A brief note on pricing changes, which ran long.

[ananoelle]

8 minutes ago, FyreRose said:

Ok, I am here because its 3am my kids are asleep and it’s the first time in three months BOTH of them are asleep before midnight so I have spent the evening combing threads trying to find out how the upcoming changes will affect me and my business I am trying to get off the ground. I posted my two cents on my opinions and concerns; I didn’t do so to be belittled!

Excuse me if I choose to log in and interact with people I know and love and I don’t know actually enjoy my second life what little I am able to enjoy right now rather than sitting and reading dozens of boring ass forum threads trying to find information on the one topic I am looking for when its just as easy for them to send us an email too!

 

Here follow these

And this one

And this

You need only ask for help. 

[Fox Wijaya]

2 hours ago, Grumpity Linden said:

I would be the last person stopping anyone from making feature requests in jira! But in reality, it's not the most practical of Rez Day gifts. However, cool Rez Day gifts should be a thing. 

wasn't it ...long ago... that LL did send a cake for rezzdays? something vagely is in my memories

[Ors Quan]

Linden Lab if you check most of the comments above  , members and premiums users are not happy with this new features :

- Content Creators we do complain about the cashout fee "5%" which is my situation and even if some of them accept it , we would love to know more information about it . Im sure that would be really helpfully to understand the Second Life situation even if its with numbers , but the fact is the way and the short time this was announce lessn a mo thanth to us. Also many of us we are having strong questions about why "2.5% + and not 1%..." we would love to hear some answers and Im completely sure exits. 

- Most of the members of this community even if they are premiums or content creators we dont agree with the group reduction as many designers said its not a good strategy for the stores and store growing process same as marketing and promotion. Is there no other alternative way ?

And for sure lest not forget about the new premium increasement I just feel there is a huge lack of information here.

Second Life has one of the most amazing community I have ever seen in my entire life compared to all the platforms I used to play. Many of us we have been supporting , creating , enjoying even giving "our Real Lifes" to this. We know is a final decision  from Linden Lab doing this new features and theres nothing much we can do except complaining here with several post.

We all make mistakes , even big companies . Please reconsider..

[Cain Maven]

19 minutes ago, Froukje Hoorenbeek said:

Please keep in mind that it takes a lot of work and commitment to be a good innovative content creator, it is a full time job that most of us can barely live off. Skimming more of our income will force us to look for other jobs.  Not because we want to, we love this world, we have given it a lot. But we have families and rent too.

Well said, Froukje!

[bigmoe Whitfield]

Guys posting in none white text,  most of us moved to the new forum theme below,  the writing is hard to see.  black on grey.

[Jo Yardley]

3 hours ago, Grumpity Linden said:

We dropped the setup fee by over 40% last year.  It now costs ~$100 + first month's fee to get a new region.  

I know and it sure is an improvement.

[Jo Yardley]

6 hours ago, Grumpity Linden said:

Hi Jo! You can do that today by creating Roles which cannot receive messages or participate in group chat. From the KB: https://community.secondlife.com/knowledgebase/english/creating-managing-moderating-and-disbanding-groups-r48/#Section__5

I know but that's not really what I meant, that would only take communication options away in stead of adding them.

Right now we need groups for everyone in my sim 1920s Berlin who at one time or another needs to communicate in private or who I want to send a note to without bothering all the other 2k members in our group.
That is a lot of groups!
I don't want to create roles that can't receive messages or chat, I want to send a note or message to just one role without sending one to everyone.
Perhaps I've explained better here;

https://joyardley.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/improving-groups/

If we could do this and add more roles to groups (much needed!) my sim alone would be able to delete at least 10 groups.

[Pamela Galli]

58 minutes ago, Froukje Hoorenbeek said:

Whenever I contact support, I get copied and pasted from the textbook. When someone sells an empty box on the MP with my brand on it, you do nothing, no matter how many times that empty box is flagged by your customers. They have to come to me for support over this empty box they bought from you. It should not be our job to police your MP. In fact, a lot of work we merchants do, like replacing lost inventory and such, is not our job, but yours. 

Exactly. The more LL does to encroach on creators, the more support LL will have to take on that creators now handle. 

[Donna Wainwright]

@anniepany   I disagree.  Clearly you didn't get my point.  Instead you just replied with the usual "don't like it, just leave".  Whatever.

Edited May 31, 2019 by DonnaCasta

[Marianne Little]

I suspect that the price hike is used to keep Sansar on artificial life support. 😣

If I can get rid of that thought, I would be happier.

