November 20, 2008 by Ciaran Laval
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So there we were at Jack's office hour trying to get him to justify not only the tier increase but also the reason for the upfront price increase. Somewhere along the way someone slipped in a question as to whether Openspaces would be sold direct:
Jack Linden: "good question, initially they will be in the Land Store we hope, in January, and with the limitation in place that you have to already own an island. But we'll be reviewing that rule"
At this point the following didn't happen, but it makes it sound more exciting. A couple of estate owners overturned Jack's sofa, a couple more unveiled pitchforks and torches and charged through the crowd shouting something unintelligible whilst other estate owners randomly started fist fights. A lightning bolt shot from the now black sky creating a chasm in the floor of the Linden estate services HQ and gregorian chant style music that was popular in films like The Omen played loudly. Oh and a dragon flicked his tail at someone, actually that last part is true!
Then a voice quietly spoke:
Jack Linden: "just to be clear.. i did not say we would change the one island rule, i said that - as with everything we do - we will review it regularly"
Everything now went into slow motion, heads turned, a small ray of sunshine arrived through the broken glass and Jack was mysteriously spirited away to another meeting.
As the dust settled lighbulbs clicked over the heads of several estate owners and the USD$125 price point that qualifies people for concierge support made sense. Conspiracy theories were now in full swing. However at no point did Jack say that Openspaces direct will be a new product., but I'm pretty sure it will happen and if it doesn't, heck I've been wrong before. May 23rd 1980 to be precise when I said there was no way they'd put the price of a packet of chips upto seventeen pence.
Earlier in the meeting Jack masterfully avoided answering questions about why the price was going up, other than to repeat the mantra that the product was underpriced. Asking people to pay for an undefined service seems a strange approach to me. Jack also said they were looking for ways to regain trust, trust is about getting people to believe in your words, when the words are empty then people won't trust the speaker. I do have sympathy with Jack here, he almost certainly doesn't have the answers people are asking for but someone at Linden Lab should be helping him out.
So just what is the objection to Openspaces being sold direct? Ask any estate owner, preferably before they reach the top floor of the nearest inworld skyscraper. This would be very damaging not only to Openspace rentals but also to estate rentals. Estate rentals to be fair have taken enough of a battering because of Openspaces already.
There were mutterings of "Et Tu Brute". I don't think Linden Lab have the wherewithall to stab estate owners in the back, they just shoot from the hip and don't think systemically when they make decisions. Others have said that Linden Lab aren't keen on rentals and want a share of the pie, indeed someone at the meeting said that Linden Lab want a bigger share of the Openspace pie. I don't believe that they are delibeately out to nobble estate owners, or even mainland owners as a decision such as this would have ramifications across the whole of the rental market.
However I do believe that Linden Lab wouldn't pay much attention to the thoughts of estate and mainland landlords, not due to vindictiveness but more due to the fact that they don't consider the big picture when making decisions.
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Re: Reasons to be fearful part three
it'll be damaging to estate rentals because everyone will be able to
buy them direct and "cut out the middle man". It's so obvious that
direct sales of OS sims (at the right price, of course!) is just plain
better for the grid and 90% of the population. A few percent of people
- those flipping estate land will suffer, but seriously, they're making
money from an arbitrary and pointless rule that was obviosly going to
be removed at some point.
I can't say I *hope* it will be changed because of course it will cost me some of my income but it's obvious that it will and so I've always had a strategy in place that can cope with that kind of change without having to threaten lawyers. If any estate owner out there has no plan except whining to cope with the next tramuatic change then I really despair because it seems like land flippers just never learn.
I believe that Linden Lab won't pay much attention to the thoughts of estate and mainland landlords because they represent a tiny proportion of the population and don't bring anything to the world that Linden Lab couldn't (or shouldn't) do themselves.
Re: Reasons to be fearful part three
I disagree somewhat. Whining is good, whining led to a rethink when LL raised island tier and led to a delay in the full implementation of the openspace rise, there's plenty of space for whining.
I also disagree that LL selling direct is better for 90% of the grid, LL sell direct already, they also bill direct and mainland just isn't as popular as estate land. LL struggle to cope with their estate already, adding extra load doesn't fill me with confidence that they'll cope with the increased support levels without having to raise costs across the board. I do firmly belive Openspaces will be sold direct, but the USD$50 increase is a sign of what happens when LL deal direct.
Landlords, certainly the big guys, are the people who have provided the business model to raise funds to allow Second Life to grow, I don't think their contribution should be dismissed so lightly.