Some Welcome New Changes to Real Estate

Even though I haven't been on Twinity in awhile, I have been keeping tabs on certain developments. So when I read the latest blog entry on the dramatic changes to real estate that was recently implemented, I just had to comment on them.

Apparently, a lot of new limitations were made on the way that spaces can be modified or used. People with purchased properties must now pay rent if they want to mod their space ("build outside"). Starters cannot be used as a shop. Lastly, it appears that membership has been changed drastically. Basic members can now own, rent, and run shops.

On the "outside building" limitations

Let me tackle first the whole issue about "outside building". This has caused the most controversy, because people who bought apartments expected to not have to pay any rent on them. Now if they'd like to "outside build" they'll have to pay rent just like everyone else.

There's been a lot of gnashing of teeth over this issue, but this is one of those limitations that had to be imposed. A lot of people were taking the perk of being able to build outside way too far. Initially, people were doing this to make the most of so-called "floating properties" (apartments that exist outside of Twinity's virtual cities). This made sense and was even acceptable on some level, because a lot of these "floating properties" had self-contained environments (like beaches and piers) that enabled players to create wonderful alternatives to Twinity's cities.

But then some people took this outside building to the next level by modding their starter apartments and properties in Miami, Berlin, London, etc to get out of purchasing or renting more property if they ran out of space.For example, if someone bought a 2 room place for $35 USD, instead of upgrading to a larger and more expensive apartment if he ran out of space, he or she would just mod his current apartment to have triple or quadruple the space he initially paid for. Shockingly, commercial members also resorted to this shameless practice, "modding" their retail properties to have additional floors and even going so far as to use their starter apartments as commercial space.

I can't even get into the countless ways this modding was ruining virtual real estate in Twinity. Something needed to be done about all this, which is why the new changes were made. So now because of the new limitations put in place, people who run out of space can't cheat the system anymore. They will have to play by the rules of real estate. If they want more space, they will either have to purchase or rent more property. And if they already have purchased property and want to expand it by modding, they will have to pay rent on top of whatever they already paid for the apartment.

Many people think it's unfair because they feel that once they've purchased an apartment, they have the right to do whatever they want with it. But what they don't understand is that this was never the point of being able to buy property in the first place, to have the right to "upgrade" without having to pay for more additional space. The point has always been to allow players to own these apartments in "real life" so that they can resell them to other players at a profit for real money and not globals.

So needless to say, I'm very pleased with these new developments and am interested to see how this all works out. Provided that Twinity gets the word out about its fixed real estate, these changes could be just the shot in the arm in needs to attract more players, especially from Second Life and "There 2.0".

On the Elimination of Commercial Memberships

My feelings are a little mixed about this one. As it stands, anyone now-- even basic members-- can own and run a shop. Although I think it's a good idea to eliminate what seemed to be a very pricy membership (the proposed fee for commercial members was going to be something like $19.95 a month), I'm not altogether sure whether it should be entirely free, either. I can only hope that this is just a temporary experiment and that at some time in the future, Twinity considers limiting commercial activity to paying members.

As Usual, the Same Old Protestations and Threats

Every time Metaversum tries to take Twinity in the right direction, certain players throw temper tantrums, threaten to leave or boycott. But what these players don't get is that these changes are not only standard for most metaverses, they're necessary if Twinity wants to become a "real" game with serious gamers and not just an expensive pet project.

What these players also don't understand is that in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter if they walk away in a huff, because they're the type of players that Twinity can afford to lose.

What do I mean by that? For one, many of the moaners and groaners tend to believe that they should be able to spend as little money as possible to get the most out of the game. Players like that are never good for business for the obvious reasons: Twinity (or any other game for that matter) needs players who are willing to pay extra money for extra content, not people who will constantly exploit and cheat their way into getting new content or cry foul whenever they have to.

Another reason why they're the type of player Twinity can afford to lose is that the very freedoms that have made the game "great" for them has kept hundreds if not thousands of players from joining the game. I have read a player or two make the snide remark that Twinity isn't in the position to make certain changes that will piss them off, because it's "not so special" that they'll remain loyal to it. But actually, players who say stuff like this have it the other way around. For every one of them that leaves because they can no longer enjoy the problems that have enabled them to exploit the game, there are ten gamers who will happily join now that the exploits and other troublesome issues have been fixed. So their loss is really Twinity's gain.

An Encouraging Sign

One of the biggest flaws of Twinity and why it's been struggling so much as an online world is that it never really paid attention to its infrastructure. The fact that it finally took a serious look at its real estate market and is also addressing the many exploits that players have been using to undermine the game is an encouraging sign. Hopefully there will be more policy changes like this to put the game back on track.