A true free accounts question...

I stopped into another thread on this topic and was very dissapointed. I had gotten used to some intelligent discussion on issues, and I though I would like to hear more about this topic.

I am very new... here less then a week. I joined on a free acount - to check it out and see what it was about. I would probably not checked it out otherwise. I seldom do free 7 day trials without a pretty good idea it is something I am interested in. I liked things I read about SL, but I was not sure I would be interested at all. Now that I am looking it over I will probably get a premium membership soon.

Now please can we have some intelligent conversation on what the problems of people having free accounts are and what the advanatages are?

I really am interested in hearing if there are other problems then I want to keep this world just for myself and my friends... lets not encourage newbies. That is what it was sounding like to me.

I don't see significant problems so far, IMO, more people == more buyers

Hi Whimsycallie,

First off , welcome to Second Life

About your question. I think the positive point of free accounts is indeed that people come and give SL a spin to see if they like it. Free accounts / trial accounts do draw crowds in , that is a proven fact in many games.

But there you also get the downside (ok might seem contradicting and maybe it is)... Drawing in crowds can of course be a good thing , but like in any large group , there are bound to be a number of ... how to say this nicely ... "undesired elements" who come along with those crowds.

An example of those "undesired elements" is those people who insist on attacking the grid every now and then.

When things like that happens people go on a witchhunt and free accounts are seen as culprits since they draw in the crowds.

It's definitly not that the SL community doesn't like new (genuine) people , on the contrary actually.

At least that's what I think is going on

That's an easy one.

1) Playing SL uses up bandwith, which costs Linden Labs - and free accounts pay nothing towards that.

2) Free accounts contribute nothing financially to Second Life.

3) Free accounts are often abused, and used to launch griefer attacks or harrassing other players as 'alts'.

4) There are not enough restrictions on what free accounts can do, which means fewer people are bothered about signing up to a premium account.

5) Premium accounts pay a lot of money each month to own land, to provide places for those on free accounts to visit - yet few cover their own costs.

6) Most campers are basic accounts, and clog up sims and eat resources that I am paying for.

7) A free Basic account owner can spend $50 a month on broadband internet, $1500 on a great PC to play SL, yet doesn't consider $10 a month invested in a premium account worthwhile? If SL isn't worth 35 cents a day as unlimited entertainment... something's wrong somewhere.

The conclusion? I am paying $35 a month to subsidise your free gameplay.

Free trial accounts are a great thing, as it has encouraged people to try out SL - but I do fear that they are out of control, and need to be restricted so that people who really do want to play SL and contribute to the community (and running costs of SL) get something out of it, rather than just living off of the system forever.

Lewis

Personally I love the fact that SL offers the free accounts, exactly why several of my friends joined and have since become paying members. The fact that someone can try everything here is a wonderful benefit.

I am really tired of hearing that people are opposed to free accounts for without the influx of new people this world will not grow and prosper.

Unfortunately griefers have used the free accounts to come in and stir up trouble but the majority of free account people that I have met have been very nice folks.

So Whimsycallie I say to you Welcome to SL! Ignore the nay sayers, this world has alot to offer.

*huggles*

Ash

After reading Lewis's response I had to jump back in.




This is not true, many free accounts buy lindens, purchase items, rent homes, stores, attend events, host events, create content.



Why restrict a trial user/free acount user... I know I wouldn't want to upgrade just to "see" if i liked the premium options. By the way I am not a free account, but I did start out as one.



If you are here solely to make money then tier down, no one has forced you to provide places for others.



Broad generalization, I have seen alot of campers in my travels and many are not free account people. Never been a camper and I do believe that the "camping crap in SL" was detrimental.

*huggles*

Ash

Thank you so much everyone who has replied so far. This is the kind of conversation I was looking for.

Now if someone could just explain the term camper. Then maybe I can at least avoid being one of those.

Throughout the world there are chairs and little dance platforms where you can sit (or dance obviously) and you get a set ammount of L$ for doing so.

This results in a lot of people sitting (or dancing) there while afk. Those people are referred to as campers.

What are they for? Sales pitches or something? Then if you are paying attention it is ok to use them.. and if not.. move your ahh.. tush.

Mostly to get people to be on their plot of land , so that plot appears to be more succesful then it actually is (and possibly make it into the popular places list) , but yup in the end its all about sales and attention

LOL? I spent hundreds of $USD on my freebie avie in just a matter of weeks before finally signing up for Premium. The majority of this money went to other players, but Linden Labs got a cut every time I purchased currency through LindeX. But I would never have known how fun SL was if there'd been a subscription fee. I signed up one day because I was bored... I'd not have done that for a for-pay service.


