Anshe's Dreamlands..or...Linden Lab's ...

Not to cause contention..but just wondering how things have developed lately in SL. It appears to me that Dreamland and Ms. Chung have more than a handful of very happy and contented customers. BUT, so again does LL. And the 'big dogs' are usually the ones from which people expect more. So,yes, LL may get more frowns than nods of approval than Dreamland.

What I'm after here..is FUTURIST. IF one is going to make a large investment in virtual real estate..and hopefully for a gain, whether it be financial, realizing a plan well, or just plain fun, where will that person's voice be more clearly heard in case of a concern.

Having had my share of unanswered abuse reports and rote 'answers' given by LL employees, I am wondering how Dreamland handles the concerns of its customers. I know from personal experience that both LL and Anshe have given me very good customer service at times. But the PERCENTAGE satisfaction from Dreamland is better. And to say 'better' is downplaying it. ALL my concerns were dealt with immediately, and solutions given, not just answers. Perhaps this is due to the smaller and more wieldy size of Anshe's lands and Dreamland's population. Yet, even though SL has 100k residents, it seems that only 4 percent are on at best. SO, perhaps wieldiness is not the factor..but a different ethic or philosophy.

IF Anshe's lands/Dreamland were to grow to same 3-4k online population..AND Anshe doesn't decide she has a headache one day and decides to close her SL account...where would YOUR best bet be?

A short time ago, Finn Jensen, a fellow who works with Chung, took a great deal of time simply chatting with me as a customer explaining this and that. My thought when we said goodbye was..'wow, what a difference'!

Again..that was a short time ago. But if Anshe's philosophy is what's making her and her friends excel, then they may be the ones who will make for a better online experience in SL.

Based on my exp within SL. I'm more pro Dreamland than LL. This is totaly based on Customer Service. I asked for help in Dreamland and had a "Angel" respond fast. Then next thing I knew...I had 3 angels helping me. This was not just a single time either....as far as I'm concerned, the future is with Dreamland. Whats this you ask? Did I give LL's customer support a chance. Well, lets see. Live help could not help and suggested I contact LL. So I called LL..3 times with 3 messages left. I've been waiting for 3 weeks now for a return call, a email, IM or something....appears I'll be waiting in 2006 as well.

Just my 2 lindens worth.

Shouldn't this be in Classifieds?

I'm torn. Part of me wants to rave about Anshe and the Angels, and part of me wants to keep it secret.

Anshe has been the lynchpin in building a real neighborhood in SL. She and the Angels, Q, angels, finn, Jaqueline and Jade, among others have built a wonderful spot in SL. While an occassional spam gets through on Group IM, its serves as our local cable station and i've gotten to know or at least laugh at ( ) various posters. Billy O and his people at Dreamland Radio are really pulling it all together, promoting our businesses and getting people mixing.

I have heard complaints and have honestly never experienced any major ones. I've had to wait a bit, a few hours/overnight, but the benefits FAR outweigh these minor bumps.

I got a nice gift pack from Dreamland for Christmas also. I know i paid a lot of $L to Mother LInden to Rate people to find that whole dimension wiped clear. Guess that experiment didnt work but the Lab still has ALL those Lindens collected from many of us, and I didn't even get a quick and dirty SL T-shirt. Unrelated? Maybe, but shows how the personal touch helps.

When any significant changes are due to DreamLand, we get called to Central Park and ALL questions get answered and Anshe has changed her initial inclination during these as WE talk it over.

If I'm going to pay a tier, I know where I'll continue to pay it.

Ich Bein Ein DreamLander!

I decided to stay in Lindenland at least for awhile, although I'm very tempted by both Dreamland and Azure Islands. My (current) decision is based on wanting to see what happens with no controls. So far the conflict between interesting and annoying has come down more on the interesting side. However, having said that, the controlled sims are really beautiful.

I wonder if the future isn't for the controlled sims to be quieter, architectural and chatting areas, and the mainlands chaotic, somewhat shabby, commercial, entertainment, and experimental areas. People like myself who are interested in building and scripting, are kind of a bad thing for the controlled sims since the intermediate stages are often not very pretty. Similarly, a lot of commercial and entertainment operations are decidedly not welcome. I suspect the advent of P2P teleporting may actually help the controlled sims a lot since experiencing both worlds is much easier now.

