Observations from my evening in RL

Three bottles of Beck's before going to the movies: $13.50

Tip to my hot bartender: $2.00

Movie Ticket $9.50

Popcorn $3

Coke $2

Total time: 3 Hours

Total Cost: $30

In Linden: L$7500

Even if you take the beer and tip out: L$3625


And you think I am gonna start bitchin' about not getting L$250 a month?


People, get a life. Calculate the time you spend in-game and divide it by what you spend in real dollars. You are getting a bargain! You probably spend more at McDonald's or Blockbuster's.

Bitchin' for the sake of Bitchin'. Yeah, that is so revolutionary! Go protest!

What you all want is something for nothing. When is the last time YOU gave something for nothing? What makes you think someone will give it to you? Be for real.

- T -

I gave blood about a month ago...

Oh, but I got cookies and juice... nevermind...

And regarding club owners and events:

Who pays for the Superbowl and the World Series? Who pays for 24?

The government?

This ain't China or Russia! If you want your business to succeed, use your imagination!

If you are offering a product or event that is worth the electrons is written on, you should not need the Lindens to pay you to run it. If it is good, people will come.

You don't have money to pay your hostesses? Partner up with one of the many shops. Exclusive advertising and maybe a little spot for their products...

The cream will rise to the top and SL will be better for it.

- T -

Tito, you forgot to add in the RL travel expenses such as gas for your vehicle and parking fees, or public transportation fare, as well as the actual time it takes you to get somewhere. That's one of the things that is so great about a virtual world like SL, it's convenient and you don't have to leave your own home to enjoy it.

I understand why people are upset about losing part of their stipend bonus; once you come to rely on something (and take it for granted), it's hard to give it up. But, SL is not a static world, it must constantly change in order to stay viable. Ultimately, LL is the best judge of how changes should be implemented, not the residents of SL. If players truly love SL (as so many obviously do, since they are quite upset over these changes), they will find a way to work around less bonus money every week and deal with this in a constructive manner.

I for one, have never asked for my money back when holding events, I have always used my own money, after all I am doing it to have fun, meet people and make a lil bit of dwell (not for the lindens for the popularity ), so why should I expect the Lindens to cough up for that

As for the stipend, yeah it's gunna take time to adjust, and I don't agree with it and I am not overly happy about it, but well shouting, screaming and threatening to leave isn't gunna help *buckles up*, I think we oughta give it a chance, see how it pans out..

Ratings - meh, they suck anyway, I will never be a leaderboard icon

SL is not RL its entertainment. PPL pay out a fee every month to "get" something in return. Now they are told they are going to "get" less. What if suddenly the theater you were at decided you would only "get" 1 hour of the movie instead of 1.30 hours? You didn't "get" what you originaly paid for did you?

Let's see.
I don't go to fast food joints. So, zero dollars.
I don't go to clubs in real life. So, no admission fees and no bar tab.
I don't frequent Blockbusters. So, no rental fees.
I don't buy food in SL. Not required in SL. That I do so in real life is superfluous to the playing of SL - or is analogous to my having paid my subscription fee already.
I buy clothes in RL and SL. Areas in SL that I might just happen to fly over require clothes - PG - so clothes are a must. Granted I could make my own with sliders. In real life, I could wear a gunny sack also. So this is a wash.
In RL I have a job. In SL, I have few salable skills and the join-up description said I would get a stipend AND a bonus. So, I count on that for my primary income - unlike in real life where I traded my physical body to the state for some two decades - something I choose not ot do here.
Entertainment in real life - broadcast television, not cable. No direct cost to me (I won't argue indirect costs as that is too technical a discussion with far too many variables.) In SL, LL provides the venue, previously the support. Now they remove it - like God creating the Earth and hen taking away the process of photosynthesis and telling mankind to find a way to create oxygen on his own from now on. God ain't saying that there is no oxygen in the world anymore, just that mankind will have to make it on his own. If mankind dies, he dies - not Gd's fault.

