November 2008

Openspaces or Full Sims? Pros and Cons

Full sims and Openspaces are two terms many people are not familiar with. Now that we offered our residents the option to move to a Full sim and keep paying the same tier or stay on Openspaces and pay the raised tier, some people are not sure what to choose. So here are the pros and cons for each one:

Openspaces

All Wonderland sims are Openspaces except: Caribbean Breeze, Costa del Mar, Porto Negro.

Pros: More space between islands, therefore more privacy. You can restrict the access to your land (with ban lines or security systems) at all times. More flexibility regarding decks and use of the water that surrounds your property.

Cons: Higher Tier

All Wonderland sims are Openspaces except: Caribbean Breeze, Costa del Mar, Porto Negro.

Full Sims

Pros: Less tier

Cons: Very little space between islands, therefore less privacy. You can restrict the access (with ban lines or security systems) only when you are inside your property and remove any access restrictions the rest of the time.Stricter building code. No matter what you do, you cannot raise the ground over water. Also the water should not be blocked by objects, so if you want to build a deck, you’ll have to create more water by digging out part of the ground.   Your old house may not fit in the new plot, although the land size will be the same.

The full sims of Wonderland are: Caribbean Breeze, Costa del Mar, Porto Negro.

I hope this comparison clears things out a bit. If you have more questions, please use the comments in this page to post them.

Openspaces o Full Sims? Pros y Contra

Los Full sims y Openspaces son dos términos no muy conocidos. Ahora que ofrecimos a nuestros residentes la opción de trasladarse a un ful sim completo pagando el mismo tier que antes o permanecer en Openspaces y pagar los nuevos tiers, algunos no saben que hacer. Aquí están los pros y contra para cada uno:

Openspaces

Pros: Más espacio entre las islas, y por eso más intimidad. Usted puede restringir el acceso a su tierra (con las líneas ban o con sistemas de seguridad) todo el tiempo. Más flexibilidad con respecto a la construccion y al uso del agua que rodea su propiedad.

Contra: Más Tier

Todos los sims de la Wonderland son Openspaces menos: Caribbean Breeze, Costa del Mar, Porto Negro.

Full Sims

Pros: Menos tier

Contra: Poco espacio entre las islas, y por eso menos intimidad. Usted puede restringir el acceso (con las líneas ban o con sistemas de seguridad) solamente cuando usted está a casa y quitar las restricciones del acceso el resto del tiempo. Un código técnico de la edificación más terminante. Usted no puede levantar la tierra sobre el agua. También el agua no se debe bloquear por los objetos, así que si usted quiere construir una cubierta, usted tendrá que crear más agua excavando parte de la tierra. Talvez su casa vieja no quepa en el nuevo terreno.

Espero que esta comparación haya aclarado algunas cosas. Si usted tiene más preguntas, utilice por favor los comentarios en esta página para fijarlos.

I full sims de la Wonderland son: Caribbean Breeze, Costa del Mar, Porto Negro.

Openspaces o Full Sims? Il pro e il contro

Tanta gente non sa bene cosa sono i Full Sims e gli Openspaces. Ora che abbiamo offerto ai nostri residenti l’opzione di muoversi verso un Full Sim, pagando il tier di prima oppure rimanere su Openspaces, pagando il tier nuovo, c’è gente che non sa cosa scegliere. Così qui sono i pro – e – contro per ciascuno:

Openspaces

Pro: Più spazio fra le isole, quindi più privacy. Potete limitare l’accesso alla vostra terra (con le linee ban o sistemi di sicurezza) tutto il tempo. Più flessibilità per quanto riguarda le case e l’uso dell’ acqua che circonda la vostra proprietà.

Contro: Tier più alto

La maggior parte dei nostri sims son Openspaces tranne i: Caribbean Breeze, Costa del Mar, Porto Negro.

Full Sims

Pro: Meno tier

Contro: Molto meno spazio fra le isole, quindi meno privacy. Potete limitare l’accesso alla vostra terra (con  linee ban o sistemi di sicurezza) soltanto quando siete a casa, ed eliminare qualsiasi limitazione di accesso il resto del tempo. Regolamento edilizio più rigoroso. Non potete sollevare la terra sopra l’acqua. Inoltre l’acqua deve essere libera di ostacoli, quindi se volete costruire un ponte, dovrete generare più acqua scavando parte del terreno.   La vostra casa di prima è possibile che non si adatti al nuovo terreno.

I full sims della Wonderland sono i: Caribbean Breeze, Costa del Mar, Porto Negro.

Spero che le cose siano un po’ più chiare adesso. Se avete più domande, inviatele tramite i Comments di questa pagina.

Linden Labs Announce New Tiers

On his Letter to Second Life Residents, M Linden announced that the raise will be applied in two steps. Part of it (27%) will be applied on January 1st and the second part (31.5%) on June 1st. It is impressive how little they care about residents, how inconsistent their policy is and the nerve they have to insist on false claims.

As it is, we have to announce the new tiers that will be effective for any payments made after December 1st. On November 30th you can pay for 4 weeks with the old tier if you like. The new tiers for Openspaces will be raised by 25% and the tier for an entire Openspace by 20%.

If there are owners of entire Openspaces who intend to abandon them, please let us know so we arrange that they go offline. Owners of Openspace plots who would rather live on a normal prim sim with the current tier, you too let us know. Send a notecard to Margot LaSalle with the following info:

• Your SL name
• Your sim
• The size of your plot

We are looking into converting openspaces into normal prim sims so that you don’t lose your land in case you can’t pay the new tiers.

