Openspace Announcement Discussion with Jack Linden

and economies are created. By whom you might ask? Well their creators of course. In this case, company takes up the position of being 1) the money maker 2) the land creator. They control the rate of inflation of the world with the amount of land and the value of that land.

So add more to the Mainland supply. Decrease the value of the mainland, sucks for existing owners, great to newcomers or purchasers.

Bump up the cost of the private islands or the OpenSpaces and you reduce the attractiveness of this as a choice for those purchasers and steer them to the Mainland you just lowered the price on.

Pretty simple.

Now, the side effects.

Those who will just eat the difference. And stick around. More money for the company on those existing sims.

Those who will abandon their lands? That asset is there for the company either way, which leaves them to either fold it into the Mainland supply or sit on it as a depreciating tax write-off until someone comes along to use said sim.

Piss off a whole 'lot of people? Yep, as evidenced by this thread. Doing a bang up job there. How is this a plus? Well, solves the lag issue grid-wide in a very quick manner. It also neatly will remove those users and accounts who will depart who don't contribute constructively to the company's bottom line in one way or another. Afterall, tech support and responding to customer service calls and support is a high touch endeavour and as seen in the banking industry with the explosive proliferation of ATMs, they'd rather you deal with a machine and just live with the little irritations then have to pay a body to deal with you and all the sundry costs/expenses associated with that. It's called lowering your variable expenses or transforming them into fixed expenses.

Do I sound somewhat pessimistic? I will admit I am. Sadly, the dream died the day the $ sign gleamed in the company's eyes and it became the motivation over the passion which was the impulse that gave rise to this world.

This decision is a tipping point.

Alas, change is the only constant and in light of that, this too shall pass. Someone else will come along and do the things which are believed not to generate profit.

I've only been here for a short time. I have met some amazing people who have been here long before I came along. I hope all of us find a workable solution either here or elsewhere.

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds...

B

This is a best explanation (that I've seen) for the reasoning behind these changes.

Personally, I will not buy mainland again. And I doubt I'll rent from someone else when I finally have to let go of my islands. But I'll keep my account.

(General response)

Right, but how is a price change supposed to solve this problem? People will either pay the extra $50 and continue "abusing" the system, or abandon their land because they can not afford the $50.

If this "abuse" is *really* the reason I have to question why linden lab raised prim count, lowered price, and allowed them to be bought as singles. All of that screams, "Hey! Buy me and do what you want with me!" (that`s what she said). If the "abuse" is really the reason LL needs to begin to take land away from the ones who abuse. People will catch on and shape up. How they expect a $50 price increase to magically make people stop "abusing" the land is beyond me.

This does not seem like the most "bright" fix, then again, it *is* LL we are dealing with.

This is a very sad, bad, mad decision on the part of SL.

I'm renting an OS for my own residential and recreational use. Originally, I shared it with a friend; for some months now I've been holding it on my own. It wasn't easy for me to afford it, but I thought it was worth it because of all the love and care and time that I put into the landscaping, and the few builds. I made a really beautiful place there, if I say so myself; a place that others who found it enjoyed too as I never minded sharing it with anyone who appreciated the peace and quiet and the beauty.

On January 1, the dozers will come and wipe it off the map.

There's simply no way I'll be able to put in another $50 a month into what is, after all, only a hobby of mine. And even if I did, the mid-term policy changes hinted at are such that I probably wouldn't be allowed for long to use the sim the way I've been using it, even though I've been only using 2/3 of the prims so far.

I wonder how many lovely places will disappear the same way Kingfisher Island will.

I've been a resident and a content creator in SL for 2 years now. From January on, I'll be homeless, for I'm sure as heck not going to reward LL for their destructive move by picking up a plot on Nautilus or so. I'll also likely not be a content creator anymore because I won't have a place to set up my workshop. Premium membership? My next bill is due on November 14th, I guess it's time to downgrade before that date.

I wonder how many people are like me? How many will be turned in one fell blow from paying, active, content-providing SL enthusiasts into free accounts who only stick around to have a chat with their friends once in a while? Provided said friends will be still there.

Others in this thread have said enough about the ethical side of all this. I'll just add that in Germany, this move by LL probably wouldn't stand the ghost of a chance in a court. I hope a few sim owners will sue. This is like selling someone the Encyclopedia Britannica for a down payment and a monthly rate, only to raise the rate by 66% after a few months. If the customer doesn't want to pay the increased rates, they can give the books back, but the down payment will be lost. There's a name for this type of business. It's called BS (Bait & Switch, what were you thinking?).

lmao Good job, Ish.

