A Gallery of OpenSpace Price Protests

Residents abuse SL to express displeasure with Linden Lab pricing action

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Sifting through the pile of video and still images of the last week of resident protests, patterns emerge. One group of protests seem to target well known brands such as Sony, IBM, Dell, and Orange, while others aim at new resident gathering areas.

fire and gunshots - openspace protests in welcome area

The sailing community could be decimated by the price hikes and spent Sunday abusively consuming resources on a number of OpenSpace sims through an a organized mass sailing protest. Ironically, one of the "intended" uses of OpenSpace sims is for boating - yet the Linden price policies has alienated this community along with many others. Can Linden Lab ever regain the trust of its residents?

yachts club protest on Sunday

Comments

[Karl Reisman]

As beautiful as some of these images are, is there any chance that this will influence the Linden's decision?

--Karl

[Ratcloner101 Stoop]

If you really want to give LL the shakes. You need to all gather with real signs, on the door steps of Linden Labs. Not in the stupid game.

[Plot Tracer]

SLLU have been debating this... some of the outcomes are on it's website

http://slleftunity.com

[Ranma Tardis]

This is going to have zero or no effect. Remember gambling and sl banks/stock markets?

[Archie Lukas]

This isn't going to change a damn thing of course.........

Remember the ban on child avies?
The ban on gambling?
Age proof?

It made no difference how much people shouted; this is a plutocratic
world and Linden labs cannot spell democratic, never mind have it in their dictionaries.

Obviously they think they can squeeze more profit from residents to fuel their bio-diesel 4-wheel drive monsters and sub-zero air-conditioned vast office spaces with the free lockup space for surfboard storage.

[Witness X]

Will these protests have any affect on Linden Lab's opinion?

You know, Karl, I'm going to say "no" here. The latest from M Linden on the official blog appears to indicate that the only concession we're going to get from Linden Lab is that they're going to go through the openspace sims and identify exactly who's been "abusing" the prim limits - by actually USING THE PRIMS THEY WERE GIVEN AS INITIALLY AGREED UPON BY LINDEN LAB - and charge them more for it.

So the people who used those prims in good faith are still going to get assfucked, and the prices for most of the openspace sims is still going to skyrocket beyond the reach of nearly everyone who owns one - yet Linden Lab will call this a conciliatory gesture and claim they "listened to the users".

In the meantime, it's still bait and switch fraud, no matter what spin you try to put on it, and Linden Lab is still potentially in trouble with the FTC if anybody can get them off their fat asses.

Okay, yeah, it's just a game. But it's a game people spend money on, and even if it's just a game, people should get the game they're paying for. This is just wrong.

[General Drama]

If I have to travel across country to protest outside LL in san fran, I'm not going to be carrying just a sign.

Governments that do this sort of shit get overthrown and hung.

[LOL]

Every choice LL makes for SL is just like driving a nail into the SL Coffin. This game is dead...

[Surfwidow]

and here are 2 more protest videos to go with mine listed above
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BdTz6Ks_FUM http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=S2PrpGZNs1k

[2cents]

"Governments that do this sort of shit get overthrown and hung."

ehm...

This is not a government, but a game developing company. ANd this is not a country, but a game. (or a 3D graphics enhanced chat client, whatever you want.)

Also, America got fucked over TWICE during the elections in 2000 and 2004. And no-one was overthrown and/or hung. So what the F**k are you talking about?!?

[Wayfinder Wishbringer]

There is nothing wrong with protesting. One of the oldest forms of freedom of speech in this country. It would be difficult to determine the effect such may have on Linden Lab-- or its associates. While LL may or may not pay attention, perhaps IBM or other corporations will.

BUT, as astute users have pointed out, if you REALLY want to catch Linden Lab's attention, do so in the real world.

* File an official complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Doing so is as easy as visiting their online complaint form.

* Contact the California State Prosecuting Attorney's office. "Bait and switch" is illegal. It's not up to us to determine whether such has actually happened; that is the duty of the attorney. But they can't make that determination unless people contact them and bring this to their attention.

* Contact the business associates of Linden Lab. Let them know of your dissatisfaction with Linden Lab price gouging methods of doing business. This has time-honored precedence; if you find a TV show offensive, write the advertisers (that's not used so much today when most TV shows are offensive. LOL).

Seriously, the answer to this is to get off the collective butt and take RL initiative. There are consumer protection agencies, consumer guides and consumer advocacy groups that are very dedicated to putting pressure on companies like Linden Lab. So sure, go ahead and do the SL in-world protests. But don't believe that's going to solve the problem. You want to solve the problem... hit LL where it hurts.