homestead-simulators
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Long-delayed Second Life script-limitations back in the public eye
It's now just over one year since Linden Lab announced that they would be implementing a some manner of script limitations over and above those which are presently a part of Second Life as it stands today. It is just over eleven months since those limitations were rescheduled to go ahead in Q3 2009 – which time has definitely long passed. Nevertheless, the script limitations system is alive and well and coming up, apparently in 2010. This constitutes good news, very good news and not so good news (in roughly that order).
Second Life "Homesteads" owners to save US$360
As we come up to the time of year when the long-awaited Second Life Homesteads price-rise is due to hit, Linden Lab has announced that any Homestead simulators owned before 1 July, 2009 will continue at the old monthly rate of US$95 instead of US$125, before the price-rise finally kicks in for those too on 1 July, 2010. The deal essentially saves owners of Homestead products a once-only total of US$360 per simulator, if the simulator is owned or purchased before 1 July this year (a bit less than the cost of a new one). If you've abandoned your Homestead simulator this year, you can have it reinstated at no extra charge. Homesteads have a limit of 20 agents (avatars, if you prefer), and 3,750 prims, and will still be subject to as-yet-unspecified script-limitations before the end of the year. Homestead simulators cost US$375 each to purchase. 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.
Linden Lab delays script-limitations to Q3
Linden Lab has announced that script-limitations for the new Homesteads/Openspaces products will not be going ahead in Q1 2009 as originally expected, and will be delayed until Q3 2009. Script limitations were announced to be an integral part of the revised product specification for void simulators, and the details of those limitations were expected to be announced before they went on sale at Noon on Monday, 5 January. Instead, Q1 will see the rollout of internal data-collection systems to monitor scripting loads in all simulators on the Second Life grid followed by determination of what limits should be put into place. Q2 will see the deployment of tools in the viewer for users to better assess script workloads. Q3 is scheduled for of those script limits, but Linden Lab is leaving a little wiggle-room, and Q3 may yet slip. Judging based on past Linden Lab project timelines, we'd expect Q3 to slip to Q1 2010. Reduction in the usage of void simulators as a result of the new pricing and specifications led to a net reduction in simulator usage of 1997 simulators in November 2008 and an additional 2007 simulators in December 2008. An additional 83 have been decommissioned so far this month. 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.
Second Life land loss escalates
The unprecedented decline of Second Life land area appears to be accelerating according to data from virtual world operator, Linden Lab. The net loss of simulators which totalled nearly 9,000 acres as of midnight on 10 November, has escalated to a net loss of 12,874 acres (52.1 million square metres, or 795 simulators) by midnight of 16 November. At present this represents an accelerating decline, with no sign of it bottoming out. While a number of users have requested a consolidation of four Openspaces simulators into a single ordinary simulator (which would represent an overall net loss of three simulators per consolidation) there is no data available to suggest that any of the requested consolidations have yet been processed. Linden Lab was not able to confirm for us that any such consolidations have yet taken place, so it is unlikely that they are a factor in this data. The net loss currently represents more than 6% of the total Openspaces simulators as at the time of the new pricing/product announcements.
Chilly policy reception causes exceptional Second Life shrinkage
Since the announcement of Openspaces 3.0 product pricing for Second Life (and the subsequent update to a reduced specification Openspaces 4.0 product), Linden Lab has seen its virtual world shrink for the first time on record with a net loss of 24.05 million square metres (a little less than 6,000 acres). That's a net loss, so however many new simulators have been brought online since the beginning of the month, those gains have been canceled out by customers dumping land, and an additional 24 million square metres have been lost. During its Q2 2008 report, Linden Lab identified the (now deprecated) Openspaces 2.0 product as a primary growth driver. It isn't presently clear how long this downward trend will last. So far, those net losses amount to just 2.8% of the total Openspaces 2.0 product that are actually out there on the Second Life grid. Many owners, however, have said that they intend to hang on to their void simulators for as long as possible, and dump them just before the jump to Openspaces 4.0 (or Homesteads 1.0) becomes mandatory. It remains to be seen if the Lab can shake off the chill and push those figures up in the latter half of the month. 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.
Linden Lab introduces new land product, changes for void simulators
Linden Lab's new CEO, Mark Kingdon, has announced a new land product for Second Life, based on all the feedback, and vociferous protestation that all but exploded following the original announcement. Reactions to the new announcement are still a bit mixed, with many thinking that this is the announcement that should have taken place originally. After all, Linden Lab already had all of the information prior to the flood of feedback that they received. Nevertheless, the end result is that void simulators will be available in two flavors: the Openspaces product (now adjusted substantially) and the new Homesteads product. There's a knowledge-base article enumerating the changes, but we'll break it down for you.
