Kay Tairov

I think it's a pretty big leap to assume that any of the education or non-profit folks are letting their RL responsibilities slip in exchange for SL. I don't know any Librarians in SL that aren't taking care of their own home-grown patrons before dealing with anything in SL. Also, with the educators that use SL to do distance learning, those people ARE their RL customers and students. And, truthfully, most of the educators and librarians and other non-profit folk I know in SL are ALREADY using their own time and resources to do their work in SL. I know I usually do my work in my own off hours, pretty much counting my time down as volunteer to a cause I believe in.

well, as I mentioned in my previous post, we are brainstorming. Everyone is reviewing their needs, I'm sure, and assessing their situations. But, you know, we're worried, too, so we comment here to worry and sympathize and offer support to each other. Like a community. Plus, I'm sorry to say, I'm betting we're all multi-tasking as well. I know for myself SL is only a very small part of my day job. I have LOTS of real life projects and responsibilities for my job as well. SL is something that I care about, though, and a place and tool that I believe in very much. I do appreciate your ideas, Cierra, I really do. It helps.

Adding stuff for sale or income into a non-profit presence needs to be very specific and tracked and researched and reviewed and managed and administered and handled. If I already have a hard time convincing the folks that manage the purse strings (on a VERY TINY purse) that 'virtual worlds' are an important technology to be involved in and learn and cultivate, then I don't know how I am going to suddly convince them to spend more money for the sim AND the money and man hours to manage the legal and accounting redtape of initiating new projects to try to offset the cost. I'm not trying to whine (like others have said before me) but it's not as simple as it would be for my personal av to just set aside a parcel and say okay, this is for rental now. Or even to set up a little gift shop and sell stuff from my land. It really is a huge undertaking to initiate that sort of additional project. And I certainly couldn't do it in 3 months time. Trust me, I don't want to leave. But I really REALLY don't know how I am going to explain this to my boss when I get called to the carpet for it.

I'm echoing Rocky's sentiments a little here, but it's not a matter of us saying "I don't like this policy so I'm leaving in protest." It's the fact of saying "I cannot find the funds in my already very lean budget to continue this project/initiative/service/etc." I would love to believe that I could continue my sim and the events and information we provide, but I'm fairly certain thee are some big changes in store. Sure, I'm betting that most of us old hands in the non-profit worlds will be getting together in the coming weeks to figure out the best course of action. I know that the library community in SL is already brainstorming and taking stock. As far as 'bringing money to our sims' that's a dodgy subject for non-profits. Lots of questions involved and certainly some pitfalls when you consider our Real World 501C3 status. This isn't whining, it's a very real legal issue. One possible option is to scale back land ownership and continue work without paying as much in. This works for us, but certainly doesn't do SL any good. And while I understand that for some folks SL is a GAME, the non-profits and educators WORKING in SL don't consider it one. We consider it a TOOL. A very powerful and engaging tool capable of some cool and versatile things. I hope that some of us can continue to afford to explore that idea. And again, I'm a bit at a loss at some of the responses saying we all had it coming or that we're over fat cows, etc. Whether or not our work impacted your specific virtual life, for the most part I like to think it didn't harm you. (after all, I've been to some pretty dead 'profit' or 'rpg' or 'personal' sims. I wasn't aware that busy-ness was the key to justifying your existence) This is not going to help SL. Not culturally, not financially, and certainly not in any sort of marketing/PR standpoint.

Unless I misunderstood how pricing works non-profit and education discounts weren't subsidized by the cost of tier for 'regular' residents. I don't think we're going to see a fall in tier pricing for everyday sim owners now that the non-profits and education folk are being priced out. Really, if there is a mass exodus from the people that actually had regular funding then it could be quite the opposite. If too many education sims close they may be raising your rates come the next "Important Update on 2011 Land Pricing" I'm annoyed as a non-profit worker, but the OTHER me that is in SL as a regular person with land and shops and stuff is worried as a rank-and-file resident.

As someone that works for a non-profit in SL (and in RL for that matter) I am really crushed by this news. We've had to scale back and so far I've been able to limit the cuts to just staff hours in SL (down to the point where I am the only one running the Island). With this news, though, plus the budget hits Library World is taking in the real economy I don't know how I could responsibly say the cost was justified. I've constantly had to justify this program from the beginning to my less enlightened hier-ups. Lord knows this will not help be win any hearts. The few people in this thread cheering the news furthers my disappointment. I get that abuses on the system happened, but how is that my fault as a ligit non-profit? Isn't it LL's job to fix/police that system on their own? And, wow, some non-profit got a grant and targeted an RPG sim? That sucks, Doggie, and as a resident and professional in SL I'm sorry to hear that that happened to you. I don't understand how that lessons the work that I or others in the non-profit and education community were trying to do, though. I really thought the work I did in SL was good, even if it didn't sweep across the entire Grid. I certainly don't think my work (or that of my many collegues) has left the Grid worse-off and I like to think we haven't harmed the 'mainstream rezzies'. I really hope LL backs off this idea.