Goodbye from Rock

Hi,

I could not just leave SL without saying a sincere thank you, and goodbye, to all the people I have had the pleasure of meeting, both in my main alt of Rock Ryder (business) and alt of Rock Vacirca (social).

My last sim, the flagship of a former large estate (which I sold following the 19% VAT hit some time back), the beautiful Hoini sim (1001 Arabian Nights-themed), many times called the most beautiful/romantic etc in these forums, is now for sale, with its attached OpenSpace sim of Sukka Mire, for a bargain price in the Land For Sale forum.

I have really enjoyed SL over the last 3 years, and have met many friends, many of whom will stay friends as we Skype and contact each other in ways other than SL.

I have also enjoyed all the debates and fun in these forums, but if I am to make a break from SL then I will do it in total, forum included.

I will NOT be having a yardsale, as I do have respect for all the vendors who have sold me their wonderful content over the years.

The reasons for my departure are manifold. I have seen a gradual deterioration in both the SL experience, with frequent and prolonged outages, borked services, broken scripts, client crashes, etc etc etc, and the SL points of service.

And while the service and the experience has deteriorated, my bottom line as also suffered (and it is my rental income that has funded my social activities in SL, so although I aimed to make a profit, the profit was spent entirely within SL).

The first hit I took was with the 19% VAT debacle, which lost me 1/3 of all my tenants in 1 week some time back. It also forced me to reduce my rents to compete with the US-based land owners who did not have to pay that 19% on new island purchases, and on monthly tier payments, and that drastically reduced my bottom line and ROI, which severely curtailed my social activities. With a new continent to be dumped on the land market shortly, and the consequent drop in land prices, I can expect more tenants to leave who were contemplating buying their own plot and doing their own thing, but were put off by the cost of land, as this has been the case every time in the past when a new continent has been added.

My ROI is now almost zero, and when faced by further pressure of even lower rents offered by new entrants faced with a lower initial investment of US$1000 for their island purchases, things have never looked bleaker, and with the added uncertainty as to the direction of land prices with the blog post about further revision for Q3, it is all just too much.

So, it is time to pack up and move on.

Of course, this is Resident Answers, so I must part at least with one question, so here it is-

I have six alts in total. Two are Rock Ryder and Rock Vacirca, as most of you know, but can you hazard a guess as to the identity of the other four? One of those is female.

That should provide at least a little more fun before my memory fades completely.

Live long and prosper my SL comrades. Love you all.

Rock Ryder and Rock Vacirca.

It's a sad day for SL.

On a positive note, one of your remaining four alts will be able to buy a sim for $1000 now.

in game im sent rock

We don't want to lose you...and you've just got your Rock!

If you are leaving and are not going to be around to give the answer, what's the point of guessing?

I hope you don't mind if I edit that

"what's the point?"

Does that mean the answer to all of the "can I have your stuff" questions is no?

On a serious note, I'm sorry to see yet another contributing member of SL go. It's completely understandable, considering the instability on SL on both the technical and managerial level. Best of luck with whatever you take on next.

Won't Rock dumping all his land on the SL markets make the prices drop and contribute to the falling sky…

…I mean falling rentals?

Rock, i've never met you, but I have rented on hoini, Swey & Sukka Mire I think in the past & they were beautiful sims. I'm sorry you feel the need to leave, I hope at some point you'll return but whatever happens, I hope you'll be happy & well

I'm sorry to hear that SL is all about money for you, and that you wouldn't consider just dumping all the $Land and going free. Ah well, to each his own; have fun in RL.

Can I have your new computer?

Hmmm, perhaps because Rock may be leaving, but the other four alts will still be meandering about?

ALT guesses:

Jumpman

2K

Jeska L

Daniel L



What do I win?

i'm not sure how I feel about being put in list along side Jumpy

u tardy old granny!

I was gonna guess:

Jumpy
2k
Chaos 1
Chaos 2

Rock's other alts guesses:

Boy alts:

--- Hard Place

--- Paper Scissors

--- Sedimentarymydear Watson

Girl alt:

--- Claudine Longet

i was thinking:

chris norse
charles manson
simon cowell
an orangatan

Just saying this for a friend who knows of you (your first Queen ...well for a bit) She says she will miss Rock and Rock could live at her old place for free so don't go.

Sad to see you go. Your sims are beautiful and it's shame that anyone who invests in SL isn't doing so because they can actually afford it. This is the price we all pay, ultimately.

I would love my own sim.....but it's for this very reason I wont do it. *sigh*

Rock I don't know ya.....but I've been to your sims and was blown away by Arabian Nights. If I could buy, I'd do it in a heartbeat!! But more importantly...best of luck to you in what ever new ventures you pursue. Namaste.

I'm sorry to see you go, too, Rock. Why don't you keep one of your alts and just hang out with your friends. There's no need to cut yourself off from people you like. You know that I completely disagree with your math, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate your contributions here.

If you do decide to go, best of luck to you in wherever life takes you.

Is it Torley Linden?

I think you are grossly overreacting and a reality check is called for. Why not wait and see what the market is like before throwing away everything you worked for? At worst, someone is going to rent out at monthly breakeven costs based on tier. How much lower is that than your rent, VAT adjusted? If you have a beautiful themed place, you have an advantage *in the market for people who appreciate these things.*

There are always going to be cheap people or people who otherwise cannot afford the rent. Hell, I have people who tell me that they cannot afford 100L per week. It doesn't matter how much value you add, they are all about the price. Those people aren't for you (or me, either). But there is a good segment of the market that cares about where they live, and will pay for something that is unique. Especially if the service is good.

So don't give up. Although competition will increase, few people add the kind of value that you do with a themed place. Most people rent out bare land or stick a prefab on it. These are completely different markets, and quite candidly, I don't think yours will be affected much.

QFT

*squints at Rocky Rutabaga's post*

nah, I'm not going to hazard any guesses as to alts, that game that drives me nuts!

Rock, I don't see among your reasons that you really need to spend more time in RL. If not, I hope you don't cancel whatever accounts feel like your "main" ... the ones with the inventory that you know forwards and backwards, the ones with the SL friendships.

I'm fancy-free in SL with only a 4K to call my own, and no businesses. And I do a lot more than just socialize ... learning every day and watching the still-fascinating growth of a world. Stick around.

But whatever you do, be happy.

Sorry to hear about all this, Rock. There's no joy in seeing this.

Remember the church reformer John Bradford in the 1500's?

Who, upon seeing a criminal dragged off to be executed said: "There but for the grace of God goes John Bradford."

That's kinda how I feel - I'm not in your shoes, but I sure can't feel smug watching this happen.

Even more so, because John Bradford was burned at the stake later on.