tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post3516329505180337765..comments2023-12-14T18:17:52.957-08:00Comments on The Train Wreck Love Life: you're running after something that you'll never killEmilly Orrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245643246821826101noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-50564925280882636802008-10-30T00:29:00.000-07:002008-10-30T00:29:00.000-07:00Miss Jameson, never did I mean to imply that you d...Miss Jameson, never did I mean to imply that you didn't care. You do care. I care. But neither of us own OpenSpace sims, so I did understand what you meant.<BR/><BR/>Edward: I would be fascinated to learn if that's just Desmond's observation, or if he actually was told that's what they were doing. Because if that's a true statement....this thing is <I>much</I> bigger than they thought it would be.<BR/><BR/>And they're yet again doing the exact wrong thing to solve the problem.Emilly Orrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07245643246821826101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-35984038117785540442008-10-29T18:34:00.000-07:002008-10-29T18:34:00.000-07:00As Des said to me in reply to an email I sent him ...As Des said to me in reply to an email I sent him "The forums are burning, and they are administratively logging out protesters last I saw. I think this is bigger than even they imagined."<BR/><BR/>With the forum thread on this now at 160 pages and this is only the second day I think it's blown up well beyond what they may have thought.Edward Pearsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16064707444626044745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-48480054779332560772008-10-29T17:18:00.000-07:002008-10-29T17:18:00.000-07:00Um. I hope "I don't have a dog in this fight" did ...Um. I hope "I don't have a dog in this fight" did not come across as "I don't care." To clarify: people I care about are hurt, people I don't know but would likely care about if I did know are hurt, and, least of all, my own experience is diminished. All I meant was that I had no OS sim of my own, so any comment objecting to the price increase was not because I personally would bear the cost. I agree with you (and others) that the underlying problem is a company that appears indifferent to its customers.Rhianon Jamesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13627163137265856251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-508433053535022052008-10-29T15:50:00.000-07:002008-10-29T15:50:00.000-07:00I think I do have a stake in this, in that many of...I think I do have a stake in this, in that many of my friends, and many of the places I like to go in Second Life, happen to center around OpenSpace sims. If everyone who currently owns an OS sim in Caledon--<I>just in Caledon</I>--gives back that sim to Linden Labs because of frustration with the Lindens and their baffling new demands--Caledon will lose much of what makes it distinctive and interesting, and, even more important, frustrate and upset many people who, by staunchly supporting Caledon, support Linden Labs and Second Life as a whole.<BR/><BR/>rade Bailey put it very well in this early response to the JIRA issue:<BR/><BR/><I>Lets break this down a bit...<BR/><BR/>"Educator discount is no longer available for Openspaces."<BR/>Way to go to attract nonprofits to SL. I wonder how many schools ect are gonna dump their meticulously-crafted sims now that the price has almost doubled.<BR/><BR/>"No Owner switching for Openspaces unless it's a full transfer of Payor."<BR/>Well, so much for renting. Byebye, potential content.<BR/><BR/>"Class 4 Openspaces will be upgraded to class 5 in January."<BR/>This is whats known as a 'carrot'. "Well yes, we did drastically raise your rates" says LL, "But look, we also upgraded you to a class 5!" Thats like your RL landlord telling you he's doubling your rent, but hey, the toilet flushes now!</I><BR/><BR/>I think rade's right. I understand the frustration everyone is feeling. I <I>know</I> that many, having had OS sims, will view this as a personal attack, and even more, will, once they make the decision not to keep their OS sims, will be judging <I>every</I> financial decision in SL--should they buy a new house/boat/outfit (thus reducing income for creators of content)? Should they continue to pay tier on existing properties (thus lowering income for the Labs)? Should they, in fact, pay to play the game (thus gutting subscription fees)? These are all understandable responses.<BR/><BR/>My point in all this, though, is--LL doesn't <I>care</I>. The Lindens, for whatever bizarre actual reason, don't <I>understand</I> the world from our side, and don't seem to care to learn. Even worse, they have no idea of how this feels on the ground.