Sim ownership a 'luxury'? Not for disabled residents ...
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Gairlochan Lisle
Registered User
Join date: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 11
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11-03-2008 06:00
I have seen several comments along the lines of, "why are you lot wingeing about a price increase in a something which is a luxury anyway", the implication being that because SL is a game for many people, and an expensive one at that, this state of affairs applies to all users: i.e. if we can afford it at all, we can afford by definition to pay more for it, because we're all rich Americans with real lives, jobs and money.
I am neither rich nor American. I only have a computer at all due to serious, ongoing health issues. I suffer from a rare and debilitating neurological condition which has kept me mostly bedridden for the last 23 years. It's incurable and it's getting worse. Until I found SL I was spending my days listening to audiobooks and staring at the ceiling a lot. My specialist tells me that many of his patients practically live in SL as I do, having no real lives worth mentioning and no real outlet for their creative and active drives. I can believe it. SL has saved my sanity, and having my own low-prim void sim within an estate (all I could afford; more than I can really afford, but what price sanity?) has given me a place to do the sailing, surfing, landscaping, building, tinkering and general constructive living which is denied me in RL. There's a limit to what an invalid can do in a bed all day, month, year, but add SL and suddenly only the sky's the limit. At least until now ...
If this sim is taken away from me by the mooted price rise, I will be rootless and have no 'place' for my creative activities, no centre for my 'life' - and certainly no room for my surfing. (Sailing, surfing and water-sports involving scripts are impossible to carry out on most mainland coast and waters due to object creation and script support being turned off - despite persistent protests - and virtual absence of available frontage wide enough for the waves anyway. This is why areas such as SLNE and many other private, connected sailing sims were set up; to be sailboat-friendly. These whole areas are now under threat and sailors are up in arms.)
Many, many people are in SL for reasons similar to mine - they live vicariously through an avatar - and many will suffer as I will if they lose their land, which may be just a little plot on one of the doomed sims, but which they have spent countless hours and unmeasurable creative energy in beautifying ... or whatever. I know SL is not a charity, but it has already been established that at least for people with sims like mine, the price we are already paying is a fair one.
Invalids and disabled people tend to be in the lower income brackets, and I am no exception. If this price increase goes through, it will be added to the plummeting of the Australian dollar which is the currency with which I pay for my 'life', and will put it way beyond my reach. I will then go back to being a non-paying and much less creative and happy resident, if indeed I don't take myself off permanently to one of the competing VR's. Neither LL or I will benefit from this, unless of course the mooted hidden agenda regarding the boost to mainland real estate is the real reason for their action. But if it is, we will never know for certain ... because it's hidden.
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Chris Norse
Loud Arrogant Redneck
Join date: 1 Oct 2006
Posts: 5,735
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11-03-2008 06:19
Qft
_____________________
I'm going to pick a fight
William Wallace, Braveheart
“Rules are mostly made to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind”
Douglas MacArthur
FULL
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Chris Norse
Loud Arrogant Redneck
Join date: 1 Oct 2006
Posts: 5,735
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11-03-2008 06:19
From: Gairlochan Lisle I have seen several comments along the lines of, "why are you lot wingeing about a price increase in a something which is a luxury anyway", the implication being that because SL is a game for many people, and an expensive one at that, this state of affairs applies to all users: i.e. if we can afford it at all, we can afford by definition to pay more for it, because we're all rich Americans with real lives, jobs and money.
I am neither rich nor American. I only have a computer at all due to serious, ongoing health issues. I suffer from a rare and debilitating neurological condition which has kept me mostly bedridden for the last 23 years. It's incurable and it's getting worse. Until I found SL I was spending my days listening to audiobooks and staring at the ceiling a lot. My specialist tells me that many of his patients practically live in SL as I do, having no real lives worth mentioning and no real outlet for their creative and active drives. I can believe it. SL has saved my sanity, and having my own low-prim void sim within an estate (all I could afford; more than I can really afford, but what price sanity?) has given me a place to do the sailing, surfing, landscaping, building, tinkering and general constructive living which is denied me in RL. There's a limit to what an invalid can do in a bed all day, month, year, but add SL and suddenly only the sky's the limit. At least until now ...
