Linden Lab changes pricing/policy on void simulators

Concerned users gather in Caledon to discuss implications of the pricing/policy changes

Linden Lab have announced an immediate set of policy changes for what they call openspace simulators (more commonly called void sims by Second Life users), and a deferred set of pricing changes that will take effect for all void sims come 1 January 2009.

From 1 January 2009, upfront fees for void sims will be increased by 50% and monthly fees will rise by 66%. Presently the fees are US$250 upfront and US$75/mo. The new fees from 1 January will be US$375 upfront and US$125/mo. Owners with groups of four void simulators will have those groups migrated to class 5 servers at that time.

The pricing change will certainly hit many quite hard. Void sims have been a popular alternative to regular simulators ever since the Lab encouraged more comprehensive use of the simulators, by increasing their capacities and making their pricing more accessible.

Originally, void sims could be purchased only in groups of four that were required to be adjacent to the owner's existing simulators, with each sim representing one quarter the cost of one regular sim, and supporting one eighth of a regular sim's capacity.

On 8 March this year Linden Lab changed that, announcing that void sims no longer needed to be purchased in groups of four, boosting their capacity to one quarter that of a regular simulator, and slightly increasing the pricing so that the monthly fees for four void sims was approximately 1.7% more than for a single regular simulator (US$300 instead of US$295).

This caused a boom of sales among users who were more interested in space than simulator handling capacity and prim allowances, at least anecdotally. It is widely believed that there was a vast surge in void sim purchases compared to the purchases of regular simulators, though Linden Lab has not released any data to confirm or deny that belief. There are certainly a lot of void sims out there these days, though.

Large community projects like Desmond Shang's Victorian/Steampunk nation, Caledon, are obviously going to be affected by the pricing changes. Of Caledon's 43 simulators, 20 are void sims. Shang is more concerned about the larger impact that the move will have. 'We are part of a larger world,' said Shang, pointing out that circumstances that hit the virtual environment's economy hard in other areas would also impact the residents of Caledon.

But that's not all that is coming down the pipe. In addition to pricing there are policy changes that take effect immediately.

The owner of a sim may no longer be changed to be a different party than the Payor (a legal term: the party responsible for payment). In cases where they are already different parties, the only allowable change will be to revert the Payor back to the owner.

Also, no educational or non-profit discounts will be available for void sims from this day forward.

Lastly, and least clearly, something is to be done about 'overloaded' void sims. We're not sure what overloaded means in this context, exactly, as the capacities of those simulators (that Linden Lab increased on 8 March 2008) should, in theory, prevent simulators from being noticeably overloaded.

The simplest explanations for all of this that fit the observed facts, is that either the March 2008 changes have progressively gutted Linden Lab's market for regular simulators, or that they're in need of a large cash infusion for Q1 2009 -- or possibly both.

This evening saw multiple emergency meetings by community groups owning various quantities of void simulators. The move has many concerned, certainly. A few seem to be panicked, but that is not (at present) the prevailing attitude.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.