Upcoming plan changes and a limited time offer (ends Dec 31)

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Ilan Tochner
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Upcoming plan changes and a limited time offer (ends Dec 31)

Post by Ilan Tochner »

In the beginning of 2014 we’ll be making several significant changes to our offering, in order to simplify using Kitely and to provide even more affordable options for having your own virtual world. As part of these changes our existing plans (the Bronze, Silver and Gold Plans) will no longer be available. However, users who are Silver Plan or Gold Plan members at the beginning of the year will be able to keep their plans, and we’ll even upgrade them with significant benefits that will not be available to people who join Kitely later. If you aren’t already on one of these plans then order one before the end of the year so you don’t miss out on this limited-time offer.

Learn more here: http://www.kitely.com/virtual-world-new ... ime-offer/
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Re: Upcoming plan changes and a limited time offer (ends Dec

Post by Deuce Halsey »

I have some questions regarding how Hypergrid access will affect Kitely account holders once Hypergrid is enabled.

Once we can travel by Hypergrid, will travel to other grids count as timed world access or unlimited world access to Kitely residents?

I had been thinking that having my own unlimited access world would allow me to just have a free personal account and pay for timed access to any such worlds in Kitely that I may visit. I was planning to spend most of my time in Kitely on my own unlimited access world or similar worlds belonging to Kitely or other residents, so this wouldn't be a big deal.

But I do expect to spend a significant amount of time exploring other grids via Hypergrid once that option is available. Will I have to pay for timed access during these Hypergrid trips if I don't have a Gold, Silver, or Premium account?
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Re: Upcoming plan changes and a limited time offer (ends Dec

Post by Ilan Tochner »

Hi Deuce,

First, a small correction, the Silver and Gold plan options are being discontinued and will turn into special Premium Account types ("Premium Account (Silver)" and "Premium Account (Gold)").

Hypergrid access from Kitely to other grids will be free for both Regular Account holders and Premium Account holders. If we see this is somehow abused we may change that in the future.

Hypergrid access into fixed-price Kitely worlds won't cost the world manager anything extra.

Hypergrid access into Metered Kitely worlds will cost the world manager 1 KC/minute per visitor. World access controls will also include the ability to allow/not allow Hypergrid visitors into that world.
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Re: Upcoming plan changes and a limited time offer (ends Dec

Post by Danko Whitfield »

question...
under the new pricing structure, if one has a region more than the number included with his/her plan, will the cost of that "extra" region still be approximately 1 USD per month?


also, i must say, you've made the "grandfather packages" VERY attractive. even though I'm not sure yet how it will all wash out for my situation, i have reserved the right to be flexible! today i moved from the Free plan to the Gold plan.

for others who are not sure what to do, let me share this... i am not sure either. so i have decided to upgrade to Gold and be grandfathered in and see how it goes for a few months. once i'm sure what i want, i can keep that plan or downgrade or change or whatever... but it gives me options, it is not that expensive, and it infuses the Kitelys with money that they can turn back into improving the grid...Win-win-win!

i would urge any of you that can afford that 35 USD for a few months to go that route, get the benefits for the short term at least, and take your time figuring out what is in your best interest in the long run.

we will all have different answers depending on our personal needs...but it doesn't cost much to keep your options open. for example, where I live in Second Life, I can spend 32 USD per month for a 4096 parcel... or I can spend 35 USD in Kitely for 30 Regions under the grandfathered Gold plan...plus all the extra prims.
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Re: Upcoming plan changes and a limited time offer (ends Dec

Post by Ilan Tochner »

Hi Danko,

Yes, you can continue to get more Metered regions than are included in your Account type by paying the same 10KC/region/day rate (which comes to about $1/month when you buy KC at max discount rate).
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Re: Upcoming plan changes and a limited time offer (ends Dec

Post by Deuce Halsey »

I'd like to second what Danko said and add that getting your grandfathered unlimited access worlds under the current plans is also a good idea. I have a four-region world (Donnybrook Beach) that I've made unlimited access for $60 per month. As long as I keep it going I will have access to the full 100 avatar and 100K Prim limits for that world. Now I don't really expect to ever have anywhere near 100K prims in the world (and the 100 avatars at a time thing is even more unlikely), but it is nice to have an unlimited access world where prims won't be an issue.

