How Long is a Lifetime?

Does the dubious honour of presenting to Khamon the "Dripping Sarcasm Bib Award" for outstanding posts that make me spit coffee.

Rhye,

When SL was based on a single monthly fee prior to version 1.2, Lifetime accounts were sold for those who wanted to just pay up front at a discount overall and never have a monthly fee again. When version 1.2 came out, and the new pricing structure was introduced, Lifetime account holders were granted 4096m of land and a premium account with no monthly fees. It actually turned out to be a better deal post 1.2 than it was pre 1.2.

These lifetime accounts should not be confused with basic accounts, which were introduced with 1.2 as well. These accounts are also lifetime - and have no monthly fee. They also have no land allotment, and you only get a very small stipend each week.. The premium account includes 512m of land and 500L$ a week (plus bonuses) but has a monthly fee. You can also get land with a basic account by paying the land fee (starting at $5/month). There is not a huge difference right now between basic and premium accounts, but there may be more in the future.

The original lifetime accounts are no longer available and most likely will not be offered again.

Cristiano

'Lifetime' as used by Linden, should not be confused with 'lifetime' as used by vast majority of the rest of the world.

To Linden, 'lifetime' means until:

1) Linden and/or SL folds, or
2) you violate the policy du jour for which the consequence du jour as determined by the Linden du jour is permabanning, or
3) you die, or
4) Linden decides to cancel your account because, well, the TOS, which we all agreed to, says they can.


Think hard before plunking down money for which you may get nothing in return except the dubious pleasure of pushing the Send button to finalize the jettisoning of your money to Philip's pocket. Pushing that Send button is the very last thing you are guaranteed to get in return for your money.

Candie

#3 sounds a lot like the definition of "lifetime" as used by vast majority of the rest of the world.

There's no danger of the evil and befanged Lindenmonsters stealing the lifetime account fees of new people since they aren't offering them anymore.

Has anyone had their lifetime account wrenched still beating from their body yet? Given the amount of emotional energy put into this thread I wonder if anything besides a vague sense of dread is driving this concern. Buyer's remorse?

Helpful hints for refutation:
1. This might give you ideas for a comeback.
2. The Lindens might offer them again, who knows? That would blow my second statement out of the water.
3. Oh ho ho! And am I not putting my emotional energy into this thread? Checkmate.
4. Come up with your own refutation that dodges the issue. It's fun!

The Lindens are good people. They try their best. I'm really getting tired of it being implied otherwise. They have SL's best interests at heart and are providing us an amazing service.

I'm absolutely ecstatic that I was able to get into the Lifetime program when I did. I would have paid twice the $225 I paid if I could have. I very much wanted to be an early adopter of this world/technology.

Sure, Linden Lab could just arbitrarily terminate a Lifetime account - but based on everything I've seen so far, they are not going to. They are not idiots. They don't want to sink they're on company.

And it's not like we were bamboozled or anything. The terms and conditions of an account are specifically listed out in the TOS. You can believe I read that very carefully before plunking down my $225.

Candie, I'm not specifically attacking you. I do care for you and appreciate all you bring to SL. This thread however is riddled with implications of the Lindens being this evil money grubbing force, which they simply ARE NOT. Having these implied improprieties or vague threats of a threat just out for all to see does a lot to damage SL in general.

Candie, has something specifically happened to you? Were one of your Lifetime accounts cancelled? If so, I'll be the first to back you up. However, suggestions that Phillip Linden or SL would just up and run off with our money have no basis in fact - unless this has happened?

I'm asking out of serious curiousity, not out of accusation. I really get the feeling that something else is going on here, but I can't offer my support for you with as vague as this has been. What would make you be concerned that LL is going to do this?

Yes, the Lindens have been a lot more distant as of late - this is completely understandable. They are currently way understaffed (which I think they should address) and the world is growing at what seems like an exponential rate. Also, there's been a lot of unwarranted negativity going in their direction (I'm not speaking about this thread specifically).

Everyone needs to take a step back and breathe. Remember what we have here and the wonderful thing we're a part of. LL is doing their best and I truly believe they will continue to do so.

Once again Candie, I'm not trying to attack you. I'm just trying to point out how this is coming across to some of us. If something else is going on here, please let us know. I can assure you, lots of people will come to your defense.

Yes

Candie is in a complicated position - when she does speak out about things that have happened to her, she takes a risk in having further things happen to her. I don't know why this is exactly, as she has never divulged the full details to me, but I have seen it happen to her. You may think what you want about her motives, hell for a long time I was suspect of them and had my own differences with her, but I stepped back from all of the hearsay and innuendo and realized much of what I thought and had heard had no basis in fact. It seems that Candie bashing is in vogue these days, but in the end this issue affects anyone who owns a lifetime account. I do wish that Candie would just lay it all out there - because only revealing part of what is going on adds to the confusion and the accusations against her.

