Updated information about Private Regions
Friday, November 3rd, 2006 at 7:27 PM by: fritzlindenWow, we’ve gotten a lot of orders for private regions! Thank you to everyone who has placed an order. It is great to see how many people are excited about purchasing their own island.
There have been a number of requests for clarification on some of the statements about the private region price change, and we wanted to address them.
If this is something that interests you, we highly suggest clicking below to see the details.
Zee Linden’s mention of the price going up when the region is transferred has some people worried that we’re going to spring something on them.First, when we say “transfer” we mean when the individual paying for the region changes. It does not refer to when we deliver a new region to someone (we use “deliver” for that). Second, we’re still deciding about whether prices will increase when a transfer is made. We won’t be making any changes or announcements about that until February 1, 2007 at the earliest.
Also, since we hadn’t explicitly stated how long people will be paying the lower monthly fees on the private regions, we’re guessing that someone has probably said “Well, they can just change all our monthly fees and then the transfer price won’t matter.” Once again, we’re still thinking about the best ways to handle these kinds of things, and won’t be making any announcements of changes until February 1.
Please note, this does not mean that we’re going to make big scary announcements on February 1 that make you all upset. It means that we may make some changes at that time. We’re still deciding. As we get closer to that time (and probably beyond, depending on how things go), we will be talking to the residents about different ways to proceed. Our goal with giving a date is to make sure that there was a date to keep in mind, and it wasn’t up in the air for everyone.
We are strongly committed to making sure that everyone knows how much they are paying; if that changes, we want to give them time to decide how they want to handle it. At no point do we want people to come to us and say “How could you just increase my pricing without telling me, you’re evil!”
So, to sum up the above information into a concise statement:
If you get a private region at the $1250 setup/$195 per month price, it will stay that price until at least February 1, even if it is transferred.
Another question we’ve been seeing is about the hardware the new private regions will be on. Honestly, we hate this question. The reason we hate it is that there is no data to support the idea that Class 5 hardware is going to work any better than the Class 4. The differences between the types of hardware aren’t very large, and the reason for the change is something that probably won’t have any noticeable effect from the resident perspective.
That said, all private region orders we have gotten since the first will be on the new hardware. (Unless something catastrophic happens and the new hardware doesn’t work or the manufacturer explodes.)
Getting all that new hardware in (there are more orders, sooner, than expected) and working means that the delivery time for the private region orders placed since the first will take a bit longer than usual. We’re confident that they will all be delivered by December 15th; with the majority delivering before then as we get the equipment (the shipments are staggered).
To sum up this section:
Orders from the first should be delivered by December 15th, and will all be on the Class 5 hardware (unless something bad happens, and the hardware shouldn’t matter anyway).
Now, I want to point out that the first section didn’t have any “unless we change our mind” language. That means we’re not going to change it. The second section has a qualifier, but that’s just because hardware is harder to guarantee than business practices.
I believe this should answer the major questions people have about the pricing change that weren’t answered. I’m sure that there will be lots of blog comments. However, I would like to request that if you have a question about anything here, to email me at fritz@lindenlab.com. That way, I don’t have to hunt through the comments for questions, and I can aggregate them into something I can post publicly to the blog. 
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:33 PM
Very interested to see the numbers………….and how mnay chung bought
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:33 PM
Has LL considered a commercial and a non-commercial price tier setup, maybe limit non-commercial to not allow transfer of parcels, give commercial more business centric tools to make it more worthwhile for them?
I imagine friends of mine with commercial estates would be less than thrilled to hear me say this, but a lot of sim owners are not after commercial applications.
Personally I am evaluating a region for research, and a price increase either now or in February would exceed my price range at the proposed prices.
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:39 PM
I just love the spin LL is putting on this. “It is great to see how many people are excited about purchasing their own island.” Translation: “Wow, people really want to snap up the remaining sims before we increase the price by a ridiculous amount!”
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:40 PM
Questen……..Does LLabs really think people are going to still come AND “BUY MONEY” even if they are freebie accound.If the dream of buying a island is so out of reach why shoulds anyone bother even trying to pay for this game to start with.Unless LLbas is expects to turn in to “World of Warcraft” and out prize the logical money thinking people.
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:45 PM
Total confused here Mr.Linden……………
“Another question we’ve been seeing is about the hardware the new private regions will be on. Honestly, we hate this question. The reason we hate it is that there is no data to support the idea that Class 5 hardware is going to work any better than the Class 4. The differences between the types of hardware aren’t very large, and the reason for the change is something that probably won’t have any noticeable effect from the resident perspective.”
We where told that the “CLASS 5″ was a great imporovement over the CLASS 4…..Now your telling us not that great? So then why bother increase price..All the important facts LLabs has written has been written in the blog….BY LLABS workers them selves……..Now your double talking!
To save yourselve problem just don`t make these new ISLANDS transferred able! …..WAIT you can`t CHUNG would not make money! Nice save LLabs :/
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:58 PM
Woah - hold the phone. Before you gave a strong impression that Private Island tier fees would be grandfathered (that is it will be a long while before there is an increase in private island tier fees).
Now you’re giving us the impression that there is a reasonable chance the tier fee could increase Feb 1st, for *everyone*, not just transfered islands. That’s quite a big difference.
Note to others: We have an Island Owners group where you are welcome to hear about these announcements (and even rumours of announcements). If you are an Island Owner, please IM me the name of your Island and I will send you and invite.
Cheers,
Iron.
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:01 PM
Thank you for the clarification. The changes that have been announced recently don’t really affect me. Yet. However, I do have a tad of trepidation of what is to come after February 1st. I understand that LL needs to make a profit. As a business owner, I do understand that. However, as a “virtual landlord”, I see nothing good coming out of price increases for private islands. Unless LL wants the private islands to be the sole property of charities, the wealthy and large corporations, it may want to consider holding the line as much as possible on future price increases. Any increase in private island prices must be passed onto renters, which prices the more marginal players out of any markets. Eventually, of course, the price increases will price all but the strongest landlords out of business on private islands. Does LL really want the smallest business owners off private islands ? Perhaps this is the grand plan. If so, there will be a “class division” between mainland and private islands, even more than exists today. Perhaps LL can look at other revenue streams to offset expenses. Just a thought. Steve
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:06 PM
>Please note, this does not mean that we’re going to make big scary announcements on February 1 that make you all upset
Please, Fritz, don’t stop making big scary announcements that make us all upset. Why, LL has *always* made big scary announcements that make us all upset. That’s the one thing we can count on here! Don’t remove the stability, the still point of my turning world! I *need* big scary announcements that make me upset just to feel I’m alive now. It’s always how it’s been. I can’t imagine a virtual existence that would be any different.
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:09 PM
Double talk double talk……………I never expect LLabs to give straight answers…………..But this last posting by a linden really is giving the older players reason not to stay……..
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:10 PM
So Linden Labs, you say this:
“So, to sum up the above information into a concise statement:
If you get a private region at the $1250 setup/$195 per month price, it will stay that price until at least February 1, even if it is transferred.”
