What is LLs plan moving forward?

[Luna Bliss]

2 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

Everyone hush now. 

Hush-hush-hush, the grass and the wind and the fir and the sea are saying; hush-hush-hush, the graves of the sailors, of the soldiers home from the war, of the baronets, of the little birds, of farmers, of sheep, of shadows; hush-sh-sh, the bagpipes on the shore, the ocean’s roar...

Janet Frame

[Alwin Alcott]

26 minutes ago, CaerolleClaudel said:

I would think LL's server costs increase while their revenues decline.

a very valid reason to keep things as it is.

[Vanity Fair]

10 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

How much of that activity is reflected in LL's bottom line I do not, of course, have any way of knowing; it would be mere speculation to suggest that they are doing "well" as a result of renewed interest in SL. But it should also be remembered that LL is coming off the recent failure of Sansar, and some job losses of its own as a result of that; I think it's pretty clear that there is some financial retrenchment and maybe even austerity necessary to keep the company healthy as it works out its next direction. I'm not at all sure that they are in the financial position to offer substantive reductions in things like fees.

I agree with what Scylla says here. Ebbe Altberg has sent out a strong message in recent interviews that Linden Lab is now a profitable company, now that they have sold Sansar to Wookey: https://ryanschultz.com/2020/03/30/engadget-interview-with-ebbe-altberg-why-linden-lab-decided-to-sell-sansar/

I have found that the traffic statistics for my blog have risen over the past two weeks, and my WordPress statistics tell me that most of that traffic is because of my coverage of Second Life (which is, far and away, the most popular content on my blog, particularly my coverage of freebies).

Edited April 8, 2020 by Vanity Fair

[Sassy Kenin]

20 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

Mother has spoken. Everyone hush now. 

She has.

 

[Vanity Fair]

7 hours ago, Mollymews said:

just on a personal note tho, I have been unable to spend all my discretionary budget, admittedly small, that I did before. Am not able to go out clubbing or to the theatre, or for small item retail therapy.  Up until now I have been saving it up just in case things go really bad.  But the longer things go on then I am going to splurge a little bit on things that make me happy for happy's sake

This is a perspective that I had not considered before, thanks Molly! Yes, I do think SL has been a sanity-saving outlet for quite a few people lately.

I am worried that the coronavirus pandemic will trigger a severe recession, perhaps even a Great Depression. Many people are losing their jobs, and many companies (small businesses in particular) are shutting down in response. In some ways, Linden Lab is a "small company", and I also worry about what the impact of a recession/depression would be on them.

[CaerolleClaudel]

24 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

Hush-hush-hush, the grass and the wind and the fir and the sea are saying; hush-hush-hush, the graves of the sailors, of the soldiers home from the war, of the baronets, of the little birds, of farmers, of sheep, of shadows; hush-sh-sh, the bagpipes on the shore, the ocean’s roar...

Janet Frame

Love me some Janet Frame. Queer fuzzy-headed ginger like me who struggled to find a place in the world. 

[Vanity Fair]

1 hour ago, Beth Macbain said:

I've currently got four premium accounts - I should have a whole herd of ponies!

Me too! I now have three Premium accounts in total (I added one to take advantage of the name change—her avatar name is Bumbly Rumpler—and I wanted to snag one of those lovely Victorian Linden Homes for myself).

Bumbly Rumpler. *sigh* I don't know what the hell I was thinking at the time...but at least she looks good. I'm still patiently waiting for name changes to be launched, since I didn't win the recent contest...

Edited April 8, 2020 by Vanity Fair

[Tolya Ugajin]

53 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Can someone please point me to where the OP "begged" for anything? For themselves, or anyone else for that matter?

Regardless of whether or not it is true that "most" of us are unemployed, the suggestions that there are millions hurting financially now because of this pandemic is demonstrable fact: what is not clear is how this may be impacting upon LL's own financial situation.

