Many will be leaving

In the short time since this announcement was made, there have been many stating that they could not carry the burden of such a tremendous price increase. These people do carry several open space sims and it would be impossible.
Also, I have only been in SL a short time. With this type of charge, I can kiss buying into goodbye!

May I be the first to welcome you to the Forum Zander, nice to have you with us. It's such a shame that your first post should have to focused on 'Linden Labs latest screw up'. Yes you are absolutely correct, many residents including many established business's will be unable to carry the burden of LL's astonishing price hike and sadly will quite likely fail.

If I were you I wouldn't even consider investing in Second Life at this moment in time. With Linden Labs running the show..it's a bit too risky!!

But hey..stick around..I'm an optimist and I believe despite Linden Labs best efforts the 'residents' of Second Life will weather this storm..

Once again..welcome to the Forum..
Perre Anatine..

PS. check out the Forum Cartel..full of the coolest 'literate' residents...
Oh and despite the 'above' most Linden's are actually OK!!

From the economics statistics pages:

Islands Added for past months:
------------------------------------
August 2008 1833
September 1688
October Thru 23rd: 1037

Projected full month based on 23 days: 1398

The announcement was Oct 27th at 6pm

Islands added thru midnight the previous day:
----------------------------------------------------
Oct 29 1171
Oct 30 1114
Oct 31 1079

Projected full month = 1033

So that's already a drop of 365 islands compared to the trend earlier in the month
in just 4 days.

One thing to remember in SL is nothing ever stays the same. The best skill I ever acquired through years of dealing with our world here was the ability to roll with the punches and adapt.

This isn't the first LL bombshell it wont be last.with experience you will see there generally is a pattern to how these things go

1. LL drops a bomb
2. People have a fit/protest/flood the forums
3. LL "opens a discussion" but say nothing of impotance
4. People continue to rant
5. LL hints at a possible compromise
6. people calm some and start working on a compromise
7. EIther LL gives us a small compromise or they dont at all because they cant (I am thinking legal issues in cant)
8. SL goes on

Now during all 8 steps some things are constant. People lose faith in LL (which they may or may not regain). People say they are gonna leave (most don't leave and of those that do most come back). People say they wont spend another dime with LL (most give this a valiant effort but unless they already have a deep L$ balance it usually breaks down at some point). Some people will have a knee jerk reaction and do something drastic immediately when the crises hit and later regret it.

I just take SL as it is. Plan for a major LL bombshell 1-2 times a year. When they hit sit back and watch the show until it is resolved. Then adapt my plans to live in the new SL environment post bombshell.

My Spouse and I used to be undercapitalized Private Island owners. Repeated billing errors led to huge stress and physical illness for him. Also about that time LL hit with the bombshell of PI fees going up to 295. we adapted. We sold the island bought mainland we could easily afford and dicovered life wasnt so horrible.

As for not starting a business there are 2 ways to look at it. 1. Its too risky to do right now or 2. Its the perfect time to do it.

I go with its the perfect time. SL history is a cycle of disasters and recovery. Mid disaster is the perfect time to put your efforts and frustrations into developing new product lines. Getting them on the market when the upswing cycle of the economy hits will make you a mint. and there will be an upswing eventually. Also its a great way to blow off stress. Tossing prims around can be great fun when you are totally pissed off

I am in no way belittling the situation facing many now. It is heart tearing to lose all your hard work and money. I am simply posting my best advice for a new person and a bit of how things have gone in the past with these kinds of situations.

That is an interesting observation, Darkness but this is a new situation. The competition is growing and I think you may find that your theory wont hold so true this time. The protest is huge and the economic climate is bad. Not a good mix for LL to be imposing this massive rise.

Sure, some will be back but judging by the figures above from DRNE5 Luik Linden labs are already seeing a fall in sales. Not to mention those land owners loosing tenants or the business' loosing sales.

The confidence is shattered and people aren't just leaving they are exploring alternatives.

That is what is different.

I never said how long the bounce back will take. That does vary alot from crises to crises.

I have explored alternatives during these upheavals before. Some I am still part of Such as WoW and Entropia. But I always come back to SL. It IS home for better or worse.

Until there is stable alternative, with a cash in and cash out economy that offers the creativity and community of SL. There isnt a solid competitor. Alot of the affected folks will do as I and my family have done in the past. Reinvent thier goals, business and presence here. We are still in the very EARLY days of this crises. Only time will tell how big the longterm impact will be and how long the recovery will take.

I'm fairly new to LL - and SL... And, it's an exciting dynamic world - and, quite possibly a neo-vision of what we can expect in virtual worlds in the future.

Here's my issue - THIS virtual world costs real money. Our money - and, we are totally at the whim of a company without a true solid business plan. Probably a group of talented computer guys who have zero concept of creating and executing a "mission statement" - one that can be trusted. Going into business with other people's money is a responsibility - not a "right"..

Analogy - go out and buy a car that has been sold at retail only - no discounts. You pay $40,000 for it. Then two weeks later, the company decides to sell the exact same car for $30,000. You just lost $10,000 in equity.

Why would I go out and but anything from LL if I had a suspicion that in the next few months - they are very likely to change pricing. In fact, from their performance history, it is almost a guarantee that they will change the pricing. Not a good place to spend money as an investment. If you're here for the social life and a lot of virtual sex - and can afford the increases - then this is the place for you.

Trust is a very hard thing to gain and keep... All those people who trusted LL and have sizable stake in LL and SL, beware.

And, think of the people in Australia - they're dollar has sunk to new lows and many of the residents from there are simply going to have to give up ownership as they no longer can afford SL.

Don't tell me about quad-processors - don't try and tell me that the technology available today can't handle this stuff - that's an old ploy.... My God, Intel and AMD are putting out wild technology as we speak. Take a look at Nvidia - take a look at their new 280 chip and the new motherboard to be released very soon.

SL has a capitalization issue - they have a bunch of core2duo machines that have less than a two year technological life span - and they're capitalized over five years. DUH - yeah, LL is going to run out of cash flow. Their accountants need to come up with a better way of depreciating capital so there will be money on the other end to buy newer and better technology.

This isn't that the technology can't handle the situation - it's that SL needs to replace all the older core2duo machines and they can't afford it - so they have to come after us - and deflate our investment in the process.

I feel sorry for all you who have spent a lot of time and money and creativity in a losing venture - it's so sad to see a really cool idea go down the tubes. And it will... People can't afford to "play" this much longer - for two reasons - the market is saturated (look at the land sales) - and, in this economy - no one is going to have any discretionary income to live here.

Sounds like a plan - get laid off from work in RL - and, have LL raise your rent here.

The ONLY question left is how big a shopping cart you'll need when you no longer have a place to live in RL and can't afford a place here.

it's sad.....

don't worry, MOST will stay...

Most will stay, watch this statistics: /354/86/289847/1.html
Less then 10% want to leave and im sure most of the 10% will come back soon.