I never cared about Premium when it was 512m/117LI. I only became premium because of the doubling in land and even more LI. It does not feel like "We had the same price for Premium in 10 years" for me. Because Premium was not interesting or useful for me. I know that others who has been premium in all the years feel different.

So for me, it is a 25% increase in the price without any more benefits that I care about. Like, 10 more groups? As the single increased benefit? I manage well without more groups.

I really hope that the Future New Shiny Premium they talk about, is going directly on an increase in land and LI. It is the hard selling points for me. I could go back to Basic even if Basic had fewer than 20 groups.... But we shall see.

[Jo Yardley]

5 hours ago, Grumpity Linden said:

There are few things I feel as strongly about as the outcome of that attempt - you may know them as web profiles and the profile feed.  A facebook clone is hardly possible without the facebook budget - otherwise you end up with what we have. 

Your larger point about needing better solutions than the current overloaded group system is absolutely fair, and we're very much aware of it. 

The 'My Second Life' pages?
I understand that you'd need a lot of budget to make a Facebook clone but we don't need all the FB options to make 'MSL' more useful and turn it into something we would use daily.
Especially in combination with groups.
If we could move some of the things we now use inworld groups for to the website that would lighten the load a bit, not to mention improve communication.

The most important thing I like about FB is the thing I miss with other social networks; group communication.

It would be swell if we could at least get an online profile page for our sim, somewhere we can communicate, announce events, chat, etc.

More about that idea here; https://joyardley.wordpress.com/2017/08/31/why-i-still-hope-ll-will-improve-my-sl/

 

[Jo Yardley]

5 hours ago, November Velde said:

what or who decides if a sim is "doing well"?

My 'sim' is doing amazing. Few people know about it and fewer still are permitted to teleport onto it. It's my perfect oasis that I have paid for, just like anyone else who pays for one or more sims. Who is to say yours is better than mine? Or that the next person's is better than both of ours? I believe rewards for 'sims that do well' and without rules for said popularity contest, has potential to turn into a drama-llama factory. Or do you mean rewards for renting from the lab for x-amount of time equals a discount at certain milestones?

I very much agree with the logic of loyalty rewards. Time spent being active (not simply signing up many accounts) is rewarded with something useful. Evidently, group slots are popular so sure. Personally, most all of the 40ish groups I am in are silenced as far as chat and notices. I do a lot of shopping as I am forever the consumer but I have never depended on groups and their spam, to inform me of places to throw cash at. On rare occasions I'll join a group to get a freebie and leave it once I've acquired my prize.

I'm not sure if you were the one who said it (this thread is HUGE ) but I absolutely agree with premium being a requirement for selling. Both in-world and on the marketplace. This might even give the lab an opportunity for 'vendor package'. A person who wishes to sell only on MP must maintain a monthly/yearly fee. A person who wishes to sell in-world and MP pays the normal premium fee as it enables one to occupy mainland and/or island regions.

At the end of the day, a real 'perk for premium', even with the increase, would be to lower the amount of mainland required before being permitted to pay for island regions.

For me personally any sim/community/shop that manages to survive a few years under the same owner is doing well!
We all know that places in SL come an go as often as I eat stroopwafels.
Simply the fact that you've been in charge of a place, kept it running and kept paying Linden Lab for, is something that deserves a little recognition.

Of course some places are more of a challenge to keep going, a private little corner for friends doesn't take as much work or effort to keep running as a full roleplaying sim, a big store, etc.
But at its core simply surviving is already quite an achievement these days.

[sourapplepie]

I'm jumping back in here - haven't read all the messages since yesterday but 18+ pages have popped up since I last checked and I'm almost out of coffee...

[Deleted because I rambled about irrelevent things to this discussion]

I do hold some hope that SL gaining some more income from these changes will allow them to invest money into bringing SL into 2019. Not just with new "game play" features such as bento and animesh (altho I love those, don't get me wrong), but with social features, better groups, better events, better ways to connect and meet new people or find new places.

Dear Linden Labs, please invest your money and resources into useful features that SL players want and use... Talk to players, be transparent about why you are making these changes rather than glossing over it in a short forum post. Also increasing process credit by 100% is still my least favorite thing you've ever done.

Edited May 31, 2019 by sourapplepie
Deleted parts because of irrelevent ramblings

[Jo Yardley]

4 hours ago, Grumpity Linden said:

Just for perspective: we have groups with over 100,000 members.  

I was kind of proud of our group having more than 2000 members now you've taken that away from me as well

Mind you my sim uses about 40 groups so I can be proud/sad about that!

Either way, at least I kick out everyone who hasn't been online for a year.