Both Dreamlands and Azure Islands were very responsive to my inquiries. I've had no interactions with the Lindens, but wonder if it's the difference between interacting with a local company vs a government or monopoly in RL.

This isn't classified, it's PR coverage for the Finn situation. And it's very well done I might add.

Yes Margot, when SL consisted of forty sims and twenty Lindens, everybody knew everybody and customer service amounted to a friendly chat with, often, several employees at once. I can well imagine that Dreamland customers and workers currently enjoy such a state of affairs.

The first genuine lack of customer service I remember was when half of Schwanson's inventory disappeared, about the same time a couple of Jarod's land purchases were reversed because dum ickle peoples didn't mean to welease it oh boohoo. Even then, Lindens were swarming everywhere. They just stopped talking to each other and, to date, seem to have not revised their internal policies to accomodate working with a large, unwieldy population. I wonder if Dreamland will take a lesson.

Following your post, that's assuming they stay in business. Surely Anshe has seen the peak of the game/homemaker/mall model and has already implemented plans to either morph Dreamland into a new type of inworld entertainment company or sell off the pieces and invest the capital elsewhere on the net. There, I think a person is actually safer with Dreamland which would change hands and continue operating, probably as is, until it died. Whoever bought it would believe they could perpetuate the model and then struggle through it's dying breath trying to make their money back.

LL has stated quite clearly to us that they owe us nothing. Our accounts can be cancelled anytime for no reason, inventory explicitly belongs to the company and is not guaranteed, even the inworld money is worthless and may disappear without a moment's notice. If the investors decided to sell the company, or just close the grid, we'd be lucky to get a forum post the day before. That's not bad customer service, we're talking about very dire straights under which standard courtesy cannot be expected.

Gosh this got rambly. Did I answer all your questions?

You can live everywhere but Linden rules.
If they close your acount then Anshe.com or the good folks from Azure (or whatever Landbaron) cant help you.

If Anshe or Azure (or whoever you rent from) decides to poof and go to another online game to make more profit you cant do anything about it either.. at least Anshe.com or other landlords cant ban you (they can from their land but not from the game...)

So..
Just rent where you like.. They are all ok more or less. Some let you pay for land so you think you own it(just stop paying rent/tier and see what happens) Other just ask rent.. Its all the same more or less (the Lindens call it tier).

Anyway, dont get nuts about what piece of this game is the better part.. Its all Lindens

Its you that makes or breaks this game

Have fun!

While Dreamland seems to be very well run, there are a couple of very important factors that keep me permanently out of it:

1) SEVERE building restrictions--even if your property is "beautiful".

2) NO commercial enterprise allowed.

When I purchase land, I want to do whatever I want with it. That's why I purchase it. So, while DL may have a community and good customer service, the basic "laws" of the land keep me away.

Since I moved into Dreamland - and that was early day of that Project... I have got help (rare that I need it - lucky me) from Finn, Jaqueline and Jade. Most Finn - as he are in same time zone and we both speak Swedish.. he are in my eyes a real Gentleman! OK I confess we chat sometimes without a problem to solve..

My closets neigbours in Geneva and Victoria have al been wonder full.. some have moved and we still keep contact...

Anshe - have also been an angel) in smaller matters and she also did listen to me serious when I got a broken heart.. I wonder who many have done that in such kind of heave duty she has - daily?

BUT I cant compare as I havent lived in Mainland or private Sims... with this short exemption My X hired a part of one of Hiro ones for a short time and he was OK..

The new sims are better done.. but I miss the zoning system in them... Thats why I loved Dreamland from start... and still does..

People that listen.. answer and help are always angels...

Tina

Hi Kenn,

While most of Dreamland is zoned residential, we do have a thriving commercial sector in the Plush sims. I'm not sure if you are aware of that option, but if not, it's there for you.

