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Issue Details (XML | Word | Printable)

Key: MISC-1776
Type: Meta Issue Meta Issue
Status: Reopened Reopened
Priority: Showstopper Showstopper
Assignee: Unassigned
Reporter: Cathereine Night
Votes: 4110
Watchers: 218
Operations

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4. Second Life Misc Issues - MISC

OpenSpace Sim Prices SHOULD NOT Be Going Up! VOTE To Stop This ridiculous increase!

Created: 28/Oct/08 09:53 AM   Updated: Saturday 04:53 PM
Component/s: Miscellaneous
Affects Version/s: None
Fix Version/s: None

File Attachments: 1. JPEG File 130_sims.jpg (29 kB)
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4. JPEG File Chakryn by Maxiums1D.jpg (384 kB)
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11. File My Spanish Galleon.bmp (2.75 MB)
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14. JPEG File Should we abandon - Beautiful New Azure Velvet 4, 5 & 6.jpg (359 kB)
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17. PNG File SOS Tee shirt Avail FREE at xstreetsl.com.png (33 kB)
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22. File ZoHa-Islands LOGO.tga (768 kB)

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9. Las Arenas Rosadas.jpg
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10. My Home at Trinidad Island will be erased too if the prices raise.jpg
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11. Obviously overloaded openspace sim.jpg
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13. Shark Key Reef.png
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16. SOS Tee shirt Avail FREE at xstreetsl.com.png
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20. The forest.jpg
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21. void sims used in Nautilus.gif
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Environment: All Second Life Users Are Affected! As a resident since 2005 I feel like it is my duty, and the duty of all residents who agree with me on this, to vote and protest this!
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As reported in the Official Blog:

"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.

For anyone owning class 4 Openspaces on January 1st, they will be upgraded to class 5 by end of January, to further improve the experience people have on those regions.

At the same time, we will be increasing the upfront fee for brand new Openspaces from USD$250 to USD$375.

Effective Immediately

We will no longer allow the Owner of an Openspace to be changed to a different resident than the Payor. Initially we will not enforce this change on Openspaces where the Payor and Owner are already different but in those cases the only change allowed will be to set the Owner back to the Payor. This doesn't affect the parcel level rentals, this is just focused on the whole region rental of Openspaces.

We will no longer offer an educational or non-profit discount for new Openspaces. As mentioned earlier, this is due to the increased back end resource required for us to support Openspaces in the way that they are now being used. For the small number of Educators that already have Openspaces, we will be contacting you directly to discuss this change.

Next, we will be making changes to the viewer that enable residents to know precisely what type of land or region they are on so that the land market remains as fair and easy to understand as possible. So expect to see changes that much more clearly display to residents whether they are on Linden Mainland or Private Estate, whether it is a Normal region or Openspace and what that means. This will affect various aspects of the Viewer including the inworld Search along with the About Land and Buy Land screens. Making Land easier to understand will benefit everyone, especially new users looking to step onto the property ladder for the first time.

Lastly we will begin to proactively discuss overloaded Openspaces with their owners. This is important because as with abuse of region resources, a heavily overloaded Openspace can adversely affect other Openspaces sharing the same machine which is clearly unfair to residents who are using them responsibly. We have listened to your feedback on this, and agree that we need to make changes to better support our Openspace users by actively working to keep the performance levels as high as possible. We will also provide some detailed guidance about what 'overuse' looks like and how to prevent it.

So to recap:

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.
We're sure there will be many of you with questions and concerns on the back of this announcement. As previously, there will shortly be a forum created specifically for discussion of these changes so please head over here if you wish to provide feedback. In addition, if you need a more personal dialogue about this post, please contact support as usual. "

Source - http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/10/27/openspace-pricing-and-policy-changes/

I wish to protest this increase and loss of benefit to non profits and education!

This is a poor time for such a change with so many facing financial difficulties. Many businesses and individuals rely on open spaces currently due to inability to purchase the more expensive mainland or islands. This increase will cause Linden Labs a huge loss of business and the people responsible should seriously re-evaluate this situation.

