More (creative) thoughts about stipends

Comments on my last post made me think about stipends and economy in SL a bit more and - well, share them with you

Stipends
Lets ask the question, why somebody who has a weekly income bigger than the 500L$ Stipend should get money for free? So, one idea is, to not pay the stipend to anybody who's weekly income is bigger than 2 times the stipend.(Let the econmist and game designer decide on the factor). I mean, I create and - to my surprise - sell poses and animations.
So, if I make 1000L$ per week, do I need the 500 stipend? Not if I have the running costs of my business under control.
You make 1000L$ a month but spend 2000? Get a hold on your budget or buy L$

Rename stipends
Stipends as they are now, are free money from the government. You can give that free money a positiv name and call it a stipend. or you give it a negative image: There is a form of free money in RL, and you get it, when you are really poor - social support or welfare
. So rename the stipend to "welfare" or even harder, "poverty bonus" and let the player opt to not get it. Why? Well, most people dont like the idea of being poor. And many of them would use the option to not get that "poverty bonus" anymore, once they either generate an income in the system or... are willing to buy 2000L$ a month

Tax
Yikes. Hmmmm... really?
I think I saw it in another thread, but Linden could actually ask for tax if you buy land and then dont use it for your own, but rent it out and therefore generate income for you.

Let the premium player pay for a teleport.
Mentioned elsewhere too. I think of 1 L$. Be it for every teleport or everytime you use a Landmark to jump to a place or have 5 free jumps per day, let the game designers decide

Create a stipend- aaahm.. welfare pot in the game
Linden could use a welfare pot to finance the "poverty bonus". This pot is filled by sinks owned by the Linden government as well as donations from other players. And then the Linden government only starts the L$ printing press, if there is not enough money in that pot.

Ok.. so much creativity if I do my laps in the pool

what I'm mainly responding to is bolded.

1. Because they paid for that 500 lindens a week.

2. Stipends are not free money. They are paid for with premium fees. I already buy 2000l$ a month, I get it as my paid for stipend.

3. We need more reasons to go premium, not less. Charge the basics if anyone.

4. Stipends for premium ar enot welfare. get over it. Get over the fact its already paid for in advance.

Although a cut in stippends for people who make way more than the stippend is probably a good idea (one could argue that you'r $10 goes to pay for land and the SL experience, whether that experience is $500l of shopping money, or allowing you to make even more on the economy, kinda like a $500l tax for those who make over a certain amount), this would be a bit difficult to implement. How do you distinguish from soneone making lots of money, and someone who was given lots of money to pass on to someone else? i.e. I have a lot of money, but it's all in Ginko bank, meaning my AV has $0l. How do you distinguish me from someone who just received $2,000L, but which came from a friend to help pay for an avatar?

Even though I don't need my stipend any more. I'm with Jonas on this. I paid for it. I carefully looked at my options and I chose to upgrade mainly for the stipend. I'm fine if they restructure premium accounts before my renewal date. But if they do, I better get more than 512 sqm tier for $10. That is a terrible deal.

You upgraded for the stippend? The hell? Are you one of those types who thinks using Lindex is taboo, even if $10 can get you a lot more $L on lindex than a stippend can?

and I agree about $10 for 512 being a bad deal. It's why I don't own land right now.

I upgraded because, I wanted to have a plot of land for myself. If the deal was to pay $10 a month for 512 sqm, I would have rented and bought lindens as needed. I bought an annual plan partly because the stipend made it a great deal.

I upgraded because I wanted to have a plot of land for myself. If the deal was to pay $10 a month for 512 sqm, I would have rented and bought lindens as needed. I bought an annual plan partly because the stipend made it a great deal.

Oh and I love buying and selling Lindens. I bought well over $100 USD worth of Lindens in my first couple of months.

You need to consider people that have in irregular income. Some could make more than L$500 per week while making nothing other weeks. The overall income could much higher than L$500/week when you look at the income over a period of time. Ganted that the L$500 stippend would help during the slower weeks; however, it's possible that an irregular earner could make a lot more L$ than someone with a regular income.

In addition, don't be suprised to see a lot of people getting paid L$499 to make their stippend payment anyway

Just my L$6 (about $0.02US )

I paid good money for my stipend and thus it is not "welfare"!

I dont have time to have another job in Second Life and play to enjoy myself not to work and earn money.

Dont you dare put in "enjoyment" of sl as part of the 10 dollars. Basic users get that for free!

I am getting tired of seeing these threads. If you want to earn real money, go out get a haircut and get a REAL job!

If you like your stippends so much, and don't get any enjoyment from the game (as you said above), and don't need them to buy stuff (since soon you won't be able to afford anything anyway, and said you won't care either), then... um... wait... Why do you want your $500l? Just because you paid for it? Why did you pay for it in the first place if you don't get enjoyment or purchasing power or anything else out of it?

It is not the point, I paid for them! It you want to help the Linden why dont you give up your stipend and every Linden you make to help reduce the amount of Lindens?

I am not willing to give up something paid for to make others rich. As long as the Linden is worth something it is better than nothing and thus my stipend is worth getting. Call it what you like, I AM NOT WILLING TO PAY MONEY TO MAKE OTHER RESIDENTS RICH!!!!!

