Free accounts VS Pay accounts

Ok Im sorry if this is not the right place to post this.
But I have to get this said.
I am a paying account member of SL for two years now.
I stared out with a free account and then upgraded so I could own land.
Since I have been in SL I have heard the complaints about the free accounts GLOGGING up SL for the paying members.
When I was still a free account user I spent money buying Lindens as do most free account members.
I probably spent more as a free account member on Lindens then I do now.
The free account is what got me into SL to begin with.
Linden Labs is not run by dummies ok and they were smart enough to allow free accounts for this purpose.
I am so tied of some of the so called paying members thinking they are some how more worthy of the use of SL.
I have found many of these complaining users are paying their dues and then living off the allowance that Linden labs gives them.
Many free member actually contribute more to SL by purchasing Linden and building creating etc.

I am sick of it stop discriminating cry babies.
The user base is huge because SL works and Linden labs works hard keeping things running.
Get off the free members backs they contribute more then you know to the SL community.
Again sorry if this is not the place for this but I just had to vent this

most people forget that the real free account issue is NOT with free users as a good protion of them spend money ingame but the alt abuse by griefers, camping bots, land bots and my favorite, the store/mall traffic bot alts

So what was your question A1ex?

I'm interpreting his question as "could someone please slap a pie in my face since i'm a whiner."

No question I guess I just want the free account users to know that not all pay account users considers them to be second class members.
I know I was made to feel less worthy by an AV until they saw that I was a pay user IT SHOULD NOT matter but snobs can be found in Sl as well as in RL

I can turn it into a question:

Of all those productive free accounts that build and spend mony in SL making SL a better place. How many do you think would be willing to spend a paltry $6 a month to become a paid account /if they had too/?

While it is true that there are VAST numbers of productive free accoutns, that's because of the idiotc way that LL has structured the free vs paid acounts. Currently there is no reason whatsoever to HAVE a paid account. However, I can't think that anyone that is actually into SL enough to BE a productive member would have any problem having a paid account if it actually meant something. The ones that wouldn't would then largely be the freeloaders and greifers as it is rarely "worth it" to have to pay to grief.

Nearly every other MMORPG on the planet /requires/ monthly payment, and if nothing else just to make sure you are serious about being here and not just here to cause trouble. (Well ok there are always a /few/ that are serious about causing trouble

So anyway, so sum up, my answer to my question is that I think a very large % of the current productive free accounts would in fact be paying accounts (as you are) if being a paid account meant something or became manditory after 30 days. I don't think that the grid would suffer much economically if that were the rule. I think that the HUGE spate of grid problems and griefer attacks on noobs giving SL a single digit retention rate is what hurts the population and economics of SL far FAR more than requiring payment every did or would if re-implemented.

Absolutely no reason to have a paid account now - which is why I went to basic.

wow it's been a while since I saw someone send a telegram stop pretty nifty stop

I don't think people really complain about basic accounts - it's more that basic, _no-payment-on-file_ accounts are seen by many to be a problem.


I have a hard time reading the rest of your post after this. Premium accounts get better service options and can own mainland.

If you personally have no reason to go premium, that'd be different (and not what you said).

Here we go again .

Whenever most people refer to "free accounts" they're talking about "No Payment Info on File" basic accounts, and not the "Payment Info On File/Used" basics.

There's also a big difference between not agreeing with the open door policy and taking it out on a specific individual (the first is an opinion, the second is indeed rude).

people always mention about other mmorpg's and games
the difference is sl is NOT a game like that
there are not expansions every 6 to 9 months to buy for it
there is not the game play and gear and questing like other games
i have been a paid account and been a free account with payment info on file
being a paid account gave me nothing more
yes i could buy land...but all mainland is ugly to many neighbors with spam and ad farms and a mess
you may buy something that looks nice but god knows who will move into the sim to mess it up

i spend way more $L in game as a non paying account then i did as a paying memeber

Where I can understand why you get frustrated with it A1ex, I for one really like people being able to have a free account. Those that do have them usually contribute to the game in a great way.

However, I do wish that there was some way to have both a free account, and stop someone from creating the one day old griefer that cancels his/her new freebie account only minutes after making someone's life hell for the night.

/me sighs

Oh well.