Cost to me...nothing except my life if I can't figure out a way to make oxygen.
In world, I guess it's time to begin to appreciate mental masturbation for what it is - well, with occasionally pretty scenery because nothing in SL will stay the same... not TOS, not tools, more bugs tomorrow not less, and of course, the ever-increasing cries of "think positive" from the true believers in the crap called the metaverse.

Last time I checked, stipends were only given to people who pay a monthly fee.

Except people don't pay for ratings bonuses. The paid accounts get L$500/week and land alotment, which is not affected.

They pay for the whole package Milo. You cannot take one item out of the package that ppl paid for and say its ok.

No one plays for free except for the 7 day accounts. After that they pay as little as a one time free of $9.95.

The bonuses are affected; "Bonus amounts paid out as weekly 'Stipend Ratings' will be decreased over the next several months, beginning next week."

No matter which way we slice and dice it ppl in SL are going to be doing with less. Bonus amounts are just one part of what is about to change.

Event support for the average player; gone.

I'd like to know who is posting as Catherine, because that is a TOS violation, as she clearly stated she was leaving some time ago!!

People totally bugging out: Priceless!

Mmmmm shiny post !!

nope don't feel like a long explination of my actions. How about a short one.

A) I never stopped lurking
B) I made a new alt and found the SL I had been missing, completly fresh where no one knew me at all.
C) I am the eternal artist and optimist. I still hold out hope, the forum badies didn't kill my spirit after all
D) If I am going to speak in the forums I will speak as Catherine then I dont have to explain why I know so damn much about the history of SL and the forums.
E) Its my life to live any way I wanna live it

You tell'm Tito... These poor starving artist need to get jobs and stop camping out at every WTO and IMF meeting. lol

This sounds like the Catherine Manifesto. Welp, keep holding onto those dreams as the world around changes into everything you can't stand. Artist have moved from the top of the food chain to the bottom. The greedy business person with bags of money has moved from the bottom to the top.


Cmon C.Cotton, switch sides.. Come join us..

Alby, why dont you crawl back into your hole? Dunno how you managed to crawl up your own butt in the first place, but thats where you belong.

Ty Dev I appreciate that very much.

Cat

Devlin.. Your 50 years too old to understand anything. Back to your Elvis tunes and leave the future to folks like me. Your days have come and gone.

heh catherine, glad you have found a way to enjoy SL again. I may disagree with almost everything you post ( ), but that's all good. People see all sides of an argument. You are right -- you can live and play SL as you see fit!

BTW, artists were never at the top of the food chain. In the old days, they needed patrons like the church. These days, they try to attain "celebrity" status whether as musicians or painters like Damien Hirst. Those rare few are on top of the food chain, but the majority struggle on.

Hate to be brass-tacks about this, but LL has raised their investor money. They need SL members, sure, but they need recurring, paying customers to make a business, get profitable and move forward. A one-time $10 fee won't cut it. They aren't saying to the basic users "you are cut out" -- far from it, because you can still socialize to your hearts content -- but they are saying that it will be harder to buy as much stuff without becoming a monthly member or putting a few dollars to work on GOM (as tito says, not unlike buying a movie ticket -- heck, you get a lot of L$ for US$.

I agree with cat..part of the reason why i chose the 9.95 a month was so i would get a nice sized stripen..

If you bought any product and within a mnth they asked you to bring it back and they would give you in return less of a product in exchange how would you feel. Thats whats happened here.

Tito, thanks for posting that, it made me smile.

Though, in the end, time and time again... it comes down to the individual and how one lives their (pronouns fail me now!) Second Life. Some relative comparisons are made moot by the very uniqueness people.

Watermelon, for example, is a delicacy to me. It may not be that way for you, and hence you can't relate, but it is of uberutmost priority on my list.

And therein lies the beauty of the spectrum of our existence.

How so?
What has LL promised that they are reducing?

Uh.. the "bonus" to the stipend.... doh.