SL Full?
by Pixeleen Mistral on 15/03/07 at 9:16 am
Please take a number and go window shopping at one of LL’s favorite web sites
by Anechoic Nicole, staff writer
we hope you like jammin’, too.
Some of those hoping to join Second Life yesterday were sorely disappointed with the results of pushing the “Join Now” button on the Second Life Website. Instead of walking the well-worn steps required to create an alternate account – or even join Second Life for the very first time – some people trapped in real life were denied their chance to become buffed out gorean slave maters, hawt cyber-babes, yiffing furries, robots, or even children. Instead, they were greeted with a message that stated the SL is full and is accepting no new citizens.
“To ensure the best possible experience for all of our residents, we are temporarily limiting new account registrations. There’s been a huge influx of new Residents into Second Life and we are working hard to keep up with the demand,” said the message. To compensate, there was a special promotional code on the screen for people to use when they did get a chance to create an account which would give them a special “Linden Lab gift pack.”
The unbridled growth experienced by Second Life since the lifting of the requirement that residents place a credit card on file to join has been the cause of much debate and concern among Residents. According to many residents, grid performance has suffered, lag has increased and the general consensus among those who have experienced Second Life both before and after the policy change is that the Lindens have not been able to keep computer and asset resources to scale with the demand created by millions of new tire kickers residents. This blocking of new accounts would be a welcome sign of the Lindens acknowledging the problems created by rapid growth for many then.
The new account freeze-out was short-lived, however, and within an hour of originally seeing the “Sorry, we’re currently jam packed” message, the create new account screen was back to normal. There was no message about the screen or the policy on the Linden Blog, and no one responded to my IM’s about the matter, so there is no official or unofficial comment about this.
Interestingly, the screen did invite people unable to create new accounts to surf some SL related websites, including SLProfiles, SLBoutique, and Second Style, no doubt raising some eyebrows as to why and how LL happened to pick those independently run websites to favor over the many Sites and blogs that cover Second Life.
Markus
Mar 15th, 2007
It seems this is related to downtimes. A friend of mine wanted to join Wednesday last week and got the same message. Well, obviously it would proably make more sense telling people that the servers are down … but heck, don’t we love SL exactly for this … that is for the sometimes creative and chaotic environment?
Aki Kauristaki
Mar 15th, 2007
Where does the Herald buy its new “reporters” from? British tabloids? Wait.. British tabloids make sure to reasearch their stories, most of the time.
This is a *month* old story, try to read the official blog announcements from time to time.
http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/02/16/contingency-measures-to-ensure-service-as-second-life-grows/
Tenshi Vielle
Mar 15th, 2007
YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!
Cocoanut Koala
Mar 15th, 2007
They don’t tell them to check out SLExchange?
SLE should scream bloody murder.
coco
Lewis nerd
Mar 15th, 2007
I wonder what’s in this special ‘gift pack’ they promise?
Lewis
FlipperPA Peregrine
Mar 15th, 2007
Why just SLExchange, coco? Surely you meant “SLExchange, sl.me.com, and every other fashion blog and SL web site out there.” For the record, I have no idea why they chose SLBoutique, perhaps because we’re a zero commission site and the other sites mentioned are all done without profit? My pick to send people to would have been Snapzilla, to be honest, as I believe it would show people what SL is all about and captivate their interest to come back later.
Cocoanut Koala
Mar 15th, 2007
No, I didn’t surely mean all those other sites. We could list dozens of other blogs and sites. I meant specifically to comment on SLBoutique versus SLExchange.
And no, the zero-commission doesn’t excuse it. It’s only zero commission because the Electric Sheep Company can afford to run it that way. It’s not a charitable non-profit; it’s an arm of a very much for-profit company.
It wouldn’t matter what your pick would have been. The point is, there should be no picking done at all, whether by you or by LL.
coco
funtime
Mar 15th, 2007
play redlightcenter.com… it works
Doubledown Tandino
Mar 15th, 2007
A couple thoughts:
I like that they cap new registrations. Makes things seem more intriguing and demanding…. but hey, here’s a thought, why not turn off the ability to create an ALT from time to time?
