Statement From Linden Lab Staff

I think it is becoming clear significant events have occured in the last 48 hours, firstly with the arrival of millions of Linden dollars on the GOM, and then the closure of the GOM.

I'd like to see a Linden take on the last 48 hours / public statement / intention of actions to stable the L$.

If one has already been released can someone post a link to it here.

Thankyou.

One of surprise I think.
/130/e6/63293/1.html#post662082

Why?

GOM was a resident run solution that people either chose to use or not. A vast majority of residents have gotten by just fine without ever having visited the GOM website or even having exchanged L$. Many, many people couldnt give a stuff what the value of the L$ is.

To LL, the value is zero. They've always said that. So why should they come allay the fears of the chicken little brigade because of something that was never up to them in the first place?

It's really NOT going to kill anyone if LL don't have a currency exchange up before GOM goes.

I don't think they can really win. People will scream if it's not there, and scream if it's there and not perfect because they rushed it, forced by GOM and the baying forum mobs hand.

I've never been much of an LL supporter, but boy do I feel sorry for them sometimes.

I'm not saying they should rush a currency service, I'm just saying they should speak up with a plan to stabilise the Linden dollar. Because it matters to a great deal of people. A great deal of SL customers. But then they could always say something akin to "Look at your contracts, you're stuffed, this is your problem".

But the outcome of saying that to your customers is generall not good

Hang on, I'm confused.
I just bought L$ from GOM 20 mins ago.
Are you saying that its shut down, because my transaction appeared to be successful.

Akasha.

I think part of the problem is that in reality SL has been in the media precisely for the abilty to create businesses and a living from it. That has attracted a lot of players. After all its an environment where the developers have basically said they will allow the exchange of currency unlike other games or virtual environments.

A lot of the news about SL in the media is about the fact that people can create ventures in SL and make Real Life cash from it and lots of it. Its how I found about SL and was intrigued by its possibilities.

Hence things like GOM does become an important issue. GOM shutting down, means that control will cede from the market to the likes of IGE who will now have carte blanche to set their own prices without necessarily listening to the market. And I have to say I would not be surprised if the price on IGE does head south.

Its shutting down on October 2nd 10pm Eastern Time. So you still have a few days to trade

Ah, thanks Hair
I'll just go pay my Avatar whats left in my account then.

Akasha

There's a statement from a Staffer on the matter, except I think it was already linked to.

Was there a part of the ToS I missed that said players were obliged to notify LL of their intentions? "Surprised" and "disappointed" were typographic errors though I think for "causal" and "audacious" respectively, but I'd check with the original poster to be sure.

He's suprised and dissapointed because by doing this GOM have effectively forced LL's hand quicker than they were hoping for and will likely leave currency exchange in a mess for a while, even after LL get their act together.

I guess the GOM boys just wanted to give a little back to LL

Overheard at Linden Lab:
"Statement? Here's a statement for ya: LEAVE US ALONE! Ya filthy drama queens!"

Wow, they must have taught that the day I was hung over and sleep in the back of business ethics class...

Oh come on, business ethics? This goes on day in, day out in business. Companies make threats and companies withdraw services, purely because of conflicts between them and their competitors or partners if they don't think things are progressing as they should. Or even them and their staff.

The Lindens have come through nicely. They in the form of Robin, had the following to say:

/invalid_link.html

Well I wanted the Linden word on things. What they've said sounds fair enough. I'm just sorry those guys have to pull some long nights cause of the way GOM closed. I'd be annoyed and disappointed if my manager told me I had to work late

I have closed a lot of multi million dollar deals at a few large corporations. You operate business to make a profit, you do things in a way that ensures profit and the health of a company. You do not operate out of spite, and even if you do, you are smart enought to hide it from your customers.

You're absolutely right you operate business to make a profit. However, there are numerous examples of brinkmanship or even of closing companies if the situation is such that your only way out would be to close anyway when a situation changes and, if it's possible to cause grief for the leader of that change by choosing the best time to do it, it's hardly rocket science to work out the possible decision making that goes on.

You're basing this on whether or not GOM is making a profit now, and whether they would continue in the future when LL's market made their situation even less favourable. GOM have always said that they don't make a profit, which I'll take on face value for the meantime, and so with that in mind, closure would seem to be the most prudent way forward with this coming change. And yes, they have an opportunity to make things difficult for the engineers of that change by picking now to do it, before this new direct trading is available - namely LL.

The only thing that suprises me about this announcement is that they aren't closing straight away. I guess they've had to temper their changed relationship with LL against giving their past customers a chance to finish things up. I bet it was mighty tempting to just close the doors straight away, and I applaud them for giving enough lead time for people to finish up their current business through them.

Since we're tossing around wild speculations, Linden Lab could have determined that GOM was not to be trusted and per section 7.1 of the Terms of Service could have locked GOM out thus preventing players and GOM from settling their accounts. I'm not saying LL would have, nor would it be in their interests to do so, merely that they could have.

This could have gotten much "nastier" than it presently is and I hope for everyone's sake that it doesn't. Indeed, I personally expect that neither organization is foolish nor spiteful enough to make it worse.

Those millions of L$ on GOM... well, either people snatched them up pronto, or someone withdrew them from sale... they're gone gone gone.

-Ghoti

Currency convertability matters. It matters for those trying to make a rl living here. It matters for those who couldn't justify the hours they put in here without financial payoff. It matters for those who want to start a project, but want the safety net of being able to cash back out.

These things help balance the SL economy.

I hear this over and over from the capitalist guys, but it just isn't true.

At the very least the implication that this is the interest of the *majority* isn't true. The percentage of people that treat SL as a buisiness environment and are in it to make money etc. is exceedingly small by all estimates. Most folks are just here to have fun.

To argue that because this is of interest to your personal business efforts it is also of interest to any customers you may have is specious. This stuff is really only exciting to the fat cats, the land barons, and the "wanabees" of those categories.

Tell that to my residents when those who pay in L$ are met with a different amount to pay each month.

*points to Dianne's post below yours*

What she said

I can imagine it now... Hiro in a big shiny USA flag suit and a bad wig, on stage with a mic "It's that time of month again folks... Spin the wheel of misfortune to find out what you'll be paying!"

Almost right, make it a UK flag

I didn't realise you were a Brit There's more of us here than I realised