do you consider basic accounts to be inferiors?

I don't need land and I make enough money from the things I sell so a premium account offers me nothing. Although I mostly like LL I don't feel the need to give them money, they are a company not a charity.

Making changes to make premium "worthwhile" would end up putting tiering users. Ick.

Stopping here reading to say -

That first sentence has to be one of the BEST sentences I've ever read in my life, here or anywhere!

You are so, so right. I know a person, a friend from TSO, who has been a basic ever since he joined! And has never created anything that I know of! What he brings to LL is . . . himself. And a valuable addition it is, too. People like him make more people want to come into LL and stay, and possibly become premium members.

He also saves up his measly stipend to buy things, like skins, and that's good, too.

So they're not a charity, but you want them to give you the opportunities and the infrastructure that allow you to make money for free?

Sorry to be harsh but, well, your post was kinda harsh too.

I absolutely agree with this...

..but...

..LL can't pay off their investors with entertainment.

Yes, big ouch there

Well put. While I do not have any issue whatsoever with basic accounts, I think it rather hypocritical to state "I don't need to give them money. They are a company, not a charity" right after you say " I make enough money from the things I sell so a premium account offers me nothing".

I could make more if I reverted back to a basic account, but I would rather pay my $9.95 to support LL if they are providing SL which offers me profit.

If you are making a bunch, you might want to consider contributing to the community. To me, basic accounts allow those who are not content creators or who are considering SL as a long term endeavor, a chance to do their thing. Premium accounts are for businesses and landowners.

But hey... that's how I look at things. Opinions are like butts... everyone has one, and many of them stink. lol

*looks at the subject* I don't agree with treating anyone as inferior. We all came from the same place and will all eventually die. We are all made of the same materials and intelligence. Basic accounts are people just as much as linden lab employees are. Only people who are self rightius think of others as inferior.

Now to add my input. I understand there is NO reason to be premium. My reason for being one is i like the stipend. I don't own land anymore, i rent now. My tier is 0, but i still stay premium. If there was another reason to stay premium i would. Quite frankly I don't think the lindens will ever address this issue.

Inferiority is the expression that someone else is inferior.

Thanks. I am sometimes envious of things that I can't do or don't know how to do like hair and skins. I *probably* could do them, but not as well as others so I really don't bother.

I dont know why people get so worked up over basic accounts vs. premium accounts. This company seems pretty capable of deciding whats best for its bottom line all on it own. As said so many times in this thread people on basic accounts rent land , someone is paying tier for the land that their renting so its still all going to the same place. As far as seperating people into classes using scripts or whatever. That is hilarious !!! Would people really reject the money from basic account holders from purchasing in their store simply because they are on basic account? I doubt it. Would they not want them at their events giving them traffic ( even if its only to put them on the popular places ) again I doubt it. The more people wandering around exploring this game, the better.. for everyone. And for the premium holders that dont think they are getting something worth getting a premium account for : what about first land? what about that tier free 512 , what about that 500L a week stacking up in their account. I think those are all pretty decent benifits. I think people can decide for themself if it is in their best interest to have a premium or a basic account. And I REALLLY think the company can decide for itself what limititations/benifits , if any , they want to put on an account. I find it funny the same people that are saying ZOMG these basic account holders are like the welfare recipients of SL my hard earned 10 dollars are going to feed this filth, are the same ones also saying " come on its only 10 measly dollars everyone should shut up and pay it". Bah. I dont care what kind of an account ppl have and I also dont care whether or not there wearing pants at the computer. Thats THEIR business.

@Cocoanut Cookie (mainly)

Just got to say your posts are among the most refreshing I've seen on this forum. I also quite agree with a good number of your points except for Basic being smarter. My opinion is that neither end has the monopoly on smarts.

That person who brought himself statement is something I almost forgot. When you attract lots of people (via basic accounts) you may be attracting a lot of bad people (which you deal with using the TOS) but you also attract a lot of good people, people who might not have appeared if they were forced to be premium.

I very much agree that if people want to have more people on premium for whatever reason, carrots work better than sticks. Treating basic accounts negatively (or condescendingly) is certainly no way of enticing people to go premium, that's a good way of making them disappear outright. Say goodbye to all the good stuff that might have been.

I think the person who owns the land they are renting benefits quite nicely.