So I would recommend that anyone who had been considering getting an unlimited access world in the near future do so before the end of the month. This will give you the option to keep your grandfathered plan into the future if that will work for you better than any of the new (yet to be announced) unlimited plans. Of course you will still have the option so switch to one of the new plans if one of them would work well for you and save you some money. But at least that option will be yours.

I'm also considering upgrading to Silver or Gold before the end of the month so I have that option as well. Even if I go Gold my total cost will be $95/month, but that's for a potential total of 34 regions, 4 of them in an unlimited access world. Contrast that to my maximum land holding over in SL which was about 16K sqm (1/4 of a mainland sim) that used to cost me $75 per month in addition to my premium membership.

Even at current pricing levels, Kitely is untouchable when it comes to bang for the buck. ;)
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Re: Upcoming plan changes and a limited time offer (ends Dec

Post by Graham Mills »

Much as I like the idea of having worlds that are open to Hypergrid visitors, the notion of unlimited liability on metered worlds concerns me. Clearly those of us with worlds on free access absorb what is presently a very minor cost. However, I am concerned at the potential for "bad actors" to abuse that arrangement in the future. Will it be possible to impose a daily cap of some kind?
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Re: Upcoming plan changes and a limited time offer (ends Dec

Post by Ilan Tochner »

Hi Graham,

Kitely never runs a tab for time. We only charge such fees from your Kitely Credits balance, so if it ever reaches zero then Regular Account holders will automatically be locked out from visiting Metered worlds. In other words, you already don't have unlimited liability for your Metered worlds.

As to your question, we won't have time to implement additional access controls by Jan 1, other than the option to restrict access to only allow Premium Account holders (for which no one is charged for time) to enter the world. When we add Hypergrid access support the option to enable it will also be configurable on a per-world basis. Lastly, you can use the viewer tools to ban users or define groups of users who you include in a group and use our web-based world access controls to restrict access to your world to only allow that group of users. Unless I'm mistaken, you should be able to include certain Hypergrid visitors in that group, thus allowing you to whitelist which Hypergrid visitors you trust.

The best advise for people who fear this type of potential abuse of their Metered worlds is to restrict access to their Metered worlds to only a defined group of people which they trust or to just Premium Account holders which, by definition, don't cost people money when they visit worlds. If you want to have a world that is open to everyone and for which you have no extra expenses then select one of the fixed-price worlds - that is what they are for. The new fixed-price world options will make choosing that route even more affordable than it currently is.

In other words, the Metered worlds can be a great way to save a lot of money but they require you to take things into consideration that the fixed-price worlds free you from having to deal with. You can mix and match and switch your worlds between world types. The flexibility is already there, it's just that the less restrictions you'll set the more work you'll need to do to limit the amount of KC it can cost you.
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Re: Upcoming plan changes and a limited time offer (ends Dec

Post by Tully McLeod »

I upgraded from Silver to Gold. I don't have any idea what I will do with 30 regions, but I can have some fun figuring that out.

I share some of Graham's concerns about the liability of metered worlds, but I get that is one reason you offer the unlimited access option. If the metered option ever becomes an issue I might resort to storing extra KC with an alt to protect it from being used up by unexpected visitors.
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Re: Upcoming plan changes and a limited time offer (ends Dec

Post by Constance Peregrine »

Tully McLeod wrote:I upgraded from Silver to Gold. I don't have any idea what I will do with 30 regions, but I can have some fun figuring that out.

I share some of Graham's concerns about the liability of metered worlds, but I get that is one reason you offer the unlimited access option. If the metered option ever becomes an issue I might resort to storing extra KC with an alt to protect it from being used up by unexpected visitors.
Oh, it will be easier than you think to find something to do with all those regions...lol :mrgreen:

As to the comment about HG visitors, I am pretty certain they can be filtered out as with kitely residents...as well as added to other things, like Estate Manager status, etc.

However, I have found that using avatar UUIDs is often more solid...is there a way that can be integrated into the webgui?
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