The OP did not "beg": they asked a perfectly reasonable question, albeit one that is premised upon information (are premium signups dropping? Are estate owners bailing in any significant numbers? Are rentals being impacted?) that we don't have access to yet. The question was -- as more or less directly articulated in the title of the thread -- has LL put in place any plans or mechanisms to respond to the presumptive impact of the recession/depression that we are now quickly sliding into?

Thanks to the few here who have actually attempted to answer the question. As for the other responses: I get, to some degree anyway, the hostility of people to those who come here demanding that something be done to help them. This OP doesn't do that. When we respond to a relatively reasonable (even if misguided) question with the same vitriol as we would to a bona fide "beggar," it is we who end up looking like jerks.

The pile-on here is unnecessary, uncalled for, and ungenerous.

Oh, I'm sorry, is there a special term for using the 3rd person when begging that is more socially acceptable?

Perhaps the "hostility" is due to the fact that this is at least the 5th thread asking essentially the same thing - can I get all my normal SL experience for free, using the pandemic as an excuse, because I can't possibly be expected to cut back on my nonessential entertainment.  You can package it as a "reasonable question", but that's what it is.

Edited April 8, 2020 by Tolya Ugajin

[Sassy Kenin]

18 minutes ago, Vanity Fair said:

I am worried that the coronavirus pandemic will trigger a severe recession, perhaps even a Great Depression.

It could happen.

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Shansi Kenin
Grammer

[Scylla Rhiadra]

1 hour ago, Vanity Fair said:

Bumbly Rumpler. *sigh* I don't know what the hell I was thinking at the time

That's kind of inspired, actually!

[Tolya Ugajin]

4 hours ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

No, most of us still are.

Even the most negative projections say that unemployment would be in the 20%-30% range.

Sitting here in the United States, not only are people with "necessary" jobs still working, there are several technically unnecessary levels that are still considered "necessary" as well - like Internet service, for instance. What is happening is that several of the many, many unnecessary levels of society are being peeled off. The fact that it's such a huge disruption is a comment over how much our society depends on people paying for things they don't need.

Well, they are  technically  correct, in that, factoring in retirees, the disabled, children, and those who choose not to work for one reason or another, the majority of Americans are not employed.

[Selene Gregoire]

3 hours ago, Beth Macbain said:

Mother has spoken. Everyone hush now. 

I never said a word.

[Selene Gregoire]

2 hours ago, Vanity Fair said:

Me too! I now have three Premium accounts in total (I added one to take advantage of the name change—her avatar name is Bumbly Rumpler—and I wanted to snag one of those lovely Victorian Linden Homes for myself).

Bumbly Rumpler. *sigh* I don't know what the hell I was thinking at the time...but at least she looks good. I'm still patiently waiting for name changes to be launched, since I didn't win the recent contest...

One small positive criticism... derender the billboards in the background. Other than that... gorgeous. 

[Beth Macbain]

2 hours ago, Vanity Fair said:

Bumbly Rumpler

No way are you going to change that! It's one of the best names I've ever heard!

"Name's Bumbly... Bumbly Rumpler..."

[FairreLilette]

12 hours ago, rasterscan said:

ikr. Logged on player count was up nearly 10,000 compared to 'normal' last night, over 53k concurrent logins.

Could be old players creating alts too to get some of the freebies.  Genus had the Strong head for free.  I do not know if it still is.

To the OP:  As far as LL and any plans during what could be a very bad economic downturn in the world...I have no idea.

My heart is not in SL right now so I didn't even want the free Genus head nor do I want any other freebies at this time.  

Sadly, even if I logged into SL, my money is for RL now.  I won't even be spending a linden on a tip at this time.  I just do not have that kind of extra income now.  

Edited April 8, 2020 by FairreLilette

[LittleMe Jewell]

While there very likely are people that have cut back their SL spending, as TechDave mentioned the LindeX is showing increased activity since roughly March 27th.

 

[animats]

4 hours ago, Luna Bliss said:

I need to get my lawn mowed...

I've been mowing my own lawn with a hand mower, for exercise. Every day, half an hour of mowing.

