Taxation Without Representation?

Face it people you are going to have to adapt, rethink, adjust....

Woo hoo, I smell a new .sig line... these are some of the wisest words I've read on forums this morning.

Pretty foolish, actually, to anyone who has significant MMO experience. MMO players will only "adapt, rethink and adjust" to so much, and that's not very much. Beyond that, as the very brief history of MMOs already teaches us, they'll simply quit and go to another MMO.

In a game like SL, wherein businesses depend on a sustained playerbase to thrive, that would more than likely prove devastating.

Actually, insofar as clubs can't make money from the sale of food, alcohol and etc. -- and insofar as they can't offer these things to entice people to visit them -- they DO need money from somewhere in order to sustain themselves. Since they can't offer food or alcohol, it's probably unlikely that they can charge much in the way of cover charges ... and how would that work, anyway? What happens if your system crashes, and you log back in to find yourself outside of the club? Do you pay another cover charge to get back in? What if Random Griefer Idiot with a Gun #513 wanders in and starts shooting people out of the place? Sure, club security deals with them (and we've become very good at that ), but then what? Do the people knocked out of the place have to pay to get back in again?

Ridiculous.

It's been stated time and time again in this thread that SL isn't the real world, and that's absolutely true. But then in the same breath comes the expectation -- from the same people saying this -- that clubs in SL should be able to sustain themselves in the same way that RL clubs do, and that's a ridiculous expectation for any number of reasons.

Unlike some of the other people here, I'm not going to claim that I understand the ins and outs of economics or even the inner workings of all aspects of SL well enough to really grasp the differences between the SL economy and RL economies. I'm just going to say that precisely *because* SL isn't RL -- and precisely *because* SL clubs aren't RL clubs -- the clubs in SL need some kind of funding from SOMEWHERE, whether it's from taxes or simply from money conjured out of nowhere by Linden Labs for the sole purpose of keeping them afloat. That or they need to cost far less to maintain, or even nothing at all. Otherwise, due to the vast differences between SL and RL, they will die.

Now you may not care about that. I do, but maybe you're saying, "So what? I spend 90 percent of my time in my own world and couldn't care less what any of the rest of you do!" That's all well and good, but it really doesn't matter what you want or what I want, either. What really matters is what's best for the game -- more specifically, what's best for Linden Labs' profits. You may pay nearly $200 per month to play -- and that's a lot -- but there are any number of people who also pay monthly fees (even if most are far less) who spend a significant amount of time enjoying events and clubs and who will enjoy the game significantly less if they die off. And who may then quit the game, taking their monthly fees with them.

And while you may question my above assertion -- to wit, that a significant number of people, including people who pay monthly fees, visit clubs -- really, what do YOU know anyway if you're never anywhere in the game but your own island? Psh. I see these people every day. All too frequently, we're so packed full of them that we can only get more people in by teleporting them in because the region's full ... and teleport them in we do.

But maybe, after all, SL will transform from a highly social game into a game only for serious builders paying huge monthly fees to hide out on their islands. And maybe you don't care about that, either. That's fine. Just bear in mind that if that happens, the businesses owned by so many of you monthly-fee-paying builders -- you know, the ones that sell goods to all of us unimportant social non-builders? Yeah. You'll find those businesses pull in far less money when there's virtually nobody left in the game to buy your products ... save other builders who are already making their own things and never leave their own islands anyway. Ditto for people who own apartment complexes, since there's nobody to rent those apartments to if the only people left own their own islands.

There are NO "self-made" men or women in the world of SL, any more than there are in the real world. Their existence is nothing more than popular myth. SL business owners, much like real business owners, build their empires on the foundations of the communities around them, whether they have anything to do with those communities or not. If those foundations crumble and disappear, the businesses will inevitably follow.

Then all that's left is a dogged handful of high-monthly-fee builders who just build for the sake of building. I wonder whether Linden Labs could even support itself on their fees alone.

Most MMO's dont allow you to pay a one time fee then give you money every week to go entertain yourself. But then most don't have user created commercial content, because this isnt an MMO like any other.

What's in this arrangement for LL? really? That they have a sustained playerbase that don't pay to play? Surely this is more of a threat to Second Life?

You're still missing the big picture. Aside from the fact that there are many players who pay SMALL monthly fees, there's the fact that even the non-paying players support SL businesses by purchasing their goods (clothes, scripted objects, etc.) and services (apartments, condos, etc.). If you drive them out of the game by wrecking their reasons for staying (forcing clubs and events into a no-win situation that depends on them sustaining themselves the way RL clubs do, which they can't because SL isn't RL), you:

1. Already lose not only non-paying players but also a large number of players who pay smaller monthly fees.

2. May even lose a few players who pay LARGER fees (I see some of those at the club, too).

3. BIG ONE HERE: End up with businesses trying (and spectacularly failing) to sell products and services to a virtually non-existant playerbase, since nearly everyone save island-owning builders already left.

Then what happens? Think about it. Seriously.

Let me put an intriguing twist to all of this:
Linden Labs is THE SL business owner.
Funny eh?

I have thought about it. And the above is your interpretation of what the future big picture will be. I'm still waiting for someone to respond properly to my basic point and question in all of these threads...

You DONT need money to play second life. You dont NEED a job. You dont NEED to contribute. But if you want to participate in more than the purely social side, whether as a retailer or consumer of any kind, then the fact is you need money. But then... why should that be free to those that want to have their cake and eat it, whether in the form of an allowance, welfare, taxation or whatever?

How does giving people money or free rides in any form at all help anyone or the economy? Is it merely that we hope they stick around a bit longer and buy something from us?

From a purely selfish point of view, I'm not here for any of the commercial aspect of SL. I could live without buying or selling anything. I could live without any L$ at all. Because what I came to SL to do needs no economy of any kind.

You ask, "Why should that [money] be free to those who want to have their cake and eat it, whether in the form of an allowance, welfare, taxation or whatever?" My response: what the hell difference does that make? AT ALL?

Sorry. I thought that was the basis of what all the drahma was about... the free money going down and clubs not 'getting subsidized' by the 'government' any more. My mistake. I'll keep out of it from now on, since I obviously have no clue whats going on.

*fluffs her hair and smiles sappily*

Sorry. I thought that was the basis of what all the drahma was about... the free money going down and clubs not 'getting subsidized' by the 'government' any more. My mistake. I'll keep out of it from now on, since I obviously have no clue whats going on.

*fluffs her hair and smiles sappily*