RFC: SL Commodities

Linden Labs removed the money for ratings bonuses.
Linden Labs removed the money for events.
You call that intervention in the economy.
You call that socialism.

You want Linden Labs to remove the money for stipends.
You want Linden Labs to tax us on prim use in order to raise the value of the $L.
You call that capitalism.

The government fiddling with the economy is not socialism. The US Federal Reserve under Alan Greenspan (the man you love to quote) has raised and lowered interest rates many times in order to "direct the economy in a specific direction."

Every proposal you have made is for Linden Labs to intervene in the economy in order to direct it in a specific direction. If that's socialism, you're a socialist.

Quality products require an investment in time, skills, and often tools that takes an extended time to recoup because of the very low prices in SL. That offsets the ability to make multiple copies cost free.

Won't happen. The $L would just be sold on the black market. If Sony couldn't stop game currency from being sold third-party how could Linden Labs do it.

Besides which, they make money on the sale of Linden dollars.

Making it harder to make things or sell things would make the world a poorer environment, so I don't think Linden Labs will do that. They had a tax on prims at one time, and it was a real killjoy.

Yes, but the lindens either stay -in-the market or in defunct accounts. LL isn't paying cash out and keeps the US$ currency in thier accounts

Linden Labs really doesn't buy or sell L$. They exchange them and charge a fee per transaction.

Then my suggestion wouldn't work. At least I admit when I'm wrong.

Black Market, meaning that LL will lose control of the currency trading.
Which under the current system would be nice. No more rules, free
market trading. Nobody would keep me from dumping more than
$2000 worth in a single day/hour/minute. Unlike the LindenX.

Main Grid Residents whose accounts are 45 days old or older will be restricted to:

* purchasing no more than US$2000 worth of L$ per month
* selling/posting no more than US$2000 worth of L$ per month

Socialist...

All Hail Surreal.. There is true wisdom around here that hasn't
been corrupted by rainbow chasers.

Unfotunately, you are sadly lacking in that wisdom reserve.

Wow, are your posts being written by a committee? You (or a rogue committee member) started this thread advocating that Linden Labs intervene in the economy to push the value of the $L up to where you want it to be. Now you're criticizing others for calling for the same thing. Is is multiple personality disorder or is ReserveBank Division a corporation?

Heck you called many of us socialists for advocating that the market be left alone. Have you changed your mind and you want the stipends to stay and prims to remain free?

You must not understand what I'm advocating..
I'm calling for Linden Labs to institute policy which
builds wealth in SL and in turn causes the L$ dollar to
rise in the normal free market dealing between buyers
and sellers.

What I am strongly against is the Linden Labs cronic
involvement in what is happening in free market trading.
They didn't like the L$ falling in valuation last year, so they
took steps to invade the daily lives of SLers with rating
price hikes and such. When what they should have done was
look at their policy on what is causing the L$ to decline in the
first place. A good analogy is a Doctor prescribing OxyContin
and then treating the patient for Drug Abuse. When the obvious
solution is to stop prescribing OxyContin and find a new way of
dealing with the issue.

Here is how a black market in $L would work (based on other games history)

Consumer Avatar wants to buy something and doesn't have enough $L.
Creator Avatar sells a lot of stuff and has a big pile of $L.
Trader Avatar buys $L from Avatar B offering a better $USD price than LL would give.
Consumer Avatar sees and ad on eBay and pays $USD into a paypal account.
Trader Avatar contacts Consumer Avatar in world and delivers $L

Trader Avatar will have a supply of free account alts, which adds nothing to thier overhead.
Consumer Avatar will be paying more than they are now, because illegal markets are always more expensive
Creator Avatar may or may not be making more money.

If you answer is that the Lindens should scrutinize every currency transaction... well they don't have the staff to handle some of their current business needs (or desire, your choice). Those who want to trade currency will find ways to do so.. without the safeguards against fraud that the current systems provide.

