"reduced stipends for premium accounts created after July 21, 2006"

What part of his blog entry makes you think LL eventually intends to reduce existing account stipends?

If anything, Linden Labs is giving back much more than 10,000 a month to content creators. We are going to be approaching a 20% reduction in the main source of $L, the premium stipend, with only a 5% addition to the money supply on the Lindex market. If they don't sell more than 10,000 a month, then they are losing money out of this deal.

More and more reason to be a wholesome person with your main so your alt isn't fubared.

If it is all about market stability, why the need to infuse extra Lindens now?

coco

The change reduces the mandatory influx of new stipends via new premium accounts by 20%. Instead, LL now has the discretion to add new ones as necessary.

Key words.. mandatory, discretionary.

This also made me lol, for real.

LL get's their monies, either way. Unless you really take your marbles and.... uninstall.

Well, see, that doesn't cut much mustard with me.

Because LL DECIDES to remove stipends. That way they can more easily sell Lindens. I could be wrong, but that's certainly the way it looks to me. Eventually they will remove all stipends, period, and sell more Lindens, period.

coco

I don't know what to think about this. I'm a bit nervous about it though.

Of course... create a demand for your "product" and it will sell. Simple marketing tactic. It's like charging people to use a public toilet - the need remains, and you either pay up or do without.

At least with a public toilet charging you get the opportunity to pee against a tree. We don't get that option in SL.

Lewis

You can join us in Neufreistadt. We are a not for profit group and are on the leading edge of self government in Second Life. We are in an exciting time during the elections and are on the verge of expanding into another sim

Yes! There is another choice between living in the griefer mainland and renting from a land baroness, you can come join us in Neufreistadt.


http://neufreistadt.info/

Thanks for the offer, but I have little interest in real life politics and even less in in-game politics.

Lewis

I am astonished that people are so upset about what amounts to thirty cents worth of Linden dollars per week. In fact, I am often shocked that residents do not seem to understand the real value of the currency within SL and how easy and inexpensive it is to buy a little fun here.

I often see people tipping DJs and live musicians 50 Linden after enjoying their talents for an hour or two. And I think, would you do that in RL? Drop fifteen cents into somebody's tip jar?

Come on people, this is much ado about nothing. In the aggregate it helps Linden Lab keep inflation down. For the individual, I hardly think this issue is worth the time it takes to make a forum post to bitch about it.

Of course, that is just my two cents (just a hair less than 7 Linden if you are interested).

You can be involved or not as involved as your intrests in politics. The main point is that we are a group working toughter for the common good and not to make a land baron or baroness rich.

It is not the money but the principle of it. I think as the stipend goes away the SL economy will slow down. I would not have bought a quarter of the content if paying for it in American Dollars or Japanese Yen. You are right about one thing, it will not be the stipend in the end that decides if to be premium membership or not to be premium membership but the state of the mainland. At this time it is out of control and just not worth it!.
About tipping in my culture it is considered rude to tip and I have a hard time overcoming this In my heart I think it is a vulgar custom and it is not professional for employees to beg for money because their employers to do not pay them a fair wage.

I think it may slow a little bit. But I think the problem isn't the lack of government-sponsored welfare payments, but rather, people's ignorance. When I see people sitting in a camping chair all night for what amounts to pocket change I want to smack them upside the head and say "you just spent more money on electricity than you would have spent on the Lindex you goofy dork."

Of course, in my culture, this would be rude

That being said, as LL starts to decrease the stipend amount, they had better add some kind of value to the premium account or a whole lot of people will drop down to basic.

Actually, I get the feeling that they are heading this way. Except that the 'same stipend' is going to be 'none'. And when it hits the older premiums, I'm going basic and LL won't see a single penny from me. It's cheaper to rent the land than it is to keep using their system.

And when they do that, they might as well only charge the $5 USD that they have fort he 512m2 tier, instead of calling them 'premium accounts'. There won't be a reason for the premium accounts. No 'kick-backs' for paying the monthly/quarterly fees, sooooo... I always saw the extra $4 as being the direct to L payment for the L$.

Come to think of it.. could this be the way they are headed? Getting rid of the premium accounts altogether and having charges based solely on the tier chart? It does make sense with all the recent changes. Either that or the Linden Labs has lost it's collective monetary mind. I'm thinking both, because they seem to be doing away with the 'sinks' by direct selling the L...