I encourage others to vote on this issue if they feel the same and I thank the Lindens for their time and understanding as to why this upsets myself and others.

Thank you.

**********************************************************************************

just FYI:
there are some protest-activities going on, eg at the Nautilus-sims, and we are advised by some Lindens to go the open-office hours of Jack Linden and other Lindens. These are to be found at
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=c2g7djaua9j4he8c6d0iu7n7k8%40group.calendar.google.com
not sure if it helps, but if we dont even try it...
also there is the idea of staying offworlds for the whole 31. oct to show your opinion on this. thanks.

Discussion is good, Abuse is not. Please don't be abusive in comments or In World with regard to this issue.

UPDATE - November 5th

Full Article:
http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/11/05/a-letter-to-second-life-residents/

Changes Summed Up:
"........Here is how we are amending the price change:

1. We are going to retain the Openspaces product at its original price point and its original intended use (forest, water, etc.). We will have technical limitations to help regulate their use, initially avatar and prim limit restrictions, eventually event, classified and script limits. Those of you who chose to use the Openspaces as intended may stay at the US$75 rate, but will need to contact the concierge team to do so.

2. If you want more than an Openspace, we will offer you the choice of moving to a new product called Homesteads that is intended for light use such as low density rentals. For existing Openspace owners we will phase in the price increase for this new product over the next 6 months. Homesteads will also have technical limits for avatars and prims, and eventually script limits as well.

  • January 5, 2009 - non-compliant Openspaces will transition to Homesteads and the maintenance fees will go from $75 to $95 per month. We will offer an educational discount to qualified educators on the new Homestead product. The discount amount will be the same as Private Regions, roughly 30%.
  • July 2009 — the maintenance fees for Homesteads will go from $95 to $125 per month

For detailed information on these changes, please go to the Knowledge Base.

We believe this is fair. Jack and I will join you in the forums throughout the day today to discuss this.
.........."



 All   Comments   Change History      Sort Order: Ascending order - Click to sort in descending order
Liderc Dagger added a comment - 28/Oct/08 10:00 AM
You got my vote, this is daylight robbery and doesn't give me much faith in Linden Labs as a company.

Fredy Kyong added a comment - 28/Oct/08 10:14 AM - edited
Well, I will give my OS sims back then and log off for good. This is to much, you got my vote!

Everyone warn us to beware of companies like Linden if they deal with their customers like that after you purchased.


Nyalee Mirrikh added a comment - 28/Oct/08 10:24 AM
If they put in voice on the votes of 150 people,
When thousands of others didn't want...
Then perhaps if we can get more then 150 votes here... Which I think we will.. as there is 25 people and this only occured a day ago... They can see this is offending...
As I wrote to XSL Forums...
There goes my idea of owning 2 or 3 OS.
That price increase kills any and all profits, infact for my plans would put me in the negative by quite a lot each month.

I can't afford a full sim, and I don't want to try. So for the next year, any addition to my sim plans are out the window. LL is making a bad decision, it's only going to lose them potential money in the time they need it most, in a time when everyone is looking for cheap entertainment, these OS provide it. Heck I'd even suggest having more open sims in smaller dividents.

I will not pay 500$ for the same as I'd be getting for a full prim sim, not including set up fees... I am so upset over this and you will not be getting any more sim purchases from myself or my partner for awhile to come. This is not the way to do business. People are looking for cheap entertainment, and this OS is what is provided. Give us a better alternative or face to lose a lot of money.


Catinka Anatine added a comment - 28/Oct/08 10:32 AM
You Have my vote also.. i hope this helps..

Daniel Regenbogen added a comment - 28/Oct/08 10:36 AM
This is a dishonest and unethical decision, destroying the last bit of trust people had left for Linden Lab. It will give the development of good working open grid alternatives a big push. LL, wake up - or die.

Shanti Sands added a comment - 28/Oct/08 10:44 AM
An increase in price should be for providing any extra "stuff" necessary to support the sims as they are being used to provide better performance. THIS increase feels like LL making the CUSTOMER pay for a lapse in THEIR judgement. Which, isn't fair. I noted that SOME sims would be upgraded, but an across the board increase like this should be for PERFORMANCE increase, not just because someone made a mistake and now we all have to pay for it.

