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stjohnintelligencer · 8 years ago

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St John Tea Transcripts - March 8, “1917″

[18:00] Gabrielle Riel: It's 6pm SLT! I am going to start. :-)

[18:00] Gabrielle Riel: Good evening everyone. Thanks for being here tonight!

[18:00] Gabrielle Riel: We made it through Mardi Gras last week. :-)

[18:01] Pru: :)

[18:01] Gabrielle Riel: And I hope that everyone had a good time. *I* had a good time in spite of being sick.

[18:01] Pru: Yes!

[18:01] Kitty: we did!

[18:01] Diogenes Teufelsdröckh: It was a mighty fine production

[18:02] Gabrielle Riel: If you have not seen it, please take a look at my thank you note AFTER tea tonight. If you get lost in this now, you’ll miss at least half of tea! (http://gabrielleriel.blogspot.com/2017/03/mercredi-des-cendres.html)

[18:03] Gabrielle Riel: I have looked at the calendar for next year, and it’s going to be another early one. Not as early as last year, but darn close!

[18:03] Gabrielle Riel: Next year Mardi Gras is on Tuesday, February 13. Now that I know this, I know that I will need to start our planning meetings around Christmas time this year.

[18:03] Pru can't even think that far ahead

[18:03] Gabrielle Riel: I’ve got about 6 months to recover from Mardi Gras and then it will be hurricane time. In looking at the calendar, I estimate that our hurricane will be on August 18-20. That is a Friday through Sunday.

[18:04] Gabrielle Riel: And you guys know that this year is the letter “G”... hmm...I *wonder* what the name of the hurricane will be! ;-)

[18:04] Pru: :)

[18:04] Zaida Gearbox: gertrude!

[18:04] Zaida Gearbox giggles

[18:04] Gabrielle Riel whispers....Guy, it's totally Guy

[18:04] Kitty: oh jeez no way

[18:04] Kitty: omg

[18:04] Gabrielle Riel laughs

[18:05] Pru: I have an Aunt Gertrude

[18:05] Kitty: hopes im around for K

[18:05] Zaida Gearbox: gizzelle

[18:05] Gabrielle Riel: Anyway, thank you all, those of you that were able to participate in, or come out for, Mardi Gras. I think we can call it a success.

[18:05] Zaida Gearbox: of course you will be kitty

[18:05] Pru: Yes!

[18:05] Gabrielle Riel: My main topic for Tea tonight is a general “State of the Estate”. If you have questions, please hang on to them until I ask for them. I will address your questions, I just want to get through the bulk of the information that I have for you first!

[18:05] Kitty: Hey Pea

[18:06] Princess Selena waves

[18:06] Gabrielle Riel: In order to understand our current State of the Estate, you need to understand what happened last year, both in terms of St John and in terms of the SL economy in general.

[18:06] Pru: waves to Selena

[18:06] Kitty: hi Kylie and Ava

[18:06] Kylie: *sneaks in*

[18:06] Gabrielle Riel: Last year in St John, we had a very odd year. But it was odd in a good way. For some reason, that I still do not fully understand, St John bucked the trend of the rest of SL, which was to lose residents and shrink. Instead, we grew.

[18:06] Ava: Hi all :)

[18:07] Kate Cynster: back...not gonna say brb every time he wants something

[18:07] Kylee Gracemount: Hi !

[18:07] Gabrielle Riel: Many estates shrunk in size or closed altogether. The reality is that while SL sill has an active user base, it’s not growing. It’s staying roughly the same, and even shrinking a bit.

[18:07] Gabrielle Riel: There are not a lot of new people joining SL. The majority of the SL population, in my opinion, is very “old”, both in terms of how long people have been in SL and in terms of their actual age.

[18:08] Gabrielle Riel: Thus. there is a finite pool of potential residents for ALL communities in SL.

[18:08] Gabrielle Riel: All communities have been losing residents, steadily. It’s just the way of things now. It was a surprise to me that last year St John was always full and still had a high demand for land from residents and potential residents.

[18:09] Gabrielle Riel: The demand was high enough that I put out a land needs assessment last Fall in order to determine what exactly that need was. Based on the information in that needs assessment and multiple demands from residents for larger parcels, I added St John Beach, St John Maurepas and St John Islands.

[18:09] Gabrielle Riel: So, by last Fall, St John was 9 sims. Fully occupied and strong.

