Anger about pricing

Overall I have stayed fairly quiet about the changes, and taken a wait and see attitude, but something has happened in the past day that has made me angry. Yes, I have my own apprehension about prim limits, but overall I have felt calm about the upgrade, until I watched what will happen to one of my close friends. I won't name them here, but will tell how they are affected.

The friend has to be very careful financially in RL - she does not have the disposeable income to throw at a game. She has been incredibly active in SL, and is very passionate about the game. She has also developed two builds that have contributed to SL immensely, and both builds are well known. She owns about 1/16th of a sim, and received the email about being over the base limit and that she would have to pay $25.00 a month to keep her land. She found a way to be able to pay that $25 a month, almost twice what she is currently paying because she loves SL so much. What that email did not clearly state was that she would also have to pay another $9.95 on top of this, which has caused a great amount of stress for her. Watching someone struggle to find a way to pay $25 a month, only to find out, no no wait we really meant $34.95 a month makes me angry at LL. Given the fact that Phillip Linden boldly stated that they did not need the money, why are they financially raping those players who are most passionate and involved in this game? The land packages should include the base account - there should not be a subscription fee on top of it. Having a subscription and land fee is confusing to a lot of players, and far worse, is punishing those who most want to play the game. I recognize the need for the change, but the pricing structure is stacked against those who contribute the most in favor of casual players who won't stick around if there is nothing compelling in the first place.

Cristiano

Where's the additional monthly $9.95 coming from? I was under the impression the only $9.95 involved was an initial subscription fee for new accounts, not an ongoing monthly fee. They've said over and over that the only monthly fee is for land allotments. Can you clarify?

See this post:
/120/0f/7557/1.html

It is answered directly by a Linden, and explains that there is both a subscription and a land fee if you are over 1024m.

There are two types of SecondLife accounts under 1.2: basic accounts, and premium accounts.

A basic account is a $9.95 one-time fee, or no fee for existing members, and includes the right to use the game, a small stipend every week in-game, and no land.

A premium account is a $9.95 monthly fee (less if you pay on a longer-term schedule), and includes the right to use the game, a large stipend every week no matter what, and the rights to 512 sq. m of land (1024 sq. m. for existing members).

Any land in excess of the allowance that comes with your account needs to be paid for on a monthly basis. This land can be paid for with US$, or potentially with L$. I don't know if it's possible to split the payment between US$ and L$, but I hope it will be. (Lindens?)

Depending on exactly how much land your friend owns, she may be able to switch to a basic account and only pay the US$25 a month for the land, or if the land generates enough dwell and profit, she may be able to go with a premium account and cover the land fees with L$.

Since it's been stated that we'll be able to use L$ to pay for land usage fees I think I'd hold off on getting overly upset until they announce the L$ rates for land. If your friend's builds are really popular the $9.95 shouldn't be a problem. She might be able to knock more than that off the land fee and be better off than what she's already planning for.

Also, arent the Lindens opening a shopping mall sim or whatever they call it? I'm sure a lot of merchants will be putting their stuff up for sale there, rather than pay the land fees needed to cover the items sold as well as the shop itself.

I don't pretend to know more, but this might be a route to go. Put the bulk of the clothes and furniture up for sale in the new mall, whenever they open it, and reduce the shop size to cover the items she'll want to or have to keep in federal.

Anybody know more about what I'm talking about? I feel like I'm babbling, but I don't want Pendari to leave, she's way too nice a person, and I like her clothes too.

Yes, I understand there will be a shopping sim opening soon. Haney, can you please give us all some updated information on this? Pretty please?

Aw, this is about Pendari? I don't want to lose her, either...

lol, I thought it was about someone else. Jellin just guessed, I think. But, who it is is not really the point anyway.

Click the link above, it's Pendari.

I've received the follow up E-mail stating the L$ prices for land per month. Just for 512 square meters is L$ 10,000 a month.

And the anger continues. The L$ prices for land are freaking ridiculous. What is the point? People have been holding out hope that they could offset this change by paying in L$, and they get slapped with outrageously high prices. I am very disappointed in Linden Labs at this point. It was bad enough that you did not have this info ready at announcement time, but then to make us wait for this, blah forget it.

The land prices do seem high.

And also i'm not big on the fact that Calling Cards don't count anymore, this was a main reason to go to events, to trade cards, get points and meet people. Sure I could still meet people, thats all fine and good, but Calling Cards was extra incentive.

Yes, those prices are ridiculously high. For my current land which I pay about $4000/wk (thus 16k/wk) for would cost $80k now. That is ridiculous. I can perhaps understand a slight hike, but that is over 4 times.

I've been going about this thinking really hard and deep. Has Second Life become a job rather than a game? I mean really think about it. Now.. if I want to expand and grow I MUST get a job doing something, charge My friends that I never charged for services that they could find someone else better to do.

Reality set in.. (this is not her fault but LL). That a person that's been in the game maybe a couple months?.. Has taken land the same amount as Me.. has the same amount of opportunity as Me.. and now I must depend on everyone to play a part in helping each other out.

