Hi folks, I read the forums a lot but usually don't have much to contribute to add to what's already being said. But one thing that's been bugging me is all the changes that's being made and how peculiar it is that they're all so close to each other, timewise.
I've only been playing for a couple of months so far and I've gotten pretty used to how things are in SL currently. I don't want to make these changes out to be some kind of dramatic end of the world event or anything, but I'm certain that there will be some differences in the culture of SL. Some things I've noticed being removed; no more stipend or bonus for free accounts, and no more land dwell. These in themselves don't seem to be a very bad thing really, especially when they're justified with the whole 'we need to stabilize the L$ economy' claim. Although, there's been some additions, which combined with those, might make some interesting results. For instance, no land dwell means less land owners are going to be willing to have camping chairs on their land. No stipend or sign on bonus means no startup money for newbies. This alone will make it difficult for newbies to make money. Now, with the open registartion system that's been implemented, there's going to be a large number of newbies and not much ability for them to make any money. The way I see it, hypothetically, even if a newbie wanted to make just enough money to upload some sounds and/or textures to create objects, it's going to prove very difficult. They'll only be able to use what's already ingame, which means they won't be able to make anything that's significantly better than what has already been made.
I'm sure almost everybody is already aware of all that. Obviously, this would give newbies to choose one of two options; either get a paid account if they want to play, or move on and find another game.
My question to you all is what is going to be done to keep the newbies' interests in staying with SL? If they have no money to buy anything, no means to make money, nothing to start with to make anything, and are too new to decide if they want to commit, what is going to make them stay around? I'm beginning to question what LL is thinking in some of their decisions, but I'm also believing that that if us existing users want them to stick around, it might take a sort of community effort to encourage them to stay around.. and at the same time discourage griefing.
Griefing seems to have become a much bigger concern from what I've seen, and the way LL handles it leaves quite a bit to be desired. It does seem as though it would be extremely to create a scripted griefing object and then just quit the game. I know LSL enough to at least know it wouldn't require much skill to make a reasonably effective one. I do not understand why such an environment would be left open to anybody like this, but it is.
Since LL doesn't seem interested in handling this situation appropriately, I'm wondering if it's going to require the community to handle it, and how we even would. I think if anything, we could provide more money trees or something to help newbies that now have no money and no means to make money? Or something to help them at least a little to retain their interest?
If this has already been discussed or resolved, then just ignore this post and accept my apology.