New Stipend Policy

Yes, it does! Things don't get valuable just by being rare. They have to actually have some base value to them too, otherwise I could take any random thing I found in my house and claim it was incredibly valuable because there's only one of it. And the problem with the L$ is far more likely to be that lower base value.



Because I'd contend that money supply imbalance is the main thing devaluing the currency.

Nice post. Full of hostility, finger pointing, shit stirring, and erroneous conclusions.

I see most people here trying to (1) explain why the economy is borked, (2) discuss how the economy works, or (3) suggesting ways it might be fixed. These are folks that even though I may not agree with them, I still respect for trying to do something positive in a difficult situation, especially while remaining pretty polite.

Do you have something useful to contribute?

lololol lets all quit sl cuz it sux lolololol

Are all your 4208 posts as constructive and engaging?

That "someone, somewhere" is not necessarily participating in SL and they do not necessarily make the same thing that you're interested in making. Besides, it's not the case of comparing yourself to specific others, but to the societal yardstick for the quality of that product, which moves as a result of items being created.

This situation.. let's call it "C/I" ("Conformity or Inferiority", the choice people get offered) .. is going to drag down people's opinion of the value of products. It's not something everyone feels but I've seen it a few times, in myself and others, and people who get C/Ied usually do without the product at all or get an equivalent at the minimum possible price.



According to Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Van Gogh at first thought that he could never become a painter. But that does not mean that anyone who thinks they can never become a painter, can in fact become as good a painter as Van Gogh.



Not if you also know it's only unique because it's crap.

OK.. I am completely confused now.

I agree, the main thing devaluing the currency is the money supply imbalance. Every week the Linden's create more money through stipends than they destroy through sinks. Thus the imbalance. That's why I predicted that LL would start phasing out stipends way back several billion posts.

Maybe what we're getting confused about is the inherent value of the $L, which relys on people being willing to assign it a value as opposed to money supply issues. Those really are two different discussions. The only one I'm trying to discuss is what happens when the inflow exceeds the outflow. Not the circulation between sellers and buyers.

If this doesn't clarify it, then we may just have to agree to disagree.

Sorry, I can't relate to this. It sounds very defeatist. My values are very internalized. I am usually aware of what society values, but I don't base my judgements on them. Most of popular culture seems like crap to me, but a lot of people seem to love it.

You can't really do anything about what anyone else thinks anyway. All you can do is work on yourself. People may hate you or your stuff (or love it) based on things so far removed that you have no hope of understanding why.

I imagine this is a difficult way to feel, but all I can say is that if you can work past it, the reward is worth it.

I do not think that the money supply imbalance is the problem. I think that the problem is the discrepancy in the percieved value of the L$ between creators and consumers.

See for yourself.

Ding-ding-ding-ding.



You hit it on the head, Surreal. Talking to Yumi about anything is pretty pointless because you end up having to refute an incredibly depressed and perverted worldview wherein everyone is worthless except a few unnamed people who God blessed with perfection, talent and luck.



"Let's go get us some ice cream, guys!"

"No, let's not get ice cream. Because if we get ice cream, we could walk outside, on the way to getting ice cream, and be run over by a truck. It's so unfair, that we could be run over by a truck, because there will be some others who won't be run over by a truck and they'll get to live and have ice cream. We won't get to have ice cream because we'll be dead because a truck ran over us. So why even get out of bed in the morning each day? We'll probably just die. How unfair is that? A bunch of other people will live but we'll probably die."

"..."

"what? What's wrong?"

"You've got issues."

"No, this is just my experience of how the world works."

Welcome to the internet.

This may be true, but it still isn't uncommon. When I've asked around in several IM groups, if the feeling of "... buuuut I wanted to make thaaaaaat..." is common, an awful lot of people agreed with it quite strongyl.

I'v only been here a few weeks.I spent over 800.00 Us on this Game,, platform,, what ever.
dos stipends have anything to do with the real life bucks being blown here.

