The Lindens have made their latest openspace announcement, but you almost must read the knowledge base article as well, as it has more detail. In a nutshell, they are creating a pricing tier system that splits OS sims into "openspace" and "Homesteads". OS sims are to be light-use, 750 prims, with a cap of 10 AVs. Owners can put in for their OS sims to be Homesteads for light commercial and residential use, 3750 prims and a 20 AV cap. For both, script usage restrictions are as of yet TBD. Thing is with Homesteads is that the pricing goes from $75USD to $95 as of Jan 5, but as of July 9, it'll go up to $125--the price originally proposed in the last posting that set off the furor. Owners also have the option of exchanging openspaces for full regions as well, an option being entertained by some communities.What does this mean for communities like the sailing community and themed ones like Caledon? To me, the sailing community--for whom the open water sims have been touted--wouldn't be able to have races or regattas due to AV caps after taking into account passengers, crew and spectators. In Caledon, community events like balls and dances would be affected as well. For instance, a formal ball with only 20 avatars is the equivalent of only 10 couples dancing. Our balls tend to average 40 attendees.
I missed the latest town meeting the Guvnah held tonight, but had a chance to read a transcript and he is pondering solutions such as combining voids into full regions. Even the train that runs through most of Caledon would be affected due to its scripts, depending upon how LL decides to handle script restrictions. The landscape of Caledon as we know it will probably change. Also, even the new resident community that comes to Nova Civis Caledon for classes, resources, and events would be affected as well by this due to the avatar cap. Are we to be happy with this? Is this really okay? I don't know, it still just doesn't feel right somehow and I still wonder what the longer-term effect of this will be across the Grid.