[18:09] Gabrielle Riel: On a larger level, two things happened last year in regards to land in SL, and when both of these things happened, I told you all that it was a mystery as to how these things would affect St John, and that we would just have to wait and see.

[18:10] Gabrielle Riel: The first thing was the sim buy-down opportunity for private estate owners. I am not going to rehash the whole thing, but if you are interested in the details, look at this AFTER tea: http://stjohnintelligencer.tumblr.com/post/142737588086/st-john-tea-transcripts-april-12-1916

[18:10] Pru: nods

[18:10] Gabrielle Riel: I was able to buy-down our homesteads but NOT our full sims. This means that I am paying $100 a month more on St John Parish, St John Woods, Bayou St John and St John (Uptown) than other estate owners are paying on their full sims.

[18:11] Gabrielle Riel: Many other estate owners were able to buy their sims down, and then lower their tier for their residents. St John went from being the rock bottom cheapest tier in the Steamlands to the second highest in the last 6 months.

[18:11] Gabrielle Riel: and that was with use just staying the same.

[18:11] Gabrielle Riel: *just us

[18:12] Gabrielle Riel: The other change was the larger increase in prims to mainland parcels late last Fall. LL increased the amount of prims by 50% on mainland, while only increasing private estates 33%. Mainland has always been less expensive than private estates, so it’s really an amazing deal now.

[18:12] Gabrielle Riel: So…

[18:12] Kitty: in an ugly kinda way

[18:12] Gabrielle Riel: The wait and see is over.

[18:12] Zaida Gearbox agrees with kitty

[18:13] Gabrielle Riel: In my opinion, the fact that I could not afford the sim buy-down and lower our tier and the fact that mainland is an amazing deal now, St John has seen a non-stop stream of parcel abandons and resident departures in the last three months.

[18:13] Pru: :(

[18:13] Gabrielle Riel: We’ve lost some of our long-time stalker alts. ;-) As well as some people who so vocally begged me for larger parcels.

[18:14] Gabrielle Riel: Because of this, and if this trend continues, I want to let you know that I will do what I have to do in order to keep St John financially stable.

[18:14] Gabrielle Riel: And yes, that means dumping homestead sims if I have to.

[18:15] Gabrielle Riel: So enjoy the 9 sims now with sailing and flying! I think that number is on borrowed time.

[18:15] Gabrielle Riel: We are not at that point….yet, but I thought I needed to tell you that this might happen in the coming months, if the abandons continue and not enough new folks move into the vacant parcels.

[18:15] Kitty: nods

[18:16] Gabrielle Riel: While it has not been pleasant, I am also aware that this is just part of life as an estate owner. It’s very cyclical. I have grown, and then shrunk, an estate before. New Toulouse was 2 sims when I bought it in 2009 and I increased it to 8 sims by late 2011...before having to dump sims in 2012 when people left SL in droves.

[18:16] Gabrielle Riel: I don’t want this next part to sound cold, but I don’t know any other way of putting it…

[18:17] Gabrielle Riel: People in Second Life are fickle. And that is NORMAL! SL is made to be “instant gratification” for so many people. I long ago learned to have a level of detachment about residents and land because of the high-turnover I have witnessed over the years.

[18:17] Gabrielle Riel: Also, life is happening for all of our residents. Circumstances change. Budgets change.

[18:17] Pru: nods

[18:18] Gabrielle Riel: As I said, it's always cycling!

[18:18] Gabrielle Riel: And this ain't my first ride!

[18:18] Princess Selena: :)

[18:18] Kitty: fasten your seatbelts!

[18:18] Gabrielle Riel: I’ve also lost count on how many times someone has come to me with grand ideas and waxed rhapsodic about St John (or New Toulouse when I owned it) and how they LOVE it SO much…

[18:18] Gabrielle Riel: ...and they dump their land and poof 2 weeks later. That happens a LOT because of that fickle, fleeting mindset so many people have in here.

[18:19] Gabrielle Riel: Please know that I don’t judge them for that. I don’t take any of it personally. It’s just part of the many, many cycles in here. Cycles of community. Cycles with individuals. I turn 11 in a month and I’ve built up walls and armor and distance when it comes to people and land. Well, when it comes to people in general. :-)

[18:19] Gabrielle Riel: So…

[18:19] Kitty: notice she didnt say cats

[18:20] Gabrielle Riel: As of right now, nothing is changing. I just wanted to let you all know what has been happening with the abandons and vacancies, so that if they continue and I need to start lopping off sims, you won’t be surprised.

