Account Creation Petition ****PLEASE READ****

lets see free 14 day trial... yepp they can cause alot of damage in 14 days. THis idea simply will not work.

A griefer only needs a few hours.... if that...

One thing always puzzles me about such claims:

Yes, I fully realise that to many people $10 *is* a lot of money, I don't question that.

But to logon to SL you need

a) a computer with a pretty decent graphics card, lots of memory and a powerful CPU (i.e. something which would be worth at least the $900 mark).
b) electricty to run that computer (logging onto SL every day could easily add $10 to the monthly electricity bill compared to having the computer switched off instead).
c) a decent broadband network connection (again probably costing >$10 a month in subscription)

So an extra, one-off $10 fee to play SL is a minor increase over the PC, electricty and network costs you would be paying.

And that is my puzzlement - I realise that there are people in this world who could not afford $10 to play SL, and I count myself fortunate that I could afford this. But for those to whom $10 genuinely is a serious barrier*, would they really be able to afford the equipment, electricty, and broadband costs to play SL anyway?

Matthew

* I don't wish to belittle those in such unfortunate circumstances - but any attempt to make SL more accessible to people in such circumstances, like similar attempts to make the internet as a whole more accessible need to go far deeper than free sign ups (e.g. ability to run SL on low cost <$100 PCs etc.)

Actually I can see LL liking this idea.

A bot running would sign up for a 14 day free trial, run his bot on that account for two weeks, cancel the account, create another 14 day free trialm run bot on that for two weeks, cancel account....

LL's headline number of sign ups would shoot through the roof

Matthew

I think it's more psychological, for the most part... speaking for myself, I already have a PC and if I weren't on SL I'd still be online doing other things (blogging, checking email etc) so those costs make no difference to me - I'd be paying them anyway. Plus, a PC and Internet connection is considered almost a *necessity* these days - to conduct business and communicate. So I can justify those costs.

But if you ask me to pay an extra USD$10 then it's extra out of pocket, and psychologically I'm telling myself, it's just a game, do I really want to pay USD$10 in order to play a game? The answer probably would be 'no' (unless of course I really loved the game).

If it's a one-off cost then I might be more likely to consider it, but it's still a psychological barrier of sorts. Plus it would depend on the person's financial circumstances and priorities (I just quit my job to go back to school... so am cutting back on spending on, err, "frivolous" things lol)

As for needing a computer with a decent graphics card, lots of memory and a powerful CPU - that's why so many SL residents have been crying foul over the new viewer. Because it seems optimised for higher-end, newer, more powerful hardware and it doesn't work as well (or doesn't work at all) on older, lower-end, slower hardware. I can't run it myself, I need to upgrade my RAM and probably also my graphics card. I'm still running the Nicholaz viewer which is based on 1.18.5.3.

Also it has been said that there are Countries with citizens that are unable to pay LL due to currency issues (LL does not accept them) so this allows the world to be in SL. Again, part of Philip's vision for SL.

Don't know about that... I know you can use a credit card or pay through PayPal. Not everybody has a credit card though and PayPal only operates in certain countries, I think.

Yeah, I always thought it odd too. People would get all up in arms though when this kind of thing was mentioned.

Agreed........but as someone said LLAB will not rid themselves of freebie accounts. They can`t because those paying ad islands are driven by them. They promise to give said company that pays for a commerical island unlimited signups for their purchase of VR Land........I totally agree with you but sad facts are there will never be a change.

This is BS as they say. some countries people don`t pay for things they can`t hold in their hands. Its not in their cuture. There is always Paypal and thewy can use their local wyas of saving monies to getr a paypal account......

Just repeating what was said when everyone was up in arms over the new addition of unverified alts.

thank you really i really needed it I understand what you mean

This thread tastes like Barbara Streisand.

I only have one comment on this post - You can build a computer capable of running Second Life for less than a thousand US dollars. $900 for a motherboard and CPU? What are you looking at? a scaled down supercomputer unit?

Those that fail to learn from projectopenletter.com, are doomed to repeat it.

I just wanted to say to the OP I think your whole proposal is narrow minded and borders on snobbery. I propose another petition, one to keep this petition from being signed.

I also love how you feel the need to spend my money to satisfy your view of what SL should be. You are no better than the tax and spend politicians in the U.S.

Do me a favor, stay out of my pocket as I can spend my money in my own way just fine. I personally spend plenty of money in SL supporting some wonderful content creators and don't need your help to continue or discontinue that practice.

If you want a more restrictive and 'you' friendly version of the meta-verse then go build your own and leave the one in which I choose to live alone.

/rant

That's looking at it backwards...

Do premiums pay for themselves on average? More than likely due to LL's high profit margin on the lower mainland tiers and they contribute US$ on the LindeX on top of that.

