Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Reader Submitted

It's life Jim but not as we know it.

So Linden Labs have been clearing out their inventory. 30% of their global workforce have crashed never to return. As we all know it's never nice when it happens, and I am sure we all wish them and their families the very best for the future. It's definitely goodbye and not "brb." This time of course though the crashing is in real life, not SL. And the ones who have gone have real families to support, real mortgages to pay and real bills to face up to. It's not just a few minutes or hours of inconvenience, because you can't dance the night away with your mates.

So what are the ramifications? What does this mean for us toons? Have our gods deserted us??.. Linden Labs are certainly not shouting the news from the rooftops, and why would they? .... Shedding nearly a third of your workforce is bad news however you look at it. Hard facts about the state of Linden's affairs are hard to come by. Facts and figures about the Linden empire fall firmly into the category of "statistics" (as in lies, damn lies and statistics), so we can't know for certain. One thing is certain though ... companies do not relieve themselves of a third of their workforce lightly. Was it always the plan to sack one in three of the workforce or did Bigwig Linden just wake up one morning and think it seemed like a good idea? The fact is they, as a business are in trouble, and if they are in trouble ... we are in trouble!

Residents beware! If the Lindens decide that 1 in 3 isn't enough and that they may as well turn the lights (and the servers) off and go home. What are you going to do? Suddenly the killer shoes you just bought seem less sparkly as you may not be able to log on and wear them tomorrow. If you think that's bad ... have a thought for the poor old landowners. Not only have they previously endured price manipulation of their assets ... now it is looking more likely than not that they will loose everything. I am no land expert but a quick check of prices tells me that an island is $1,000 us dollars and $295 dollars a month for maintenance whatever that is. That equates to over $4,500 us dollars a year for a few pixels that will go "poof" at the flick of an administrators index finger.

If you want my advice fellow residents....save your money and sell your house while you still can.

Izzie Schism

2 comments:

  1. @Izzie Schism ...Thanks so much for you pessimistic views.

    What Secondlife needs is another million or two of individuals with your attitude.
    I'm happy that so many of us have decided that investing in this grand experience we call Secondlife is worth our effort.

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  2. Well Brinda, i would say 'yes' & 'no'.
    We, as a business owner with an island to pay for every month, do feel the problem every single in-world day. And i would say 'yes' to the author of this article. But 'no' too, because if we would have the same attitude, we would not be here anymore. There are ways in between and we had to ask ourselves the critical question; "Why are we here for, what do we do (best) in Secondlife?"
    We are in Secondlife to have fun, feel inspired by all we see and experience in this magnificant world. We keep growing and learning everyday. It takes time, efforts and dollars to maintain our mall and be able to make uploads. But what we do get in return is not the appreciation of LindenLab employees, but the feedback of all our visitors, buying stuff or just standing there.
    We too realized "what if LL pulls out all plugs?".
    So yes, what if???
    If this will happen, no one can prevend this from happening, so why bother when you live now?
    We have found a lot of other grids with the same kind of engines as SL, same trees, same av's, same viewers, same everything. SL has not a monopoly, the Lindens know that!
    So; keep an open mind, say no 'no', say no 'yes' en keep doing what you like most!
    10 Goosson from M&M Creations

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