On point #1, I would also encourage you to take at look another look at Dreamland. I'm not sure what kind of build you have in mind, but there's most likely SOME sim in Dreamland where it would fit in.

Anshe's given me a lot of resources and support in building up Dreamland's events & content. We'll start to see some of the fruit's of my labor in January when I open up my events venue in Plush Gamma and the first events run under the Dreamland Events Grant.

Cheers!

I have a house in Dreamland (Provincetown) and an alt has a house in Azure Islands. Both have been great. The customer service and one on one contact are first rate. The beauty of the neighborhoods is what first drew me to build in both places. In Dreamland I have a beautiful ocean view with decent zoning laws to keep it that way. In Azure Islands I have a nice view of the bridge and access to the road. It's nice to know I'm not on my own when some idiot griefers show up. You won't find giant "Impeach Bush" signs driving the price of land down in either place. Not that I don't think Bush shouldn't be impeached....

Vote Anshe and impeach Phill ?

Aeolus, since Gov. Linden is one of the officers of Azure Islands etc, I don't think it's very far from being a Phil Rosedale production

That said, yes, it does look like a pastiche of Dreamland, but missing something. Maybe an artist's hand? Just doesn't seem to be as pretty. Silly me, for that to mean something. Yes, they advertise VERY inexpensive startup and tier prices.

Let's see. Gov. Linden on board + clumsy Dreamland imitation + undercutting/inexpensive prices = saving the LL co. logo


To Whom It May Concern: Just hire the right people, enough of the right people and you won't have to use the above formula ever again

dunno, as I have said in the past when these posts come up..... I dont want to add another layer between me and LL.

Heh. The governor is in the group because of a land issue that happened a while back -- LL couldnt bring up new Estates with an owner other than 'Govenor Linden', we had ordered a few sims from LL that week, and the only way we could use them was by having the govenor deed them over to the group.

I'm not quite sure why the account is still a member of the group though, my bet is apathy and a healthy dose of 'aint broke, dont fix it.'

As far as I can tell, myself, nor none of the other staff are Lindens. Golden detector there is group membership -- Linden alts are not allowed to be Officers of any group; nor start any large world-influencing groups or projects.

Btw, in regards to your other claims, -- we actually were around before Anshe started her own Zoned community; when LL enabled Group deeding, we moved onto private islands. In terms of Aesthetic, we've always found that's one of the largest draws; we actually reserve around 30% of our combined space for public areas and empty land for views.

-Adam

My experience has been the only way to get away from Impeach Bush signs is to sign up with an Island Landlord.

Im my own island landlord, ty

I used to worry about building on my land in Azure Islands, so yeah, I know what you mean about those intermediate stages.

But it turns out a number of esidents move in, work on their house a bit, then leave for weeks, then come back and work on it a bit more, and it's textureless plywood the whole time! This doesn't happen a lot, by any means, but it has happened several times, for some reason,with the lots right behind me.

Anyway, I don't feel bad anymore about building on my land there, because I build almost every night, and I'm probably in Azure Islands more than any other single resident, as a result. I also have a house there (I build my inside stuff in it), and a tool shed (where I keep my SLExchange and SLBoutique vendors), and my fences and palm trees, etc., so the worst anybody ever sees, really, is a house that is in the middle of being built for, say a week.

I just love it on Azure Islands.

Then I have my shop on the mainland, around what was my first 512 first land (and my second 512 first land, belonging to my alt). I didn't plan on living and building there, which is a good thing, because next to me now is a club that lags me so much at night (which is when I generally play), that I can scarcely move. I like having the club there, because it brings people to the neighborhood, but with my slow computer, it also means I can't move.

So I have my house and extra land in Azure Islands, and my shop for displaying my things in Rosieri, and this works out very nicely and wonderfully for me.

I love living in Azure Islands, but there are some people - and I don't know why - who absolutely loathe the fact that I praise Azure Islands. I've always been a very effusive person,though, and if I really love something, you will know it. So screw those people who want me to shut up about Azure Islands. I don't know what their problem is.

