Friday, April 11, 2008

Whimsy Kaboom




Written 10 April, 2008

Whimsy Kaboom

When I ordered a private island from the Land Store on March 14, I followed up with a support ticket, requesting a delivery date of April 1. What better birthday for a sim named Whimsy?

But those darn Lindens didn’t look at my ticket before sending us the island, and Whimsy was born on the 17th of March.

In the last days of March. Linden Lab announced a new policy for openspace sims: the requirement to buy them four at a time was rescinded and the prim allowance was doubled from 1750 to 3500. Since the land store has no provision for placing orders for openspace sims, I sent in a ticket on the first of April, placing an order for Whimsy Kaboom, to be located on the western border of Whimsy.

But those Lindens were still scheming. Last Monday Jack Linden announced a drop in the price of private islands from $1695 US to $1000, effective upon implementation of the new land store, which is scheduled to open in mid-April (and which will doubtless not make its actual appearance until June).

I suspect this was calamitous news for owners of multiple sims, for their land is suddenly devalued by nearly 50%. And it wasn’t great news for me or my friend Leaf Shermer, whose Eccentricity sim was placed on Whimsy’s southern flanks just last Friday.

But yesterday Jack followed up, as he had promised, with a clarification and relief for those of us who only recently ordered islands. We’ll be getting an openspace sim free of charge, with waiver of tier for three months. Leaf will be getting the same deal, or one even better, depending on whether she placed her island order in the last days of March or the first days of April.

I’m still taking a loss, but I feel okay about it. I’m saving $250 US (the new price) for the openspace sim, and $150 in tier. That makes up 4/7 of the difference in price, and I can live with that.

Sweetie says the Lindens should have gradually and systematically reduced the price rather than dropping them so precipitously. As usual, she’s right. What do you think—should she throw her hat in the ring for the open CEO position at Linden Lab? And if so, will her unfortunate experiences with those bastards from the TSA hinder or help her?

I rather think it will help her. A CEO who is willing to lop off a few heads isn’t necessarily a bad investment.

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