Even if it wasn’t unfair before, it is now…

Again, reposting my thoughts from the forum now that I’ve formulated my own opinions and decisions about Linden Labs’ latest ‘offer.

Oh, I will stay on in Caledon as long as Caledon stays on.  But, all my plans at expanding my presence or experience in SL are cancelled.

I’ve taken some time to think about this new proposal before posting my full thoughts.

I am not an estate owner, nor do I own an OS sim, though I do rent space on one for a little cottage, a move that was necessitated by continual dissatisfaction with owning land on the mainland. But this issue has been of great interest to me.

Why?

Because while I do not have these things now, I had planned to in the near future, once I had saved the money. I have been saving now for several months to by a full sim, not an openspace, a full sim, on which to build an artists’ colony, — a colony that would have included bringing new members to the grid as many of those interested in the project when I have spoken to them of it are not current customers. But would have joined in order to be a part of what I proposed.

I speak in the past tense because I have decided, in light of how this has been handled, to find another venue when the time comes. I cannot do business with or ask anyone to become the customer of a company in which I have no faith and cannot trust to do business fairly.

I had written before that I thought what most of us wanted was simply for Linden Labs to treat it’s customer base with fairness and honesty. I think the majority of people here can agree that if there is a serious need, technical or fiscal, a *small* price increase across the board (mainland, OS, full sim) to offset the costs of badly needed upgrades or what have you would be fair and reasonable.

But that is not what Linden labs did. The initial proposal was a 67% increase on only the ‘popular’ land type, with zero allowances or breaks for the people who were suddenly looking at almost doubling their fees, many of which were not insubstantial to begin with.

True, the issue was opened for discussion and feedback, (of which there has been an over-whelming amount). By implied agreement, Linden Labs says, opening discussion this way, ‘we want to work *with* you to make this the best situation for all of us’. Unfortunately, for those of us who haven’t been here for that long and had little of the history our peers with longer terms of residence in Second Life have seen with the company, we took you at your word, both implied and stated. We believed our feedback could make a bad situation at least a little more tolerable.

I say unfortunately because this ‘new’ deal has destroyed any faith I and others like me might have had in Linden Labs.

The feedback you received was that a price increase of that magnitude was more than your product you were offering was worth, more than many would be willing to pay for what they were getting.

You claimed to be listening to that feedback and doing something to mitigate the situation in a way that would be beneficial to all, allowing for fairness to the users of your service as well as easing the technical burdens you have given as the reason for this ‘necessary increase’. A resolution was promised, one that you again claimed incorporated the feedback of the community you serve.

What you gave us was a slap in the face, to put it baldly. Instead of one product not worth it’s price for the capabilities provided, you gave us two. Rather than provide more value in the product or bring the price to a level justified by the value in product, you have provided less value and asked for more money.

I hear the words of some saying “if you don’t like it, go to the mainland”. But, Linden Labs has alienated mainland residents as well, who must be Premium Account holders to buy land there and have recently been labeled “immaterial” to Linden Labs overall business.

Yes, I understand that statement by the CEO of the company was not meant as it was worded. Or so Linden Labs has claimed after the fact. But, let’s be honest, it was either the grossest PR mistake in speaking ever, or the truth despite the spin and backpedaling on the statement after. No matter which is the fact, that statement angered the very people that would purchase land on the mainland. (And, to be honest, many of us don’t want to live there anyway when there is absolutely no management of it and we’re forced to either deal with the griefers and generally rude neighbors or move again.)

Had the service provider I work for ever acted this way, I can guarantee we would be out of business. If my customer support team had ever announced something like this on the website without prior direct notice to the individual users affected, our CEO would be out for our blood and promising our customers there would be disciplinary action — not alienating customers further and making excuses for poor communication skills.

The fact of the matter is, no matter what the truth behind this situation is found to be, and I firmly believe in the old saying “There’s three sides to every story: yours, mine, and the truth somewhere between”, Linden Labs has lost the trust of its user base, it’s customers. We may stay on for awhile, yes. As I’ve said before, we don’t really *want* to leave the world where we’ve built businesses, communities, and lives. But, the quality of those lives here is never going to be the same and eventually, many of us *will* want to or not.

Many of the lands we love are disappearing. These lands are, for some of us, what brought us to Second Life and keeps us here.

The communities we have built are being torn apart. Again, communities which brought us here and keep us here.

More than a few have expressed intentions to remain, but spend no further money on any Linden Lab product, including L$. This means the content creators are looking at less income as well and may be forced to leave simply to make ends meat.

One less reason for the rest of us to login.

Your decision has undermined the fundamental basis of your service and priced a good chunk of your customers right out of being your customers. And, while I would hope there might still be further chances at change between now and January, I have lost all faith that it will happen.

I sincerely doubt I am the only one, or even one of a small minority.