from the storm rather than just throwing them in the deep end as soon as they teleport off the Help Islands.

It remains to be seen what the take-up will be.

Actually I'll be interested to see how they do this, they obviously have to allow build, but you can't return the home. The only way I know of doing this is via group deeded land and you set the group perms to not allow return of group objects. How are LL going to manage this if you need to use your own tier to grab the plot, is it going to be group land rather than a plot in your name or have they got some new tool at estate level?

Easy..... the residents need to join the estate land group and donate their 512 sq/m worth of 'free' premium tier to the estate. The Luskwood estate has worked that way for years. Then they can rez stuff on the land.. but would that prevent them from deleting the Linden content? I'm not really up to speed on the group stuff.

Yeah you can set group perms to not allow return of group objects. However the problem then being that anyone in the group can build anywhere on group land. Hmm this will be interesting to see.

In Australia we call it "Housing Commission" dwellings. They all look similar, whole streets. In the end they turn to ghettos because nobody has "Ownership" and nobody cares.

Here we call those "The Projects". They are just high rise buildings instead of single homes.

"Welcome new SL Resident, to District 9"

I think its more like this, you can rez on your 512sqm, but "your" house is not actually on your 512sqm, it sits over it, but anchored (ie the root prim(s)) are in the "community" land surrounding your plot.

So you can place what you like on your land, but you can't delete your house because its not actually "on" your land as far as the servers are concerned. Think of it as "official" parcel encroachment.

that will also mean the newbs are not given any ownership over the house itself so they cannot modify it in any way. Don't know about you guys but I never found a prefab that was 100% to my liking.

I do see the potential for small skybox makers to make a mint though

I believe they said that the home will be anchored (root prim) on the adjoining Linden owned land.

Absolutely. If I weren't up to my eyeballs, I'd be making some 16x32m variant of the low-impact skypod thing I did for Zindra.

About modding the houses: the ones that posed for snapshots look mighty sculpty-rich to me, so retexturing their surfaces would probably be beyond the ability of their residents (or of anybody, really, lacking the sculptmap). I also get the impression that you *must* take one of the supplied houses, which means it's going to use up the ground level--all the more reason sky builds will be popular.

I wouldn't think it's necessary for people to redecorate the houses. LL said they want or expect people to move on, which wouldn't be helped if people could customise the houses to their own tastes. Also, it would mean that LL would have to redo houses that had been changed when the occupants moved on. So, all in all, I don't see any need to allow people to redecorate.

That^^ and a bag of popcorn waiting on that to happen.



I wholeheartedly agree with this. On the Amydria sim I own a 512 lot and some adjacent lots became available. I would've loved to have purchased another 512 lot but could not justify to myself the additional $10.00 in tier just for a 512 lot. I already own a 2048 in the Larsson sim and purchased an additional 512 because it dawned on me one day that after all these years I was paying LL for 2560 sqm when at that time I had only a 2048.

The more I thought about this idea of giving out land with unchangeable (unremovable) houses in well zoned (single use) sims, the worse this idea became. It's an idea I never would have wanted because I knew from day one I wanted to build my own house.

But that's not the entire reason why I dislike the idea.

1) First, as someone several posts ago said: This is NOT an idea directed at raw newbies. They can set home at an info hub and learn the basics of moving, shopping, etc... No, they're not ready to buy a house or build one, though that can change pretty fast, but there's something the poster who said this overlooked. Becoming a premium member means leaping several psychological hurdles.

One has to come to grips with the fact that Second Life is monetized. If the raw newbie has come from Facebook where people rant about leaving if they are charged for anything, this is a big idea to swallow. "You mean I have to pay for stuff!" Second Life also requires a minimal level of numeracy. There is an exchange rate between Lindens and dollars. You will be surprized how inumerate much of the general public is.

The next hurdle after realizing that one will have to pay for things in Second Life is actually putting payment info on file and buying Lindens.

Becoming a premium member (even at the cheapest rate), requires a willingness not only to be comfortable with the idea of paying and a willingness to pay at least once, but also an ONGOING COMMITTMENT. If one chooses to pay by the year, one has to give LL $72.00. That becomes a sizeable sum.

By the time a resident is ready to consider an ONGOING COMMITTMENT she is no longer a raw newbie. If he/she is following the rules, she is probably at least thirty days old. I would think that residents who are at the stage of considering ONGOING COMMITTMENT are going to also be shopping and have some idea of what they want. If they want to do their own building or try selling items, the prefabs and single use zoning may have no appeal.

