Stippends!!!

DROP STIPPENDS FOR USERS OVER 6 MONTHS OLD!!!

i feel that users over 6 months old have figured out how to make money on there own. be it getting nekid or building a city. the problem with the econemy seems to be too much new money being introduced via stipends (74% of new money comes from that according to robin linden) i say for users over 6 months old their stippend should be cut in half or removed completely.

i am contacting robin linden right now to forfit my stipend. yes i am an idiot to turn away from free money.

And since I was told, in writing, when I paid my US$225 for my lifetime account, that I would get 500 lindens a week, I would consider this a breach of a written promiss.

That was part of the agreement when I paid for my preimum account.

おかしい

ditto, george

I paid for mine. Pay me 500L a week out of your own pocket and you can cut it.

If you don't like having your pile of Lindens growing every week for doing nothing, then go out and encourage others to do something for their Lindens by spending yours. You have to remember that SL's economy is an economic simulator, not a full-blown economy. There are pieces missing, and LL must maintain the in-world economy by artificial means.

If you think about it, the Lindens aren't just being made out of thin air - Linden Labs makes most of their money from land usage fees, and they turn some of that money back into Lindens to keep the economy going. It's a closed loop system, and stipends are an important part of maintaining its equilibrium.

Occasionally Linden Labs will institute other cash incentives for certain kinds of creative or constructive behavior as needed to stimulate or control the economy, but it's a balancing act that requires constant attention on their part.

So if you've got Lindens, don't just give 'em back - the point is to get those Lindens into circulation. By doing that, you help maintain the entire SL virtual world. Consider it an act of virtual patriotism.

The SL economy is more complex than a simple "money supply X yields L$/US$ exchange rate Y" formula. There are other factors at work here. For example, take the money supply per capita. That's actually been going down as the active population increases.




The numbers in this graph are based on Robin Linden's money supply statistics posted on 04-18-2006 in the "Population and Economic Data" thread in the "Land and the Economy" forum:

/130/f6/101285/1.html

Note that the SL population figure is based on "unique log-ins last 30 days" rather than the marketing numbers on the front page of the SL website.

Yes--the amount of money per active player has been decreasing. And paradoxically the L$/US$ exchange rate has been falling too. Why? Prokofy Neva suggested an interesting possibility on his blog, "Second Thoughts"--time

http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2006/03/mytime.html

From: Prokofy Neva from his blog, "Second Thoughts

Let's say I see somebody sink the Linden down to 300/$1.00 US. Let's say my tier is due that day. I could look at the LindEx and spend the day fuming and plotting and switching packets trying to sell my $100,000 or whatever at that price to pay tier; I could pay tier out of my bank account and keep Lindens; I could just cash it out merely to get the bill paid and not think about.

What circumstances would enable me either to be the kind of person who could offer their Lindens for 300? Answer: a person who either has so many Lindens they need to get at least some out, or a person for whom the $35 or $50 US that they might lose by not waiting is completely insignificant -- mere lunch or a cab fare or movies or something they just don't care to think that much about.

If I bill $50 hour RL, the thought of sitting on SL for 16 hours either to get a camp chair payout or to prevent a LindEx loss or to find some bargain from hunting just aren't justified. 16 x $50 is $800. It's not going to be possible to care about the $1.00 or $10.00 that might be "saved" in SL by sinking time into it.

Is he right? I don't know. It sounds reasonable to me.

And for those of you who think the L$ money supply is a magic button, consider this: the removal of Dwell has not happened yet. We are still a week away from the first Dwell cut. Why would you expect any changes in the Lindex rates until mid-May?

I was making a funny, why would I want to throw away money? On the other hand, hmmm.............

There needs to be a sales tax in Second Life! This will allow Linden labs to reduce the amount of money in cirulation by adjusting the rate of sales tax as required. Too many Lindens out there increase the tax, not enough reduce the tax. After all dosnt everone want their second life to be just like their first one?

YES! OMG YEEEESSS! I must admit I have a tax fetish. Doing my taxes makes me all hot and horny The thought of filling out the tax forms makes me knees tremble.... wait, I havent done mine for this year yet. Wohooo!

Good idea anyway.

I made a mess just filling in line 5b on my 1040

Sorry! This is not like the American Federal or State income tax where you get the "entertainment" in filling out all of those lowely forms and figuring out the riddles (tax code). You will just have to contain yourself until next year!

The tax would be collected at the point of the sale. A ten percent tax would work like this. Ms Newbie buys a skin from Mr creative for 1000 Lindens. Ms Newbie's account has 1000 lindens deducted while Mr Creative gets 900 Lindens added to his account. The 100 linden tax goes away thus helping maintain a healthy Second Life enviroment!

Here in germany, i have the pleasure of filling out the sales tax form every month. I have to tell the IRS how much tax I have collected from the customer and how much I have to pay them.

EDIT: What about money transfers? How can the System know when we are actually buying something or just giving money to someone as a gift?

