Dear
Otherlanders,
as we have expected
and predicted, Linden Lab
stepped back from their plans to raise the prices for what they
call Openspace land (what we call Large Area/low prim land) a little. M
Linden, Linden Lab's CEO himself, announced,
that they will differentiate between light use (VERY low prim) and "Homestead" regions in
the future. Light use regions will remain with
the price of current Openspaces. Homesteads will become more
expensive, with a first price raise in January and a second one in July of
2009.
Sounds great? Wait ...
Unfortunately, if you
check the descriptions for "light use" (here),
you will see quickly, that this is just a decoy and a shabby example of
spin-doctoring PR. They expect people to pay the same amount they currently pay for a full Openspace for a new type of sim with
just 750 prims, limited avatar load and limited script load. Nobody will buy
this. This means, that most of our Openspace customers will be living on what
Linden Lab calls a "Homestead" in January. You can read about my personal
opinion of this business ethic elsewhere (here and here for example).
The monthly prices for
Homesteads will be "kind of acceptable", though ... initially. Combined with the fact, that we will
accept a reduced margin when calculating our own pricing, this will make it even more reasonable. There are still some
open questions, though, which I will try to get answered next week.
So please do take the
the following information with a grain of salt. It might still change, if and
when Linden Lab releases additional information - or changes their plans
again:
For all land which is sold after December 31st, we will probably have to charge some 20% - 25% more per month with existing landowners receiving a rebate.
DRAFT FOR A NEW PRICE LIST "HOMESTEAD" LAND (formerly Large Area/low prim)
New Prices for land owned, not rented on Large Area/low
prim land (Homestead land in Linden terms) will probably be as follows
1/1 full region = 65,000sqm: 124 US$/month
1/2 region =
32,000sqm: 68 US$/month
1/4 region = 16,000sqm: 36 US$/month
Prices for existing customers will be
1/1 full region = 65,000sqm: 118 US$/month
1/2 region =
32,000sqm: 65 US$/month
1/4 region = 16,000sqm: 34 US$/month
These reduced prices will be valid for a period of 6 months
maximum. We can not afford to keep them longer if we
do not want to run the risk of killing our business and watching The Otherland Estate vanish from the Second Life Map. :(
Rental prices will be adjusted accordingly, of course.
ALL quoted prices are
still subject to change (but I don't expect much of a change)
We
won't buy back Large area/low prim land at our usual rates, currently. We will
re-instantiate this option, as soon as the prices for Homestead land have
settled on the market. Anything else would be unfair and endanger the
existence of The Otherland Estate.
Migration option
But: as of today, landowners on
Large area/low prim land will be able again to migrate to other parcels on standard regions (full prim) the
Otherland Archipelago at no cost.
1/1 full region entitles you to a move to a parcel (or
parcels) of 16,384sqm total size
1/2 region entitles you to a move to a
parcel (or parcels) of 8,192sqm total size
1/4 region entitles you to a
move to a parcel (or parcels) of 4096sqm total size
Such a parcel which results from a move from Large area/low
prim land can be sold to another resident. We won't buy it back at our usual
rates, though until the prices for Homestead land have settled on the market
(anything else would be unfair).
Dear Otherlanders,
These are
"interesting times" :( Please stay with us and let us weather this storm
together. It's the only chance to live through it!
Let me finish with a
personal thought about what has happened: Actually I don't think that asking a
little more for an Openspace region than for 1/4 of a standard region is completely unreasonable. A full Openspace region gives you
4 times the area and the same prim capacity as 1/4 of a standard
region. Thats why a premium in relation to the price of 1/4 of a full prim sim could be considered justified. The currrently suggested pricing constitutes a HUGE premium though, and
I don't think it is justified - at least not the prices, Linden Lab intends to
demand later in the summer of 2009.
I am not only saying
this because this price raise hurts our business (it hurts our customers and
what hurts our customers hurts us). I am rather certain that Linden Lab will
suffer from this decision, too.
Why I do think so?
Simple: Openspace regions - especially in the free floating variety - are
the product, which most closely resembles what is
possible with the OpenSim technology already. (If you don't know about
Opensim, please check here: http://www.opensimulator.org/). OpenSim regions and the grids in which they are
located, are not ready for primetime, yet ... Thes grids are still slow and buggy. It is not easy to take your
(second) wordly posessions from Second Life into these other grids. It is not
even easy to take your avatar shape, skin or clothes with you. The economy in
these worlds is not working yet, which results in
not many products being available there. All of these
worlds are small and they do not have many residents - especially not many
residents online concurrently.
All in all: if you are
not an enthusiastic builder or a hermit, who is not interested much in meeting
other people, parties, shopping or exploring, these grids are not for you.
But this will
change within the next 6 - 12 months. They
will grow and they will improve.
And then competition
will finally arrive. All of these alternative
grids will feature substantially lower prices for land. And that at a time
when Linden Lab plans for another price raise. I guess we all know what will happen then.
That's why I do not
believe, that the prices will be raised again next summer ... the world
will have changed until then ... and not in favor of Linden Lab. At the end of the day, their greed will destroy
their leading position in the Metaverse. I am not happy
about this - as I have been a huge fan and excited supporter of Second Life
from the first moment I discovered this alternate world :(
I still believe in the Dream of Second Life - but not in Linden Lab delivering it anymore. Sometime in
2009 Otherland will expand onto another grid. And - as usual - we will do that
in style and with excellent support. We won't "leave" Second Life. But time
will tell, where growth is stronger and I am afraid it might be somewhere
else. We will be there. And I hope, many of you who like our style and our service will be there, too. :)
Cheers
Dana
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