Cristiano

Onei, enjoy your crow. A bit of advice. Before spouting off, it's always a good idea to pop off an email or IM to the person you're going to lambaste. That simple, quick, and easy action can save you making a complete ass of yourself.

Thanks for your support *cough cough*

Candie

Well now you've made me cry, Cris. Thank you, my friend. Your friendship is one of the very best things that's ever happened to me.

Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, listen to me, really listen to me, being open and honest with me.

You know, Cris, I think your post just made it all better. Yup. I think it did.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Candie

Oneironaut, you should be ashamed. I have never seen a more blatant case of character assassination since the last time someone asked a simple polite question while going out of their way to make it clear they held no personal grudge against anyone. How you can ask a question patently designed to clarify this issue and have the baldfaced temerity to use courteous langage and still look at yourself in the mirror is beyond me. You have some gall, mister. Anyway...


And?

Dunno what your 'And?' is for. You asked. I answered. It looked like you asked because "Given the amount of emotional energy put into this thread I wonder if anything besides a vague sense of dread is driving this concern." Now you know.

Candie

Enjoy my crow?

Spouting off?

Wow. . .

Oh. Kay.

**steps slowly away**

I agree , service you pay for should be provided, but this is the real world and nothing is certain and life isn't fair This is the case with any service. Who knows who is going to go under or have unforseen things happen.

Why didn't you bring up these concerns with LL before you agreee to the TOS and purchased your lifetime membership? It would have been responsible to look at the TOS and go over any concerns with LL before forking over $225.

I'm not sure the reasoning behind bringing this up now and what motiviations are behind it. Everyone who is logged in and posting in this forum should be famillar with what services they are provided. If they had a problem with it Linden Labs posts their phone # and email address to ask questions.

LL has provided a TOS and it's our job to read it.

Oh okay. Thanks.

Let me see if I understand the situation... If you're someone who works in world, builds in world, and is passionate about the world, they cancel accounts. If you leave up crap, like the Aquaduct in Teal, to specifically torment people and never plan to log in, the Lindens leave you alone?

Wow. I'm impressed with the Linden's professionalism. They're running SL just like EA Games handled TSO.

They are running the game nothing like TSO. We can't look at specific expamples where we are not getting close to all of the facts as exemplary of how they run the game in general.

True, they are understaffed and overwhelmed, but they are good people who try.

People who Know this logically and understand, please, don't be silent. The Lindens need our support now more than ever.

This is jumping to a huge conclusion on what exactly happened. People are making the Lindens to be the bad guys by one person's account on what happened.

Without a full story from the Lindens on why this was done no one should be passing judgement on the Lindens or how they run their company. It's not based on anything but speculation.

i've never used tso so can only agree with the rest of jarod's post. sorry onei but he's right.

i can easily believe that the lindens are all good people who care about the world and are working their butts off to make it a better place.

that doesn't negate the fact that they're chasing their tails cheifly because they're not able to evenly enforce vague approximations of what are loosly refered to as policies. the world has outgrown their beta management scheme and they don't seem to realize it.

i say this publicly because i want them to succeed. i want second life to be viable a year from now. i want people to not roll on the floor laughing when colin says "internal policies" and haney says "we will."

i hope beyond hope that ll management realizes that they have a lot more work to do in the office than they do inworld. perhaps that's why we've not heard much from them lately. that would be a good thing.

No, I'm calling things like I see them. On one hand, you have the Lindens schmoozing with Fizik, what's-her-name sell clothing on Avalon, and someone else having a T-shirt line with the SL logo. On the other hand, you have Colin saying things like, "[W]e are not a service provider for account management, monetary transfer, or capital gain" and possibly banning someone who could (if my speculation is accurate) turn a tidy profit by cashing out.

I admit, I've not played TSO. However, I have read the Alphaville Herald, and this kind of two-faced crap is exactly what I read about.

*snicker* You hit that one right on the head, Jarod.

dear drama,

i really enjoy what you've done with the place, it's really making it interesting. I can't even find shows on tv with this kind of vomitous spray of pointless points. I know i don't visit you often, drama, but when i do it's always a hoot. Surely the work you've done in this particular thread spells certain *DOOM* for us all. The dread is absolutely overwhelming.

So, please keep it up, i love the entertainment.

Love,
pants

lol Kenzington. That was awesome

it's true. there is no point in trying to talk seriously in a fourm. you either get flamed for bringing it up or made fun of for being foolish & dramatic.

isn't this just a damn lot of fun.