Trying to understand... rewarded for breaking rules??

First off this is NOT an attempt to flame, put down or insult people with open space sims but more of myself trying to understand everyone's point of veiws.. I'm not a sim owner, land or house renter and i havenever sold land in sl... I have also never posted to these forums but this time felt I had to stand up and ask....

I have many friends with open space sims...some using them the required way and some not.. the ones using them the correct way are quietly sitting back wondering why they are going to have to pay for those who didn't and those who built rentals, stores etc asking me to join protest groups, sign online petitions and a few who actually expected me to walk out of sl with them.. I think not. When I've refused to join the band wagon and when asked why I'm ridiculed because I see things from a different point of view.

When you purchased these sims the terms were written out plain and simple (these sims are intended for waterways, parks etc NOT for housing projects, malls, etc etc) and yet most people chose to use them for the latter. Now that the lindens have caught on and are raising prices everyone's up in arms and those who chose to follow the rules are having to pay for others decisions. I don't get it.

As a mom I raised my kid to follow the rules and if he chose not to then he had no right to complain when things didn't go his way and he had to own up to his responsibility and pay the price.It's all a part of being an honest and respectable adult and about making the right choices in life. Yet as adults the rules were broken, you were caught and now everyone has to pay the price and your screaming about it.

I've heard many excuses for people breaking the rules from.. well if the lindens didnt expect us to open stores and housing why did they give us so many prims to play with... well I only put four houses on the land to rent so what's the big deal.. but this is the only lag free space to have my store... the truth is regardless of the excuse you still intentionally broke the rule... and now your trying to put the blame on someone else and expect everyone else to back you up and defend your actions without addressing the wrong you've done...

I know people who have rented on open sims and are now crying "Great now I have no where to live!" I'll never find a property to rent as lag free, with as many prims and as big as this, it's not right!" Again the truth is you rented a house on land not intended for rentals and knew it at the time. Some even not only rented the land to live but also have thier stores on it as well. Double whammy so to speak.

I know people selling out right this land knowing that the lindens won't except responsibility when something goes wrong but still sold it anyways and people bought it knowing the circumstances and now they are all complaining as well...

Then there the open space owners raising prices to compensate and complaining thier renters are leaving.. is what they are doing not unlike the Lindens.. built on land not intended for building, rented it out..now that I'm caught I'm gonna jack up the prices for the renters to compensate.. I see no difference between the two and all this being done in an economy slowly slipping into oblivion when the average player cant afford higher prices ANYWHERE...

AM I the only who sees something wrong with all this... How can we as responsible adults intentionally break the rules and then complain about it expecting the lindens to turn a blind eye to our actions... What about the morals we try to raise our kids with and then throw to the side because the rule being broken are in a video game and not the real world..what about the innocent people who choose to follow the rules and now will have to pay the price because of others who didn't....At what point do people admit and face up to the fact they did wrong in the first place ruining it not only for themselves but everyone else...

Someone please explain to me when breaking the rules became so common it should be rewarded and that being honest and following the rules are for suckers who deserve to be screwed over by the majorities.. It's a sad sad time in both worlds..( sl n rl )

That said you may all begin attacking since I've learned from others already having a different point of view is also not excepted in sl... (grabs her handy dandy garbage can lid..holds in up and prepares for the onslaught of comments about to be hurled her way)

Good thing your name is not Vryl or you would have an angry mob of ad farmer minions outside your castle with torches and pitchforks real soon now.

I believe the main argument is that definition was never updated when Linden Labs changed the product. When they were originally sold they were more expensive and you were required to buy 4 at a time - they had fewer prims and had to be attached to an existing full prim sim. Under those conditions you could make your argument, and it would seem valid.

