Will The Last Elves Emigrate?

I leave SecondLife for real life a few days and it seems like all hell breaks loose.

The big story is of course the decision of ElvenMyst, presumably the last Elf clan in SecondLife with over 2 000 members, to leave for a lesser virtual world.

I was really sorry to read that news. I have never had any dealings with the elves of SecondLife - not that I know of - but my Ars always spoke with great admiration of their talent, creativity and skillfulness. As I understand it there were many elves in the earliest days of SecondLife, but they had for some reason or other moved on to other worlds in the course of time.

This last emigration seems to have been brought on by a hiccup in the Linden Lab billing system, which started when one of the Eldars of The ElvenMyst clan got an automatic e-mail from the billing system about being late in paying tier, which he then actually tried to do several times but the system did not accept the payments. The Eldar then filed a ticket with customer support, when it did not get an immediate response or solution the four Eldars decided to pull up stakes and move to InWorldz (of all ghastly places).

Although they have now, according to the clans blog, - a day after the ticket was filed and after direct involvement by Rod Humble (the cute new CEO of Linden Lab, a k a Rodvik Linden) - already been given an both an excuse and a very generous offer of compensation although the Eldars want more.

As I understand it the Eldars are now in communication with the membership to find out what they wish to do in the present situation.

I must say I would be very sad to see the last elves leave, but I cannot help thinking that the decision to leave was an overreaction which was too hastily made. We cannot presume that the people working at customer service know who we are and our standing in-world. Most of those working there probably only visit in-world for work purposes and are not involved in any of the communities.

In my own experience the people at Linden Labs customer service are mostly benevolent and helpful, even if they are not always able to solve your problem fast but then again neither technical nor legal problems can usually be solved by snapping one´s fingers, no matter how huge the customers business is.

I am hoping the elves choose to stay in heaven!