Loss Of Stipend

Is anyone else a bit disgusted with this? I am all for everyone trying to "create something" to make money but what about those that do make things and the competition is tooooooo stiff (even if youre a great designer) to make any money. That is why we NEED our stipends. Some ppl that is all they make even though they are great designers. YOu are going to cause a huge decrease in play, and why? TO increase your Linden sale? C'mon give us a break. YOu upped the price of rating and we still kept rating we've earned our stipends.

I'm not at all disgusted. Also, a "huge decrease in play" is highly unlikely. The more likely outcomes are:

1. Increased currency purchases
2. Hopefully, increased creativity.

Of course, it's hard to say. In a world where so many would rather complain about everything than do something about anything, the outcome COULD simply be increased complaining! We will have to see.

The bonus from ratings is going away, I believe.

Yes, I'm with you on the stipends thing. The loss of stipends would probably create a big exit from the game/platform/okra, and would probably cause a big drop-off in new subscribers. Particularly new Premium subscribers. It would also cause sales by content creators to decline.

I'm sick of hearing the calls to eliminate stipends, too.

coco

Stipends have not been changed at all.
The only thing that has changed is the removal of the rating bonus, which I think we all can agree was long overdue.

Well, i will comment on this one.

I as you all know am a talentless hack, not because i cant but because i dont want to, every now and then something strikes me and ill build something but i dont get on sl to build or to make things to make money. With that said let me also say that there are other ways to make money.. i have never worked for anyone since i started playing. I have also been on the leader boards several times (which taught me that was a bad thing) and honestly if i combined the lindens i have spread out on my alts (to keep me off leader boards) i would be on the leader boards with a nice top 10 ranking.. how do i make money? I coordinate things, i contract things out. I promote peoples items etc.. so my point after my whole life story is this.. just because that creative bug hasnt bit you yet doesnt mean you cant make money.. before i retired (yes i consider myself retired in sl) i was making more in one week than my RL job was paying me a month.. which doesnt say a whole lot considering im military. Anyway, i think in a way it would be good if they did away with the stipends.. a sort of tough love.. i think it would make alot of people quit yes.. but the people that truely love our world would start creating which would enrich everyones time in this place..

/rant off

I don't think the stipend should be gotten rid of. It is the only way to get alot of gamers to pay to play. What is lacking is the balances needed to keep the stipend from hurting the economy. From a person who is looking to make US$ off of $L, I have to say that the worst solution I could forsee would be the destruction of all stipends. The best solutions I can think of are the creation of more sinks, or the use of the revenue from stipends to back the value of the $L.

People aren't against stipends directly. They are againt a $L that continually spirals downward in value.

Well what about those who can't make anything because they suck at building,scripting, and/or tailoring that live off the stipend? Saying tough sh!t learn to build or practice makes perfect doesn't cut it for most people in this position. Like myself, right now all I can do is DJ and try to sell other people's stuff for commision (wich both jobs have had slow business lately). Right now I live off my 500L a week and whatever I can scrounge up. Yeah I'm a premium user, so what? Doesn't help when a majority of my friends are basic and we can't do anything because just about everything fun to do in SL costs money. Sure I can buy lindens to help cover me and my friends to have fun, but its not something I can afford at the moment and I'm pretty sure alot of players feel the same way. I don't think the stipends should be removed, just capped or replaced with a better system.

Just a reminder...

For every person you refer that signs up to be a premium member, you get $2000L - thats 40 weeks worth of basic stipends.....

We need more free entertainment in SL, agreed.

I am under the impression that the Lindens are in the process of phasing out stipends. I've been here a year and have only bought $20US in $L, simply because I have other things to spend rl $ on. If I have any extra cash at the end of the day, it always goes toward my children....hmm priorities....

Anyway, I am one of many who will simply not enjoy playing without the stipends. The weekly stipend is WHY I joined in the first place over a year ago.

I design and build furniture. I work to keep the prices reasonable AND keep them lower prim in order to remain competitive. I sell quite a bit, but not enough to totally support my simple lifestyle in world.

