How many alts should you be able to link to a Premium account

It also makes it more difficult for Linden Lab to deal with TOS violations if all of a user's accounts aren't linked to a main account.

And there are plenty of people who are not premium that spend absolutely no money at all. That argument is always tossed out in these discussions. We all know it's true. But, I do not believe (and no one has yet provided anything to change my belief) that those basic accounts pay more into SL than the premiums. I have no problem with basic accounts........but I do have a problem with that argument. Prove it and that problem for me will go away.

Back to the issue that I believe is the point of this poll. I think about 4 alts would be a good number. Premiums maybe 1 or 2 more just as an added perk (assuming alts have value.........which, to me is debatable). I can see a need for alt accounts. Mostly for creators, roleplayers, backup accounts in case one account has problems logging in (getting ghosted, etc), and even just for the fun of it. But the question is how many are enough? I certainly don't see "unlimited" as a legitamate option.........just way too open to abuse. Having alts tied to a single account is (as far as I can see) the only way LL can control abuse.......and that would require some limit on the number. If one wants or needs more than what that limit is then get another "primary" account.........one tied to some sort of real life, verifiable person. However, that seems to be the rub with most who take a view opposite mine..........they don't want anyone (even the owners of the platform they use) to know who they are in real life. Claims of "freedom" vs "totalitarism" are tossed about like those claims have validity..........they do not.

If you are not willing to provide information that enforces accountability then you should not be allowed to participate. That is my opinion. It is NOT the opinion of Linden Lab who have the control......but, I believe them to be wrong. Call me an elitist for my beliefs if you like. But, I don't think I am. Like I said before I have no problem with basic (free) accounts..............I do have problems with 100% unverified accounts. But, this is the internet afterall..........so there's not much I can do about it (except post my thoughts on the subject).

*bump*

The mentality of "the masses" seriously changed for the worse as soon as LL opened the floodgates and only keeps growing steadily worse over time.

I've long lost count as to how many times I've been scorned or ridiculed by "NPIOF"s for buying L$ or for paying tier rather than leeching off of someone else's land like they do. Or the amount of "NPIOF"s I've banned and ejected after finding them wandering - or otherwise making themselves at home - on my land and after enduring their predictable "I can go and do what I want because SL is free-for-all" speeches.

The closest RL analogy I can think would be mobile phone operators (or at the least the way they work here):
- if you don't pay/recharge then you can only receive calls and if you don't ever recharge in 6/12 months time the number will eventually be discontinued
- if you recharge with pre-paid cards then you get full service, if not all of the perks/options you get - or can get - with a full subscription
- if you get an actual subscription then you have a recurring monthly charge and a set of extra perks/options pre-paid customers don't have

In general noone thinks this is odd, elitist, or unfair, but somehow when it comes to SL some people expect that they should not only enjoy the same privileges as those who pay for them but that it's perfectly normal to have someone else pay for their expenses as well.

People likely to deliberately commit TOS violations aren't generally going to be stupid enough to link all their 100 griefing alts to the one main if they even had a reason to link them to a main at all.

Premium accounts are more likely to be Land or Business owners and so risk more than just $10 by commiting TOS violations.

I agree with Peggy, and have no more to add.

So what's the point?

Benefits to me (or any resident) to linking accounts:

I can age verify once, and use a single payment source. Potentially share my L$ balance between accounts. Nice, but nothing I can't live without.

Benefits to the community: Added accountability. Shared L$ balance makes it easier for me to spend money helping drive the SL economy,

What are the benefits to anyone for limiting the number of accounts one can link?

Don't want me to link my accounts? Want to make it more difficult for me to do it? It doesn't bother me. The loss to the SL community is greater than my loss.

I'd think the rent-paying basics are more or less on the same level as premiums really.

Someone can rent a 4096m² and indirectly pay LL $18.50 or
someone can own 4096m² and directly pay LL $25+ ($25 for tier + premium fee)

Renters are going to be paying less but there's far more of them (although some are premiums too) so I'd think a better comparison would be between "land-owning" (premium + renting) and "landless" (L$ buying but not renting + non-L$ buying) accounts.

There are 80 something thousand premium accounts. Estate land outnumbers mainland something like four to one, you do not need to have a premium account to rent on estate land, you do not need to have a premium account to own an island.