Also Linden Labs, you say this:
“We’re confident that they will all [Private Islands] be delivered by December 15th”
So, if I sum up the above information into a concise statement:
“We may raise all private island’s per-month prices after February 1, but we are not sure yet. So if/when we do so, don’t complaint too hard because Linden Labs already told you so.”
Look, if I receive service from a company and they jack up my rates, I can walk. But, given the high set up fee for an island ($1250), if you increase the monthly payments and I am not happy with your decision and amount of monthly fee increase, would you return the set up fee?. Particularly considering you may deliver the island by December 15 and I will only have 8 weeks (to February 1st, 2007) to see if my island is financially successful? The island build alone will take me 6 to 8 weeks!
Linden Labs, you should please consider having the business temple to say … we will grandfather the old pricing ($1250 setup/$195 per month) for private islands orders placed on or before November 15, 2006. Which is, by the way, the “exact statement” made to me by the concierge representative, via phone, when I called to verify this fact on November 1st, 2006 and prior to placing my private island order.
How about “Linden Labs will grandfather the old pricing ($1250 setup/$195 per month) for private islands orders placed on or before November 15, 2006” for a “concise statement” on your part?
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:20 PM
well….so the hardware is not that big a difference?? All the less (*#@(&U reason to want to spend that outrageous amount of money. For what we have now, it would be hard to spend what is being asked for…nevermind this foolish increase. Stupid idea, LL. Very stupid. It is just too much of a shock for us to absorb. Of course, a couple hundred bucks may not make all that much diff to you or some others that have been mentioned but I have to save that much longer or do that much better to even THINK about island purchase. However, the way things are going….gray textures, pitiful frame rates, missing images (STILL!!) and add to that some new crashes. I’m paying money for that? I should have my head examined.
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:23 PM
december the 15th??? more than 1 month to deliver?
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:25 PM
Thanks for the info.
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:30 PM
I’m pissed about the price changes but I mean makes sense take over month. I can see some big customers Chung prob buying them already in bulk for a bit cheaper.
But to be honest its not like a data server where you place image and bing edit few config files and then config and add server main grid server to give it permission to access and then bang just like thats how it works..
Ug well thats how it does work
They prob don’t have all hardware yet there prob bulk buying it they don’t have enough people to setup the hardware…
I mean really easy but with everything else I guess they get bogged down.
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:33 PM
Another nail in the SL coffin… A group of friends and I have been working towards buying an island, and t/f’ing it into a ‘Waterworld”-like environment, and this ridiculous price increase has brought that plan to a screeching halt.. We don’t have the funding to jump in and buy an island right now-before the ‘cheap’ ones are sold out, and .. even if we could, I, for one, am not confident that LL won’t decide to raise everybody’s monthly rate despite their protestations to the contrary.. LL is good at dropping bombs on its paying residents.. I would find it very hard, unless SL goes completely into the toilet, to completely leave SL, but I have sold my land, and dropped back to a basic account, and limited my SL time to socializing with friends and working on a couple of building projects… At the rate LL’s going, my story will likely apply to more and more residents as time goes on…
Tas
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:36 PM
Has “justification for a whopping 50% increase” been covered?
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:41 PM
Thank you Fritz for clarifying everything clearly.
Although sheesh, december 15th is quite awhile from now. I guess I better start looking for some land now.
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:17 PM
I’m sorry… I must have just lost my mind…
The other day I thought I read there would be no increase to people who currently own islands.
Today I think i’m reading there is quite likely going to be an increase Feb. 1st for EVERYONE.
I think we should have some form of notice before it is offically changed, as in a month or more. Bottom line is, I agreed to buy this island with a tier of 200 per month, not 300, ESPECIALLY not 300 if i’m not getting something better.
Why on earth am I going to happily give you another 100 dollars per month for the same thing I have right now?
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:18 PM
Again a major land boron express ” playing both side of the fence” You don`t talk for us smaller users on sl. Please stop trying…….
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:20 PM
http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2006/10/30/linden-moves-to-quell-price-hike-criticism/
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:26 PM
Baby thorn says “Bottom line is, I agreed to buy this island with a tier of 200 per month, not 300″
Yep that`s my thoughts too. I said it in another blog post here. That after February 15th people have a new choice of whether they can afford an island and the 295 tier fee.
But everyone else, we all had a choice and we all decided we could afford the island and a 195 tier fee. so we should be able to hold onto it. its what made our decision to invest in an island.
But anyway, I give Fritz props for posting this and being clear about everything he had to say. although it should have been thought about, written out, and posted, days ago.
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:40 PM
195.00 a month is well alot. But 300.00 is just outright blackmail.
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:41 PM
If indeed LL is not going to be grandfathering the old islands in, I will be able to say that they are doing the right thing. Sure, the increase may be unnecesary, but at least everybody will have to pay, instead of just the new owners, which would probably stop growth completely.
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:57 PM
>>> ih gesh Says:
>>> November 3rd, 2006 at 7:45 pm
“We where told that the “CLASS 5″ was a great imporovement over the CLASS 4…..Now your telling us not that great? So then why bother increase price..All the important facts LLabs has written has been written in the blog….BY LLABS workers them selves……..Now your double talking!
To save yourselve problem just don`t make these new ISLANDS transferred able! …..WAIT you can`t CHUNG would not make money! Nice save LLabs :/ ”
The way I understand it (please correct me if I’m wrong, Lindens): a class 4 server hosts only one region. A class 5 server IS a lot faster and more performant, but it hosts four regions at once. So, a class 5 sim is a bit of a gamble; if one of your “neighbours” on the same server owns a high-traffic sim with tons of scripted objects, you could possibly end up with less overall performance than a class 4 sim. But since private islands come up on different servers after being restarted (always on the same server class though), you could have a highly performant class 5 sim today and a laggy one tomorrow.
November 3rd, 2006 at 10:05 PM
I am sorry but it is as first stated. You are raising your prices to drive to small and weak from the market. I can see no other reason.
The class 5 servers are indeed old Dell junk bought at discount. You are charging for wiskey and serving beer and 3.2 beer at that! My personnel comp can be a better server. This is all such nonsense!
Well Philip Linden, you have chosen to low road in life. I will stop building and supplying money for such nonsense. Why should I work for for free? To make you rich?
I have nothing more to say to the likes of you.
November 3rd, 2006 at 10:56 PM
Well firstly, although it has taken several blog attempts, thanks for your efforts to clarify this. And also for allowing us to vent our thoughts on your public blog! Obviously there’s been alot of negativity shown but you were still open enough to show them.
My interpretation of this is that it’s likely mostly logistical decision because there’s so much new hardware being installed each month. If that’s the reason, you really shouldn’t increase rent for current sim owners.
The reason for that is people weighed up the costs and made their buying decision on them. The fact that there is such a huge initial outlay of time, money and commitment invested in each sim, people can’t simply move to another supplier if a huge 50% increase breaks their plans. For that reason you really should honour the current pricing for current owners.
