Second Accounts and Ethics

It seems that what you did though was for an entirely good purpose and probably ethical in the sense of how the alt was treated as an actual "resident" of SL.

I think that is the key and one of the reasons for the vagueness of the rules as well. Beyond the fact that LL simply cannot tell the difference between alts and new accounts, there are a lot of "shades of grey" to alts in general that are impossible to judge. To some they are entire characters, with names, manners, lives and backgrounds, while to most they are gollums or drones that exist for financial and strategic reasons only.

First land is one time thing for each "Resident." If coco was going to exist as straw-bear-ee shortcake or whatever and live out a life, then first land purchase would be something she would want to do, but this isn't the case.

Coco has a long history of contradictory statements, mis-statements, and reversals of position. The idea that she truly is making this alt as "another character" is entirely unbelieveable IMO. The fact that she is posting here under the fake name and already "outing" herself is more than enough evidence of that.

I would suggest that since she recently made a big fanfair about leaving the forums, that she likely made this alt for that very purpose and then had second thoughts about actually leaving ().

Needing to have something to do with the alt (dont want to waste it after all), she pondered the first land purchase, but some glimmer of morality stopped her. Then she realised that she could get what she really wanted all along (masive amounts of attention!), by posting this whole mess in the forums. She used the alt for this, again, because she made the thing (for a now ruined purpose), and damned if she aint going to get some use out of it!

Maybe the timing of the gom announcement was meant to distract the economic watchdogs from noticing Coco's land dealings conducted under the cloak of darkness the other night!

Yes a one shot, one off deal (that has nothing specifically to do with a premium account), so how do you justify using it multiple times as one person? A premium account is defined as including 512m of tier and getting a $500 stipend. That is it. The First Land program was something set up to allow a new resident WHO HAS NEVER OWNED LAND BEFORE their first plot of land. Coco owns land, which she is now going to group together so that the land can be used by the main account. This is First Land plot # 2. Based on what she said about adding a third alt, maybe plot # 3 is forthcoming as well.

I get what you're saying, Cristiano.

As for why I cannot see that this program was "set up to help new players get a piece of first land for the first time and should not be used by an established player who has already gotten that benefit" it's simple, and I've explained it numerous times:

It is part of getting a second account. Nowhere does it say, "Of course, if this is your second account, don't buy First Land with it."

Not everybody has been here since 2003 or 2004. We don't KNOW this is some sort of no-no. That's why Nolan asking in the Hotline is a good idea.

Plus, for all you know, it is no LONGER a no-no. You'd think that if it were, there would be something saying that.

And you constantly beat a lot of drums yourself, Cristiano, mostly on my head.

coco

Well I doubt this, because the truth is, the more players who buy the first 512 will then go on to expand it, whether it is contiguous to the land they already have or not, and that works with alts, too.

coco

BULLSHIT
Why don't you take a look at what you named the thread???
Second Accounts and Ethics
BTW didn't you earlier state you were done with the forums? Why did you come back and ask this question if all you were going to do was assert that you didn't find it unethical??? *shakes head*

Do you or do you not understand that LL cannot in any way verify that two accounts on one credit card are the same person?

Dianne, I don't know you from Adam, but is there really a good purpose served by calling Coco on the carpet like this?

This thread isn't about her, it's about alts buying first land.

You're missing the point. The point isn't whether LL can mechanically prevent someone from creating an alt and buying first land, but whether LL has a stated policy that prevents this.

No her question was is it ethical.

Kewpie Doll for you.

I could not agree more.

*golf clap*

What is the policy that can prevent this? Altruima Linden standing in your computer room to make sure there are two people playing?

You are missing the point that there is a difference between a "rule" and the "spirit of a rule".

That is indeed what I meant. Not accusing, just curious. The passing of the referral bonus would add another twist to the "ethical dilemma". I agree with Emma regarding your "tenner".

Also, please sell me that 512!

Yep, I beat the drum of practicing what you preach. I don't think you had some evil nefarious purpose for buying this land, I am just surprised by the lengths you are going to and the hairs you are splitting to make it seem like the right thing to do, especially after your difficulty in finding First Land. I get that you made an assumption about first land. Now that you know, would you do it again with another account?

coco,
what i am saying is that you are not doing anything unethical or wrong.
first land doesn't even matter. people can play it up like "what about the children/noobie" but really noone gets hurt by your first land exploit. i don't know if we could even measure the depreciation it might theoretically cause in the land market.

there is nothing unethical or wrongful in the extra lindens you get for your account. LL allows it. the effect, though is that it does devalue the L$ because it increases the supply proportion to the active population, and also L$ are introduced to your usage by buying them off LL and not off the content creators who's wares you purchase.

you make fine houses, but that is not the point. i have never said "you have never done a thing." you move very quickly from rhetoric to patently lying. tourists do stuff too. they introduce lots of new money to the economy and often cause inflation.

alt accounts devalue the L$, this is a well accepted idea, and you are participating in it. perhaps you didn't realize the consequence of your actions, but now that you can, there is no point in denying reality. anyway, it's not wrong or unethical. LL's current policy is that it's A-ok!

for the record, i have a few basic accounts myself that i used for the 10% tier bonus and they collect 50 L$ a month each. so it's not as if i'm entirely innocent of this either.