There are restrictions on the lifetime number of accounts a person can have. Yes, those restrictions can supposedly be worked around, but it limits what less resourceful griefers/scammers can do. And frankly, you'll find people like this no matter where you go. You have to pay for World of Warcraft and I can't tell you how many disruptive idiots I ran into there.


Well many apartments come with free broadband as an incentive (in my area and other bigger cities anyway), and perhaps the computer is a roommate's? Or a gift? I have several friends who need to count every dollar (and many who have paying subscriptions to other online services/games), and just don't have the room in the budget for a fixed subscription... but they are still able to make contributions to the community and occasional one-off cash injections to supplement their accounts.

I get your point about free trials versus all-out free accounts, but I still think SL is better off with the current model.

For shame to the person who thinks its all about money.

OK, this is my personal opinion about what is blatently wrong with free accounts in SL.

1. Can't OWN land (I use big letters so that someone wont come back and say, "Oh yes you can", you can rent land, however but...

2. About enough money to do shit nothing. I understand that the Linden Dollar is traded currency, and I also understand that by giving away more of it (ahem, "printing", we lower the value of the economy because everyone (sarcasm) puts all their Lindens into the Lindex the moment they get them.

Now, I dont suggest that we increase the stipends to SL, but I do suggest that we help free account holders make money. The reason for this is simple: the more money moving around = the more purchases made in shops = the more drive for others to learn to create things = the more purchases in shops = the more money moving around...

Remember, you can't model SL's economy like the Real world economy, because there is no manufacturing front (yes I know people make stuff, but not like the real world... for example there arent tens of thousands of people in SL making parts for one car in particular, which is sold only in limited quantities).

Bah now Im ranting about the economy.

Just there it is in a nutshell about the free account issues that I see. I feel that they could be utilized to contribute more to the economy of SL, while making the platform/game more interesting to the account holders themselves.

The bottom line is that holders of free accounts just aren't as sexy as the premium account holders. It's a simple matter of sexiness.

Ok so how can an account be sexy? Regardless of whether it is paid or free.
I believe the original poster asked for an intelligent conversation , please feel free to edit the post and try again

That's a question only a free account holder would ask.

Hehe you just proved the point that your theory is flawed completely.
I've been a paying member of this community for quite some time now

LOL - theres no such thing as a free account - Just free access to SL.

Unless someone writes a guide to living in SL on 50L a week.

Dont forget a towel.


-----

Any economic effect you have on SL effects the overall SL economy and thus impacts the amount of teir people pay. If nothing else than the simple fact that it finances all those designers ability pay for their substancial tracks of land.

To clarify, in addition to being on the popular places list, there has been a function known as Dwell or Traffic Incentives that credited L$ to the land owner's account based on the number of people that visited a piece of land and spent time there.

The camping chairs and dancing pads pay you small amounts of L$ for using them, thus increasing the amount of time an avatar will tend to stay.

However, the dwell/traffic payments are in the process of being phased out; they will be cut in half on May 15 and eliminated altogether on June 15, so most of us expect to see the samping chair/dance pad phenomenon die with it.

P2

Hoist by my own petard! Well played.

Well i have had a Basic account for like 2 years now ... and i Beg to differ with some of you ,,,,

i m not wanting to pay for the premium member ship of worry about tiers ect ....

And i have sunk like almost 800.00+ dallor in sl for linden X ... So they do get money from me and others ...

in return ive rented land and bought clothes ect ... and had a live for my self here too

so free/basic account to contribute to sl over all .. if you dont want the head ache of the land ect ... you can rent it ... and have some one else worry for you about the moneies .... So linden do profit form the basic /free account in sl ....

we have ppl buld for us .. and in return that goes back in to the economy . ... ect .. and other things ...

Zeph

Lewis, you constantly attack free accounts, but if you bothered to do a little research, you would understand that LL considers them an investment. I read an article a couple months ago where they (LL) talked about how to get people into SL. Over the last year or so, they have tried any number of things, including making the basic account free. What they found was that they got the highest raw number of conversions to premium accounts when they opened the floodgates to free users.

The article is a pay-article, but you can see Google's summary of it by clicking here... Its the top result on the page, under MarketingSherpa.com...

I'm sure if LL thought that free accounts weren't worth it, they wouldn't offer them...

