Gumpity Linden: Looking Back Over the Past Year
Questions to Grumpity
Pricing and Affordability
[5:50-9:54] LL recently reduced the monthly tier on certain Private region types [see here], and has done so several times in the past. Whilst appreciated, there are some concerns about the overall pricing strategy. So, looking ahead, are there plans to further reduce the barriers to land ownership (e.g. lower set-up costs; lower monthly tier; new subscription models; unbinding Homestead ownership from Full region ownership)?
- Every day, things are getting more expensive – including the costs of running SL, and not just in the current economic climate.
- LL has always tried to approach pricing changes by weighing how to keep Second Life healthy and how best to invest in growing the platform.
- A major complaint for a long time was “the rent is too damned high!”, and LL has consistently tried to lower the barrier to entry for land ownership and for people to be able to participate in kind of in the land economy. Since 2017, LL has lowered land prices across both Private regions and Mainland.
- At the same time, LL has tried to keep the overall cost of participating in the SL economy down, including the cost of subscriptions, etc.
- However, it is a balancing act; LL needs to invest in SL so this can lead to prices being lowered in one area and other fees being increased – although SL is unique in this; has not seen any other company raise prices for one service and lower them for another.
- Given this, for land pricing, everything is on the table. LL reviews land pricing and the structures for entering land economy every year or so and considers all suggestions. So further changes are definitely possible.
[10:06-11:52] Private region fees have been reduced while Mainland costs remain largely unchanged. So what is the long-term vision for mainland? And are there plans to make mainland ownership more attractive or affordable?
- Mainland is a core component of the Second Life experience.
- The cost of Mainland has been reduced in the past [see here and here] and LL has also looked at possibly increasing the Mainland Land Capacity (Land Impact allowance [see here]), and LL has looked at how to make Mainland pricing and billing more sensible.
- LL is looking at ways to reinvigorate Mainland whilst keeping its free spirit alive, and hopes to iterate on all of this.
- Long-term vision is difficult express, in part because Mainland is still more “wild west” than [a covenanted] private estate. So it’s a case of trying to balance the open, free spirit experience and the continuity of it at the same time as making it reasonably affordable.
[12:04-13:57] There is a feeling among some long-term landowners that the recent private region pricing changes have reduced the value of the grandfathered or discounted rates that they’ve had for years. How do you balance making land more affordable for everybody while also rewarding these long-standing land owners?
- On the one hand, LL absolutely recognises the commitment that people have had to SL by holding grandfathered regions for so long. On the other, it’s an investment which has brought considerable returns: a buy down 10 years ago has paid for itself possibly a thousand times over.
- For LL to make land more affordable for everyone, they cannot continuously favour those who were able to participate in grandfathered option at the time when it was available. This amounts to newer people entering the land economy essentially subsidising the grandfathered regions, and thus potentially discourage them getting involved in the economy.
- So it’s a question of how does LL maintain a healthy world, and structuring land prices as has been done appears to be the best way LL can.
Membership Subscriptions
[14:18-16:15] Many residents understand the need to invest in SL’s future, but some were surprised by recent Premium subscription price increases. What factors drove that decision, and how do you measure whether residents are receiving enough value in return?
- The only people who can measure whether they’re receiving enough value are the residents. If you receive the value that is meaningful for you to continue to subscribe, you continue to subscribe.
- That said, LL has looked at many ways to approach this. One was to look across the industry at what is a typical annual discount versus monthly price. And what LL offers is still find that the annual discount for a subscription is more generous than seen across many other products.
- Another consideration was while there was a need to increase prices, subscriptions needed to remain accessible. Thus, Plus fees did not increase so as not to raise the barrier to entry.
- Similarly, Premium Plus No Stipend was not increased as that already lacks a major benefit.
- Suggests those on Premium /Premium wishing to keep all of their benefits can switch to Premium Plus No Stipend annual for the same price / for less than the equivalent annual or quarterly plan.
- Note that this is not to try to claim prices haven’t increased; but rather the direction LL opted to take.
[16:15-18:24] Can people expect future changes with subscriptions?