Yes, I personally removed all your posts, and all the money from the fee increase is going into my personal pocket.

All of this is my fault and I admit it. I did it to make everyone angry, and of course to collect $50 US from each Openspace sim owner for myself.

Are you happy now?

*rolls eyes*

Yes and you don't have the same abilities on Mainland as private estates. When I first came to SL, I was all about mainland.. we were at Doyle for ages.. Michael Linden and others encouraged us on more than one occasion to go with private estates for various reasons. So we finally did. They recently made OP sims more available for the private estate users by lowering purchase price and other restrictions such as where they can be placed on the grid. It used to be OP sims could only be in the same areas, hence the need to use for terrain puposes, etc. It used to be you had to buy 4 min. Then they changed to one as another way to encourage OP sims. SO then SL residents were like "WOW" .. how great LL has done this for us.. thank you thank you thank you! Their concierge team happily encourage us to buy, that they were like a real island except for this and that and we can use full prim as we should anyway.. we pay for them.. and we can transfer owner name to payer, etc and bla.. and.. drum roll .. Now this many months later once we have settled in our little OP sim dream, they come and snatch it all away like a thief in the night. That is simply called antitrust behavior and any court would see that. Furthermore, the entire tone of Jack's blog message was finger pointing and full of blame targeting the very people who keep SL alive, financially and otherwise. So yeah there is a backlash here.. an outcry and rightfully so. People have teh right to be angry. Sorry to say, as much as I love Second Life, Linden Lab is in the wrong here... just wrong.

Snowflake, you're not adding anything constructive. I haven't the foggiest why you are hanging around unless you thrive on creating tension.

Jack`s alt, isn`t that obvious by now?

In a crowded theater, it is a felony to yell FIRE.

This blog post is the equivalent-- does LL have the assets to support a large number of users cashing out their accounts, while being able to support their own payroll and support services for those who do decide to stay?

After the "run on the banks" is completed, what of the many many SL refugees that used to rent sublet open spaces? I am quite sure that many of these users will have lost a lot of confidence in LL, as they spent a great deal of time decorating and creating their homes, not knowing that they did anything wrong. These people are not going to be spending their money in world anymore.

With less money changing hands, what will happen?

Of course you are entitled to your very controversial opinion that upsets everyone who has been screwed by LL. You're also entitled to bathe in the wave of upset replies that you know your opinion is bound to produce. You give away your intent by using words such as "whine". Well, I calmed down for now and will no longer feed you.

ummm...
they would simply cancel the L$ and cash out options before that ever happened.

That knowledge base article was there before the SL blog was created. So that's probably why you couldn't find the original blog post. If my memory serves, that knowledge base article hasn't changed much since I read it a couple of years ago.

Firelight

I was on the mainland once. That was enough. Not getting a OS now. Considering dropping playing in SL as an activity. But, like you, I will keep my account and probably give away whatever is in my inventory I can give away.

You wrote
“For those that don't know, an Openspace is a type of private island that we made available for light use countryside or ocean. “
Incorrect. You made them available for what ever purpose unencumbered save a prim limitation.
“But Openspaces differ from normal regions in one particularly significant way; unlike normal regions that effectively get a CPU to themselves on the server, there can be up to four Openspaces on a single CPU (so 16 on a quad core machine), sharing the resource (hence them being ‘light use’).”
Yes, and your pricing structure and prim limitations reflected that.
“Unfortunately most of the Openspaces are being used for much more than light use.”
I challenge the veracity of this statement. Please provide audited figures to support this statement.
“Based on analysis performed in August and September, Openspaces are being used about twice as much as we expected, in other words being loaded with double the content/avatar load than we'd expect for a region that is supposed to be light use.”
How is this possible? You set clearly limitations on what we could do with the sim. If you did not expect open sim owners to use their full allocation, i.e., exactly what they are paying for, you or whoever did the projections, are very naieve.

“Rather than being employed as open areas like ocean with little or no content and traffic, the majority are being rented out to residents looking for a place to live. Because they were never intended for that level of load this is causing problems.”
Of course. That is what people do when they are asked to fork out so much per month. Now, if you were so concerned about providing activity areas for the subscribers to Second Life, I dare say that Linden Labs should be providing this with a small portion of the revenue they receive from tiers, sales, etc.

