L$ to $

How many people here would quit playing if the ability to turn game money into real cash was stopped.

I know there will always be 'third party trader' sites that LL can't do anything about, but lets just assume that, for whatever reason, LL announced that after a certain date the ability to cash out your L$ would no longer be permitted?

My feeling is that quite a few would quit. What's your opinion?

Lewis

Yes, I would also like to know what people would do if they had to stand on one toe and sing your are my sunshine while playing SL.

Would you quit? I think quite a few people would.

I wouldn't quit for that reason alone. But I would quit because if LL ever announced that it would mean that LL was no longer the same company running SL right now, and they will have most likely changed SL in such a way that I doubt I would like it much. I would also guess that if LL ever announced that it would be right before the announcement that they were revoking all intellectual property rights, since their TOS gives them the right to do so if they want.

I would stay.

But I wouldn't be able to own any land, after a while.


My upcoming sim would be history, without the ability to get rent to cover tier.

I can't pay 195 USD a month, 1250 USD up front, for other people to have fun. And I can't justify that kind of entertainment expense to be wasted on just myself.

I might have a one-prim vendor somewhere that had all my stuff in it, and a picture of West Trade on it, as it was before the fall.

I hope the day never comes, but yes, I would stay.

I would stay but I wouldn't be involved as much. I've never taken money out of SL, only put in, but I wouldn't own the land I own, if I was never going to be able to offset that cost at some point. My primary motivation for owning land is that I like to build a lot, and I like to build big. That's what I enjoy doing in SL. If there was no way for me to ever offset this cost, I wouldn't be able to contemplate the scale I'm working in now. Personally, I'm just trying to find a way to subsidise my building hobby.
If I can't do that, then I would quickly get bored, and would probably only log on now and again to catch up with a friend.

I would quit. By the way, who's alt are you?

What if it amounted to just removing the "send my US$ balance to paypal"? IE, you could still pay teir and the Premium fees with your US$ balance, but you coudln't get the actual cash out.

I think that would still be fatal to the game anyway. I doubt many people make more than their tier fees, but it would basically amount to the LL making a complete reversal on their position on the in-game economy. Even if it didn't effect many people, it would still remove the chance that you could some day make a living off of this.

I might stay around, I might not...

But we would get rid of our sim Chaos. Which would impact the dozen odd people who also use it as a sandbox, and the 30 or so merchants who get free shop space. To say nothing of what IMO is an awesome place to visit.

I can't see spending $195/mo on land without being able to support it from our business.

I'd just make people paypal me directly if they wanted my stuff...

As long as it's possible for residents to author content of any perceived worth, real world money will get involved somehow.

I wouldn't quit but I'd have to get rid of most of my land and I'd probably close down my stores. Providing customer service isn't something I do just for fun.

May I ask what, exactly, you are trying to get at?

I would have thought it was pretty self descriptive. Which part are you having difficulty understanding?

I'm just wondering how many people here play the game because they love to play it for whatever reason they do - be it socialising, building, creating and selling, partying, sex *shudder* or any of the other myriad reasons..... or whether they were just "milking the system" for their own real world financial benefit.

Lewis

I don't think there's anything wrong with making money in this game. There's nothing wrong with flying from one sim to another to see what that strange shape on the map looks like close up. I can do that for days. I think most people explore then buy a bit of land then start thinking about making money when they want more land. Maybe they eventually make enough of an income to cash some out. More power to them.

Why quit when we can do what many others are currently doing?

Downgrade to basic, have a lifetime subscription, and...

play for FREE!!

I would downgrade to a free account and wait, because it wouldn't stay that way for long. If it did, the void would be filled by another innovative company as fast as it takes to log in.

Eventually, most of what we trade and sell in RL won't be much different from what we trade and sell in SL. It will all be intellectual property. The lines are already blurring between RL economies and virtual economies. Think about how hard it would be to shut down the RL world economy apart from completely shutting the world down!

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I wouldn't quit, but depending on whether we'd be able to put L$ towards tier or not, I wouldn't be able to keep land or selling things..

