The Day After

Well, while we eagerly await the official results of the first election, I'm starting to worry about what happens on Monday - when officially Linden Lab will review Neualtenburgs status and renew (or not) the lease on the land held by the City.

To be very truthful, I think that we fall a little short below expectations (and this is worrying me a lot):

- the city is perhaps 90%-95% built, but not "finished". Also, there is not much variety in the façades. The church is clearly my favourite building, and the second "landmark" I love most is the bridge (not originally planned, I think). However, things could have been better
- politically, things worked well: the Constitution is written, we sorted out most details, we did our elections, we have everything "roughened up" for the Government to start working. But we haven't actually "started" the Government work properly
- finantially, we're a ruin Yes, Ulrika's site shows that we have sold around L$ 40 K in Neualtenburg-related items, but over 80% of the income came from just one item. The taxes generated from the sales are very far from being able to sustain the tier cost of the half-sim used by Neualtenburg
- there are a few regular events, but they don't attract that many people. Neualtenburg is unfortunately empty most of the time
- awareness of Neualtenburg is very high in the forums, but the forums only represent 5% of the population or so. There aren't really many things that attract people to visit Neualtenburg or stay there
- we have managed to attract other ideas beyond the original project - the newspaper, for instance. Still, we need a few more weeks to get those projects going on!
- while we managed to have 50+ people in the Neualtenburg group, this is about 1/3 of the "full" group as originally proposed. Nevertheless, we could say that we had 1/3 of an year to attract people

So, what should be the "final judgement" of the Lindens? I don't know! Still, if we compare it to things like Neverland (which WAS shut down!), I'd say we're well below that level of "awareness". I'm afraid that Haney may be too hard with his judgement on us

What would be our alternative? Buying the land from the Lindens? I think we should really discuss this among ourselves. Speaking strictly for myself, I'd like Neualtenburg to "survive". It's a pity to see someone at LL pressing the "delete" button and make all our work disappear just because we're slightly below expectations

What do you think about it? Should we have some sort of fund-raising event to try to buy the land? Could we discuss prices with LL?

*sighs*

- Gwyn, eagerly awaiting the official results of the election today, as well as LL's decision tomorrow...

Hmm.

Food for thought.

I've been thinking about it a lot too Gwyneth. It's not all sour grapes though. I feel that we have accomplished a tremendous amount of truly ground-breaking work on a multidimensional and complex project. I applaud everyone who has contributed to the build either as framers of the constitution, artisans who have built structures and wares, or those who held events in the city. This project, specifically the great people I met and things I've learned about political systems, will stay with me for all my days.

The infrastructure needs a tremendous amount of work. Just last night I was up until the wee hours of the night rebuilding the entire city wall. I also added a unique structure that I found in an architecture magazine to the far hill across the bridge as an exercise in creativity.

Next weekend I'm going to raze the modern art museum and rebuild it using a design that's more in line with the modern look I had planned. It will include elements of the bridge, to pull the city together architecturally. Finally, I'm romancing a builder for the castle but I'll probably end up doing the majority of it myself. It might be a month or two until I break ground on it.

I think the failure in achieving the quality and extent of the architectural goals is simply a lack of talented builders. We have but four people working on the entire city and two of those worked on only a single building. If we do get a second term, we should allow those who show talent in city building to focus on that task until it is complete.

I can't let you sell us short on this one. The political system is actually the one thing, with which we are exactly on schedule. The goal was to hand the city over to a representative body at the beginning of the second term and we will do just that.

Additionally, the collaboration on the constitution was amazing. I've never worked with so many people before on a single project. It was a thrill! On top of it we created a hybrid RL-SL voting infrastructure to support our elections -- the first of its kind in SL!

I agree. Although it's not just the city that's in financial ruin. Those who are building it are being ruined well.

