Alt Accounts: Do You Gotta Pay or Not?

heyas;

okay, im getting mixed signals here.


on the side of NO:

i logged out of the sl site to sign up for a new account (there doesn't seem to be a 'create alt account' button). i went through the account creation process from end to end, and NOWHERE did i see anything asking me if this were a first account or an alt.

additionally, while creating this account, i perused the tos headings again. especially concerning the creation of accounts. i did not find any reference to creating alternate accounts, nor paying for alternate accounts.



on the side of YES:

still researching this, i went to the billing portion of the site, and somewhere in there i found the chart that says extra basic accounts have a one-time setup fee of 9.95.

also in that area, i found a notice that if you created a free basic account as a second account and didn't pay for its setup, your alt AND your main account could be terminated.

well, fearing i would be terminated because i couldnt claim this alt account as my alt account and pay for it (unless i submit a support ticket???), i cancelled my alt account.



on the side of MAYBE:

okay, so since the billing page is adamant about you having to pay for alt accounts, i tried again to create an alt, looking in vain for the part where i TELL THEM it is an alt and PAY FOR IT.

again, not in the tos, but i think under the tos billing info, it says you 'MAY be charged a fee' for extra accounts. (emphasis mine.)

i gave that up, because i still couldnt find where to register an alt account as a legitimate alt account.



on the side of WHO THE HECK KNOWS?

i was reading a post elsewhere on the forums (about bots) and came across this:

Quote:
People cannot have several accounts, except if they pay for that.

Quote2:
There is still some old documentation around suggesting otherwise, but this is no longer the case. In fact, LL won't even offer to take your money for additional basic accounts any more.





does anybody KNOW? like, has anybody created a paid alt account in the past month or two??? or tried to? maybe i should im that second guy there and ask....

You don't have to pay. I recently created an alt and it instantly matched me up to my main as I had a calling card from my main already there when I logged first time. A few days later I received an e-mail saying they had been unable to bill me and had a negative value on my account. I sent a support ticket and was refunded within an hour and received two e-mails apologising for the billing error.

Edited for unknown reasons

That one!

I haven't created an alternative account, but that's the correct info.

LL is not collecting fees for alts. But they reserve the right to make you pay a fee and/or restrict how many accounts you own IF they think you are abusing the right to make lots of alts.

So if some griefer makes an army of 10000 alts, they can choose to make him pay $9.95 USD for each one, and they have legal grounds to shut down all the accounts.

But if some roleplayer has 20 accounts, and no complaints againt them for how any of them behave? Play on, dude! No charge!

If you create an alt.. they aren't really going to care.

The current Tao of Linden is to get as many "active" avatars/residents as possible to support their claims of SL popularity.

If you had to pay 10 bucks for each alt.. say maybe one for testing permissions, designing clothes, creating groups, 10% tier bonus (group owned land), and/or a "get away from it all" avatar... People wouldn't create alts.

Now... if you are taking advantage of the free alts then LL has every right to terminate those accounts.

Sounds like you just want an alt for the fun of it... No harm in that

One of the Support Portal people flatly told me in June that they weren't currently charging for alts. 'Currently' was the phrasing, so it's still possible they may bring it back at some point. Or not. Either way, they probably won't tell us.

Or give us two weeks retroactive notice

Yes you do have to pay. If you don't, LL can bring criminal charges against you. I advise you pay immediately. Simply go to the address below and input your avatar name, password and credit card details;


www.addressthatsoundsabitlikesecondlifedotcombutissubtleydifferent.com/phishing.html

There is no Create Alt button. Just go ahead and create a new account, then enter your info when asked. The accounts won't be linked, payment info and all are separate.

You are still limited to 5 accounts per email address it seems

hmmm....

now to analyze all your answers and figure out how much i trust all you people.... ::gives scrutiniznig looks:: hm, yes, that conan fellow's been around a while, i best believe that the most....

;)


thanks, guys!


yeah, i just want one for a fast, reliable test of next owner permissions on products. somebody to be my fan when a group i create has zero members besides me.... that sort of thing.

I recently created a fourth alt to just go out and explore that only two of my closest friends
know about. I just was curious to see how things have changed in orientation island,etc.
And I noticed they don't have the 9.95 for additional alts nor do they have sign up bonus
like they use too either.
I am not sure why but its all under same email account.
I guess if I really wanted one more I could do that but four accounts are enough.

that's weird....

because i tried to put my alt on my email address, and it told me that address was being used already. so it seems you can't have five alts on one email, it's only one per one.


unless you're doing something different than i am.


also have you noticed that signing up to start on a specialty orientation deal is different than signing up for the regular orientation island? well, slightly. i couldn't pick which base avatar to start with (geek, ringtail, goth, etc). i had to pick a gender when i logged in, in a pop-up box. that was weird.

THere is a problem if you choose a specialty one, that wont alow use of the same email. If you just do normal orientation selection though, then it works fine.

And yeah, specialty ones have different startup avs...

I gave an alt I made to a friend of mine next door, she uses my wireless too.. (boost signal-leech) love her though and we are best friends.. She makes me cookies~!~ cause I can't bake.. NEway
I did this cause had already taken it through OI and got some clothes for the avatar.. Was going to use it to mess with current SL BF.. but.. that didn't last long so..
I can't remember what e mail I used for it for it either...
So what I am asking, is this my alt still?

That's breaking the rules hon, might not want to admit that. Under no circumstances are you allowed to share your login info =(

When you sign up for an account they ask for your real name and a birthdate, so assuming you gave those correctly and gave your own email address, then yes, it's your alt.

i suppose your friend has laid claim to her. She can change the email associated with the account, and also put her own payment info on and change the password, etc. So you shouldn't worry as long as she behaves herself.

I will have her change it to her email. I'm sure I used my own email..
But I do not worry at all about her misbehaving.

How is it against the rules to share your account information, so if I were married I could not tell my husband this information, or another person who might need to get in if something ever happend to me????? I would be breaking the rules??? (in response to the earler posting re: this)

Yes.

From the TOS:



and

Okay, thanks. I will cancel it today and she can start her own. ; ))

There used to be an option(maybe there still is) that says "I already have an account in SL" and it would cause you to pay $10 for your alt. As far as I know, it's still illegal to have an unpaid alt and LL reserves the right to ban both your alt and main.

Dear OP,
NO CHARGE!!!
Trust me dammit!!!

Or not. Just don't tell us.

Not according to what I was told when I submitted a ticket asking why I didn't have the option to pay for my alt at sign up. I ASKED them to charge me for it and they declined.