- LL is always looking at ways to improve subscription benefits.
- In 2017, Grumpity made a presentation on how to improve Premium subscriptions at a time when the numbers of subscribers were falling. Since then there has been continued investment in the benefits offered.
- In addition, LL has attempted to make subscriptions more appealing to different use-cases, and this will continue to be reviewed.
- There is also the new partnership programme with creators [the first part of which was announced in May] offering a new range of gifts to subscribers.
- There is also evaluation of benefits which might go into a subscription where there’s additional value to be offered. The subscription programme is not staying static.
[37:31-38:21] Will SecondLifeTime memberships return in the future? If they do, would Plus and Premium Plus No Stipend be included?
- While opportunities for extending the value of memberships is discussed, would not bet on SecondLifeTime memberships returning.
- However, if they did, then the No Stipend option would likely be considered.
[38:27-39:33] The Premium Plus No Stipend option has been arguably well received. Has LL considered expanding this model to Premium as a lower cost alternative?
- Is thrilled that the No Stipend membership has worked so well for residents, and considers it phenomenal value.
- LL did consider whether every subscription level should have a no stipend option, and it is still a possibility but not something being actively worked. Again, no promises.
[39:34-41:39] Some residents feel that the Premium Plus benefits currently favour merchants more than non-merchants. Are there plans to expand Premium Plus benefits particularly when it comes to things like Linden Homes and land options so that they uh all Premium Plus members can receive comparable value?
- Thinks this question refers to the roll-out of commercial parcels for merchant with Premium Plus accounts, which was an example of LL thinking about how subscription value can be grown, as is something of a pilot programme.
- Feels it is unlikely that LL will “keep throwing out free land”, but will continue iterating on how to give value to all subscribers.
- When looking at the current benefits, which group of users benefited from the last updates is considered, as is trying to do something specific for another type of user, together with benefits which might find favour across the broadest possible swath of residents.
- As such, LL is open to suggestions on benefits – just not necessary free money or land.
[42:15-43:34] Linden Homes are a core value proposition for those considering / paying subscriptions, but Premium Plus members often mention that they have difficulty finding available homes. Are there plans to increase premium plus housing inventory?
- The Linden Homes team is constantly evaluating what is available, what are the occupancy rates on different themes.
- The phasing-out of the “old” Linden Homes required a lot of handholding with those moving from the old homes to the current offerings.
- Fully expects that there will be more Premium Plus inventory rolling out in the future, particularly given the uptake on Premium Plus No Stipend.
International Payment Options
[18:33-21:22] There have been broader questions on the economy. Are there any plans to make the Second Life economy more accessible and flexible for residents around the world?
- When looking at the SL economy, thinking has to be along the lines of the platform operating a currency exchange, the LindeX inside Second Life, which is both a core value in the platform and which evidence shows can be confusing for people coming in.
- So there is a need to make participation in this currency exchange less confusing for people.
- In terms of international payment options, LL is constantly looking for ways to extend these to more fully support everyone wishing to participate in the economy.
- No promises as to when these might surface, but they will hopefully be available for discussion as plans develop.
Product Vision and Future Development
[21:58-23:41] Can you share insights into the decision to close Project Zero [viewer-in-a-browser]; the technical or business reasons behind the decision, and what was learned through it?
- Project Zero work well, especially when used with events like SLB. However, it was really expensive.
- LL spent a lot of time for ways to make it less expensive and validate whether or not it could pay for itself. However, the decision to cancel it was based on two factors:
- The hoped-for conversion of incoming users via Project Zero to returning / established users did not materialise.
- The means by which it could pay for itself did not materialise.
- LL were not looking to make money off of Project Zero, but rather come out neutral in terms trying to provide the service through AWS.
- This wasn’t really possible without having to raise costs elsewhere, which was not deemed as being fair to users.
[23:42-25:12] There is some interest in browser-based access; so although that Project Zero has ended, do you still see a future where browser access could return in some third-party form? Or were there fundamental technical limitations that made a web-based SL impractical today?