Basic accounts inferior? Absolutely not, they are part of what makes SL the world it is... the inferior ones are those who cash out millions and blame the basics for their lack of profit... Scum I name them, for they aren't worthy to lick the shoes of the newest basic member.

Remember... every single L$ in this world was once a stipend payment... IF you want to be rid of stipends, then also give back all your L$, and repay those you already converted to RL cash... If you can't do that simple thing, then stfu about the economy and goodbye.

If you get your way, you see... you'll be making people not pay LL to play SL, but pay you... and while in a VERY limited few cases that's a good thing, in 99% of cases, you're just manipulating the cash flow... remember, the only xfer outside stipends is player to player... if LL kill stipends, the only way to get money is to pay another player... one who made their money from free welfare! -- at least, THAT'S WHAT THEY CALL IT WHEN SOMEONE ELSE GETS IT.

Basic accounts don't start enough forum drama. But they spend money on stuff I sell.

I'm so torn! I think for now I'll just treat basic account holders as people, and judge them by thier actions. At least until someone comes up with a catchy collective noun for them so I can start treating them as fungible. "Basic account holders" just doesn't have enough of a catchy sound to it to incite racial violence.

I don't think basic accounts holders are inferior. With all the myriad ways you can now "own" land in SL without paying LL directly, it is presumptuous to think just because someone has a basic account that they are not involved or contributing to SL. I think the biggest mistake has been on LL's part of not clearly establishing any value to actually having a premium account.

I love the basic accounters. They are great for business! They probably make half my sales for Serpent Isle Boutique and are probably the majority of renters for my Hotels on Serpent Isle.

Good on them, bring more!!

*makes up a song*
All ma alts'r basic... and i be premium!
........
You can be unleaded... But you cannot take ma land!

Basic account holders aren't any sort of drain on the economy that premium holders are "supporting". Pray tell, what might you be supporting these guys for/with? The stipend is 50L...most often, what are these people doing with it? Possibly taking pictures with it, uploading textures (5 a week, goes back to Linden), possibly tipping a dancer or a host, maybe saving up for a month to buy a pair of nice shoes. While they wander the world exploring, they give land holders traffic numbers.

You people with the elitist attitudes...what pisses you off, that they don't have to pay to enjoy the game, or that they aren't making a $500L a week income to spend on YOUR business?

Up until recently, I paid $35 US for land, and tiered down to nothing this month because I don't have the time to bother with my own full size store, and therefore see no reason to own land at this time, spending money I can use elsewhere in RL. Someone said LL is not a charity, but a business, so I don't see the point in "donating" my money to them for something I am not using out of the kindness of my heart. Am I all of a sudden a welfare case? Was I a better person before because I owned land and got 2000L a month for my trouble? Don't think so.

Get over yourselves, and you know who you are. Just play the damn game, and quit over analyzing everything, sheesh.

Well not directly...but as so many other posters have eloquently pointed out, a great deal of what both long and short term basic folks add is of both indirect and direct value to LL's product.

On many levels all of us, both basic and premium, cheerfully accept the fact that the product which LL is offering relies for its appeal upon what the population , not the company provides--cool stuff, marvelous environments, socialization and friendship opportunities, learning opportuniteis, new ideas, the occassional chance for making wiki-waki-woo, and so on. The company has to attract and retain customers to pay off the investors and pay their salaries and work towards their next experiment, whatever that might be. And that appeal dervies from many varied sources, precisely because the potential customer base is attracted by many different aspects of what the people of SL create and organize and offer.

To a large degree, we basics, find our significance in being a substantial base of customers who buy goods, rent land, shell out cash for (ahem) services, are a part of the foundation of the economy which drives so much of the activity on the platform, thereby making it an interesting and vibrant place that attracts and retains the customers that LL needs to make their business work.

But how often have you heard someone say, "I came here because of certain people" or I am still here just because of my friends"?

It is not inappropirate to take an expansive view of what adds value to the product, which does in fact help pay off the investors, or at least contributes to documentable growth that helps the investors not get too anxious (and find themselves nervously throwing up in the corporate washroom when no one is looking, while muttering "ogodogodogod, what the HELL was I thinking?"

Yes, the ideas, the creativity, the participation--even the "entertainment" value of what we all bring to SL adds to its attractiveness as a product--just as the fact that there are lots of enthusiastic folks who are happy to invest directly in SL with their account and tier payments to LL also enhances its appeal as a worthwhile business venture.