“The overuse of Openspaces has also put additional strain on some of our network and database infrastructure at a much higher ratio than is reflected in the current pricing.”
I also challenge this statement and would like to see audit figures to support this ridiculous claim.
“So higher traffic to and from the servers along with heavier demands on the asset server, both of which impact the overall experience people have inworld.”

The major factor that does impact the overall experience of people inworld is the poor quality service offered my Linden Labs.

Some time ago, Linden Labs established a reputation for exploiting and alienating its customer base. In the short period of just over a year, I have had a number of experiences that did nothing to eliminate this impression in my mind. It would seem to most of us here that this particular announcement is a ploy of sorts. Perhaps to push up land prices or perhaps, more simply, simply to measure the climate for a smaller increase in tiers and up front costs on open sims. In either case, Linden Labs has demonstrated unbelievable arrogance or total stupidty.

You will maintain some subscribers, perhaps even a majority. But you will lose a lot to other virtual worlds such as Open Life, etc. And each time you pull a stunt like this, you will alienate more. Perhaps you have consolidated your business plan on the old American axiom: There’s a sucker born every minute.

I really hesitate to say this but, this is theft!

And I wonder if I will be harassed in world and suspended again before I have time to pack up and move on.

Rudeness.

lol
I love sarcasm. TY

Private Estate: 100% Tier

Mainland: 66% of a private Estate

Open Space: 166% of a private Estate, almost 300% of Mainland

Who will still rent on an open space region? No one. So all those who didnt get those regions for themselves but to rent them to others (like me who hosts a few resedents who cant afford more than really small plots) are in real troubles to loose their setup fee now.

Best Ice

roflmao
I love that better than the sarcasm.

I am a void resident of Winterfell for the remaining weeks of my paid up tier. Wander through Winterfell, before it disappears and what you will see is the work of a community, working independently and yet together, to produce a piece of art that the Lindens should be proud to be part of.
The combination of falling Australian dollar and now this price hike means that in the space of just a few months my cost has doubled. I can not afford it.
I will not be moving to the mainland. I have lived in a virtual paradise and can not consider mainland as any version of an alternative. I would sooner build in a sand box and sit on the steps of one of Winterfell's public spaces.
Take out places like Winterfell and what will you have left? At best, a great landscape of beige..... at worst miles of glaring, blinging, ugly mainland.
Thankyou Miss Serra for your vision. I am so sad that the others haven't shared it.

I think after 2 year of SL experience that just one compagny own the full grid is a bad things
All time Linden had made decision without any speak .Linden Why Opensim is a success ????

The reason is simple your full prims have a prohibit price for little business


ALL GUYS see the projet OPENSIM http://opensimulator.org (free and opensource projet) i think for all it is the moment to switch to ......
for a Virtual Democratic World


Alan Radius (owner of Venice Passion ) on an opensim !

**me looks around like a total ditz....and out of the blue asks....** "is Snowflake Fairymeadow one of the LL??" XD i just have to say... if they are one... your a greedy little funknutter porker.... who needs less grease in his pockets.. and a cold shower... " HEWWWOOO....

Thats BS rly...

I am lucky, i rented an Open Space Sim in my home, Avilion, that land is what Second Life is for me.. last times i have to pay my rent alone...circumsdances.. and at last decided to keep it alone, becouse of i love it so much, there is my heart and my soul in it, isnt it that what is Second life for? to find a place where one can belong here, where one can make the dreams true, that arent possible in RL?

Well, now i have to let it go i think, my sim isnt open, its an private estate without much traffic... why have i to pay for the stupidness from people who use it to hard and much?

Tell me, that is the only way you can think about to cange the misusage from that Sims? i dont think so, you need only to cange the rules, not the price to, so lets see what is this about, you want more money yes? If so, do tell, dont come with the " we must cos of" think, you dont must, you must take away their homes from People who love them..

Have you thougt only 1 moment at the people that use their sims only as an home??
No use to make money... only spent money for them becouse of it is worth...and now it will be no longer possible for so many?

Is it clear for you what you do? I will loose my Home, Avilion Fincayra, i know it does not matter you, but it does matter me, i invite you, come and have a look what you are going to take away from me, come out of your World and have a look at the worlds of other, the worlds you are going and destroy soon..

Deeply Sad

Magenta
(im not a native speaker, so forgive my English)

This post speaks volumes and explains why you are so much in support. Ever heard the saying "misery loves company" ? So since you have made up your mind to not do OP sims, you want everyone else to share your bad weather. Well, maybe it's a sunny day for you but your sunny day is hail for others.