CDS Discussion

Have to keep that RA busy!!

I make here a modest proposal. In my mind this is a no-brainer... but... in consideration of varied opinions, I'm perfectly happy to discuss, and analyze, various points of view on this. But I am most anxious that this proposal for change not sink out of community awareness.

Some time ago Linden Lab (our illustrious arch-landlord) made a surprising proposal (this was at the same time that they also made the surprising offer to allow us to purchase our discounted tier status AND they increased our sim capacity to 20,000 prims from 15,000... jeez... they must have chanced upon some special kool-aid brew...). This was that for an additional US$30/month, they would equip any *full* sim with 30,000 prims, from the current 20,000. We pay now US$195/month for our full sims. Taking this step would mean our month rate would increase to US$225, a 15% increase. For that cost, we would receive a 50% increase in the number of prims on the full sim.

For the record, for those not immersed in this subject in their day-to-day thoughts, our full sims are Neufreistadt, Colonia Nova, Alpine Meadow and Locus Amoenus. Monastery and Friedsee are homestead sims and are not eligible for this change.

It should be firmly noted that our economic underpining is our land. And land = prims... in other words, there is a direct mathematical relationship between the number of square meters that the citizen owns and the number of prims (more properly now called "Land Impact Units"... whew!) that that sized land enables them to use. On Neufreistadt, right now, there are approximately 31 prims supplied by each 100 square meters of land (the calculation is simple... 20,000 prims evenly distributed over 65,536 square meters of land = 0.31 per square meter). Right now, we charge L$5.8 per month for each of those prims (on Neufreistadt).

I'm going to use the very first parcel on our master parcel list in Neufreistadt as an example. 1600 Catfahrt has 336 square meters and contains 103 prims. At L$5.8/month/prim, the owner of 1600 Catfahrt pays L$595/month.

If we were to accept the Linden Lab offer and install on Neufreistadt 30,000 prims, 1600 Catfahrt would then contain 154 prims. If we kept the same rate/prim that we charged owners, their tier would raise to L$893/month. So by that calculation, for a cost to the community of an additional 15%, we would increase our revenues by 50% !!

But I'm not going to propose that. Some people might rightly complain that owners may not be able to bear the additional costs, even if they DO get more prims for their parcel.

Instead, I offer the following proposal. I suggest that we accept the Linden Lab offer for Neufreistadt and Colonia Nova (we can do AM and LA later when we see how this works out) and accept the increase in our monthly expenses of US$30 for each of these sims. In addition, I suggest that we LOWER the rate/prim that we charge each owner on those two sims by 16%... to L$5.0/prim/month. So the owner of 1600 Catfahrt will indeed see an increase because of their 51 newly found prims, but the increase will only be 29%, to L$770/month.

The net benefit of this step is that the owner will get MORE prims for a LOWER rate/prim, and the community will collect MORE money.

Please understand. I am NOT waving smoke and mirrors here. These are real numbers, based on the absolute understanding that the economic basis of the SL economy is prims, and their cost. The LL offer LOWERS the cost/prim for full sims. We should take advantage of this opportunity.

Sudane.........................

I trust your numbers, Sudane, so am not going to break my just-woke-up brain trying to verify your math. I'll let Tan have that honor.

This is something that NFS in particularly desperately needs, but I agree that CN could use the help as well, since these regions are not double prim and they have small city parcels with the accompanying small prim allowances. As someone who owns several parcels in both NFS and CN, I am willing to pay an increased total per month to gain additional prims. It's tedious having to remove things every time I want to add something new.

There is a more compelling reason in favor of this plan than personal prim needs, though. Remember the recent mess when something went wrong on SL, and things started flying back into my inventory (and, I assume, into others') because NFS suddenly registered as maxed out on prims? That happened because something went wrong with how the LI on mesh is measured, causing mesh objects' LI to skyrocket. On sims that are close to full, such as NFS, the total went over the limit and items started getting returned. In some (non-CDS) regions, entire stores were returned to their owners!

Hopefully this never happens again, but this is SL, so we have to consider that it could... and do we want to risk the Clock Tower flying back into Kendra's inventory? Perhaps that is an extreme example, but it is to illustrate that NFS needs this plan to give us some breathing room on the prim totals. I think this is an excellent proposal and for what it's worth, I support it.

