Are they kidding with Openspace?

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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Eye on the Blog - About the Homestead Launch and Script Limits

As we have previously blogged, Homesteads will be launched as a new product on Monday 5th January. Those of you that own an Openspace should already have received emails from us explaining the changes taking place; this post is to ensure that you have as much information as possible ahead of the change.

In launching a new product, there are many areas that will change, including additions to the website, new knowledgebase articles, and of course, changes to the Land Store itself.

Timing:

• January 5th: From 8am until 12 noon SLT, Land Store closed for maintenance. Upon opening, both Homesteads and Openspaces will be available as options for island owners.
• January 5th: All Openspace regions to undergo rolling restart. Most will happen before Noon SLT.

Billing

• If your normal monthly bill date is before the 5th you will be billed your new rate in February 09
• If your normal monthly bill date is on or after the 5th, you will be billed the new rate in January 09
• Educators that have paid for a half or full year in advance will be unaffected by rate increase until their renewal date. For more information and to confirm renewal dates contact the Concierge team.

Script Limits

• We will need to implement script limits to prevent a heavily overloaded region from negatively affecting the performance of another region.

Timing for Script Limits:

• In Q1, we will be gathering data on script load, and sharing this usage data with the community before deciding what the most appropriate limits are.
• In Q2, we expect there to be Viewer changes to allow you to monitor your script usage against those limits.
• In Q3 we will begin enforcing script limits.

Read the full post HERE
Source: The official SecondLife Blog

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The $10,000USD buy off?

" Announcing the $10,000 Linden Prize
I am very excited to announce the inaugural Linden Prize.
The Linden Prize will award one Second Life Resident or team with $10,000 USD, paid in Linden dollars, for an innovative inworld project that improves the way people work, learn and communicate in their daily lives outside of the virtual world. The award is intended to align with Linden Lab’s company mission–to connect all people to an online world that advances the human condition."

With all the furor regarding the openspaces Linden Lab obviously thinks we need a pacifier and offers Residents a chance to win this prize!
Don't get me wrong its a great initiative and the award itself is a good idea but right now its another slap in the face for angry, frustrated residents living in the Lindens' virtual world.
Not only has M Linden angered many, he has also snubbed any attempts at two way communications. The Lindens asked for and received feedback in the 'hidden away from the world' forums with initially 3000+ posts and many good ideas for fixing the problem Linden lab had caused.
Linden Lab made a pretence of listening to feedback. I say a pretence because the end result of 'listening' is far worse for most residents, with only educational facilities better off, than the original change proposed.
After the second 'Letter to residents' M Linden again took it to the 'hidden from the world' forums and asked for feedback. To date there are over 2500 responses with not a single response from M Linden and I believe only about 4 other Linden replies - Is that listening? Is that communicating? Is that building trust in Linden Lab?

This prize can now only be seen as a weak attempt to divert attention from the issue that has affected most of Linden Labs' staunchest supporters!
A lot of the residents and estate owners, I personally have spoken to, have all said the same thing - Linden Lab were perfectly aware of the use the openspaces were being used for and actively encouraged those uses, leading many to accuse Linden Lab of a 'Bait and Switch' manoeuvre by taking a working product and substituting a second rate product or, of course, paying extra for the same product (with more restrictions) that you originally bought.
With this and the forum snub from M Linden many residents are abandoning their sims, both openspace and full, and flocking to other developing grids.
Dana Vanmoer

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Dear M(ark)

Regarding the openspaces mess you have got yourself into.
James and I were discussing this issue and disagreeing since James looks at things purely from a business owners perspective whereas I tend to look at how your decisions have affected the people. There was no argument purely a theoretical discussion and to be honest he had certain points but none which excuse the way you have treated your customers.
So you underestimated the demand for openspaces, you underestimated the usage and you continued to sell the product even after problems started to materialise and after the realisation that something had to be done.
The problem then was how to deal with it and no matter what solution you manage to come up with the Residents would be the ones to pay for it.
The point is not that you had to fix the problem but the way you, as a company, think you can treat your loyal customers. If, after the realisation that there was a huge problem that would have to fixed, you had come to us 1, you would have had all the feedback you got after your terrible announcement and 2, you would have kept the faith and trust that you have now lost to a huge degree, instead of which you have ended up making most people think of 'bait and switch'
If you had admitted you had messed up and apologised many would not have dumped their islands and Secondlife, the way you have condescended and patronised your customers is the reason Secondlife is dying and people are looking for alternatives.
Most can swallow price rises, and to a degree expect it from any service, but because of the appalling way this has been handled you have lost something very precious - TRUST.
Losing trust may not mean a lot to a company in the short term but in the long time you have damaged your reputation which was already in decline, as far as Residents were concerned, due to lack of communication and the impression that Residents do not matter to Linden Lab.
You have said you want discussion and are working on better communication yet even on this you do not take it seriously, I have been following the FORUM discussion - 4 replies in 88 pages is not a discussion and none from you yourself. Yet you expect people to take the forum seriously as a way to communicate - is this yet another smokescreen? Just a way to allow us to let off steam? It certainly isn't for discussion because that implies two way communication.
Please stop insulting your customers we are not 'passionate' but smart enough to see through your pretty words we do not need to be talked to like children we need honesty and transparency.
Making people feel like they are second rate is not a smart move - you should take your 'cap in hand' and apologise although its probably too late for many.
You have messed up and if I were in your position I would fire my PR advisers and start working very hard on trying to earn the trust back you have lost, if that is even possible now.
Many may have been smoke screened by the apparent changes and on the whole the end package you have decided on is not much different from the original except maybe slightly fairer to educators and sailing communities (if the script allowance doesn't kill those off too) but in time most will see through the smokescreen and feel even more duped.
I urge you to act now before any more damage is done to Linden Labs reputation.
You owe your residents an apology and in your last letter that is what most people were looking for once they realised not a lot had changed.
Dana Vanmoer