I understand.

Some folks seem to be hammering on the fact that LL can't prevent it because there is no way to detect it. But that's an entirely different issue that whether it is not prohibited by rule (as opposed to software based means).

I will do this in small sentences... since you seem to like misinterpreting me, and not seeing the FACTS.

- Fact is premium accounts cost $10 a month
- Fact is, AND IT IS A BLOODY FACT, that a new premium account has access to First Land
- Fact is that even an alt account has access to First Land
- Fact is that EVERY premium account has access to First Land
- Fact is THUS that EVERY premium account offers First Land as a package deal, because IF YOU GET A PREMIUM ACCOUNT YOU GET FIRST LAND.
- Wether you SHOULD get First Land on every premium account is debatable, but the FACT is that right now, yes it IS a package deal.
- Fact is that if X offers Y benifits for $Z a month, it's entirely UNREASONABLE to expect that paying Z a month gives anything more or less than Y benifits, because it IS in effect service X.
- If this is NOT the case and LL ever foolishly decides to take First Land out of the package deal for every premium account (read up again just to reassure yourself its a FACT that it's part of the package for every premium account currently) then X > Y > Z is no longer to, since Y is diminished. So you get a new service A instead of X, and you get A > Y-1 > Z-1. As in, secondary premium accounts should cost less a month, or you're getting ripped off as a customer.

And no, no amount of claiming that it's a one shot deal per Real Life person will make it any less true that it is in FACT a one shot deal per premium account. So don't even bother.

EDIT: And I for one can't believe that people are defending tringo rights for being on the events board and cluttering it to hell and back by saying "Everyone should be equal, giving people nerfed benifits on a case by case basis leads to badness" while they just as easily turn around and go "your tenner a month should be worth less than someone else's".

Eh either an account is an account or a player is a player. So if we look at it as an account then we must accept that every account should have the same privileges of land ownership and first land. The benefits, and liabilites run to the account.

If however we are saying a player is a player, then lest do away with phoney names, and have every account linked to a credit card and verified by SSN. One player, one acccount, real names. that way w could stop all this so called alt abuse. It might even foster commerce, since verficiation of memebers would ensure that all debts incurred or contracts entered inot could be enfocred IRL. And really since SL is a platform and not a game. Dump the monoply money and calcualte prices based on dollars. It would foster commerce.


Oh what? Your world, your imagintion? Be who you want to be? Do what you want to do? SL is a plaform for business and not a virtual escape, get serious, get to work-buck up and make content.

hehehe

Maybe you don't need a rule because it is called "First Land"?

There is no rule that came with my monitor that says "do not shove this monitor up your ass, it is not intended as such".

I just hope the old, "If it isn't explicitly stated in the rules that it's a no-no, it must be ethical and correct" argument will be remembered the next time we're trying to tell adults how they should and should not address each other on these forums.

But I bet there was a silica gel pack in the carton that said 'do not eat'.

Excuse me! . . . I don't have a long history of any such. I have a long history of a certain number of people constantly on my case ever since I stood up for Prok and Catherine Cotton, who also had the same people on their case.

I absolutely never stated that I had this alt to role-play another character, and it is unfair of you to imply that I did so. Someone ELSE created an alt to do another character.

I created mine as a drone, to test out my products. Now are you seriously trying to contend that it is perfectly ethical to buy First Land if you play to role-play your alt, but it is unethical to buy First Land if you plan to hook up that land to your store and use the alt to test your products? I do plan to "live out my life" as Strawbearry Shortbread, and all these posts making fun of my choice of name are just more pure idiocy from kindergarteners.

You know this post is so full of bull and personal accusations it is incredible. I announced leaving the forum because I was PISSED OFF. And tired of wallowing in the muck; you know how it is, never wrestle with a pig, you just get dirty and the pig likes it. Someone on this thread had harrassed me the night before in game, AGAIN, this time to such an extent that I could hardly work and I was starting to feel that expressing my views here just wasn't worth it. I told him, ok, I'd shut up, now was he happy, but please don't approach me in game again.

I created Strawbearry for the express purpose of testing my products, and it's a damn good thing I did, because some of them turned out to be (unbeknownst to me, the owner) unbuyable. I also planned to get First Land for her, hopefully next to my own, to expand my shop.

Now ruined purpose, my ass.

Might I add that this place is so drowning in paranoia that some people can't recognize truth when they see it, no matter how much sense it makes.

coco

I named it that because Pendari, Cristiano, and Eboni were all ragging me in another thread for being unethical because I mentioned getting First Land with my alt the night before (in a GOM thread) to explain why I was posting under this name.

I did not ORIGINALLY frame this as an ethical question (in the other thread). I had no idea it was one.

coco

Woot!

You win a prize!



IM me tonite to claim it! I promise I wont send you any group invites!

Yes. The question is, would they? Would they do that because they don't intend us to have two First Lands with our two accounts?

Or would they - even if they wouldn't actually do it - expect us to understand that we are not supposed to do this, and that if we put it on the same credit card, we could at least theoretically be found out?

coco