Islands

Sorry, I didn't clarify...I'm talking about outside SL...REAL houses once purchased, incur a REAL property tax.

I still say it's a mistake to think of tier as rental. It's more like a tax.

I plan to buy a private island to just have a private estate on if I decide to stay in the game. That decision will be made late this summer. The location is still an option although I currently have reservations on 3 sites.

Damn you, Linden Labs, and your cursed concept of starting a business to make money.

Damn you for trying to make a profit for your services.

Damn you all to hell.

Yes, try leasing a car. I went looking at that yesterday, as a matter of fact. Before even making a payment I need to pay over $3000 in fees and taxes that is non-refundable. At the end of the lease I don't own the car, I give it back and end up with nothing except the enjoyment it brought me during the time I had it.

Hmm, but would you be more likely to/have done it sooner if you could have bought a lesser one at a fraction of the cost? Or (assuming you do go for the sim) would you jump at the chance for a 'quarter-sim' instead so it's more affordable?

And what would that car cost new? To buy outright?

Why? Tier can't be applied to islands. It's a flat fee. Also, there are fewer administrative costs with single owner islands. Considering that we owned almost all of a mainland sim prior to moving and could apply tier to it, I'm not sure I get your point.

Unless you're objecting to landlord held sims who sublease to tenants.

I have been renting entire sims to happy customers for over two years now.
The cost is $300 per month.

Yup thats what I'm objecting to. Placing a max island per entity restriction (even if its not retroactive) would encourage more options in the subleasing monopoly. Some small increase in individual owners of parcels back on the mainland would further increase profits.

Personally i think a PURELY privately owned island at 195 is fine. But i thinkthe tools used to sublease land out should be restricted to island owners paying a higher premium. 250$ or 300$ seems great to me.

These people are utilizing an higher feature set because of the developement time required by LL to enhance these subleasing tools seperately from general land ownership features. These people should pay more in order to offset the costs LL incurs developing the tools.

Just an opinion.

How do you consider the current situation to be a virtual monopoly? I know of no less than 20 people who buy islands and rent them to people. Private islands can be purchased by anyone for $1250, there is no bidding.

That's really irrelevant. You asked for an example where you pay for something upfront, pay monthly fees and end up with nothing. People lease cars for various reasons despite the end result just as people find reasons to buy island and pay tier every month.

They won't pay. Right now you can rent an island for $300 from a large number of land investors. If their tier went up to 250 or 300, they'd just charge 350 or 400.

It would make it harder for people that don't want to pay the big up front charge, not easier.

It does cost money for LL to set up the hardward and some staff time for an island so I think the initial cost is justified. What they could consider is what has already been suggested above and done by land barons...why not

no upfront cost but $299 a month

or

no upfront but $299 a month for 12 months then $199 after that

That might be an attractive option for many players who don't want to try and float the big lump sum.


Twiddler
http://www.taunt.com

Although my dreams remain intact, my faith in Linden Labs and their total incompetence over the 'unverified signup' issue, and the way we are being completely ignored, is making me think twice about throwing money at a company that clearly values unpaying members over its paid ones, and puts more importance in artificially inflating subscriber numbers rather than the quality of the in-world experience.

Lewis

It's not necessarily a case of "won't" - even though I personally disagree with the setup fee - I just don't have that amount of money spare, period.

Given a choice between buying an island, or paying my month's bills and eating... I'm afraid SL comes second. That's the cold harsh reality that many of us are living in, not Linden Labs imaginary world where, like them, money is easy to spend on luxuries.

Lewis

No it ISN'T irrelevant. The full cost to buy of a product/service has a HUGE bearing on the decision to lease or buy outright.

The example quoted has no meaning whatsoever if the cost to buy is unknown.

eg.

Lease a Mercedes E class 280d: Leasing costs - £1200 up front plus £407 per month over 2 years, all subject to 17.5% VAT

Good deal? Bad deal? How do you tell? By asking what it costs to buy... (£32,000 inc VAT btw - not a bad deal, though with a Merc I'd always buy to take advantage of the very high residuals, it really only makes sense to lease cheap crap with low residuals and release the cash for other uses)


Now, it that leasing company did it the Linden Lab way they'd want £32,000 up fromt, PLUS £407 per month - surely you can see the difference?

Careful Lewis - sentiments like that are likely to result in you being flamed by the fanboys.

What's that saying.... "bring it on"?

Lewis

ROFL!

Go for it - the more the merrier.

We already offer this (AzureIslands). However tier is a little bit higher.

Today's the day! Third Anniversary Celebration! Perfect day for them to offer us a one off promotional opportunity to open an estate for zero dollars down.

Well at least we'll have a parade.

And of course there won't be any griefing - because there IS no griefing issue...

No, because you're assuming they take $1250 and go buy $1250 worth of computer hardware to run the server when this isn't the case at all. Much of that cost is for the setup of the island, accounting etc....things that have no material value. Just like a cable company charges you $100 for a guy to come over and set up your service.

If LL charged nothing for islands you would have a hoard of people getting one, realizing after 2 months they can't afford tier and dropping it. What's LL supposed to do with the hardware they purchased to support all these new islands? They weren't paying tier long enough for them to recoup their money.

When I first started I saw the prices and choked too. It was inconceivable to me that anyone would pay $200/month for land, let alone $1250 for the initial purchase. Now I see it as some of the best money I've ever spent and it's simply the cost of doing business. I paid for mine with the money I made in SL, so I have no qualms about investing it back into LL and trying to make a beautiful place that people enjoy spending time in, not just shopping.

Wipe 'em and resell them to the next person who wants an island?

After all... you can't tell if it's new or used, can you?

Lewis

So that price is based on the business of making money on servers. Second Life is not a server.

Alot of posters are missing the point... This is business. Meaning very simply: The cost is based on what they can get for how many they can sell. If you dont' want to be a part of the business, then dont' do any with the company.

It's kinda comical to complain about the price of something you don't have to buy. Go buy an ice cream instead

~Lefty