A modest proposal

But both sets of Lindens sell because
a) in that time enough content has been created for Person B to spend another 10000 Lindens
and
b) in that time person D has joined SL and wants to buy their 10000 Lindens

That doesn't matter, you're still just passing money from one person to the next, meanwhile the total money supply is growing and there is more for sale each day.

Point B is exactly what Linden Labs is hoping will occur, the difference being that Person D is no longer recieving a stipend. That means that in the long run, he will be purchasing without his stipend being added to the money supply. With the end of free money for new accounts only those here before May 29th will be adding money to the system. Eventually, if say another 100,000 people join, the demand WILL increase as you say and the value will improve.

At the point where demand is exceeding supply, LL will have to adjust again, possibly adding new money supplies to SL

However, Person B was happy to buy his 10000 Linden even though he was recieving a stipend.

With no stipend there is an increased danger that the rate of new players will slow down when they see that they are required to buy L$ all the time.

LOL. This is just about as well thought out as national "Don't buy gas day".

Don't look now... but 99% of our automobiles run on gas!!!! So you know thats going to be effective...

I'm not sure about that. Nothing in life is free. I think most people find it pretty reasonable that since the account was free that that cost would incured in other ways. They still control how much they spend.

When I signed up I had to pay $10. That was before free accounts. Even with that I never assumed I would be given any money, I was surprised actually.

No! We must eat Goreans! Sweet and Sour type!

I need my car to get to work. I don't need SL. I don't need to buy L$. I pay LL for a premium account. Because I want to. I buy content becuase I want to. If I decide that I don't want to anymore, I can drop my account and uninstall the software. And there are no RL consequences for me.

Tell me again why I should buy your L$.

The L$ is not money. If it were money then LL would accept it as payment for tier.

"Tell me again why I should buy your L$."

The same reason you work more than you need to for food, warmth and shelter; for leasure.

Musuko.

My guess is LL doesn't accept it for tier ue to HUGE comflicts of interest. They themselves actually print the $L, so if they themselves were allowed to use $L instead of $US, they'd be very rich, and could easilly undermine anyone in game. Also, whether $L is real money or not, $L has real value. Money is also essentially just a piece of paper, not really backed by anything, with the only reason it having value being because everyone simply agreed that it does. Everyone agrees how much you can exchange a green piece of paper with a $! on it, and so it has value. Everyone also seems to agree that $1L is worth about 1/330th of a $1US. and so it has value as well.

Yes, leisure. But why should I buy L$ and not rent a video from Blockbuster? Or buy one from Walmart? Or buy a book? Or read one from the library?

You gotta do better than that.

Not really. USD is accepted everywhere in the world. L$ are worthless except in SL.

According to the terms of service:

1.3 Content available in the Service may be provided by users of the Service, rather than by Linden Lab. Linden Lab and other parties have rights in their respective content, which you agree to respect.

You acknowledge that: (i) by using the Service you may have access to graphics, sound effects, music, video, audio, animation, text and other creative output (collectively, "Content", and (ii) Content may be provided under license by independent content providers, including contributions from other users of the Service (all such independent content providers, "Content Providers". Linden Lab does not pre-screen Content.

You acknowledge that Linden Lab and other Content Providers have rights in their respective Content under copyright and other applicable laws and treaty provisions, and that except as described in this Agreement, such rights are not licensed or otherwise transferred by mere use of the Service. You accept full responsibility and liability for your use of any Content in violation of any such rights. You agree that your creation of Content is not in any way based upon any expectation of compensation from Linden Lab.

1.4 Second Life "currency" is a limited license right available for purchase or free distribution at Linden Lab's discretion, and is not redeemable for monetary value from Linden Lab.

You acknowledge that the Service presently includes a component of in-world fictional currency ("Currency" or "Linden Dollars" or "L$", which constitutes a limited license right to use a feature of our product when, as, and if allowed by Linden Lab. Linden Lab may charge fees for the right to use Linden Dollars, or may distribute Linden Dollars without charge, in its sole discretion. Regardless of terminology used, Linden Dollars represent a limited license right governed solely under the terms of this Agreement, and are not redeemable for any sum of money or monetary value from Linden Lab at any time. You agree that Linden Lab has the absolute right to manage, regulate, control, modify and/or eliminate such Currency as it sees fit in its sole discretion, and that Linden Lab will have no liability to you based on its exercise of such right.

What this agreement says is that you create content with no expectation of recompense from LL and the the L$ is worthless.

Not sure what kind of answer you're looking for. Leisure or entertainment is a very valid reason. There is no reason you'd chose it over a movie or book aside from preference. You either prefer spending time in SL than watching a movie on any given night, or you don't. Simple as that.

The discussion is not about whether SL is a better place to spend your entertainment dollars on than any other medium, is about whether people will lament the loss of their $50 weekly stipend enough to stop logging in altogether.

