Saturday, February 23, 2008

land use model, etc.

I think charging for land use is the wrong model. Yes land should be valued because of its proximity to other land; but beyond that it is just a virtual thing. Space in virtual worlds is just a mathematical construct and should be free. Content placed within the space should belong to the creators or purchasers of it.

So what is cpu time in a Second Life sim? It's really energy. Paying for it makes sense, but not when tied to a particular piece of virtual land. What's the right model for a virtual world host to make money? Probably paying for your energy use, not your content (which built-on land and customized land really are... just content). A platform which can't shift land (space) simulations around on a pool of servers will have a hard time charging for just the amount of cpu used to simulate your space...

Ben