„Questions, Questions, Questions, flooding into the mind of the concerned young person today.“
(Frank Zappa, Call any Vegetable, 1971)
Some people feel a bit upset about the plans to move to Open Sim. We are also aware that a certain number of gamers have been leaving SLC recently (for ever?). The question is: Why not concentrate efforts here in SL instead of moving to the „Unknown“?
Not to create misunderstandings at this point. I am enthusiastic about this step towards Open Sim, which from my point of view is brave and consequent. For me SL has lost a lot of attraction in the past years, it became a disappointing marketplace of turbo-capitalistic phantasies. I simply started to dislike it. It became kind of childish, with no real perspectives for the future.
So Open Sim for me seems a proper solution of having SLC in a more convenient, normalized environment, where the same interest of gamers does not immediately lead to competition but creates a kind of common interest and possibly solidarity.
So I do not fear Open Sim: it is something that I see as a good opportunity to further develop this game and create a real Second „Colony“. But: we all should be properly informed about this step. At least some basic questions should be raised and answered by the game makers. Some of them are the following:
What is the difference between Open Sim and Second Life? What is the Hypergrid?
What, in fact, are the reasons of the game makers to move to Open Sim?
What may be the advantages/disadvantages there for the gamer who engages in SLC? Will SLC leave Second Life completely?
When will the move to the Counter Earth take place: in days, weeks, months? Does a concrete action plan exist?
Why should gamers leave Second Life for SLC ? What could be the motivation and/or incentives to do so, what could be the reasons to stay In SL?
Do gamers have to change their avatars when they leave for the Counter Earth? What about their already existing SLC achievements, their levels, their crafting stations ?
Is the Counter Earth planned as a pure Gor playground or do other communities also find their place?
Will SLC continue to exist in Second Life ?
This and many more questions are currently raised by players. But they are not answered yet. Answers would help to ease the coming change.
First and foremost, SLC is not moving to OpenSim in any way. I am not sure where people are getting this information from and misunderstanding, but there is no move for SLC as a product to be transferring anything over into OpenSim.
SLC as a product will only be available in Second Life.
The OpenSim project is a collaborative project between @Raqisa and me to build a large world of our dreams for people to explore that we could not accomplish within Second Life. Think of it as a world/region for you to visit. A 256-region world within Second Life would cost us well over $60,000USD per month to maintain. In OpenSim, we are able to do this on dedicated servers for less than $200USD each.
There will not be any SLC store in OpenSim, and there will be no way for people to purchase or own any SLC product in OpenSim. We are only adding benefits to Patrons of SLC who wish to visit the OpenSim world in a way to say thank you and give them a little extra that they can do in OpenSim as a Patron.
To answer some of your questions more directly:
As mentioned, there is no move to OpenSim. The project is a world-build only and a collaborative effort between one of our biggest customers, @Raqisa and me.
Our development efforts remain focused on Second Life.
None. SLC remains a pure Second Life product.
There is no move, however, in terms of the world being ready for explorers. This is months away, and completing it could take years. 256 sims is no small feat.
No reason to leave Second Life?
There is something to be said about this, though. The world will have certain gatherables that you can obtain by ‘visiting’ there and exploring. But anything you do in the OpenSim world, you will be able to transfer over to your characters in Second Life through the Mailbox system that has already been established.
There might be some benefits for some players to consider personally leaving Second Life to come and live in the OpenSim world, and that might be that they have access to housing to live in, a permanent place to call home and a large open world to be a part of. But that is no different to a player within Second Life deciding to come and live in your own world within Second Life.
Some players might also decide to make a move to the OpenSim world due to the cost difference of owning land in Second Life vs. what we would offer through the Patreon system as part of membership (owning a sim for $50 a month vs. $200).
But this in no way signifies a move from Second Life to OpenSim. No one can physically own any SLC product in the OpenSim builds. These items will be rezzed on their behalf for them to move around - there is no ownership.
To visit, you would need to create a new account, as it is a completely different server. But you will be able to transfer goods to and from your different accounts through the already existing Mailbox System. You would not lose achievements on your main account within Second Life. Your Second Life account is not affected in any way.
If players decide they wish to move to the OpenSim world permanently, we can transfer an entire account to a new avatar within our world, thanks to the database. In that way, if they have no desire to play in Second Life at all, they would have all achievements, ranks, roles, titles, recipes, and storage transferred to their new character.
While the name Counter-Earth may signify Gor due to the Gorean novels, the Counter-Earth is in no way Gorean. Counter-Earth is just a theory from the Greek Empire about our solar system having a planet counter to Earth behind our sun:
Currently, the section of the world we are building is Elven in nature. The section I am building is Human. But we will be open to all types of races to visit and live within certain areas where Lore allows. The build includes Lore, narratives and stories.
100%.
The only reason it has been quiet this month is not because we are focusing on the OpenSim build. @drakkhis is on vacation in France and is not here to pump out updates and new products.
On his return, we are focusing on major updates to the brewery system. If you search for it, this has been discussed in other topics in the forums here. These are massive changes planned to that system.
I hope all these answers shed some light on everything and help you understand. SLC and Counter-Earth are two completely different things. SLC is a product and remains in Second Life. Counter Earth is a world I personally have ventured into building with @Raqisa, choosing OpenSim over Second Life purely based on cost ($60,000 vs. $200).