Plan changes in Kitely

[Boo Rojyo]

Hi Boo,

The risk reduction strategy you outlined for Metered worlds sounds very reasonable; and Yes, we'll continue to offer world access controls for both the Metered and Unmetered worlds (just because you can have people visit your world for free in an Unmetered world doesn't mean you have to let them visit ).

[Dot Matrix]

This is something the Devokan storybuilders will need to talk about -- we may come to different conclusions for each group of worlds.

For what they're worth, these are my current, personal thoughts.

The Devokan-based worlds that I'm responsible for will probably continue to use the metered option (they need space and prims!).

For the village currently in planning, I'm thinking of using groups to finetune access costs and risks.

The builders are likely to be on whatever replaces the Gold plan, so their time inworld would be covered anyway. Those on the Free plan will be used to paying for their inworld time from their KC balance. Any putative residents would also need to cover their own inworld time.

For visitors, one option might be to have one of the new basic fixed-cost worlds as an entry point or hub, where people could find out more about the project, and maybe to join a group that enables access to the other worlds if they like what they see. Perhaps this world might have shops for rent etc. to help pay for free access elsewhere.

Up to now, though, the cost of having worlds free for all to visit has been manageable -- the equivalent of a couple of dollars a month at most.
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Edited to add: OOPS -- I've not fully understood the implications of the possible changes, so some of the above is incorrect. Will continue to ponder the options.

[Deuce Halsey]

I have a question for Ilan about when we can expect the new plan details to be announced. Also, do you anticipate at least a brief period after that point when users will be allowed to sign up for the current unlimited plans so they can be grandfathered in under the new system?

My intention has been to sign up for the unlimited plan for my Donnybrook Beach main world when it opens to the public on December 1st. That way I have the option to keep it if I like it better than any of the new plans. But it has occurred to me that if the new system goes into effect before December 1st I could be out of luck. Is there any chance of that happening?

Thanks,

[Ilan Tochner]

Hi Deuce,

It won't happen before we roll out the update to OpenSim 0.7.6 but the exact date has yet to be finalized.

There are pros and cons to providing details of the new offering before we make it available (e.g. it attracts potential customers but can also result in lost sales if people can't order what they've just read about). As that is the case, I can't make any promises regarding whether we'll announce what the new world options will include before we stop offering the current ones. That said, in any case, we'll give a few days notice before making this change so if you follow our blog and forums you should have enough time to act before the current options are discontinued (for those worlds that don't have them grandfathered in).

[Deuce Halsey]

in any case, we'll give a few days notice before making this change so if you follow our blog and forums you should have enough time to act before the current options are discontinued (for those worlds that don't have them grandfathered in).

A few days notice will be fine.

Thanks, Ilan.

[Tully McLeod]

Hi Boo,

The risk reduction strategy you outlined for Metered worlds sounds very reasonable; and Yes, we'll continue to offer world access controls for both the Metered and Unmetered worlds (just because you can have people visit your world for free in an Unmetered world doesn't mean you have to let them visit ).

Would it be feasible to set monthly or even daily limits on a per region basis? It does seem like some kind of safety cap is needed, besides just running out of KC. The metered region idea does give me some concern for the same reasons that Boo stated. Either through a planned attack, or maybe even through just a convergence of fate, a sim owner could end up paying way more than they had planned. A way to say that access should be cut off after predetermined cap would help keep things under control.

[Dundridge Dreadlow]

There seem to be two distinct opinions on metered worlds costing credits to the world owner:

• Meh, it's not much money, just come visit
• Isn't that expensive ? I'm really not too sure about this.

Separate fund/bank/pot for metered worlds with daily/weekly/per-user/per-group caps available does sound like it would offset a lot of worry for the second group, and add a little complexity for you and the first group who were already happy anyway


For unmetered/fixed cost worlds I think life is going to be a lot easier and well in hand.
On top of whatever other plans arrive, I'd suggest a world for only two people, with enough prims(homestead like) and privacy for whatever it is two people do with prims on a private world. (Probably private building with a friend, what else )
Also, I'd like to suggest a burst/temporary/day upgrade for low-avatar worlds, mainly to allow more avatars to attend events.