{"id":2086,"date":"2012-06-18T23:52:21","date_gmt":"2012-06-18T22:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=2086"},"modified":"2012-06-18T23:59:14","modified_gmt":"2012-06-18T22:59:14","slug":"kitely-v-second-life-and-finding-a-happy-medium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=2086","title":{"rendered":"Kitely v Second Life And Finding A Happy Medium"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think it’s fair to say that Kitely’s pricing model <\/a>rubs some people up the wrong way. People look at the pricing plans and feel that a metered based world is not a good place to socialise, and perhaps they’re right. Kitely’s pricing plans look like this:<\/p>\n

Monthly Plan\u00a0\u00a0 Cost\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 KC\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Free Worlds<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Free Plan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Free\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 120\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1<\/em><\/p>\n

Bronze Plan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 $5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01200\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 300\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Silver Plan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 $20\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 5000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 10<\/em><\/p>\n

Gold Plan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 $50\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 12000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 30<\/em><\/p>\n

Platinum Plan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 $100\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Unlimited\u00a0\u00a0 5000\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 100<\/em><\/p>\n

Now compared to Second Life, this looks both great and bad, depending upon which end of the spectrum you’re coming from. Social users on a premium plan of just USD$72 a year can use Second Life unlimited, have a small plot of land, for free you can use Second Life unlimited anyway. However people who like to build, well the Kitely Silver Plan gives you 10 sims, 100,000 prims each sim, costs less a year than sim in Second Life does for a month and there’s no upfront purchase cost. Ok you haven’t got unlimited access on that plan, but it’s still over eighty hours a month.<\/p>\n

Ideally, I can see the Kitely model complimenting Second Life, rather than competing with it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at how this could work, you have a lot of buildings, you can’t fit them all on a sim in Second Life, but you can on the ten Kitely sims. So you blog the location of your full catalogue in Kitely and sell your items on the Second Life Marketplace. Obviously you’d need to maintain your Second Life presence too, but Kitely presents you with some cheap land that you can further advertise your wares on.<\/p>\n

Now obviously a lot of your Second Life customers aren’t going to be remotely interested in signing up to another virtual world, but a handful might and that handful may end up further promoting your wares.<\/p>\n

Kitely answers the tier issue challenge, because compared to Second Life it’s cheap, however it doesn’t answer the social issue, Second Life is the winner there because it’s far cheaper to socialise in Second Life.<\/p>\n

There was at one stage talk of being able to telport to different grids from Second Life, that idea seems to be dead in the water. This is a shame because Kitely offers the sort of complimentary interoperability that would compliment Second Life well, if all Second Life users could get the two free hours a month in Kitely, it would be a great way for art exhibitions to thrive, whereas Second Life’s model makes it the place for social activities to thrive.<\/p>\n

Horses for course and all that but tier is a massive massive barrier to many things in Second Life, Kitely answers the tier question but it doesn’t answer the social question.<\/p>\n

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