"Hello everyone in all the Pods,

As many of you know, SFX and I started Cybertown in 1995 with the vision of creating a place where good people could come together and meet and interact with people they'd never otherwise meet, where they could learn from each other and where people who had real-life challenges could get help and encouragement to overcome them. A place where people of any race, color, age, sex, belief system etc., could co-exist peacefully, work together, learn new skills and express their considerable creativity and a place that many parents could feel is safe for their kids to enjoy and grow in.

With your often incredible participation Cybertown has become just that and has grown even beyond our dreams. In being part of and watching Cybertown's growth from the days of SFX and myself sitting alone in a small 3D world wondering if anyone would show up to talk, to the amazing place it has become today, the true value of Cybertown to people socially has become very, very real to us. It is also still "our baby".

As many of you also know, after the market crash of last year, at the beginning of this year blaxxun declared insolvency and ceased operations. Since SFX and myself sold Cybertown to blaxxun in 1998 and blaxxun now owned Cybertown, this insolvency of course seriously threatened Cybertown's ability to stay online.

By a combination of strong intention, fast footwork, some help from a few fine residents and a miracle or two, we and others have managed to keep Cybertown online these past 10 months.

We have also had to work hard to try and recover Cybertown from blaxxun legally as well as find and set up suitably powerful servers for Cybertown in the US. And also simultaneously find a way to pay for these servers and for the staff needed to pull this all off and ensure that Cybertown was never in this kind of situation again.

The good news is that an "Angel" company came forward who was willing, despite all obstacles, to negotiate and purchase a controlling interest in Cybertown from blaxxun and who was also willing to set up full hosting for Cybertown in the US as well as pay for such things as having ex-blaxxun engineers facilitate the server move etc.

Who is this company and what do they do? They are called IVN - Integrated Virtual Networks - and they are currently working on an extremely exciting new technology called "Silhouette" that is going to revolutionize how people interact in 3D. Silhouette will add a new dimension of communication and interaction to Cybertown allowing for a more realistic immersive experience. As part of the deal, Cybertown is to be the first to have this technology. At this time I cannot tell you any more about the specifics of the technology as it is highly confidential, but I have seen it working with my own eyes and it truly is amazing.

IVN plans to use Silhouette to attract the mainstream to 3D to foster a much larger 3D community. One in which experienced Cybertown citizens will be pioneers, leaders and also merchants.

Now, as in anything in life, this comes at a price. Keeping a site as large and busy as Cybertown online costs a lot of money just in servers and basic staff alone and the money has to come from somewhere. In the past it has come from my partners and myself, from friends, from blaxxun, from website work for others, from residents and from sponsors.

As you know, last year there was a huge change in the marketplace that affected many Internet sites and communities, many of whom are no longer with us and in recent months most every still remaining community site has had to go to a subscription model in order to survive. And you also know that we have been recently asking your feedback regarding such a model and that we have held out from implementing such a scheme for a long time now.

In the current market climate, in order for Cybertown to stay online and in order for us to be able to create and move to the Next Generation of Cybertown, as well as add new features, places and technology in the interim, particularly the new enhanced dimension of 3D communication that "Silhouette" will provide, and to provide a larger community in which to interact, Cybertown needs to become self-supporting.

IVN is a small company and like any business it needs revenues in order to remain viable and to recover its investment in Cybertown. And in order for IVN to be able to keep Cybertown online, Cybertown needs to start making revenues on a consistent basis and the only truly workable way is via subscription (and of course sponsorships, which are usually on a less consistent basis).

We always wanted to make any Cybertown subscription service an opt-in situation but unfortunately this is not currently possible so the new owners, IVN, and ourselves have determined that Cybertown needs to become a subscription site on January 1st 2003.

But unlike other subscription sites, we've also tried to take into account your needs and I want to go over some of the aspects of this that make it truly different from other subscription systems and that do keep your needs in mind. Together with IVN we have looked in great depth into how we can make this a win-win situation.

First of all, the monthly subscription rate will only be $5 a month (which is less than comparable sites and less than the price of a movie each month).

Secondly, if you get 2 other people to join as a member you will get your own membership free while they remain members.

Thirdly, those residents willing to pay more than $5 a month can sponsor other members and in return get various social, citycash and other benefits in Cybertown. Parents could sponsor their children, employers could sponsor their employees, members can sponsor deserving friends etc.

Fourthly, as Cybertown starts to get more paying sponsors (and it already has thanks to the efforts of some great citizens), IVN has very kindly agreed to make a portion of that money available to sponsor needy potential members.

Not only that but IVN has also agreed to come in as a Sponsor itself to help pay the memberships of those who are contributing at the highest levels in Cybertown if they have difficulty paying the membership fee. Such sponsorships will be awarded based on such things as need, longevity in Cybertown and contribution to the community.

New visitors will have a 30 day period to explore Cybertown and then if they don't subscribe or become sponsored, the only access they will have thereafter is to the Plaza. Subscribers will have full access to all of Cybertown's amenities including many new features, places, technologies etc. There will also an option to pay an annual fee and save about 15%.

Another part of this is that as members subscribe, they will be given a sequential ID number and those who are among the first to subscribe will be the first to be able to test and use the new "Silhouette" technology. For those who want to know more about "Silhouette", there will be announcements made to subscribers as well as announcements giving information about IVN and our plans to take 3D to the mainstream (business, entertainment, government and other sectors) through a much expanded 3D environment. There are also plans to create a market outside of Cybertown for the software and services developed in Cybertown. For example, those that have created virtual objects may be able to sell those virtual objects for real money to a larger market than the current Cybertown.

The goal is to make Cybertown self-sufficient as well as to do everything possible to enable our active members to stay but do realize that if no-one subscribes and if everyone rushes to try and become sponsored, there will be no Cybertown. There will be an e-mail going out shortly to the current membership announcing all of this and asking questions that will enable us to better predict how many will subscribe.

Before you deluge us with questions, a web page will be created that will explain all this in more detail (and yes, people without credit cards will be able to pay in other ways and we are also looking into a possible "Family Rate").

The truth of the matter is that the only way to truly guarantee that Cybertown will remain online for you all to continue to enjoy is for Cybertown to become self-supporting and this is why we have to do what we are doing. $5 a month is very little to pay for what Cybertown gives to so many people. I hope you will support IVN and ourselves in this next step in Cybertown's evolution.

Thank you.

Hawk"

Note: The 45 most recently asked questions about the new subscription plan are here.