Being a new resident to the Azure Islands, today’s town hall meeting was my first. As is my nature, I arrived a minute or two late, but I don’t believe I missed anything aside from introductions. With approximately 44 residents (+/-) in attendance at one point the turn out was greater than I had expected. Adam Zaius, wearing the tag ‘AzureIslands Admin’, hosted the meeting joined later by fellow AI Admin Splat1 Edison and brand-spanking- new Admin Chichli Azure.
Points of interest:
- The 100 pre-ordered regions were purchased en masse by ‘whole island customers’ looking to avoid the LL price increases (leaving little or no land available for purchase at the low AI rates).
- AI land tiers will not be raised for existing parcels and new purchasers of existing parcels will be grandfathered into the old tier system. While land prices will remain the same on the newer parcels for the time being (there was mention of AI land rates being raised to $6/sqm eventually), the AI tier rate for new parcels will be higher than the current rate. This higher tier will bring AI rates in line with the Linden Lab tier rates for Main Land and the additional cost of a premium SL account (which is required to own Main Land, but not to own Private Land).
- AI is switching to a new tier charging system (which is currently being tested). Paypal will be accepted at the new tier consoles, however LL will remain the primary funding source.
- Land swaps will still be available ~ sqm to sqm, though the prevailing tier of the sim the resident moves to will be assessed.
- The new land parcels currently being offered are larger in size due to popular demand. Adam noted one of the new themes being built will have smaller parcels available.
- AI is considering indexing the ‘land for sale’ parcels being sold by residents in manner similar to the indexing of the plots being sold by AI. Resident sale listings could appear on a separate page of the AI website.
- The discussion became quite heated when the topic of ‘Land Barons’ was brought up. Many residents seem to resent the few indivisuals who make mass land grabs of prime AI parcels as soon as they become available, only to flip the same land at a much higher rate per sqm. The possibility of controlling these purchases was brought up by several AI residents. However, there does not seem to be any plan on the part of AI to enact any such measures.
- One resident brought up the possibility of having ‘first swipe’ at land up for sale on the new sims as a loyalty reward. Adam responded “One of the ideas we were discussing internally was auctioning parcels for their first release; we’ve tried to avoid doing reservations in the past since we’ve ended up with giant conflicting lists for various parcels.” “We could start the auctions at a lower rate - say L$2/sqm”
- The possibility of changing the terraforming limits from +/- 4ms to +2 / - 6ms was introduced. Resident feedback was requested.
- 4 commercial sims, Neptune/Earth/Bellatrix/Roosa, are going up for sale tomorrow 22 January with another 16 sims planned for release in the next 2 - 3 weeks.
- As of Wednesday 24 January 2007 abuse reports will be sent to Azure Islands staff as well as Linden Labs. While Linden Labs will still be responding to the reports, this change in policy will allow AI staff the opportunity to respond in the interim.
- Land recovery on past due lots has been lax as of late, but AI plans on tightening up on the reclaims in the future. Currently there are plots with tier 7 weeks in arrears.
- The 28 day maximum ‘pay-in-advance’ limit for tier terminals was raised to 8 weeks.
Regular Azure Island Town Hall Meetings are planned for every other Saturday @ 2PM SLT.
posted by Mor McLeod on AzureIslands Welcome using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]
[edit] A summary of the meeting provided by AI Admin can be found below (please excuse the formatting ~ the text was copied directly from a SL note card).
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Azure Islands Town Hall — January 21st 2007
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www.azureislands.comThis is a summary of the topics discussed at the Azure Islands town hall on Sunday December 21st, 2007
Next Resident Town Hall: Saturday 3rd Febuary 2007, 2PM Pacific TimeTopics
1. New Commercial Areas
2. Estate Abuse Report Handling
3. Tier terminals accepting more time
4. Estate Land-For-Sale Index
5. Important pricing notice for brand new parcels (in new presently unoccupied regions)1. The New Commercial Areas
————————————————————————————————————
After many, many people requested land in our commercial areas - we’ve brought online 20 new
regions to accomidate demand. Four of the regions will be released on Monday the 22nd of January.The remaining 16 are under development by Juro Kothari and Barnesworth Anubis, we expect to
have the second group built and ready by mid febuary.2. Estate Abuse Report Handling
————————————————————————————————————
As of next week, Linden Lab will be providing Azure Islands Support with access to abuse reports
sent on the Azure Islands. Linden Lab will still receive a copy of these reports, however this gives
us the opportunity for both the Azure Islands and Linden Lab to act on abuse reports, rather than
just Linden Lab.3. Tier Terminals Accepting more time
————————————————————————————————————
By popular request, we are trialling the tier terminals in a mode where they accept 8 weeks of tier
at a time, instead of a maximum of 4 weeks. Please be aware that the terminals will not refund
amounts over 4 weeks anymore, and instead will refund if you pay more than 8 weeks worth of Tier
at a time.4. Estate Land-For-Sale Index
————————————————————————————————————
Next month we will be trialling listing resident parcels for sale on our website. We will be indexing
parcels for sale daily, and listing them on a special section of the website. We may also consider
providing a stastics page listing average parcel sale prices over the previous 30 days.5. Important Pricing Notice for New Regions
————————————————————————————————————
As many of you are aware - Linden Lab raised tier prices on new islands from the previous $195 a
month to $295 per month. THIS WILL NOT AFFECT PARCELS IN EXISTING SIMS, however new regions
are going to have a slightly higher tier fee. Please read on for details.If you want to discuss this with another Azure Resident, _please send them a copy of this notecard_,
as we do not want to confuse people into thinking that their own current tier prices are going to
increase. We do not want to impact on any current residents at all. These are not retroactive changes.=============================================================
IMPORTANT PREAMBLE
If you already have a parcel in the Azure Islands, your tier is going to remain EXACTLY THE SAME.