Problem is that kills all gaming industry, Ranma. A taxe everytime you put inot the pot..the owners rake, and a tax when paying the winner..

So LL cannot simply alter the llGiveMoney function to automatically transfer the sales tax to them. Instead they have to hand out sales tax forms and rely on the honesty of the people. Hey, they can send people to the cornfield if there is tax fraud lol.

hmmm, tax forms... hmmmmmmmmm *breathes heavily*

There is, it's called "the falling exchange rate".

Ah, just tax all transfers of money. If it was not a sale they would have to apply for a refund to the new Secondlife Assistance Taxation And Notification. There a helpful staff of volunteers will assist the residents in completing the required online paperwork to get their prompt refund. The office will be staffed by caring professional volunteers dedicated to public service!

It will reduce the amount of Lindens in cirulation in a fair goverment way. This will allow for all residents to support second life!

You are right tax forms! They have a simular effect on me! Maybe they can invent a "talking" tax form! shutters at the thought!

One way to look at the Stipend and its economic impact is to reduce the calculation on both side of the equation to USD's. The high level assumption is that Linden Lab values the $L's being returned to the economy via the Stipend (aka, Rebate) as 'real currency' that can be converted to USD's. Otherwise, they would not always be analyzing the money supply, currency per capita and otherwise touting how 'real' money can be made in Second Life. So, I view the Stipend as a 'Rebate', which effectively lowers my cost of Premium Membership in Second Life, and also provides some cash flow to go forth and buy things from many of you who create marketable content in Second Life and participate in the Forums. My Inventory is virtually brimming with your content....pun not intended.

As an aside, I am here for the overall experience, the many friendships, and the ability to create content, albeit the content I create is not generally for sale. I basically create to enhance my environment and the enjoyment. As so aptly put by a certain land baroness, "you make pretty sim". Therefore, I am one of the many, many Premium Members who do depend on the Stipend for most of my disposable $L income.

Bear with me... I am just playing around with an "apples to apples" analysis. Lots of assumptions and theory. But, a fun exercise. Remember, liars can figure and figures can lie. (*points to Ken Lay, et al...)

Assumptions:
$300L / $1.00 USD
200,000 members
75% Premium Memberships
$9.50 USD / month Premium Membership Fee
$500L per week Stipend to Premium Members, or $2000 per month

Pencils ready?

STIPEND / REBATE TO PREMIUM MEMBERS PER MONTH
Stipend conversion: $2,000L / month @ $300L per $1.00 USD = $6.66 USD per month.

TOTAL MONTHLY STIPENDS / REBATES TO PREMIUM MEMBERS
200,000 X 0.75 X $6.66 USD = $999,000 USD

PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP GROSS REVENUE TO LINDEN LAB
200,000 Premium Memberships X 0.75 X $9.50 USD / month = $1,425,000 USD / month

NET REVENUE FROM PREMIUM MEMBERSHIPS TO LINDEN LAB
$1,425,000 USD Premium Membership Revenues - $999,000 USD Stipend / Rebates = $426,000 USD Net Revenue per month from Premium Membership fees.

Total Annualized Net Revenue from Premium Memberships = $5,112,000 USD

OK...now let's think about who is really benefiting from a devalued $L. Perform the same analysis at say, $350L / $1.00 USD and the Net Revenue number from Premium Memberships increases by ~ 34% to $6,822,000 USD on an annualized basis. Interesting..... you can drop the value of the $L by say, 16%, but the Net Revenue number increases by X2 that rate. Numbers are fun.

On a personal level, I note that when the $L was at $240L / $1.00 USD (seems like a long time ago, now), the $24,000L / year Rebate was worth $100 USD, assuming I would convert 100% of my Stipend / Rebate. That just about covered my $114 USD / year cost of membership. Linden Lab was 'profiting' $14 USD / year from my membership. At the current $300L / $1.00 USD, that same Stipend of $24,000L / year is now worth $80 USD in terms of the rebate to me. So, theoretically, the 'net cost' of maintaining a Premium Member has risen from $14 USD / year to $34 USD / year, representing an increase of ~ 43%.

Bottom Line, when was the last time the Stipend was adjusted for inflation? Forego the Stipend? Heck, I want a raise.

You mean like the great caring live help? You would have at least 3 requests from even a 2 person game of slingo. Figure this formula:

([number of slingo players] +1 ) × (number of slingo games a day × locations)

figuring say.. 10 slingo players and say.. 5 games a day at 5 locations

thats 11 × 5 × 5 = 275 requests

Thats not figuring each player (and the pot's payout) amount, which can vary and be entirely different.

And thats just 5 simple games. At 5 locations. And only slingo.

No, that won't work one bit Ranma. It would KILL the games industry.

Whoa- I dont think theres are even close to accurate.

There cant be 150,000 premium members.

You need to be a little less subtle, Jonas took you seriously.