Sounds like a very, very nice place to live in Dreamland, too, with the angels and the holiday gift package, even! I feel we can thank people like Nexus, Adam, Anshe, and others - including those who do rentals, such as Prokofy and Hiro somebody - for taking on the cost and the headache of providing us these wonderful places, and the customer service that comes along with it!

Naturally, they are going to make some profit off us in the deal, but I still feel like I have gotten the better end of the bargain! By far!

Certainly the Lindens offer nothing in the way of zoning, and even when they provide a wonderful neighborhood, like Blumfield, they refuse to zone it so it will stay that way, and the residents just have to hope to be able to keep it nice. Anshe, Nexus, and the others can and WILL keep it nice for us.

And certainly the Lindens offer me little to no protection from griefing by giant-sign-displaying land extortionists on Linden "managed" land. Plus, land sits there abandoned for months, with people's old boxes and plywood balls on it that don't even belong to the long-lost land owner, and with their trees jabbing into your property and everything, and the Lindens don't respond to my e-mails to at least return remove the plywood balls and the huge box that have been left there on that land. (I imagine 16 stray vehicles could sit on that land and they, too, would sit there forever!)

coco

It's great to know that so many really care about SL ! And I think almost everyone had something wonderful for me to mull over. I didn't think I'd get too many answers. As it is, I'll be 'renting' and 'borrowing' land for my classes and academy for a bit From friends and wonderful neighbors in Hikuelo. And thinking hard about each and every thing you suggested. And yes, although I have my own 'impeach Bush' problem in the way of skyhigh models of a robot 'making love' to a gigantic pillsbury doughboy next to my island classes, I adore SL too!! LOLOLOL

ty, for making my day!!!

Me said same...

Promote on!

Well, not adding "another layer" is fine, Toy, if you are sitting on your own private island, where you ARE the services that Anshe and Nexus, et. al, offer.

For those who don't have a private island, there is nothing between them and the Lindens, but they also don't get anything FROM the Lindens to worry about layers getting in the way of.

For people without their own islands, it isn't a matter of another layer between themselves and Lindens, cause Lindens aren't doing anything for them anway. It is a matter of actually getting a decent service, one which is not provided by the Lindens. One which you can control for yourself, Toy, on your own private island. By living on Azure Islands, I get the benefit of that sort of control, by banding together with a bunch of other residents to buy that service from Nexus and Adam.

There is no such service to buy from the Lindens, unless you buy a private island from them and provide your own service.

coco

FYI, I own both, a private island and mainland and I have never been disappointed in any way of the service I have recieved from LL.

Even when I owned just mainland I never had a problem with the service I recieved from LL.

Please dont assume things about me.

The only things I assumed about you were these two things, Toy:

1. You own a private island.
2. You don't want to put an extra layer between you and the Lindens.

The reason I assumed those things about you is because you stated those things about yourself. I never assumed that you didn't own anything else.

Now that you have stated that you do own something on the mainland and you have never experienced a problem there, that is an additional fact.

That new fact, however, negate my observation that an owner of a private island faces none of the problems owners of mainland land might face, because the private island owner controls the private island.

My experience has differed with yours on the mainland. I have gone through the channels to try to get something done about that apparently abandoned land, as I have heard that something is sometimes done in those circumstances. When I never heard about that, I assumed perhaps it wasn't abandoned, and wrote to ask if they could at least return the extraneous plywood balls and things that don't belong to said land owner.

I never heard back about that, either.

Whereas if I had such a problem on Azure Islands, I WOULD hear back, either a yes or a no, and something would either be done or it would not be, but there would be someone on the other end of my IM's who would actually answer them.

Thus I can state that I have problems when there is no one between me and the Lindens, and I don't have problems where there is.

My experience is that the "layer" between me and the Lindens is something positive; not the presence of something negative. The lack of such a layer on the mainland means simply that my problems go unaddressed.

coco

Aye I remember, that was the frst time I had seen the account, I was betting on a male avatar as well


/me whistles


Indeed true, most of the people in my friends list will remember my house/sim warming party, coco will remember it as well, she was one of our first customers used to be good, nice zoned sim 3 sims away from the old gigas mall

Damn, how many alts can one person HAVE anyway?