Also, a little humanity rather than hardcore business decisions wouldnt go amiss - without previous sim owners I dont think SL would be half the place it is today. And if it is mainly logistical, then consider the logistics of tech support handling hundreds of angry customers, the logistics of handling the transfer of these sims to new owners, the negative press, lost customers, and also think about how much great content you’ll be losing from those sims that arent strictly commerce. For me, the best content is in private sims, and the user content in SL is really what matters to get people to stick around in SL.
To keep everyone happy, just ensure that purchases (with the 50% increase) of sims have a worthwhile bonus. That way previous owners wont feel cheated - they still got what they paid for, and new owners wont feel as cheated because they are getting something extra for their money. Maybe have a higher prim count on the newer sims. Just try to keep your customers happy! You may currently have a monopoly, but customers (and competitors!) will only allow you to make below par decisions for so long before it comes back to bite you.
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:44 PM
I am so disgusted with LL right now. Miss Ansche Chung is the only one that benefits from all of this.
My good friend owned land from her. He couldn’t afford it anymore so when he went to sell it back to her, she offered to buy it 17k
Now, we’re talking about 8196 square meters of WATERFRONT land which in this market is worth more than 50k! LL wants people to stay on the mainland? Do something about that &$^*# robber baron Ansche Chung!
She’s ripping off good people like my friend for land worth much more than it should be. Monopolies never did any good in 1st Life….Why is 2nd Life different?
This bloody sim increase will either make or break SL and LL. And as far as my knowledge goes on this type of stuff, it will definately break it.
I’m sure if lots of the lindens experienced SL from a non-linden coporate perspective, they’d understand just why they’re getting so much lip about this price increase.
It’s hard enough to make money in SL. If you’re not good at making something to sell, you’d be lucky if you got 1,000 L a day! Women can dance in clubs or be escorts with ease. But men…It’s hard to be able to earn a living that way. No Lindens from work, No lindens to shop. No lindens to shop, merchants go broke. It’s a ripple effect.
To make a long story short. There are ALOT of people that are barely getting by keeping their sims open now. What are all these people going to do when the price increase takes place? Either quit and close the account or something else. I know that if and when this increase happens I won’t be able to afford it. The game has so much wrong with it, I don’t even feel it’s worth my time anymore or my money.
my two cents
November 4th, 2006 at 12:07 AM
Do the Lindens ever read their own posts back to themselves? To the lindens, this is what your post about the islands means to us here: We had a great amount of islands bought means wow we love getting all of you to panic buy. We will decide on February 1st about the pricing before we send a message out means we have already decided the price increase is going to happen irregardless of how angry we get our customers because as zee linden said, we have new ways of making profit. The class 5 server has never been said to be an improvement means we didn’t really buy the class 5 servers which might justify our price increase for islands so we just lied to you by saying they were a great improvement.
November 4th, 2006 at 12:15 AM
WOW….. I’m starting to get tired of this game. In the island tier increase faq it says:
“Q: I pay USD$195 per month for my island now; will I have to pay the higher monthly fees at some point?
A: We currently have no plans to raise island fees for those paying USD$195 per month. The announced price rise is for new orders.”
NO PLANS RAISE ISLAND FEES. 2 days later you made plans to raise? This is very borderline bait and switch that could have legal actions due the sudden changes. Woohoo I get maybe 2 whole months at the discounted rate, if I get my island in 3 weeks. I specifically bought the island because I did not want to get charged at a higher tier rate.
Please reconsider why would you want to go against what you said to people that just invested $1250 in your company. Maybe it just doesn’t matter by February 1st Linden Labs is sold to Big_Corporation INC. none of your worries I guess.
November 4th, 2006 at 12:48 AM
Wow - my husband and I bought an island yesterday to secure the low rate… for 2 months?!?!?!? Remember how everyone threw a fit because you weren’t upfront??? Please stick to your original promise - everyone who purchased an island after Nov 1st was sure that the prices would not increase unless it was transfered. Or else why would we have purchased it? I’m sure very fee people care about the initial purchase price increase - it’s the monthly costs that are killer! Two months is not enough time to let these new islands get up on their feet - a price hike would just result in a selling frenzy - and we all know who would benefit most from that. Sad, I used to really love SL.
November 4th, 2006 at 12:57 AM
“Bait and switch”…. hmm, where have i read that, recently…
You know, if you’d just SPIT IT OUT and tell us what’s happening rather than this “Um gosh we dunno!” nonsense, (which by the way doesn’t do a damn thing to instill trust and confidence in anyone, because it either means you’re clueless and naive or lying to us till we calm down and you think we’ll swallow this pill a little more amicably) and quit trying to feed us cowpies like ‘Great hardware! Worth every penny of the increase YAY!’ we might actually concede a price hike, well, okay, perhaps not if it’s got to do wth covering exenses for a bazillion free users suckin’ up bandwidth and not paying into the precious community.
-.-
November 4th, 2006 at 2:19 AM
“The way I understand it (please correct me if I’m wrong, Lindens): a class 4 server hosts only one region. A class 5 server IS a lot faster and more performant, but it hosts four regions at once. So, a class 5 sim is a bit of a gamble; if one of your “neighbours” on the same server owns a high-traffic sim with tons of scripted objects, you could possibly end up with less overall performance than a class 4 sim. But since private islands come up on different servers after being restarted (always on the same server class though), you could have a highly performant class 5 sim today and a laggy one tomorrow.”
Thank you clearing this up. It seems like they are still holding true about the stablity. I can understand the class 5 servers not be as stable as Mr.Linden said at the top of this posting. So infact they are telling the true here, but still telling everyone its still faster with the class 5 server…….
November 4th, 2006 at 2:43 AM
Thank you so much Fritz for taking the time to put together this concise and thurough analysis of the issue. This is exactly the kind of well thought out briefing that I like to see from LindenLabs that addresses questions instead of making them. Well done. Please continue to provide these kinds of briefings to us, especially well in advance of a major change so that before a change happens everyone knows that it is coming and what to expect.
November 4th, 2006 at 3:31 AM
LL has no right to raise our tier fee to 295 when we bought it with assurance we would always pay 195. (Now, after the 15th for those who buy- thats a different story)
Given our islands are going to come in anywhere from today -december 15th…LL BETTER not dare raise our tier fee. We need to build and begin to make money for our tier. Not only that but the simple courtesy of the fact we bought because we were told the tier would be 195 and we knew we could afford; they have no right to raise.
November 4th, 2006 at 4:16 AM
Simone: “Bait and switch” is something you will come across regularly if you do some research from disgruntled users of “houseprices.com”, Zee Linden’s supposedy “success story” before Linden Lab took him on.
It may explain why, in 18 months, their share prices have dropped from over $18 to less than $6, and why he chose to jump ship.
I have a question about individual low-prim islands, and will contact directly as requested.
Lewis
November 4th, 2006 at 4:55 AM
“The differences between the types of hardware aren’t very large, and the reason for the change is something that probably won’t have any noticeable effect from the resident perspective.”
Then why increase the price by a third to cover hardware infrastructure costs? Is the extra money going on *space* to put these new servers in, rather than the servers themselves?
