Benifits of having a full account?

Um, no. The Basic tickets refer to things like the an inability to register, log into your account, or the need to have a region restarted. If you can't buy Lindens or otherwise have a Lindex problem, you almost have to call Billing, because there is no option for that.

I agree. Wanting everything for free is very selfish.

For a large part of the world only those with money do get housing, healthcare etc. Those places in general pay less tax then we do in the UK. Swings and roundabouts to a large extent.

And if you think being a premium account means money to burn, an annual subscription is the equivalent of less than a day's wages at UK minimum wage, or roughly five days Jobseekers Allowance. Anyone who really cannot afford that, cannot afford an internet connection so they aren't going to be here at all.

special support questions

1 I cant open account
lol without an account the lindens loose any chance of getting your money

2 its telling my i cant loggin from this locations
lol again how can lindens get your money if you cant log in


3 my account has been shut off
same as 2 LOL

4 region is offline
ok this one can be of some use i agree not just so lindens can get money from you

5 estate manager with basic account needs a sim rollback
lindens biggest customers and source of income is esate owners so they have to keep esate owners employies happy too

6 I cant add payment method
speaks for itself again lindens need to fix to get your money

7 lindenx tier review

again chance for lindens to get more money from you

8 age verification
thats maybe usefull to someone

9 bank registration submission
again to do with lindens getting your money


so out of 9 special support questions only 2 dont relate to lindens getting your money.
and all of them are pretty useless as dont match most common support requests

i'm used to paying monthly fees.
Everquest, Everquest2, DDO, Vanguard. etc...
$22 for 3 months of service here is 1.5 months of service in one of those.
If LL doesn't get money how do you expect them to keep the service up?
People may buy SIMs but the costs to LL costs more than the cost of the SIM.
Hardware, network, paychecks etc.. all need to be though of.
Subscribing shows you support them to. I know i like what i see in SL and want to see it grow huge.

I'm actually considering downgrading my account. I have been considering it for the past few days and was surprised to see a thread on this today.
I have enjoyed reading the different points of view that have been posetd here.

I must admit I am still torn as to what I should do.

As you can see, I have been a member here in SL for almost 2 years and have been premium for about the same amount of time. Over the years I have owned several plots of land, and have always had issues with either griefers, or clubs, or just plain ugly or inconsiderate neighbors.
My past few houses I have had to put up in the sky because the beautiful "new" land I bought was inundated with ugly, poorly built boxes. Then the sky was filled with ugly, poorly built boxes.

I have recently moved to an island for the first time that is covenant owned. I have always frowned on covenents because I felt that they stifled any creativity that I might want to pursue. I was wrong in that regards I guess. The place I am at is quiet, peaceful and I have never been happier. It is zoned as residential and many times I (and my partner) are the only ones in it. I have been there a month and am now considering downgrading my membership because I feel that the benefits of a premium membership no longer seem to offer any real value to my current lifestyle.

I have used the LL support in the past to deal with various issues (poor sim performance, griefers, etc) and they have ALWAYS helped me in an extremely fast and friendly manner. So, in that regards I am hesitant to downgrade my premium membership.

I will still be buying Lindens from LL on a monthly basis to pay for my current plot, and I will still be buying $1000L here and a $1000 L there whenever I see something cool to buy. So, in that sense, I will still be contributing to LL's success.
Money has never been an issue with me, as long as I am getting value for it, but as for right now, the premium membership just doesn't look like it is adding any value to my SL life.

sure, I'll miss the 500L stipend, but when all is said and done...its still only $1.80 US per week (approx)


/me watches as his finger hovers over the downgrade button

Of course, if you downgrade and then want to upgrade again at some point, you'll be stuck with the 300L/week. If you have an annual membership, your current stipend more than pays for it; the 300L will not.

Well, I said it before and I will say it again: Have eveyone pay to play.
As the selfish small-minded person I seem to be, I think that it is only normal to have to pay for a service:

- Free accounts playable for 30 days (or less even), to get the feeling
- After trial period, pay membership
- Members gets 2 free alts in order to test/explore/whatever

Then the rant about support blackmail: be glad you even get any kind of support at all, from a company you do not pay a dime to. As soon as you pay for their service, you can rant about their service.

Loosing people every day? Well a lot can be done to make newbies feel more welcome, and a more stable platform is one of those things. But people who play for free, and leave because they do not get good support, well... Since I got on, user count went from around 40K to 55-60K. A lot of the growth can be explained by bots, but I guess there are new people coming into SL as well. In the end I think its slowly growing.

Greetings, Marcel (premium member while renting estate)

Im glad you admit you are small minded
because thinking lindens dont get my money because I dont have a full account is very small minded indeed.

Oh, you wanted opinions, but just those that agree with yours. I got it now.

As far as Premium goes, there are just as many good reasons not to do it as there are to do it, but anyone who can afford a computer up to date enough to run SL and the broadband needed can afford to pay the Premium if they want to. You just might have to ask Mommy and Daddy for an increase in your allowance.

hehe...I just tried to respond to you and I got the "503"

lol....how fitting


yeah, I thought about that too, but when all is said and done, if I did decide to upgrade again, the difference between 500 per week and 300 per week is still only about $ 0.75 cents per week so its not that big of a deal

as it is now, my quarterly membership is billed directly anyways so I never really turn over lindens to pay for my memebrship..and I don't wait with baited breathe every tuesday to get my stipend. If I have money to buy something, I buy it...and if I don't have money to buy something...I ...errr...buy them ,and then buy it... LOL

Damn even a mousetrap can't be as effective as my posting I guess...

