Why Should Class 4 Sim owners pay to speak?

When voice rolls out it's set up to be free on the mainland and free to Class 5 sim owners. But Linden Lab proposes to force Class 4 Sim owners to foot the bill for their latest gadget. And why should we? If voice is free for everyone else then it is free for Class 4 Sim owners also. We were told numerous times that Class 5 sims cost $100 USD more a month because they had to buy new equipment to roll them out. No other reason. No major performance changes. And we all know that every region on the mainland is not Class 5.

This is just some arbitray attempt to milk Class 4 Sim owners until we are paying more than the Class 5 Sim owners each month and we sell our sims for pennies on the dollar (because who wants a Class 4 with extra costs attached to it just to get voice and any other new 'feature' they role out after this?) and then we will hand over $1700 USD for a Class 5 Sim to SAVE MONEY!

Again (like the telehub land debacle) Linden Labs is de-valuing our holdings with their bizarre business practices.

Well if the issue is that LL can run voice fine on Class 5 servers, but needs additional servers to fully run voice on Class 4, it makes sense. The reason why voice will be free on the mainland is that because the regions are all physically linked and interconnected, so there needs to be a unified experience across the entire mainland. For example, let's say you are driving in a vehicle or walking or whatnot across regions and chatting on voice, but then you encounter a no-voice region. Your experience would be disrupted.

Also keep in mind that you may be able to find another island owner who doesn't need voice to swap with, if voice is that important. You may even be able to work out an agreement with LL to keep land but swap server types and payment level. I'm sure you could find many willing to do this

Sounds good, but does'nt fly. I read all of the information as soon as it was published about the Class 5 Sims. They promised NO increase in Class 4 prices for a year. They knew about Voice when they announced that. This is'nt some alien technology that was gifted to them from the gods. Costs were worked out a long time ago. Either they decided not to tell us until the Class 4 sell-off frenzy ended or they just threw this out there to see if they could get us to pay for a feature all the other customers are getting for free.

Hi Lias! Thanks again!

Lias where did you read this?
I tried to find documentation on this and I am not finding any...

Which still holds true. What they didn't promise you is any additional value for your money than you already receive. You say LL is forcing class 4 owners to foot the bill... that's simply not true. If you decide to pay for it, that is entirely your choice.

It may or may not be a raw deal... but it's not as you describe.

Even if it's "only" 100 USD/mo more a month to get the feature - no.

One of my biggest fears is that this extra 100 USD/month will 'slip in' with voice, but eventually be tied to other features that all users *do* like.


Personally, I've strongly recommended tying voice capabilities to premium membership, not land.

If you are a sim owner and you don't like this decision, let the decisionmakers know. Now.

I already have, weeks ago, both in email and over the phone. Let's find a way that is a 'win' for all of us.



Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6162410.html

I don't understand why Class 4 sim owners feel it's their right to pay less than the rest of us, and yet still have all the benefits. I think it's good that they are going to make them pay. It was a bad decision to let them keep the old pricing in the first place. LL raised sim tier for the simple reason to make more money. You can be sure eventually these other sims will be brought into line.

considering how annoying voice is likely to be, I think Class 4 sim owners should be happy =p

They get less annoyance - for free!


Seriously tho - If its going to be on the mainland , and the class 5 islands for free. than it should be everywhere for free. Its just stupid to charge them and completely unfair.

Supposedly this wont add lag, right? so why do they need a class 5 server?

In fairness, I can't think of any other new features that have been linked in any way to how much you pay, and while they may be paying less than a class 5, they're certainly paying more than the majority of mainland parcels that will receive this for free.

I agree. They were wanting to find something to add more value to the premium accounts so more people would upgrade. Well, this could be it.

And well, it really isn't fair to make the Class 4 owners pay for it, when the rest of us are getting it for 'free'.

Edit: Wait.. it says for those mainland holders who are paying the 295USD/month.. not all. Just as well, I don't want voice chat right now.

Thats absolutely ridiculous. The reason class 4 servers werent upped in the cost was we dont have as good of servers, or so they say, or wait...they dont say? They conflict with each other on if a class 5 is even better than a class 4 as it is. As it is, anyway, I will NOT be paying out more each month just so OTHER people can use a feature in the game on my sims.

Personally, having the voice feature should be one the individual USER pays for. Why should any sim owner have to foot the bill...and honestly, if mainland users arent being charged more, for class 4 sims, that means the feature doesnt cost them anything more per sim class. The only thing this shows me is pure greed on the part of LL in their mindset of "Lets finally get more money from those class 4 sim owners."