If you offer something to customers, there should be information going INTO it that states how much you can sell before you reach max usage. If you have 100 that can be serviced fully without bad impact, and you sell 300 - you know that won't work well. you shouldn't do it and then say OOoops and know that you will likely keep 1/3 of the 2/3 extra if you raise prices so you will be ahead money wise.

I am not saying that IS what happened, that is what I am saying it certainly feels like. I only rent an OS but I will likely be getting rid of it. It isn't cost effective at the new prices to me. Sad really because i really like my landlord who was a fair business person and I know people like THAT are the ones getting the shaft in this. It was nice to non-urbanize some of SL. Hope this gets settled more amicably.


Miara Lubitsch added a comment - 28/Oct/08 10:49 AM
Fredy Kyong - 28/Oct/08 10:14 AM - edited
Well, I will give my OS sims back then and log off for good. This is to much, you got my vote!
Everyone warn us to beware of companies like Linden if they deal with their customers like that after you purchased.

[ Show » ] Fredy Kyong - 28/Oct/08 10:14 AM - edited Well, I will give my OS sims back then and log off for good. This is to much, you got my vote! Everyone warn us to beware of companies like Linden if they deal with their customers like that after you purchased.

i agree with this and will do the same .... and i vote


Harleen Gretzky added a comment - 28/Oct/08 10:51 AM
Instead of just protesting this, shouldn't we be offering other solutions to the problem of overloading OS sims? Why would LL not do this if there is no other alternatives, regardless of the protests?

aissia demina added a comment - 28/Oct/08 10:54 AM
With todays economy its hard enough to pay for open sim prices now..and its going to go even higher Will have to walk away, from mine. You Have my Vote against raises prices!

Thorsten Ducatillon added a comment - 28/Oct/08 11:07 AM
Raising costs of OS Sims is no solution for performance problems of these SIM clusters. The better way will be to limit the allowed avatars in OS Sims or limit the running scripts.
Lot of residents bought their SIMs on a long term base, calculating with the costs they expected when they bought them.
Raising the costs in an acceptable level will be tolerated, but pushing the prices that way, will cause a lot of residents to give the SIMs back and leave SL.
I highly recommend to discuss that new costs in your team again.
It is not only the fact that some residents cannot pay the tier, LindenLab is going to destroy its reputation as a fair business partner with actions like these.

Soo Novi added a comment - 28/Oct/08 11:07 AM
If this goes through as is three of mine will be abandoned. I MAY convert four, but it's more likely I will abandon them.

Please consider this vote for this issue as a vote for implementing other alternatives for throttling use rather than increasing costs. Lower agent limits, lower prims, definitive scripting allowances, etc.


nber medici added a comment - 28/Oct/08 11:09 AM
For what it is worth I am voting for this... not that it will do any good...LL won't listen to this anymore than they will listen to the responses on the forum. I have lost every bit of respect that I once had for LL.

Fredy Kyong added a comment - 28/Oct/08 11:09 AM - edited
@Harleen Gretzky

Well, face it! Why people move to OS? Because full prim sims are still to expensive. Linden can offer just two sim types, how´s about that?

1. Full prim sims, full prims, full price
2. Half prim sims, half prims, half price

Overloading OS sims are history then!

But if a company does earn to less, what does this company do? Raise the prices of their products, very easy.
But if they might lose 70% of their business, what will they do? Learn math and kick someones butt.

I would like Linden would be more a democracy instead a dictatorship. Linden should pay attention to their customers BEFORE they announce news like that or decide on it!

Let´s use the Login screen of the viewer and ask your customers what they think about. I know you can do this, LL


Atashi Toshihiko added a comment - 28/Oct/08 11:13 AM
Voted...for all the good it will do.

Gods I'm so disgusted right now.

This is probably just the shake-down before they raise all the other rates.


Shiina Petrov added a comment - 28/Oct/08 11:18 AM
I wonder how m