If this sim is taken away from me by the mooted price rise, I will be rootless and have no 'place' for my creative activities, no centre for my 'life' - and certainly no room for my surfing. (Sailing, surfing and water-sports involving scripts are impossible to carry out on most mainland coast and waters due to object creation and script support being turned off - despite persistent protests - and virtual absence of available frontage wide enough for the waves anyway. This is why areas such as SLNE and many other private, connected sailing sims were set up; to be sailboat-friendly. These whole areas are now under threat and sailors are up in arms.)
Many, many people are in SL for reasons similar to mine - they live vicariously through an avatar - and many will suffer as I will if they lose their land, which may be just a little plot on one of the doomed sims, but which they have spent countless hours and unmeasurable creative energy in beautifying ... or whatever. I know SL is not a charity, but it has already been established that at least for people with sims like mine, the price we are already paying is a fair one.
Invalids and disabled people tend to be in the lower income brackets, and I am no exception. If this price increase goes through, it will be added to the plummeting of the Australian dollar which is the currency with which I pay for my 'life', and will put it way beyond my reach. I will then go back to being a non-paying and much less creative and happy resident, if indeed I don't take myself off permanently to one of the competing VR's. Neither LL or I will benefit from this, unless of course the mooted hidden agenda regarding the boost to mainland real estate is the real reason for their action. But if it is, we will never know for certain ... because it's hidden. QFT
_____________________
I'm going to pick a fight
William Wallace, Braveheart
“Rules are mostly made to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind”
Douglas MacArthur
FULL
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Mark Lock
Registered User
Join date: 5 Oct 2006
Posts: 2
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I agree with what you say
11-03-2008 06:52
I'm a disable too , and SL for me has always been an opportunity to meet people , take part to social activities and find friends too , in RL I can't walk , I need assistance for whatever I do, but at the computer I can do whatever I need without help, in SL I found a way to do what I can't do in RL, in SL , I'm a football player , an army man for 2142 army , I'm a scripter, builder and I used to have a job in a private estate called BNT as VP for security and customer service , lately I decided to finally buy a full openspace sim and I built a very nice village for myself and my soccer team, soon, I'll lose it cause of prices raise.
I think Linden Labs doesn't have an idea of what they are doing to all of us , especially to people like me and you , who spends all day in Second Life due to RL problems , I hope they will change their mind .
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Bernard Blachere
Registered User
Join date: 31 Jan 2007
Posts: 21
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11-03-2008 07:01
hmm..with the risk lot of people will fall over me ... but i don't agree
disabled or not makes no difference, we all are in SL what we are not in RL
There's nothing you really need a private sim for. Mainland is completely the same.
I can't afford a private sim, am not disabled, but really need the relaxing powers of SL, so i think i have right at a cheap sim too..... sorry guys this is not the way it works.
Want to have a special place? pay the price.
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Mark Lock
Registered User
Join date: 5 Oct 2006
Posts: 2
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we never asked for a special price
11-03-2008 07:21
From: Bernard Blachere hmm..with the risk lot of people will fall over me ... but i don't agree
disabled or not makes no difference, we all are in SL what we are not in RL
There's nothing you really need a private sim for. Mainland is completely the same.
I can't afford a private sim, am not disabled, but really need the relaxing powers of SL, so i think i have right at a cheap sim too..... sorry guys this is not the way it works.
Want to have a special place? pay the price. I think you misunderstood our words , we never asked for a special price , just bringing our experiences, I think everybody should do that , so that Linden Labs understands their customers more than how they are doing right now , I'm not saying disabled should have a special price and I've always paid the price for playing , many ppl don't and beg for money around SL instead of paying a price for playing . I'm not begging for a lower price for disabled , only saying what everybody is saying , that this price raise is hitting everybody , and I'm bringing my own experience , I'm not hiding behind a computer , I don't have a problem with saying why I spend most of my real life in front of a computer . |
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Swiftly Streeter
Registered User
Join date: 10 Jun 2007
Posts: 20
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These People are Severly Handicapped and this price increase will HURT THEM!
