Doom and Gloom: For Drama

I think you are confusing popularity, with "goodness."

As a capitalist you should know that pretty much any kind of shit can be put in a nice package with a pretty bow, and (with enough advertising) people will buy it. History is full of crap products (easily proven to be crap by objective means), that sell like the proverbial hotcakes.

That deals with the new "takeups," but as to why people stay, I imagine it has to do with there not being anything else out there.

If there was any real competition in the market, it might be a different story. Just to join the doom-sayers group....

An open source version with the same features would kill SL!

Dead on, sadly.

Well, I forgot she has me on ignore. But that's kind of beside the point, since I'm not on this thread to talk to Surreal; like all threads, it is a group discussion. My intent is not to "warp her intent," but to present my own position on her thoughts. My intent is not to provide drama, but to discuss ideas. That is what the forums are for, and that is my motivation.

Everyone has their own ideas about which changes are good and which are bad. Speaking out against those a person considers bad isn't being "resistant to change" or any of those other things. Or being an "anti-cheerleader."

As I said before, I have cheered various changes. P2P is one very good example of that! I couldn't possibly have gone on with any more enthusiasm about anything in life than I went on about how wonderful P2P is!

Hippos - lurve em! I couldn't have spent more time on that topic, either, explaining about the cow show in Chicago, etc., and saying how wonderful I thought the hippos and us getting to decorate them was. Multiple select - a no-brainer that that's good. Etc. etc. etc. (But then - if one has me on ignore, one can't very well read any of all that, right?)

Yes, resistance to change is a well-documented human trait. But - if someone doesn't like the hippos, I don't claim it is because they are resistant to change. If someone doesn't like P2P, while I might disagree, I wouldn't put it down to some stubborn resistance to change, or laziness, or whatever. And if someone doesn't like the division between mature and PG for sims staying the way it is, I don't claim it is because they are resistant to non-change.

But the economic changes - all sticks. I doubt I am the only one who sees these things being withdrawn as sticks, and I further doubt that everyone who does is suffering from some sort of hideous personality defect. Take away all the incentives and rewards, and leave nothing in their place - hell yeah, that's a stick.

Yes, dwell is going away - and if things go the way they've been going in these economic regards, stipends will go away too. And I'm agin' it. Since most people aren't "tards," yes, they will not try to have a club based on traffic. And I predict we will have fewer clubs, and other attractions, as a result. And it will be harder to go make a few bucks off free slots or an -ingo.

And that will be, from my point of view, BAD. A bad change. As opposed what I would consider a good change, like P2P.

coco

have faith child, the end is near . lol you sound so dissapointed.

Seriously though, the end is only coming of SL gets purchased by EA .

No sticks, but rather a necessary changes. I feel sorry for the Lindens. Everytime they have tried to create a system of rewards, it's been gamed to death. DI failed it's purpose. LL will continue tinkering until they find something that works. If your incentive and reward isn't to create or play then SL isn't for you.

LL changing how it rewards developers has the seed for some exciting possibilties. What if now all those really killer builds and the excellent events have an actual chance to compete without the drag of camping chair venues and landlords. What an opportunity for individuals to suggest some new development reward methods.

I made my suggestion. I think LL should hire an employee whose sole job is to explore and recommend great builds, events, etc. I think LL would recoup the expense of the salary (nominal since this isn't a tech skill job) in retention as new and old players both know there is somewhere to get the best of the best info. But it's a full-time job. And if it turns out not to be, then throw managing the events calendar in too.

I haven't seen any evidence that stipends are being considered for elimination. Stipends are static and you can't game them. Everything else that has been done away with has been a system warped away from it's original purpose.

No! Spare us! Anything but that!

coco

That's exactly my hunch. There's going to be a huge diversity of players, and Linden Lab will be one of them (if they keep it together long enough to make it there).

Also, "the cat's ass" is the funniest thing ever. Bravo.

I didnt read this entire thread so I hope Im not repeating anything. But there is also a core group of forum regulars that seem to FREQUENTLY post Polls or ask questions of everyone. Census Inner Core.

Blech. I get entirely too MUCH of the cat's ass around this house.

coco

I can order groceries from one of my local stores and have them delivered. I do it all the time. It's great, especially when I'm in crunch mode on a job and don't want to take the time to go shopping. If they used a 3d interface and I had to navigate an avatar through a virtual store I probably wouldn't use it.

I remember back when VRML and VR were supposed to be the next big thing. A lot of online retailers made virtual 3d stores. They were annoying in the extreme. It took three times as long to navigate to what you were looking for than if they'd just used a simple 2d interface. They all went the way of the dodo.

I think when it comes to shopping online most people want convenience rather than gimmicks. I think SL's future in traditional online retail is slim to nil for the same reasons. People shop in SL not because of necessity but because of the fun factor. The shopping is secondary to why people are actually here... to be in a virtual world. For anything in which being in a virtual world would be only a secondary factor it will always lose out to simpler and quicker 2D ways of doing things.