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Ciaran already covered it, but I feel compelled to provide my two cents to Quarterly Land Supply and Island Pricing Update. I wish I could offer some new insight into it, but Ciaran covered it pretty well.

I just didn't get my say. And with an Island and a recent Open Space sim delivered, I am... perturbed. Angry. Upset. Annoyed. Irked. Aside from all of that, we can get into the happy-clappy-'good for Second Life' Kool Aid. The reality is that if it is good for Second Life®, it is good in a very short term sense - people who buy islands from Linden Lab can now fully expect to get screwed sooner or later. It is only a matter of time.

I'm really glad I'm not someone with a lot of land holdings. Sarah Nerd must be feeling this - and I just know Anshe Chung is. In the grand scheme of land holdings, I am nothing but a pebble in contrast to the movers and shakers.

As a smaller land holder, I feel cheated. I really do. Granted, I really won't lose that much because of the way Sentience was structured as a business model - in fact, I haven't lost a dime on Sentience. The Sentience advisors - the people who bought land based on the $1675 price - are really the ones who got shafted. And I feel bad about that, because I enabled it. I perpetuated the implicit understanding that Linden Lab conveyed.

But the new Open Space sim, Enlightenment? Where I got a space with 1/4 of the prims of a full sim for what was about 1/4 of the price of an Island, I'm getting 1/4 of the prims for... just a little less than half the price? I'm sorry. I have to write this clearly - hide the ladies and small children. I don't normally do this, which should be a hint and a half about how I feel about this:

What the FUCK is this?! I bought that Open Space sim because it appeared to be a good deal. The irony is what I named it - 'Enlightenment'. Indeed. There isn't even a change in tier that balances this.

Don't get me wrong. I don't mind that islands become more available for people. In the grand scheme of things, I think it really is cool. But as someone who has invested in something that I am completely dependent on Linden Lab to provide for, I learned a very valuable thing:

Do not trust Linden Lab when it comes to money. They seem to completely ignore the fact that there is a secondary economy built around the three dimensional web hosting that got them so much PR through Anshe Chung's face plastered across all those business sites and magazines 2 years ago.

'Hi, thanks for supporting us. Bend over. This will hurt a bit, but we know you love us...'

No, actually, I don't. You had a good run through Q1, Linden Lab, but if this is an indication of Q2 - you might want to start hedging your bets on Q3 and Q4. I might not be able to throw 'false advertising' at the teflon coated Terms of Service, but I can write my mind - and behold, the first vulgarity I have written in an entry related to Second Life.

I know you don't care, Linden Lab. Don't expect me to, either. Consider this a bit of a barometer reading - and here's a hint: high pressure pushes to low pressure.