November 4th, 2006 at 4:59 AM
Since I got the hang of this game, i wanted to own my own island, but now, im looking to cash out. This game was built by the people who play it, not the corporations that salivate over how to smother us with the same crappy inworld ads that they do in RL. Linden Labs is doing what every company does when it forgets its roots.
First , squeeze the dedicated players thinking they wont leave (they do)
Second, Squeeze the new players thinking they will be too dumb to know the difference (they will)
Third, Squeeze the corprate hacks who want to brag about how they are cool and hip(rolls eyes)
Fourth, scramble when people in protest start abandoning land and reverting to basic, or free accounts(watch the sky fall)
I would just like to say that since i joined a few months ago, i would like to thank all the older players for making SL such an experience, and i would also like to thank anshee for trying to turn a game into a cash cow and proving once again that monopolies destroy governments, even virtual ones. If that is all i learn here, it would be worth it, i will now return to my (and many other’s boycott of CHUNG land)
Just a hint, LL is probably doing this because many of the most creative people on SL who make SL are not in it to quit their jobs, NEVER, EVER depend on prims to put food on your plate because when the artists leave the game dies.
November 4th, 2006 at 5:06 AM
Hey - what’s all this ‘Chung’ business! Her name is Anshe Chung. She is a very successful lady, and, I would suggest, the one to be hit hardest by drastic changes. Just count how many of her sims are free for use by her residents.
Rumours about her buying in bulk and getting discounts should not be started or even hinted at without solid facts, although of course success does always cause jealousy and make the subject an easy target for those short on facts.
Whiners will always find something to whine about, but hey, why not whine based on facts not suppositions.
November 4th, 2006 at 5:18 AM
Fritz Linden:
“Another question we’ve been seeing is about the hardware the new private regions will be on. Honestly, we hate this question. The reason we hate it is that there is no data to support the idea that Class 5 hardware is going to work any better than the Class 4. The differences between the types of hardware aren’t very large, and the reason for the change is something that probably won’t have any noticeable effect from the resident perspective.”
Ian linden:
“From a resident perspective, the key difference is that the new machines should offer higher, more consistent sim-side performance for heavily-loaded regions, especially when there are a large number of scripts running. LSL performance should be quite a bit higher, although we won’t know by exactly how much until Class 5 has been running in production for a while. More generally, the new servers have some future-proofing features for us, and use less electricity than previous generations.”
http://blog.secondlife.com/2006/10/16/looking-forward-to-class-5/
November 4th, 2006 at 5:58 AM
I am not a computer expert Fritz Linden but I do have a fair understanding of commercial property as that is part and parcel of what I do for a living in my first life, as I suspect you do from your previous job.
If I as a tenant purchase a lease on either land or a building I would perhaps expect to pay a premium to purchase the lease, and pay ground rent to the landlord.
The lease premium is defined at onset by the vendor (being either the landlord or the previous tenant), the landlord having previously set the ground rent for a period defined by a set time within a legal agreement defining the maximum time a tenant can remain (assuming ground rent is paid) in some cases up to 99 years or beyond.
These criteria can influence any lease premium for new purchasers
Usually in the UK the lease is subject to regular rent reviews, this can vary from 6 months (for an assured short term tenancy on a private house) to upwards of 3 years for a commercial property.
Sometimes the rent review is linked to inflation or other indices connected with supply and demand.
Previously within Second Life there has been a broad assumption the ground rent (i.e. tier payments) are set in stone but I am afraid that is not entirely correct.
It therefore follows on logically that Second Life (as well as other vendor avatars) can set what lease premium they choose on land. In increasing the lease premium on new Island Estates you are doing nothing new, indeed Anshe Chung previously forced up the lease premium on waterfront land from around $L10 to more than $L20 per square meter and the other day increased her ground rents for new tenants
From an investment and business viewpoint I can live with your lease premium and ground rent increase. That is just business, after all if I own land and rent it out I set the rent, (and any lease premium) and can increase it if I so choose.
However a period of 3 months (where you give an undertaking to maintain the ground rent at current levels) is far too short, and your stated view on land transfers triggering a rent review are not compatible with real life commercial property practice.
My view is that you should set a period of time in years for ground rent on private Estate owners, thus allowing them time to price and develop their business, and that time period, although amortizing down should remain for new tenants. That process should help the sales and transfers of Islands as each new tenant would be able to define their costs at onset and structure their business accordingly.
Regards
John Horner – Second Life - Caledon Cay
Paul Hayward
Paul Hayward Financial Services - a UK based Independent Financial Advisor
November 4th, 2006 at 6:30 AM
Lewis Nerd Says:
Lewis:
“Bait and switch” is something you will come across regularly if you do some research from disgruntled users of “houseprices.com”, Zee Linden’s supposedy “success story” before Linden Lab took him on.
It may explain why, in 18 months, their share prices have dropped from over $18 to less than $6, and why he chose to jump ship.
Yes, I know. I was trying to be subtle. ;D Thanks for not missing that.
There were also a number of testimonials from ex housevalue employees who were encouraged to lie to customers. Is this now the current policy being set at Linden Labs under the new leadership, IE: Class 5’s are the reason for the upswing in price, and now are not etc etc?
Linden Labs: You want a price increase? I am sure we can all agree that after this amount of time, it probably is to be expected. But let’s not blow smoke up anyone’s chimneys about it, let’s not pretend to give us something extra for it, and let’s not insult anyone’s intelligence by saying things like landlords have to add value to rental properties before renting when the whole PREMISE OF SL is gettin’ yerself a fine BALD patch of land and creating what you want on it.
A lot of residents are beginning to toss around phrases like ‘ponzi’ and ‘pyramid scheme’. And I have to say that given the fork tongued vagueries we’ve heard over the past week, who am I to disagree?
November 4th, 2006 at 6:33 AM
fritzlinden: “Wow, we’ve gotten a lot of orders for private regions! Thank you to everyone who has placed an order. It is great to see how many people are excited about purchasing their own island.”
Sorry Fritz, will all the respect possible, want to point out that this sentence can look as mockery for some people. Like someone said previously it is obvious that there would be a rush on the 150 last sims with old pricing. Think about that: LL says that prices will go up quite a bit but gives a possibility to get 150 sims with the old price that will stay for a while unchanged, but that will only be possible starting at a given time in a given day. All residents that may want a own Island not now, but maybe in the nearest future, all land barons, small and big ones, and all that may need another sim for a project will now start to ponder if they should make a sacrifice and try to raise the money for a sim now and have it cheaper for some time. Imagine a lot people killing the piggy bank and trying to get a sim. Even buying it now for 1250 and selling it later to Anshe Chung for 1500 sounds reasonable. So its mostly not that people are “excited” to get a sim right now, its more LL pushed in this direction. So the quoted text looks kinda amiss to me.
November 4th, 2006 at 7:00 AM
Ok. Good for you. Now, on to more important things. When are you fixing the bloody lag?
November 4th, 2006 at 7:15 AM
I se many here comparing land and cost and rates with real life estates- SL are NOT real life.
