Lease contracts, instead of monthly?

I think it is fair to say this is a tragic disaster. Islands, people and communities are already being lost.

If Linden would stop insulting us by talking about abuse... If Linden would stop pretending they only offered empty space for $75/month in the first place, that would be a start. However, it would take a lot more to restore confidence. This is a suggestion. I mentioned this in the long thread of responses, but I wanted to try it out here also.

We should be interested in preventing Linden or others from repeating this situation. I don't know whether a court settlement could provide this, or whether LL would ever agree to it. If so, this would offer some justice.

One thing I would like to see result from all this are serious lease contracts for the sims.

Like an actual apartment, LL should not be able to change tier rates by more than reasonable amounts. If you have a six-month or one year lease, your tier should be fixed. Then there could be rules about exactly what is fair notice before a big change.

For example, if tier is going up more than 10%, LL might have to warn us 3 months before the end of a 6-month lease and 4 months before the end of a 1-year lease period. Or some other numbers. We can figure out something reasonable. The notice period could be based on how much non-refundable deposit you paid.

There could also be some minimum notice period for month-to-month, or else deposits must be given back plus something for our lost time.

LL would also be required to refund a significant amount if it cannot provide service until the end of a lease. Now that at least some grid metrics have been introduced (thank you Linden), there could be partial refunds for severely laggy or unstable times. If LL is going to have any option to talk about abuse and cancel contracts, then there must be very, very clear ways for both LL and the user to measure abuse and there should be warnings. Ideally, there would be a review process with users involved or independent reviewers.

Without this sort of arrangement, it can all happen again. Either on full-prim sims, or mainland. I think other virtual world providers would notice if this becomes a serious legal case. Having said that, I think leases like this could set a positive example for them too.

Interesting question.

So what monthly rate guarantees do other ISPs and hosting service providers offer?

We are not provided the option to pay for a year in advance and receive a prepayment discount. Now there is a great new product idea. Won't help me because i sell my stuff too cheap so I am always struggling month to month but the wealthy in rl folks with really nice credit card balances might benefit from paying for 100 sims for an entire year in advance eh?

Just a thought.

Or is it that LL can't commit to being here as far out as a year?

also remember there is a flip side to a lease which may be part of the reason LL wont go there.

If the island owner defaults on the lease say 6 months before it expires LL then has to try and recoup the balance of the lease. As it is now its shut down the account and repossess the island and its a done deal. With a long term lease there is potential for it to be pretty ugly legally for both the PI owner and LL.

Don't worry, the lawyers are working on this. Seems Linden have royally screwed themselves on this one! Lots of lawyers working pro bono at the moment!

As far as such a lease option: When you say this, I wonder if they are working on what should (not) have been done, or what maybe what they will ask for, etc. I'm eager to see, but I will wait a little while for the story.

Yes, I agree that is a serious question. Maybe the deposit would be slightly higher but it could be more like an apartment deposit: Linden could return part or all of it within a fixed period after the rental ends, depending on the type of contract?

Generally, they do not have the same risks that a real apartment complex would have. We can't destroy the hardware and make it so they can't resell the sim. They might expect money as collateral in case people leave early, but they would not need to insure their property against damages.