[18:20] Zaida Gearbox hopes st john parish will be ok

[18:20] Kitty: yeah

[18:20] Gabrielle Riel: The economic and land changes of 2016 have come home to roost. I could not afford to buy down our full sims, and so I could not lower your tier. Other estates were able to do that, and now they are cheaper than us. There is nothing I can do about that.

[18:21] Gabrielle Riel: I can’t lower our tier. It’s already rock bottom for the price I have to pay to LL If I lowered our tier, then the entire estate would go into the red. Yes, we’ve ALWAYS lived that close to the edge. I’ve said it a million times and here I go again: I make NO money as an estate owner.

[18:21] Gabrielle Riel: I also have no control over the fact that LL made mainland an amazing deal in terms of price. It was actually a very smart business move on their part.

[18:21] Kitty: the rats

[18:21] Gabrielle Riel: The only thing I have control over is how I manage things moving forward. I might make little changes here and there. I might come up with crazy schemes for events and god knows what else!

[18:22] Kylie: But that sure hasn't changed the look of mainland.:(

[18:22] Kitty: yeah its uglier than ever

[18:22] Gabrielle Riel: It has not been easy, watching the steady stream of exits over the last 3 months, but I had an experience a few days ago that really helped me feel positive about the State of the Estate.

[18:22] Gabrielle Riel: An old friend who has been gone from SL for 6 years came in to visit. She was my librarian for the library that I had in New Toulouse from 2009-2011. She had never seen St John, so I set her off on a self-guided tour.

[18:23] Kitty: ohhhhh

[18:23] Kitty: wonders if i hit on her

[18:23] Gabrielle Riel: As she explored, she kept IMing me. “OMG, Gabi! This place is beautiful!” “Oh Gabi! I love what you did here!” “Oh Gabi, everyone’s houses look so amazing!”

[18:23] Gabrielle Riel: It’s been a long time since I have looked at St John through fresh eyes. Talking to her, getting her feedback was wonderful. It made me remember, yes, I and my residents built this place and it’s stunning! In addition to stunning, the people are SO great!

[18:23] Princess Selena smiles and agrees with the librarian

[18:24] Kitty: yeah!

[18:24] Gabrielle Riel: It was exactly what I needed to hear after these last few months. A needed boost to settle me for whatever the future might bring our way.

[18:24] Gabrielle Riel: So….after ALL that….does anyone have any questions? :-D

[18:24] Kitty: well this place comes with Community unlike the mainland for the most part

[18:24] Pru: Raises her hand

[18:24] Kitty: fells positive

[18:25] Kitty: feels*

[18:25] Gabrielle Riel: oui Pru?

[18:25] Pru: Are the vacancies happening acroos all the sims?

[18:25] Gabrielle Riel: Yes

[18:25] Zaida Gearbox raises hand

[18:25] Pru: so there is no high concentration in any particular place?

[18:25] Gabrielle Riel: No - it's estate-wide

[18:25] Pru: Thank you

[18:26] Gabrielle Riel: oui zaida?

[18:26] Zaida Gearbox: are there abandoned parcels that aren't showing yellow on the map?

[18:26] Gabrielle Riel: At the moment yes, because I set a bunch for sale this morning, and they won't show until tomorrow.

[18:27] Gabrielle Riel: But you can see all of them listed in my Classifieds tab

[18:27] Ava: Obviously LL is aware of the general, gradual exodus ..... do they have plans to stop the bleeding and reverse the trend in SL?

[18:27] Gabrielle Riel: And I have some I still need to process vacancies in Woods

[18:27] Kitty: wow the woods are usually on a waiting list

[18:28] Gabrielle Riel: So there are more parcels for sale atm than what the map shows

[18:28] Gabrielle Riel: Woods has a lot of vacancies atm

[18:28] Kate Cynster: will not look at the map...will not look at the map...

[18:28] Gabrielle Riel: As for LL Ava, only they know. I *do* think the changes they made last year, the ones that hurt us, are actually good ones in general.