How many times do people have to tell you that:

1. people who already have contracts WILL NOT loose their stippends until their contracts expire, so you are essentially wasting everyone's time here
2. No one wants anyone to continue to pay the same $10 if stippends are cut or reduced.
And 3. NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT GETTING RICH. People are talking about keeping their money value the same. You are talking about making others loose THEIR money so that your stippend remains the same.
Since you like caps so much: WHY SHOULD SOMEONE ELSE BE WILLING TO PAY TO MAKE YOU RICH WTH YOUR STIPPENDS? They loose their real USD$ on the decline of $L just so that you can keep your stippend. They paid too. Many have paid much more than you have. They are loosing much more than your little $500 a week payment. and yet, NO ONE THAT I HAVE HEARD WANTS TO TAKE AWAY THE STIPPEND YOU HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR. Huh... Kinda says something about them and you, doesn't it.

Erm, Rasah, certian trolls and their alts have.

As for why should they pay? They aren't. Whereas I pay linden labs for my stipend, they pay no more than that I need to, so they are only paying for what I pay for.

They lose their USD on the exchange rate because of undercutters and the fact that THEY CHOOSE TO USE IT. Its a risk they're taking - you don't blame gravity when you fall on your ass between two tree stumps, because your risk didn't pan out and you fell between them instead of getting across. I don't have to pay for losses they incur while taking their own risks WILLINGLY.

They loose their money on the exchange because of the much higher $L supply, which leads to undercutting. And wasn't you paying for a game which is subject to changes in the TOS, and could fold and close its doors tomorrow, willingly, also a risk?

Hey, I put my money into the economy to keep everone's SL going, too. I paid for my $L same as you all did. Why does my complaining that your stippends is making me loose value is any less relevant than you complaining that to hell with me and my loss as long as you get yours?

I am paying Linden Labs as per contract and am recieving the big 3. The right to "own" land. My first 512 without paying tier ans L$500 a week to spend in the game.

You are not going to win this one.

I intend to keep poking you with it till you get tired and leave conversations that are not influencing you in any way alone though

I upgraded for the same reason. And yes, I do not like nor do I use the lindex. I live on sales and stipend. LL can call it what they want, but I come from MMO's (UO, EQ, EQ2, SWG, AO, WOW, ect) and it still smacks of cheating (buying your way to success) to me. I used it once...when I was 2K short of the downpayment and rent in a themed sim, and don't plan to ever use it again.

Becaues he's not doing it out of greed? Worried about how much he can make RL? Perhaps because he's playing SL the game and others are playing SL the gravy train?

I have no sympathy for those using it as an investment vehicle and their greed. let the cashouts lose their collective asses...be a better game without them.

they lose their money because people undercut - period.- Its a risk I manage, I deal with the fact LL might close. They can deal with the fact that the behavior of the sellers takes their values lower and lower.

I won't pay the same amount for less service - I won't lose my stipend for a short term boost to the linden value on the exchange. My point is I DON'T CARE about the exchange rate. The value of the linden is the same. 100l is still 100l. Its all perception.

All the ones you listed have an "RPG at the end of them. this is an economy-based MMO, not a RPG one. Buyting and selling is kind of a part of it.

Greed? People wanting to make $0 extra money instead of loosing their money is greed? How is me not wanting to make -$20,000l in the next week or two me being greedy? How is people who set up a fun place for friends to hang out not wanting to have to end up paying enormous out-of-pocket expenses greedy? Is anyone who doesn't give away money for free greedy now?

Buying and selling is - but there no requirement to use or care about the lindex. Pure Lindens is buying and selling too.

Oh- and any game where you assume another form can be an rpg. Don't try to box someone into your definition of SL, its different for everyone. For me, its a rpg.

Why can't you follow this simple basic logic right here:

Why do people undercut?
Because they want to sell faster or sell period.

Why do they want to sell faster or increase their chances of selling?
Because there are only so many buyers available. There's a lack of buyers.

Why is there a lack of buyers?
Because everyone has plenty of L/There is too much L floating around.




Then don't care. Once a content provider is forced to raise their prices, keep shopping somewhere else and continue not to care. Once EVERYOE is forced to raise their prices, continue buying freebies, your $100l that you still value yourself, yet not being worth much at all to anyone ELSE, and keep not caring. Here's the big point here. You know how you and others keep saying that "who cares about content providers. It's the consumers who decide the prices, and consumers who will decide whether they value something enough to spend $l on it or not?" Same thing applies to your linden. I guess "who cares about your stippend and its declining value. Content providers are the ones who actually set the prices. They won't care about your $500 if it's not worth anything to them and won't take it."

Theres a lack of buyers because theres a lack of demand. This has less to do with the amount of lindens and more to do with the products aren't inspiring demand.

If you make the buyers want it, they will buy it! Just look at Starax's wand for an example. Worth every linden.

Sorry, buyers still set the prices. If noone buys anything, then the content providers are out of luck, and the consumers aren't affected. Nothing in SL is a need, its all luxury. Then its the content providers screwing themselves over.