On-Grid Plan of Action

Thanks Vyrl.

Vryl, as well meaning as I know you are I couldn't disagree more with your tactics.

Linden Labs planned this and will never back down. They might throw a few tit bits to divide the protestors but, they will still get the 67% price increase they want.

We, the protestors, should not settle down and beg for crumbles from Linden Labs. We should be shouting louder and telling people they have alternatives. It's our money LL wants to get it's hands on - a lot of money!

Already people are dumping land and loosing faith. Rental owners are loosing tenants. Business' in SL are loosing customers and, in the present economic climate prices should be falling not rising.

I have seen LL scew us before but their card is marked. Never again!

We need to take a hard line for as long as it takes.

Thanks Talla and I appreciate you disagreeing in an intelligent way.. I do respect your opinions. However, I just do not see how we can realistically expect them to just grandfather all of the existing OS. I think it is better to come away with something than nothing at all. Am I really wrong here?

What I'd like to see is my OS sim put back like it was when I got it, 1800 prims at this price level. Mine IS a light use sim and it's what I bought. I NEVER asked for the prim hike and would be fine with a 10-25 avatar limit placed too. I bought this OS so I could be creative not make money!! It's not fair to me that I am now being blamed for their mistake..

I have to be honest with you, Vryl. I think your approach will get us nothing.

But we can agree to disagree *smiles*

I know I come over as brutal and blunt. But I would never be abusive and I would rather not talk to a person than give into them when they are treating me bad. And that is what LL is doing to us. They are abusing our good will. And not for the first time.

That's why I propose two different type of OS sims.. maybe even 3 where there is one that charges according to reource usage but I'm not sure if they are technologically able to do this yet or not.

You may be interested to know that some of the Open Simulator Grids offer a lot more options than does SL. Some even offer free regions for use as water and open country.

If they can do it. Why can't Linden Labs?

That's an excellent question and I wish LL would give us an answer to that. I would also like to know why these grids can have 45K prims and we are limited to 15K.

That is an easy question. Because storage of more prims costs more.

Anyway Vryl, your propose, what LL should allow are ideas for new products, not the products already in use ( bought OS SIMS) and paid by us costumers.

I do not get paid for finding a solution for LL. Indeed, I get charged by them too much without ever signed a contract where I agree to these increases.

If LL needs a better managment, well they could hire me, but I doubt that I would like to work for LL, as my reputation would go down
What they have done this time, is that much wrong that it is nearly incredible. and they did it fully concious what would happen.

Stop thinking for LL think of you situation and weak up.

Clearly there is a market for residential type space. Why don't they make something available to people for light residential use.

I'm unclear what constitutes a private island, but maybe something along those lines. Not a full sim which is for commercial use, but just some to play round on, add a house and garden etc.

From what I remember, LL said private islands were suitable for light use, ie. some trees and bushes maybe or open water for sailing. Originally, you had to own a full 15k prim sim and could add up to 4 low prim sims. Islands are simply that, No one can buy a sim within one simulator space of yours.

But this situation came about because LL removed the requirement to keep your (Open Space) low prim sims within your own cluster. They doubled the prims to 3750 and let them be placed anywhere and everywhere, which, of couse, a lot of people took advantage of.

Then comes the crunch!

LL puts up the monthly tier charge by 67% after selling huge numbers during the year. And to justify it and smoke screen their greed they blame the buyers saying they all abused their usage limits.

Con trick?

Absolutely!

The outcome?

Large numbers of "abusers" being forced to pay up to make them use the product less.

Um, not sure how charging more makes them use less but that's LL's excuse as I understand it.

So now we have this huge protest and, in my view, rightfully so for very many have to give up their land, their home, their hard work and time creating and even, in many case, any chance of owning a plot again.

I think that a solution can be found, because Linden Lab needs residents and residents need Linden Lab.

However Second Life isn't a monopoly: they are working to extend Virtual Worlds to the entire web, so competitors will come up (Open Simulator is just one of them).

To Talla and Vryl:
As far as I know, Open Simulator is still in "alpha" stage (which means that is buggy), but is newer than Second Life and use concepts derived from Second Life.
And is installed on *your* computer, not on Second Life servers (I know: it's off-topic. but can be useful).

I hope to have better news next week

Well, to put it clearly, yes you can host your sim on your own server but you still have to connect to the OSgrid. On the other hand, OpenLife and some others host both the Grid and the sims on thier servers just the same as Second Life does. So you don't need to host your own sim.

Personally, I like the idea of hosting my own sim and connecting to OSgrid becuase it would be more like IRC then and take the power away from the hosting companies who, like LL in the present crisis, can charge high prices in a captive market.

And you mention that the Open Simulator software is based on Linden lab software which, in part, it is so there are a great many simularities. In fact the look and feel is much the same. And true, it is still buggy with many features you are use to missing.

But they are catching up fast.

That's what I have been saying as well. A realistic solution can be found.

As for OP grid, I'm sure they have future but right now they are still too underdeveloped. Too many have invested too much in SL to just "up and leave" even if they threaten to do so.. I seriously doubt that many will.

After speaking with a few friends the other night, I have come to the personal conclusion that this price increase is not intentional by Linden Lab. I feel that it is impossible that Linden Lab could have predicted the sheer masses of people who would purchase OP sims. They had nothing to compare it with. As a result of this, they could not have possibly projected server load and costs.

I still feel that we should have a realistic compromise.. these are my revised suggestions:

1. Make OS sims available for purchase in the Land Store to individual premium account holders, waiving the prerequisite of owning a full prim island.

2. Allow two different types of OS sims, the original void sims with 1800 prims at half the cost of the existing OS type sim with 3750 prims.

3. Allow grandfathering of 2 existing type OS sims per resident that was purchased prior to January 01, 2008.

4. Allow land owners cost free conversion or land transfer for 3 months..after January 01 this gives them a chance to test the market before dumping their sims.

5. Increase prim allowance from 3750 to 4000 for the new price of 125 USD a month.

6. As suggested by Daniel.. instead of simply just changing the price in 2 months.. gradually go in increments over a period of 6 months.. much easier to absorb the blow this way.

7. Postpone the price increase until March 01, 2009 .. this gives a cushion after the holiday spending and a bit more time to digest.

I'm sure others have suggestions as well..

Haha, you think al these raging estate owners will accept that suggestion? It'll destroy their business more thoroughly than the current one.

This is not just about estate owners. Second Life is about everyone. OS sim is a good product. It will be more affordable at this price if they make it available for purchase by non estate holders who have premium accounts.

These same estate owners will take advantage of the current situation to increase their mainland sales or privates parcel sales. I'm sure that right about now, land sales and rentals are sky rocketing or soon will be.