Basic user startup money and stipends

When I get rich and famous I'll set it up

I think u can add one more vote to that as well
I've seen tons of newbies who dont get a chance to even buy like a $20 outfit
I think they should start out with SOMETHING, cuz face it on their first day they dont know how to buy or probably dont anyways.

I agree with Cheyenne totally. Have you checked out any other 'online worlds'?

SL is incredibly generous. You can do heaps for nothing, and lots more for a very tiny outlay.

Why do people feel they DESERVE something for nothing?

Come on, someone is paying for the land that the interesting things are on, someone is paying for the uploads to make the nice things you see or get as freebies or (dare I say it) buy.

Things in SL are seriously cheap. Pennies. If you dont want to pay, dont.

Sorry if I sound mean. But that is the way of the world, and certainly the way of all other online worlds I know of.

New users receive L$ 250 if they provide payment details when they sign up. It works just like the 'older' basic accounts, minus the stipend part.

Having people start with no money whatsoever is indeed pretty bad for them, but with current sign up policy having it done any other way you'd see people farming the signups for the starting money... which i believe is part of reason why these payments were removed in the first place.

So do what we did before June 6th and provide your credit card details. In return you get $250L.

I personally don't see the need to get a premium account that I'll never use the benefits of. I tried a premium account for about a month and I ended up spending $15.00 US on monthly and tier fees plsu another $20 (all amounts are US Dollars btw) on buying various things from merchants to get started and it definitely wasn't worth it, now I have downgraded my account, stopped using outside money to finance my second life, and couldn't be happier in my rented apartment.

I know you will all hate me for that but here's my reasoning. I feel that while I am not contributing to LL as directly I am able to contribute more to teh society since I am not ruled by my personal bank balance, also linden labs still makes a bit of money every time I exchange L$'s for US $'s.

Well you only get the L$250 offer the first time you sign up.
After that, from what I have read, if you give them your CC info, the offer is void.

not just void, null and void , but yes you are correct after account creation the offer no longer applies but after the grid reopens (in four and a half hours or so) you'll still have the incentive of being 2/3 of the way to being unbannable by the new system.

Aye; there's always option to start brand new account and provide that CC data to it, if the starting money is important ^^;

although tbh i have no idea why they put this 'only on sign up and void after' thing in there...

You know, if you pay for an annual premium subscription, the L$1250 bonus plus the L$500/week stiipend pays itself off, provided that you don't spend more than you can exchange into $USD to cover the annual subscription and inflation doesn't go beyond $1USD per L$340.

((4 weeks * L$500) * 12 months) + L$1250 premium bonus = L$25,250

L$25,250 total wkly stipend & bonus/L$340 exchange rate for every $USD = $74.27USD

$74.27USD - Linden's 3% lions share = $72.04USD you get back

The current exchange rate is right around L$330 for every $1USD. If it remains there, drops or doesn't go over L$340, you end up getting your subscription money back as well as some free L$'s or $.01USD's. And let's not forget the 512m of land you're allowed to buy without any tier costs.


It's to notify people what the terms for the offer is. It was pretty clear and understandable to me, I don't see why it isn't for others

Dillon, I stand corrected. I did not know that you could still get the 250l starting balance by providing credit card details. I read the LL announcements but I already have an account so I have not run through the signup process recently myself.

I retract my argument

The Pro-Stipend Party might be growing, but its losing the war. First its the removal of stipends from non-active accounts. Next it will be removing from all non-premium accounts, and so on... The Anti-Stipend Party winning inch by inch...

Yes, i understand why it's printed as part of agreement. But i don't understand why it _is_ part of agreement terms in the first place ^^; (i.e. why won't they give that L$ 250 to someone who signs up, spends couple days looking around and then provide their CC details because they like what they see)

Has the anti-stipend group considered the incredible value delivered to Linden Labs by its use of stipends? Companies can spend millions on advertising and coupons to get the same number of paying customers that LL has attained by a combination of positive press and giving new players incentive to explore and return (such as stipend). When compared to advertising costs, how do stipends for new players stack up?

