Sim Deathwatch: Citing Long History of Linden Lab Customer Negligence, Veteran Roleplay Community Closing ElvenMyst

ElvenMyst, a beautiful fantasy roleplaying sim, is closing on May 18, according to an announcement by Wayfinder Wishbringer, a leader of the Elf Clan, the roleplay group associated with the region, which has been an active part of the SL community for years. This move comes long after the Elf Clan has transferred much of its activity to InWorldz, an OpenSim-based competitor to Second Life, and a long history of reported customer negligence by Linden Lab. It's worth quoting in detail, and as I know many Lindens read New World Notes, I encourage them in particular to read the whole thing here. Some excerpts:

Over the following week [sim owner Peter Lioncourt] tried five times to pay via Linden Lab's billing department. The report from his card company is that they received no payment requests from Linden Lab (in other words, Linden Lab didn't try to process the payment). Peter tried to contact Linden Lab. No response. When Peter tried to log in to Second Life... his account had been closed. He could not enter a grid for which he has paid $350 a month for the last four years-- faithfully and without missing a single payment. Linden Lab has informed him that in 30 days his entire account will be wiped... including a significant investment in inventory.

Still more (and my commentary) after the break:

I had actually contacted Linden Lab and pointed out that sims at $350 cannot possibly compete with grandfathered sims that were paying $195. I sent them a certified business letter asking them to reduce the price of ElvenMyst to an affordable and competitive level, pointing out that we've certainly been on SL long enough to be granted "grandfathered" status. I pointed out we were losing $175+ a month and that it was impossible to have a sim pay for itself at a price significantly greater than grandfathered sims. Linden Lab didn't even show us the respect and decency of answering that letter. This is not the kind of company with which we wish to continue investing $4,200 a year.

Wayfarer mentions that the Elf Clan will still exist as a group in Second Life, but its presence as a land-based community will move entirely to Inworldz, which charges less for sim ownership. Now, it's quite possible that Linden Lab's failure with the Elves is not as negligent as reported -- in my experience, there's often a simple miscommunication or misunderstanding at the heart of the problem -- but even if that were the case, what's happening with ElvenMyst raises several undeniable facts:

• Second Life's private island rates are so costly that any customer service failure -- even one stemming from an innocent misunderstanding -- is likely to provoke an "enough of this already" reaction.
• Competing offerings, especially by those based on OpenSim, ironically a spinoff once encouraged by Linden Lab, will become increasingly attractive to SL landowners.
• Once again, this is another example for how Linden Lab's land-based revenue model is not sustainable, and why the company can't survive on just its existing userbase.

All that said, if you want to see ElvenMyst before it leaves the grid, click here to teleport.

Hat tip: NWN reader John Lopez. Image credit: Flickr user Outerlimits2008.

Comments

[Cole Marie]

(shakes head)

[Zauber Paracelsus]

Actually, things may have changed this morning. Also, Elf Clan is not a roleplay community. They're a themed group, which is much different.

http://elfclanvr.grouply.com/message/1669

[Zauber Paracelsus]

And is name is Wayfinder, not Wayfarer!

[Stone Semyorka]

Customer service definitely is a problem with LL and has been forever. I've been a customer for 4-1/2 years and I don't remember a time when they responded anywhere nearly quickly to any communication. Very frequently, they don't respond at all.

I spend a large amount each month, as does Wayfinder. In my case, on land for a real university operating in SL. In fact, I would say my billing is nearly double what he mentioned having been billed. I tried for years and finally gave up asking that I be granted the education rate. Of course, now that is a dead issue.

It's beyond sad -- I'm filled with sorrow -- to see so many of the truly beautiful and fabulous sims dropping out as has been happening in recent months. At this rate, I'm afraid the best and the brightest will be gone before we know it.

[JoJa Dhara]

ts Unfortunate this story comes popping every time. There is a policy that should be reviewed.
Specially these months where other games sites are hacking your accounts with possibility of transferring money from your accounts without knowing. I am a victim of that and had to wait for a new creditcard and then that happens when you need to pay for sims etc and you get this aggressive mail. "if you do not pay in 7 days your account will be closed" .. For people that spend so much time and passion in this world. Being free account managers to promote the impossible imagination creation between people... are cut off because of this unfriendly policy. Getting more discoraged to continue.
Something needs to be done. Maybe more time before closing an account. Look at the problem and work on that!!
Like I say many of us are these days victims of online gaming by playstation is for example or others where there are leaks in the sysstem. So quickly cards needs to be changed... give the residents more time to solve the problem. 7 days is to short!!!
And important give a proper costumer service back.

