Do PIOFs and NPIOFs get a free ride?

I often see people claim in this forum that those who do not put real money (e.g., $US) into SL are "getting a free ride" and are not contributing to LL's bottom line.

I strongly disagree with this assertion, and I'd like to explain why I think it's terribly false.

Well, they are "getting a free ride" -- it's clear they're getting something without paying for it. But are they really making no significant contribution?

I say they are. Actually, I should say "we", since I'm PIOF, and to disclose my bias.

Those who assert that we "freebers" do not contribute to LL's bottom line base that on the fact that the only source of money to LL is by those who pay tier and/or convert real currency to $L. The fact is true, but the implication is not valid.

Here's why.

Every avatar who makes SL a more enjoyable place to be makes a contribution to the economy, because they provide incentive for PIU's to stay in the game and buy more $L.

There's no arguing that PIUs are the lynchpins of the SL economy. Without them, there would be none, and with *only* them, there would still be an economy. But it might be a substantially impoverished one.

How many of us find SL a better place simply due to our friends and the possibility of all the different kinds of people we could meet in SL? Allowing freebers dramatically increases the number of potential friends and interesting people.

Anyone who does any of the following contributes to the SL economy, and indirectly, to LL's bottom line:

- hangs out in public places and is liked by many
- makes content that others find desirable (whether sold or distributed as freebies)
- provides services that others find valuable (whether for $L or for the fun of it)

While only PIU provide the money supply, an economy is far more than simply the money supply. (Actually, an economy can exist without money, but not without products and services. But that's just a theoretical argument, because SL would not exist without a real money supply.)

The money supply is crucial for LL, and we all heartily applaud those who provide it! But please, desist from making the insulting statement that those who do not contribute currency do not make a significant contribution to the economy. It's simply not true.

Fortunately, LL have the sense to recognize this, and I have little fear that freebie accounts will someday be stopped.

Freeloader

Fixed it for ya!

Pep (It doesn't work on straight men though.)

We need NPIOF's, everyone should be able to access SL.


However, I'll also say that you don't get to bitch about anything unless you are a paying customer. Fair?

Just to build on Lear's point, wealth is ultimately created by labour (Marxism 101, right? ). Anyone who puts labour into what they do in SL -- by providing a service, or through content creation -- is producing wealth within SL, wealth that will, to some degree or another, find its way into the system, enriching it.

The real problem isn't NPIOFs or PIOFs: it's the running-dog capitalists who exploit the creativity of the workers, converting the surplus value produced through the blood, sweat, and tears of the proletariat into nongenerative capital . . .

Workers of SL Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains! And collars! And ball gags! And . . .

Not true.

Pep (As with free papers and Google, advertising could quite easily replace "real money" inputs.)

Are people actually saying this??? or are people reading this into statements?

Wrong!

Pep (Wealth is a consequence of possession of resources desired by others.)

That's just crazy talk.

Fascist.

Come the day of the Revolution, my friend . . . !!

Stick to feminist activism, dear.

Pep (Economics is obviously not one of your stronger areas.)

PATRONIZING fascist, what is more.

I think I agree entirely (with the OP, thankfully my period of self loathing from agreeing with Scylla is over at last), but as someone who was NPIOF until very recently, when I decided to go PIOF, I've still lined LL's pockets. I have bought L$ through what was Slx, and now do so through XStreet. LL take a cut of every purchase of L$, just as they take a slice of every L$ made in sales through that site (and I have also made a handful of sales, of *original* content).

I have been paying rent for land for well over a year now, LL charge the ultimate sim owner tier, so the estate owner is the link between my money and LL.

I leave my place open to visitors, some return regularly. So I am contributing, in some small way, to the variety and interest on the grid.

The difference between my current way of "freeloading" as some would put it, and going premium, is I pay a little more annually as things are, but don't have the financial commitment should I find myself unable to keep up with SL.

Patronising.

Pep (There was no "z" in classical Latin; if a word has a Greek etymology you can use either an "s" or a "z".)

PS You can only patronise inferiors.

Well, insofar as "patronize" is an American spelling, and Canadian spelling, while a bit ambivalent on this sort of thing, theoretically favours the British spellings, I'll agree . . .


All is forgiven, dahling. You can come home again!

I don't have a problem with them even if they don't spend..
I just have a problem with the ones that are not human or the ones that are human on any type of account here to harm the economy and others.

There's no way LL could earn ~$150/mo out of me through advertising. Advertising doesn't pay well enough, even if I was willing to view it, which I'm not.

The most annoying thing about advertising is just how little my time is worth to advertisers. I will *not* view ads for the pennies they get.

I'm confused. You have a problem with me because I'm a cat in real life? Though I am not here to harm the economy and others. I guess that takes me out of your comment. um . . nothing to see here, move along . . . *mews*

Public Service Announcement: remember to let your kitty keep their claws so that they can type on keyboards or they will bite you

Thank god I can sleep at last! The guilt was becoming too much to bear . . .

Yeah, I suppose. Whatever.

I really don't think the NPIOFs have it so bad, to be honest. The ones most discriminated against, IMHO, are those who put more money into SL than they take out. They're loathed. They're considered untalented and shiftless by the very content creators who eat at the hands of these untouchables.

Oh, and heaven forfend that they should ever create something and sell it for less than the Content Creator Cartel thinks is the proper price of provisions. For that sin, they're Marxists, too--their largesse to the vaunted creating elite notwithstanding.

Creators who are in it for the Linden Lucre would do well to bear in mind that they each need about twenty paying-in-only residents to throw off enough net L$ influx for there to be anything worth cashing out.

LOL

They don't have to earn it out of just you. Work out the mathematics.

Pep (And if you want to play you will be forced to view it.)

Elitist!

That's me! I do my best to be as unproductive as possible in SL, and I spend LOTS of $USD a month. ^_^

I don't feel very discriminated against though, maybe I'm doing it wrong. ^_~

Right -- I should have said "probably".

And, well, it wouldn't be pretty!