In the spring LL not only reduced the price of the OS regions, dropped the minimum of 4 requirement, doubled the prims and allowed them to be placed anywhere on the grid. I understand following rules to - and yes I have children as well BUT you are going to have to explain to me why I need to place a island in the open grid for just water or parks. Add on top of that the fact that LL has now shown us how they can be used by incorporating them into their mainland builds. (I could also argue that I believe LL could have blocked the subdivision and resale of these parcels if they really didn't want them to be sold - I honestly can't imagine the programing of that would have been very difficult)

One of the main reasons there was such a demand for this product was that it was the only place you could have privacy on the grid - nowhere else were you away from a wandering camera ........ LL KNEW what these were being used for and allowed it to continue - they KNEW they didn't have 13,000 parks and waterways on the grid. In fact, a Linden even came to my parcel once and told me how nice it looked (residental and all).

This is more akin to telling your children they can't snack between meals yet putting cookies on the table in between meals ......... The cookies come up missing and you not only don't say anything but you buy more cookies .......... Let that go on for 6 months and then come back and chastize your kids ..... what kind of parent does that make you?

Wonders who Vryl is.. drops garbage can lid and runs for bucket of water.. runs back...sits down with bucket safetly placed in arms reach.. raises lid and continues to wait....

Another thing to consider is that some people checked with Linden before using them for residential. They described how they were going to use them, and someone on the Concierge team said it was perfectly fine.

So this is more like. You post a notice on the refrigerator that says "Don't eat the cookies!" Then you put the cookies on the table. Some kids eat the cookies. Some kids ask if they can eat the cookies and you say "Sure, go right ahead." You put more cookies on the table. Your kids and their friends eat even more cookies. Then you say, I told you not to eat the cookies - see that notice over there - you should have read that and followed it. And now I'm going to punish all of you, even the ones who didn't eat any cookies.

A lot of people don't like analogies. But I've done my best to demonstrate the point of view, whether I agree with it or not.

Firelight

I agree with part of what you said. I'm not condoning Linden Labs..they should have put the brakes on it immediately when people started using them for unmeant purposes instead of waiting till there were hundreds of them out there and then stepping up.

And if someone in charge gave people permission to use them in unintended ways then that person should be held responsible.

SO to revise my confusion it should be said I now have to wonder when anyone involved linden or resident should have to step up and except their own responsibility.. seems a lot of people were in the wrong but two wrongs still don't make a right.

In the end it's still the one's who didn't steal a cookie when no one was looking that ends up punished in the end and no one seems to care. It's those people I feel sorry for.

Hi Melyanna

As far as I can tell, Monday's post had an accusatory tone, and I like many felt accused of doing something that I was never told I couldn't do. There were alwasy just guidlines and "intended use". They also said that if one was to use them for any other purpose they would not respond to complaints of poor performance.

Then on Wednesday this was said:


So they seemed to be happy with the way we are using them..... they sold a lot of them.... but why did they sell so well?

Originally, those owning at least one full sim could buy them in packs of 4 and at least one had to be next to a full sim (presumably by the same owner), and they had 1875 prims available, and the intent was for them to be "open spaces" for pretty views, water areas ... all that.

Then LL started shifting the goal posts. Earlier LL changed a few things.... amongst all that the prices was dropped, but not only to the Open Space (OS) sims but to full sims as well. Many who had invested in full sims before at the higher price weren't so impressed at losing out so much on there investment over night. But the world kept going. Then LL increased the prim limit from 1875 to 3750. Then LL removed the requirement to buy them in blocks of 4, and lastly, and why I personally think they were so popular in the end, they removed the requirement for the OS sims to be attached to a full sim. They could be placed anywhere. All that was reiterated were the guidelines and "intended" use, and everyone seems to have accepted, if there are performance issues not to go crying to LL. The fact that one could place them anywhere on the grid, unattached to any other sim seemed to suggest (and in the absence of any clarification from LL) many people assumed that one could then get/rent one of these OS sims and live on them. LL lab didn't say anything on the matter... Once everyone saw that the new usage seemed to be condoned, even encouraged by the changes, it was only natural that people saw an opportunity to live in peace and quiet. By the very nature of these OS sims, there is only so much one can do with them. There were technical explanations that they have a quarter of prim allowance of a full sim, and that they use a quarter of the resources, and that 4 of these reside on the same computer core.

