–Karl

P.S> I can never get to the “forums”?

in which case why are you even reading the SL herald which by its nature will remind you of this

Despite Jacks “land freeze” land prices continue to remain in the tank under 2 L per sqm, and he continues to screw people out of their investments in openspaces (now called homesteads).

The policy they are proposing appears to be against the outrageously overpriced tiny 16m2 doughnut holes and corners in or near other people’s plots of land. Nowhere does Jack indicate that the plan is to prevent you from creating small 16m2 sub-regions for media or merchant marketing needs.

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This is disingenuous to say the least. The ‘lower price hike’ on the new OpenSpace entailed crippling them with such a tiny prim and avatar count (and we’re still waiting news on scripts) that they became unfit for virtually any purpose such as hosting art exhibitions or sailing.

As for the new Homesteads – they keep the huge (67%) price rise AND suffer avatar limits. In addition, at some unspecified future time, they too will have script limits. People have been deserting them in droves or combining with friends (with each previous island becoming a quarter island. The anger and the pain are still out there, and with it, at times, a bitter cynicism. Two out of every three interviews I conduct with an SL business brings up the question of the Open Space sim debacle, as people recount how they had to abandon projects, switch business plans mid-stream, or lose cherished dreams. And this is coming from them, not me; I’ve given up asking about Open Space sims, as it just opens the floodgates.

I think Linden Lab are doing some great things recently. I think the Open Space sim debacle has taught them a lot about their client base, and that they are still sucking up the poisonous legacy (and really, really wish it would stop just, like, you know, upsetting people). But it was a huge pit, and pretending that hey, it was a good thing in the end because we got those cute Homesteads and those sweet little Opens Spaces – well, that’s just nonsense.

Are there any legitimate reasons for land cutting (excluding profit) that we should consider when setting policy?

The answer is yes. For instance a mall may need to deed microparcels to individual vendors. OK, this would not be necessary in most cases but in the case of a music store selling music by artists in SL it is very useful to be able to set each vendor out on it’s own microparcel so that customers can get a preview listen of tracks before they buy…. just like they would do in an RL music store.

That said I know full well that any loophole allwing a legitimate use of collections of microparcels is bound to be gamed. The amount of policing required to prevent it being gamed would probably require another full-time employee on LL’s payroll. Something I doubt they can afford in the current finacial climate.