[LeeeBlack]

Sanctions? Someone went crazy and decided to kill the game?

I already see that very many players from impoverished Russia and players from the not rich former USSR (a million players) are very outraged by the new sanctions and are talking about leaving for the open SIMs and other competitors
I myself (I have two VIP accounts), in protest against these sanctions, will close VIP accounts and stop depositing money into the game.
Besides. Several web resources have already published news of new sanctions and public active anti-advertising.

They treat us like a cash cow and try to make the game worse and squeeze more money.

What do we get in return?
Bullying - worsening conditions, trying to get into your pocket.
Disgusting graphics, lags, brakes, a lot of problems and raw code.

 

[Jo Yardley]

3 hours ago, Evangeline Arcadia said:

I'd love to have a sim! Oh wow, the hours of fun I would have decorating/terraforming etc. But realistically it's never gonna happen unless I win the lottery. I doubt the prices will ever be low enough for 'regular' folk to afford one lol. I personally think the prices are ridiculous for something that's virtual, but then I don't know if I fully understand the costs involved for LL to host them etc. So I could be wrong.

I'm regular folk, I own two regions and 3 homesteads.
But yes, it wasn't easy to get where I am today and it took a lot of work and effort.

And of course it took me thinking of a theme for my sim that would attract shopkeepers, tenants, etc.
My sim has been paying for itself almost since day one and I started small as a tiny skybox.
But I could fill the forum with stories of how i did it and most people don't want to do all that work or own a sim like that and I can't blame them.

Land still should be cheaper, cheaper land = more people renting land = more regular income for LL = more shops, communities, experiences & fun = more happy people, more visitors, more to do

[Hunny Bunny]

3 hours ago, Grumpity Linden said:

I would be the last person stopping anyone from making feature requests in jira! But in reality, it's not the most practical of Rez Day gifts. However, cool Rez Day gifts should be a thing. 

You're so right and my rezday is coming up "soon".  I already have a pony but I still want a bento luck dragon. Okay maybe not so practical..... OH, I know! How about a last name or maybe just let me change my name or name a star after me.

[Jo Yardley]

3 hours ago, Grumpity Linden said:

I would be the last person stopping anyone from making feature requests in jira! But in reality, it's not the most practical of Rez Day gifts. However, cool Rez Day gifts should be a thing. 

Also sim anniversary gifts

Subtle hint.

[Evangeline Arcadia]

3 minutes ago, Jo Yardley said:

But I could fill the forum with stories of how i did it and most people don't want to do all that work or own a sim like that and I can't blame them.

Land still should be cheaper, cheaper land = more people renting land = more regular income for LL = more shops, communities, experiences & fun = more happy people, more visitors, more to do

Yeah, I imagine it's quite a bit of work. I'd be open to renting but the cost and potential hassle (chasing payment, griefers, other things...?) seem a bit off-putting. Hat's off to you:)

Edited May 31, 2019 by Evangeline Arcadia

[Donna Wainwright]

11 hours ago, NicolaBCole said:

Ok, so Lindens Labs is now spitting on their users/customers faces, just like that. Remember that the ones you're using now are people who had make you grow and earn so much money and could leave you easily with this ugly  Sansar that you're trying to push so hard.

Linden Labs was often criticized for taking advantage of their users/customers. Guess now it's just a proof that all those speculations were actually true

YES THIS !

[Jo Yardley]

PS it's Linden Lab, no s at the end.
They only have one lab, not multiple.

And technically they're not even one lab.
They don't wear white coats and there is not ONE bunsen burner in the whole building!
I checked.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.
I'll get my coat.

[LeeeBlack]

Disgusting
Many will only win money if they go to competitors
Let the Lindens play their own game. Without us.

[River Abonwood]

8 hours ago, Killer Perhaps said:

Oh I agree there it needs to be revamped in a huge way. I think a good start would be making escort and stripper places have their own category and if they are caught listing incorrectly, they cant post for a long time. I do use it occasionally to find new places though.

@Killer Perhaps -- Adult places do have their own category -- Its called Nightlife & Entertainment.

[Monderas Bristol]

Exactly when is the last opportunity I would be able to get a quarterly subscription before you stop people signing up ?

Right now I can sign up today, but will it be available next Friday ? (my next pay day ^^ )

[River Abonwood]

5 hours ago, Grumpity Linden said:

Plurabelle, you don't have to pay to keep those groups.  You won't lose them until you decide to change groups.  And you could even go premium, use your 60 group slots, and downgrade - and still get to keep them.  

@Grumpity Linden -- Why would you even suggest that, if groups are such a horrible load on the LL servers?