WHOA!!! Why do you want to destroy your money?! PLEASE SPEND IT!! (Starving artist)

Quick PS:

"also the lindex is not a real lindex its not backed up by gold or anything else"

Neither is the US Dollar, Pound Sterling, the Euro, the Yen, etc, etc, etc.

Musuko.

There is such a lawsuit going on, but it's the "L$1 sim" one, which may or may not ever make it to court.

However, I think that if LL was forced to take down its servers because it went bust, then you'd be very unlikely to claim any damages for that. I know that people have tried to sue companies for the harm caused by them going bust before, in some cases for greater harm than just loss of some money, and I've never heard of those lawsuits succeeding.



Well, it's still a bother - that LL sells SL with the "freedom to create" given front page billing, but in practice that freedom becomes meaningless in the face of much better creations made by other people or by groups. I know there's not really anything that can be done about that, but it's going to become a problem when those same people become the ones who're expected to support the economy.

As it happens I do pay per month to be part of SL. And moreover, monthly payment is what LL, and content creators, want and need people to do. LL need that income to stay afloat, and content creators need regular income to pay their tier.

In fact, that's another potential reason for devaluation that hasn't been considered too well - that content creators need regular income, but the economic system of SL discourages content consumers from making regular payments.

Again, the content creators working on World of Warcraft probably get rewarded more than most of the ones on SL, and yet the consumers get access to all of that content for the same amount of US$ that on SL only gets you L$2000-3000 a month (try buying all the content on SL for that! ) This surely points to something being inefficent in the middle.



If it so happens that all of the the potential L$ buyers are "selfish, whiny morons" then you're going to have to cater for them.. or see more devaluation. Sad but true

That's not necesserily true. SL has been slowly moving away from charging monthly premiums, and more towards using SL as a buiness and economy oriented income. They got rid of the required monthly payments just to play back in 2003, then got rid of the $10 registration fee. I wouldn't be surprised if their next step will be to reduce monthly premium payments. Yes, they still need someone to cover the costs of running their sim servers, but they obviously believe that an increase in population, and thus the economic turnover, will eventually be able to make them more money than any monthly premiums. As I mentioned on many forums, they make more off of Lindex right now than they make off of 4000 $10us a month premium subscription fees (is 4000 about the right amount for subscribed active players?). That number is easy to get, too. Just take the average daily amount traded (10mil), multiply it by %3.5 fee, and convert it to USD (divide by 330). Then for buy seef, divide that 10mil by the average trade and multiply the result by $0.30.
They probably still need that monthly premium right now to stay affloat, but as more people join and more $L gets traded on Lindex, that'll probably be able to cover any losses of premiums.

"As it happens I do pay per month to be part of SL."

No you do not. You pay per month to own land in SL. Being a player in SL is absolutely free. Owning land is optional.

Musuko.

Do not tell me why I spend my money. I do own land in SL, but when I first signed up for Premium, I didn't do it to own land - it was a good few weeks before I bought my First Land (and yes, I did know it was available and how to buy it) and even then I didn't know what to use it for. I did do it partly for the stipend. But I did it mainly because I was intriuged by SL, knew that hosting it would cost the company money, and could afford to help support them.

I don't even know why I read this stuff...but now I can't resist replying!

"LL need that income to stay afloat, and content creators need regular income to pay their tier."

IMHO...if you can't afford the tier with rl money don't buy the land. When I buy land I do that with the assumption that I will be paying 100% of the tier cost. If I want to sell content I can put it on SLExchange for FREE, ask a friend to store the required 1 prim box and be done with it. I can be completely homeless in SL, sell content on SLExchange and be fine and never spend a penny.

I have chosen to buy land and I pay the $75USD a month in tier, I also pay premium membership fees. I have done that of my own choice and did not do it to make a profit. (Nobody forced me or held a gun to my head.) I spend that money on SL because to me, SL is simply another form of entertainment. I would spend that hundred bucks at a rl restaurant or movie theatre anyway, so its no loss.