- It could be possible for browser-based access to return. The issue is cost / monetisation. Project Zero was costing US $2 per hour with the pricing fully optimised with AWS.
- Prices can be lowered through lower-quality streaming, so that might be an option.
- However, given the time people spend in SL daily [and the use of poorer quality graphics being a deterrent] , there are probably not that may willing to pay for the service.
- There are no technical limitations to streaming SL; and LL would probably be happy to share what was learned through Project Zero if someone wanted to pick that up.
[25:24-28:41] What major features are next on the road map for SL Mobile, particularly around things like inventory management and deeper parity with the desktop experience?
- Actually attending the event via SL Mobile on a “not particularly fancy” cellphone, and is able to read chat and participate. As such, it’s clear the Mobile development has come a long way.
- Currently, the focus for the Mobile team is to have more predictable performance when running the App. This is being done through an optimisation of how Mobile is built.
- LL is not necessarily approaching Mobile development in terms of feature parity with the Desktop viewer.
- The approach is more how to build out a mobile experience that is complementary to the viewer.
- For example: Mobile is not going to be the means to go about content creation and asset uploads. But it is likely to be the means by which people can stay in touch with friend, etc., when away from their viewer.
- A lot of thinking is going into avatar customisation so both new and established users can go shopping, change their looks, etc., via SL Mobile. In fact this is something LL are looking to make more accessible through both Mobile and the Desktop.
[Side note: progress on SL Mobile development can be tracked via the monthly SL Mobile User Group meeting, which I also summarise in this blog.]
[28:57-31:42] What major areas of innovation are you most excited about today and what kinds of quality of life, graphics, or avatar improvements can residents realistically expect over the next few years?
- Spends a lot of time with Jerome discussing technological innovation that is available to LL in terms of performance and quality of life, so will leave those to the Engineering team’s session.
- Notes again that avatar customisation is going to be a focus in terms of accessibility for new users. This is not a matter of “dumbing down” capabilities, but revising the customisation flow um to make it possible for a new person coming in to understand how to “not wear seven jackets”, etc.
- WebRTC Voice has been a major benefit whilst being a slow process to fully implement, particularly because of the need to ensure WebRTC could support all of the functionality seen with Vivox.
[31:49-33:14] VR support can be a polarising topic. Some people like it, some don’t. But is VR support something that Linen Lab would like to revisit in the future even if it’s not currently on the road map?
- It has not been ruled out; there is the potential for VR to be on the roadmap, however:
- Although there is no huge technical limitation in adding VR to SL, there are multiple smaller issues that would have to be addressed – such as optimising content and performance – which are not necessary easy to complete.
- Globally, the VR market has shrunk [so potentially a lot of work for a minimal return].
- Is not saying “never” to VR in the future.
[33:17-34:27] Are there plans to bring SL to platforms like Steam, game consoles, or other emerging devices in the future?
- Were other platforms to be considered, Steam would probably be more likely than gaming consoles.
- HOWEVER, running on such platforms is not just a matter of a technology change. It involves negotiations and contracts and revenue sharing arrangement (and raising prices to pay for the revenue sharing).
- Being totally transparent, all of these decisions have to be considered in terms of the world and the cost to users. If prices have to increase by 30% for SL to be present on a different platform, would that be good or bad? Hard to say.
[59:23-1:02:22] What opportunities do you see for better serving residents that are outside of North America? This could be through events, payments, localisation, support or community initiatives.
- One of the ways that to serve international residents is just by making their experience better using localisation tools that will extend beyond just the UI.
- WebRTC, for example offers automated transcription and translation options for people using Voice. And it would support those with additional accessibility needs.
- Another way is to expand both payment and pay out methods, and making sure existing creators and those coming to SL are supported.
- There is the potential [under AWS] to perhaps locate servers closer to the communities they serve, reducing latency.
- One of the easiest ways to international communities is through those communities. Brazil is a success story like no other in this, because Brazilians are so actively involved in SL that more and more people come into SL. SO LL just tries to support that community in its work.
[1:02:28-1:03:34] So a lot of users are continuing to hit their group membership limits. Is increasing group limits or even rethinking group capacity something that LL is actively exploring?
