iContent Robot…

Space Wide Awake Rockett.

On the other hand, here’s my latest Blog Posting

The Fallen Angels of Second Life

Today I would like to turn my attention to something many of you are probably not aware of. But before I start, you will need to understand the term “angel” in this context.

An “angel” in many software company’s, especially gaming company’s, are people that provide needed startup capital, even before the product is proven or gone into production.

The amazing part of today’s requiem is that Second Life had their own “angels”, yet according to Linden Lab, they matter little any longer to them.

You see, during the Beta Process of Second Life, and before Linden Lab could go “Gold”, they asked their Beta Players to do something extraordinary. Not to find more bugs, or help decode this or that, instead, Linden Lab, in a personnel plea from CEO Philip Rosedale, asked that the Beta Players buy LIFETIME Accts., to help Linden Lab raise SEED MONEY so they could go GOLD.

Many of those Beta Players answered that call back then, and were presented with an acct., that gave them 4096 sq meters of free tier and $500l a week. Back then, there wasn’t any differing support channels, so these “angels” weren’t given a choice between LifeTime Support or what they were offered.

Today, these “Angles” are known as Charter Members, you can see that in their Profile on the General Tab, and while it seems Linden Lab has forgotten their efforts to bring Second Life into GOLD, I only hope the Second Life Community won’t. Many of these “Angels” not only bought ONE Lifetime Acct., but multiple accts., and that’s a very big step of Faith, as Aunty Robin says.

It saddens me though, that the Charter Members aren’t granted the same attention to support as say someone who came later, but paid out more. Linden Lab got an $8,000,000 gift early into Production, and I would imagine if that person wanted an acct, Island, and personal helper, Linden Lab would give him all that for free. This is the part that saddens me, that the first givers in Second Life have been forgotten, over the big givers. If it weren’t for the First Angels, there wouldn’t have been any Second Angels to follow them. Perhaps Linden Lab should remember that?

Here’s to those Fallen Angels of Second Life, if you see one, thank them, because Linden Lab has forgotten their sacrifice.

Heh, good point. I’m surprised they aren’t using “group-held land” or “group-maintained land”, which implies an administrative role.

Honestly, I don’t mind the change in terminology. I’ve long gotten tired of having to explain to people that they can’t just pay for land once and be done with it, which is what “own” suggests should happen.

When looking at a parcel’s info it does show the current owner, which would then be replaced by the group’s name naturally.

We don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, will this actually create a new “parcel google http://...”, so that created picks will show to “no parcel” after deeding or will deeding land to a group have no affect to a parcel’s google status?

The last link in that article leads to another that explains your issue, i think.

“If a group is disbanded, the land it owns goes to Governor Linden to be auctioned off. To preserve the value of your group’s land, you should either sell it or reclaim it before disbanding the group.

If you are the original owner of a disbanded group, you may be able to reclaim the group-deeded land that was assigned to your group. Submit a ticket to Support, and make sure to include:

* The group’s name.
* The name of the Region where the land is located.

If we get your request before the land goes up for auction, we may be able to reassign the land to the group founder. Note that we will process these requests on a case-by-case basis; the only guaranteed way to retain your land (or its value in L$) is to reclaim it or sell it before disbanding the group.”

A bunch of people can contribute land to the group, and the land can be deeded to group, but that land is really no different than a private island that is deeded to group. The real “owners” are still those that contribute the tier.

If a major tier owner suddenly and without warning removes that tier, that group can lose land to Governor Linden real fast (as has happened many, many times in the past). Will the group then be able to buy that land back? Depends on how some LL employee is feeling that day. Sometimes yes… usually not. Usually the land either sits dormant or goes to auction or gets lost in the deep reaches of LL dungeons.

So (again IMO)… I wouldn’t recommend groups being of the opinion they can “own” land. They don’t. They use land that is contributed by tier of actual landowners. Their name may not be on the land, but they own the tier, thus control the life or demise of the land the tier is applied to.

Why is this technicality important? Ask any group who has ever had a major land contributor remove that tier (be it just a generous member who can no longer be generous, or an officer that turns rotten) what it does to “group owned” lands. This isn’t a seldom-experienced thing, and it is not pleasant. The idea of group “owned” land is really a play on words and does not really reflect the reality of the situation. ANY land can be deeded to group. Group “owned” land in reality, is nothing but a bunch of people chipping in their land rights together into one pot… but each one still “owns” those land rights and can withdraw it at any time.