The Linden is a form of currency, hence you can exchange it for US dollars. The fact that you can only spend Lindens in SL is irrelevent. I can't spend Canadian dollars in Germany either yet it's still currency. It would have to be exchanged, same as Lindens.

The problem is that issue of "spending time in SL".

For $3 you can rent a movie, which entertains you for a night, or you can get L$990 or so, and buy.. um.. a skin. And then.. wear it! And then go and talk to your friends in SL, which doesn't cost any money. Of course most people want to have a good-looking AV, but once you have one the motivation to spend more US$ to add extra options is less.

Another angle has come up on the General forum today - with prices going up, the "fun factor" of shopping goes down. Someone posted that they weren't so keen on shopping as a fun activity in SL anymore when they knew real money (or significant amounts of L$) was being spent.



No, it's about whether they will lament the loss of their stipend enough to buy L$. If they don't buy L$, it doesn't matter whether they log in or not - just logging in won't help the economy.



Yes, but the Linden's trading system is upside down. Suppose we have a real currency, like US dollars. In this case you have:

Consumers: Tend to have less money. Tend to sell US$, to buy things from other countries. Want the US$ to be high so that when they buy from other countries they get cheaper prices.

Producers: Tend to have more money. Tend to buy US$, when trading currencies or getting payments from international customers. Want the US$ to be low so that they can undercut foreign competitors without losing any money themselves.

With the Linden, you have:

Consumers: Tend to have less money (L$). Tend to buy L$ because their main income is in a different currency (!). Want the L$ to be low so they get more for their money.

Producers: Tend to have more money (L$). Tend to sell L$ because their main expense is in a different currency (!). Want the L$ to be high so they get more money for their work.

Oh really? Hmm...I want a Harley in RL I ahve to work for a long time to get it and that's even if I had no other expenses. I want one in SL, I start building adn fifteen minutes later Voila..instant chopped scooter. I don't need to eat in SL. If I want to smoke in SL as IRL then I make a small diamterer cylinder, add a particle script and animation and I am smoking. IF I want a decent leather jacket, maybe 20 minutes in PSP and I ahve one. You're theory is very skewed. And this brings us right back to the customer base in SL being the new folks and thier income. Those of us who have been here longer make our stuff.

Well personally I am not here to become an internet millionaire. I just want to create, enjoy and have others enjoy. Were I to decide to become rich I'd grab a bit more schooling and design my own chat and run it correctly ( BTW there would be no third party selling or buying of in game cash, and anyone employing pl in "jobs" in mine would be required to pay them a wage and/or commision.) The problem with this stipend thing is the only ones who are bitching about it are in an extreme minority of those who were here early enough on to fill all the holes in the market. There is a ton of misleading advertisement out there about SL, telling ppl they can sign into an account here and be the nextr Anshe. Those days are over and done with. No new person is going to make a huge amount of of SL. Remove that dream from the equation and you end up with what SL really is, a Chat in which we can all virtually interact and yes of course it is cnie to be able to get nice skins, clothes etc. However if I decided to I could run into PSP and make a very nice skin in a very short time. Same with clothes, houses don't take me long either. So our customers were those without the skills to make thier own items. Give them two weeks in SL they can make thier own and they don't buy anymore.

You can't claim something is "worthless" when people are willing to pay A LOT of money for it. If it was worthless, people wouldn't be spending $30,000US a day to buy it up. It's not a government recognized currency, no, but neither is sugar, gold, steel, or any other tradeable comodity out there. You can't say THOSE are worthless, can you? (BTW, Lindens have also been accepted as curency at a few of the conventions I have been to in the past, and I accept my payments in $L in RL for my services as well. Why? Less fees to deal with than with charging by credit card, and more customers are able to buy since not everyone has cash on them at the time, but most everyone I know plays in SL)

It's obvious from the dropping L$ that people are not willing to pay a lot of money for it. Just like anything else, you can only charge what the market will bear.

I can eat sugar. I can put gold in computer hardware. I can build with steel. But what can I do with L$, other than buy stuff in SL?

Plus, sugar, gold, and steel cannot be suddenly declared worthless at a company's discretion. If LL says that L$ is no longer the currency in SL, there will be no market for the L$. I can sell sugar to any market in the world. I can sell steel to any market in the world. Even gold, I can sell to any market. But what am I going to do with a currency that is useless in the only place that it has purchasing power?

Those who sell L$ need to understand that they in a speculative market with high risk. If the L$ drops, that's the way the ball bounces. LL doesn't guarantee an income from playing SL. And they even say that the L$ is a fictional currency.

Despite everything you just said, $L still has value. Maybe not for ever, and maybe not for tangible things you can touch. but it still has value. If you want some non-tangible things that you can buy, sell, and trade, how about electricity, or mp3s, or internet service? Just like with SL, you're not paying for tangibles, but for a connection to something, or for entertainment.If SL crashes, yes, $L will die. Then again, if Mexian government crashes, the peso will die. If the US goverhment crashes, the $USD will die. It still doesn't make $L worthless, just more risky than other world curencies.