Woohoo!!! 80,000!!!

Once a guest always a guest. Jeska fixed your User CP problem already, I think. Being a permanent guest regardless of official status just means you get to use the good towels.

How do you get this? Is this based off of tier contributions?

If this was actually happening there wouldn't be a measurable 57-percent decline in tier fee paying residents when compared to the population as a whole over the course of the past six-months. It would be going up.



If residents were actually investing the bulk of their profits in expanding their tier then, again, there would not be a measurable 57-percent decline in tier fee-paying residents when compared to the population as a whole. Again, it would be going up.

The LindeX has only been in existance since September 29th, 2005, and this decline was happening prior to that.

Also, Linden Lab isn't making all that much from LindeX sales. On the "buy side" they earn US$0.30-cents per transaction. On the "sell side" they earn 3.5-percent. If we assume a daily volume of L$3-million per day (that's a "high" volume; it's been below that since the release of version 1.7) and also assume an exchange rate of US$1 = L$250 (and the rate still isn't that favorable for currency sellers) then LL is making US$420+ per day from acting as the middleman in resident currency trades. That's US$153,300+ over the course of a year. I vaguely remember Philip Linden mentioning that LL makes more than US$400,000 per month in tier fee revenues.

Again, let me restate, the _current_ problem facing Second Life is Basic accounts are not upgrading to Premium account status. And even when that happens fewer residents are expanding beyond their minimum tier at a healthy rate when compared to the population as a whole.

Some people who rent contribute tier and some don't. So there is no way of knowing how much if any of the drop can be contributed to people who are still paying to be a land dweller but are not directly holding tier.

Yea, hasn't anyone noticed the amazing rental business happening in SL. There are lots of renters not paying tier.

To help clarify things let's divide everyone into four distinct groups:

A) Premium accounts owning more than 512-sq.m of land (pay tier fees)

B) Premium accounts owning less than 512-sq.m of land (pay no tier fees)

C) Premium accounts owning no land (pay no tier fees)

D) Basic accounts which cannot own land (pay no premium and pay no tier fees)

(Please note, rented land still has to be owned by someone in Group A or B)

Though Group A increased nearly 9-percent over the month of October, when compared to the population as a whole it's declined 57-percent over the course of the past 6-months.

Another way of putting it: Though the population is bulking up, and now exceeds 80,000-members, Basic residents are no longer converting to Premium accounts at the same rate. If there's been a 57-percent drop in group A there might also be a 57-percent drop in Groups B and C. And Group D is growing by leaps and bounds.

The best we can do is calculate the size of Group A, subtract that from the total size of the population, and anyone left over is in Group B, C, or D.

Again, allow me to restate, the _current_ problem facing Second Life is that Basic accounts are not upgrading to Premium accounts, nor are Residents expanding into paying tier fees, at the same "healthy" rate, as a percentage of the population as a whole, when compared over the course of the past 6-months.

In a nutshell: Fewer Basic residents are opting for Premium status. It's problematic to the health of the Second Life community.

Relative numbers mean nothing to LLab. They're caring about absolutes. And absolutely, the number of tier-paying residents are increasing at a steady pace. Period.

If we want to play the relativity game, you're entirely forgetting the percentage of land that was created since your "decline". The continent expands, which means there is a constant demand for land. Ergo, LLab makes more money.



Or rather the amount of people checking out SL has increased exponentially since the barrier of entry has been reduced to "free".

There are MORE land holders than there were before. Percentage compared to freeloaders means nothing. They are a non-issue at worst, and at best, an engine for the economy, and thus supporting content creators' tier fees.



The LindeX has only been in existance since September 29th, 2005, and this decline was happening prior to that.



Great. But they're making money indirectly from Lindex-buying basic accounts that aren't from fees. How? By people reinvesting their $L profits into the Lindex, getting it converted to real money, and then using it for tier. Basic accounts are driving the economy, and making LLab a steady revenue stream.




There are simply too many variables around for you to make such a matter-of-fact statement. Free accounts alone will ruin any statistical model you can conjure up.

SL is growing at an absolute number.

LF

Then please share this absolute number with the rest of the class.

To me, more non-teir paying individuals means more sales and more people finding something worth coming to SL for besides creating. Consumers are coming, paying or not.

No we're not. I thought I had successfully reintegrated you. Oh well, back to Dr. Cornelia Wilbur for us again.

Either of you guys willing to put some numbers on the aproximate percentage of residents on your properties who don't contribute teir through LL but rather pay for it via you?

Also, there aren't any 512's, right? Isn't the minimum size 1024?