Because of the amount of time I spend working on infrastructure, my personal income from my animation business is off by almost a factor of ten. I made as much in four months in the city as I used to make in a few weeks. Additionally, I know that Kendra and I have purchased large tracts of land adjacent to Anzere for the city at our own personal expense. Add to that our RL land-tier contributions and it's just painful.

I feel that our inability to capitalize on a themed city that is adjacent to a telehub is our greatest failure. Kendra and I did complete our stein store and start work on an imports store, however we lack advertisement, signage, visitation and thus the sales. I had hoped that holding events would improve things but they have not, in fact sales have essentially dropped to zero over the past few weeks.

With that said, I have a solution. The solution is to rent out the property. Right now in my inbox I have four requests from people to live in the city and many more which come by IM every week. In our next lease I would like to be placed in charge of a group of rental properties as a test project. It will allow us to build up the scripts and know how required to rent property. Based on discussions with those who lease property, we should easily have enough revenue to pay the land tier fee.

Although some of our other difficulties are personally more painful, I think this is the one that puts our lease at greatest risk. I had hoped holding events would help but it has not. Just last night a visitor was asking why our dwell is so low.

My solution, again, is to try to move forward with leasing as soon as possible. I believe it would solve our "ghost town" problem.

I don't know if the total number we have in our group is really that significant as most do not contribute to the group. (For instance we've had about 17 people vote so far.) It's my feeling that one or two talented hard-working members is worth 25 who contribute little.

I was just talking to David Cartier of Dark Life about this last night. He thinks that our political system is doomed (as theirs was) as most people like to exercise control over a group and then go sit in the figurative office and eat donuts while others do the work. He said that a benevolent dictatorship is the way to go.

I think a solution is to redefine membership requirements to include a fee. For instance, everyone would be required to pay L$500 per week and they would receive a single dwelling space. Those paying land-tier fees would be exempt. Those who served for the government would be exempt. Those building structures would be exempt. To the citizens it looks like a rental, to us it translates to productive input that supports our hard work.

I think our lease will be renewed for a few reasons. First, I think we're a group of very intelligent, well-known, and skilled thinkers who are performing advanced-concept research for SL. If anyone can pull off a government and share their results with SL, it's us. Second, this land would remain empty as the snow-sim land next to it if it weren't for our city, so it in fact benefits them financially to allow us to stay here.

If the lease is not renewed, I do think we should pursue purchasing the land. I have L$30,000 left over (I cashed out a lot of my money recently to purchase a new mini Mac) that I would gladly give to the cause.

It might take a few days before we hear from them. I don't think they're in a rush to determine what to do with the city, as it's not really costing them anything.

I'll announce the results of the election tomorrow.

~Ulrika~

I, too, support purchasing the land if the lease is not renewed, and I pledge to help with that effort in a substantial way.

In fact, I would advocate purchasing the sim, whether or not the lease is renewed. Perhaps not right away, if the kindly Lindens deign to smile upon us and renew the lease. But, over the longer term, an organized entity such as Neualt may find its interests not entirely in line with those of the Lindens (to put it diplomatically).

In that situation, it would be far preferable to be firmly positioned in that tiny area that passes for law in SL; namely, "you pays your tier, you gets your land."

Sudane

I would love to see this in an island state. However, at that point, I would say that the current constitution would need a remake. This one is tied to the requirements made on the project by the Lindens, and is geared more toward profit than governance – and, of course, toward a few particular social experiments.

If we were autonomous, then I would recommend a constitution that simply creates a council of the 12 (or however many) landowners, leaving the individual landowners free to live as they will (within the Community Standards of course) on their own parcel, except for those rare rules the Council adopts for the whole island.

I think this could eventually create an attractive alternative that will gradually require the addition of more sims to the original island.

I would participate. The cost per month wouldn’t be that much more than what I pay for my Neualtenburg land now. With 12 major holders, it would cost them about 80US to buy in, and 20US a month.

I am very interested in this idea as well. The only negative in my eyes would be that we would no longer be integrated into the greater SL and would be an island floating off in the ether. I do so enjoy our beautiful snow-sim surroundings and ski slopes in adjacent sims.

