Myth: Premium accounts only?

Hmmm..... My mind wanders.... =^-^=

Make something like this... RPAS: Real Person Activity Score: And actively updated integer value based on a list of factors, like ARC:

-1 point for every minute passed...

+5 points for every Mx2 an avatar moves... Rotation is not counted...

+5 points for every time an object is manipulated inworld, attached to the avatar or not...

+1 point for every line of chat...

-15 points if that line of chat isn't received by any other avatar...

+1 point for every IM sent...

+10 points if the line of chat is not found in an hour long chat log...

Create a few hard caps... 55k online, 40k temporarily if there are asset issues. If the cap is hit, every new login kicks the lowest scoring avatar off. Odds are, avatars with a score of 0 or lower are most likely to be poorly created bots. Meh... It can still be gamed. (T_T)

Your right, I misunderstood.

Still the point I was trying to make still stands - that when people can earn or buy Lindens and pay tier without dealing directly with Linden Labs "no payment on file" gives no indication of how much someone actually puts into the game. So restricting log ins on this basis is a bad idea.

well you only pay tier if you have a premium account,and to get premiun one of the steps is getting payment on file info even if not used on a monthly bases

By these numbers, I'd be counted as a bot most days. I spend a lot of time inworld in the company of my VKC dog, lots of long hikes along Linden Roads. If I lost 15 points for every chat line directed at the dog (especially returning him to the heel command after he has lost track of me because of lag) with no other avatar around, no matter how much I created or moved, I'd end up with negative numbers at then end of the day.

(Bug fix) - Unresolved avatar to avatar chat lines will only deduct points after a threshold of 4 chat send attempts are made before the avatar moves in any direction. If the avatar moves more than 1M in any direction; any resulting negated points will be restored. [Resolved]

=^-^=

It woudl still be money spent on things I do not want.

yeah I be in trouble too there is very people I talk to in world some days.

Yep. What they said was...

This is from the blog URL in the OP.

I have...

Your current plan: Lifetime Membership
Allowed holdings: 4,096 square meters
Total monthly cost: US$0.00

i dunno if they offer it anymore, was a real long time ago.. but what category would it fall under?

Phew! Ok, I can live with that.

.... Lucky sonofa....... (>_<

I believe that's the "rat bastard that we all want to kill and steal his account" category.

It's worse than that. You don't really want to ban ALL the bots, just the ones that exist to artificially inflate traffic figures, and perhaps the landbots. People would get really upset if bots like Exchange Street (SLX) and Commerce Leader (OnRez) were booted out. Other bots power the automatic group join gadgets and the Subscribe-O-Matic gadgets that let you sign up for info from a store without using a group slot. I'm sure there are still more bots that perform useful services in Second Life.

Because if you can't log in you're missing a scheduled meeting. Possibly one that you really needed to attend. Inventory isn't relevant; the ability to talk to the other attendees of the meeting is.

LOL,

this has bad implications for that whole "SL as a business meeting interface" plan

"Hey we need to have a meeting with the people in Denver, lets set up the Second Life Conference room."

"Good call .. Ummm well ... *Do to unusually high server load ...*"

3 hours later ... Still no logins.

"Denver called , they went with our competition"

If the meeting was that important you would use Second Life for it... why???

lol maybe because Linden Lab has pimped SL as a business platform.

And inexplicably so.

I think maybe they kinda just got lazy and can't bear anything that isn't beams of sunshine and "cool!". Sort of a divorce from the community because they are, by all signs, disappointed in it and consider it to be too much work. The Tao factors into that I am sure, because we know that special snowflakes should never have to deal with anything less than rainbows, fields of wildflowers, and butterflies at work. Which, while there are plenty of drama whores and extreme kinks and so forth, I resent, because the vast majority of us are pretty well behaved and have done some amazing things.

i have a basic free account but i payed for it at the time it was a life time membership

Of possible passing interest to somebody: in LSL these accounts can be identified as being "No Payment Info on File" and "Payment Info Used." Kind of a FIC-detector.