Actually if the OP had sent a telegram I think it would read:

I am sick of it stop discriminating cry babies stop.

thank you for a response that could shed some light on a different view of this.
Rather then the jackass pie in the face comment.
I appreciate your views.
Not sure I agree but I can now see how others may look at the issue from a different angle.
I was wanting some explanation as to where this discrimination was coming from.
I am so sorry if it came across as whinning YUUKIE


Again thank you FARALLON for giving your perspective.

oh gesh here we go with free account buy more Linden $ then one might think yea sure.......

i kinda disagree with this, with all the islands out there, think i can risk it by saying that more free accounts rent land from other residents then paid accounts have in land ownership

$10 less a month on estate tier sure is something that can`t be dismissed as in most cases it becomes cheaper in tier and even if you don`t have to buy the land but have a slightly higher tier, your on par with LL (leaving the estate/mainland crap for another thread)

LL should limit the amount of avatars allowed to login from 1 IP as a start and only allowed registerd companies/universities run unlimited number of accounts per IP and see how that work out from there as test

yep but they forget that alot of them bring in money trough 3rd parties as the SLX or direct paypal transactions for say estates

It's hard not to look past the irony of a complaint OP where the main complaint is other people who complain.

Check out the holiday gift link in my sig.

I've been a prem member before...was a waste of money because i couldn't afford the tier on the land i bought.
Face it Second Life is an "advanced My space website"..the chat room of the future.
If i were forced to pay monthly i would....would p*** me off immensely considering i haven't been a prem member for years..but i would.

I guess i would try to look at it like "Pay Caeser what is Caesers".

As for people looking down on you because you weren't a prem member? How sad! True SLebrity isn't wether or not you have a prem membership..its how you use your mind and creative voice.

I certainly don't view basic members and prem members any differently. Now someone who uses their artistic talent to make and change and shape Second Life...say compared to your average "clubber" who buys their linden and spends their nights dancing and chatting...well its like comparing apples and oranges...or ying and yang is better...can't really have one without the other.

If everyone were able to make everything and were geniuses at it...there wouldn't be anyone to buy the products.

........my two cents..

~Lana Tomba

Er.. Why did you buy so much land? Are you saying that somebody that _can_ afford the tier that they sign up for is also wasting their money?

Been a paying for the game almost from the start. here is a example "TOON TOWN" Disney`s little version of a online game. Ok it has its user base. BUT resently they have make thegame "UNPLAYABLE" for no playing users. Oh you can run around hitting robots with pies, waters etc. But ther is no more tasks to complete or shirts or pants etc for the toons to have. Its totally unplayable. WHY? because too many kids are just abuing the right to get higher levels without the paying for the game. Well I love to see LLABS apply some of the same concepts here too. Make the game 50% unplayable and let the freebie accounts pay per month or so. Enough is enough!

Sorry, but that's just one of those make-belief feel-good stories: SLex' L$ volume is nowhere near enough to support several tens of thousands of unverified accounts all buying L$ there instead of the LindeX.

On the whole unverified accounts only consume resources, they do not contribute financially at all, whether directly or indirectly. You might find a few who indeed buy their L$ through other sources, and a few who indeed can't get a credit card and don't have a bank account, and those who later put payment info on file after several months but they'll be a minority.

I don't even mind the idea of a "hassle, risk-free trial account", if only the amount of verified accounts wasn't dwarfed by the mass amount of unverifieds who don't have any intention of ever paying a single pennie for anything.

As far as "discrimination" goes, I've been ridiculed for spending actual money on SL by unverifieds far more than I've ever seen a verified account put an unverified account down. It happens both ways.

Meade, The purchase of land or the "need" to purchase land just wasnt justifiable to me(for any amount of money) You don't "need" land to have a store in Second Life anylonger..or a home. I mean..its nice to have a home..a dream..a place to set your slexchange magic box filled with your product...but its not really needed.

If you have friends...they're always are willing to donate one prim for a box...if they're not..there's always cheap rent to be found from someone higher on the food chain trying to make a buck.

So many free sex sims around..(even private ones)..i just couldn't justify the extra buckage coming out of my purse to say "I'm a prem member".

The "only" way i'd be happy about paying monthly is if I were allowed to buy my own seperate server..and set up my "own" island running off that server...and was able to plug into second life..now THAT I'd gladly pay for...alot too.

~Lana Tomba

Logic had gone in the toliet again........shakeshead

Perhaps we should stick to LL's terms:

Verified -- pertains to the Integrity age/id verification, has nothing to do with premium etc.
Premium - paying yearly/monthly fees to LL directly
Basic, payment info -- Non-premium, payment info on file with LL
Basic, no payment info -- Non-premium, no payment info on file

Kitty, I think that by "unverified" you mean both types of Basics here? Even if that's true, your post is confusing to me, since Basics can buy Lindens from Lindex, SLX or wherever. There is no way of knowing whether Lindex/SLX/inworld purchases are done by Premium or Basic accounts. So, let me disagree: I think the bulk of the spending in SL is done by Basic account holders. Just look at the amount of island + mainland rental property vs. mainland purchase, and I think it is obvious.

I do agree with this part of your post: as far as raw numbers of accounts go, Basic/No payment accounts probably far exceed the total number of other accounts. Of course, some number of these are what I would term 'legitimate' alts -- alts that are created by players and actually used ingame --- some to debug things, some even spending lindens that the main transfers to them.