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Carnildo Greenacre
Flight Engineer
Join date: 15 Nov 2003
Posts: 1,044
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12-08-2003 23:46
From: someone Originally posted by Philip Linden
To clarify/reinforce a few points made already:
So there is no 'inflation' or adding to the money supply associated with these transactions. There are a fixed number of L$ related to the number of paying users of the SL service. Trades like these do not affect that supply - they simple move money between residents. Not true. L$ currently are trading at US$3.00 per L$1000. The basic stipend for one month is L$4345, or about US$13.04. The cheapest account option is US$11.25 per month, so, assuming the demand for L$ is high enough, it makes economic sense to create a "farm" of unused accounts for the purpose of selling their stipends. The result will be an increase in the amount of money in circulation, without a corresponding increase in the number of active players. In other words, inflation. Fortunately, inflation in SL will probably be self-limiting, as it is expressed mainly in the form of larger, more complex builds, which in turn incur increased taxes, and more money being taken out of circulation. The flip side of this is that Linden Labs will be getting money for accounts that are using very little in the way of server resources. This could mean an increase in the number of sims available, or other in-game benefits. |
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Philip Linden
Founder, Linden Lab
Join date: 18 Nov 2002
Posts: 428
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12-09-2003 06:32
Good point Carnildo. Having stipends not go into taxes but instead sit in unused accounts does inflate the money supply, at least temporarily.
But as you point out, these inflations are likely temporary, as the pressure to develop unused land will likely draw those dollars back into circulation as source for taxes.
BTW, our original version of the tax system compensated in real time (at a weekly level) for this behavior - by dynamically adjusting the weekly stipends according to the pool of money recovered in taxes. We probably all remember, however, how appealing a stipend that changes up and down every week like the stock market was!
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Jack Digeridoo
machinimaniac
Join date: 29 Jul 2003
Posts: 1,170
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12-09-2003 07:45
$L currency may inflate when compared to RL $ but that doesn't mean players will run around selling simple unscripted objects for $1000. Inflation in a virtual world happens because of the players who agree to pay sky high prices.
I surprised that you don't have more to say about this Phil. You want people to stick around as long as possible, if people can buy money, they buy a big chunk, make a big house, take a few pictures, and a couple weeks later they've seen and done it all so they cancel their accounts and try something else.
While I'm ranting about the SL economy, can we have something like the Bazaar built into the client? So we can put objects up for sale into categories so people can login and check "whats new" and buy stuff? I'd love that.
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Maxx Monde
Registered User
Join date: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 1,848
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12-09-2003 07:49
I'd like to see the stipulation that buying land implies you do something with it. If it is to be a open expanse of nothing, then make it public again.
But then again, I could just rant about all the linden land that is all over and non-transferable...blah, blah, blah.
Lordfly has a point though. Lots of discarded 'stuff' in-world that taxes aren't going to erode for quite a while.....sad.
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Maxx Monde
Registered User
Join date: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 1,848
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12-09-2003 07:50
I have no idea where I got that Lordfly name from.
Gah.
I meant Jack.
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