We will find out in a few days whether or not we will be pressed to find new land.

~Ulrika~

The lease will be renewed with no problem. I have some ideas that might help people come to the city . One is the new money trees being put out... I will fund one from my weekly stipend and place it in the city.

The past few months have been rough on me with work but that has eased up and I'm itching to do some serious building. I have built a pub thats a lil prim heavy but I think would look cool in or near the city.

The politics have consumed much of the projects time...with that out of the way everything else can be concentrated on.

A money tree? I'm fascinated!

Both the city and myself can kick in some money for that as well.

~Ulrika~

I'll take care of it then...it will pull my stipend but the tree can be donated to as well....I have one set up in Rose at my shops... Rose 163, 129 if you want to see what it looks like.. Newbs love em and it will help to increase the dwell a little but will also get people to see the city that otherwise might not have.

This would stop all basic involvement and turn it into a sort-of private island co-operative. I don't think participation in Neualtenburg should depend on access to rl money.

I understand your reaction, but I’m not sure this alternative plan (which it appears we most likely won’t need anyway) would “stop all basic involvement.”

The main difference I see would be that we wouldn’t have to pass muster with the Lindens. Therefore, we could create our economy at our own pace, and our government could be simpler and even more inclusive.

I’m not saying that the only participants would be the landowners, under my model. I agree that participation should not be based on wealth. We already have something similar. Some people are contributing land, some labor, some interest, some analysis, etc. Having twelve major landowners would simply see that the bills for an island were paid up. It wouldn’t preclude anyone else from contributing, or from buying/renting land from those twelve, or from creating a revenue-producing enterprise. Landownership wouldn’t necessarily be the basis of citizenship. I’m not even sure ownership, alone, would necessarily entitle one to citizenship. I’m just saying that having the island paid for would free us up to create our economy and government based on what we <i>want</i> as opposed to what we <i>need</i>.

Again, this appears to be moot at this point, but this seemed like a good time to mention it.

And, in the future, perhaps we’ll find even more distance between our desires and the Lindens’ requirements. At that time, we may want to take what we’ve learned in Neualtenburg and see if it will stand on its own.

Thank you all for your bright analysis! It surely shows how we have, at least, managed to bring a group together that has a good grasp of what went very well and what did not go so well, according to the group's own expectations.

Now that the elections are over, I think that the new Government's priorities should be:

- Understand the Linden's "official" position. I think they'll renew the lease, so perhaps we don't need to worry too much, but they may probably change the requirements for letting us keep Neualtenburg in Anzere - by challenging us to increase dwell, make Neualtenburg finantially self-sustaining, whatever. The Government will have to think about these issues. The great thing is, 90 or 95% of everything they need - a built city, a Constitution, a group of talented individuals - are all here and ready to serve!
- Make Neualtenburg finantially sound. I agree with both Ulrika's suggestions: have the non-tiering members of Neualtenburg pay a weekly fee, and lease space in the city for L$. I'd also like to advice the Guild to allow the resale of non-Neualtenburg related stuff. As a side note, my silly scripted objects, which sell for around L$150-250 in SL Exchange (where there is a commission of 10% as well), allowed me an income of over L$ 7K in just a month. If we had 20 or 30 similar merchants in SL, that would allow us to pay for Neualteburg's tiering costs. Unfortunately, in my particular case, the objects are not really "thematic" but absolutely generic. We should have the Guild review these requirements.
- Attract more people! I have as yet failed to find someone who did not like Neualtenburg when they first visit it. However, the City cannot be only "a pretty build" to have people come over to visit - there must be unique things in Neualtenburg that make people select it spontaneously as a destination. I thought that events would be a great starting place. Since the number of events has dropped significantly, this also means much less competition for the remaining event hosters, and I think we can "boost up" population in this way. However, events are short-lived points in time - we need "permanent attractions". I think that the museum could be one of those things! Another one would be an "ongoing contest" related to building/texturizing, similar to the "decoration contest" during the holidays.