I never like when LL decides to point out a particular third-party SL website, blog, or avatar. It always makes me wonder why other people don’t see it’s obvious that LL accepts payola. Check out the secondlife.com site for example… and click “music” “fashion” or “resident sites” … why are those weblink offered? Like, for example click the ‘music’ link and then you’ll see a ‘where to buy music equipment’ link… that link takes you to a Robbie Dingo featured site. It makes it seem that LL & Robbie Dingo are in kahoots… Robbie giving Phillip that hyperflute as a gift months ago certainly went a long way.
Perhaps the Herald could do a story on LL & accepting payola.
Lewis nerd
Mar 15th, 2007
I give Linden Lab headaches… does that count?
Lewis
whateva
Mar 15th, 2007
sl is full alright… full of shit.
I’m pretty confident in saying that most of the accounts they include in there “total members” is way off. it’s what over 4 million now? i havent looked lately but only on average is there 25-30k people ever on. So their claims of being full is just another marketing strategy to get people to think oh wow this game must be so good its at a limit! What LL needs to do is get rid of all the dead accounts, like those who came on once and never came back (i bet theres plenty of those types) or accounts that havent been logged onto in a certain amount of months etc. maybe if they cleaned up some of that we’d see the actual real numbers of players.
FlipperPA Peregrine
Mar 15th, 2007
Okay coco, then WHY pick only SLEx versus SLB to show your righteous indignation over? Why not show your disdain for another profiles site not being chosen, for example? What not express your thoughts that Linden Lifestyles should be really pissed off because only Second Style was listed? It is the same exact relation: sites that compete with one another. Yet you’re only ticked about SLEx not being included? And if these web sites are listed, why not make it a requirement to list every single SL related web site? Oh yeah, because there’s simply not enough space.
FlipperPA Peregrine
Mar 15th, 2007
whateva: they do purge accounts after a certain amount of time. I’ve maintained an avatar name/key database for some time, and when there were 30,000 reported total accounts, I had over 55,000 name/key pairs in my database. What else does LL need to do now?
Ace Albion
Mar 15th, 2007
I think this was just during downtime. I check the new registration page now and then to look for cool surnames, and it was only during downtime that the page shown there was up, that I noticed.
I didn’t say it makes any sense, but it seems like a generic “can’t do anything right now” page.
Artemis Fate
Mar 15th, 2007
“but only on average is there 25-30k people ever on.”
30K isn’t “only”, 30K online at one time to the LL servers is “oh god oh god I can’t feel my legs!” That IS full, the servers were starting to show noticiable hits at 20K, were bad at 25K and are barely holding up at 30K.
nimrod yaffle
Mar 15th, 2007
Online Now: 33,984
Going well so far! No broken TPs nor non-loading profiles/people/textures.
Inigo Chamerberlin
Mar 15th, 2007
Sighs… Another evening another outage…
Kahni Poitier
Mar 15th, 2007
“I like that they cap new registrations. Makes things seem more intriguing and demanding…. but hey, here’s a thought, why not turn off the ability to create an ALT from time to time?”
Ummm…..no.
You see, people PAY for alts.
Locking out FREE accounts would be a GREAT way to limit who gets on first or not at all.
You pay, you play.
Otherwise?
Wait your turn.
Prokofy Neva
Mar 15th, 2007
>This is a *month* old story, try to read the official blog announcements from time to time.
No, this is not a “month” old story because while they indicated they would do this as a *contingency* they hadn’t DONE it yet, so the Herald was there to report when they DID it.
Payola? Well, it’s not exactly like the old radio system of payola, it’s…what shall we call it…erm…SLayola? No, how about…feting! Yes, feting. Feting is what I’ve called it for, oh, 2 years now! The Lindens no longer make any secret of the fact that they like to pick out content they like best and promote it. If you aren’t one of those lucky people, well, do what you gotta do, assume the position…
Szentasha Salome
Mar 15th, 2007
Well, I don’t know. They probably just aren’t putting much effort or thought into it. I noticed recently that the business page at http://secondlife.com/whatis/business_web.php is sadly out of date. It lists a very limited set of businesses. Metaadverse is a broken link, and Preen Fashion now is a web marketing portal.
Panda
Mar 16th, 2007
“The Lindens no longer make any secret of the fact that they like to pick out content they like best and promote it.”