[18:29] Gabrielle Riel: From a pure business perspective, giving estate owners the chance to buy down their sims and lower tier

[18:29] Gabrielle Riel: and making mainland MORE of a deal

[18:29] Gabrielle Riel: these things should increase land ownership in general

[18:30] Kitty whispers: an ugly deal

[18:30] Gabrielle Riel: But not here

[18:30] Gabrielle Riel: I did a whole big presentation last year about the buy downs

[18:30] Gabrielle Riel: I did not have an extra $4000 USD hanging around

[18:31] Gabrielle Riel: So I could not buy us down, the full sims

[18:31] Gabrielle Riel: I WAS able to do the homesteads, except for poor Fox who ordered hers after LL's deadline

[18:31] Kitty: awww

[18:32] Gabrielle Riel: Now, is land ownership increasing in those estates that DID the buy down and lowered tier?

[18:32] Gabrielle Riel: I have no idea.

[18:32] Gabrielle Riel: Is it increasing on mainland? No clue.

[18:32] Gabrielle Riel: But the fact that those two things happened

[18:33] Gabrielle Riel: and then A bunch of people pulled up stakes and left St John - they might be connected - or not

[18:34] Gabrielle Riel: It might just be a bunch of things coming together, party of the cycle of community

[18:35] Gabrielle Riel: I could chase everyone who left down and ask, but I am not really in the mood to do that. That's if anyone would even respond to the question.

[18:35] Princess Selena: they never respond to me

[18:35] Princess Selena: I do hunt them down

[18:35] Princess Selena laughs

[18:35] Gabrielle Riel: That does not surprise me

[18:35] Kitty: hahaha

[18:35] Kylie: hehe

[18:35] Pru: I will tell Chu Chu you'll be calling. :)

[18:35] Gabrielle Riel: It's that usual, fickle thing

[18:36] Kylie: I would answer, but I'm staying

[18:36] Gabrielle Riel: Out of sight, out of mind, and just part of the general SL culture

[18:37] Gabrielle Riel: I mean this is a place where people build businesses, create relationships, get partnered...

[18:37] Gabrielle Riel: and then one day decide to never log in as that avatar again

[18:37] Kitty: thats sad

[18:37] Gabrielle Riel: I dated a guy once who did that - not to me, but before he met me

[18:38] Gabrielle Riel: I was not surprised when he turned out to be a jerk who dumped me on Christmas Day!

[18:38] Kylie: Well, not everyone is like that... thank goodness.

[18:38] Kitty: that sucks

[18:38] Gabrielle Riel: You have all been around long enough now to know that occurs.

[18:38] Kate Cynster: sounds like the ex of mine who dumped me right after valentine's day

[18:38] Pru: sometimes RL circustances, such as budget, can affect us. :)

[18:39] Gabrielle Riel: And I am not talking about people who start over, that's different.

[18:39] Kitty: or heartlessness

[18:39] Gabrielle Riel: Some of my closest friends are people who started over!

[18:40] Gabrielle Riel: As I said, things go in cycles

[18:40] Gabrielle Riel: I just want St Johnians to be prepared when sims start poofing off the map.

[18:40] Pru: Speaking on behalf of cousin Chu, she is not making much from her sales and could not justify an inworld store

[18:40] Kitty: digs nails in my precious Bayou

[18:41] Gabrielle Riel: And communities cycle - expand and contract ALL the time

[18:41] Eve Whiterose: So what's your current idea of what is longer term sustainable

[18:41] Kate Cynster: if the beach should have to go...i'll move in with kitty...lol

[18:41] Gabrielle Riel: So please don't see shrinking as a failure, IF we need to shrink.

[18:41] Gabrielle Riel: We are ok as we are for now.

[18:42] Kitty: you might have to deal with a stream of catladies

[18:42] Kate Cynster: lol

[18:42] Gabrielle Riel: The key will be seeing what happens in the next few months, and especially in summer :-(

[18:42] Gabrielle Riel: if summer abandons hit us, I see a homestead being dropped

[18:43] Gabrielle Riel: Last year was weird though. We HAD the usual summer abandons and then we filled up.

[18:43] Gabrielle Riel: It was the second Summer of Buck the Trend for me

[18:43] Kylie: It's winter in Australia, when it's summer int he states.

[18:43] Gabrielle Riel: It happened in Summer 2011 in NT too when I owned it

[18:44] Gabrielle Riel: and then the next year I had to dump sims

[18:44] Gabrielle Riel: So I've been down this path before. It's just a roller coaster.