By removing the requirement to have these OS sims attached to other sims, seemed to have made the original intent null and void, even though no one actually came out and said so. I mean, would anyone want pretty scenary (as was the original "intended use" in the middle of nowhere, and be expected not to use it?

Some things didn't change, only someone who owned a full sim could order an OS sim, but demand was high for them. As suggested from some of the posts, some land holders did not want to get them, but customers came clamoring and asking for them, and what does one do, give the customer what they want.

Was there abuse? Sure there was, just like there is abuse everywhere in SL. I got swindled by scumbag resellers when I bought my first mainland parcel, but I chalked that one down to experience, and wouldn't be caught by the same trick again...

So after all is said and done, what has upset people is that LL was happy to keep selling these for 7 months and said nothing.... Demand skyrocketed, it was an opportunity to have some land with privacy (something one is hard pressed to get on the mainland, and the prices there reflect that). I had one, though I had to abandon mine for different reasons recently (think world economy). When I bought mine, I accepted that I can't do much on my sim, I accepted if there were issues with performance, I've got no where to go and complain. From most of the people here on the forums, it seems most did use them in a responsible manner. It is the way LL has dealt with this whole price rise issue that seems to have upset people including me. Many are now sceptical as to LL's motives. First it was abuse, then its "we are happy they are popular....etc.. etc".

One telling graph here: http://secondlife.com/whatis/economy-graphs.php has me wondering as well what their motives are.... We don't have Q3 info there, but one can see the spike in demand for land on the bottom graph titled "Resident Owned Land Mass", one can see the spike in Q2, and one can expect an even bigger spike in Q3. A few months back LL seemed happy with the sales and popularity of this product.

So for me it boils down to this line in Wednesday's post:



LL sees the NEW value they didn't see before, and the worst thing is, it is not a paltry 5, 10, 15 or even 25 percent increase in price, its a massive 66% price increase. Monday's post from jack suggested it was abuse of resources. On Tuesday it was as quoted above. What will the users get for their 66%? Nothing tangible. Not even more prims.

Many see it as a bait and switch deal, price gouging. Get many in, then raise the price. Others see it as a tactic to push people back to the deserted mainland.

But I think all seem to agree that something isn't right here. The price increase came at a bad time, the economic situation in the world, where many of us, me included, have to do a lot of belt tightening. The price increase seems exhorbidant. The original announcement had an accusatory tone, and the price increase seemed like a punishment even to those that did nothing wrong. The continued silence from LL is not helping the situation. There have been other unpopular decisions made by LL, maybe they are thinking this time its going to be the same, that we are going to grin and bear it, like we always seem to have done so. The perceived uncaring of LL for us, the supposed builders of this world. For me, they have just demonstrated they are just another opportunistic company out to get as much money out of us as they can, and my naive belief in the original dream of what SL was meant to be is now shattered. I know that there are many many wonderful people working for LL. Some are very caring, helpful and understanding. They are not the ones orchestrating this crisis of confidence.

No, its not the Toreleys or Katts doing this to us. I have no answers as to who and why, and we are not getting any answers from LL either. Nature abhors a vacuum. This IS a crisis of confidence in LL. As you have seen, there appears to be a mass abandonment of OS sims going on as we speak. Was that the original intent? I don't know, but many do speculate as to the reason. I've never posted before on these forums on previous issues until this one. I do feel hurt with the realisation that I am just a "cash cow" for this company. Feelings are what is fueling the current crisis.

I hope this mini reply/rant helps. I might have some of this all wrong, others will correct me where I am.

In the hopes you didn't need the garbage can lid
Respectfuly
Stress Blister

Vryl Valkyrie...penned a thread entitled 'Acceptance, letting go and moving on' it's a thread probably on page one (though it ought to be on page 100..sorry my personal opinion).

Perre..

Here's another little take.