Yes there are people may not contribute in quantity as much as others--either monetarily, socially or intellectually--but I suspect there is little to be gained from being judgemental about the quality of what each contributes. Becuase ultimately, though we all put in different things, we are all needed to collectively create and nurture a continually evolving, growing and appealing entity like SL.

ya know Lewis I have basically stopped reading most of your posts because they all pretty much say the same thing no matter what your commenting on. " I'm right your wrong"
you seem to think that if some one does not share your view they are somehow inferior to you and that they should not have a different opinion then you. I'm not stating fact here or bashing you i am merely stating my perception of your posts.

well i have nothing agains the basic accounts really just one detail is macking my brain click is this one:

-person a is premium and pay a membership to sl (any amount)
-person b is basic and pay no membership
-person c is basic too but buy about 10$ of L$ on the lindex

to me the problem is that a is the only one that pay directly for SL to Linden Labs, b is freeloading and c even if he pay money he d it only to other residents


i mean hell in ANY game you pay a membership as small or as big as it gets, i am sure it would be better if everybody had to pay something to Linden labs just for accessing to SL.

lol Amiee me too .. me a basic user for 2 years now ... hugs ...

(Down Below is for some one esle aimee )

have to prove a point ..

and im not a drain ... if a want something like most i put rl monies in sl .... And to the one person .. who says they are unskilled ... lol then hire some one to do it ... plain and simple ...,


i have no skills ... havent bulid if i want some thing i pay some one to do it ... if i weant skins clothes ect i pay for it .... ive sunk like over 800+ rl monies in sl .. for the service i want so ... every one stop saying the the basic is a drain ..... we keep sopme of the premium acount ppl and stores owners in buininess ..... and keep the land barrons buzy with our patorenage .... on renting land ... we rent the land .... they end up having to give some to lindens any ways ... so i dont know what the problem is ..... WE are all supossed to be adults here ... even when you have cable in your house have to pay for what you want pure and simple

Edit : lol or be like me ... tell your real life families .... for hoildays and your B-day ... just put money in your paypal accounts of if you have any family members that owe you big time have them put the money in there too ...lol it all adds up .....

Bloody hell.

I've been on a basic account for eight months and pumped hundreds if not thousands of US dollars into SL's economy through the currency exchanges, and see no reason to change. Linden Lab makes the preponderance of their income through hosting fees - tier - and I guarantee you that the overwhelming majority of extant real estate wouldn't exist without people like me supporting the business models which pay for it.

If anything, the premium-account-snobs need to get off their high-and-mighty currency-gaming stipend-handout life-support and let Linden Lab do what's needed to stabilise SL as a self-sustaining economy. That's the only way this place will mature as an open platform.

Lose the stipends and premium accounts altogether, let the economy and currency set its own value, and pay tier. Simple.

I only like the basic members who buy my merchandise. Just kidding!

When I was a basic account, I bought tons of freebies, uploaded things, bought a pair of Moopf's skates (you da man, Moopf!), and danced on a pad for money. Which I used to buy more stuff. Then I bought L$ and went crazy! Then I decided that I wanted a parcel and a steady 500L a week and went to premium. And bought even more L$! Then I started a small business. Uploading, rental for vendor booths, et

If it weren't for the free account, I would not have joined SL and spent all those L$. I realize that not all basic accounts holders will go to premium for various reasons, but that's how a promotion like free basic accounts work; you will get some you will become steady customers buying more and more and you will have some who will just leave and everything in between the two.

***BLUSH***

Why thank you! I try to please!

I don't think basics are "a drain", but I do think that Premium needs to be made more appealing.

Yes, you keep the land barons busy and they pay LL. But the problem is, they pay LL at the maximum possible discount rate. It means essentially that LL get the lowest possible tier fee for any land they put out - and if they raise that minimum tier fee, then it has a devastating effect on the people holding 100+ sims and there's lots of anger and walkouts and lawsuit threats.

I don't agree with saying that basics are "inferior" at all, but it is an issue we need to think about it. LL are not making money. It appears that they are trying to make money by putting out more and more extra land to raise the tier fee, but several land investors have commented that this won't work, because the demand for land isn't keeping pace and they have no reason to tier a parcel they can't sell. Leaving things as they are may well not be an option.



Yes, but where it gets illogical is when you're expecting someone to pay in order to play at having cable in their house, when the person over there who gets to play at being a TV star isn't being asked to pay. That's completely backwards.