Me.. Im more of a loner as most of you probably know. This is not what I planned SL being. All My achievements.. All My builds.. everything gone in a blink of an eye. It don't mean a dang thing anymore. Everyone's equal. No one has that unique standout unless they're rich. Not to say that Im a stubborn SOB, But I've worked hard to make Second Life a better place... now its all up to the wallet to make Second Life a better place.

Going back to job hunting... I MUST get a job, I have no income of My own because I never charged anyone anything because I thought it was a 'nice' thing to do, that's how I got My ratings up to where they are.

It all goes back to the saying... 'Nice guys finish last' Thank you LL for making this statement true.

I do like the 15k of prims per sim though, thats something to be somewhat happy about.

Regardless, you did not have to mention that - if you notice I did not point out who it was, and it was not up to you to do that either.

folks, this is Linden Labs' way of extorting more money out of you for this game. if you have not seen it up to now, the ridiculously high L$ prices they are asking for land should make it blatently obvious.

respond by cancelling your account. do NOT give in to inflation in this game. it is the only way we can save the game we love so dearly.

i say this with the 99% probability that i will cancel my account when it comes up for renewal, unless LL ditches this plan.

i hope those of you that feel you are being extorted and that the game has been ripped apart will join me in delivering a strong message to LL. money talks, BS walks.

Well said.. here here.

The saddest part about this is up until now, Linden Labs has been perfect. They have done everything right, and have avoided the pitfalls of both Maxis and There. It is really sad and frustrating to watch them embark down this path, as there is no going back from it. Once players leave a game, they do not come back - and the kind of players that have built and continue to build this game are not easy to come by. I am very very disappointed, and while I will continue to hold out hope that some things will change dramatically about this, I don't think that they will.

I've allowed myself to calm down a little before posting this.... after having read the followup email.

I have a very simple question.

What FRELLING accountant came up with THIS garbage?

You've got to be kidding me. 'You'll be able to pay with either inworld or real world money.....' 10,000 FREAKING LINDENBUCKS FOR ABOUT 1600 SQUARE FEET?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? MONTHLY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Ok... to the Lindens: I know LindenLabs is in San Francisco.... but most of the rest of the country does NOT pay the same prices for land.

I'm just a bit annoyed by this. Can you tell?

I started out annoyed by the 1.2 announcement, then started feeling better about it after listening to Philip Linden. Guess what? After getting details I'm right back to annoyed about it. If I could afford a lifetime membership I'd have one.... and that would be the only way I could still do most of the things I enjoy in SL. We've already been paying more than most MM communities, (SWG is the only other one I know of that's 15 a month...) and now we're expected to pay even more just to do anything even remotely enjoyable? When the announcement came out, we were assured that most of us would be paying less. I'd like to see some numbers on that, since my (slightly cramped) plot in Freelon is about 800m^2 over the cap.... hence I'll be paying more for the same land.... and I'm hearing from other people that their builds will disappear because they can't afford to maintain them.

Tiered pricing doesn't have to be a bad thing.... but someone SERIOUSLY needs to take a good long look at the prices, and decide just how important it is to retain long-term, productive existing members. With this pricing model, I suspect you're going to be looking at a lot of churn and a large number of flat fee chatters that don't produce any content.

Those land prices do seem awfully high. (And I'm speaking as someone who isn't interested in additional land.)

The only possible compensating factor that I see is that the same Linden e-mail also mentions that the dwell bonus pool has increased, perhaps by as much as 300%. That's not as much as land prices have increased, but as has been discussed, there was too much money in the SL economy. These changes will definitely drain some out.

The e-mail says that the land fees may change in the future. (Perhaps once the amount of money in circulation has dropped?) But there's definitely the risk of alienating the players with too high an initial increase.

Okay, please, please calm down. All this talk of leaving and cancelling is premature. These prices are very, very high, I agree. Instead of showing your anger by simply LEAVING, why not hold a protest in-game? That's the beauty of this place, we can create our own picket signs, etc. Let's hold a protest on Monday and see what happens!

I am protesting. Here. I'm hoping one of the Lindens sees this and finds out which accounting drone got themselves put in charge of setting the price scale.

LindenWorld plots alone are 30,000 linden bucks a month. If this goes through in 1.2, I won't stick around for SL. The last thing I want to do is use a program like SL in which I won't be able to enjoy it because I can't afford the linden dollar conversion and refuse to participate in the USD conversion. I think that they should keep land taxes at normal prices for linden money bought land, but add these tax free plots for USD.

There's a reason I'm here than There. I don't want my real life money influencing my SL benefits depending on how much money I have.

James, i'm with ya. do everything you can now to prevent 1.2 from happening. but at some point you have to cut bait. as i said, i will hold out hope that they reverse this decision, but in the event that they do, i am completely prepared to cancel. i hope others are bold enough to take such drastic steps to save this game.