[ChinRey]

14 hours ago, Vanity Fair said:

People are going to have less cash to spend, and if you have to choose between that Premium account or food and rent, you know what's going to get cut first...

Oh yes! It would do me good to loose some weight anyway and fresh air is healthy too!

[Selene Gregoire]

7 minutes ago, animats said:

I've been mowing my own lawn with a hand mower, for exercise. Every day, half an hour of mowing.

I bet your neighbors just love hearing your lawnmower running every day. Or do you use one of these?

 

[FairreLilette]

50 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

While there very likely are people that have cut back their SL spending, as TechDave mentioned the LindeX is showing increased activity since roughly March 27th.

 

I'd suspect the charts may fluctuate for a while.  The world is changing every day and everyone is different.

Though spam endlessly is following me around about 0% interest credit cards everywhere on the net.  I hope the younger ones as well as the parents of grown kids don't get into real life debt they cannot handle because of all this turmoil.  

(Limited time 0% interest credit cards, that is.  Interest will incur if you can't pay it off in time.)

Edited April 8, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Tari Landar]

When the weather permits, we mow our lawn everyday in the spring, just a lil off the top, til it gets down to a decent maintenance level...because my yard grows like a wild friggen forest, especially after all that rain, and snow and everything else winter and early spring has served up. It's actually kinda necessary for us, not so much everyone around us, which is just odd lol.   Well, my son does the mowing, I do the whackin'....and by that I mean weeds and overgrowth...weirdos (or, neighbors, we all live in the gutter together, I know). In the summer it's a weekly or twice weekly if needed thing, same with fall. Though we use a powered mower, the boy wants to get the reel mower from the farm and bring it here, he's fascinated with it (and he uses it to mow about an acre of the family land already)

However, my very next door neighbor who,  bless her heart (in a good way), has some issues, mows her lawn twice a day, every day, without fail, late spring, all summer, and all fall. Clearly, the grass does not need this, but she does.  No one around here minds, well, not really. We're all so used to it, lol.  If it weren't for her really weird quirky (it's relatively recent, only the last two years) way with the mowing, no one would even know there were any issues at all. She's actually quite sweet and this is her only actual quirk, she's probably closer to normal than the lot of us  

 

 

[Maitimo]

5 hours ago, Vanity Fair said:

This is a perspective that I had not considered before, thanks Molly! Yes, I do think SL has been a sanity-saving outlet for quite a few people lately.

I am one of the people who is already spending more money in SL in the last 4 weeks than I usually do; primarily because I'm not spending it on eating out and going to the pub. I renewed my Premium account a couple of weeks ago and my alt will be remaining premium too, and I'm buying and spending more L$ than before. I am, so far, one of the lucky ones; I'm able to work from home, I'm actually working more hours (voluntarily) so my income this month will be slightly up.

I do think that lifestyles are going to take a shift in the coming months and years; I think a lot of businesses in the hospitality and tourism industries will collapse, and things like foreign holidays and nights out just won't be such a high priority for most people as they were before. People will be staying in more than they go out, and people who stay in need things to do; whether that's SL or Netflix or the next big thing on PlayStation or whatever, so I think some of the thriving businesses of the future will be those providing home entertainment. 

I also think that there will be a further shift away from salaried employment and more towards short contracts and gig work. More people doing what they can, when they can, for those who need something done when they need it. Rather like the way tradespeople such as plumbers and electricians work now, except that I think the format will spread to other industries too, like manufacturing, service and administrative roles etc.

[animats]

6 hours ago, Selene Gregoire said:

Or do you use one of these? (Hand mower)

Yes. That's the point.

[Selene Gregoire]

10 minutes ago, animats said:

Yes. That's the point.

I was teasing you. I wish more people would use the old style push mowers. Better for human hearing and the environment. The electric mowers aren't as bad as the gas ones noise wise.

Want to come mow mine? 

[Mollymews]

15 hours ago, Shansi Kenin said:

She has.

 

i enjoyed this movie, was pretty good