Writtenby Robin Linden:
The statement I made is correct and accurate. Some large customers (all of whom are long-time landowners or creators in Second Life, not "corporations shyly probing Second Life"
were given the courtesy of information for planning purposes only. In no case will we fill any order that was made, or categorically complete any transfer that was requested during the time between the email and the general announcement. That's good to hear, but don't you think that such information would have been MUCH more important for the little perspective landowners that saved for months hoping to get their own island in the near future and that now have been pretty much screwed by the sudden changes that OTHERS had the chance to know beforehand?
Are they second class citizens in the eyes of LL? Honestly most (both in quality and quantity) of the best content i've seen in SL is created by people that own one sim or less (many of wich were, indeed, saving to get a sim in the future). Honestly i see slamming on their project like this while allowing others to have their "planning purpose" as a big lack of respect to those that are in the end the engine that allows Second Life to move.
I hate to repeat it (expecially because i shouldn't need to), but we are your content team, Robin, the "large customers" can't even get near to create enough content for SL to shine, we deserve quite a bit more respect, that, honestly, lately i don't see.
I USED to see it more than one year ago. Right now it seems to me that the "large customers", corporations included, are all you guys can see and respect. I understand the novelty and the excitement about it. I'm excited and happy myself, so i totally understand you guys being hyped by it. But you need to keep a balanced perspective. From the post of ZeeLinden on the blog, it seems they're all that matters: the prices are being raised because the corprations are willing to pay, well, thank you. But corporations didn't build Second Life, they won't build the future of second life (if not a small part of it), WE did, and WE will. Maybe it's about time you guys get a bit of perspective back and begin to aknowledge this.
If you can have your shiny corporations now, you can only thank the many individual content creators that built Second Life piece by piece, and that right now, with this price increase, you're slapping in the face.
If the corporations are willing to pay more, awesome, make them pay more (offering services that justify the difference in price of course, like enhanced visibility, i doubt anyone would mind seeing a corporate banner rotation during login and logout, just to make an example). But weighing on the individual citizens that were already struggling to save even for the old prices is shortsighted and honestly unrespectful for their efforts from wich YOU benefit as well.
You should also remember that many of the basic account holders whom you refer to as freeloaders are international Residents who do not have access to payment systems that will allow them to purchase land in Second Life. Prior to open registration only 25% of Second Life Residents came from outside of North America. Today that number is 51%, and I think we are all richer for it.
I'm sorry Robin, but you guys really need to get your facts straight on it. Not being american means nothing in regard of having access to viable payment systems.
I live in Italy, so i definately don't hail from the US. Do i have ANY problem accessing such payment systems? Not at all.
Visa is active in basically every single country of the world (call them and check), from Italy to Azerbaijan. If one has access to DSL internet (wich is absolutely necessary to play SL, you don't play SL on Dialup, not even with a miracle) you can bet your whole yearly wage that he has access to a credit card, if he doesn't have access to a credit card or he doesn't feel safely to use a credit card on the internet (like me) he can easily get a debit card that will give him FULL access to the land market in second life and registered status. So no, open registration is just a matter of giving out a freebie, not a matter of accessibility. Whoever has access to high speed internet has also access to payment methods, if he doesn't, he's just been too lazy to actually contact a few banks and ask, or he's just looking for excuses not to pay (or is a minor, but minors shouldn't be here by default, right?). Also, if he's able to pay for high speed internet and a fairly decent computer to actually run second life, he can sure as hell give up NINE coffees in a month (or a whopping two movies) and pay his monthly registration fee.
I'm all for giving time or feature restricted trial accounts for promotional purposes, but unrestricted free accounts are just a number-inflating exercise, for sure not a matter of "accessibility".
You can't deny that this island price increase (and the probable future increase on mainland tier prices, like ZeeLinden not very subtly hinted) are nothing else than making premium account users pay for the entertainment of free account users, wich is completely wrong and unfair. If the big load of free account users is taxing your bandwidth and your technology, make THEM pay for what they consume, not the ones that already pay a LOT and actually are the ones that have to bear the most the consequences of that consumption.
I'm all for providing my fellow residents with content to enjoy, i do it and i will continue to do it as much as i can, but i'm not for paying for them as well.