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How do you spell incompetence? (2)

The small controversy surrounding Openspace sims makes me think of an easy comparison in the telecommunications industry at home, in Canada.

By selling a product, not limiting its use and cracking down on its customers, the giant company called Bell Canada alienated many people. Bell offered unlimited Internet access to its mobile phone users but put arbitrary restriction clauses in the contracts. In fact, this made people pay for unlimited use without granting them actual limitless service. Once some mobile phone customers started to use their wireless connection as an unlimited one, they were told that they were not expected to do so.

In a way, Linden Labs' decision to unilaterally upgrade Openspace sims to Class 5 by telling people that they were overusing them is comparable. It offered something that was too good to be true. It made estate ownership easy but did not put limits that would prevent people from adding textures, scripts and objects once there was enough to eat up the sim's performance.

It would have made sense to cap the use of a sim's resources instead of slapping everyone with a forced upgrade. This is yet again an example of lack of foresight from the Lindens.

Here is some of that foresight they badly need: Bell Canada is one of the most despised brands in Canada because it has historically treated its customers in such a way. As soon as competition started offering a credible alternative for home phone services, customers left in droves. On a national level. They took their Internet and television services to the competition's attractive bundles and are now enjoying better customer service.

I ask this for a second time: How do you spell incompetence?

I suggest this answer: an L, an I, an N, a D, an E and another N

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Protests start on nautilus sims

Many are angry upset and confused over the Linden turnabout on the open sims - it seems LL have grossly under-estimated the market for them and now are backtracking fast and those with openspaces are the ones who will have to pay for their mismanagement - click the image to join the protests.
There is also a JIRA - as yet unassigned where you can vote if you disagree with these proposed changes. You can also follow the argument in the FORUMS
One protested stated his reasons:

[13:36] ****: they do pay attention[13:37] dana Vanmoer: apart from raising publicity - which obviously all eyes are on this subject - what do you think this will achieve?
[13:37] ****: there are lindens watching us at this very moment I know this for a fact

Feeling of trust are almost completely gone in Linden Lab and many are whispering conspiracy this coming just a couple of weeks after Linden Lab open the new region for residents.

At the same time came the news that Infinity Lindens office hour was over run with protesters also and those estate owners looking for answers:

Some were actually forthcoming in that Infinity did admit LL is looking into grandfathering.

Simone Stern has the full transcript from Jacks emergency office hours this morning and rather than make another copy THIS LINK will take you there.

In both Jacks and Infinitys office hours there has been a lot of two way conversation going on - that LL are to blame for this mess is undeniable BUT I would like to point out that the price increases are a way off and there is time for LL to find a better solution.

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Linden labs slams its paying customers again!

Yes linden labs have messed up and their paying customers will be the ones who have to PAY for it:

Openspace Pricing and Policy Changes
Openspace prices and fees change on the 1st January with no grandfathering.
Class 4 Openspaces will be upgraded to class 5 in January.
Educator discount is no longer available for Openspaces.
No Owner switching for Openspaces unless it’s a full transfer of Payor.
More proactive education by support staff to prevent unfair resource use by Openspace regions.

Why?
What happened?
According to Jack Linden usage of the openspace sims has surprised them and the load needed to support them is too much. They gave us 3750 prims to use on these beautiful private islands and apparently didn't expect us to use them!

So Openspaces have been incredibly popular as a perk for estate owners, but sadly there is a twist. Unfortunately most of the Openspaces are being used for much more than light use. Based on analysis performed in August and September, Openspaces are being used about twice as much as we expected, in other words being loaded with double the content/avatar load than we’d expect for a region that is supposed to be light use.