Increase productivity? You mean increase in the numbers of escorts/strippers per male avatar? I don't consider THAT producitivity...Eventually, the escorts will flood the market and even THEY won't make enough money to support the economy. Even some of the larger sellers will feel the pinch.

my guess is that the poster is not referring to base stipends, which I don't think too many people are arguing over, but the rating bonuses.

premium members mentally build the base L$500 stipend into their monthly charges. If LL removes stipends from that equation with one hand, they'll have to give something to premium members with the other.

but again -- i haven't seen a huge outcry for the removal of base stipends -- have I been missing something?

Who is your main account *wink*

this is my main acct.....if ya wanna know my FIRST acct, you're gonna have to hunt me down in world

I'll simply say: those who can, will do.

Despite the adversity and hardships, and find much self-reward and reward for their fellow Residents.

aww, you're like our own little purple and green Yoda.

agreed.

Oh. Well, I thought that other recent thread - something with "economy" in its name - also involved removing base stipends. Maybe I was mistaken about it, too.

I don't much care about removal of ratings bonuses, because by the time I joined SL, ratings were too expensive for me to participate in anyway, while people from earlier days were enjoying the fruits of cheap ratings in perpetuity, so that seemed wrong.

coco

I do not understand. Are we losing our weekly stipends?

No, we're not, as of now, but some people keep saying we ought to. I'm pretty sure the stipends have been reduced in the past, but someone who has been here longer than I have would need to answer about that. And I understand that they could change the stipends any time they wish, but I believe the last thing we heard was something along the lines of, "There is no plan to remove the stipends at this time."

Someone else can probably answer this better; I just want to allay any panic in the meantime.

coco

i think you summed it up pretty well cocoa

I said that I wouldn't post again about this subject in that other thread.. but this is a new thread.


I've talked to a couple of people in SL, who are not likely to post here. Reading these threads just makes them angry and so they try to stay away from the forum and just continue enjoying SL. However, I'm a habitual poster.. and the consenus from the (relatively small) group that I've surveyed is this:

The concept of removing stipends is only something that long time members want. Why? Because they've been around long enough to esablish themselves, and get a fairly large bank roll. And now, they want newbies to have to purchase $L from them for $US cash, rather than getting it for "FREE" from LL. In other words, it's the "rich" trying to push down and control the "poor".

That last sentence was not my words, but is almost a direct quote from one person I talked to. But it is an interesting idea... this small percentage of SL members know that without stipends that there would be virtually no new L coming into the system, and as the population grows, the US value of the L would go up as well.. actually it would go quite high.. and then their L$100,000+ bank accounts would be worth a lot more (in $US). There's a name for this concept.. it's called greed.

But that system can't work. Because let's say that the $L more than doubled in value and got up to 100L/$1US or higher. Well, who in their right mind is going to pay that much for virtual stuff? Not the average user. It would alienate new members. Joining and immediately having to buy L so that can afford a new skin and some non-newbie clothes, would push new members away. LL doesn't want that. Phillip has already stated that he wants the value of the L to be around $4/1000L. (or 250L/$1)

If (or should I say when) I'm established in business and rolling in the L, I'll want lots of new members joining and all of them getting stipends. So that they'll come visit my establishment(s) and spend money. And I know the auto-response.. "but then the L won't be worth anything" Well, I disagree. I think the L will stay between $3.50 and $4.50 per thousand. And I have my reasons for thinking that, one I mentioned above.


But here's my answer to this thread. Let's just stop worring about it, stop suggesting it, stop arguing about it.. because LL will never remove (premium account) stipends. Because right now, in a way, we're buying our stipends from LL and that means that LL makes money off it. So they're not going to stop a revenue stream for them. So we really don't need to worry about it any more.

At first I used to post my hatred of the idea because I worried that LL might listen to these people and stop the stipends. Now I realize that it's not going to happen. And there's no reason to complain about something that's not going to happen.


I suppose it's not a bad idea for those out there who would quit if the stipends were taken away to let LL know about it. So go ahead and do that.. just to drive the point home. But don't lose any sleep over it.

I really must ask - where are these people who want the stipend removed? I don't think I've read anyone saying that.

For starters, about five threads down:

About welfare and the unemployment rate in SL?

coco

I want LL to remove all stipends but mine.

Interestingly, that is similar to my plan, which is to have everyone else's stipend routed to me... except for yours. We should team up on this.