Why should I become a paying member?

I have been in Second Life for about a week. I'm having a BLAST!! I'm learning the building tools, I've got a massive inventory of stuff that was absolutely FREE! The places that charge $1L for stuff usually have someone there who gives out a few $L's to newbies such as me so that they can buy their "free" boxes (why do they charge $1L for "free" stuff anyway?) I have been dissappointed to find EVERY money tree empty, but I really havn't needed to buy anything yet anyway. Way too much to look at right now to make any purchase decisions. Sure I don't "look" as good as all the members who have nice skins, designer clothes and shoes, and great hair-do's, but I havn't really found that people treat me any differently because of it.

I have seen a few job opportunities if I want to dress scantily and shake my booty in front of someone but I'm not so sure anyone would hire me unless I was able to get a new skin, some scanty clothes, buy some sexy dances/poses, and get a better hair-do.

I don't have land so I have no need for furniture or a house.

Right now I understand paying members get $500L a week and the right to hold land, but from what I've read on the forums and web sites, some big changes in the amount of $L's non paying members are recieving have taken place. Lots of people want paying members to stop recieving their stipend, and the way Linden Labs responded with cutting the $L's that non-paying members get makes me think that the $L's that paying members get will be reduced or gone before too long.

I don't think $10 a month, $23 every 3 months, or even $72 a year is worth the right to own land that you have to pay even more for. And unless there is more of a guarantee in the amount and continuation of the paying-member weekly $L's I can't see spending the money for a paid account and land ownership costs.

So please convince me to become a paid member. I'd really like to get some land, but if I have to pay for the right to get land, but I still have to pay for the land and pay extra if I want more than 512 sqm why should I pay a membership fee also unless I am guaranteed some spending $$ also?

What can a paid member (if there was no stipend) do that a non paying member can't do?

Nothing. You can rent off an island if you want land. Don't do it!

Except rented land is never really 'yours', and are at risk of being kicked off and losing everything at the whim of the owner should they choose to.

The only secure way to have land is via a premium account, then it's your own forever.

Lewis

It's my opinion that the stipends for premium (paying) members will not disappear.

That being said, if you don't care about owning land, or are just happy renting from another player, you won't have much incentive to go premium. You can probably get the spending money you need by using the Lindex.

Personally, I very much enjoy my premium account. I love owning land (I won't rent from another player, too dodgy), and the stipend is a nice bonus because I don't make any money in-game, and have to fund my SL experience with US$.

The reason you should become a paying member is answered in the first line of your own post:






If you are loving SL so much, you should help support it so it won't go away. LL has yet to make a profit and you can be sure that if they don't start to make one, they will just shut it all down.

I can't convince you, as another newbie. I have no interest in owning land on the mainland at this point, and the new land plots... well, that's been discussed. You can buy lindens when you need money, so the stipend doesn't mean much to me other than assuring that I will "buy lindens" monthly, whether I need them or not. I know I will, if for no other reason than to pay my rent, but that amounts to half of premium cost. Maybe it amounts to the same thing, in the end, with other spending, I haven't been around long enough to figure. I still prefer to control my own expenses, though, since there will be times I'm hardly inworld and I may decide to quit next month, who knows.

This whole "real land vs. rented land" isn't a big issue for me either, since at the end of the day, we are all renting land from LL. The game can stop tomorrow, then were are your land rights? If I wanted to invest serious money in land, I would buy my own sim, since most of the mainland is not very attractive to me other than for commercial purposes. If I wanted a nice place to live, and was willing to pay tier, I would probably rent on one of the nice privately owned sims, anyway, for the neighborhood/scenery. I already rent on an pretty private island for my little apartment.

I rent land from a friend (and so am paying LL indirectly), I'm a Basic member, and I'm happy as a clam.

Just rent and buy lindens when you need them. Up to premium when you know you want to own land instead of just rent.

Encouraging people not to get a premium account isn't exactly a grand idea. I have a premium account for 2 reasons. I wanted land for my shop, and I wanted to ensure SL will be around in 6 months by helping to cover operating costs.

In fact, it is exactly the attitude you present here which is begining to make me feel that LL should abandon totally free acounts for a limited trial offer. Free for 30 days or something.

The less money LL earns, the less likely SL will be around in a year.

Been here three years, never owned land, and never paid for a premium. Enough around to do without it, and you can always rent. Doesn't mean LL didn't get a crapload of my money though (especially with the Lindex fees, on which they have earned probably $140US off of me already >.< There's no reason to go premium if you don't need land. If you do, go premium.

Don't they make most of their money on tier, anyway? And I buy plenty of lindens which goes right in their pockets as well. I just don't see the big incentive to be a premium member, 512 of land surrounded by spinning cubes, casinos and tringo on the mainland? If they want premium members, they need to sweeten the pot, for me.