This is a Linden Openspace sim:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_57UfnAbl-LU/SQtcxSVUuWI/AAAAAAAAAMY/1m7Mv8ZSrR8/s1600-h/Seahorse+Excursion_001.jpg

This is my sim:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_57UfnAbl-LU/SQkVYfeWimI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/xGkM_Lhx4TQ/s1600-h/1ms+Total+Frame+Time_002.jpg

I've over 1,000 less prims in mine, and carry half the script load and no physics except when the elevator or transit hovercar runs.

The accusatory tone Stress mentioned has people like me a bit annoyed, (understatement of the year), especially with this sort of use example.

Edit disclosure: There are more physics things in there but they all delete themselves or switch off when not being used.

Thank you Stress this is what I was hoping for. Someone to help explain things from both sides of view for those of us who don't understand.

When Ive asked before all I got were excuses for why people used them the wrong way without actually explaining and biting my head off for asking instead of simply saying.. your right I did use them for unintended purposes but here's why etc etc.

There's a lot of people like me who aren't into purchasing or renting land that are sitting back scratching thier heads going "What the heck?" I honestly knew nothing about open land until the day prior to the announcement when i was wandering around and seen 3some advertisements. I tp'ed a friend in because the offer seemed to good to be true and we looked up on the land exchange what open land was and used for.

At that point I abandoned any ideas of buying because of the terms spelled out. The next day when things blew up I found out some of the boating and scenic areas I went to a lot owned by friends were actually open land sim's.

Like I said I was targeting anyone just wanted to understand why all the threats and name calling began in the first place. I will admit it doesn't change my opinion about the whole thing but at least I understand a little better.

Melyanna..having read hundreds of threads/responses I have to say your thread is the most sensible/logical I can find. What you've said sums up the problem beautifully..thank you!!

I am an Island owner but not a OSim owner, but my heart goes out to those who have OSims and used them as they were intended and now have to pay for those who did not.

Sadly I'm not a Linden, but I know they will read your comments and take note.

Perre..

And I forgot to say I do agree with you about it being a punishment and driven by greed. If they waited so long to raise a stink about the way they were being used and suddenly during a time of economic pressures announced a price raise then somewhere behind it money must be an issue.

I would think now if any is when they should be reflecting the economy by dropping prices not raising them. If people cant afford things now how is raising cost going to make things any better.. With so many people losing jobs, pay being reduced etc no one has the extra cash to blow so why not show your residents you understand and care by reducing some of the costs to ensure they all remain residents and enjoy playing the game.

If having to chose between putting food on the table and an extra smaller sim for twice the cost I'm going for the pb & J approach. I can't eat the sim after all.

Thanks again for shedding some light on the situation. I really is greatly appreciated.

Yes well in a couple of months we will see how things turned out. Personally I think that people need to chill out, step back, get rid of the hysteria, and study what is really going on. Griefing new residents on behalf of ad farmers is totally wrong and it was baffling to see the group log where an ad farmer was ordering people to risk their accounts. Worse was people blindly following that lead. And that is what caused the entire thing. Vryl tried to stop that and the mob would have none of it. So now I get to see who aligns themselves with people that have, in my opinion, possible dubious motivations for telling people to do things that bought themselves their first one hour suspension. Now the next time those unlucky residents make a mistake they might not get a warning before a permanent ban.

To put it simply a lot of people fell for an old tactic of someone trying to make the community turn on itself to lay blame instead of being up front. In my opinion anyway.

Clear heads will prevail. Major estate owners that are run as a professional business are not resorting to virtual violence. I also hear they are negotiating directly for relief. I mean put yourself in the corporate seat. Who will you listen to? A professional negotiating for terms or a mob yelling screaming and shoving new customers around in your lobby?

People should be questioning motives if they are being asked to do things that are against the TOS/CS. And in my opinion people should be distancing themselves from organizations that are actively engaging in griefing welcome areas, etc.

Thank you Pierre

I've been around sl for a while and have watched many fads etc come and go but I'm always amazed at the level of emotions most seem to bring out. Like I said I still stand 100 percent behind my first post but now I understand a little about the other sides as well.

