Additional Basic for $9.95

This has to be one of the most backwards things I have ever seen in an MMORPG.
You're first basic character is free.
The second one is $9.95. Why not just automatically upgrade the second one to premium.

I have my speculations, but I was wondering what others make of this situation.

Your first basic account is free. Every one after that is 9.95. It's a one time fee. Premium is 9.95 per month. Bit of a difference if you ask me.

People have alts for various reasons. Needing 3 people for a group. That's a biggy. I use one so I be on and have no one see that I'm on. Works well with being back and forth in Poser so I don't have to stop and talk to someone. Now if they would give us invisible mode people wouldn't need this option.

Others use alt to annoy people on the forums.

Who really cares what the reasons some people make alt for? Don't think this is the correct part of the forums for such a question.

This isn't an RPG. They aren't selling you a character to role play in a world they made. It would be a bad thing if people could get as many avatars as they wanted for free and farm the US$ they earn from all those avatars. It already may be a problem, but it is hard to tell if the benefits of growth outweight the disadvantages of people abusing the system. I guess Linden Labs would have a better idea on that than anyone of us with our incomplete data.

The basic $9.95 is a one-off charge. Premium characters cost $9.95 every month.

That's not what I'm talking about.
Why have an aditional basic option?
Why not just have an option for basic and premium.
Thereby, if a person wants an additional account, they have to pay $9.95, but they will get the premium.

OK this makes more sense.

It's still kind of funny that they have this.
I guess somebody would want to pay a one time $9.95 for an additional account.

Premium is $9.95 A MONTH. Basic is a $9.95 ONE TIME FEE.

They give the first basic free to get you hooked, its a well known bussiness teqnique I believe?

People may want alts without having to pay a recurring fee.

Its simple really..

I paid for my Basic account, they didn't have free accounts back then.

Then came Free accounts.

Then they cut the reputation bonus.

Then they cut the stipend.

What next?

I've got a better idea... dump the Free accounts, or make them something less than Basic.

I like the reputation bonus.. it wasn't a whole lot of linden dollars, but it boosted the 'do nice things and get rewarded' approach. As you were rated, you got more pay. It cost people their own linden dollars to increase your ratings. Therefore..in order to get your ratings increased, you had to help others, make them feel welcome, and increase their own enjoyment of the game to the point they were willing to shell out the (meager but still money) 25 lindens a rating.

I definitely want non-premium alts because I plan on keeping all my land within one tiered player- me! Having to pay for three seperate tier amounts, in addition to the per-month premium accounts, would be inefficient and ridiculous.