That is my belief as well. Also not being forced to by Lindens they will not buy Lindens and both demand for Lindens and content sale will fall. I am beginning to see the same vision as friend Lewis. A Second Life full of deserted mainland sims full of griefers and children and the people paying the bills on private islands with enhanced security orbs. Most of them are in second life for their own reasons and not to make money from selling content.

I guess il have to start selling more stuff now. >.> I'l have to make time between handling griefers to build more things to sell to boost me up so i can continue to afford to enjoy Sl after the stipends are gone. i will never resort to buying linden.

i spend enough of my money in entropia keeping my character well stocked in ammo and mind essance and fully repaired eqquipment... Why should i have to buy linden when i've been earning it pretty well the last 1 1/2 years. :/

Well, the good news is that you only have to sell an additional thirty cents of real value each week to make up for this change. You can do it Yiffy!

Hehe well when they finally decide to destroy all the stipends il need a retirement fund so im gona start saving. XD

You miss the point, how do you sell more in a market with a decreasing demand? Hint study the market of deflation and decreasing demand and no matter how much you water a dead plant it is still dead.

here's a few ideas all the profiteers in SL might like. Is it a troll if i tell you its a troll in advance? and.. possible flame bait.. in advance... i mean thats like telling an SL economist theres a 50 ton safe attached to that 20 on the ground that will crush them, and then getting in trouble when they pick it up... (note to self ~~~50 ton safe....)

Premium accounts start recieving the normal stipend of L400 a week(now?), to help get them started and things moving, of course. Consider it 'training expenses'. Over time their stipend slowly decreases until after 3 or so months their stipend becomes L0 a week. Instead of letting these for-fun slackers just sit around doing nothing, they are slowly forced into being productive in the economy or failing, just like in real life.

They can slack around for 3 months, or they can learn important skills to donate to the economy. I mean, hell, dont they realize theres a bunch of self-important charachters in this game that are primarily focused on profit? They'll need employees and people who can come home from a long day at work, and jump into a long night of work with nary a bitch complaint, not some fun loving hippies! right! RIGHT!?(oh! wrong!? well, this is just devils advocate anyways, sheesh!)

Secondly, LL should offer an in game business license in second life, in order to recieve over X amount of lindens a month from other people and sources (say L2500) you have to have a business license, that costs L7500-10000 a year. If you purchase a business license before your 3 months of stipend expires, you no longer recieve the stipend. Now i know what your saying, but 3 months at 400L a week, declining weekly wouldnt make me enough to buy my business license! I KNOW! Geez, dont whine, im sure theres plenty of banker types willing to loan shark you the money, at high interest, of course. (Imagine you could start a whole 'credit' system and someone could come up with a scoring system and rate debt deadbeats so they couldn't get loans, maybe even make it LL sanctioned rating so people could deny them access to the stores and land based on payment information and.. crap.. nevermind)

If you were stupid, and unproductive when new, didnt learn how to build, texture, script and sell, AND your stipend runs out, you starve and die and become a furry, or do a rags to lower class wage slave story, possibly... or whore yourself out(need a sex worker license too, and level certification, ill help with the screening furry male side)

I think its unfair to pull people out of their real world situations and put them in a world with unrealestic expectations and results and rewards. They absolutely must understand that theres no escape and that even their supposed lollygagging breaks into 'virtual reality' are no excuse to start being a bunch of selfish lazy jerks ruining it for the SL economist, do you realize how many L they lost on suits and gesturing the phrase 'oh dear, muffy just made a funny.'

Disclaimer: the author is a land owner(16k Sq M Teir), non-banker type, builds for fun, plays for fun, buys lindens, like his stipend, is a furry, bust his arse at a real job too much to work for anyone here, enjoys relaxing and has probably dumped a couple grand US into the SL 'economy' in less than 9 months for fake nuclear weapons, cars, homes, sex poses, land ownership 'rights', loans, donations for causes, 1 2500L railgun that no longer works right, and some other crap i didnt really need to have fun, but wanted anyways.

You adjust your prices and/or sell different things. Even though I don't buy the notion that demand is decreasing, you should note that it is indeed possible to build a thriving business during a down economy. Changing times require a change in tactics. Those that are able to think differently and adapt often turn today's challenges into tomorrow's opportunities.

It was during the great depression that cinema became a popular form of entertainment.

Exactly. So, we can all become porn stars and tough it out until a New Deal or a global war with There.com stokes the economic fires!