All this and more, in the weeks to come Hooray for Neualtenburg

Fellow Neualtenburgers!

Linden Lab has come up with a new challenge for our group. Recently, LL have been accused of "favouritism" - giving too much to some, and dealing unfairly with others. It's not hard to understand why we have been so often targeted as being "LL's pet government project" and attacked both in the forums and in-world.

If you have kept up with recent developments, even Robin Linden has withdrawn the proposed "Incubator Program" - a way for LL to finance (with US$!) interesting projects. There have been so many complains about the way LL supports new ideas proposed by residents, that they have gradually abandoned them.

For us, this means that after the (already announced) extension of another four months - so Neualtenburg will be around until May, 22nd - they will not renew the lease after that date, independently on our "success". This means that Anzere will be parceled out and sold at the public auctions after that date.

The RA has already met in-world and discussed things over. We have at the moment evaluated a strategy which will be presented to LL about the long-term survival of the project, and brainstormed about further ways to secure a finantial return on the project. You may have seen a few suggestions for bills to be passed by the RA, and we surely welcome some more!

So, Neualtenburg, Part II - The Return of The Stubborn Citizens! We want to be here AFTER May

Gwyneth,
Thanks for the update, that certainly is a challenge.

At current market rates, how much would it cost to buy all the land we currently have?

hehe, I'll refrain from further questions or comment until the minutes of the RA meeting are out.

Catfart, as you'll see, we're trying to go for the suggestion of buying a private sim, using the "treasurer" (Uma Bauhaus, Ulrika's alt with a password shared by a few members of Government) as holder of the private sim - which will be set to group. This was Talen's suggestion.

I'm in a real hurry right now, but I'll try to post tomorrow some more info!

Thanks for posting the RA chat logs Gwn.

I do wonder a bit where having a private sim will leave people like myself.
At the moment, I donate a bit of land tier and as part of the Gild, I'm supposedly available to take on any work that needs doing and can donate some items to be sold by the government. In exchange, I get to vote on who is on the RA and running the project.

I'm not sure how that is going to work with a private Sim. I'll no longer be donating any land tier. I have my own land, so I have no need to rent a plot in the new sim. The view seems to be, which I agree with, that retail sales are unlikely to meet anymore than a fraction of any costs. What stake do I get in the new sim. What stake does a citizen get who has no tier or cash to donate?

If we have people renting land from and living in the private Sim, why should I get a vote, and not them? Surely they will be the true citizens of Neualtenburg City?

I'm also concerned that the plan will put an unofficial requirement that you must meet in order to be in the RA, money. There are going to be times when rents and other incomes will be less than the monthly fees. Unless the City has built up a large pot of lindens, someone will have to make up the shortfall, probably with real money. Now at the moment, we might have people in the RA that are generous enough that they can cover this, but what about the future? What if after an ele tion in four months all those who said they will cover the costs are not in government?

From the point of view of keeping the project going, a private sim sounds good. But in practice, we have already lost the object from the Lindens of making an attractive location that filts in with the snow sims. And I'm not sure that the impact on our experimental government objective has been thought through.

If we take this route, what will be the difference between the Neualtenburg City Projekt and any other group of people that get together and buy a sim between them?

Catfart, one thing is for sure - Neualtenburg will change, and we will need to adapt.

Some of these changes are under our control, and some don't.

Currently, Neualtenburg exists "for the sake of preserving the snow sims". In return, LL gently leased the land for us. In the near future, Neualtenburg is really not "tied" to that anymore - the land will either be "owned" (i.e. a private sim, or a mainland sim) or eventually rented from another resident (even one not tied to Neualtenburg!).

This last choice is dangerous - if this resident leaves the game, what then?

So we needed to tie Neualtenburg to an ever-changing group of people, and make sure that, if this group has people leaving or joining, we can at least ensure that the land "stays" in the group's hands (or, better still, in the Government's hands).