As someone who owns small parcels in NFS and a very tiny parcel in CN, I would also support this proposal.

Some further comparisons on the small parcel at 1600 Catfarht example (at today's exchange rates), as I like to think of these things in terms of real world money:

Currently L$595/monthly tier = $2.41 US = $2.97 CDN = €2.02 EU = £1.79 GBP
With the increase to L$893/monthly tier = $3.62 US = $4.47 CDN = €3.03 EU = £2.68 GBP

So, you could still own land in the CDS and be a citizen for about the cost of a cup of coffee a month, AND enjoy MORE prims/li!

I like it

In my opinion, Sudane's proposal is the Alexandrian cut of the Gordian knot . We citizens get the opportunity to improve the financial situation of our beloved C.D.S, AND will get a reward for doing so!

Sounds reasonable to me too, I'm not really seeing any compelling reason not to go for it.

I have just announced to the New England residents the first sim to be boosted to the higher prim capacity. You may find the transition system I devised to be a useful model as we devise some way to do this in the CDS. The announcement is on this page: https://goo.gl/cGRPkg

Sudane...............

First of all I think this proposal is a good one. Nevertheless it shoves down the throats of CN and NFS inhabitants an increase of 29% individual tier for 50% more prims on their parcel - a change no one really asked for as far as I know. It affects everyone's wallet, a field in which some people may lack any sense of humor.
You see, I pay about 1,000 Euros for a house with about 100 sqm together with my mate in RL. Now if my landlord would offer me 50 sqm more for 1,300 Euros, I would decline with thanks - first of all I can hardly afford it, and secondly I just don't need more space (which represents the additional prims in this example).
So, while I think it is really a good idea, I have a bit of a gut ache to impose that change on the tenants. Still, I will not vote against it, but ask you to consider if we could hold a plebiscite instead of deciding as Representative Assembly. This plebiscite could be held together with the next elections. I believe we have done such already, there should be a possibility to ask an additional y/n question on opa vote.

Tanoujin Milestone wrote: ↑Mon Oct 02, 2017 2:41 am

Nevertheless it shoves down the throats of CN and NFS inhabitants an increase of 29% individual tier for 50% more prims on their parcel - a change no one really asked for as far as I know.

Do keep in mind that the 29% is a discuss-able number. A 15% increase would be a "break-even" change, with residents getting more prims for exactly what the community is paying for them. Anything over 15% provides a bit extra $$ for the community budget, which it sorely needs, but which still gives the resident more prims for less PER PRIM than they are paying now, up to a 50% increase where they would pay exactly PER PRIM what they are paying now.

Sudane........................

I have just announced to the New England residents the first sim to be boosted to the higher prim capacity. You may find the transition system I devised to be a useful model as we devise some way to do this in the CDS. The announcement is on this page: https://goo.gl/cGRPkg

I am in favor for this proposal and like the announcement Sudane made for New England residents. I think we should make the same offer to the citizens of NFS and CN.

I am trying to summarize so that we can handle the proposal in public chat during RA session:

Proposal to ….

… buy additional 10k prims for an additional US$ 30 per month from the Lindens for NFS and CN. (And maybe later for AM and LA)
… Lower the monthly tier for a parcel on NFS and CN from currently L$ 5.8 per prim to L$ 5.0 per prim.

correct?

As Sudane remarked, the tier rate is discuss-able.
Calculating the cost price for Catfahrt:
595 / 100 *115 = L$ 685 (15% increase)
Calculating the tier rate
685 / 154 = 4.5 L$ / prim*month

Seeing we have a range from 4.5 to 5.8 to choose from I believe the proposed L$ 5.0 are well balanced.

Thank you, Sudane, for this "modest" proposal. I like the idea! Though, I also see Tan's point. Perhaps a plebiscite is an appropriate option, with the election coming up. I will add it to our agenda for this weekend's meeting and let you and Tan discuss the details and maths more.

Now, where's the part about eating famine-stricken Irish babies?

Guillaume Mistwalker wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2017 4:30 am

Now, where's the part about eating famine-stricken Irish babies?

hehe... I do hope those unaware of the reference are not offended

Sudane.................

We are not offended. we are curious and feel a bit silly and excluded

Yeah, what Tan said!

Can't say I know that reference either.... waiting to hear!