More on the subject soon.

L' aumento dei prezzi per gli Openspace

L’ annuncio dell’ aumento delle tasse mensili degli Openspace ha provocato una ripercussione massiva in SL. Ancora niente è finale per cui possiamo sperare per il meglio, anche se dobbiamo prepararsi per il peggio. In Wonderland tutti i sims sono Openspace tranne Caribbean Breeze, Costa del Mar e Porto Negro.

Wonderland ha già 20 mesi in SL e tutto questo tempo abbiamo mantenuto prezzi stabili, senza aumentarli, anche dopo che i Linden Labs hanno farci pagare la IVA. Questa volta tenterremo di assorbire parte dell’ aumento anche se sarà molto difficile perchè adesso l’aumento è altissimo (di 67%).

Per chi di voi i nuovi prezzi (se dovessimo applicarli) sono alti, chercheremo di darvi altro terreno della stessa misura con le tasse di prima o magari convertire gli Openspace in sims normali.

Vogliamo sentire le tue idee. Scrivetele qui, usando il vostro nome di SL.

La subida de los precios y Wonderland

El 27 de Octubre, los Linden Labs anunciaron que a partir de 1 Enero el tier de Openspace subira por 67%. El anuncio está teniendo una repercusión masiva en todo SL. No sabemos todavía cuál será el resultado de todo esto. Pero en caso de que se realiza esta subida, nos va afectar a todos los que viven en Openspace. Todos nuestros sims son Openspace salvo Caribbean Breeze, Costa del Mar y Porto Negro.

Wonderland lleva ya 20 meses en SL y todo este tiempo hemos mantenido percios estables y nisiquiera los subimos cuándo Linden Labs comencaron a cobrarnos la IVA. Ésta vez también trataremos de absorbir parte de la subida, aunque no podemos hacer mucho porque la subida es excesiva. Todavía nada es cierto pero apenas sabemos algo más, os lo comunicaremos.

Está muy claro que los nuevos tiers talvez sean muchos para algunos. En este caso trataremos de ofrecer a los residents una isla del mismo tamaño en un sim normal (no Openspace) con el tier de antes. Podemos también convertir otra vez los Openspace en sim normales (full sims). En cualquier caso haremos todo para que no perdais vuestras tierras.

Nos gustaría saber lo que pensais. Os interesa ir a vivir en un sim normal? Dejad tus comentarios usando su nombre de SL, por favor.

How raised tiers affect Wonderland

After the great uproar tier raises caused, a dialog opened between Estate owners and Linden Labs. The outcome is still unpredictable but, still hoping for the best, we have to prepare for the worst case scenario. In Wonderland all sims are Openspace, except Caribbean Breeze, Costa del Mar and Porto Negro, so they are affected.

So how will Wonderland Openspace residents be affected?

Wonderland has been around for 20 months maintaining practically the same tiers, even after Linden Labs started charging us VAT. We absorbed the cost then and we will try to absorb part of the cost now, although we can’t do much as the raise is exorbitant. When tier raises are final, we will publish the new tiers for Openspaces.

We understand that the new tiers may be out of some’s budget. In that case we will try to provide you with a same size island on a normal prim sim with the same tier as before. We may even convert Openspaces back to normal prim sims. In any case we’ll do our best to protect your investment so that you continue to have a place to call home in SL.

Feel free to leave your thoughts but, please, use your SL name.

Linden Labs raise Openspace tiers

On October 27th, Jack Linden announced Openspace Pricing and Policy Changes on the official blog of Second Life, saying:

We will increase the monthly maintenance fee from USD$75 to USD$125 per month. This price increase will apply to all owners of Openspaces on January 1st as well as new purchases after that date. There will be no grandfathering of Openspace maintenance pricing. [...] At the same time, we will be increasing the upfront fee for brand new Openspaces from USD$250 to USD$375.

This consistutes an increase of 67% and 150% in tiers, which is quite unreasonable, particularly at a time of a global financial crisis.

They claim that they raise tiers because Openspace sims have been abused and the extra work the support team has to put into them is not reflected in the price. They claim that:

Openspaces are offered to allow Estate owners to create open ocean or land in and around their Regions in the same way that the Linden mainland does.

“In and around”? Perhaps this was true before March 2009, when Openspaces were bought in packs of 4, had to be pegged to a full sim and they carried 1875 prims only. After March 2009, Linden Labs not only doubled the prims to 3750 per Openspace, but they started selling them one at a time and the Openspaces could be placed anywhere on the grid as stand-alone regions. Who in their right mind would create an “open ocean” in the middle of nowhere and for what purpose? What would be the use of 3750 prims in the open ocean?

There is no doubt that some of the Openspace sims have been abused, resulting in heavy overload. There is also no doubt that these sims are very few. Do you know how many sims there are currently in Second Life? 32000 sims! Have you noticed the average number of users online? It varies from 35000 to 75000. That’s an average of 55000 users online. And that is less than 2 users per sim!

Indeed Second Life is for the most part an inhabited place, yet Linden Labs want us to believe that Openspaces attract all the traffic overloading the servers. How else could they justify the unbelievable raise of 67-150%? Who are they trying to fool?

And how will the raised tiers solve the problem of overloaded Openspaces? If you have read already their blog post, they do not offer any improvements at all; they will start charging significantly more for the same features.

Since nothing is final yet, let them hear your voice. File tickets and post on the forums, stating your objection. On our part, we attend every meeting with Linden Labs suggesting solutions and protecting the rights of our residents and Wonderland’s.