As many of you probably already know, Linden Lab has recently announced some in-the-works changes for Second Life that have the potential to be pretty game-changing. I initially backed away from commenting on the announcement of some of those, because, lets be blunt here among friends - I've been in SL since 2007, and in that time, LL has announced changes and new policy, etc that has fallen by the wayside. I remember when voice was first brought in - hell, I remember the introduction of flexi-hair!! We've been through a lot together, SL and I.
First ... the announcement that there is, for lack of a better term, a "SL 2.0" in the works. Supposedly it is to be geared more towards content creators, which I am sure that they will be jumping up and down about. I, however, am not a true content creator. I build a few things here and there, but I can't honestly give myself that title. I'm on this ride to have some fun. I'm not really sure what to make of this idea from LL, so on this topic, I have to just sit back and wait and watch to see how things go. There seems to be a lot of "end of the world" talk going on - I don't think that is going to be the case. Second Life is the cash cow for LL. Why would you kill off your cash cow before the calf is even born? Think about that for a moment, and settle down. Please, for everyone.
Secondly, a new policy announcement from LL. The introduction of "gaming sims". Anyone running what LL defines as a "game of skill" (pay money in, get money out) has to do one of two things: Either pick it up and not use it, or reclassify your sim as a gaming sim to keep it. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. A gaming sim costs about $50.00 USD more a month in tier, number one. Number two, you have to have an operator's licence. More money. You also have to pay (I think) quarterly to keep said licence going. On TOP of that, anyone who doesn't have payment info on file is not going to be allowed to come to your new gaming sim. And, there will be some, who live in gambling restricted areas of the United States, who will not be allowed on your sim simply because gambling is not legal in their state, regardless of if they have payment info registered or not. Oh, and did I mention that the creator of said games has to pay to register with Linden Lab to even sell their gaming items?
Read about it here.
There's been a lot of forum discussion about this. People seem to be in a bit of a tizzy, and there isn't clear explanation from LL for some things. Example - Greedy tables can be paid into and can pay out. But, what if my Greedy table has that option turned off? Can I still have it in my club? Contest boards - what if people don't have to pay into them to join the contest? Are they exempt from this ruling? And, what about sploders? LL seems a bit vague in answering those questions, so I am looking for a more definitive statement from them in the near future to clarify things on that front.
There is one light in this tunnel that I am pleased to see. This will take care of places using things like Coin Search and Fish Hunt to game their traffic. By LL (and the people who own those "Games" own definition), it is a game of skill in which people win Linden. So, that would fall deeply into this ruling. What I am hoping to see happen is that we will start to see an actual traffic score for places instead of inflated traffic because of things like Fish Hunt. I've blogged about the traffic thing a few times now, please feel free to go back and have a read when you have a few minutes.
This is the part where I do some shameless finger-wagging and self-promotion by saying, EXILE will not be affected in terms of traffic because we never used Fish Hunt to pump up our daily traffic. I guess honesty truly does pay off in the end.
Anyway, its going to be interesting to sit back and watch all of this taking effect on the grid, to watch the traffic scores going on a roller coaster ride, and to watch people scrambling to be in compliance with the new LL policy.
I guess that's about it for me, for tonight. Its hot as hell here, and I am going to go and jump in a cool shower for a bit, then eat my dinner, and get ready for Sexy Saturday at EXILE. Yay!!
Love and Peace,
~R
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