An army of Alts: What does it cost to create additional Basic accounts?

Sometimes, people use them to game search results. More people putting your place in their Picks = better search ranking. I think that's what the OP is accusing somebody of..

Is that an advantage? Wouldnt you need lots and lots of them?

Yep - the OP has declared that some people have 'hundreds' of alts. How much of an advantage that gives a shop is something I don't know but I wouldn't doubt that it'd raise the search rank above 80% of other shops - it's hard to get hundreds of people to add you to their limited picks list...

It seems like what really needs to be done is to fix the search. If they're going to use picks to influence the ranking, make it so a resident's picks only count if they spend a certain amount of time online a week. Or don't use profile picks to influence search at all.

Search is completely messed up, and I don't believe altering alt policies will fix it.

i've seen someone rez up 40 bots in like no time at all..
isn't their a program that does that or something? i mean i have trouble with my 1 alt on at the same time..it's almost impossible to model stuff on her the lag can get so bad at times..a 3rd account going would probably do me in lol..

Bots don't need graphics - they take up far fewer resources on your machine (and on SL servers, if they're just traffic/camp bots) than a 'real' avatar does..

I, for one, am glad they removed the wording that limited alts to 5. Cause, I had 5 alts and my main.. and technically that would be 6.

* Fine-tuning tier (you need another 1024 tier, you don't want to pay an extra $75 a month for it, you get a premium alt and put $72/year+$5/month into it).
* You're role-playing multiple characters in a game.
* You need to be in more than 25 groups.
* You don't want to risk having all your L$ in one account.
* People are talking about how much better it is to have a female avatar in SL and you want to check it out.
* You need to test permissions or multi-person poses when you're building.
* You want to visit Help Island and Orientation Island again because you heard LL has done something crazy with them.
* Your female alt is getting stalked by some nutbar who she met in a sandbox, so you dump her and start over.
* What?
* Who, me?

Oh, uh, I thought it had. The quote the OP posted said "a few" vs "an army". Well in retrospect, The language on that issue has changed several times, and I seem to recall when I killed off my 6th alt, the rules said "5 alts" not "5 accounts".. so whatever. And I have actually contacted support *TRYING* to get them to let me pay the fee to legitimize my alts.. and they refused.

If the lab has a major problem with it, they know my phone number. Since most of them are offline for weeks at a time, I somehow doubt it's an issue.

/me hits the AR button!!

Whatever.

'nuff said. (^_^)y

I wish they would do this! Have they? I am so bored with the ones I've got, and ready for someone new. It would help the economy, too.

I hope you're happy. You killed TJ Hooker.

Just make new ones. Unless you're using an alt to get around a ban, I doubt they'll either notice or care.

Since even using them to massively game the search doesn't seem to attract their attention, I doubt a dozen alts you actually use would cause any trouble.

You haven't met my alts, yet....

I just use them for fun and excitement. Do they still allow that?

Only if the sim is rated "Childish".

That's the default rating for any sim I land in. =^-^=

1. Every third alt you create is automatically a child avatar.

2. They often have goofy names, which is simply not done.

3. They are willing to accept jobs for lower pay than premium accounts.

4. They expect to be treated like everyone else.

Why not?

It's against the Social Contract.

I never signed that!

Nobody signs the social contract. (*That* isn't done, either.)

A verbal social contract isn't worth the paper it's written on!

PS: in the example you use, you're obligated to pay by the exchange of goods. If they don't give you food, you don't have to pay for it... simply asking for food doesn't create a contract.

Let me talk with my attorney and get back to you on that.