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Jan 10, 2002, 1:50am

Hello all -

I am posting this after a lot of soul searching. I am the owner of the
build world called NOVA which has been in existence for 4 years. It comes
up for renewal in March. It is a world that goes to 90 meters in all
directions, therefore my renewal fee is quite steep ($840 American
dollars).

Until the deletion of the tourists and the recent "new plan" of the
management of AW, I had every intension of renewing NOVA in March. I am
not really sure that I can do it now and still feel confident that I will
get my year's worth of NOVA's existence. In other words, I am afraid that
the decision regarding tourists will ultimately bankrupt AW. I would
NEVER agree to give out my credit card number to try out a program that I
have never seen. Sorry but it is reality... :(

I have worked for companies that have gone under and it is a sad thing to
see. It is particularly sad if you are a part of that company (in this
case, community) for many years as I have been. If it were only the
citizenship price increase that we were talking about I would gladly give
AW $10/month to enjoy their wonderful program. I know many of you cannot
afford that but fortunately I can and my decision would be to stay with
it and see what happens. I have an $840 decision to make in regards to my
world. I don't want to be a fool, renew my world, and find myself in a
long line of creditors that will get NOTHING when AW folds. NOVA has
never been about me, btw. It has existed from its beginnings as a
builder's world. I have personally spent many hours working on making it
what it is, and I have felt very good about helping the community in this
way. As I write this, I feel very saddened and disappointed. NOVA's
object world, Implode was just renewed in December before the "big bang"
as I call it so it is "good to go" for those World owners using my path.

I have always been an active member of the AW community. I serve on the
CY committee and was one of the founders of the group, WOW (Women Owning
Worlds). I have probably bought (or given away) no less than 20
citizenships to tourists over the years when I have seen potential in
them and a love of AW. NOVA has always been open to tourist building.
Obviously I will no longer be able to give away citizenships with the new
price increase and am writing this message to warn my builders about a
possible closure of NOVA in March.

I want to give all my past and present builders (yes, I have builds on
NOVA that date back to 1998) the chance to come into NOVA and copy their
artwork aka builds by bot. You may use your bot or a friend's bot, but
please just let me know which citizen number I need to add to allow the
bot into NOVA. You can email me or telegram me online.

I would like to thank all the wonderful helpers I have had on NOVA over
the years and you know who you are :) This is not saying I am definitely
closing NOVA it is just a warning that I may have to. If AW does not
change their tourist policy and things remain as have been the last week
or so I will not be renewing my world.

I will be calling AW either tomorrow or Friday with my idea for tourists
and hopefully it will help. It may mean some rewrite of the program but I
think tourists should be able to log on as a trial citizen for a month
(no prior credit card, etc) but they would NOT have the right to build. I
think that any tourist that likes the program would want to build and as
I said above $10/mo is not that horrible a price to pay for a program
like AW. After 30 days they would not be able to log back on.

Meanwhile I go back to my world to break the news at ground zero. BTW
anyone that likes to build and just wants a lot to play around with the
new commands, etc contact me and I will give you a lot on NOVA to play
in.

Sincerely,

Irene Schaft aka Wings0nite and WingsOnite and ECOL

Jan 10, 2002, 2:11am

:(

SW Chris

[View Quote]

Jan 10, 2002, 5:22am

To the AW community:

It saddens me greatly to see Nova go. I was one of the lucky recipients of
the generosity of Wings.. Without her help and support I doubt I would have
been here long.. but thanks to her... I also purchased my own world.

Braendon isn't a huge world. It only goes to 40 in all directions.. but it
also costs me a fair bit of money.. at least it is a lot for me.

I love this place! I love Nova.. (my first build in AW is there) and, of
course, I love my own world and cry inside every time I have to face the
realities of the past few weeks. It breaks my heart to watch all this
unfold. Nevertheless, I must agree with Wings.. I cannot justify paying to
renew Braendon given the current situation.

Unfortunately, unlike Wings.. I cannot afford the new increase. I had just
renewed my citizenship before the 'big bang' (good term for this Wings) and
can be here in AW for another year ... but I don't know that I will... so
much has been lost now.. and there are so many hard feelings..

The actions of AW have broken my heart and dreams. I miss the tourists..
the life blood of any on line community is the NEW blood. This move kills
that IMHO. I also disapprove of the manner in which AW has acted. I know
they are a company.. but I also know that they are people that WERE a part
of this community.. until they betrayed us and acted more like a corporate
giant squashing insignificants than the visionaries I had fashioned them to
be.

I am thoroughly disappointed with your choices AW, and even more disgusted
with the WAY you did all this. Threats.. booting users and universes even!
WE ARE AW..!!! You may have invented it.. but if no one stays you have
failed. You have showed us all a great disrespect and you are
systematically destroying yourselves as well.

Braendon will most likely follow suit with Nova.
With sincere sadness and regret... I cannot remain... not unless AW comes
to its senses and proposes a VIABLE alternative!

Malka aka Malka DeLila aka Cherie Jenkins
Owner of Braendon

[View Quote]

Jan 10, 2002, 5:41am

Ohhh I forgot to mention something ... AOL HELL understands marketing.
It is a pity that AW does not follow some of AOL's ideas. Sending out
coasters (err CD's) is not a bad move :-) Having free AW CD's with 1
month free (or 1000 hours as AOL advertises) is not a bad idea... just
ask Steve Case how much of a salary raise he has received because of
AOL's tremendous growth?!