Estate land pays more into LL than mainland, that's a fact.

The point is more nice stuff for people willing to verify to encourage verification and accountability.
Will the average resident find a 49 alt limit imposing enough to prevent their participation in SL that they can still acheive unlinked?

Then what is the point in limiting the number of accounts one can link? Why discourage verification and accountability by placing limits on it?

Whether or not the average resident notices is beside the point. The average resident does not stay in Second Life very long anyway.

Limiting the number of accounts one can link seems arbitrary, and I have still heard no good reason for it.

Waits for howls of protest from content creators who make items no copy and get their undies in a wad that anyone might rez (gasp!) two of an item when they only paid for one.

I haven't heard any good reason for unlimited either, doing so seems to be more just a perk for those who would want to game the system.

See post #31.

You also said it yourself. Accountability. Want accountability? Let residents link all their accounts.

I'm not sure sharing inventory is that great, I like to keep inventories seperate for each alt involved in different aspects of SL, I have some stuff backed up by copies of course but my other 4 alts don't all need access to my megaprim collection.

Not necessarily, it depends on how the land is parceled and owned.

Estate sim (newer class 5) pays $295 a month in tier and the owner does not need to be a premium account holder.

Mainland sim cut into 1024 parcels, each owned individually:

64 parcels of 1024 - assume $5 a month tier (first 512 is free) = $320 a month to LL
Plus, each of those 64 owners has to be premium

On the Mainland, the more of the land that falls under a single owner, the more the return rate goes down for LL. If one person owns an entire mainland sim, they only pay $195 a month, but the more smaller landholders on the Mainland, the more $$ for LL.

I was talking overall estate land brings more income to LL than mainland.

One major difference is Estate owners can't drop half a sim of tier when they like without dropping a whole sim, so are more likely to keep paying LL rather than lose everything.

Play number game all day long........where are the verifiable facts? I have no doubt Estate owners pay a great deal of money to LL. But those Estate owners, though not required to be premium, are a notch or two above what everyone defines as a "basic" account. You know that. But to further your views, you tossed out another invalid argument. I don't begrudge basic accounts (the ones who don't own estates). I just get tired of the in your face attitude that they should get everything a paying account gets........that's premiums AND Estate owners. As far as Linden Lab is concerned money is money no matter where it comes from. That's not the point of my argument at all......it's the "you can't discriminate against me because I pay nothing". I can discriminate against you if I wish..........all I have to do is set my little plot of land to the proper settings and you cannot enter. I can check profiles and refuse to talk you. Put you on mute. Only patronize places that have PIOF (or PIU) only enabled for access. I don't do any of those things but I certainly can if I wanted.

But back to the topic. Give me a legitmate reason anyone would need the ability to have unlimited alt accounts. The only reason I can think of is to somehow game the system or engage is some form abuse. Limiting alt accounts to some form of "primary" and verified account (notice I did not say premium) is a reasonable thing to do. It protects the viability of the game (platform) and the legitamate users of the game (platform).

How many threads in the last few months have been started about "bots"? Or camping bots? How many times have we had arguments with a certain regular poster here who used to have bots for his bussiness. If some form of limitations were in place those threads/arguments would not exist. That certain regular seems to have a legitamate reason for his bots but due to the "unaccountability" of alts he gets lumped into group of abusers of alt accounts. A system that allows anyone to create any number of alts invites abuse...........and prevent legitamate use of alt accounts (or hampers that use at the very least).

The best setting you can set to discriminate against me is to ban me by name, I'm PIU, I'm age verified, I'm an estate owner, I'm a premium member. The verifiable fact however is that estate land generates more revenue for Linden Lab than mainland, this is indisputable.



I don't agree with unlimited alts, I never have. I said earlier that it should be restricted to four and if people want another block of five accounts they should pay for them.

There used to be a limit of 5 i thought when i made mine..I had to pay for my first one which was a one time fee..Then i think the other 4 were free or maybe it was 5 accounts altogether..I forget..Even though i paid a 9.95 fee for her she was still a basic account ..

She could use the same payment information as my main to buy things..
I think 5 accounts is a nice number and i agree that if you needed more then getting a package for 4 or 5 more or maybe a fee per alt account or different sized packs for so much would be nice..