11-03-2008 08:24
You may see this in another post I will put up later.
There are many people who are handicapped who own full, or parts, of open sims. They can't walk, they are in wheelchairs, or like the author of this thread, are confined to bed. SL gives them the ability to vicariously live a life they are denied in "Real Life". They are on fixed incomes. When you are on "the dole" and supported by the state, you are denied ownership of things. Such as, You can't buy a car! You don't need one, there are buses, and public transportation, so says the state. I will not go on here about the unfairness of the State, and how they treat disabled people.
They are on LOW FIXED incomes. They can barely afford to be in Second Life. The ability to own an open sim, and perhaps rent out a bit of it to help with tier gives them an outlet they will NEVER have in real life.
They budgeted for this, (just like we all did, Me included) and can barely afford it.
If you increase the price, and they must abandon the creative outlet that lets them be free, you are HURTING THEM. You may as well just be like the hospitals we have heard about who take the homeless out and drop them off at Skid Row.
YES it's JUST like that!
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sable Valentine
AU United
Join date: 30 Apr 2006
Posts: 1,275
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I'm not disabled, however...
11-03-2008 08:57
Last year I was involved in MVA (motor vehicle accident) which left me home bound for awhile. Prior to my accident, I was in sl for over a year. I cannot count the many times I thanked my sl friends, (some whom I speak to in rl) for their support. I don't build nor create, but to have a place of my own to host my many wonderful friends around the world at my home was a blessing then and still now. Their support during that time has been immeasurable.
Having managed many disabilty claims for a private insurance carrier, I would often listen to their dispair. For those that had access to computers, I suggested they try second life. Amazingly, the one's that didn't have a computer found some local agencies that assisted in them in obtaining one. The many thanks I received from some of my claimants was touching and at times brought me to tears. They felt I really cared about them and not view them as some file on my desk.
So, having temporarily been on their side of the fence coupled with managing disability claim I understand EXACTLY how these people feel. SL for them is for example a pack a cigarettes to others, its for the most part their only sense of enjoyment. They are able to interact and not be judged. Not being told they are disabled and can't do this, can't do that. They are on a level playing field. Some are probably struggling right now just to get by and retain their SL. Stop for a moment and wonder what it would be like if your one true thing that brings you joy is taken away. How would you feel and react?
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Dianne Davies
Whispering Pines Estates
Join date: 1 Oct 2007
Posts: 168
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Missing the point..as usual here...
11-03-2008 09:44
From: Bernard Blachere hmm..with the risk lot of people will fall over me ... but i don't agree
disabled or not makes no difference, we all are in SL what we are not in RL
There's nothing you really need a private sim for. Mainland is completely the same.
I can't afford a private sim, am not disabled, but really need the relaxing powers of SL, so i think i have right at a cheap sim too..... sorry guys this is not the way it works.
Want to have a special place? pay the price. As usual the point is lost in all the posts and this venue can be a hard one to show real emotion..that being said.. Gairlochan Lisle was not asking for any "special" considerations - on the contrary he was willing to pay his share - and was paying the price under the conditions he was given and using the space in the way that he believed he was able to use it - to me that doesn't smack of anyone looking for something for nothing. The arrogance here disgusts me,from a very few, thankfully but those of us who do have the supposed "luxury" of having land we can possibly still afford should at no time give us the right to ever look down our noses at someone that might not be able to!...Just who some of you people think you are I'm not sure but I'm certainly glad there are those like Gairlochan here - people who actually use SL to better their lives not just to belittle those of others.. A little empathy goes a very long way ... |
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Benski Trenkins
Free speech for the dumb
Join date: 23 Feb 2008
Posts: 547
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11-03-2008 11:50
"Get a grip, it's a game"
Cannot count how many times I seen that line or something in similar words on the threads here.
It's time for a lot of people to realize that SL is so much more than a game for a huge amount of people out there.
I am not disabled or anything, but SL to me is more than a game as well. It is the place where I can be free. Being depressed and extremely shy in RL, having an outlet as SL has helped me tremendously in improving my selfasteem.