The only thing is that, the way you put it, you want the doctor to prescribe anti-oxycontin enstead.
All of a sudden you care about the "daily lives of SLers" and the "rating prices hikes"... you call that LL invasion? What about the friggin prim fee or stipend cut you are constantly argue is necessary in SL? I'm beginning to believe it's true you actually are some uncoordinated group of people.

I'm talking about different issues at different times and
you are lumping them together as if they are part of the
same discussion.

The issue with Prims as a Commodity and cutting Stipends
is my discussion about possible solutions to the current
structure of the SL economy.

When I'm talking about LL effecting the daily lives of
SLers because of their Socialist Policies, I'm speaking on
the subject of Political Philosophies and best format and
plan moving forward that would reap the best results.

Pay Attention... When The Reserve Bank Speaks, You
Should Listen.. hahahaha


Philosophy: SL Needs a Capitalist Economic Structure
Implementation: Prim Commodities, End Stipends, Free L$ Market, No Restictions on Buy/Sell Amounts.

For once.. I agree with you. That IS a very funny joke.



1. End stipends you better cut the cost or premium equivolently, I PAY for those weekly Lindens.

2. Prim commodoties = prim tax. Been tried..horrible failure.

3. Free L$ market. We already have it.

On a final note, I don't know which parasite to laugh at more..maybe they are the same person.

A Tax means that you hold something and will be constantly
charged for keeping it. A Commodity like prims, means that
you pay a ever-changing market price for an object (once)
and never pay for it again. Thus, its not a Tax.




How is it a "Free Market" when Linden Labs restricts sellers to
a maximum of US$2000 per month? Where is the "Free Market"
if I want to sell US$10,000 today and buy US$20,000 tomorrow?
Don't be blinded by the Socialist Propaganda.

So now you're telling folks to not listen to you? Best advice you've come up with yet.

I know this will surprise you, but I'm all for a capitalist economic structure in SL. You can't have capitalism without a stock market (that's the "market" in free market). You can't have a stock market without enforceable contracts. Currently Linden Labs wants to stay out of such things. But, unfortunately, a capitalist economy depends on laws enforced by a government. Right now the best we can get in SL is a sort of "home-business" model. The players in the economy are individuals and a few small groups, but the economic leverage that a real corporate structure would allow isn't feasible.

The goal right now should be to keep people in SL, bring in new people and somehow balance the growth of new land with new residents. Land is the only commodity in SL.

I'm against new taxes on prims; I think the stipends should stay to encourage people to spend their time in SL. I'm for a gradual lifting of the buying and selling levels on Lindex after the economy has stabilized.

SL can't afford the boom and bust cycle of classical capitalism. Going bust once would probably be enough to drive Linden Labs out of business. Free market capitalism is like free speech, it's mostly free. There still has to be some regulation to keep things running smoothly and to resolve conflicts between people.

Hello
I agree with RBD about having commodities, but lets start small. For example I just bought 3 original pieces of artwork, supposedly only ones available. Now I'm working on getting the artist to write me up certificates of authenticity.But what we need are more things in limited supply, instead of everything being easily acceptable. Therefore keeping the L$ in the economy, driving up the value of the L$ AND the item(s) you hold. Also Desmond Shang just finished distributing his tulips (100 I think) that he wont make any more of (i.e somthing rare holds value).

We just sit back and watch the lindex recover value on its own, and not presume that we're important enough we can decide to punish new players with burdensome and money draining game limitations that were already tried far FAR before 'some of our' (post 1.2 SL world) experiences, and were determined to be an utter failure.

If you want to create a commodity within the game, try doing so on your own. If it works, great, if it doesn't, hey, its not like you will have hurt the entire SL world.

Believe me, as someone who *has* seen multiple waves of taxation/commoditization/decommoditization/tiering systems take shape within SL since the very immediately post-beta days... you have it far far better the way things are now than the way they were then... The mere fact SL *HAS* an active economy now proves that much.