Why the (seemingly arbitrary) limit on alts?

Your reason is simply one for sentimental reasons; no one else will be using the account. Ergo, you don't really need it. You'd just be clogging the inventory server up with another dead account.

A legit reason would be your family member wants an account, or your other account is being held by ninjas, or pirates, or something.

Would you prefer that I put this alt to more active use, then, making sure my inventory grows steadily to tens of thousands of items? Would that be a more acceptable way to "clog up" the inventory server than just keeping an alt with the bare minimum inventory?

I think your comment just supports the earlier comment that it's no good making a rule based on something as subjective as a 'good' reason. Personally, I think having an alt under a sentimental nickname is a perfectly good reason to have an alt. and it didn't seem to me as if she was planning to reg it and never use it, thereby creating a 'dead account'.

i think that the 5 per household in a lifetime is a little extreme. i think something more like after you used up your max limit you should have to wait 90 days or something to create a new one but to say ok this household has used 5 accounts no more for life is kinda drastic.. which i must have made my alts before the rule because i have made in total 8 accounts so far which all but 3 i have canceled.. Thought the 5 per a household makes me wonder about something..

now i live in a 2 sided triple decker so 6 apt in total now unless something being shipped to me i usually leave out the floor i live on when filling out my address for these things. so i wonder if joe smith one the 1st floor suddenly stumbles apon sl and decided he wants to play. now that the 5 account rule is in play will he be told he cant create cause the max amount was reached for the household at that address..

Well, obviously, "a good reason" (that's only my wording, BTW, can't remember the official LL wording) means what LL considers a good reason. I'd say this'd include things like having a lot of people living in your house that want accounts, using SL as an educational tool and needing accounts for your students, that kind of thing.

If one person was allowed extra accounts because they liked a name then everyone would have to be... and besides, they're discussing letting people change their names anyway.

Really!? US$890 is a lot to pay for griefing...

Well, it seems like she should have been able to create it anyway, with the other credit card. And, really, if someone wants to pay $10 to create an account with a name they like, why on earth shouldn't they be able to?
And as several other people have pointed out, 5 to a household? What about say, a college frat or sorority house with 50+ people in it? Only 5 ppl can play SL?

She could have if she'd used that card initially, the issue there is the fact that account names don't get released again if the registration isn't completed.

I'm sure there's reasons. Lots of people reckon it's to limit griefing or land extortion, I don't know what the official line is.



Anyway, I feel sorry for Eryn, but I'm not here to debate on how things should be. I'm just providing what info I can in the hope it's useful to someone.

Not when you grief to force people to move so you can buy their land, or to force them to buy land from you at outrageous prices, when you have the income from the alts, etc. In other words the alts weren't primarily to grief, they were to attain wealth and power.

Yes.

Yes.

No. You only need a credit card to sign up, but do not need a credit card once you have signed up. For instance, this particular account "Francis Chung", does not have a credit card associated with it.

Yes. Business/accounting management.

If I read this right getting additional avatar accounts by getting one's friends or relatives to open accounts for one's own use is really pretty easy, so long as breaking the rules doesn't trouble one's conscience.

Seems a bit silly. Doing this is against the rules, correct?

So if one had the ability to create separate financial accounts, like different sets of ledgers, different linden balance systems for different businesses, like one can in real life, some of the demand for alternate accounts might decrease.

Pending that, if one wants a new account "just to get a cool name" or some such similar reason, one might have a better chance of getting it if one says "I am a starting a new business, and wish to have separate business and personal linden accounts." than if one says "I just want a cool name".