The first option would be buying a mainland sim. This would mean a tier-based approach - residents own the city, and the Government will have to make sure that it always has enough tier to cover its holdings, making sure that people leaving the group are compensated with people coming in and donating further tier. However, under the current pricing structure, buying a whole sim is way beyond the cost of a private sim - perhaps 3-5 times as much - since private sim land cannot be "sold", just rented.

In either case (mainland or private sim), we need to make sure that Neualtenburg is finantially sound - with a mix of land rentals, item sales, event hosting, and other things like a casino. This is our hardest task. Note that under the current model, we don't "feel" that need so much, since we fully depend on residents' generousity. Under the next model, we have no choice except concentrate on the finantial part of Neualtenburg - we don't want to rely upon generosity just to keep a few pretty builds somewhere. We want the City of Neualtenburg to be self-sufficient.

I don't think that it's a good idea to have non-citizens renting houses. What is the point? If you live in Neualtenburg, you become a citizen! That's the whole point. By renting a place, you'll be part of the project, contributing to the finantial soundness of Neualtenburg - and surely you deserve to vote for the Government that holds the land where your house is, and be elected as well? So, I'm not for non-citizens "renting land" in Neualtenburg. You have to become one and abide by the Constitution and laws of the City (even if we create the notion of "immigrant" - a non-citizen living in Neualtenburg - there will be some laws applying to immigrants as well).

Now, there is one part that I didn't understand in your post... where is it stated that you need to have money to be in the RA? Actually, the number of members of the RA that have either contributed tier or money to the project is pretty low. I don't have SL open to check on this, but I can tell you that, as an example, I didn't contribute with either time or money (well, that's related to my own RL problems when the project started, which I don't really should mention here...). I contribute with work and taxes, and whatever the Government of Neualtenburg sees fit to charge me in the future. We're discussing models where there shouldn't be a "free ride" in Neualtenburg - you either contribute with money or work. Actually, I believe that the model will have some sort of taxation on every resident, but will pay some of them salaries for their work (so "canceling out" their tax). How exactly this will work is for the RA to propose and for the Guild and the SC to correct and approve. The great thing is, the RA is not "uniform" and has different opinions. I can imagine a point in time where nobody in the Government has contributed tier, but they will certainly be hard-pressed to make sure they address tier contributers' needs and expectations, or else they will certainly be elected out of the Government in no time.

The first step - proposed by Sudane Erato - is that we have a City Budget. This means that currently we need about L$ 50,000 or so per month to pay for tier or a private sim. And we have 60 people in the group, although perhaps 20 or so are very involved in the project. A mix of item sales, event hosting, land rentals, taxing and eventually a casino should be able to give us a return of L$ 50,000 per month. How exactly this should be done is still open for discussion and certainly there is not an "overall agreement" on ow we should manage that. There will be lots of compromises. But we need the City Budget as a guideline for our plans. And yes, this will certainly be open for public discussion.

So, the bottom line is... the "difference" of the Neualtenburger Projekt and "just another sim with the group running it" will mainly be an elected government deciding upon budgets and the way things should be run. A government which you can change on the next elections and whose members are just common residents - everybody could be elected if they wished - and that will survive independently on its composition. I expect, as new people join Neualtenburg and others leave the group, that the government will be very dynamic and certainly representing the views of the current "mix" of individuals in the City at a point in time.

Also, public opinion counts! Even if someone doesn't care about the necessary work to be in the Government, they are able to voice their opinion, look at the meeting minutes, and protest/demonstrate/write on the public forums that the City is not really "on the right track". A Government which happily ignores the wishes of the residents (something that happens so often on "simple group-owned sims" will fail, be overthrown, the RA dissolved by the other branches, whatever. The Constitution is in place to make sure the Government reflects the opinions of most residents - and not give "unlimited power" to a group.

So I still think that Neualtenburg is pretty different from so many other "group-based sims" around

I stand very strongly with Gwyn on the points that she makes. But I think that Catfart raises a really important issue.