It's not a point of how long people were allowed to use them improperly before the lindens called foul because whether a week or 6 months they were still used wrong. Are the lindens responsible for not stepping up sooner or the land owners for doing wrong in the first place.

Thats not an answer I can or want to give since both seem at fault. My worry is for the ones who played by the rules and are now finding themselves caught in the middle.. on the losing end regardless of the out come. My only hope is that in the end whatever both sides agree to these people aren't punished for the actions of others whether intentional or not.

I know there are those who will look at these words and come back at me with a fury thinking I'm attacking them but its not the case. My hope is just as I've been willing to try and see it from their point of view they will try to see it from mine.

As for the plate of cookies. If I set them out and told the kids not to touch and they chose to ignore my warning.. well guess who is going to bed without dessert for the rest of the week...

LL has the ability to limit sim use. Recently they revoked the ability to use prim bonus on openspaces, for instance. They could easily have limited our use of openspaces themselves.

But they didn't. Openspaces were "abused" before they were given double prims and made cheap, you know. How did they react to abuse? They increased the number of avatars allowed, they doubled our prims, they allowed us the same script use any other sim has with no restriction and invited everyone under the sun to move onto one.

Golly, I wonder why. I'm sure it wasn't to bait a lot of people into buying them hardware so that a few months later they could enforce something that they didn't even enforce before they originally doubled prims, etc.

...so that they could retask said hardware, that openspace setup fees bought, to something they would rather do. That would be a bait and switch, wouldn't it? That would be like, woah, kinda iffy legally.

Nah, if they were worried about sim use, they wouldn't raise tier. They'd limit sim use. They'd pick an option that actually focuses on the people who are the biggest abusers. Instead, they get medieval on non-profits and people who don't make a lot of money from their openspaces.

Sound like they are worried about sim use to you?

[Originally Posted by Jack Linden
...
Thirdly, I wanted to clarify one issue. As mentioned in the post, Openspaces were intended for space, empty areas of ocean or forest. ]

I would like somebody to tell me how many of the OS's are used as supposedly intended... I have been around SL for a long while and I haven't seen one single OS used for ocean only or for forest.

Look at the pictures on the log in screen. That is how they are intended to be used. Like a berm barrier around your island to allow you to use your main island to the max perimeter for your city or castle and have an organic looking border around it to make it look like an island instead of a square.

But that is the original low prim sims that are only allowed adjacent to your main sim. Not this hybrid open space sim they started selling. Why sell a medium prim sim at all if it cannot be used differently than a low prim sim?

Its not TRUE though, is it? you aren't even an Open Sim owner!!!! No one gave me a 'terms and conditions' of usage. I've been asking to see them for four days and still no one can give me them! I bought mine with tenants already on and I went to Concierge and asked them about it! They said that renting out for light residential usage was acceptable and on that basis I completed the transfer - a transfer they charged $200 for. Three months later I have to abandon them. $700 down the drain.

One thing to mention is that Linden Lab has been notoriously awful at keeping documentation about their products up to date. Sometimes there have been big changes of policy that have taken years to get into the documentation.

When I first got into SL, all the documentation talked about taxation of prims. I was terrified to get too much out ofmy inventory and look at it, in case I was taxed on it. Of course they had already moved to charging people a tier fee on the amount of land they had, and so I was in no danger of taxation... but the documentation on the website and in world all talked about taxation... it was very confusing.

The way that LL made the announcement has everyone all over the grid arguing about what is and is not acceptable usage for an OpenSpace Sim, but my SL partner says that in all probability running 16 sims on one server is an overload *anyway* and so although it won't help if you stuff your sim full of prims and scripts and people, the fundamental problem caused by runnng 16 sims on a single server won't be solved by the residents.

I don't know if that is true and whether LL know this, or think that the usage does make a difference. What I do know is that it was reasonable for people who checked with LL that it was ok to put homes or shops on the OpenSpace Sims to assume that this WAS ok. Especially since Garth Fairchang says it was none other than Jack Linden who told him this was OK.