Linden Labs can set any terms and any price on any that do or own in SL There are no law that regulars the SL marked other then wat ppl are willing to pay, but thay shure need to do this so we the costumers get happy.
SL are based on fantasy–its second life–Its not your real life
I my self own 2 islands..one with a mall and clubs and so…one for my self private..i invested round 5000 USD real cash in SL and pay bout 100 USD a week to Linden Labs. And wat do i want from Linden Labs? I want the best service,,The best server at all times for my sims,i want all buggs removed i want my sims to run “normal” i want advice how to at all times run my sims optimal, i want a Linden tech person 1 time a week in my sims to run tests on the sims.
This is wat i pay for, if Linden Labs can forfill wat i wish i may end up with even more invesments in SL..if thay cant forfill want i want i will not invest 1 $ more.. simple and ok.
November 4th, 2006 at 7:29 AM
Interesting. I understand that loads more users, customers and servers will cost more to manage and service, but what will be the case when we are 6million users? Or higher?
As ‘we’ grow, will this always increase? At what level does this flatten out, or even (shock) go down? Do you expect a higher ‘churn’ rate?
I wonder where we’ll all be in a year. Or two? We shall see.
November 4th, 2006 at 7:38 AM
Exactly, Jane. SL land is not RL land, developing land in SL is not the same as developing land in RL. Last time I checked you can’t pick up a concrete building and stuff it into the ‘root prim’ of the necklace around your neck and happily trot off to set it up elsewhere on new land. For LL to continue to toss around terms that treat SecondLife as a REAL PLOT OF SOD is insulting.
No more mirrors, smoke screens and road apples, PLEASE. You’ve had this price hike planned all along, you’re trying to pay for the tax on your resources caused by free users rather than just TELLING THE TRUTH, because you expect us to pay for them, rather than insisting they pay for themselves. The notion that they CAN’T pay for themselves is just flat stupidity. You’d solve all of this by limiting free users to 30-day free trials, and at the end of the free trial they either pony up for a premium membership or hit the door. *WE* think SL’s worth it, I don’t understand why you insist on selling your own product short by thinking that people exploring SL during the first month don’t think so. Your problem is that so many people DON’T stay in SL because you’ve got minimal asistance in place for encouraging them to do so. You’ve turned to residents for that support. You’ve also not addressed waaaaay too many issues that need to be fixed. You’re marketing a broken product with minimal support for it, and expect us to pay MORE for it so that you can allow more people to sample your broken, confusing product. Um, ’scuze me, but is this not putting the cart before the horse?
Offer a better product, LL, and people will stay, and pay as well.
November 4th, 2006 at 7:38 AM
I would really like to know why you do not address the quite big concern many people have of a 2 tier payment system where business enterprises should pay more (and to an extent subsidise) than individuals.
November 4th, 2006 at 7:50 AM
Ooooook… read blog after blog and post after post after post… My head is spinning here!
Higher price, no guarentee of higher quality… hmmmm
150 sims held for purchase… land store opens… people scramble to purchase the ‘limited’ amount offered…WOAH and behold… now it’s extended.
I own a SINGLE island, a few renters to assist with the already existing tier fee. I don’t charge more than LL for the land and I offer EXTRA prims. I don’t intend to gouge, I don’t intend to make my ‘mark’ as a land baroness in SL. I do intend to have an ejoyable time creating and visiting with friends.
You aren’t going to raise mainland rates, but may or may not raise existing island tiers. UMMMMM… S’CUSE ME but my enjoyment just went DOWN. Along with what I would/was making towards the already existing tier fee of 195.00.
I am not __________ (place your favorite/non favorite land baron/baroness name here), nor am I ____________________ (insert the most annoying sl land baron/baroness name here) but I am a single person hoping to bring the ‘few’ renters of my island an enjoyable and AFFORDABLE time. I do what LL or other land barons will or won’t do… I will work with you to easily be able to afford land. I’ve ’sold’ two parcels… I use the term sold here LIGHTLY.. this was for the benefit and safety feature they felt they would get in purchasing. I WILL refund any money they gave to ‘purchase’ the land back in the event they wish to leave, I wish to leave.. or whatever s’cuse you can think of.
I run my SL life same as I do my real… with integrity, honesty and a all out will to make something for someone else enjoyable.
When it ceases to become enjoyable, it will cease to be.
This isn’t my job, this isn’t my income..this is my ‘hobby’ just like reading… If I don’t like the book I’ve started I give it a few chapters (in SL’s case it will be till Feb. 1, 2007) and if it doesn’t catch my eye or my mind… I trash it.
Grandfather those tiers in, or many, many small island owners will be forced to give it up to those high priced land barons with a don’t give a chyte attitude.
That’s my nickles worth… (inflation yanno… two cents don’t get ya much these days -winks-)
November 4th, 2006 at 7:54 AM
Hello all,
I agree about the rates, and they should be frozen for a long time. Frankly some people who own sims are barely hanging on at 195 a month. And frankly I agree about commerical sims being charged more, and RPing and group, for example, German, Spanish, or French speaking folks, should be charged the same amt less than the current rate. With a certian amt. of space say no more than 5-10% of the space set up for a marketplace for vendors. If I could afford to own land, I would. But the plain fact is, I can’t afford it. And if you run into a tight, and can’t afford the tier, you louse your entire investment, or if you are lucky you will lose only 1/2 of what you had in it. I don’t know the Linden rates, well, as when my friend had some land and she would have paid almost 120 USD at current rates to buy just 5200 M of land @ 6 USD per 1000 M. She had to pay 25 USD, which is almost another 20% per month in “tier fees.” Considering that, you would buy your land twice in 6 months. That is highway robbery! They need to think of the little people, who enjoy SL but can not afford the rates.
November 4th, 2006 at 7:56 AM
I can answer why they won’t answer a 2 tier system, corporations cheat where they can. Lets take this as an example. SoftMicro Incorporated wants a sim and sees the higher price for corporate sims, so they have one of their people make a character and build the sim at the lower price. Even if it looks like Softmicro’s sim, they can say, oh we gave such and such the right to use our name.
November 4th, 2006 at 7:59 AM
The impression of the announcements I’ve been getting over the past week has gone like this:
Hi! In a couple of days we’re raising rates on the islands and jacking the tier up 51% after consulting with the people most likely to profit, i.e. not you. But you very well might end up on a better server that can process faster, make delicious souffles, and has that backcourt mobility you need. Better hurry before you lose your old tier price, but don’t worry, existing islands won’t be affected. This is good for SL.
Hi! We listened to your pleas and we’ve pushed the deadline off a few weeks. Of course, the first people to respond in the panic that we induced will get the old servers, ha ha, but everything is wonderful and by hurrying now you can still get in on the old price and tier before we make everything unaffordable, including your chances of resale. This is good for SL.
Hi! Wow, you people sure do get cranky. To clarify, ordering now will get you an island at the old price and the old tier which we’re going to jack up anyway in a few months along with everybody else’s — didn’t we mention that? — on a new server which really isn’t all that great. We don’t know where you get these crazy ideas. This is good for SL.