When Anshe started up Dreamland, discussions concerning potential mass exodus of the mainland were ended with "we'll have to wait and see" and "time will tell". Well, hasn't enough time passed to warrant another look?

It seems awfully easy for a basic player to come in, get cash through the Lindex and rent without ever having anything to do with the tier system. Why should they? Your numbers don't say how many basics are sticking around, renting and generally being part of the economy versus those who are trying SL and not coming back.

Older residents do seem to be tiering down, I agree. But with rental islands and the Lindex, I think guessing on new players isn't the same anymore.

fine.

Starting in July 2004, when they changed the number of recipients from 25 to the top 2% of landowners. I reach my total landowner numbers by the formula "X/.02", with X being the number of winners getting DI.

July 2004: 1600
August 2004: 1800
February 2005: 3200
March 2005: 3400
April: 3650
May: 3900
June: 4050
July: 4400
August: 4750
September: 5050
October: 5500

Basically since summer, the amount of landowners has been increasing faster than it has ever before.

LF

You're looking strictly at net gain. You're not comparing it as a percentage of the population as a whole.

Yes, there was a gain of 350 tier fee-paying residents, from 5,150 to 5,500.

But if the percentage of tier fee-paying residents, when compared to the population as a whole, had remained at 12-percent, there would be 9,600 not 5,500. It's a much healthier number.

Residents, when compared as percentage of the population as a whole, are no longer expanding into higher tier at the same rate they once were.

This is the bottomline as they say. Are they jumping higher in to the next tier? new accounts? No...............But who is filling the higher tier levels? Well new landowners ( new to the game) well a percentage of them yes? Basic accounts turning full members no, but only a fraction of them are being them. Its the new paying accounts that are coming into the game expecting to make money are the ones filling the higher tiers. I offen get newbies ask me " i going to build a club and do this and that thats why they are here. From the news they read from the PR about Second Life. Hence existing accounts members that are full members with in the last 6 months are less likey to tier up. Its the Money making newbie land owner( or whole sim owners) that are the ones pushing the margin.

You're missing my point. It doesn't matter. You can throw percentages around til you're blue in the face (a six percent increase in paying customers in one month!), but the fact remains that LLab is growing, not shrinking. Talks of "healthy numbers" and "percentages of population" are nebulous, subjective concepts.

My points still stand.

Mine, too.

...and the current state of 1.7 is hardly going to be a great encouragement for many people to do that!

...i can offer my own case as an example of a recent resident on a basic account with no intention to upgrade to premium status: i bought land on a private island, and the maintenace costs i pay to the island owner trickle up to linden labs through her monthly island fees...that's just one example of many, and perhaps the most direct, but the sustainably explosive growth of island and mainland holdings amongst the volume landowners is clearly being supported by private buyers, renters, and commerce - all of which eventually works its way toward supporting the grid, even where the end consumer need have no direct monetary relationship with linden labs whatsoever...

...i think this is by intent and a smart move, as a larger population and larger economy drives LL's primary income through tier, upload, and rating fees: really it's the next step toward building the sustainable independent economy both SL and LL need in order to thrive...

Very well said indeed...........

well i must say with all the recent problems, i'm a premium land owner with over 10k sq m and am seriously thinking about selling it. it's very frustrating to pay 4 something i'm not being able 2 enjoy

This is waht make me sad when people don`t enjoy the game. its loonies and fruitcakes that really make things bad. If your paying alot omg stressing.

tell me about it, i enjoy my game by giving others the opportunity 2 enjoy there game as well. i love running the family mall that I, along with my husband n family, have established and LOVE finally having my clothing store up and running along with what i've been renting.

but with all the recents problems, it's frustrating to b in the middle of making something n crash, or even worse, being grey or not being able 2 upload textures

n then we have 2 deal with stupidity of people that amuse themselves by crashing the grid. like we don't have enough issues

There is a rash of that happening on sl with loonies and rah rah people. I think people lose the sence why they started playing in the first place. I seen so many people go off the edge more then once. They lose touch with the rl and they feel Second Life is real life
. If spend as much as you do in the game i would not know what to do. I know a few sim owner that life sl because of the current down turn in the rule changes.
What puzzles me is how can sl promoto these rah rah cheerleaders in secondlife promoto the game on the back of current players. There is just too much ass kissing in the ranks. Some thing in the game currently are disturbing, at the moment i am holding tight. And Hope this down turn in the eco blips upwards. I love this game without qusten but what i don`t like is false and misleading PR bull.
Just my 3 yen worth of info
Thanks for reading.

Rah Rah!

?? What is happening with me?

Mel