That there are unscrupulous users of the openspaces is not in doubt and now it seems, rather than deal with the offenders, everyone on openspaces will have to pay.
At an emergency office hours Jack showed a willingness to listen to idea's that residents presented suggesting a possibility these changes are not set in stone yet - but from past experience Resident suggestions are generally ignored. Linden Lab have showed yet again absolutely no knowledge of the inworld economy.
Jack Linden: okay so here is a question; do you think us pinning prim counts down to say 1500, and limiting script count to 250, would be acceptable if the price stayed as it now? I'm not suggesting this is possible, but I'm interested in your opinions
Some great ideas were forthcoming on ways to combat the problem but the point is that Linden Lab did not foresee this issue showing gross mismanagement and incompetence.
Jack was listening though and this can only be a good thing:
[5:37] Jack Linden: okay, so lets summarise a little: I hear you on OS limits, and I hear you on the other options like free conversions. I won't obviously be making any promises in this discussion which is an ad-hoc one because I wanted to get as much feedback as I could.. but I will take all of this away and discuss it within the Lab. *if* there are outcomes or changes, then we should make those clear sooner rather than later
[5:39] Jack Linden: Lets keep talking. I will reply more in the forums, and I will try to do more sessions like this over the next few days.

Beginning 1st January 2009
We will increase the monthly maintenance fee from USD$75 to USD$125 per month. This price increase will apply to all owners of Openspaces on January 1st as well as new purchases after that date. There will be no grandfathering of Openspace maintenance pricing.
This shows a 50% increase in upfront fees and a 66% increase in tier fees!

I spoke with Intlibber Brautigan of BNT holdings and this is what he had to say;
IntLibber BnT: if anything is costing them money its the fact that they offer 195 tier on the mainland that we subsidize with our high sim tier
IntLibber BnT: I'm all for ending the grandfathered rates, puts everybody on a level playing field
IntLibber BnT: ending grandfathering and equalizing tier between mainland and estates will bring in enough revenue for LL that they can cover added expenses.

This is a situation that we will monitor closely. You can follow the discussions in the FORUM and we will try to keep you updated on anything pertinent.
Thank you to Gemma Cleanslate for the chat logs and Intlibber for taking the time to talk to me.
Dana Vanmoer
Source: Secondlife Blog

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BREAKING NEWS: Region prices dropped by 40%

UPDATE (Thursday, April 10th, 3:30am SLT):

Linden Lab have released some more details about the new pricing for sims. The most important changes are:
- Openspace sim prices will also drop (to US$ 275, excl. VAT)
- Tier fees will remain the same for all types of sims
- New land store will probably open on April 16th/17th
- Orders for new regions that have not been processed yet, can be cancelled
- There will be compensation for those who bought a new region after March 10th
- First month's tier will still be included in the setup price

It seems that Linden Lab has given in to the many many comments and complaints about these price changes. It is mostly the enormous drop in prices (over 40%) and how sudden this all came to the public at large, that has been upsetting many residents. Especially those who have bought a region not too long ago, but long enough not to get compensated, are very aggrevated to see their investments drop 40% in value overnight.

The post on the LL blog reached the maximum of 150 comments within hours after the details were released. About 80-90% of the comments are negative and critical towards these price changes.


Original post (Tuesday, April 8th):

Linden Lab has done it again! Another very controversial decision that will shake up Second Life completely! Very angry sim owners are screaming and shouting how unfair the latest of LL's decisions is.

Yesterday/today, LL announced that prices of private regions will drop from US$ 1695 to US$ 1000 within the next couple of weeks.

Imagine that you ordered a new region yesterday, and that you paid almost US$ 1700 for it, while only a few hours later you read that if you had waited 2 weeks, that you would have gotten exactly the same private region for US$ 700 less! Or imagine that you have invested in 20 sims for your RL business, or that you have started your own business in-world, renting out land. You would have invested US$ 33,500 (or even more if you lived in the EU), and now would loose about US$ 15,000 !!!

It almost seems that with two major top-level managers in Linden Lab gone, things are going downhill very fast and decisions aren't thought through very well.

Of course this decision also has it's advantages for those who were thinking about buying a region sometime soon. They will simply get a huge discount. But that will not weigh up against the tremendous amount of upset sim owners, protests and maybe even law suits against Linden Lab.

Another decision that was announced, is to drop the bottom threshhold for mainland region auctions from US$ 1250 to US$ 750, and to 'agressively' sell abandoned mainland.

All we can think of, after the mere flabbergasted feeling fades away, is one question: what is Linden Lab trying to accomplish with this action? Why this enforced rapid expansion over the backs of current residents who will loose 40% of their investments? Has Second Life been subject of some kind of contest over who has the biggest online metaverse? Or did they just get a very good deal on an investment of new servers and do they want to earn that money back very soon?

The article on the LL blog was not very clear on the Openspace regions, on which there has been a huge run since they became a lot easier to buy about a month ago. It is unknown if the price of those 'void sims' will drop by 40% as well. And if so, will LL be sued over it? A lot of people ordered a lot of those sims very very recently!

For now we will have to wait for the new Land Store to open (before the end of April), and in the meantime we will see if this will finally make the economy of SL collaps.

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