Like any company (or country), what is good for the bottom line is not necessarily what is good for the consumers/residents/future. A balance is needed, and announcing this change after a long summer of griefing, goo attacks, lag problems, outages, twice-reduced stipends, and the Missing Texture craze that’s been sweeping the nation is not the best way to capitalize on the rush of recent publicity SL has been getting. We understand the necessity of making money and the reality that prices have to go up sometimes. We’re hoping you realize how SL sounds to the residents lately, and how that will affect the future of SL.
It will still be possible to come in for free and have fun, poke around and chat with your friends. It will still be possible for big companies (corporations looking for new ad potential) or wildly profitable ventures (gambling, sex) to do business here. But the bulk of what makes SL such an amazing place to visit comes from amateur designers who do it for the fun of it, and that’s what will fade with these new developments. There just won’t be as many people thinking “You know, I wonder if I can make an Escher house” when the necessary land gets priced out of the hobby level. As that type of participation drops away I suspect the news articles will stop, since the reporters will get tired of reporting about the same six places, and the non-griefing visitors will slow down, and the big corporations you’re courting will leave to go find where everyone’s going now.
November 4th, 2006 at 8:00 AM
Disagree Jane and Simone. You need to do some abstract thinking sorry no disrespect intended
Virtual land is a type of franchise or property you lease, in the same way as you can lease web space via a host company. What you use it for is up to you, but it is better you enter into an agreement with all costs defined. To compare virtual land with first life land is perhaps the easiest analogy and one that may stand up to legal testing. I believe virtual land and property have already entered the legal systems of some countries
As to your points about Second Life I disagree there too. I agree you may be using it for a type of escapism, but others including Anshe Chung, the Otherworld Group, Azure Islands, some casinos, and first life companies including Reuters, Vodafone, Nissan, Rivers Run Red, The Electric Sheep Company, other media companies, and the music and entertainment business are thinking very differently from you. It is business pure and simple, and I suspect many more may follow.
November 4th, 2006 at 8:03 AM
Crap, I’m running outta popcorn!
LOLOLL!
Why all the big surprise about some Feb 1st announcement? Dint whathisname lindie already say that MORE changes were to come in the near future?
While I make my popcorn run, I’m gonna be looking around for Katywiki Moonflower. She’d have a field day with this. But mebbe she’s just tired of trying to make LL do the right thang - don’t blame her one bit.
All this crap serves one thing: to fleece yall even more.
Example.
Big scawy announcement that you gotta run get ya sims in on Nov 1 or ya gonna be assed out and have to pay hefty hikes.
Many who were on the fence about owning a sim, caved in. Mo Moneh for LL, than expected.
Then they said, oh well you have half a month more, making those who scrambled, feel like idjits. So now they’re stuck.
Then they go into this whole “grandfathering thing” which even many more fell for and scrambled even more to get they sim. Mo Moneh for LL
Guess what? I’m betting you grandpappys are all gonna hafta pay up the big bux on Feb 1st. Mo Money for LL.
It seems to me, that if you bail at that point, LL still keeps all the cash from the initial down on all the islands that everyone scrambled to get. More in fact than normally would have happened. Mo Money for LL
Again all this cracks me up, cuz yall fell for it.
The Bold and the Bootyful…..
*pops up a new batch of popcorn*
November 4th, 2006 at 8:06 AM
Oh and you cannot edit blogs
I was going to add that a clear defined lease term will be of benefit to the smaller or private user beause you will kno what your costs are.
November 4th, 2006 at 8:25 AM
The whole thing reminds me of a mob numbers racket, where witless rubes trust the mafia to play nice.
It’s very obvious how the decisions will be made. The more trust Lindenlab gets, the higher thier rates will go. There’s no other index to apply.
November 4th, 2006 at 8:37 AM
too crazy for me
i just wanted to have fun-what the hell happened?
November 4th, 2006 at 9:09 AM
Un@#$%believable….I’ve seen some dirty things go on with companies (I work for a cable company>:()…but the way you are running things and the fact that none of your comments state the same facts from one blog to the next (ex. Class 5 servers arent going to be any better…we wont be doubleing the number of private islands run on servers (implies there is in fact more than one on a server)….the lower tier is most likely going to change Feb 1st….Islands have been run on old class 2 and 3 servers apparently…..) makes buying a private island a pretty damned unsure investment.
“And Wow, we’ve gotten a lot of orders for private regions! Thank you to everyone who has placed an order. It is great to see how many people are excited about purchasing their own island.”
Give me a break…people arent excited theyre scared as hell and trying to get in under your price hike which as of this blog we’re not sure anyone is going to get under it…eh I’m sure Anshe will somehow so everythings great I guess…NOT!!!
Why dont you consider a 5-10% tier increase across the board and be happy with that? I know you guys arent hard up for cash so your comments about still losing money…forget it $601000USD spent in the last 24 hours!!! over 200 islands a week!! Gawd knows how many regions that your bringing in 195-400USD per month!! Countless $L purchased from you everyday!! If your hard up for cash with all that then your money management is as poor as your customer relations. Get a clue LLs we love this game and thats why we play…..dont make it all about fattening your already deep pockets and run all the everyday Joes off
November 4th, 2006 at 9:30 AM
# Raven Welesa Says:
November 4th, 2006 at 7:56 am
I can answer why they won’t answer a 2 tier system, corporations cheat where they can. Lets take this as an example. SoftMicro Incorporated wants a sim and sees the higher price for corporate sims, so they have one of their people make a character and build the sim at the lower price. Even if it looks like Softmicro’s sim, they can say, oh we gave such and such the right to use our name.
————————————————
The simple answer to that is, if you are using SL for a commercial RL venture then you pay extra - end of discussion.
EG. If I have a sim full of propaganda about SoftMicro Incorporated or I am selling their products then I pay business rates for SL.
If I don’t have permission to use SoftMicro Incorporated’s brand, then it all gets removed.
Its simple. If I have permission I pay, if I don’t have permission it gets deleted.
November 4th, 2006 at 9:41 AM
i guess this is why they call it linden research, cause they are still experimenting. my observations of the last month with the media, the linden economy, and my various experiences here has given me the call to manifest destiny
well.. i bought my island and dreamland plots knowing full well what i was getting into. I may lose all my money, cause lindens could go under or get bought out just the same. the computers can all crash and get viruses and my stuff deleted.. this is NOT like real life.. its virtual, but i agree with you all, this is big business and like any business venture, or even real estate deal, its very risky.. you take the risks.. some fall out, some make it.. but its the spirit of capitalism
im using my land to help newbies who cant afford an island and need to relieve their stress, nobody should feel left out with these experimental price increases
i may sell it before the price goes up again, but thats a risk anyway because these arbitrary deadlines keep changing so often, i never know what my plan is..
the constant that i am comforted by though, is by reading the blogs, the lindens are trying to please everyone, i understand if enough people raise their voices, things will change.. we have voting and open blogs… this is the spirit of democracy..
and so.. im not afraid of the future.. im all in..
yeah i took some hard knocks here too. discovvering that the entire center region of the map is off limits to owning land.. (lame!) hearing about the feb timeline AFTER i bought.. lame! (how about small gradual increases?)