I pay my private sim owner over $70 USD per month for my quarter-sim parcel, and the vast majority of that money goes straight to LL, to pay the monthly tier on the sim. So I indirectly pay well over $50 USD per month in "tier" as profit to LL, even though I am on a Basic account.

And that doesn't take into account what LL earns from me as their cut when I cash out L$ profits from my business efforts.

I have several accounts - all "Payment Info on file" or "Payment info used" - and all are Basic. I have never had a Premium account, and I am unlikely ever to get one, since *currently* the only benefits of being Premium are of negligible value to me. I have absolutely zero interest in owning mainland property, because of the hands-off way that LL fails to manage disputes, griefing, and land extortion on the mainland. A well-run private sim with a landlord who cares about his tenants is a far more attractive deal for me. The reported "better service" for support of Premium members is nominal, from what I read on the forums. You can complain about more types if stuff, but generally get the same poor or erratic response level. I don't need the piddling L$300 a week stipend paid back to me out of my Premium dues. I cash out L$ several times per month, and that additional income would hardly even register on what I cash out.

So for me, they would have to either greatly improve what they offer to Premium members, or they would have to make being Premium a requirement for being here, to get me to go Premium. And if membership was required, that would kill most of my alts, unless they could somehow be linked to my Premium account's access. I'd spend a lot less money and do a lot less socializing in SL without my alts.

They tried restricting access to "Payment info used" precisely once. It didn't work well, and they got so many complaints they said they wouldn't do it that way again.

The big problem with restricting acess only to Premium accounts is that it totally screws up the SL economy. Sim owners and landlords may not be able to get payments from their tenants that can't log in. Business owners get far fewer customers, because, surprisingly, a vast majority of the people who buy stuff in SL are NOT Premium members. If all you do in SL is socialize, you don't care who else can get in. But if you are trying to run a business here, having LL arbitrarily cut off a large part of your potential customers is financial suicide.

You and I are perfect examples of why a Premium over Basic priority is senseless. Profit-wise, it is completely idiotic for LL as a company to place a higher service priority to someone like me in comparison to you. Because, dollar-wise, they have MUCH more to lose with you off the grid. (^_^)

I'm sure the Lindens learned this lesson the hard way the first, last, and only time they actually put this restriction to practice. (^_^)y

god lets get extreme okay!?
No its not a business platform but it is a source for business dealings and commerce and education and that requires organization. People do set schedules here for things just as important as hair shopping and social events. Everyone screams “It’s NOT a Game!” well if its nothing more then playing dress up Barbie then it IS just a freaking game.

It's who *you* pay directly, and not a line of intermediaries where someone eventually pays LL. If you're not paying LL directly then you're not LL's customer no matter how you twist or turn it.

If you insist on the merit of "indirect payments" then you have to be consistent and follow it through all the way or you're just counting the same money multiple times.

Your customers spend money in your business and they claim they're contributing money to LL indirectly by buying L$ they spend in-world.
You spend part of your business' income on your rental and claim that you're indirectly paying LL.
Your landlord pays for his/her tier with their rental income and claim they're directly paying LL.

Three people can't claim that the $50 that LL eventually gets is all theirs, so walking the line:
Your landlord is paying his/her tier entirely with their rental income and doesn't pay LL as little as a pennie
You pay your rent with your business income and don't pay LL anything even indirectly
Your customers buy their L$ and are the only ones indirectly paying LL for anything through your landlord with you as a non-spending intermediary.

I understand what you are saying here. Point is, Second Life is not reliable. Anybody that has spent any time in world knows this. If your business purpose is non-critical and won't be bothered by being delayed for a few hours then, fine, go for it.

But, if you have a meeting that is so important that your business or schedule may be harmed by not being able to attend then Second Life is the very last option I would choose as a meeting place.