AW has never marketed their product correctly. Granted AOLHell appeals to
the newbies to computers but AW should follow the same action plan and
appeal to newbies to chat. When Aw made the deal with Juno I hoped they
were on the right track, apparently NOT :((

Wings

Jan 10, 2002, 11:51am

Click and crash in one second on the Internet!:)
:)
[View Quote] >Ohhh I forgot to mention something ... AOL HELL understands marketing.
>It is a pity that AW does not follow some of AOL's ideas. Sending out
>coasters (err CD's) is not a bad move :-) Having free AW CD's with 1
>month free (or 1000 hours as AOL advertises) is not a bad idea... just
>ask Steve Case how much of a salary raise he has received because of
>AOL's tremendous growth?!
>
>AW has never marketed their product correctly. Granted AOLHell appeals to
>the newbies to computers but AW should follow the same action plan and
>appeal to newbies to chat. When Aw made the deal with Juno I hoped they
>were on the right track, apparently NOT :((
>
>Wings
>

Jan 10, 2002, 12:33pm

I still think AW has a trick up their sleeve ;-)
[View Quote]

Jan 10, 2002, 4:27pm

an idea: go to another universe, like OW, and check with them, they've
obviously been guaranteed continuity even if the AWC should go bankrupt...
some universe owner might see your world as a great asset, and could
possibly even sponsor it? you never know, worth a try :-))

KAH

[View Quote]

Jan 10, 2002, 4:32pm

Not to nitpick or anything, but when a few people show disrespect for the
company that gave us the software, by starting up illegal universes or
migrating to them and all that jazz, what else can AW do but threaten to
take legal action?

SW Chris

[View Quote]

Jan 10, 2002, 4:35pm

Yes, well, the Eep's of the world would have disapproved with that. If I
recall, there was significant opposition to Junodome. Even that word is
somewhat derogatory in AWspeak. :) Can't please everyone all the time.

AWC can still pull out of their financial troubles. They're not dead yet.

SW Chris

[View Quote]

Jan 10, 2002, 10:59pm

Ya someone could write a script for the Ally Mcbeal show. All about a cit
from AW thats sueing for pain and suffering incured because of a VR
incounter. In this script you'd have Ally and Company expieriencing AW ....
not that I watch the show its just that this is the kind of corny stuff they
get into. This show would effectively advertise AW through the very medium
thats most effective TV. Write a script and submit it to the producers for
review. Who's up to it?

[View Quote]

Jan 11, 2002, 3:26am

I just signed on AW and received a telegram from another world owner who
deleted her build on Nova because she did not want me to "take it to
another universe".... obviously, she missed the point :( Again, I will
clarify ....

I am not "jumping ship" I am not going to a new universe or taking my
world to a new universe. I am not leaving AW. I will stick by them to the
bitter end. AW is my virtual home. I love it here and have no plans to
move anything (myself or my world) to another universe. In fact, if I can
actually talk to someone at AW and they reassure me that they have a plan
to save AW then I WILL renew Nova in March.

My concern right now is renewing Nova if it is obvious in March that they
are not going to make it. Why should I send them $840 renewal fee if they
will only be around for two or three more months? Hello? Am I speaking
Greek here? You think they will contact me to make arrangements to refund
the difference for Nova being down and not available? Of course not! They
will be bankrupt and I can write off my world AND my money.

I have one other point to make and it regards the tourists. This world
owner (who I respect and therefore will not mention) implied that my
decision was about the tourists leaving... I will clarify once again.
This is NOT about tourists, it is about renewing a world for $840 with a
company that has obviously made some very bad decisions and may go
bankrupt as a result. The tourist decision was the worst one made by AW
(in my humble opinion) because some tourists actually become citizens. I
am anxiously waiting to hear AW's ideas on how they plan to bring in new
citizens and further market AW, so my much loved virtual home will
remain.

Sincerely,

Irene Schaft aka Wings0nite aka WingsOnite aka ECOL

Jan 11, 2002, 6:06pm

the gist of my post was that if they do seem to go under, then you can go to
someone else, and keep your virtual home alive, even though you had to move
it... I think that it's better than just trashing it if they go bust...

KAH

[View Quote]

Jan 12, 2002, 7:13am

Hello all :)

A thank you for all of you who either answered my post here or sent me
email. I appreciate the response :)

I think I have found a solution that will help my Nova builders and
reassure me without wiping out Nova entirely :-) My host for Nova has
always been Russ aka DMghost (Synergycorp). I just sent him an email
about this situation and asked him to work with me on it (which I know
that he will) PLUG HERE Synergycorp is a fantastic host if you are
needing one :)))

Anyway what I want him to do is backup Nova close to my last remaining
days. I will close Nova at the end of February to assure that there are
no new builds. He will back it up for me. I will renew Nova as a much
smallar world (like going to 20). I will then keep Nova closed until such
time I have the reassurance from AW that they are going to make it. At
that time I will call them and enlarge Nova back to 90 meters and have
Russ use the final backup to restore it.

This way my builders will keep their builds. They will be in virtual
suspension for a few months but they won't be lost. How about that for a
solution? LOL And I lost sleep over this? I knew deep down that somehow
there was an answer :-)

To all of you that emailed me ........ it was overwhelming, and I am
sorry I could not answer you all but believe me I could NOT believe the
responses to my posts here in email! I appreciate all the advice and
concern :) ummmm eep is not here any longer people You MAY post here
again without being slaughtered LOL :)

Hugs and stuff,

Irene Schaft aka Wings0nite aka WingsOnite aka ECOL

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