OK, I'm Pissed Off (and not about the economy)

I have designed several tombstones, and I have made an electric range, and Washer Dryer bathroom appliances.

And my business is going bankrupt even in Second Life.

I have tried as you can see...

Magnum,

I am sorry that you feel you will be hit badly by the proposed changes. You are one of the first people that Ferran and I meant when we were raw n00bs wandering around the Edge. I remember you were one of the first people to rate me and you tipped me too. I wish you well. See you in world!

Surreal

Just adding here that GIMP is free. I use GIMP by choice because I prefer it to Photoshop and the other programs I've tried.

I did in fact read the whole thread (whew). If you want a positive response, or a reasoned response.. then I suggest using moderate language in the future.

BTW, I'm part of the middle class, both in SL and in RL. Traditionally, we get screwed from all directions.

Surreal

Why pay 100$ for PaintShop Pro? I use The GIMP (free) and it has everything I could need for SL.

So it leave poser to pay for, and that's all.

Magnum, you have made some good stuff and you didn't even mention the pictures/renders you have. I just picked up a bunch of them. Really good work. Maybe you just need to promote more. I had to search Cinde's tic toc store in Koss to find your corner. Your appliance pricing is extremely low and I can see a noob with a 512 and a prefab house spending around $L200 and getting all the appliances they need.

Tell Cinde I really miss zooland. My favorite SL picture is of my wife, Kim Manilow, riding one of the killer whales.

Well said ! But it's greed and self obsession that drives the world these days.

On many occasions I've had to deal with people who think RL time spent creating for SL is worth nothing. Goodness, if SL artisans were to charge RL money for time spent creating nothing would cost less than L$5000 !

And then you have SL scripters.
How much do you think it would cost to have someone in rl custom make a program for your busness or whatever?

People think my prices are high, and compaired to some other scripters my prices are high.
But then if you look at the figures, I normaly get aprox. US$2.80 an hour.

Living within your means??? This is a GAME where I come to ESCAPE real life! I live a very unglamorous life working at an animal shelter and living in a shithole house where one of my ceilings is about to collapse and the landlord won't get off her dead-ass to fix it.....I come to SL every day to do all the things I can't afford in rl, to buy my avie the hottest new clothes and accessories, to hit the clubs and enjoy good music and fun chat.
I have never bought game money with real money....I WORK for my money by DJ'ing. And let me tell ya trying to broadcast while being host of a big event is not as easy as one might think.
I have no interest in building and I certainly don't have $800 to go out and buy Photoshop to make halfway decent clothes. The ONLY reason I will not leave SL after hearing this BS is because I would miss my SL friends too much.
Basically SL has now just gone from being a Beauty Contest to a monopoly for people who are well-off in rl.
And I certainly won't be rating anyone anymore for 25L a pop, deserved or not.

I'm with Surreal here.

People with little commitment to the community have been getting a free ride. Spend a mere $10 bucks, and for the cost of two beers, you can grief, annoy, and hitch a free ride with many other people carrying the weight. While I understand the Lindens needed to grow the user base, and have no problem with people coming along for the ride, the least someone getting a free ride can do is bring lunch.

By eliminating two of the three most abused systems in SL... ratings for money/rate whores, and bullshit events, free loaders are the ones who will pay. People who host popular events still get to keep dwell.

This is a question of class warfare, that's total bull. This is a question of need to bring something to the table - to actually maybe put some WORK into something - to achieve a successful second life. I have no problem with that. You can't just sit around a club dancing and expect to get huge stipends for it. While dancing and clubbing is a good time, I certainly expect to SPEND money in RL when doing it, not get PAID to do it.

Regards,

-Flip

You can get older versions of photoshop free from newsgroups on the net, poser as well. Alot of ppl knew how to use graphic programs before they came to SL like myself although, I'm not saying everyone did.

I think its a good thing to keep prices under control. I really have seen a few items that were grossly overpriced for what they were and the amount of effort it looked like went into them. Not many but a few.

That's highly illegal. Copyrights haven't expired on just about any software that's ever been copyrighting.

GIMP is a good free alternative to PhotoShop.

I script (rather well, if I say so myself), but I rarely sell anything

I don't think you have to be commited to the community to be entitled to enjoy SL. It's a game, there should be perks, it should be fun. If people want to log in and do nothing but chat and spend their lindens that they didn't "work" for, then who cares. They'll buy your stuff, you can sell lindens.

Basic account holders pay their one time fee for the ability to log in. I think that's already hugely generous. Asking them to pay a few bucks on GOM to buy things they want ala carte isn't too much to ask. We're talking about stipend reductions that translate to about $1 USD per week or less. A quarter the cost of a large Starbucks latte.

I'm not disputing that. 5k is about 20 USD now.. that's well within the grasp of most player's means. I think.

But by the same token Chip, I don't understand why you wouldn't want to see players get more of a stipend that they can spend on your stuff.

What complete and utter nonsense! For a one of payment of $10 US you get an unlimited about of time to enjoy yourself in SL. Perhaps you need to rethink why you're here ? Use some imagination, you don't actually /need/ money to play this game.

Thankfully at last now you need to be able to draw people to your events with something other than the offer of free money I applaud this decision by LL. I DJ in RL but I don't know of any clubs that give away money to their punters! I get paid by the club because people come to hear my mixes and then they buy drinks at the bar and pay an entrance fee ... but this is going off topic ...

Oh, I do... but if the exchange rate is $1usd to $1000L it's not much of an incentive

ooohh.... now I get it. Seems like sort of a double edged sword.

SL is entertainment, the premier metaverse out there, and costs a LOT of money to maintain. The infrastructure is well beyond anything I could ever conceive and / or maintain. People who have been paying $10 one time and abuse the rating and events systems are getting a free ride off the rest of us who have been bearing these costs. I have no problem with people paying $10 to log in, check it out, and play SL. But to then game the systems of a company that made such a generous offer? That ain't right.

Also, as has been pointed out... SL account = $10. You get (got) L$50 per week as a basic account. That's L$2600 per year. L$2600 on GOM is OVER $10! So, in effect, it costs nothing... and could be profitable while doing absolutely nothing! That ain't right, and opens up the door to all kinds of alt abuse, neg-rate attack accounts, and so on.

-Flip

No... certain residents have taken the changes and BEFORE they are even in place have declared a 'bourgeoise class war'.

I can see why some of these changes might be for the better now -- some people might actually be more encouraged to create stuff now that it's cheaper than rating people.

I can also see things changing once again as SL grows larger (say, around the 200,000 mark?). We NEED consumers in SL -- whether they build/create things or not; own land or not -- to keep SL the way it is, y'know? People buying stuff and socializing. Personally, I don't REALLY mind the clubgoers who have av sex. I mean, why should I? It adds more color to SL, doesn't it? Why else would you make stuff, but for other people to enjoy? (Ok, other than cash)

There might be some people who drop out 'cause they depend on their stipend to play, and don't want to make anything. That's ok. There will be more who WILL decide to go into business.

I actually see this as helping creativity. If you don't make as much money from ratings anymore, you are practically forced to make a decision: make something, or leave. Hopefully more will stay than leave. Personally I think it's ridiculous if you're thinking of leaving just 'cause of this. Maybe you should use your brain for once!

[random posting]

"You wanna fight??? Fight MEEEE!!! My Kung Fu is stronger than yours!"

[/random posting]

Maybe it would be a cool idea if Linden Labs would have some kind of incentive program for handicapped people that use SL??? EHHH???

Quite.