<BR/><BR/>But <I>with</I> that utter lack of empathy, comes the very real actuality of our situation--we can't say things like, the world is so vital, you're destroying that vitality, because <I>they don't get it</I>. They get tier payments going away. They get less users. They get--and they get in a <I>staggeringly large way</I>--bad press from their decisions.<BR/><BR/>People really want to effect change? Fine. Tell tech journals, tell G4, tell Wall Street Journal and the Sun. Get word <I>out</I> there, in the real world, about <I>exactly</I> how many users this will cost the Labs. Overload the Lindens with article after published article on how bad Second Life is becoming.<BR/><BR/>They'll <I>scramble</I> for an acceptable workaround, then. Watch.Emilly Orrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07245643246821826101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-73696502150797390032008-10-29T10:19:00.000-07:002008-10-29T10:19:00.000-07:00If you're awaiting death threats, I would recommen...If you're awaiting death threats, I would recommend switching to something considerably stronger than Earl Grey. But that's just me.<BR/><BR/>I don't have a dog in this fight, or at least not a really big dog. I feel for people in Caledon and elsewhere who bought an Openspace sim and now feel as though LL has done a bait and switch - whether or not that perception is accurate. I feel for people like Guv who will have to deal with the fallout in their estates. And I think that having fewer OS sims in a place such as Caledon, or Winterfell, or New Babbage, or Fatima Ur's estate, or...will make the experience less wonderful.<BR/><BR/>Having said that, I agree that LL is a corporation, corporations are motivated by profit, and that it does no good to sound aggreived about the whole thing. I can imagine scenarios under which the price increase will ultimately <I>increase</I> LL's profits, though it is easy enough to imagine the opposite outcome as well.<BR/><BR/>All of which leads me to two comments: first, I fail to see the connection between the performance problems you described and the pricing of the OS sims. Unless I missed something, LL did not say "The price is going up by $50/month, but let me tell you what that's going to buy you." Instead, they made an untenable claim. I find that annoying. Others might find that more than annoying, perhaps thinking it illustrates indifference on the part of LL to its customers.<BR/><BR/>That leads to my second comment, which is that, in the long run, profit depends on how well customers receive your product. And, rightly or wrongly, "product" includes how customers perceive the company. Companies often forget that piece of business advice: don't screw over your customers. It may increase profits in the short run, but tends to make formerly loyal customers look for alternatives, and discourage potential customers. This hullaballoo is unlikely to affect my SL experience much - no large dog in the fight, remember? - but it makes me less inclined to invest heavily in the process. Others, far more influential than I, will think twice about the next "opportunity" LL offers, and will take a harder look at alternative virtual worlds, or, heck, alternative forms of entertainment. (Hotspur O'Toole notes that he still has his collection of board games ready to roll. There are many ways to spend time that do not involve LL.)<BR/><BR/>I don't have any insight into what's "fair" - I tend to think of it as a meaningless word, used mainly when someone wants something from me - but I do think it's good business sense to make your customers think that you are fair.<BR/><BR/>Now I'll sit back and...well, I have no whisky with me, so the cuppa will have to do for now.Rhianon Jamesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13627163137265856251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-78812228019621702412008-10-29T04:29:00.000-07:002008-10-29T04:29:00.000-07:00Maybe, then, OpenSpace sims were pushed wrongly by...Maybe, then, OpenSpace sims were pushed wrongly by the Labs, in order to foster a dependent class of residents who would, one then assumes, do anything to <I>keep</I> their newly-acquired mini-islands.<BR/><BR/>This was always my assumption, reading over the background notes on OpenSpace sims (back during the brief period we toyed with the possibility of getting one): OpenSpace sims were, by their nature, lower-resourced. They were for educational centers (unstaffed); art galleries (without vendor scripting); garden spaces, waterfrontage without vehicular activity. In other words, no stores, no homes, not a ton of avatars.