While I won’t deny that Linden Lab’s attitude toward Elf Clan may have been affected by their growing interest in $$$ funded by major corporations (and a resultant lack of interest in other things)– I have no direct evidence of such. The reason we ceased financial support of the SL platform was because LL didn’t care one bit about the welfare of our group. We just got tired of pumping money and effort into such a company, especially with the platform so consistently shaky and unreliable. We got tired of the hassles and the expense– and shut down the cash flow. Which is what a lot more people should be doing if they really want to get their point across.

Whatever happened behind the scenes, (other than major LL attitude) I have no idea. Like you and Uri, I have definitely seen evidence of LL catering to the corporate agencies and certainly to their own corporate welfare rather than the welfare of those who helped make SL interesting. But as for any direct opposition by Elf Clan to corporations setting up sims on SL or any relationship between that and our ceasing to support the platform– contrary to the LA Times article– there simply was none. Our tiff was with LL customer support and ethical policies– or more accurately– lack thereof. While I could provide more extensive details, it’s really a waste of time. SL lost one of its largest and most active groups. LL doesn’t care. They can take a flying leap– my RL is doing great.

Uri isn’t implying that elves have been eradicated. They are still there. You might have left. Others may hvae. But the issues you had with SL in fact included what everyone’s issues are — they are emblematic — and they really do have to do with the Lindens chosing fast growth, big numbers, and marketing companies over their indigenous world population, so to speak. And that’s a fact.

Uri’s statement hits the nail on the head:

“>It’s also worth considering, Way, that that poor Linden customer service that you received was in large part a function of the new Linden policy of catering to large corporate builds. They hitched their horse to that wagon and that meant that there wasn’t much time or effort invested in the indigenous groups like yours. — Urizenus< "

That's the bottom line.

>I don’t pretend something is rosy when it’s pushing up roses.

That’s a funny expression, never heard that one!

"You're seeing these little indigenous communities and fantastical creatures being forced out by 20th century corporations coming in," he said. For instance, the head of a council of elves — one of the earliest groups present in-world — left the game amid the changes..."

That's pretty clear Prok. He claims that "little indigenous communities and fantastical creatures" are "being forced out by 20th century corporations coming in". And he immediately follows up with "For instance..." and cites my leaving SL.

Which of course is totally inaccurate. 20th century coporations coming in to SL had nothing to do with my leaving the platform. I left because Linden Lab policies allowed a renegade officer to swipe 3 sims from my group... and Linden Lab as always refused to do anything about it. That, added to all the other garbage that constantly goes on daily on Second Life, was the straw that broke the camel's back. I got fed up with what I consider to be an extremely amateurish platform and amateurish company (and we are all entitled to our opinions). I decided to stop wasting my time and money investing in Linden Lab and a month later, the Elf Clan Counsel decided to follow suit. That decision had nothing to do with any corporate invasion of SL. The artile in the LA Times failed to verify their claim (by checking with me or the Counsel) and as a result they published inaccurate information.

>It becomes very hard to go on tolerating the losses and such a high cost, and feel you there’s no consideration of your needs. On the other hand, I think we do have to give the Lindens credit for doing some of the things we have asked for, even if belatedly. — Prok< After the stunts I've seen them pull over the last 2 1/2 years, I don't have to give them credit for anything. EVERY company does SOME things right. That doesn't validate the nonsense that goes on every single day, the massive problems caused to customers as a result, or the company's continued lack of concern for the wellfare of their customers. All one has to do is read this blog, the SL official Blog, or the forums to see customer discontent echoed every day of the week. Now we see these sentiments echoed by such respected national sources as PC Magazine. What more can I say? It's not my desire to continually badmouth Second Life or Linden Lab nor to bust their chops all the time. But neither am I going to give them a nod of approval for what I (and others) consider to be rather shoddy, barely-beta-stage work and charging their customers through the nose for such.

>It’s also worth considering, Way, that that poor Linden customer service that you received was in large part a function of the new Linden policy of catering to large corporate builds. They hitched their horse to that wagon and that meant that there wasn’t much time or effort invested in the indigenous groups like yours. — Urizenus< That's possible of course. It's difficult to tell what is going on behind the scenes. But I have noticed more than once (and seen commented by others more than once) that quite often LL seems to have a double-standard, depending on where the money is coming from. That would certainly back up your claim Uri. All I know is that as large as Elf Clan was and active as it was and as much as it had accomplished, Linden Lab didn't seem to give a flying rat's hiney about what happned to the group. They had plenty of warning, I tried to work with them, they didn't seem to care. So Elf Clan stopped caring, and we closed it down. As you say, their uncaring attitude could have been because they were catering to a new clientele with a lot more $$$. It's difficult to tell and I make no aspersions without concrete evidence. All I know for sure is that they didn't care about one of the most successful groups on the grid-- so in my book they pretty much deserve whatever consequenses result.

>But it is a game to most people, and they call it that. The PC police can’t stop them from being honest about their perceptions, and the way it feels.

Something that only works about half the time; which doesn’t even load or loses inventory; which might or might not lose you money — I call that a game, yes indeedy, a game that’s like “Russian roulette”. — Prok< Agreed 100% Prok. Well stated. Some people claim it's a "society"... but what kind of society exists without rules or ethics (and please, don't anyone cite the TOS as "rules"... those rules apply only so far as LL considers them to benefit their company). Some people claim it's a business-- but as Prok states, it's more of a gambling game than a business-- where tomorrow's profits can depend on the next major inventory-destroying bug or unfriendly change in LL policies. Some claim SL is an "experiement". Well, I can't disagree with that. Usually it seems, an experiment in just how much more BS their customers are willing to take.

Someone back there quoted the constant claim of "residency" on each login screen. We've commented about those bogus figures for months on http://elfclan.net. Why? Not to bust LL’s chops, but to get both that company and its customers to wake up to reality– the Second Life business plan is not working. Yet LL continues to follow the same, old, tired plan.

You don’t need to be “techi-wiki” to have common sense. That article fails to address that most of the scams in Second Life are directly parallel to those in first life: they prey on those who lack common sense. The usual hysteria from Urizenus was worth the read at least, comparing the arrival or RL businesses to the razing of the shire in LotR: priceless!