Uprooted and Resettled

Picture this:

You are hanging out in your PAZ, just outside CosmoGirl! Village, enjoying a nice day out on the sand, when suddenly a World Official strolls around your property and starts to remove it, without a further word and then disappears. When you try to put your PAZ back out, you find that there are large 'no-drop' zones in place.

Understandably, this caused an uproar in the Official Forums and many people took the stance that There™ has no right to mess with *their* property.

But as per usual, there are two sides to this. Firstly, we are talking about a PAZ, a PORT-a-zone, which, by its very nature, is not a FIXED structure. Secondly, I can imagine instances, where switft action needs to be taken and there really is no time to sit around for a week or two, waiting for PAZ owners to come back online, or read their email, or even given time to protest.

Some people have suggested that There™ does not have the right to move any structure, without express consent from the PAZ/NH owner. I beg to differ. Other than rl property, There™ owns the very soil you stand on, every pixel of it. And yes, whether you agree with it or not, or even if you hate it, sometimes it *is* necessary to do things requested by corporate sponsors.

Don't forget that without these sponsors, you would most likely be looking at a monthly fee of around $15 or so to keep playing There™. (And I already hear a few go: "I'd gladly...."... yes, YOU would, but that doesn't apply to everyone, now does it? Do we want it to be an elite group of people that can afford it? Less members is a result and subsequently the fees would go UP, rather than down).

To be fair, CG Village was there *before* the PAZ community. It would be a bit silly to expect CG to just stay in their little corner and do nothing further. Don't forget, that whatever CG has planned up there, is not just for their members, it will be beneficial for *everyone*.

Having said that, There™ has since apologized profusely about the bad handling of the situation and has restituted 2 months rent to all the members that were inconvenienced. I use the word 'inconvenienced' deliberately, since it is not as if the whole world has crashed around them. There™ is absolutely massive and there are huge areas that are uninhabited and that have a breathtaking view. And being a PAZ community, you can resettle anywhere you like, basically.

Don't forget that There™ has probably not been given any timely warning by the sponsor. As in the case with Coca-Cola, There™ was most likely left to pick up the pieces of big companies being, well.., big companies.

As was mentioned a lot by 'MyCokers', Coca-Cola basically told the Coke Studios members only they were being relocated to another virtual world, have fun, don't send a postcard.

As seems to have become the norm, There™ again was left to pick up the pieces. People seem hellbent to blame There™ for everything, but they are doing their best to keep our world up and running and more importantly: AFFORDABLE. Some people seem to have this weird idea, that all There™ employees make tons of money and just sit there laughing at us poor suckers all day long. I challenge you to do their jobs, even for one day. Deal with thousands of people, each with their problems, fights, griefing etc. And this is aside from unexpected technical issues popping up. Do you really think that the engineers sit around and go: "'hmm.. slow day today.. let's break something, so we have something to do."?

I'll repeat this once more: the original coders are no longer associated with There™ and the current engineers have not been given a manual with clear instructions. Everything is SO interconnected, it's not even funny. If you change a comma in the code for the skills, chances are the auctions stop working, if you get my drift. (Which is not so far-fetched as you may think, since the 'merchant' skill is linked to auctions).

To summarize: There™ was forced into a position THEY also didn't like very much and they had to act quick. I for one commend them on the subsequent action they took: to revisit what they had done and make amends. I don't know of many companies that would have apologized to such an extent and then paid affected members for the inconvenience. According to the TOS, they didn't *have* to. And in the end, it turned out to be for the better: it is my understanding that the PAZ community that was moved, looks better than ever before and the members have the funds to keep it going for longer, without using their own money.

[rant]And as far as 'lawsuits' go: get a grip. This is a virtual world. I understand 'consumer rights' and all that, but to file a lawsuit over the loss of some pixels that you pay.. what.. $10,-a month for and that you actually haven't 'lost', since it is still in your inventory, is a bit over the top and totally not worth the aggravation it causes.[/rant]

All in all, considering they didn't have much of a choice and they *swift* way in which they dealt with it: kudos to There™.

And for those of you that now call me a 'fanboy': 'ttth 'whatever 'yada :P

Sometimes there simply *are* no choices at a specific moment in time. How you handle it afterwards, is what counts. Whether you like it or not, is irrelevant. Life goes on.., and it has, for the PAZ community that was moved.

Percy
- Him, from over There™