(gets up off the ground and dusts off her skirt)
y’all keep your chins up and quit griping from the comforts of your own home office….. you are a part of history in the beginnings of a new country… If this place is the source of my ruin, at least i can say I went down in history as a pioneer.
(Janie hops back on her chuck wagon and gives a giddyup to those oxen, and they head off down the dusty road toward the great vast unknown with all her belongings packed in the back and casks of water and whisky, a nice set of lingerie, a head for business, 200 bucks, and a pistol)
November 4th, 2006 at 10:52 AM
I really do not understand all these negative posts. Surely there must be a better way of communicating ideas than the flame and rant. Negative reponses only invite the listener to tune you out. I can understand concerns over price increases. But surely every adult person in the world knows that prices will always go up. Did anyone really think that you would pay less for more product? Commercial landowners shouldn’t complain at all. Yes your operating costs are increasing, but you will have to charge more for your products, which means they will have to be more effective and value oriented. Non commercial land owners will be perhaps the most adversely effected. But that just means you’ll have to be more creative and inventive with a smaller space. Remember, creativity is good.
Let’s keep an open line of communication with the Lindens, not try shutting those lines down.
And if for any reason this message incites anyone to post a flame response, understand that it is not I who has the feelings of misanthropy.
November 4th, 2006 at 11:12 AM
And when land owners sell off and tier down to free, Linden Lab will say, “Ok! We heard you loud and clear! You wanted us to charge free accounts, so we will! There will be no more free accounts! All of you who sold off and tiered down to free must cough up a monthly fee of…oh…$25 a month sounds about right!”
Bwaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!
November 4th, 2006 at 11:17 AM
Islands will be merged back into the mainland and estate tools will be deactivated. I see that coming. Think that’s crazy? Think again. Linden Lab’s “social policy” has turned against islands. Islands are now bad for the community. Read it from Philip’s own lips:
http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2006/10/30/linden-moves-to-quell-price-hike-criticism/
Quote, for the lazy: “There is a benefit to the commons of having people stay in the same space — a cool place on the mainland is a public good for the overall society. It’s fine to have an island … but from a rational perspective you should probably pay a little more, because the community loses a little bit when you do that.”
That’s the Gospel from Linden Lab, people. Look upon it and despair.
November 4th, 2006 at 11:43 AM
Upto 6 weeks to wait for the island ordered on the 1st??? but you billed 1250 for the setup cost of it already! Seems unfair… without delivering islands yet? you must be making interest for that, something the customer won’t get for weeks ..that is a lot of islands…lot of interest. lot of ‘unfair’ about this, eh?
Islands delivered at around the 15th December as you estimate.. will then only have a few weeks till February 1st.. which is when you may or may not decide to raise the price? I wonder now if i should have even bothered ordering an island…
November 4th, 2006 at 11:53 AM
SUGGESTION: BUY BACK OUR SIMS
Linden Lab, if you want to make people happy and take their worry away and prove that you’re stand-up, do this: offer to buy back at current market price any sim that a user wants to sell. That way, there is some protection for the user against vascillating company policy. If company policy and sim performance is good, people won’t want to sell. No worries, eh? You buy my sim. Buy the sims of others who want to sell. No complaints.
There are two things we have been told over the last week:
1. Existing sims will have their tier fees grandfathered in so needn’t worry about tier changes because their sims will remain for some time on the less-powerful Class 4 machines instead of the brand new fancy Class 5 machines.
2. The Class 5 machines are brand new fancy and work so much better than the Class 4 machines that they are expected to solve most of the lag and sim problems that we all have been experiencing.
Now, in this post, we are told just the opposite. As of Feb 1 LL will be considering upping current tier prices (and we all know how LL “considering” works). And we’re being told there is no discernable difference between the performance of Class 4 and Class 5 machines. Forgive me folks, but this is why Elf Clan is shutting down. We’re tired of this bogus nonsense. We lost more than $3,500US due to “miscommunication” of company policies. We’re finished putting our time, effort and investment into such things.
It might be good for Linden Lab to note that almost every post in this thread is negative, running the gammut from disbelief (at best) to outright anger and “ready to close the checkbook”. There is overwhelming negative customer response here. These are the things that would have business analysts hitting the red alarm button.
You might also note that more than one user saw right through the smoke screen and propaganda. These are not idiots here. Well, maybe we are; after all, we purchased expensive sims without any written contracted agreement. We trusted a corporation. Maybe we ARE idiots. Guilty as charged.
It’s not the fees that have folks worried most (although they’re bad enough). It is the self-serving corporate attitude that is increasingly working against customer interests. Linden Lab has a habit of blaming its customers for its problems– all the way from lag issues (it’s client content, not server issues) to company policy (we say so) to even blaming the customers for negative reactions to company decisions (the recent LL-self-back-patting blog post which basically badmouthed customers for sending negative email or comments).
Ranma above left a very angry– and very accurate post. Second one I’ve seen from this user, and the second one that is spot-on. People are unhappy. People are angry. Linden Lab needs to listen. Company stats (at least those that are available) show that Second Life is not all that successful. You folks seem to be brilliant visionaries– but terrible in the managment and customer service department (why did it take me several months and three emails to get a simple invoice?). Apparently the current company business model is not working. I’ve been tellin’ ya this for 2 years. What’s it going to take before someone listens– total self-destruction of the company? You don’t have to listen to me, or Ranma or anyone else. But a company that doesn’t listen to its paying customers– will lose those paying customers.
Wake up people! Your customer base is angry– and for good reason. They’re letting you know they’re angry. Consider yourself lucky; if they didn’t care about Second Life, they’d just close shop and never say a word. Or hasn’t it occurred to you why I myself have been so vocal? What, because I hate LL? LOL. Someone needs to get a clue. And it isn’t the customers.
November 4th, 2006 at 12:27 PM
Well,
Thanks for clarifying those questions. I concur with the others that say we need at least some guidance regarding future price increases on the “grandfathered” islands. At least 2 months *concrete* notice would be good. Forgive us if we don’t quite trust you after this recent debacle of a steep increase with 60 hours notice, then a week of uncertainty with many unanswered questions, after a false land rush caused by misinformation.
November 4th, 2006 at 12:38 PM
“Fool me once… Fool me twice… I won’t get fooled again.”
Ah, the brilliance of George II. All y’all Lindens almost got me. I was overjoyed with the two-week pushback and started reserving a boatload of islands. And then I read that the tier will go up on February 1 to 295 (or its rumored to, which means it will). Delivery of the new islands is mid-December so I’ll enjoy the lower tier for six glorious weeks.
Nuh-uh.
I’ll be seeing all y’all on the mainland, with a lot less land in my possession.
PS. Has anyone expored the corporate islands? What a bunch of nicely art directed nothingness.
November 4th, 2006 at 1:23 PM
Rocky Rutabaga: “PS. Has anyone expored the corporate islands? What a bunch of nicely art directed nothingness.”