- It would be nice to have a magic wand to solve problems like overloaded group limits, but unfortunately, this isn’t the case.
- All LL can do is try to improve the infrastructure supporting these capabilities and so increase limits. It is something that gets looked at all the time.
Questions to Keira
[Video: 34:38-37:14] Residents continue to raise concerns about traffic bots and scripted agents affecting discovery and search. What progress is being made to address bot related issues across the grid?
- Hears a lot of feedback through both Trust and Safety and Support regarding bots / scripted agents, and so understands that this is a topic which matters to a lot of folks, so wants to be straightforward
- Right now, LL is not looking to address any bot activity on a broad basis; it is not a focus right now.
- Obviously, all the feedback and reports that come in on bots are reviewed, and how bots are being used within SL and interacting with users and whether the interactions are harmful, or do they serve a purpose?
- There is also the Scripted Agent Policy governing the use of bots, and all bots should operate within the SL Terms of Service and Community Standards.
- If you are considering running bots, make sure you are familiar with the above.
- If you are witnessing bot engaging in activity you believe to be contravening the SL Terms of Service, community standards or any SL policy, file an Abuse Report so that the matter can be investigated.
[43:41-46:41] Last Names is one of the most popular features. As such, are there plans to release new names more frequently or bringing back legacy last names or expanding custom names, or just revisiting how last names are offered in general?
- New Last Names are usually made available around major events or special occasions, and carry a theme related to the event / occasion.
- It is possible to suggest potential Last Names, and this had led to an “enormous” spreadsheet of suggestions. Some of these are interesting and can get rotated into update if they fit; others might be harder, as they are nationality-based with possible limited appeal.
- In terms of you know bringing back legacy names and expanding custom name options, these are not things actively being considered; there are other projects sitting ahead of such considerations.
- Legacy names are difficult, as many older users feel highly proprietary towards their legacy name. However, many would like the option of having legacy names available when Partnering.
[46:54-49:29] Residents want to better understand how LL handles reports involving doxing and real world harassment. What improvements have been made or are being considered to better protect residents and improve communication around these cases?
- If you are experiencing harassment affecting you real life, please contact your local authorities. LL fully cooperates with law enforcement agencies who investigate those situations, and any official requests can be directed to LL’s legal department.
- If there is harassment that you’re experiencing that are on other platforms, please use their reporting systems. LL can only act on the information that they have through Second Life.
- If you’re experiencing doxing harassment within Second Life, please file an Abuse Report Provide as much information as possible.
- All Abuse Reports are reviewed by Trust and Safety who will take appropriate action based on investigations. All such reports are treated extremely seriously.
- Further advice can be obtained through the Trust and Safety User Group meetings [summaries here] and at the new Trust and Safety new in-world offices.
[49:37-53:39] Are there plans to expand account security options such as support for physical security keys as part of Second Life’s Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) system?
- Account security is under internal discussion and high on her agenda.
- LL has been taking a look at the current system and what is currently being used by other companies and what is proving effective for those companies.
- So initiatives are underway, but will not discuss specifics, other than account security is an active project.
- In terms of general security, user should: make sure they have a strong, unique account password; enable SL MFA; keep the record of the e-mail account used with SL current
- Don’t reuse password between different accounts (SL or between applications).
- From Grumpity:
- The preference is to have support for every possible way to have MFA.
- The fastest additional option that can be made available is MFA via e-mail. This should be coming shortly.
- This will require the e-mail address recorded against you account details to be valid and verified.
- Remember: off-line IMs can only be sent to a verified e-mail address; having a verified e-mail address is required for account recovery.
- Those who have not verified thee-mail account associated with their SL account will start seeing prompts for them to do so, on their account pages.
[53:52-56:11] Spam sent through disposable Groups and self-destructing objects does remain a frustration for many residents. What is LL exploring to give residents better protection against these types of abuse?
- LL is looking at ways to address this issue, but does not have anything to share with the meeting. Once information is available it will be communicated.
