Is the end of stipends nearing ?

This post makes me smile

Indeed..... something that I also pay towards the privilege of using by having a premium account.

There is another forum I post on. Join date 2nd November 2003, posts 12,244. I guess I troll there as well, instead of being an active contributor to the forums - both as a poster, and as a staff member.

LEwis

QFE

Okay, attempting to get this back on track...


You absolutely have the right to complain! What I said--if you are referring to me--is that businesses have a right to be in SL--per LL plans--just as any other member. All members have the right to complain.

Note: at the end of your post, you added this edit:


The last time I looked, whine and complain were synonyms.


That's an interesting idea--variable stipend rates pegged to the currency market.


A healthy free market should not allow the system to be ruined. Of course, there will always be the Enrons of SL, but hopefully they will be ferreted out before too much damage is done. LL does intend to let the economic system of SL develop. The best way is to encourage a free market. A free market needs businesses as much as it needs consumers.


LOL! Yeah, in this thread it comes in handy.

It makes me ill to read things like "don't let the E-Door hit you on the way out" and "there will be more to replace you" ... especially coming from business people. Some very respected ones at that.

Do you not realize that there are in fact many many people who will not pay to go to clubs, events, etc? Its the general mindset of human nature. Sure they will tip, but it would have to be something entirely unique and exciting to get the majority of people to pay to get in.

Do you not realize that people you are sarcastically saying goodbye to are customers? What happens when your customer base disappears? You say there will be new people. Thats true, but there will also be new competitors ... possibly ones without the attitude. One can hope!

The content in SL is created entirely by the players. There are many who spent countless hours creating interesting things to buy and see. Why is it so wrong for those people to want compensation for their creations?

Should people bust their butts just so others can enjoy this content for free?

We have the biggest content creation staff of any MMO, game or platform (pick your definition) in existence. That staff is funded by the SL residents who use their money to decide which content is supported and which isn't.

You can only do things "for the love of it" for so long. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be conpensated for doing the things you love.

Having said that, they can't eliminate stipends entirely as there still needs to be an influx of new money into the economy or the money supply will run out from the sinks. I could see it being reduced or eliminated for basic accounts, however.

Why do I have to pay more to own land, if the stipends may be eliminated. If I'm not getting a stipend then I don't want to have to pay what amounts to a high land tax in the form of land use fees.

You grant him too much with the term "biting", Burnman. RBD at least as pointed out the lack of active users relative to total accounts in his vast trolling wasteland. And for me that's the point in this non-topic.

Second Life, the platform, as in the client, doesn't work. It is not stable or usable in its current form to ever expand out of the niche market, which is what is required if "virtual business" is to ever matter. There's a reason why MMOs like World of WarCraft expand in actual users: there's something to do. There's a reason to be there. Not a reason I'm interested in, but for the average gamer geek, the dude willing to sit in front of the computer screen instead of the television or going out is they enjoy the experience.

Second Life is a fabulous concept. That concept does not include the economy. The concept of a virtual world that you can shape and create in, you can meet people and share and experience through these creations as well as personality is quite powerful. But virtual socializing is a tiny market if it even is a market. And all the virtual sex organs in the world won't keep even non-paying users coming back.

I just hope the Lindens aren't distracted by the painful whinings of the topic creator or people like RBD who truly represent the worst in gaming. And Second Life is a game. They need accounts to pay the bills or the system goes away. They need land fees to pay for electricity and bandwidth. Some people look at this world as a fascinating experiment and are willing to fork over the cash to join in, not to make a profit, many I'm sure not to even "break even". They pay because like any MMO, you pay for access, LL has just given gamers an in-world way to do something other games achieve through outside services, namely make money. It's a bonus.

Linden Labs may have taken a publicity road of late in spinning Second Life as an economic world, but in the end it will never succeed on just that count. It will only succeed by providing content that users are willing to show up to see and take part in. Virtual museums ain't it.

The client needs to be fixed so real sims can be created and gaming experiences can exist to draw users, those who visit and leave, as well as new ones. Vehicles need to work, competition needs to be possible, lag needs to be reduced, physics need to be upgraded. These are issues that matter, not people trying to make a buck in the sandbox of a company in the red.

I only hope the Lindens take all these "the sky is falling" topics about nebulous issues that don't affect the average user with grain of salt and go about their business as a technology provider.

