Elf Clan

Recently Tateru posted a blog presenting Second Life as if it were a Monopoly game.  The blog includes a pretty nifty game board.  You can view it here:

http://dwellonit.taterunino.net/2012/05/23/announcing-second-life-t...

YOU KNOW, IT JUST MIGHT WORK...

    So I started thinking on it and well, it's a viable concept.  Here are just a few of the "Linden Lab Policy" cards I came up with:

Linden Lab increases tier fees with no grandfathering.  Shut down 20% of your land holdings.*

You discover severe server-side texture issues.  Lose 2 turns while textures reload.

SL Market delivers wrong item.  Put back vehicle asset and take random clothing card instead.

Asset server changes all objects to full perm.  Lose all merchant-related assets and move them to the Freebie card pile.

Linden Lab ignores several JIRA postings.  Close your eyes and place playing piece on a random square.

Linden Lab stacks your server... again.   Lose 1 turn every other turn until the end of the game (if all players have suffered this, everyone takes it for granted and the game resumes as normal).

Customer support finally gets back to you after several months.  Lose 12 turns.

Linden Lab releases a new Viewer.  Lose 5 turns while trying to figure out new game rules. 

You are forced to provide a detailed, tech-level JIRA to the company in order to get a basic function to work.  Move only 1/2 the spaces you roll for the rest of the game.

Those are just a few to get started.  Maybe you can add some of your own.

--o--

P.S.  If this SL Monopoly game doesn't sound like a lot of fun... be assured-- it isn't.  And playing the game is very expensive.  : (

* 20% is the actual percentage of total regions that angrily shut down when Linden Lab "bait and switch" price-hiked Homestead regions.  They tried to milk the cash-cow and instead killed the golden goose.

The following information is for archival purpose only, as part of Elf Clan's history.

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE

Elf Clan left Second Life due to significant policy issues with host company Linden Lab. There's no need to rehash those things in detail here; Second Life members are widely aware of the problems Linden Lab caused their customers over the years. 

MAKING THE CHANGE

What we'd like to discuss are the advantages of Inworldz, and why we chose that grid for our new home.  At the same time we encourage our members to join us there, for many reasons.

$40 Elf Clan Regions!

Second Life on the average charges $295 or more per region.  Inworldz charges $75 per region... or $60 if you own 4 or more regions.   Elf Clan owns dozens of regions, at a special grandfathered price of $40 per region.  That means if you have ever wanted to own your own sim... you can do so for $40 a month!

(Note: we are limited to 50 regions, so over that prices are at standard grid fees.)

NO SETUP FEES

When you purchase a region on Inworldz there are no setup fees.  Compared to SL setup fees of $1,200 per region, that can save you a tremendous amount of money right from the start.

TRIPLE THE PRIMS

Second Life allows 15,000 prims.  Inworldz allows 45,000... three times the count.   What does this mean for you?  It means you can forget about worrying about prim count.  You wouldn't believe the difference 45k prims makes when designing a sim.

Let us give you an example:  On our home region of ElvenSong we have a fully-populated ground area complete with main castle, a huge fantasy garden, public sandbox, the Elf Clan Museum, Dwagon's Keep (a large castle-home for our dwagons), Cinnamon's Glen, a dancing grotto and the BattleMace / Archery Sports arena.

In an upper level (about 1,500m) we have a 1/4 sim Holodeck, and above that a second one.  At about 2,000m we have an entire Grunge City.  At 3,500 meters we have the impressive Replicant City, an entire science fiction city / museum / exposition that is one of the main attractions of Inworldz.

And with all that... we still have 10,000 prims left available.   45,000 prims just rocks.

ENHANCED BUILDING TOOLS-- NO LINK LIMITS

On Inworldz you can build using prims up to 128m in size (or larger with some viewers).  Further, there are no link limits.   It is literally possible (for we have done so) to build a space ship 100m+ long and consisting of 1,000+ prims... link it as one object and fly it effortlessly around the sim.   It is wondrous what the removal of link limits means for builders.

NO UPLOAD COSTS

If you've ever built on SL, you know that the L$10 upload cost for textures, sounds and animations can quickly rise to significant levels.  It can literally amount to hundreds of dollars $US for a builder/merchant. 

Inworldz has no upload fees and have announced they never plan to have any.   That fact alone can save you a significant amount of cash.

SCENIC REGIONS COST FAR LESS

Inworldz offers 5,000-prim owner/partner build-permit "scenic" regions for $20 a month if connected to a full size region.  That is far less expensive than the 3,500-prim, $250 setup fee, $125-a-month "Homestead" regions on SL.

THAT'S WHERE ELF CLAN IS HOMED

Elf Clan has dozens of regions on Inworldz, owned by both Eldar and individual members. (That was never possible on Second Life.) Our region owners are very happy and very supportive of our group.   Regular events are held, the Elf Clan Charter is still in full effect, and our family friendly lands are more beautiful, peaceful and harmonious than they have ever been.

So please, come to Inworldz and check out Elf Clan's new home!

Popular Elf Clan regions on Inworldz:

ElvenSong - home region

Replicant City - High-sky science fiction region at ElvenSong

ElvenMyst - Our gathering and activity lands with a huge sandbox

ElvenGlen -- the original Elf Clan region restored to all its beauty

Chanwood -- Solid role playing

The Land of Lar -- Fantasy at its best

... and many more.   Pick up the free Elf Clan Region HUD at ElvenSong

P.S.  If you're an Elf Clan sim owner and would like to have your sim mentioned here, please send Snoots Dwagon on Inworldz an IM giving your sim's name and theme, as well as special attractions.

The following article was initially published Sept 8, 2013 and is re-published here as an important reference pertaining to another article.

A change to Second Life TOS has been published without notice to users.  We were made aware of this by a third-party source, it has been verified, and are thus notifying our members:

2.3 You grant Linden Lab certain licenses to your User Content.

[..]you agree to grant to Linden Lab, the non-exclusive, unrestricted, unconditional, unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, and cost-free right and license to use, copy, record, distribute, reproduce, disclose, sell, re-sell, sublicense (through multiple levels), modify, display, publicly perform, transmit, publish, broadcast, translate, make derivative works of, and otherwise exploit in any manner whatsoever, all or any portion of your User Content (and derivative works thereof), for any purpose whatsoever in all formats, on or through any media, software, formula, or medium now known or hereafter developed, and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed, and to advertise, market, and promote the same. You agree that the license includes the right to copy, analyze and use any of your Content as Linden Lab may deem necessary or desirable for purposes of debugging, testing, or providing support or development services in connection with the Service and future improvements to the Service.[..]

In other words, if you use or create something on Second Life, you grant full and irrevocable rights to do with it whatever they want, including "re-sell" the item.

This potentially-exploitative stipulation does not exist on most other grids.

To be totally fair, an Elf Clan member points out:

I can understand the concept, but surely there are wiser and less potentially-explosive ways to word their TOS and still protect the company. 

In response to this policy, a website that provides textures free of charge and which has been used extensively by VR creators, has recently announced that their textures may no longer be used on Second Life specifically (according to their FAQ and licensing, this does not apply to Inworldz).  That license decision was prompted directly by the LL TOS change:

"On the 15th of August 2013, Linden Lab changed their Terms of Use without any announcement or warning... As you can see from the highlighted portions, as soon as you upload any content to Second Life you give Linden Lab unlimited and irrevocable rights to do whatever they want with your work."   Reference here.

If anyone is a creator on SL-- just thought you should be aware of this policy change.  It took place August 15, 2013, in case you missed the Linden Lab non-announcement.