[Jovin]

Do LL actually wipe overdue accounts? They don't wipe inactive accounts in a hurry - login a year later and your Inventory is as you left it. Do they really punish errant payers this way? Seems unusually efficient of them...

[Saxon]

I work for a SaaS company and even the smallest accounts go through a two-stage review process before being shut down. It seems that there is no sanity checking going on here.

It does strike me as odd that, and this is *not* a complaint about free accounts, people can enjoy SL for years upon years at zero cost whatsoever, completely unmolested by the Lab. Yet customers who are shelling out significant amounts of discretionary funds are not getting proper consideration for the fact that they are sustaining the Lab, not to mention providing the content that makes logging in worthwhile for others paying the freight.

I hope the Lab understands that it needs to tackle not just technological issues, but just as important, customer relations issues.

I want to keep coming to SL for years to come. Hopefully this disheartening report will have a happier epilog (looking directly at the LL executive team).

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Yes, LL will wipe your inventory if, for example, your a subscriber and your credit card expires and you're not prompt in paying the ransom.

On the other hand, you can have a free account in mothballs forever.

I still want my stuff back, you rat bastards.

[Luci Koenkamp]

The same sad story happened to my friend about 2 weeks ago. After trying to pay with 2 different CC and Paypal, he contacted me inworld through an alt and asked me for help since they didn´t want to pick up the phone in San Francisco. I contacted chat support and offered LL to credit my account untill the problem was solved. This is the answer that I got from xxxxx Scout: "I´m sorry Luci, you cannot use your account to contact us on behalf of some one else. That is considered abuse of support. I´m sorry that your friend is having issues, but if they do not have access to live chat, they can call us or file a support ticket."
Needless to say that both options, offered by Bot Scout, were not helping him at all. My friend is a paying member since early 2007, who never failed to pay his tier nor his membership fees. Is this really the way to treat a customer? After more than 3 weeks, LL solved the problem and a few days ago he came back online. Three weeks ... personally I would not be so patient. Shame on you LindenLab!

[Vecky Burdam]

what everybody else said above !!!

i alone know of 5 friends who payed tires over years and then got banned/blocked/expelled/wiped out for some minor bs ... LL treats their paying customers worse than the non-paying ones ...
this sentence i never believed ... until my friends left SL

[Vecky Burdam]

from all i experienced in SL i can only recommend to EVERYONE do downgrade to basic/free account and rent from some land-tycoon ... else you will at one point lose everything ... your 5000 US$ inventory ... your 10.000 US$ investments in sims over the years ... your identity ... you friends

[Luci Koenkamp]

I was just told that Rodvik Linden regularly reads these blogs. Well, I hope he reads this one.
A message to you Mr. Rodvik:
We are your PAYING and LOYAL customers and have been for many years, tread us with the respect that we deserve! We understand that you are a company and that making a profit is your first priority but your tier prices are unfair to some and too high for most. Your customer service should be there to help us if we have a problem, not to annoy us! We know that you´re working hard on getting new clients and on reducing lag ... and we appreciate that, but chasing away the peoples that are already paying your salary is NOT the way to make SL strong again.

[Ignatius Onomatopoeia]

Too late to get many educators back, Mr. Humble. But if you lose the roleplayers, your world is going to fold. Better make nice with these folks, because they do bring in big bucks for Linden Lab.

[Ciaran Laval]

The sim isn't closing, they received an offer from Linden Lab regarding some compensation for the problems and accepted it:

http://elfclanvr.grouply.com/message/1697

[Aliasi Stonebender]

To the best of my knowledge, by the by, Elf Circle still exists in SL - Elf Clan split a couple-ish years back over matters that I shall not recount here as I was only barely there and much was rumor - but afterwards both groups seemed to have a lot of the life leeched out of them.

That said, I totally agree with the basic thrust - the only reason to stick with SL is because, well, all your stuff is there and things more or less work, which can't always be said on OpenSim. I'm really hoping LL moves to something more akin to a usage-based model soon. Why should a private sandbox that only gets used by you and a half-dozen friends be charged the same as a laggy nightspot that regularly hosts several dozen avatars, all with scripts and sculpts and so on?

Even a place like ElvenMyst is nearly empty the vast majority of the time!

[David Cartier]

I paid almost $300 for a charter (lifetime) account, way back while SL was still in beta, and I like to think that I have also paid my way over the last eight years by making a lot of decent enough free content and mentoring a whole lot of new residents. Linden Lab deleted my account - and an inventory worth thousands of dollars - over a bill for $34.99; a bill which I never got. Customer service gave me an unbelieveable runaround, three different stories and then acted as if they were doing me a huge favour to give me an empty account back, so I could continue to use my old name. I WANT MY INVENTORY BACK!