I wont be upgrading for voice on my own sims. If its a feature offered for one, it should be offered for all, not based on what SIM you are on. Great way to tick off class 4 (which again, we are told are inferior and why we are paying less) owners. So what, class 5 owners get the better servers AND voice for free...while we PAY for voice and are stuck with servers we are told are worse? Who runs your meetings?!

i like the premium membership idea gets voice as well.

I think it's ridiculous to charge them more.

My question is: On the mainland, can I turn off voice on my parcel?

coco

Yes. It's on by default on the mainland, but you can switch it off.

Do you own a sim? Did you own a sim when this change was dropped in our lap like a bowl of hot soup? It wasnt a small montly increase, it was a 50% increase in price. Can YOU instantly come up with $100 each month in the game? The price increase affected a lot of things for those that are purchasing new sims...housing rentals, the cost of clothing so that designers who had sims of their own could afford them, other items prices increased etc. Adding this and forcing all sim owners to change is going to just cause another increase in prices for those that had tried to keep theirs resonable or low.

The cost had to be passed down to other users and trust me, Ive heard plenty of people whining about that too. What about those people that have sims out for people to simply enjoy without making a profit or even paying out of their pocket for? With NO additional benefits they should be made to just up their pay to the same as the people who are getting better servers?

IF they are going to make it required to pay that extra amount, then every single sim or land owner should have to pay that price, not simply those with the class 4 sims. If they are going to force that payment price, they should upgrade to class 5 servers. Just because you own mainland or class 5 doesnt make you a 'better av' in which you should get a new feature free while the rest have to pay. Voice and server class have nothing to do with each other.

As long as its an option I will not be paying more just so other people can cyber or yap yap yap on my sims. IMO, and the opinions of MANY others, if someone wants to yap they can pay for the feature themselves. I would have been much happier if the crew of people working on voice would have been working on all the bugs and such that have been following us around for...too long.

Put me on that list too. Giving it to everyone for free except class 4 sim owners seems very arbitrary and I really don't see a good justification for it.

I don't know many (any actually but I'm sure there are some) mainland sims that are entirely owned by 1 single person, so LL is getting more than $195/month for those sims.

Class 4 private sims owners (actually, all the backorders when the prices were raised are Class 5 sims) are at the very bottom when it comes to paying for what they get.

not only that it will make voice have a smaller impact (premium only is a smaller population)

People who arent premium dont have to opt out since they got opted out by LL.

Text will still be defualt accross the world.

It gives people an incentive to go premium.

No one actualy knows your premium or not unless they know you own land ..

And well be MUCH safer from voice greifers - since they arent premium. Why pay premium for an account due to get banned someday.

I don't plan to pay a penny more.

Recently LL gave Class 3 owners the opportunity to upgrade to Class 5 -- but didn't extend that same opportunity to Class 4 owners, citing no difference in performance. Now, they roll out a bell-and-whistle that they are providing to Class 5 and the mainland (and, aren't mainland sim owners paying $195.00 per month -- same as those of us with Class 4 islands?)

LL has chosen to paint Class 4 owners into a corner -- no upgrade in performance (yeah, they say Class 5 is no different...), but nickle-and-dime us now and into the future for any new thing.

I'm personally not interested in voice -- I talk to my friends in Skype. However, what if folks choose not to come to my sim to dance or explore or have a wedding because I don't have voice available to them?

*sighs*

Oh you can bet your booty they are getting plenty of money for mainland sims. Shoot, look at how much they are making for each new sim they pop out. Now, that isnt to say I want mainland tier to go up. Last thing I need is to give LL more money each month. It just hardly seems fair...what if the sim owner themselves will never want to us voice...but if they want to offer it to people on their sim they gotta pay. Oy!


Having it be a premium feature is the best idea yet. They want people to have a reason to go premium, there it is. Since they took away the higher stippened (or so Ive heard) no first land etc. There are a lot of things that were incentive to play and have land etc, that are all gone now. So, now free users get voice for free to while sim owners foot the bill? Color me confoozled.

This here is some good thinking.

I don't really see this as particularly fair either. While I currently have three premium accounts, pretty soon I'll have none. I won't own any mainland, so I don't need a premium account. I am however paying LL significantly more than I ever have while being premium. Frankly, I don't think LL cares about providing me with incentives to pay $9.95, when they're getting $295 a month from me.

I gave her the idea......

No but all in all they should be providing incentive to become premium, other than the oportunity to own land. Land which quickly becomes more of a pain than anything else at times. I do think that certain features should be available for premium accounts only. The amount of alts for griefing and alts for the sake of camping and the large number of free accounts hasnt exactly added a ton of benefits for the game. Not to say all nonpaying members are a bother, but if people really value SL they should be paying for their play or added features...not sim owners. I paid for the sim, pay for it monthly...I pay for the game, as being premium...for all features. Features that dont work, and features that do...if someone has to pay for this voice feature, let it be the people that wish to use it.