I'm from New York, too, and what I'm cynical about is people who are cynical, who bite the hand that feeds them so ostentatiously.
There is nothing wrong with the land metaphor. It's the Lindens' business model; it works to replicate it as residents' business model. It's how you manage a complex grid like this, making sub-managers.
People like to have real-life versimilitude; they don't want mere entertainment, they like control and even amateur creation at their own level. That's a powerful draw for them. A lot of people entertain themselves, without professionally-made sites like yours. That is the strength of SL.
I have no idea what the story is with Anshe Chung, but I'm not sure that she ever had the million dollars to start with. She might well have, though, because the land barons who ran the telehub malls made a killing. She used to sell mainland and telehub mall space before she got into islands.
I would guess Anshe Chung is facing these problems:
o too great determination to dominate market share, and bidding on every single auction for a long time, overbidding to keep valuation up to keep land sales up -- this became impossible to pursue
o staying on mainland land sales too long
o overexpanding on island sales and rentals because demand was hugely high -- but it dipped or even crashed later in 2007
o competition from other island renters who give over full estate management perms -- ACS doesn't do that even if you "buy" the whole sim.
o competition from openspace sims that many end users buy themselves, no longer needed to rent.
o problems in getting cash moved into China, which offset having cheaper staff in China
I'm from New York, too, and
Mon, 09/29/2008 - 18:19 — Prokofy Neva (not verified)I'm from New York, too, and what I'm cynical about is people who are cynical, who bite the hand that feeds them so ostentatiously.
There is nothing wrong with the land metaphor. It's the Lindens' business model; it works to replicate it as residents' business model. It's how you manage a complex grid like this, making sub-managers.
People like to have real-life versimilitude; they don't want mere entertainment, they like control and even amateur creation at their own level. That's a powerful draw for them. A lot of people entertain themselves, without professionally-made sites like yours. That is the strength of SL.
I have no idea what the story is with Anshe Chung, but I'm not sure that she ever had the million dollars to start with. She might well have, though, because the land barons who ran the telehub malls made a killing. She used to sell mainland and telehub mall space before she got into islands.
I would guess Anshe Chung is facing these problems:
o too great determination to dominate market share, and bidding on every single auction for a long time, overbidding to keep valuation up to keep land sales up -- this became impossible to pursue
o staying on mainland land sales too long
o overexpanding on island sales and rentals because demand was hugely high -- but it dipped or even crashed later in 2007
o competition from other island renters who give over full estate management perms -- ACS doesn't do that even if you "buy" the whole sim.
o competition from openspace sims that many end users buy themselves, no longer needed to rent.
o problems in getting cash moved into China, which offset having cheaper staff in China