Sorry, that post came across more harshly than I intended...

Welcome to Second Life, Cresten!


As I understand it, if it's free they don't get a record of the transaction. By charging $1L, they can then track what's being purchased.


Forget the money trees. You could spend hours farming them to get a measly $50L. And apparently a few people are gaming them (good luck on that). If you want to have fun and make money at the same time, you might take up one of the SL games like Tringo, Slingo, Greedy -- it's never a guaranteed income but I know some people who've gotten pretty good at a game and made a passable sum to fund their shopping. Two friends of mine met playing Tringo and are now married and expecting a baby, so it's about more than playing a game


I honestly doubt the premium stipend is going away any time soon. But it should not be the main reason to go premium (the $10/month on LindenX would buy you more than the stipend's $2000L/month).


While renting is an option, you risk having your landlord fold up shop or reorganize. Plus, on some of the rentals you don't have control over your media stream. With your own land you are in charge of how it looks, where you live, and what music or videos you want to use. All your prims are yours, too, so you can build if that's your thing.


The basic allottment of 512 is $5/month (monthly land use fee). It's only $8 to double it and go to 1024, which I would recommend if you want a nice sized lot with adequate prim allowance. Or, consider grouping with your friends and setting up some group land. You get some breaks on prim usage and, with your friends close at hand you will find your SL experience enhanced.

That, and it covers the "cost" of the prims used to provide "free" items in world. Though, in the grand scheme of things, I suppose that is penny pinching

Meh, that'd be LL going backwards, not forwards. They figured that abandoning the pay-to-play structure would pay off in the long run. I think they have to stick to it now (When I joined it was $15 a month just to play)

Meh, that'd be LL going backwards, not forwards. They figured that abandoning the pay-to-play structure would pay off in the long run. I think they have to stick to it now (When I joined it was $15 a month just to play)

i would wait a few more weeks, sl is DIEING . beginning of the end came when they stopped requireing a CC# to get an account. Were being overrun by teens and griefers , sl mainland is a mess in most places the land u can own is usually unusable. griefed ,scripted and flex primed to a wonderus jello like state. island land is fine for building but you canot go anywhere, as it is usually an "island". u can not do anything with any kind of planning or group as any event thats listed is griefed. ex: the regatta held last saturday, what a mess

repeat!! do not pay a dime to play sl as it is dieing. the longer there is no restriction on account making. the worse it will get.
Just have fun and enjoy it while it lasts. wont be long , i personally have seen ALOT of PAYING players, just stop playing as theres allways some nube/alt playing the euro sex song and dancing on the roof of ur home following u around , grabbing ur vehical as u go by , no the teens have invaded and now i see no way to reduce the problem with LL aggrivating it by allowing anyone with a heartbeat have an account.. how does a e-mail address stop a kid from makin a char ,, cuz they have to do math to figure what year to use?
i was a pay account , and honestly, you can rent land for same ammount as tier,and u dont have to worry bout the guy/girl/whatever next door making a field of flex prim grass with spinning lights and a dancefloor floating above it ...the dance floor allways has 40 textures in it and constantly switch and spin,, ...........if u rent , u can just move

I'd pay $15/mo for SL. It's no more than any of the primary MMORPG's out there, and I enjoy this a hell of a lot more. Imagine how much more could get done sooner if they had more revenue for the Dev team.

Um... are you being serious, or are you quoting what people said every 6 months or so for the last three years as a joke?

I agree.

I think their idea was to get a lot of free accounts with $$$ run around, so that other people can buy up a lot more land to set up businesses, and make LL alot more $$$ in the long run. I think it's working, considering LL makes upwards of $1,500US a day off Lindex fees, and the size of the map just explodered like crazy all over the place in the last two years

That makes sense... and private isles starting at $1250 a pop with tier of $195/mo each... that's not too bad either.

But isn't it true that LL still operates in the red?

I don't know. That's what I heard a few times. Question I want to know is whether LL makes more and more every month, getting further and further out of the red, or whether they are pretty much level or going more and more in the red.

didnt read what was said 6 months ago was too busy playin in sl , i dont usually go round forums ,, logged off flipped to forum see whats goin on and need to stop this person from wasting money . in past few week the ammount of paying players, that i know, has been cut to 1/4 the attendiance most either stopped playing alltogether, and most just pop in to see how much they have sold and to cash in lindens,, they dont want to hang out anymore,,, see most of the slers i know mostly played sl for the ADULT population,,, not nessarly the sex or crap like that, for the fact u HAD to be an adult or least be close to get in, Most adults are immature enough without kids adding to it.

Very good question indeed. I'll have to snoop around and see what I can find when I have more time (at work).