When I started SL, I was withdrawn and even shy to chat in groups larger than 5 strangers. Now I just use my headset and talk with basicly anybody.
I even dare to say that SL is something more than a game for most out there. The factory worker that is a succesful estate owner here, the housemom that has a succesfull retail business here, the disabled that wins dancing contests, the beginning artist that can stream and perform on SL and the enormous group of people that can fully develope their creative skills and fantasies here in this almost unlimited world.
being direct and upfront about the situation: Disabled people that speak up can ONLY strengthen the arguments to have the Lindens realize that this is a wrong step to take.
SL is amazing in the way that I can be just as succesfull as the next guy, who might be a plummer, who might be disabled, or who might be some president in some country. All that makes NO difference in SL, and I LOVE that about SL.
Now let's hope Linden keeps it affordable for the plummer, the disabled and me as well and not make it an exclusive tool for the rich people out there as already is happening with most things all around this globe.
Ben
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Dolome Demonia
Registered User
Join date: 26 Feb 2008
Posts: 2
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While SL saved my brain.......and life....
11-05-2008 11:10
ok kill me - hate me - whatever - but....
What I see has happened is that "SOME" er probably a HUGE amount of people have taken advantage of the OS's and used them as they were never intended. I have read tons and tons of postings and only in Jacks did I see any mention of the fact that the average person that could not afford to actually do a real out and out purchase of land is protected in a part of the new change and i hope they dont change that part.
I have been looking at purchasing mainland and islands since I got in this game earlier this year and was horrified at how people are taken advantage of here and the lindens have never done anything about it. This is the only move I see that has protected them in any way. You can bet the land owners arent going to bring that to attention. for those that never have had access to the land store or ever looked at what open spaces were when they first were on the general areas of secondlife's website it was VERY VERY specific to NOT using it as any living or generally well traveled area - yes it allowed a certain amount of prim however one prim scripted improperly can add up to 100 non scripted prim in lag or even more. then OMG take into account the amount you have on your body!!! it counts!!!! and your scripted AO and...I could go on...the point is - if we rented them thinking we got a great deal WE were taken advantage of by the owner of the land that bought it from linden. THEY KNEW all this! and now they are complaining. do I think Linden did the right thing? no it was a bad decision on how they handled it but...it is a huge missuse and the little guy is paying for it since they probably had the tier paid for by us.
So hate me if u wish if youre a land owner - but I was a renter of 1/2 sim of mainland sold out from uner me without notice and this made me not only homeless but I lost a month rent and my store I worked hard to establish - yes im severely disabled too as some of u in tis thread - and I wasnt even on an OS I knew better but they owned a lot of them and bailed out of the game without notice. I guess they saw thier time of ripping off the little guy of renting it out as it wasnt meant to be might be over.
Well - there is my rant....such as it is
D
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Harriet Gausman
Registered User
Join date: 8 Jan 2008
Posts: 20
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Second Life a Game? Hell no!
11-05-2008 12:40
Second Life is my life. I have a chronic debilitating illness that leaves me bedridden for most of the time. It isn't just a game but real for me; I meet people, talk, go to events and run my own writing sim. If it weren't for SL I would have lost my mind. I'm unsure if I will be able to continue living here in SL - I need to do my calculations and play around with the figures. To be honest, I'm totally confused with the prices. It isn't clear if we have to pay a set up fee now to convert to homestead or if that figure only applies if you want to convert after January? Anyway, if it is the case that we have to pay a set up fee now, then it is clearly greed on the part of Linden, as the scenario is worse than proposed.
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Talla Slade
Registered User
Join date: 16 Jun 2007
Posts: 57
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11-05-2008 13:18
From: Gairlochan Lisle I have seen several comments along the lines of, "why are you lot wingeing about a price increase in a something which is a luxury anyway", the implication being that because SL is a game for many people, and an expensive one at that, this state of affairs applies to all users: i.e. if we can afford it at all, we can afford by definition to pay more for it, because we're all rich Americans with real lives, jobs and money.