So you want LL to pick out the content they DON’T like and promote that instead? Are you insane?
“If you aren’t one of those lucky people, well, do what you gotta do, assume the position…”
Or you could stop making an ass of yourself if and try to be noticed for something POSITIVE, instead of being the neo-commie crackpot you are.
Prok, your whole complaint about SL comes down to: “ZOMG PPLS ARE NETWORKING TO GET JOBS AND FRIENDS AND VICE VERSA! HOW UNFAIR!! COS — COS — I’m not popular!”
Assman Holder
Mar 16th, 2007
Man, what is it with all the “Oh, mom always liked you better” crap? LL can promo whomever the hell they want and whining for attention or equal billing isn’t making you look like anything but a whiney biotch (pardon my Polish). At least FlipperPA shows a modicum of humility and professionalism.
The real story here is – has the great LL dream of an unlimited world-wide Metaverse died at 40,000 user capacity? While other games easily host millions of simultaneous players?
Perhaps they should consider creating localized “metaverses” – French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Chinese, Japanese, etc. – that are not connected to the american metaverse.
Or maybe just shut down new accounts completely and only allow people with current accounts to participate. Dump the “no payment info on file” people and only allow people that pay $120 per year.
Or they could do what Govts. allegedly did with AIDS and Crack – Secret Terminal Population Control – where you kill off an “unpopular” segment of population to make room for more. I’d suggest a “Freebie Box Virus” that would cripple users buying the freebie box for $L0, making SL totally unplayable for those infected to the point where they no longer desire to log on.
Better yet – LL could just follow the “Ignore the User” philosophy mentioned in another article and force decent members of the populace to demand attention by evolving into bombthrowing lunatic griefers. When your innocent, meditative little paradise is turned into an exciting adventure game for griefers, you’ll leave and make room for others waiting in line for the opportunity to grab a gun and join in the fun.
All of these are great ideas for reducing the load on the system and bringing it to a sustainable operation. You may not like it, but when was the last time they did something you liked anyway. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em – so grab a gun peacenicks – welcome to World Of Unreal Tournament Second Life Edition! WOOTSKI!!
Cocoanut Koala
Mar 16th, 2007
Panda, you spoke to Prok, but I will speak for me.
I’m not against people networking to get jobs and friends, etc. – not in the slightest.
I’m against government corruption, and LL is our government.
The government picks out various “taxpayers” to give them free advertising and other benefits. That’s wrong.
The fact that they are also allowed to practice conflict of interest themselves, by personally profiting from businesses they run on the side while also running the rules of the game is also wrong.
I don’t expect you to get this, though.
coco
Panda
Mar 16th, 2007
Linden Lab is a business, not a government. I don’t expect you to get this, though, Coco.
The rest of your post makes no sense.
Prokofy Neva
Mar 16th, 2007
Linden Lab performs the function of a federal government in this world.
As such, they shouldn’t be promoting anything, except on a fair and rotating basis. These sweetheart deals, NDAS, fetings, SL Views all-expense-paid trips — these are all corrupt at root.
Panda
Mar 16th, 2007
“Linden Lab performs the function of a federal government in this world.”
That does not make Linden Lab a federal government. LL is a business. Your have no point.
Prokofy Neva
Mar 17th, 2007
Panda, you *are* no point, in all your posts on this forums. It’s just the role of a troll and agitator and it never sheds any light or interesting questioning in a discussion, but only attracts attention to your lack of imagination or thought. People understand SL differently and have different theories about it. You aren’t ‘right’ and able to dispense judgements about what “the point” is, it’s one of many models, as viable as the next.
Maxwell
Mar 17th, 2007
To those that think Linden Lab is a Government: The United states government does the exact same thing, kindly get over it.
To those that see Linden Lab as a business: Congrats, you’re not deluded.
dildo baggins
Mar 17th, 2007
>>People understand SL differently and have different theories >>about it. You aren’t ‘right’ and able to dispense judgements >>about what “the point” is, it’s one of many models, as >>viable as the next.
ahahahhaaahahahhahaaaa!
Sure, prok! as long as they agree with you right?
God, you hypocritical vindictive old biatch!