If you sell your parcel to someone else, the parcel will remain on the current tier pricing.
This only affects newly released parcels.
=============================================================
If you have any questions about this, please IM ‘AzureIslands Ambassador’
=============================================================Back in October last year, Linden Lab announced that tier prices on new islands was going to increase
from $195 to $295. We bought 100 new regions before this price change came into effect. Unfortunately,
we are now at the end of that 100 region order, and Linden Lab is going to charge us $295 per region per
month on any new regions we purchase.See >> http://blog.secondlife.com/2006/10/29/price-for-new-private-islands-to-increase/
While previously we have been able to offer tier rates well below those Linden Lab offers on the mainland in the
past, the new rates will be close to matching Linden Lab’s own rates. Below are a few comparisons to how our
tier will be priced in these new regions.— Base Rates —
These are for single prim regions, for double prim regions, simply double the pricing values (without doubling the size)Size | Older Azure Sims | New Azure Sims | Linden Lab w/ Premium | Linden Lab w/o Premium*
———|—————————————————————————————————————————–
1024 | $7.69 per Month | $8.91 per Month | $17.95 per Month | $8.00 per Month
2048 | $13.38 per Month | $15.51 per Month | $24.95 per Month | $15.00 per Month
4096 | $22.85 per Month | $26.15 per Month | $34.95 per Month | $25.00 per Month
8192 | $37.61 per Month | $44.31 per Month | $49.95 per Month | $40.00 per Month
16384 | $69.61 per Month | $88.61 per Month | $84.95 per Month | $75.00 per Month* - A premium account is not required for estate land ownership, but is required for mainland purchases.
FAQ on new parcel pricing
—————————————————
Q: I own a plot in a current region, will my tier be affected?
A: No. This is only for new parcels.
—
Q: If I sell a parcel to someone, will the parcel stay on the current tier schedule?
A: Yes, they will recieve the same tier schedule that you get now.
—
Q: If I swap from a old priced region to a new priced region, will I be on the new tier pricing?
A: Yes, the new tier pricing will come into effect for parcels in these new sims.
—
Q: Are there any of these sims online right now with residents in them?
A: No as of January 21st, this only affects sims which have been recently brought online and are still under
development.
—
Q: How can I tell if a region I’m in is being charged at the new rate?
A: The website will list the parcel’s ‘plan’ with the number ‘295′ in it, however
as a rule of thumb, please check the tier terminal before buying a parcel so you are
aware of the exact pricing for a parcel.
—
Q: How will this affect the current discount system for large land holders?
A: Right now, the Azure Islands offers a progressive discount per sqm for tier based on your global holdings
in a particular pricing plan. As these sims will be in a seperate pricing plan, your discount will not mix
between these regions.If you want all your parcels to be in a common plan, we can adjust your old parcels
into the new pricing plan which will allow the discount to take effect. We will also credit you a week
of tier on the parcels which are moved into the new pricing plan - this change however is permenent.Please note, X1 and X2 prices will always remain on a different pricing schedule, we cannot move them
to a common schedule due to the difference between them.
—
Q: Will the older region I’m in ever raise to the new schedule?
A: Linden Lab has suggested they may raise the prices to the common 295/month schedule in 2008 (a year from now).
if this happens, then we will need to adjust our current sims to the new rates. A parcel can also be voluntarily
moved to the new schedule as above. Otherwise no.
—
Other questions?
Please email support@deepthinklabs.com or instant message ‘AzureIslands Ambassador’________________________________________
For more information including live parcel listings, please see our website at www.azureislands.com.
Last modified 2007-01-21 by Adam Zaius
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