Kitely welcome area: What information? How to provide it?

[Sarge Misfit]

Hi Sarge,

The group that will be promoted in the Kitely Welcome Center will be an official Kitely group. The name hasn't been finalized yet. It should probably have a "Kitely" in its name so people will know it's official.

Thanks, for the clarification, Ilan

[Ilan Tochner]

Hi Allen,

I agree with Rosa, I think many people don't want to think about time when they're inworld so the message should focus on the free aspects and state that premium plans start from just $5/month - focusing on the number of regions and prims they get (when targeting SL/OpenSim veterans) and not on the limitations of the plans (how much time they can use it for each month).

From the numerous discussions I've had with prospective customers and active Kitely users it is very clear that the flexibility we offer regarding payment options is hurting adoption. People who get it love it but we lose many potential paying customers because it takes time to get it and until one does our low prices actually look high to people.

We need a new way to communicate the benefits of our time-based billing, or (and that is a completely different discussion) move to a different way to price our services that leverages our technology-derived competitive advantages (very low operational expenses, ability to provision and start worlds on demand, better performance). We currently offer much better price/performance than what other grids and hosting companies charge, but most people don't understand that's the case due to how our pricing is structured. Maybe charging for different things will let people understand our value much faster...

[Allen Partridge]

Working closely with Rosa, who i think has great insight about the reactions most folks have to such messages, and taking feedback into consideration - here's the next draft - There are several changes that are designed to make it more positively focused on the advantages. I'm starting to like the approach but I'd love to hear feedback - do you think we're getting closer to a single simple message?

[Constance Peregrine]

nice looking...i would only add a clarification that though i know many ppl use sim and region synonymously, it is not technically correct.

Sims [simulators] can run several regions, or one...a distinction probably only relevant to opensim folx...but still-))

[Allen Partridge]

Interesting point Minethere,

Here are some variations. I think you're right that people use the terms interchangeably - i'm wondering if one or another resonates better. I'm also wondering if region doesn't communicate as well the 'size' of the space, since region is associated with an 'area' in the vernacular?



Allen

[Constance Peregrine]

i like the use of "world"

[Dot Matrix]

I'd use the central one, with "region", since a Kitely world can be more than one region, and the different Kitely plans are defined by number of regions.

I like the clarity and accuracy of the central message.

[Ilan Tochner]

I think we should also get the message across that there are worlds on Kitely that are free to access and don't consume your plan's monthly Minutes quota. We need a short, clear phrase that makes people understand that Minutes are just a way to share the hosting cost for world managers who don't want or can't afford to cover the cost of providing a world that is free to access. We need people to understand that Kitely has the classic hosting / land maintenance option but that time-based billing enables people to make more places to visit available without having to chaise tier. It enables people to not to take the great builds they've made offline just because they can't afford to continue paying for their unlimited free access to everyone (i.e. land maintenance in other grids). It's a fairer way to divide the cost of hosting a world between the people who enjoy that world.

The challenge is getting all that into a short phrase / image (or a collection of images) that people can intuitively understand.

[Sherrie Melody]

The challenge is getting all that into a short phrase / image (or a collection of images) that people can intuitively understand.

I agree, that will be a challenge.

Just the other day I was talking to a new person who had decided that the $40 unlimited free region was probably going to be the best option for him. I can't remember his exact words, but after reviewing the service options, he had the impression that this option would also provide him unlimited minutes for visiting other worlds as well as his own. I am guessing he came to that conclusion because the Gold plan is $35, and the unlimited free 1-region world is $40, so since it is more than the Gold plan but with just one region, he probably assumed that it would include unlimited minutes also. I told him that I wasn't sure that was the way it worked and that he should probably ask to be sure.

After talking to him and even looking at the services page, I wasn't all that sure I totally understand how plans other than the time-based ones work.

[Ilan Tochner]

Hi Sherrie,

There are two ways of hosting a world:

Unlimited Free Access - which basically means that you are paying a fixed cost per month to host the world so everyone can enter that world for free. This is equivalent to how SL, other OpenSim-based grids, and OpenSim hosting companies work. You pay to have a world hosted.

Time-based billing - world manager doesn't pay a fixed cost to have the world hosted instead everyone pays for the time they are inside the world (using Minutes or Kitely Credits). This is like dialing into a conference call, everyone covers there own time using their own phone bill. World managers can choose to subsidize the time of some/all of the visitors by paying for those people's time using Kitely Credits from the world manager's account. This is like offering a toll-free number people can dial into. The company offering the toll-free number pays the phone company for the time other people dial into it.

Worlds that are on time-based billing also require a small storage fee (10 KC / day / region) which is similar to the connection fee some phone companies charge just to keep a line active. People's monthly plans define how many regions they can host without being charged this world storage fee.

Each person has a plan they are on. It defines how many minutes that person has for use in time-based billing worlds. Having an unlimited free access world means that you won't get charged for time in that world but it doesn't increase the amount of time you get each month to access time-based billing worlds.