When you have unrestricted access, you can't give ANYTHING. It would be abused otherwise with ppl making multiple accounts just to get the handout and the economy would be absolutely ruined.

Anything that can be exploited will be exploited. You have to THINK about that before you do anything to the game.

LL made the correct decision by eliminating the signup bonus and weekly stipends on free accounts before opening up the access. There could have been no other way that could have gone down.

You're making too much sense.

The pro basic stipend crowd will ignore you like they ignore every other reasoned attempt to explain the fallacy in their argument.

All they can think of is "gimme, gimme, gimme."

Nothing else matters to them.

I think some folks fail to see that 'broke' new members is entirely in keeping with how the world will shape up economically.
The whole 20/80 rule.

20% of the SL population will hold 80% of the SL worlds wealth.
80% of the population will hold 20% of the wealth.

Just as it is in rl.

I reckon profit margins for some users and their products are gonna plummet and others will emerge out of nothing to do really well. In the face of a changing market, again as in rl... those who can adapt the fastest will thrive.

nd those who fail to adapt will seriously lose out.

Because right now, sl needs more users.
More users, even ones without cash, means more money to be made.

You know, not everyone has access to a credit card or checking account to be able to provide billing info to be able to buy Lindens off the exchange. Students in college, people who are unemployed for whatever reason who look for places like SL because they can't AFFORD WoW and other places. Of course, if people are happy with the player base you have now, without any new blood ever coming in, will most likely soon have your wish. A stagnant population and economy to go right along with it.

Oh, and by the way..I'm not one of the freeloaders. I pay my fees and buy an average of about 10K in Lindens a week. Still, add one who thinks the stipends are NOT a bad thing to the count.

That's true. Now we just have to get vendors used to the idea that no one will be paying for their stuff, and we're all set!

-Pall

i am sorry but i am not here to entertain unemployed peoples for free, if you can't get the job you want you get another one instead, its still money coming in. and if you are unemployed your priority isn't really into online games but to straighten your f^_^cking life.

As for students its wrong again , do not forget that verification level 1 cost nothing, its just a data entry.

As for the WoW comparison , i am sorry but i don't want SL to be the panhandler world.

Giving players a boatload of stipends is great for LL, but sucks for SLers. Why? Because as they pump millions of new linden dollars into the economy by loading up the pockets of n00bs, it causes the value of the linden dollar to decline.

Overall, what happens is that LL is supporting 'new' members at the expense of existing members. And as SL's population grows, there comes a time when there are more existing players grumbling about a devalued linden dollar, then there are n00bs jumping for joy over their free money. And such a time has arrived. Thus the policy change on stipends with regards to new free accounts.

Aye, with the current "no verify" free accounts out there if the $250L handout are still given the SL economy would collaspe within days.

it takes about 1 or 2 minutes to creat a new freebie email then another 2 minutes to make an alt in SL. so for every 5 to 6 minutes you get $250L. one hour ~ $2500L.

Talk about making things out of thin air.

Hey, if you're only going to be using 48 weeks of your life each year, can I have your other 4 and 1/7 weeks? I could sure use more time ...

Cheers,
Lawrence

Oh, get off it -- everyone in SL has a broadband connection - that means they can pay for whatever they want, they just have to buy Lindens from LindEx -- or GET A JOB.

I understand why this is a concern for you and many others, who want to take USD out of the economic cycle. However, as I've been thinking about this the last few days, another thought occurs to me too. LL wants lots of eyeballs to deliver to corporate customers, like American Apparel, who have much deeper pockets than residents, even successful capitalist residents who pay lots of land tier.

And everything, it seems, moves us toward the goal of SL's acceptance as THE platform for the 3D Web. For that progress (from LL's perspective) to continue, they need several things:
- Wider awareness by the public
- More return visitors
- Companies to become familiar and comfortable with the Second Life platform, so they are ready to use it in new and more practical ways

The removal or continuance of stipends really should have little to do with the value of the Linden against the dollar. It should (and does) have to do with balancing the desire for more return visitors against the desire to prepare SL to be a platform used not only in the closed grid we currently have, but also when many servers are running it, hopefully in an interconnected way.