Should Linden Labs Eliminate Weekly Stipends?

Just curious as to the general consensus. Personally, I am opposed to the idea - unless we need to tighten up the money supply.

I think eventually, they will. Right now, they are using it as 'starter fluid' of sorts.

Note, you might want to keep these posts in the eco forum.

Not saying this because I don't like seeing it in general(I do!), but there is a contigent here who feel the need to grief anything they don't like.. Feeding these trolls is probably not a healthy thing for SL in general..

Yeah, I debated where to put this one. But because its implications reach far beyond economics, I decided general was probably the best place for it.

~Jaq

Umm in a word NO because not everyone is as talented and as business savvy as some people are. I haven't sold anything in weeks, without my stipend I'd be naked living in a 1 prim box.

Really? How would people make money? Certainly, there are not enough 'jobs' in SL to go around. There are no service jobs: no retail clerks, no medical positions, no manufacturing jobs.... the list could go on.

I'm curious where everyone would get thier income, as it doesn't seem the current system could handle it.. plus, some folks don't want a 'job'.

Jacqueline, let me understand this do you want to have it eliminated. If you do then here are some things that will happen.

#1 think scarfing off other peoples work is an issue now wait till that happens every newb and their family will be trying to find loop holes to steal peoples stuff and sell it.

#2 think land prices are high now wait till there is no more lindens comming in GOM and IGE will go through the roof.

#3 Linden sponsored events wow think the calendar is full now if that happens everybody will want to work for LL.

#4 Think your little rip off schemes are big now just wait till there are no new lindens floating around from stipends.

#5 think people begging other people for jobs is bad ....stop the stipends and see what happens.


In one thread Jacqueline you have questioned the one thing that would send SL to the grave yard faster than a Land Barron on a 10 sim buying spree.

But then again this is just my opinion after living in Second Life for 2years who am I to have a clue about the big picture.

Shadow

Totally agree and feel the same.... although... how will the money supply be contained and inflation be brought under control?

If there's more money around, what is to prevent designers from simply increasing prices?

Please note my statment about "your little rip off schemes" was not in the context of accusing Jacqueline of anything so do not presume or read it as such it was a generalised statement about rip of schemes.

Shadow

Absolutely Not. But I theorize that somewhere down the road something will have to be done about it if LL truly intends to keep the money supply under control.

Greater population = greater (targeted) money supply but also equals more stipends paid out weekly. At some point the increased stipend payments will outstrip the membership growth. Then the money supply growth gets out of control.

Just my two.

~Jaq

Its comming trust me as GOM goes back down to what some percieve as stable this is the only thing we can do.

Funny thing is for months and months and months I had several Items for sale for L$25 apiece. As an experiment I raised the prices to triple that for 1 week. My sales exploded on those Items. I have since removed them from the world but the point is its inevitable people think they are paying for quality when they pay a higher price. Id hate to be the one to disallusion them.



To an extent this is true, however with the current system in place yes this can happen the thing is there needs to be a balence of populace and money sinks to remove Lindens from Circulation. But again with several things happening and Land Barrony there is no "True" way to remove Lindens for example since we have the option to set the price on Land and sell it that way then there is no way to create a money sink.

Prior to this Auction stuff and the Land Sell tools the way they are one could easily pick up land for 1-2 a meter and then when they were done with it release it and recoup what they have spent.

I suggest a modified method of that and eliminate the land auctions all together. Make it so land cant be sold from one person to another and has to be released. Make it so if you purchase land that 1/2 of the purchase price is automatically gone. Ie when you release you only get back 1/2 of what you paid for it.

anyway thats just theorectical. Most will balk at the Idea anyway.

So I digress

Interesting idea and I could see how that could be beneficial.

Under this plan, would the value of the land fluctuate?

In some sense, it is contained. The stipend is not that large, and if you want any goods, you have two means: freebies or pay for them. This payout is one drain for all the money coming in.

All what money? I don't see how there can possibly be much money being paid into the "Reserve Bank of Secondlife"

blah blah economy doom doom doom gom blah blah holy crap inflation la la la la la

i voted no because i want the money.

Khamon has got it in one

That said, I would be one VERY annoyed customer should stipends cease. There would be no reason to subscribe to premium accounts then, and having already subscribed for a year, I wouldnt be happy

True, but L$500/week ain't what it used to be....

*sigh*

Virtual Inflation.

Jacqueline, under the system I proposed the land price would be set once by LL. After that the fuxuations would only be in the criminal element side of SL where Land deals were done under the table.

However, there is a lot more to the theoretical plan than just what I mentioned.

There are a multitude of issues that have to be addressed as a whole to balence out population to inflow and outflow of currency.

But its too long to get into and this is not the thread to discuss it.

So simply put I said NO to loosing stipends.

I think they'd lose a segment of their players who just want to log in, dress up and chat with people if they stopped the stipends.

*thinks*

On one side, it's funny... having weekly stipends that are largely (I believe -- correct me if I'm wrong, of course) bolstered by ratings (both cumulative and weekly) might encourage some to be more social and go to clubs and events, and get to know new people. Meanwhile, those who'd prefer not to do that, may be hermitty builder-scripter types (I mean this in the best of ways, as in Obi-Wan Kenobi hermit and not Ted Kaczynski), and so, they'd have to receive their pay in other ways. Such as selling their gadgets.

So there are a number of approaches, which is appreciable. There are so many ways to explore the system in SL, and I find this to be wonderful. I can't generalize, as in each case, it comes down to the individual.

Isn't L$500/week the base stipend for Premium accounts? That you'd get much more on top of that, weekly, especially if you had high ratings?

And speaking of, out of curiosity and it just escaped my virtual lips: what is the highest stipend bonus you can get each week? Does it keep scaling up as your ratings increase, or is there a ceiling at some point?

Cheerio.

Yes, L$500 is the base for a premium account.

Up to L$500 can be awarded based on your cumulative rating points

Up to L$500 can be awarded based on the change (number of new rating) points you receive in the current week.

Grand Total Potential Stipend per Week : $1,500

At least thats how I understand it. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

~Jaq

Chage has got it as well!

Part of our US$ fee goes towards getting that stipend. If it is moved downward, it violates the contract that we have, especially for us yearly folks. While they can certainly do this, it would be cutting their throats, as I am sure a lot of people would reconsider their memberships.

Thread starter, This is your second thread today on stipends, will there be a third? I really have to get back to work and this **** disturbing is getting annoying.

Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience I have caused you. I did not realize I was forcing you to read and/or post.

Apology accepted

Without stipends, only those that have the skills to create content (and thus get paid by others) would be able to purchase content. I know that is how r/l works, but this is Second Life.

A huge percentage of the population would instantly be barred from enjoying a good portion of the benefits of the world.

- Ace

Jaq.. what I meant by 'money coming in' was all the monies entering the system through the payout of stipends on a weekly basis.