LOL I didnt even know there was that corps islands before this new prices events. But I liked the free virtual Sentra ^^. I actually dont blame the corps and think it can be funny to have them in SL, so long they dont kill the existing “way of life”. Imagine the yahoo newbies going on caging spree in some corporate shops. Seen the Adidas one isnt event llPushObject restricted, guess you can experience some extreme “bouncing” effects *giggles*.
November 4th, 2006 at 1:39 PM
Lindsey Barrett Says:
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:44 pm
I am so disgusted with LL right now. Miss Ansche Chung is the only one that benefits from all of this.
My good friend owned land from her. He couldn’t afford it anymore so when he went to sell it back to her, she offered to buy it 17k
Now, we’re talking about 8196 square meters of WATERFRONT land which in this market is worth more than 50k! LL wants people to stay on the mainland? Do something about that &$^*# robber baron Ansche Chung!
_________________________________
I’m in a wait and see mode with Second Life right now, as the more I think about the overall picture, the more I believe there is more going on than is apparent at first glance.
Given that certain members were given inside information by Linden Lab which allowed them to effectively steal sims from other residents, there is no question in my mind that the rumored FIC exists. The question now turns to why?
Linden Labs is in the unenviable position of having a small number of large residents paying a signficant amount of tier to Linden Labs, and like it or not, but for these residents Linden Labs would probably have a severe short term cash crunch which could drive them out of business.
Past efforts to break the stranglehold these residents have has apparently failed, although this was far before my time and records are sparce. However, I doubt if Linden Labs will be able to free themselves of this dependance until they are a profitable company.
The key test will be once that line of being in the black is crossed. If at that time Linden Labs continues to give preferential treatment to choice residents and ignore the needs of the smaller residents, then I believe the Second Life which exists now will cease to exist and become nothing more than a virtual shopping mall.
If however, Linden Labs uses the financial freedom that running a profit gives and ends terminates the FIC, not only will Second Life thrive as a community but also financially. The talent and desire is there, all that is needed is a level playing field.
While the price increase is huge, perhaps it is part of a larger plan to stop the financial losses and run a profit. Such is my hope, although the double speak about the class 5 and 4 server performance levels does undercut confidence in Linden Labs. And when combined with the insider trading, it doens’t take a genius to figure out why there is so much disgust.
Perhaps a Linden could clarify which of the two prior statements is accurate and which was not, and make sure other residents don’t get confused by two contradicting announcments by Linden Labs.
November 4th, 2006 at 2:32 PM
“There is a benefit to the commons of having people stay in the same space — a cool place on the mainland is a public good for the overall society. It’s fine to have an island … but from a rational perspective you should probably pay a little more, because the community loses a little bit when you do that.”
The good part is that he has a valid point in that. But of course it’s only good in this context.
Why do people want to have an island for their community?
To stop the friggin’ lag and get some privacy.
Mainland is all nice and that, but you never know who your neighbours gonna be. One moment your living in a quiet place, the next there’s a huge script filled casino sucking up all the bandwith and causing an enourmous lag.
I think more people would be interested in the mainland if they fixed the lag-problem there.
November 4th, 2006 at 2:32 PM
Thank heavens I listened to avs before jumping in and buying an island. My experience as a “newbie” so far has been eye opening. Right now the only motivation I have to go ahead and buy in is because my av has been treated quite poorly by a landlord (stripped my entire house of everything due to some clause in my lease about 175 prim limit…enough for what, a chair?), which is something anyone in rl would never put up with. And of course, she did it while I was away. I hope she especially enjoys the espresso machine and Warhol paintings I happily purchased and lost.
So, instead of getting schooled about the black arts and picking up a few stealth weapons to take care of the owner of Mystica Woods, I am considering buying. But then, what happens? Do I have to become a slob too and enforce hideous rules like this landlord did?
I spent quite a bit of $L over the past two weeks just getting into this game, but I feel that there is little respect among characters, nothing festive going on and now these price increases…..
The shop keepers seem to be the only nice people around, so I kept spending money with them just to have some type of sl social activity! Of course, most goods were stolen by Godzilla The Landlord.
So that’s feedback from someone who WAS quite excited to hear about Second Life. Someone who has no problem sharing the $L, and who really did want to be a part of sl. And I almost bought an island…..almost!
Thanks but no thanks. I will wait for PS3 to come out and stick with Bond games, or something.
November 4th, 2006 at 2:54 PM
Takes to 15 december to deliver the islands, took them less then 6 hours to grab the money for them out of my bf account.
You Lindens are unbelievable! The bloody nerves!
November 4th, 2006 at 3:03 PM
If Island are bad for SL give me a mainland sim with the same tools as the Islands there would be no complaints by me.
Also what happen to those 150 Class 4 servers that were sitting around for this Nov 1st Island blowout? Where did they go and why do we have to wait a month a half for an island?
November 4th, 2006 at 3:12 PM
My friend Mocha keeps having her posts “moderated”. Not endorsing what she says, but she has a right to say it…
from her:
Interesting links on John Z’s last company here - and by the way, it is HouseValues.com that John Z used to work for.
I have been doing some research on the business model and the online real-estate industry - it sheds some light on John Z’s approach in SL.
http://search.complaints.com/search?q=housevalues&site=complaints&client=complaints&proxystylesheet=complaints&output=xml_no_dtd
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff146227.htm
http://www.thebbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=7047919
Note that the company IS a member of the Better Business Bureau, and may well have lots of satsified customers. I just couldn’t find their testimonials, except on sites hosted by the company itself.
And, I am NOT saying that the former CFO, John Z, was responsible for these apparent lapses in customer service, accusations of gouging, etc.
But, if you’ve been marinading in vinegar, some of the taste is gonna rub off…
November 4th, 2006 at 4:19 PM
Please note, I have personal interest in seeing Second Life succeed - strong interest. I make these comments in the most constructive sense possible.
Raising rates on existing regions -at all- in February is a huge mistake - even hinting at it is a huge mistake - if the Company wishes to continue to make the kind of money it is making.
People will base their financial decisions on what they -think- the Company will do.
Guess what they think now.
The 1675 / 295 USD rate hike will already kill off 95% of new startups.
“Hey, let’s forgo the cost of a new car, for an island region in Second Life!” For most people, that will -never- fly.
A quick summary of island owners will show who the customers are - and they are *not* major corporations.
Please, provide added-value services instead. Name changes, client enhancements, whatever. Your customers will understand and appreciate this.
The current ‘raise prices’ approach is a direct beeline to making *a lot less* income.
November 4th, 2006 at 4:27 PM
Please keep in mind that while Linden Lab is not a member of the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the BBB reports on both members and non-members. You can find Linden Lab’s BBB info here: http://www.goldengatebbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=57373 which is public record. Their record currently indicates that they have a satisfactory record having had 5 complaints filed and resolved with only one being administratively closed.
November 4th, 2006 at 4:31 PM
Corporate SL land is sadly like corporate everything… stale and bland. Practical, but boring.
It is sad in many ways that companies spend all this money