Those were all versions of Windows. When you upgraded from 98 to XP you could still use all your programs. Abandoning Second Life and consequently your friends, favorite places and posession to start over from scratch in a new "game" is not remotely the same thing.

It's more akin to switching from Windows to Linux. The majority of people stick to the familiar.

The truly worst in gaming are those people who project the arrogance, bitterness, disdain for others, and self-righteousness that you did in your post.

Perhaps you should take a good long look in the mirror before you sling your arrows next time.

On the other hand, perhaps you shouldn't.

As you may discover that what you truly dislike ...

... is what you see staring back at you.

I really hope that in real life you are not as unpleasant a person as your postings might suggest.

Absolutely.

Did you notice that all three examples you cited were all made by Microsoft? You destroyed your own argument in the first paragraph.

game1 [url=http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/edu/ref/ahd/t/pron.jpg]http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/edu/ref/ahd/t/pron.jpg[/url] (ghttp://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/edu/ref/ahd/s/amacr.gifm) KEY

NOUN:

1. An activity providing entertainment or amusement; a pastime: party games; word games.
   

I'll go with 'game'

Hey look games that don't have an immediate goal!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_darkness

That's funny... replace 'end stipends' with 'end Land Barons' and that would pretty much be you.

Interesting to see just over 10 residents totally dominant this thread (and most other discussion threads) while the rest of the 225,940 residents don't bother.

Meanwhile, I'm a little verklempt! Talk amongst yourselves... Here, I'll give you a new topic: Rhode Island, it's not a road, nor an island...discuss!

Until LL implements or does something those 225,940 residents don't like, and then they all come yelling and screaming, en masse, unto the forums complaining about how they've been wronged by LL.

Sort of like those people who complain about our municipal, state, and national governments, yet do not even vote, much less know who their mayor, governor, or secreratary of state are.

Its real easy to just say end stipends but ten bucks a month for just a 512m lot is just as stupid a concept.
Instead of suggesting absolutely lousy business advice like "end stipends" how about you follow through with what value is going to replace them to make it still worth ten bucks.

The silent majority argument eh? Where have I heard that one before.

I didn't take you for a fan of Nixon.

I definitely agree with you on that one. It should be either "End stippends, and either cut the monthly premium to something more fair, like $5 a month or increase the amount of land we can own" OR "end stippends, and use the remainder of whatever doesn't go to pay for land to buy our stippends for us on Lindex at a variable rate." Then again, you used to have to pay just to play this game, even without land. And it was a bit more than $10 a month.

I preffer Platform - something that you can use to build software and games on top of. SecondLife by itself is about as much fun as a huge flat piece of land with a stick and a hoop to push around. It's the users and developers who use it as a platform to build games on top of. And, like in RL, we have crappy free games and content, and good quality pricey games and content.

Just goes to prove that every good idea has a precedent.

I'm not afraid to say what I feel on a subject, even if it does fly in the face of the capitalist minority who only have their own interests in mind. Deal with it.

Lewis

Many people prefer to pay yearly and recieve a constant supply of money rather than buying off Lindex whenever they want money. Because its their prefered way of doing it, it means they will channel more USD$ into second life if they are allowed to do that.

Perhaps a better solution to forcing them to buy one off amounts off lindex would be to have a yearly "premuim money account" where linden labs bought the money off lindex rather than printing it.
Make the rate be slightly better than you would get in the lindex as its a pay ahead investment (reduce the transaction fee to nothing)

This MAY not be profitable for linden labs, but it would be just as unprofitable for them as if the people who took out the premuim account for the money cancel those accounts and instead buy L$ off the lindex.
Either way, linden labs are no longer getting the USD$ from people who want L$ so will lose out.

Oh, damn, I just thought of something. Maybe I should start a service where you pay ME $72 a year, and I pay people like you a monthly $2500L stippend. You'll feel as if you're still just getting your stippend, and will get an extra $500L to boot (with me pocketing the $500 for my services.

Neither should the ingame capitalists. I have to agree with Lewis on this one. I get shaken down enough RL by rich people wanting to get richer, don't need it in a game. The only people this benefits are the ingame wealthy who are the only people that care about the 'economy'....and their alts which they will now log into the forums and post replies of 'I'n not wealthy and I care about the economy!'.