And what was playing out? One either pays the membership fee and gets the account opened or they don’t. It is simple. What is there to argue about? We never get a really clear account of what went on for six months. All we know is that Sic wanted them to take the money from the Luxa account, which is against Linden policy.

LONBot – NoR Meeting Faciliator

The normal process is to convert L$ to US$ and have US$ in the account. Lindens will draw against the US$ balance. This may seem odd, but it is a tax thing. Your converting L$ to US$ leaves a clear trail as to what the Lab paid you and you paid the Lab.

It also avoids the problem of people saying to the Lab you took my L$… and all the drama that can be built around that.

So, the cash flow pipe is renters to Luxa, Luxa converting L$ and paying tier to the Lab. Locking the account meant stopping the conversion. Now someone has to take money from their credit card and pay the membership fee (US$72 annual or $9.95 for a month).

Since land was owned and Luxa was receiving a benefit for 6-months even while the account was delinquent, the Lab would likely want payment for those unpaid past months. Did Sic only want to pay for time going forward? We don’t know. We just know he did not want to pay to have the account unlocked and wanted the Lindens to take the payment from the accumulated L$ in the account. If you have followed what I’ve written, you can see that just isn’t going to happen.

So, the NoR Management thought they could win a pissing match, or at least Sic did from what we have been told. He lost.

That the Lab waited 6 months, shows they probably really wanted to work with them. There were 9 regions in NoR. That is 9x$300 or $2,700/month or $32,400/year. That is a lot of income to lose. So, yeah. But, there are limits. Pay or out.

Many of the fans think they are paying a high cost for Sic’s inattention to the needs of NoR fans. I see that as just more of the entitlement mentality governments are conditioning into people. Consider. For 10+ years Sic has paid the difference between NoR income and tier cost.

NoR Regions Sept 2015

At times that amount has been significant. When the WARPS combat meter was dropped there was a massive exodus of players… like 75%. When the DCS metter was later dropped, another exodus.  There have been several exoduses over the years. NoR has been shrinking since 2009 (19± regions and about 200 players any time of day). So, while I have no idea how big the short fall is that Sic has made up, I have no doubt I would not want to pay that bill. In 2015 the game is down to 9 regions …or 0 depending on how you want to think about it. But, will soon be 4±.

So, management should get some consideration. Also, the game managers in NoR are NOT paid staff.

But, one has to ask why the continual drop in players… I know my reason, just too lazy to keep up with meter changes.

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