<BR/><BR/>Now, I will grant this: with that as the official description, LL wouldn't have sold a single one. Remarketing them as 'low-use', saying four OS sims per server (instead of up to sixteen on a quad-core machine, sharing memory and bandwidth between them), <I>sounded</I> a great deal better, and made them sound like tidy little vacation spots--a handy way to extend your beach, build your dream home, build a meditation temple tucked away amidst high pines.<BR/><BR/>Needless to say, while I wouldn't rate it as "abuse", nearly every OS sim I know of has homes, stores, and in a few cases, high-script, high-avatar clubs on them (though I'm still not sure that's <I>not</I> abusing the system). And to that end, I'm thinking you're right--why would they increase the prim count if nothing was supposed to be built on OS sims? That remains puzzling to me, and puzzled me at the time.<BR/><BR/>For no real reason I'm reminded of the bit of interchange between Chris Tucker and Jean-Paul Gaultier leading up to the movie <I>The Fifth Element</I>. He had sketched out design concepts rife with floral details and mad colors, and the director and producers looked at him and said, sir, really, trust us on this--Chris is <I>not</I> going to go for this. He smiled and said, leave it to me.<BR/><BR/>The next move was to set up a meeting with Chris Tucker, upon which he turned out sketch after sketch of ornate ballgowns, orange silk and pink taffeta, and hairstyles that would flatter the love children of Erykah Badu and Marie Antoinette. And when--as expected--Chris Tucker turned them down flat, utterly horrified...Gaultier sighed, sketched a few things briefly, then brought out the <I>real</I> proposals--to which Tucker, in sheer relief, agreed to without reservation.<BR/><BR/>If what they <I>really</I> want is, say, a reduction of prims to 3000 per sim and a raise in price per sim of $25...starting everyone out with the absurd over-floraled orange and pink confections would stir everyone to frenzy. Then, they simply have to pull out what will now sound as reasoned compromise, to which everyone will joyously agree.<BR/><BR/>So to that end, Edward--I think you may well be right, that they want the froth and controversy to rage before they bring out what they <I>really</I> want everyone to agree on.<BR/><BR/>(But still--even with that--the rules for OpenSpace sims were <I>clear</I>. At least in the beginning. And while the abuse of that stated purpose may not have taken place in Caledon, Winterfell or most of Antiquity, it <I>has</I> been frighteningly abused in <I>other</I> places. One bad apple, after all, is all it takes at times...)Emilly Orrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07245643246821826101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2135301473915671680.post-35522955877279336352008-10-28T22:31:00.000-07:002008-10-28T22:31:00.000-07:00As one of the renters of an OpenSpace you know I'm...As one of the renters of an OpenSpace you know I'm biased, so we'll go from there.<BR/><BR/>I agree that I don't think it's a conspiracy. I also agree that the kindergarten temper tantrums that usually accompany Jira complaints and forums posts will not solve anything.<BR/><BR/>However I'm not so convinced that it's not a bait 'n' switch. I admit my experience with void sims has been limited to places like Caledon, Winterfell and Antiquity. I don't believe that any of them are particularly "high use". Yes we've pushed up a void sim to get 100 people into it and it didn't crash. But that's hardly standard for any of the sims I know of. Personally I believe the guidelines for the openspace sim use and the increase to the primmage LL made late last year are contradictory. If you're not to build anything on it why on earth do you need to go from 1500 to 3750 prims?<BR/><BR/>If it turns out that someone is running a night club on an openspace then LL should boot them. They were quite happy to take a hands on approach in other matters. I'm at a loss to understand their lack of enforcement of their own system stability (assuming I actually believe for a second that performance issues is the true cause behind the price hike).<BR/><BR/>Personally I'm hoping Des's suggestion that this is an opening volley and they'll be able to claim they've listened to the punters when they drop it back to a price they were intending all along, thus giving us the false impression that we've achieved something.<BR/><BR/>Only time will tellEdward Pearsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16064707444626044745noreply@blogger.com