- Baseline advice if encountering the situation is to file an Abuse Report. Reporting spam incidents helps the trust and safety team identify patterns.
- Used the opportunity to talk about phishing attacks and the need for caution in clicking on links contained within messages, etc., particularly when received unexpectedly and / or from a non-friend.
- If a link takes you to a website requesting your SL log-in credentials, check the URL carefully for things like misspellings of words [e.g. “Marketpllace” or similar]. If the URL is masked by text, hover the mouse over it as it appears in the message to reveal the actual URL.
[Side notes: if you are using the latest Firestorm, enable the option to Disable URL Masking; and remember, Linden Lab will never request you enter your log-in details anyway via an in-world IM or similar message containing a URL, or via a viewer dialogue box.]
[56:16-57:36] As Second Life continues to grow, how is Linden Lab thinking about age assurance and protecting minors from accessing adult content while maintaining the openness that residents value?
- This is also something LL considers carefully. However, Second Life is ultimately designed for adults and that tends to shape the decisions made across the business, from how the platform is advertised, where it is advertised, hoe matters of compliance and regulatory needs are addressed as they evolve, etc.
- There is no interest at the Lab in making SL a platform for minors, and is broadly encouraged by some of the emerging frameworks that allow platforms to rely on operating system level age signals – the device or operating system itself carries verified age information um that the apps can read. These are seen as a reliable mechanism & a meaningful step forward.
[57:40-59:04] There is also a question about second chances for banned users: has LL ever considered a formal “second chance” or account reinstatement program for those that have been permanently banned but who may have changed or rehabilitated over time?
- LL does actually operate an appeals process for those who feel they have been unfairly suspended or had their account terminated.
- The process can be initiated via a Support ticket, and appeals will be reviewed by someone other than who recommended the suspension / termination. Such appeals have resulted in decisions being reversed as a result of additional information or similar.
- That said, there are certain violations where reinstatement is not possible.
[1:03:53-1:06:33] How is the support team structured and how does resident feedback influence recognition and rewards for the staff?
- The support organisation is made up of three teams. Two of them are managed by Keira and focused on a distinct area of the resident experience: Customer Success and Trust and Safety. There is also the Land Team, a part of Product Operations.
- This structure enables support to have people who specialise in those three areas, allowing users to get the help they need.
- In terms of resident feedback, surveys are sent out (a little randomly) after a support interaction. The responses received are looked at on a rolling basis, and both the good and the bad is taken notice of, with the positive feedback being recognised as part of that agent’s performance review.
- If the feedback is less than positive, then the reasons why this is the case are looked and and treated as a learning opportunity, with an honest look at where things wen wrong and why.
- In addition, the feedback is looked at from the perspective of what was particularly good / bad about it, what are the broader lessons to be learned as a whole for support.
- The support teams are genuinely committed to getting support right, so feedback helps move things in the right direction. It really does help shape the teams and how support interacts with users.
Audience Questions
[1:06:53-1:08:21] Have you thought about changing the tier calculation for Mainland away from powers of two and more towards being able to just pay for the exact square footage?
Grumpity:
- There’s no direct answer. Has it been thought about? Yes, and there is evaluation going on about land offerings overall and Mainland pricing.
- Would personally love to move away from the current Mainland payment system that we have for Mainland. I mean, we charge in powers of two by however much you owned at any point during the month, with billing is in arrears and LL can’t bill ahead.
- But, there is a lot of complexity in how to unwind something that had been done for so long and changing it in a way that benefits current land holders as well as anyone entering Mainland ownership.
[1:08:29-1:11:11] There seems to be a growing sentiment among creators that it is growing increasingly less worthwhile to create for SL in the face of the growing use of AI to generate low-quality items, AI generated ads, etc. Is this issue on LL’s radar? Is there a plan to keep existing creators and artists on this platform rather than having them jump ship?
Grumpity:
- A facetious response would be to point out that every platform [with user-generated content] faces the same problem, and the faster they grow, the more they face it.
- It’s not a problem LL can solve on its own; but the company is looking at what tools are available, and more importantly effective, outside of the SL ecosystem so lessons can be learned to improve the SL ecosystem.