- Jon

Paying to use LL is voluntary - you were not forced into it. You don't have to subsidise anyone's gameplay - just stop paying.

If anything, you should be upset at people that offer rental apartments, rental land, rental vendor stalls, 'public' use land, and a range of other services since those services effectively undermine the reasons why someone would convert to a premium member in the first place (btw...I do all three - land, apartments, and vendor stalls).

In the end, as someone else said, more people == more customers.

Like most of your other posts, Lewis, you're dead wrong on this issue.


Other than the $L they buy through Lindenx, of course. And the fact that a significant percentage of those free accounts upgrade to premium at some point.


Other than the $L they purchase to go shopping.


If there are 200,000 accounts and 6 are griefers, what percentage are you talking about? Are you claiming that eliminating free accounts would also eliminate griefers? I'd love to see your rationale on that one.


You can't own land and you get a piddling stipend. What other kind of restrictions could you want?


Define "a lot". What if most premium account holders only own the 512? I know several premies who don't own any land at all because they can't find something they like. You're making broad assertions with NO data to back yourself up.


Camping, which was a byproduct of the flawed concept of dwell, is going away. Next.


And chances are, without the free Basic plan we wouldn't have several thousand of those event participants, $Linden purchasers, content builders and shoppers either. The last time I was in a sandbox (over the weekend) I talked to at least 4 freebie folks who were seriously trying to build cool stuff. In one sandbox.


Actually, my conclusion is that you're being elitist. I've been a paid premium holder since a week after joining, and I don't understand how anyone could try to justify exclusivity like this. More Second Lifers means more goods, more ideas, more events, and a healthier economy. Win, win, win.


So many bad assumptions I'm not sure where to start. You're saying that free account holders don't really want to 'play' SL, which isn't true. You're saying that freebies aren't contributing to the community, also not true. Your logic is so full of holes it wouldn't even make good Swiss Cheese.

college students , in many cases , get free broadband

In most cases they are over 18

Theres a hefty chunk of the 18 to 24 crowd for you.

That would be a sizable chunk of people who also cant necessarily buy all those things mentioned.

=p

WELCOME TO SECOND LIFE!

Reasons to purchase a Preium account:

1) The ability to own land.

Nothing else. Period.

People say "Hey! Premiums get 500L$ a week instead of 50L$!!"

True, but if you do the math, it's not really a big deal. Your 512m plot of land you don't have to pay tier on (though you still must pay purchase price) + the 500L$ per week equate out to about 11US$ a month. (give or take based on exchange rates, giving the 512m land the going rate of 5US$ per month tier charge) If you do all the math, this equates out to 50L$ per week being supplied (for free) to Premium accounts. Exactly like the Basics. (Points to LL for how that works out)

Thus, any resident who does not wish to own land, or on wishes to own land temperarily (ie renters) is further ahead to simply purchase 11US$ worth of L$ of the Lindex and come out ahead with @3300L$. Plus thier 50L$

In this example the effect on the Lindex is the same, however. 11US$ were spent for the month. Once by a Premium accoutn, and once by a Basic. The only difference is the mannor in which it was accomplished. 3500L$ were exchange for 11US$ with 200L$ being "Free" to both the Premium and the Basic account holders.

There is no difference in the two accounts other than one is allowed to own land. That is decieded by that persons own needs and wants.

There are Premium acounts which take more than they give *raises hand form buying a full year account and using her stipend to pay land tier*. I have a Premium account and acctually take in MORE than I spend due to the savings of a full year memebership. LL makes up for that by having that money NOW instead of getting it bit by bit (which is why they offer it). They'll make up all they're giving me in intrest and investments.

There are aslo Basic account members who pour hundreds and hundres of US$ into the Lindex each and every day. This is rationed by those who can afford to do so and those who wish to do so.

People use "Preimum" as a status symbol which is nothing of the sort. The accoutn differences are only seperated by thier individual needs and desires.

So to answer the OP's original question;
People dislike Basic accounts for no good reason but what exists in thier mind. It is an unbased prejuiduce(sp?).

~Jessy [The opinions here are those of me, myself and I and are no way affiliated with LL, Basic account holders, Premium account holders, nor the general SL populance] Have a nice day.

EDIT:: My msitake (sorry, was distracted RL go figure). The Preimum account only pays 10US$ for that 3500L$ worth. The Basic has to pay 11US$. Making The PReimum accounts the one accutaully sinking money by getting something for nothing. *shrugs*