So last week I blogged that private estate losses were slowing down and that losses were around the teen to high 20’s mark per week. Now just to prove me wrong, this week Tyche “Statto” Shepherd reports:
“A net loss of 63 regions this week, Private Estates down by 69 while Linden Owned were up by 6”
However I do have a defence here, this change in pattern of net losses is due to the departure from the grid of 47 sims owned by Beach Front Realty, if you exclude that then this week’s losses would have been in line with the recent net loss pattern at around 22. There are still 16 sims owned by Beach Front Realty on the grid but the company have announced that all their sims will close by the end of December.
A notecard sent by Beach Front Realty stated:
“Dear Beach Front Residents:
The company of Beach Front Realty will regrettably be closing its doors effective immediately. Tiers will not be excepted on behalf of the owners at BF. All tenants will have a until the end of December to relocate to a different company.
For your convenience, we have located a reputable company that are willing to take our residents with a warm welcome. This company has been in business since 2007 and we assure you that you will be pleased with the new owners of the Estates.
The Estate name is called: Tribe Estates
The owners are as follows:
Alexxa Despres
Driftwood Miles
Please contact them as they are aware of the transition.
On behalf of Kandee and Breeze we want to take this chance to thank each and every one for the loyalty you have provided throughout the years. And would like To wish you all a Happy Holiday Season.”
I have been on friendly terms with Driftwood Miles and Alexxa Despres for quite a while, we used to joke around at Jack Linden’s office hour so I’m glad to see that they are trying to help out with soon to be homeless residents. Tribe Islands are good people.
However there is inevitable pain in most sim closures and Beach Front Realty’s closure is no exception. Some people are claiming they are out of pocket or found their land inaccessible before the notice was sent. Then there’s the issue of renters trying to find a new plot and losing trust in any landlord in Second Life.
Ideally there would be better ways for things like this to be sorted out. For example if Linden Lab would transfer islands for free if someone met a certain criteria then some of these sims could most likely be saved where they currently are. This would not be an easy process but I’m sure something better than the current situation could be conceived.
For example one person has claimed they rented 80% of a sim, I’m not sure what their fee per month is but at 80%, unless the business model is nuts, they should be paying pretty damn close to what tier for that sim would be if they were paying Linden Lab direct. Wouldn’t it be better if LL offered to let this tenant pay for the sim and waive any transfer fee? I mean the person may not want to do that but surely there’s an opportunity there. This would help avoid all the upheaval.
Now hopefully we’re not going to see too many more of these larger estate crashes in the near future, because that will really bugger up the pattern of sim losses!
They already have a mechanism – transfers.
But if the current owner of the sim doesn’t want to, you can’t force them.
Used to see this a lot when I worked for a large hosting company.
Some resellers would take the money and run, leaving clients swinging in the wind.
Clients would scream at us, but we had no business relationship or contract with them.
Only if they had a subpoena could we release information.
Lab’s got a slightly different relationship, though… with both reseller and the client.
However, their ToS plainly state that the land a reseller has is their responsibility.
Anything they do to subvert that gets them mired in some serious issues.
And based on their desire to withdraw from those kinds of situations instead of get more involved, it’s highly unlikely they will… openly, that is.
-ls/cm
Transfers are an option but not for the absent landlord. I suppose, and you touch upon this, that there could be hell to pay if LL transferred without the original owner agreeing to it, even if they are AWOL.
I rented a shop on a sim years ago where the owner went AWOL but the person running the mall didn’t. She wanted to keep it open but LL would not transfer it to her, she re-opened it eventually, but I’d left by then. An easier way of getting the transfer through would have kept me there, but nothing is ever straight forward.