FYI...I don't trade my L off for USD. All of the L that I make in world I spend in world. I also buy a fair amount of L right from the Lindex. My $500L stipend goes right back to LL...why? Because I pay that much for the "Find Places" fees on all of my little plots of land. I own 8 or 10 16m plots of land that I put vendors on. I have Find Places checked on all of them, plus a few other plots of land that include my house, my cafe, and some other plots that I'm simply selling off at the moment. (I actually paid more in Find Places fees than I got for stipend this month.)

Why am I selling off my land? To buy an island. Now while I most certainly can afford the $100USD a month it costs me to play the game, I can NOT afford the $1250USD to buy an island. My solution to this...sell pretty much all of my land and bank the L. I will end up subsidizing the cost of the island, but I won't pay the cost in full. The money that I make from the sale of the L will help to subsidize the cost of the island although it probably won't completely pay for it. I will end up pitching in. This combined with some of my smaller sales will help me buy an island. This will be the first and only time I will sell L for USD. (I'm splitting the cost with my SL husband and tier will be divided between the two of us. Again we're making the assumption that we will be paying the entire tier fee for the island. Not that the island is going to pay the tier.)

That brings up my point...

Why am I trading L for USD in the first place? Not because I'm trying to kill the economy, not because I really want to....but because LL will not accept Lindens as payment for an island. Why not? Because its fake, its not worth anything. The amount of L I get for every $1USD I spend doesn't affect me really because I will spend the same amount on the game whether I get 300L for a buck or 500L for a buck. I will still buy the island, it just may take me longer if the value of the L drops. Oh well, such is life. I'll live!

I did NOT come into this GAME with the idea that I would make a profit. If, with the purchase of the island, land rentals and other things, I am in fact able to make a profit, awesome! The money that I make will simply turn around and be put back into the game, either for the purchase of another island or simply for fun.

Currently I am a content provider. I provide extemely cheap places for newbies to live. ($35L a week or $140L a month). That does not in any way, shape or form pay the tier on that land. But I wasn't trying to do that. The idea was simply to provide content for newbies without actually providing completely free content. (I think there is enough free content already...personal opinion.)


I have also donated a plot of land to an up and coming artist in SL. Why? Once again I'm helping to support content creation within the game. I'm paying the tier and not making a penny on that land. Am I worried about it? Nope, because I'd own the land anyway.

My point in all these ramblings: content creation is about fun. I'm providing content (working hard, paying the fees, etc) all because I enjoy the game. I'm giving back to the game in content what I get out in enjoyment. The content I provide is because I want to. Not because I have to, not because I wanna see what I can get back, but because I enjoy doing it. And to me, that's what SL is about. It's a GAME!!!! It's for fun...NOT PROFIT!!

All this bickering over economy is just a bunch of BS if you ask me. Who cares!! Provide the content because you want to. I know, but what's the incentive? A fake world that's fun to live in, with friends, and rich content. The incentive to content providers to keep creating content, profit aside, is the enjoyment they get from the creation of the content in the fist place. Not from the profit they make when their content sells.

If you're creating content to make a profit, then its not a game its work. And yes, I suppose its okay to complain about your work. But this isn't supposed to be work. Its supposed to be fun. If you're complaining about something that's fun then its not fun anymore. And no, I wouldn't waste money on things that aren't fun either! Just like I wouldn't pay to go to work!

It's just a game and its just for fun! Remember that!!

"Do not tell me why I spend my money."

You don't pay to be in SL, as that is free. I'll tell you that all I like.

"But I did it mainly because I was intriuged by SL, knew that hosting it would cost the company money, and could afford to help support them."

So why didn't you just send Lindenlabs a cheque?

Musuko.

Whoa! stop right there! You want to burn your stipends? just give them all to me and I'll build a big furnace to burn them all. I'll even advertise it for your political means. And you'll never have to worry about that money being spent in the SL economy any longer (since I'll be transferring it into $US).

Please start by throwing money down the wishing well at the goblin shop in Chicagon. Any money I gain this way I promise to take out of circulation.

I assume you have not put in the time to read the entirety of the Volunteer to End Your Premium Acct. Stipends thread. Of course, I don't blame you because it is way too long of a thread.

If you had though, you would understand (maybe not agree with) our position and our response to the numerous suggestions like yours.