Do payment info used basics pay for themselves on average? Considering they infuse US$ on the LindeX to make tier payments for those selling L$, it's (very) possible at least.

Do no payment info basics pay for themselves on average? They can't contribute US$ in any form by definition so, no. At best they can cause some L$ to change hands back and forth but that has no impact on anything since L$ in-world are worthless, it's only on the LindeX at the time of exchange that L$ have any value.

If the NPIOF basics were the minority category then you would have a good case in arguing that they contribute since most would mature to either premium or buying L$ with time, but they're the majority, not an insignificant minority. It would even be fine if the grid could handle all the dead weight, but it obviously can't.

If you log out everyone (and prevent logging on) during peak hours when the grid breaks anyway and set the limit at "having payment info used" then the cost of entry is still absolutely nothing (or "bought $5 worth of L$ on the LindeX in the last month/quarter/year or pays fees to LL" if that's not enough) or next to nothing.

Just because there are "free" (in every sense of the word, eg no service fees, no L$ buys) accounts doesn't mean that should extend to 24/7 access to the grid. It's not the 100 people who live in the imaginary country with no banks and no credit cards that are a problem, it's the thousands upon thousands of people who are perfectly capable of putting payment info on file and using it but make a conscious choice that SL isn't worth paying for.

Excellent idea while SL is being all broken and people are tiering down.

Maybe we can get rid of some of the pesky old-timers who've gone back to free accounts!

You seem very confused.........................you talking about three different issues and "TRYING" to sum it up as one. its doesnt make sence.

Okay I'll bite. What should everyone have learned?

It would be completely unfair to remove any accounts of active current SL residents. This includes their bots.

However,

Changing new sign-ups back to the way they used to be (free for a week then a 10$ sign-up) would be feasible, it worked for years.

Of course those unable to provide payment details wouldnt be able to pay the $10 .. which would close SL off to those people who cant manage to provide their information now.


Regardless LL and King Phil are never going to sign off on this plan .. they are obviously trying to focus on quantity of quality .. thier whole business approach seems aimed around it.

That if enough people complain the Lindens will make time to listen, then soon as people walk away they will throw the suggestions in the trashbin.



Least thats what I learned.

Some fail to learn from the past because they themselves don`t care. Thats how much people learn from their mistakes. Those that learn don`t repeat mistakes.

This won't work, and certainly won't get my support.

Griefers would just use the free 14 day trial accounts, and discard them like a used "Saturday Night Special". Most griefer accounts are throw-aways as far as the account holder is concerned anyway, with no assets to lose other than the few weapons they are using to grief with.

Meanwhile your proposal devastates a large number of responsible, respectable individuals who have multiple accounts and use them in ways that harm no one.

I own a quarter of a sim plus an additional parcel in another sim. I create whole sims for clients, stimulating sales of private sims in SL and making SL a better place for many people. I have roughly a dozen accounts in SL, none of which are Premium accounts, all of which have valid payment information on file. They all have large inventories of clothes and other items, paid for with L$ that my main account earns in SL and distributes to them. None have ever been used to grief, harm or scam anyone. While I could afford to pony up $120 USD as a one-time fee to make all of these accounts "Paid", asking me to restrict myself to only five of them would be like asking me which five of my fingers and toes I would like to keep, knowing the others would then be amputated. Or asking the parents of a large family which of their kids should be allowed to remain on their home, and which should be executed on the spot. The fact that you can not conceive of valid reasons why one person might want to need more than 5 accounts does not make it impossible that such reasons exist. One big reason is for roleplaying, so you can have different characters that can be on-screen at the same time and that can be treated as individuals in their own right. Another is for group management, to retain access to groups when you need to be part of more than 25 groups.

"Free" accounts do still contribute positively to SL, and even a "No Payment Info on File" account could still belong to a Player who has other accounts that can still feed them plenty of money. And if you are NOT using the account as a throw-away weapon, then each account has the same needs for clothes and other possessions, and increases the amount that Player spends daily in SL.

What is needed is NOT a limit on "Free" accounts. What is needed is a definitive database that links all accounts to a verified real individual at account creation time. I am not talking about that ill-conceived "Age Verification" system, but rather some database that associates, for LL staff use only, all accounts that a given individual creates or has created. That might require some sort of slow-down on the account creation process, such as LL sending out a verification code by postal mail that is needed to activate accounts. But it can be done.

Then, if some Asshat plays Griefer, one action from LL can ban all their current accounts and prevent them from creating new ones. But as long as any idiot can create a completely anonymous account, one that even LL has no way to trace back to the individual, then Griefers will continue to make such accounts with impunity, knowing that if they get banned, they can make another account in minutes.