2) Linden Labs is trying to reach one of two goals with the prefabs. One is to get a steady income stream. Annual premium memberships mean $72/year, and they renew yearly if the credit card is good. Forgotten renewals are a nice income source.

Linden Labs is trying to reach into the long tail of the participation J-curve and change its shape. This is an intriguing notion. Just sitting here in this forum, and wandering around SL, I've learned that participation inworld follows a J-curve. Just tell any one you are happy on a 512 and see the looks you get. The folks who participate buy or rent large parcels of land, and are a tiny proportion of the population, while most users never put payment on file. The theory is a no-muss, no-fuss, 512 is the best way to push nonpaying users into the short part of the long tail and to take that J-curve and bow it out.

I'm not sure why Linden Labs thinks this will work. I would think they might have done research on what makes a happy 512 owner before selling 512s. Put another way, most new paying customers will never become incredibly big spenders, and moderate spenders may have very different habits and tastes and needs. I don't think Second Life has really looked at what makes those of us in the middle of the Power Curve tick.

By the way, I'd be a very poor person to interview for this even though I am happy with a 512. I have an extremely atypical history.

Third, single use zoning stinks. It is dull, and boring. Ban lines, security orbs, and obstructive walls also degrade the user experience, but finding a mall, a club, or someone's unused backyard swimming pool is extremely pleasant. Being in a community of endless prefab residences isn't going to make for interesting surroundings.

Fourth, and yes there is a fourth, you can't just make community among newbies or any one else by just plunking them down in close proximity to each other. Look at any welcome area or infohub. Look at Facebook where people quickly run out of things to say or grow tired of one another within the first week. Look at all the abandoned groups on Facebook because people can't figure out what to say. I'm not sure what buids community in Second Life or how to do it, but putting a bunch of random people together side by side with limited ability to modify their 512s isn't going to cut it.

And last but not least, I'd feel a bit better toward the idea of a new, somewhat zoned area if they offered some blank plots. In fact if they had blank plots for those who liked to build, I might swap my plot in Hartley for one, but only if they let me bring my retail kiosk and Goofy Kitty with me.

I used to own quite a lot of land in Larsson - but it was too cold for me there

Yeah, Larsson's blistery winds can get in your bones. I would sell that lot (well not now for sure) but that area has been stable for the last 2 1/2 years. No ugly builds, very quiet and I have only seen land ownership changed about 3 times no more than 5 since I have been there. That is in addition to the time I sold the property. When it was placed for sale again, I jumped at the chance to repurchase it. I love to ski and horseback ride there and the adjacent sims are for the most part are lovely as well.

Something else just came to mind. In addition to paying tier directly to LL because of my mainland ownership, I also pay 1/2 the tier for our estate sim my husband and I have to him. Has there been a survey by LL to capture the number of premium subscribers that also are doing this as well? That averages out to $168.50/month in fees. He also owns mainland.

I'm sure we are not the only ones doing this. I won't even go into the openspace/homestead fiasco and the monies we lost on that venture.

Personally I think this is good thing for newbies.

I remember being new and wandering around trying to find places that would let me rez that box my new freebie shirt came in. And then trying to find an empty sim to change clothes in.

To log in on day one and have a nice-ish home would have been a much better experience for me.

Having a place to call your own is a comforting, welcoming experience in SL and I think newbies will love it.

Plus, for those residents who stick around and learn to love SL I DO believe it won't take them long to outgrow that little parcel and want something bigger.

All good things.

And if, as some have suggested here, this new perk leads to LL's making more money, isn't that good for all of us? Doesn't that mean a longer life for SL?

Bah, this adds nothing to my premium experience. In fact, it has nothing to do with my premium experience. Even if I had the tier freed up to take one, what would I do with the land? Nothing, actually. I couldn't even use it as a secondary workshop. At most, I might have used it to hide copies of my slapt and apez boxes.. something I get the feeling LL wouldn't really like.

Good idea. Let's all hide our third party links on Linden land. They'll NEVER look for them there!

It sounds like it's a changed somewhat. The biggest land owner in Larsson when I was there was one of those people who puts banlines on all her land. It made walking around there very difficult.

If it's who I think you are talking about, she sold most of Larsson to St. George's Church which was/is featured in showcase. I have an orb on my lot and I don't think there are any banlines up on Larsson.