To fall back on the documentation on th website as "proof" that people are using the OpenSpace Sims in an unexpected way, is just unbelievably dishonest. They knew what the sims were being used for, and they crowed about the expansion in the grid.

Of course, we all have a vested interest in Second Life continuing... well ok, some of us still have - I think the people who have weepingly abandoned their OpenSpace Sims already, on the basis that two months at the old rate is just throwing good money after bad - they may ~*not* have a vested interest in SL any more. But for those of us who live and work in SL, we want LL to continue and that's why we feel so angry about what has been said and done.

The residents of SL are intelligent and creative and they understand the commercial constraints that we are all living under. If LL had announced that they had a problem, and explained honestly what it is... there might have been constructive suggestions from the residents that could have gone some way towards alleviating the problems, maybe.

There have been a number buried in the threads on this subject: allowing people who are using the sims in the expected way with water and 50 prims, to stay at the lower level. Instituting a new tier for people who want to make heavy usage of a OSS - or maybe offering them the chance to have 1/4 of a full sim instead of the OSS. Stopping all scripts, limiting the avatars on OSS.

I don't know what other creative suggestions might have come out of a discussion of that sort... a standard for the diferent types of OSS could have been collaboratively developed.

In the end, if it came down to economics and LL expected to increase their income with this move, it has badly backfired... people are abandoning their OpenSpaces... some are cynically suggesting that this was the desired outcome, as it enables LL to sell thm over again.

What seems worst to me is the idea that there are hundreds of OSS owners out there who don't read the forum or the blogs and are unaware what's about to happen to them. I just hope none of them needs the extra $50 for food/rent.

Also, one would assume that this current change AT THE VERY LEAST would be documented on the website when you go to buy an OSS... but that doesn't seem to have happened yet. I am assuming that they are not selling new OSS without explaining the potential problems and forthcoming increase?

The plain fact is, that for Linden Lab to point to out-of-date documentation and to say "See, that's always been the rule" is just hypocritical and devious. Dealing with it by pricing the people who were only just making their previous tier is calculating - and stupid, because it counts loyalty and love for their product as *nothing*. Devaluing the assets of everyone who owned an OSS is reckless.

Rules are only good if everyone understands what they are, you keep the documentation about what the rules are up-to-date and publicly available, and they apply rigorously to everyone, LL included.
~Cali~

That is the problem. We never had rules.

All we had was "intended use' and "if you use it for anything else, don't come crying to us when the performance goes down the toilet", and a few scattered bits of technical info on OpenSpaces.

Never was it said "You can do THIS, and you can't do THAT".


Stress

From my understanding, it's more 'script and avatar' use then anything else.

I could be very wrong, but in my brain.....a sim that is a waterway but have two boats go through it a day with 3 people on it each with HUDS, AO's and whatever else people attach to themselves script wise versus one having 3000 prims with a few rotating textures some poseballs and a couple of emitters seeing maybe 10 people on it a day during the same week would be about equal when it comes to server load. But I'm not a techy, so maybe I am far off base here.

When LL released the OS's, it was "you SHOULD use them for this but if you don't...it's on you...we won't deal with it." guidelines. There were no hard and fast rules. They did not bother to lock down the islands in a way that set RULES, they only offered guidelines.

Then when many decided to use what they offered instead of follow the guidelines....knowing that they would be on their own by going over said guidelines......LL decided to raise cost. On top of that, LL admitted to knowing serving load has been an issue re: OS for awhile now and yet continued to both sale and offer conversions at cost to those who paid the money. It has many upset. Why not place hard and fast rules by coding the islands a certain way. Why raise prim and raise cost and allow them to be bought in such a way that promotes them to be used other then what their 'guideline' suggested? (ie: no more four packs, no more connected to main island, etc). Then, to make matters worse..discovering that LL's own employees also used these OS's for more then just "open waters" and have also scripted and primmed out their sims. Some of them upon discovery were changed to full sims (one Linden went so far as to say that they were always full sims but with a OS prim allotment...I find that hard to believe) others I am not sure they have been changed but they were also documented...Nautilus is one of my own findings.