Looking back at the posts in your thread, you want to rant about Lindens effort to make money. Weird, for a company to try and make money. Even weirder not to give their best level of support to people who do not pay for a mambership. Instead they give congierce level support to owners of half a sim, people who pay hundreds of dollars. Indeed, I can understand your rant a lot better now...

Everybody not agreeing with you is small minded and selfish. Well I got news for you: try to grow up a bit before your next post

This probably is my last post in this thread, as you are not looking for answers anyway. Not looking for opinions either.

Have fun, Marcel

I know what you are saying. I live on a great private estate as well, and have no desires to leave and wonder if it is worth keeping the premium. The $300 Lindens aren't important, I'd just use that 9.95 to buy Lindens. That being said, I do like to think that monthly fee is a small investment in SL's future, no matter how delusional it may seem. And my free 512 of tier is donated , so I keep paying each month.

I choose to remain on a basic account, and rent from reputable, mature professionals. This has served my needs quite nicely.

At the moment, I do not require a premium account to thrive--I can create studio space on small parcels of land I purchase, and vendor space in prime locations. This has always been enough for me.

What does a premium account give me that I don't have already? I can own land--in a manner of speaking--from reputable sources, and create the environment I want. I suppose I don't actually 'own' the land straight from LL, but the land I own is mine to do with what I please, and I have full control, so it's pretty darn close to owning it outright. Also, I suppose, I do not have ultimate freedom with my parcel, because I'm restricted to space...but that is neither here nor there--I have plenty of freedom in my little parcel, and I've no fear of ejection.

I think you can thrive and rejoice on a basic account, just as much as you can on a premium. It's all a matter of who's on that account.

I have learnt what I wanted from this and thats dont bother your fighting a loosing battle give up to many self righteous people out there that look down on people without full accounts forgetting there potential customers friends and maybe even full accounts

2 months minimum I would say, based on the experience I have with new players, it takes one month to get to grips with the basics and even in 1 month you can't totally understand or experience what SL is about.

welll...another way to look at your situation is. If you downgraded, you could still spend the 9.95 monthly on shopping.
Instead of paying the 9.95 monthly, you could buy an extra 2660 lindens......you're still supporting LL

Nothing wrong with free accounts. There are plnty of great people here who are on a free account. They create and contribute more to SL than a lot of premiums, myself included. i don't choose my friends here on Account status either. I think that shouldn't be displayed publicly if you ask me. But they are all free because they choose to be. Not because they want to and can't afford it. That dog just doesn't hunt. That being said, there are people who carry a perpetual sense of entitlement and would complain if they had to pay $1 a year to use SL. But as long as Linden allows free accounts, they have a right be use it.

QFT!!

True, but my tier is donated to a good cause, so it's an equitable tradeoff. Buying lindens to shop has never been a problem for me

Ever hear of fixed incomes or people living on disability who can't easily participate in RL and SL is their primary social, creative, etc. outlet?

Premiums also get the live chat thing, which can be very helpful for in-world problems.

For example, I know that the problems from http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=239313 , where a couple objects were each shouting a dozen times a second and changing their name every time, was resolved by a premium ARing the object then calling live chat. Within a few minutes a Linden came by and removed the objects.

That's not to say that the support premiums get always fixes every problem but when you pay yearly, it's well worth the price for the additional support vs basic accounts.

LOL! Sounds like a Free Account Owner got booted from a Sim & is now disgruntled.

First thing's first. I'm Premium now and have been for about two years. I was Basic for my first 7 months and still support the free Basic Account theme of LL.

Basic Accounts do get Support. Period, Yes, LL needs to work on getting it better, but between Basic and Premium, the only real difference is using the Live Chat options. Which, one of the most used is for BILLING, which a Basic doesn't need.

Basics don't own land, so do not need Support for land/sim issues. If they have an problem with that, then they need to contact their landlord whom will contact LL.

Basics don't pay LL, so, as stated above, do not need Billing Support.

Concierage does get instant responses (usually), but then again, they paid 1500-1750 USD for the sim and 200-300 USD a month. I feel they deserve the Support they get. Which said Support is for handling sim issues that come with the island.

Support is provided on a per case basis, and provides the level of Support that each need. I don't need Concierage Support because I don't have a island sim to take care of. I only need Support for my small mainland plot and for Billing at times.

Now, for the math.

Best rate on Premium is yearly. Cost 72 USD.
What comes in that package:
1) 300L$ per week stipend. 300 x 52 (weeks in a year) = 15,600L$. With the average exchange rate of 280:1, that comes out to 55.71 USD
2) 512m of Mainland Tier. Estimated value at 5 USD a month. Times 12 months = 60 USD
3) Additional Support features to help with managing that land, and your Billing. Value = 0 USD (Some can add value to this, but there is no booking to show it's value).

So for 72 USD, you get a 115.71 USD value.

Even using the 9.95 USD a month, the cost is 119.40 USD per year. That's only 3.69 USD above value.

Obviously, if a person does not intend to own Mainland, then a Premium is not worth it. The added Support features are NOT a "blackmail" or "doggy bone" incentive to gain Premiums (if they are, then the LL sales personell needs fired). You gain exactly what LL tells that you will gain. The stipend and land. The Support is offered to help manage those.

So Support should not be a concideration of wether a person intends to go Premium or Basic. Only what aspects of SL they intend to ustilise should be looked at. ie, if they want to own Mainland, or not. Don't want to own Mainland, don't be a Premium.

~Jessy

YEP! But if its SO expensive, how can you afford Broadband? Thats a Luxury.

I know a few folks who ARE on disability and can easily pay $72 per year. + their $15/month for Warcraft, their $60/month for Broadband, $650/month for an apartment, plus the utilities, plus food, etc, etc.