Anshe,
Linden Lab is making signifcantly less money through you than they would be if the residents were paying tier directly to them for the same sized land, as you are using the discount you receive for owning the entire island. How is this not harmful to Linden Lab? They would be making 2-3 times the tier fees per sim of land that they are getting $195 a month from you for.
Linden Lab is making signifcantly less money through you than they would be if the residents were paying tier directly to them for the same sized land, as you are using the discount you receive for owning the entire island. How is this not harmful to Linden Lab? They would be making 2-3 times the tier fees per sim of land that they are getting $195 a month from you for.
The difference is far wider. Measuring it all annually:
If 128 Basic residents were to upgrade to Premium membership and then each individually purchased First Land and filled an entire sim (which has a max of 128 512-sq.m parcels) then the actual annual gross is:
US$9.95-monthly premium * 128-parcels * 12-months or US$15,283.20
[For those relying on a scarcity model for a rising value of the L$ versus the US$ note that this removes L$65,536 (about US$262) from circulation as in-world monies paid to the Lindens are, for all intents and purposes, destroyed.]
If 1 resident purchases a private island (and we amortize the island set up fee over a period of 1-year) it's
US$1,250-island set up fee + ((US$9.95-monthly premium + US$195-monthly tier fee) * 12-months) or the annual gross is US$3,709.40
[Again, for those relying on a scarcity model for a rising value of the L$ versus the US$ note that this removes L$0 from circulation.]
It's a difference of 1 to 4.12 when comparing the gross revenue for Linden Lab of a single private island to the gross revenue of 128-premium members.
Remember that we amortized cost of the island set up fee over a 12-month period. After that first year the annual gross is now: US$2,459.40
It's now a difference of 1 to 6.21 when comparing the gross revenue for LL of a single private island (after having amortized the island set up fee) to the gross revenue of 128-premium members.
If we consider tier fees (for example, the aforementioned 128 Premium members all purchase 512-sq.m parcels for vacation cottages in another sim) and begin paying tier fees the gross revenue for that "vacation" sim is
US$5 *128 * 12 or U$7,680 (HOWEVER, that's above and beyond the gross revenue generated by their monthly premiums: US$15,283.20)
Putting the math aside...
The fundamental question is: Do you want to live in a "dependancy" economy or an "ownership" economy? Lots of renters or lots of owners? Lots of Basic accounts or lots of Premium accounts? Lots (no pun intended) of land in the hands of few players or lots of land in the hands of many players?
At the present rates of high growth among "dependants" (Basic accounts) and very slow growth among "owners" (Premium accounts) at a certain point the "dependancy" side of the economy will overwhelm the "ownership" side. In other words, the expenses (bandwidth, support, etc.) from an ever-increasing number of Basic accounts will exceed the revenues generated by the Premium account base.
Instead of asking when SL will hit a population figure of 100,000 we should be asking when LL will take steps to further incentivize the value of a Premium membership beyond higher stipends and the ability to own land.