I am neither rich nor American. I only have a computer at all due to serious, ongoing health issues. I suffer from a rare and debilitating neurological condition which has kept me mostly bedridden for the last 23 years. It's incurable and it's getting worse. Until I found SL I was spending my days listening to audiobooks and staring at the ceiling a lot. My specialist tells me that many of his patients practically live in SL as I do, having no real lives worth mentioning and no real outlet for their creative and active drives. I can believe it. SL has saved my sanity, and having my own low-prim void sim within an estate (all I could afford; more than I can really afford, but what price sanity?) has given me a place to do the sailing, surfing, landscaping, building, tinkering and general constructive living which is denied me in RL. There's a limit to what an invalid can do in a bed all day, month, year, but add SL and suddenly only the sky's the limit. At least until now ...
If this sim is taken away from me by the mooted price rise, I will be rootless and have no 'place' for my creative activities, no centre for my 'life' - and certainly no room for my surfing. (Sailing, surfing and water-sports involving scripts are impossible to carry out on most mainland coast and waters due to object creation and script support being turned off - despite persistent protests - and virtual absence of available frontage wide enough for the waves anyway. This is why areas such as SLNE and many other private, connected sailing sims were set up; to be sailboat-friendly. These whole areas are now under threat and sailors are up in arms.)
Many, many people are in SL for reasons similar to mine - they live vicariously through an avatar - and many will suffer as I will if they lose their land, which may be just a little plot on one of the doomed sims, but which they have spent countless hours and unmeasurable creative energy in beautifying ... or whatever. I know SL is not a charity, but it has already been established that at least for people with sims like mine, the price we are already paying is a fair one.
Invalids and disabled people tend to be in the lower income brackets, and I am no exception. If this price increase goes through, it will be added to the plummeting of the Australian dollar which is the currency with which I pay for my 'life', and will put it way beyond my reach. I will then go back to being a non-paying and much less creative and happy resident, if indeed I don't take myself off permanently to one of the competing VR's. Neither LL or I will benefit from this, unless of course the mooted hidden agenda regarding the boost to mainland real estate is the real reason for their action. But if it is, we will never know for certain ... because it's hidden... Durring this protest I became accutly aware of the needs of the disabled and those on low income. I, myself, am not disabled or on low income but I can't help thinking how important SL is to a lot of those people who are disadvantaged. SL is more than a game, it's a virtual existence that has given so much to the disabled especially. It gives them legs to walk and arms to use. They can make friends they may never of had, in short, it gives them a life - a second Life. Are these the people that the Lindens call abusers? Because it is a label they applied to everyone using OS. |
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LillyBeth Filth
Texture Artist
Join date: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 489
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11-05-2008 23:46
I am classed as "disabled" in the sense I cant go out, I have multiple health issues ranging from M.E - Systemic Candida and was diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma almost 4 yrs ago - didnt need chemo thankfully but I rarely leave the house.
This has been a curse and a blessing in disguise.
I used to work as a sales rep for a fuel card company selling fuel card accounts to haulage companies and was the highest paid account manager in the co, but I worked too hard and they decided I was earning too much and tried all kinds of cruel tricks to make me leave so they could absorb the accounts and not have to pay me the monthly commission.
This lead to stress work related which lead to being put on a cocktale of tranquilisors - I tried to get off them cold turkey in ignorance and had seizures and 30 different physical and mental withdrawal effects.
Finally after 10 months I threw the towel in and gave up working and went on sickness benefits.
For 3 yrs I lived like that...playing the Sims then the Sims Online then There.com ( were I first made real money by buying and selling property )
Then i found SL.
Now after 4.5 yrs SL pays the roof over my head and I signed off benefits 3 yrs ago.
I pay taxes and national insurance contributions.
My husband left me in Dec 07 and w/o SL I couldnt survive. Period.
It is NOT a game. It is a way of survival for many of us, I hate the ignorance of people who say " if your stupid enough to depend on SL for your living then you deserve all you get "
I didnt set off with the intention of making SL my job but thats where its lead me and I am for ever grateful and never take for granted the pay cheques I recieve. I am only too aware this could all end in the blink of an eye.
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