What is a citizen of Neualtenburg; who is a qualified voter? In the development phase, people were simply "invited" based on an interest to participate. We needed everyone we could get!

As we transition now into a phase of real responsibility, where the "company" is no longer subsidizing the project, it becomes more urgent that the requirements for membership are clearly defined.

In principle, participation in the Neualtenburg Projekt involves benefits and obligations. Else why would anyone be interested? One could say that the participation in development of the first VR social governance system, with constitution, elections, and a system for maintaining a stable society into the future; would be benefit enough! (Certainly gets my blood moving!) But it's not. Prospective citizens have to see tangible benefits they can get in exchange for the obligations the responsibility imposes.

We have to define those benefits. They might include having the right to occupy space in Neualt. Might include right to sell things in Neualt, or establish other income-producing enterprises. Might include receiving a share of the excess of revenues over expenses that Neualt generates, like a corporation with shareholders. We must define these.

And, similiarly, we must define the obligations. There could be a variety of ways that a citizen might meet their obligations. Pay rent for living space. Pay rent for vendor space. Staff one of the city government enterprises (if there are any). Contribute services. Invest in the city. Pay tax. All kinds of things.

I feel this is the essence of the next phase, going along with taking the solid step of assuring Neualtenburg its own sim (by whatever means). (1) Define the benefits. (2) Define the obligations. (3) Define the citizen as that person who wants the benefits and accepts the obligations.

Please forgive me if this sounds simplistic. I guess it is, kind of. But for me, it responds to Catfart's very well taken point, of, "What does it mean to be a citizen of Neualtenburg?".

Sudane

Sudane, it's not "simplistic". Both you and Catfart have hit on the nail. We definitely need to "redefine" what means "being a citizen of Neualtenburg".

Actually, this kind of definition was never properly written down.

Now that we started th Government thingie rolling along, it seems to me that we have tons of things to define...

Gwyn/Sudane,

Thanks for replying,

Gwyn,
My comment about the RA needing money was regarding the case where the city does not have the money to cover its monthly fee's. If that occurs, The RA will have to find the cash from somewhere. Seems to me that the first port of call will be for the RA members themselves. If due to elections etc, there is no one in the RA who can foot the bill, what happens then?

Sudane,
I think your right that the question is over what the benefits and obligations are for a citizen.


I realise that a lot of these issues are for the RA to debate and agree.

On a slightly related note, has Kendra been around lately?

It's tough, Catfart, but in a sense, the RA is "responsible" for the Government of Neualtenburg, so, technically, this would also mean that they should be "carrying the burden" of a finantial disaster.

This is one possible interpretation of the Constitution with which many of us would probably not agree. Well! It seems that we have finally found something for the Scientific Council to think about!

Well, in the US at least, when a government doesn't have enough money to cover its monthly expenses, it just prints more! Quite simple, really. (Don't mean to single out the US. I'm sure every country takes the same approach!)

Seriously, I think you guys are getting hung up on that one issue. Not having the money to cover the expenses, particularly the cost of keeping us from being evicted, is a serious issue, and might well be handled by an appeal. Somewhat like when a country is threatened by imminent attack. All the citizens put aside differences, if their existence is threatened, and do what they can. Some individuals may be able to help personally with the money.

When the crisis is over, those individuals get re-paid, with interest, from the re-organized finances of the city. If the city dies, those individuals lose. We all lose. That's the risk we take.

I have to believe that with a group of citizens who are indeed committed to the survival of a "noble experiment", steps like this might be taken.

Sudane

I tend to agree as well, Sudane. These are "extreme measures" to be taken. On the other hand, we shouldn't "dismiss" them just because they're extreme.

The truth is, we have just done sales of "themed" objects, and tried to extrapolate a budget just based on those - with the simple result that "it is not enough". And from there we asked ourselves what we should do if this doesn't work.

We need to try other things first!