I wonder who Linden Lab think they are kidding with the launch of Homestead sims and their keeping of Openspace as a low-end product.When you look at the way Openspace is set up, it is good for almost nothing but building a bit of nature and flying around alone. I am pushing it to the extreme, but any serious use of those sims, even residential use, is not advised. Why would anyone pay a setup fee and US$75 per month in tier? For US$20 more, you actually get something decent if your use of land is not intensive.
It makes no sense to try fooling people into paying that much money for so little. How much time per month will people spend walking around and flying around land that offers very little but scenery? How many customers will buy into that? I can't see that becoming an important market for long-term purposes.
It is high time for Linden Lab to focus on users instead of just selling land for the sake of collecting tier. Otherwise, it is burning itself in the long run because when competition shows up in virtual worlds, anything more decent, more open and widely accessible will become popular. Right now, there is no doubt that LL is doing well. Land use and tier is an incredible backbone. But what people do in SL will determine its future. If they enjoy activities, they will stick around. If they get bored, abandon land and leave... things get a bit more complicated.
That's something to think about in the new year. Have a good one, folks!
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