Im sure you didnt mean it that way but Ive NEVER leached off a pot. I'd played in this particular place many a time. When i win i put about 75% BACK into the pot and tip the host- even if im leaving and not staying for the next game. *shrug* I didnt have money that day and I felt a tad insulted at the attitude of "we'll just sit here till everyone puts some money up!"

My God. How can any group of people have a such a lack of motivation, such a dearth of competitive spirit, yet continue breathing? What's the point? Why not just pack up your DNA and say "Nah, I don't really care if I fulfill my destiny of self-perpetuation. It's too hard."

You talk about these grotesque caricatures of people who don't have the will to put up a fight for anything. I hope to hell this is all fantasy that helps you cope with your shortcomings. I'd hate to live in a hemisphere populated by such jello people.

No, it simply means more game money is put in that's being destroyed through provided artificial "sinks".

Devaluation, if any, would depend on the distribution of the superfluous money across the population. Since SL more than likely follow Pareto's principle, you end up with the superfluous money accumulation in accounts of minimal part of population. To say it'd cause game-wide devaluation is like saying economy of U.S is doomed because Bill Gates keeps doubling his amount of billions -- while neither affects spending power of average citizen, really.

Yeah, and how many new basics are going to stick around and upgrade to premium now that it's that much harder for them to get a free taste of what SL has to offer? They can't upload much anymore. They can't buy much. And if they don't understand what you can get for L$250, they can blow their money and that's it.

I have no problem with cutting stipends to basic users over a month or two old. But if the point of the basic account is to entice people to upgrade, it's suddenly become a lot less enticing.

*comes back from being gone most of the day* Hmmm... Yes, I guess I am insane. Oh, wait, I'm past that, as I usually am the first to say that I am insane.

As for putting up the barrier? It's not a barrier in name, nor does it use a quota, which would probably tank SL out. Note, I said probably. I can't predict the future, only a small portion of the people who think similar to me and that's a prediction, not an absolute. Knowing the future and living it are two different things.

Okay, depth aside, I consider it a good thing in at least one respect, which to me is that a big growth spurt is putting a greater strain on not just the asset system. It's putting a strain on all the resources of LL. They are trying to keep up, but it will eventually become a game of catch up. If the growth SLOWS, then that is good, because that stabilizes not only the L/USD value, but also allows LL to get maybe closer a decent ratio for the staff/players. Note: I'm talking SLOWER growth, not a complete halting of growth. Growth is good, just.. not the kind that causes a lot of pain for everyone.

Besides, I'm trying to find a bright side to this, but I'm not so sure about it. Like I said, if they took away the premium stipends, then I'd drop to basic and just buy my L.. and since I don't have hard and fast numbers, I'd say they'd probably make more on their cut of the L sales then they do on premiums anyway, which is why the shift for the new basics.

And you are right, Alts are a whole other kettle of something...

I am a basic account user, old school. Yes, I will continue to get the $50L per week.

Honestly, I would have prefered removal of ALL basic stipends then this current policy.

Or better yet....

The first basic account on a Credit Card (or other registration method) gets the stipend as the main, and all alternate accounts on this same CC does not.

All premium accounts remain unaffected.

Personally, I can only see this as punishment to the new users who want to join.

Ummm.... this is just confusing to me, Enabran!

People buy products, yours included, because they don't want to make their own, or they don't think they could do so as well as you. If this means they have a "lack of motivation and dearth of competitive spirit" then isn't everyone depending on it to get customers?

Economics 101 disagrees with you too.

*shrugs* we'll just have to leave it at this I think and agree to disagree.

You forgot about the snow and that you were not wearing any shoes.


BUT, per you sig, since you drive an SUV, I'll forgive ya!

Economics 101 didn't allow for all the major differences that the SL economy has from the RL one. In RL, obvious that a country's currency will have inherent value for people in that country. In SL, it's more doubtful.

There is a life term membership? Is that no longer available or just not open to the general public?

They were mentioned on the other thread. Lifetime memberships were available to the public but when SL was first coming out of beta.