- At the same time, a significant differentiator with SL is how much can be earned through the platform compared to others. LL consistently tries to ensure creators get to keep as much of their earnings as possible, even allowing for fee increases.
- LL is also trying to grow the number of people coming into Second Life and engaging in the economy and becoming consumers. Part of this is discoverability. So LL does want to find ways to help people find good, fun, interesting content but without putting a foot on the scales too much.
[1:12:00-1:14:13] Today I bought the minimum amount of Linden Dollars for the equivalent US $2.50. Until some time ago it was L$512 for that amount of money, now it’s L$490. Has there been a re-evaluation of the Linden Dollar against the US dollar?
Grumpity:
- There has been a lowering of the minimum fee applied to Linden Dollar purchases [from US $1.49 to US $0.49 – see here for more].
- When you buy L$ in the viewer, there is a complex process on the back-end where an API that checks what the market rate is on the LindeX for the amount you are buying, and then there is the fee. As the minimum fee is now lower (and allowing for exchange rate fluctuations), then you can appear to get a larger amount.
- However, that the exchange rate does fluctuate means the process is complex when it shouldn’t be, so LL is looking for ways to simplify the mechanism and actually let people know exactly how much they will get when buying L$.
- There is nothing specific to report on this work as yet, but the aim is to make buying L$ more accessible / understandable.
[1:14:14-1:15:45] Are there any plans for Premium Plus homesteads [which do not require holding of a Full region to obtain] to have a larger Land Capacity that the current 5K – maybe closer to 10K. The current limiting is off-putting.
Grumpity:
- Neither a yes or no answer. The existing land offerings are being evaluated to try to balance value and cost, and Homestead are a part of this – but no promises.
- Understands the interest in being able to own land with greater capabilities for less, which is what LL has been trying to do over multiple pricing and capability changes.
- Private region tier has come down, and the 30K Land Capacity bonus is cheaper than ever. So maybe at some point uh it will become accessible enough for people to consider that instead of a homestead.
[1:15:48-1:16:51] What does LL plan to do to really support small non-profit educational projects in Second Life.
Grumpity:
- Difficult to answer without specifics. LL does monitor ideas and suggestions offered through the feedback portal.
- Educational organisations also receive a 50% discount on land ownership, so then US $99 tier should make it a lot easier to achieve.
Will there be the possibility of adding a creator subscription. I’m subscribed for the free uploads, but don’t require the gifts or stipend, etc. What are your thoughts about that?
Grumpity:
- Premium Plus was created as a creator subscription level as well as providing a way to offer more of everything – and giving free uploads did extend it.
- Still open to suggestions and ideas to extend subscription benefits and open, among other to ways of extending benefits to people who own private estates, for example, or who rent land on a private estate.
- Provide suggestions via the feedback portal for what you’d specifically want.
[1:18:37-1:23:28] I would like to have a general update on some of the projects LL has been testing over the last year or so. What has worked and what hasn’t worked?
Grumpity:
- Gaining new users:
- As already mentioned, tested various ways to bring new users into Second Life, both different styles of campaign and different physical channels – Desktop, Mobile and (before it was halted) Project Zero
- Actually found that Desktop did better than expected in getting new users into SL, so a lot of focus is on how to improve that experience for new users.
- Also experimented with creator-built experiences as a way to engage new users and found out that some work better than others.
- Confirmed that having someone support and guide new users makes a difference.
- Also looking at ways to improve actually bringing users into SL and better understanding where they might be lost in the process. There have been some huge gains via SL Mobile in this, as so LL is trying to bring those lessons to Desktop.
- Project Zero and the UI:
- P0 enabled changes to be made to the UI that a new user sees by hiding a lot of the complexity, with A/B testing confirming there was an improvement in early retention for people who saw the minimal.
- These lessons are being applied to a new user-specific viewer experience, so users will get a client they can work with, revealing the complexity in layers.
- Looking at how avatar customisation can be improved for someone coming into SL. It’s complex in the viewer but not impossible via Mobile, so the work is to address both.
End of main session.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 