Desperate Times call for Desperate Measures

I have a proposition to make and YOU play a very important role!

Due to various reasons ranging from unemployment to debt, I will unfortunately NOT be able to continue playing Second Life once it goes public.

I realize that Second Life is the Wave of the Future. Even if Second Life /itself/ is not around in 50 years (God forbid), it IS the building block for something greater! I've been proud to be a part of Second Life and the SL community as a whole. This has been an unbelievable experience and I have made many amazing friends.

While being depressed and feeling generally sorry for myself, I had an epiphany! This may take a little explaining, so bear with me

I've devised a way to (hopefully) come up with the money needed for a life-time membership. I've been asking for donations for the 'Apsinthion for Life!' fund and I currently have $21,327 Linden Dollars as of 3am pacific time on the 18th! (15k of my own money and on the first night I've already received over 6,000 dollars! Thank you guys!)

With your generous donations I hope to reach at least $50,000 SL dollars before the release to public (of course, the sky is the limit!). The person who volunteers to wire me the money for the life-time account ($160) will of course, receive ALL THE LINDEN MONEY! Because of the trust issue, I will send the SL money first.

Therefore, the more money I receive through donations, the higher chance there is that one kind soul will take pitty on this hopelessly addicted citizen

Of course, I am keeping track of who I receive the donations from and how much, so that in the sad event that this does not happen, I will be able to transfer the funds back to their original owners. I understand many of you don't know me very well (or at all!) so this is a big leap of faith. Please trust me! The jackpot is growing every minute

Thank you for you time! Sincerely,

Apsinthion Protagonist

Interesting idea, i am just curious, so i'll put this out to any lindens watching. Is this allowed? I know we've had discussions about real money/linden doller swaps inworld and came to our own conclusion that it wasn't allowed.

Curious minds want to know!!



PS: Good luck Apsinthion

I believe the Linden policy is non-interference in any Linden$ / RL$ exchanges.

Philip Linden Economy Q&A Transcript (3/20/03):


Maybe a group of people (oh say 16) could all kick in 10 bucks and use the 50,000 as a warchest for group project funding.

Anyway, hold a telethon Aps!

Thanks Bel!! I wasn't sure of what the lindens thought about it. Thanks a bunch

There's a problem with having *too much* money.

Say I *somehow* get enough money to by a huge plot of land. Thats great but now you have a weekly drain of taxes. Unless you continue to pay, get a mule account or otherwise find a workaround (prim banking, money holding etc) you will *always* be in the negative.

Personally I want to spend my time focusing on building and playing and not on how to keep my head above water.

Misnomer, I think your point is very valid within the context that you make it. Cash alone will not provide long term support for permanent overhead. But within the context of the all the possibilities of this world it is in the end a limited view. For instance, lets say you throw a party and you want some unique act like a comedian or musicians who have put together original music that becomes popular in the world. You will have to pay for this in all likelihood because that will be the service these people provide to the world. OK, one time payment. No overhead. But if you don't have the cash, you don't get the service. I think beta has tended to bring in vvery building conscious individuals because that was the primary need of the world. At some point folks are going to sign up and say to themselves that buildings been done or I am never going to compete on that scale but I have this service to offer. I think it is at that point that the world will truly come into its own in a way that is impossible to predict. Just like in the modern service economy that we live in RL, cash will be a factor in this expansion of SL possibilities. Don't underestimate the long term need for cash whether as a joint SIM enterprise or as an individual.

Note I never said there is a problem with having money. I said there is a problem with having *too much* money. You're reading way too much into what I said.

Yes, I caught that point. But within the context of this particular thread, if a group of 16 or even 10 are sharing 50K because they kicked in to help this guy out, that is between 3 to 5K apiece. This is not an extraordinary amount of cash, though as I did say, your basic point is well taken.

On topic I think that Linden Labs should have givin us more time to save for an exact amount for a lifer acct.

Even if it was to deactivate accts that arent able to pay by the 23rd. and reactivate them when they pay up by a certain date that allows more time to save.

I've had 2 different people offer to pay for my membership already.
It's good to know that you have such great friends in the game.
I emailed support to ask if they would allow someone else to pay for me without me having to know their credit card number or other sensitive banking details but after almost a week i still have no reply!
Do you guys know if it's possible to delete your cc number after paying for the lifetime membership?

Thank you all for your support, but this doesn't seem like something that is going to work out. I'll be spending the next few days making sure all of you guys that contributed get back your donations.

You may still see me after the 23rd though, as I'm sure I can scrape together each month for the monthly rate, but I figured with the life-time rate as it is, I didn't have anything to lose by giving it a shot. Anyways, thanks again to those that helped out

Charlie, re: your last post here - note we actually did give everyone till the 30th to pay at beta rates. So good idea!

Cool Phil I at that time thought it was only up to the 23rd.

I'd never make ya out to be unfair . You rock )