So it's keeping with this analogy.

*Mom says to child*: I'm going to place down this plate of cookies that, you should not eat more then one because you might get an upset stomach. If you do decide to eat more then one, I will not help you.

*Child eats three cookies* Why did you eat those cookies? They are three weeks old and although I am glad you enjoyed them, they will make you sick! Now you are grounded!

*Mom eats three cookies and when child asks why* Oh, those weren't the same cookies, it was a mistake since I had the good ones on the left of the plate, now go to your room...your grounded.

This was the most clear and correct explaination of what is the issue and what has happened, THANK YOU!

No that's not quite right. There are no such terms when you go to the land store. The Lindens knew for a long time how they were being used, it was pointed out at office hours, it was pointed out on blog posts and a cursory glance at the land sales forum here had plenty of examples too.

They were being rented out before Linden Lab changed the product to allowing them to be purchased one at a time, when they had a lower prim limit.

This is why some people are annoyed. There was a custom and practice issue and at no point did the Lindens announce "Hey you're using openspaces for the wrong purpose". They put no agreement in the land store, no terms and conditions. They didn't forbid usage, had they done so all the complaints would have been null and void.

In July there was even a blog post pointing out how well the product was doing, but everyone knew how they were being used, including Linden Lab. They were selling like hot cakes.

This is why Linden Lab should be taking responsibility instead of blaming their customers.

After all the uproar of the last couple of days, I think I am finally reading something that makes sense, not just from one individual, and not even in agreement with each other, but at least sensible. One thing I'd like to add however, is the dilemma facing many, like myself and others close to me, who find themselves renting an OS sim and expecting to see that price increase passed down sometime between now and January. Before anything further, and not really seeking pity, but understanding....I went into renting an OS sim at the encouragement of my mainland estate owner, and all I was given was the information that the space was larger, the prims were less, and the price was affordable. We had no intent to go into large scale rentals, profit making businesses, or anything other than a quiet beautiful place that 3 people could share without bumping into each other or someone else or having the general public traipse across the land or peer into your windows... a simple matter. Did we choose to ignore the rules? No! simply because we had no clue there were rules out there. We were not informed of them, did not know there was a definition and set of guidelines for Open Sims, and would not have recognized that anyway without more research because we were told ours was a void sim, which have only learned in the last couple of weeks is the same a Open Sim. In real life, I am an intelligent person most of the time. Apparently in SL, am a bubblehead, because somewhere along the line, never realized all this fine print existed. For all we knew, a void sim meant it was defective in some way, not useful to the general public, and something that met our needs. Now, however, much more comes to light... information that should have been provided up front, wasn't, and now we are faced with loss of home, work put into creating a good use for an open sim, and trust in a system that has been less than up front it seems, all of which, if the price increase holds and is passed on to us, will probably mean three less inhabitants of SL come January or before simply because we can no longer afford it. But if Linden Labs or anyone else wants to create less havoc and gain more income, stop and think about all the non-premium, non-landhold, non-tier paying avatars roaming around SL continuously, holding inventory, rezzing objects, at times creating grief and mischief for others (stated very carefully and not directed at most avi owners), and generally creating a major strain on a system. Those same avi's are also populating some of the major business that may be located on OS and creating some of the overload use themselves. Pause, take a deep breath, and let the dust settle, but in all things, be reasonable. There is usually more than one reason things do go awry and decisions get made, and usually more than one solution to a problem. Thank you Melyanna, Perre, Ann, Blister, and the rest for making my Sunday morning an enlightment.

So, they gave the people 3,750 prims on the OS sims, and they were not supposed to use them? Why were 3,750 prims made available? I thought since the sim CAME WITH 3,750 prims, that it was OK to use them. Is that not a valid assumption? then they turn around and say there is too much of a load on the OS sims.