End the Stipends....just a thought..

you want to get rid of stipends to save LL money? is that not about ending them?

this was gone over before. It was supposed to be necessary for other reasons before now what's the reason?

oh yes to give LL more money but they actualy have plenty of money they just dont spend it plus its just a drop in the bucket

what am i missing here? your reason?

Same as before getting rid of stipends wont do anything other then cut a benefit people presently remain and pay for

Same argument as well just a different application but the rebutal is always the same. Yes about 2 million reasons were already thought of to end stipends so your number 2 million and 1

if you want to know why people are reacting to this thread like they are I suggest you read the 356552801826 posts and various strange reasons for getting rid of something which does no harm but tons of good ..

*wonders if your an alt of oneo f those guys who disappeared into nothingness now*

I dont know Mortus it surely sounded like you know what you where saying, !

WHOA Im no alt, you just cant get this sharp being a second-gen!!! I respect every poster that has posted on this thread, I probably was covered somewhere in the past , but as it seems this is a popular topic so may deserve a second-go-round, hopefully and as it seems is been the case so far , there are rational and mature thoughtful posts without and dogbeating and flaming so Im happy enough with it

(Enters empty hall with a bucket of overripe tomatoes.)

Hey! Wheres the dude who wants to kill stipends? Damn, late to the party. Back to the freezer for you, overripe tomatoes...

Let me ask a stupid question, since im pretty close to stupid anyway, is it really the stipend that keeps you here in SL? and if it is why even waste the effort?

Let me try to explain this - other than the right to own land and the privilege of being able to pay even more money to LL for tier, the stipend, however small, is the ONLY thing they give premium members. It's a psychological thing - people can feel like they're getting a little something for the money they pay to be a premium member.

Paying out stipends can't be that much of a hardship for LL - there aren't that many premium members, and they sure aren't rushing to take back the extra money we got in our stipends this week.

*moves*

No, I buy premium to have the stipend. The land is the bonus.

They print off the money out of thin air for it, or more accurately, an automated program adds a bunch of 0s and 1s to a database. LL doesn't buy the lindens to do the stipends, so cutting them will only lose them money as more long term residents see more of their world being eroded.

If my premium stipend was removed then I'd expect to pay a hell of a lot less for my premium account, namely; nothing.
Permission to own land that I have to PAY for anyway is not worth the cost of a premium account, 512 sq m is nothing.

LL should be giving people MORE incentive to buy premiums, removing stipends only makes them worthless.

Another urban myth? Taking away stipends will result in a massive termination of premium accounts. Won't happen.

Mandy C

Sorta like the myth the grid will run faster without stipends.

Or the one that without stipends the economy would be more stable.

OMG are you really believe or think this? well they might stop it some time but when they do they will lost many paying memebers as well.

"MYTH" Or "Ms" heheh...really I don`t beleve many members will stay around if this happens.

The economy is stable now and with so few Premium members, the amount of money moved due to stipend is miniscule in the scheme of things. I'd be more worried about surges of newbies, tier & product sales to stabilise the economy.

I have a question to the OP though..

How is the premium stipend 'free' money? Or am I imagining that I pay for the service?

I think premiums members have more of a effect than that,

Since Most premiums log in at least a couple times a month we can assume the 60ish K premiums are all "Alive" accounts

while the number of actual "Alive" players might be only a couple hundred thousand. Thus making premiums a higher percentage.

Still your right - the Linden Dollar is nice and stable now. Stipends being removed would cuase an increase in the value of the Linden$ which isnt really needed.

These Linden Labs needs more of our money threads I always find interesting. LL is a business, I presume they are watching their own Bottom line carefully. If they thought having more money would allow them to give better customer service which would help their business - theyd raise their prices.


BTW - Stipends are not Lindens Labs giving us free money. Since they dont lose money when they do it. Some player buys all the Lindens ever sold by other players.

Stipends are actually Linden Labs giving away tiny amounts of value of All Linden$ seller's money. But some things are necessary to keep everything running. Since if its broken the value is Zero.

Its not a give away since I'm paying..

Miniscule? How do you figure?

I woudn't call L$150,000,000 miniscule, especially since its a full half of the L$ that LL injects into the economy in a month.

And for that month of stipends, premium accounts are paying over a hundred thousand (if not several hundreds of thousands, I don't know the exact number of premiums, 20,000+ was the last I heard) $US, which equates to some L$30-60 million. I expect this isn't even the full number of premium accounts anyway. You need to remember that the economic stats only really highlight L$, and do not include the $USD being paid for things.


It's not, but it's the stipend that keeps many premium accounts premium. Without it they'll downgrade. For many, having to buy the L$ themselves all the time will result in unneccessary hassles, I for one use my stipend to pay weekly rent for which it is perfect. The right to own land isn't worth paying for on its own, indeed, if stipends are removed lots people won't be willing to PAY for the right to PAY for land, it's ridiculous.

I would have joined as a premium even if there weren't a stipend, so I won't downgrade if they are taken away. Like I said. It's an extra pair of shoes or an outfit a week. No big deal to me.

US$ do not figure into the in-world econony, so your point is moot.

I hate to tell you, but that's exactly what the RL U.S. Government (and most other governments around the world) does. There was a time when currency was backed by something, like gold. But the U.S. did away with the gold standard long ago, U.S. currency is printed out of thin air and backed by the good faith of the U.S. Government. Just as Lindens are. Only difference is, Lindens aren't actually printed, and There are legitimate questions about the good faith of Linden Labs when it comes to their currency.

It was Nixon I do believe who took us off the Gold Standard.

Well I decided to look it up, the U.S. abandoned the gold standard in 1933 according to Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard Who can say who was president then?