[18:44] Gabrielle Riel: One thing

[18:44] Gabrielle Riel looks around

[18:45] Gabrielle Riel: I think Selena was the only one of you around when I shrunk NT and then sold it

[18:45] Princess Selena: I think I am *nods*

[18:45] Gabrielle Riel: If sims need to go, EVERYONE in the affected sims are relocated to the best option.

[18:46] Gabrielle Riel: Hell, St John Woods EXISTS because I needed to save it.

[18:46] Gabrielle Riel: So people would not lose their homes

[18:46] Kitty: we need a snow sim in the winter too

[18:47] Gabrielle Riel: I do my utmost to make sure that everyone gets settled - no one just gets told they need to leave

[18:47] Kitty: looks at Pru with visions of snowballs dancing in my head

[18:47] Pru: :)

[18:47] Gabrielle Riel: That is not something that other estate owners do. Many just say "too bad, so sad, find another place to live."

[18:47] Eve Whiterose: Hmm...I read this as meaning I should start shopping. I don't have "homes." Well, other than the tiny cottage.

[18:47] Kitty: well thats awful!

[18:48] Gabrielle Riel: Sims owned by land barons get sold out from under the residents on a regular basis.

[18:48] Kitty: awful!

[18:49] Gabrielle Riel: There are some estates who will go to any length to hang on to sims

[18:49] Gabrielle Riel: Such as having a few people lease all the available parcels

[18:49] Gabrielle Riel: I won't do that either. If we need to shrink, we shrink.

[18:50] Gabrielle Riel: I am not going to put pressure on residents.

[18:51] Gabrielle Riel: There are some estates where if one of those main landholders were to get hit by a bus? Kiss those estates buh-bye.

[18:51] Kitty: egads!

[18:52] Gabrielle Riel: My goal here is to have sims supported as they are now. By a large, diverse group of residents.

[18:53] Gabrielle Riel: Also, at this point, I do NOT see dropping any of our full sims.

[18:53] Gabrielle Riel: If I need to downsize it will be homesteads that go.

[18:53] Kitty: whew

[18:54] Gabrielle Riel: And the only way they will go is if the trend of the last three months continues. For now, we are ok.

[18:54] Gabrielle Riel: But it's a darn roller coaster

[18:54] Gabrielle Riel: And I knew that and know that

[18:54] Pru: Is this a good time for an unrelated question?

[18:54] Gabrielle Riel: I think I even briefly mentioned it in the podcast I did with Selena last Fall

[18:55] Gabrielle Riel: Sure - question?

[18:55] Pru: what is the thaw schedule for The Woods?

[18:55] Eve Whiterose: Spring!

[18:55] Gabrielle Riel: Melting will occur over the next 2 weeks

[18:55] Eve Whiterose: Californians want to know!

[18:56] Pru: :)

[18:56] Gabrielle Riel: and as always, the first green will be out by Spring equinox!

[18:56] Kylie: *laughs*

[18:56] Gabrielle Riel: Although

[18:56] Gabrielle Riel: We might see one LAST snow in Woods

[18:56] Pru: I have a venue opening to plan

[18:56] Gabrielle Riel: at some point in the next few days

[18:56] Gabrielle Riel: But yes, it's a week into March already!

[18:57] Gabrielle Riel: Which means Woods starts to melt!

[18:57] Pru: Huzzah!

[18:57] Gabrielle Riel: Any other questions as we head to the top of the hour?

[18:57] Ava: newp

[18:58] Gabrielle Riel: This was about as fun as the US State of the Union huh? ;-)

[18:58] Ava: :)

[18:58] Princess Selena: heh

[18:58] Pru: I didn't watch that!

[18:58] Gabrielle Riel: That was worse. SO WAY WORSE!

[18:58] Kylie: hehe

[18:58] Kitty: not as much a circus

[18:59] Eve Whiterose: I didn't start drinking for this one

[18:59] Kylie: LOL Eve

[18:59] Kitty: hahahahhahaha

[18:59] Gabrielle Riel: At least you know I am only half crazy and tend to tell the truth.

[18:59] Kitty: yer not so bad

[18:59] Gabrielle Riel: And only live in this virtual reality, not my own personal delusions! ;-)

[19:00] Kitty: haha

[19:00] Gabrielle Riel: If you think of any questions, please let me know.

[19:00] Eve Whiterose: Where's your teleprompter?

[19:00] Pru: Thank you, Gabi.

[19:00] Gabrielle Riel: Well my dears, I think we can take our empty cups to the sink, because I hereby declare tonight’s tea officially OVER!

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