It wouldn't be in LLs best intrest, I'd guess 90% of accounts would go basic, land would be worthless, people would end up releasing it. They'd be left with servers doing hardly anything..

Sorry stating the obvious

I may, however leave, if they didn't do it right, didn't give us warning etc.

I second that! I wouldn't really quit but definately tier way down. Don't what I would do with myself.

I would stay, just sell $L on Ebay like all the rest of the MMORPG's

Do you have a clue about anything or do you just say anything that pops into your head? no one is milking the system by selling $L for USD that IS the system by LL's design. LL provides a nearly blank world users fill in the blanks in exchange for a share of the profits from that world gained by selling L's recieved from users to users for USD. Without that conversion and chance for profit you'd only have charitable content creators and probably neither SL nor LL would still exist.

It's nice to know that when I go to work every day, and perform my job, I'm "milking the system" because I expect a paycheck. Or, when I create some artwork or other creative endeavor, when I dare to sell the fruits of my labor, I'm abusing things.

I think Lewis is just playing Devil's Advocate Jon. He is right and so are you. Taking away all of the financial incentives in SL would be the beginning of the end. And since we know the date that Developer Incentives will be taken from us - the beginning of the end begins on Wednesday, March 1st, 2006.

No, it's a serious question, and I don't understand why so many people are getting abusive towards me for daring to ask.

Why do Land Barons exist? Not because they want to provide a great service to the community - it's because they can MAKE REAL MONEY OUT OF IT. Why do the huge clubs that are laggy blingfests and camping chairs exist? Because they can MAKE REAL MONEY OUT OF IT.

I know that there are only a few who make a 'living wage' out of SL, and most of the rest are only small-time cash outs - but it's those "medium size" people I was wondering about.

I don't have enough L$ to make it worth my while to cash out anything, even if I wanted to - but L$ is play money, not real money. I'm not in game to make my million, I'm just enjoying building stuff and socialising, and if I can make a little money by selling some of my creations or running mystery tours, then that's a benefit. It's not what my whole game centres around. Why should my monthly fee go towards paying someone for doing nothing? I don't mind content creators making money - after all they put in the effort for it - but huge clubs? Waste of time and effort. Camping chairs? A cancer on the economy.

If all you're going to do is attack me for asking the question, don't bother to reply..... but if you have something constructive and on topic, feel free to continue to respond.

Lewis

Lewis, in case you are really wondering why some residents are getting aggressive towards you, please try the following explanation:

Some people tend to get angry when they feel someone attacking them. Many of your posts could be interpreteted, as if you think it is somehow wrong to make money in SL. I don't know if that is really your opinion, but reading through your posts ... yes, one could really interpret some of them that way.

So the people whose intention it is to make some money in SL feel attacked by you. And then they get aggressive towards you. Does that sound plausible to you?

Because:



This is a pretty snarky comment. You are saying that people who create things or provide services that make someone else's experience in SL better is just "milking the system", if they dare to cash out some lindens. It's pretty disparaging image you are painting of anyone who does this.

Rudeness begets rudeness.

I like the social aspects of SL. I've made some very good friends who I care deeply about. I love creating things: buildings, scripts, animations whatever. I also like to eat. This isn't hyperbole. I'm underemployed in RL and need to get a day job or figure out how to cobble together money to eat some other way. If I can do it by creating fun, interesting things that entertain others, that's awesome. And it's one of the main reasons I'm still involved in SL, because I can't think of a more pleasurable way to make ends meet and stay connected with some wonderful people at the same time.

But I guess I'm just milking the system, because I want to cash out a few lindens to compensate for the 100s of hours I've spent creating things over the last few months.

To answer your question, I don't think I would stay. The existance of easy ways to convert currency is one of the key reasons that SL has vibrant and interesting economy. This in turn is one of the reasons that SL is the most intriguing MMO experience I've ever participated in. If you remove the currency exchange I really think SL will become a much, much less interesting place, and I would look somewhere else to spend my time.