Radical action is needed

We are approaching hyperinflation.

Two plots of my land were sold yesterday at prices I set that I thought were totally unreasonable. The plummetting value of the Linden made both bargain buys.

I'm tired of the instability and economic chaos this is creating. Do whatever you have too: cut stipends, dwell, protect the Linden with external funds, whatever. Better still come up with an imaginative solution that keeps the current SL model basically intact. Just don't keep pretending this is just a blip.

Phillip Linden says to just "raise prices." I say we make the USD fall faster, or at least as fast, as the $L. Should force it to balance out then.

rasah is right. in times of hyper-inflation the only protection the average citizen has is to raise prices to compensate for the decline in purchasing power of the currency. those who act slowly to change their prices will be hurt the most.

maybe one day linden labs will do something to bring this hyper inflation under control.

I'm tired of people whining about the crashing economy when they should be grateful that they have ANY ability to cash out in the first place.

Second Life is the only computer game that provides a real life currency exchange for its game money. It's quite clear that the experiment has failed, and that is solely on the shoulders of those with only their own interests in mind rather than for the good of the game and its community.

The sooner LL closes down Lindex, and introduces ways for players to earn money in-game through effort rather than purely through sales of their own creations, turning it more into the game it should have been ever since its release, then I believe there may be some hope in salvaging it before it goes down the pan any further and takes the company with it.

Just because something doesn't have the real world value that YOU place on an item doesn't automatically put SL at fault.

Don't complain because you chose not to raise your prices to what you perceived to be the true value of the land. Nobody forced you to sell, or maintain your current price.

Lewis

I suggest that we institute radical land reform and divide all existing land equally between citizens (after sending the capitalists to the prim mines, of course).

Yes, like leave it alone so that those who are only here for a profit disappear and go rape some other game for their own benefit, leaving those of us who enjoy the game to get on and have fun without being dragged down to the lowest level, ie capitalists.

Lewis

tell that to somebody who just won a sim at auction for 1000 dollars.

Okay.

(Any particular person?)

Users should not be "grateful" that they are permitted to cash out their L$. LL should be grateful that people are willing to put in the time and effort to fill their world with quality content. This would not happen at nearly the current scale/quality without allowing users to extract value from their work.

LL is firmly of the opinion that the users' ability to cash out their L$ is directly responsible for the increased quality of items in SL. This was communicated to me personally by Philip. The natural corollary to this is that if the ability to extract value from SL were removed, then the quality of user-created content would decline. I'm fairly certain LL does not want to risk that.

Please use existing L$ panic threads to express this concern. Creating new threads on the same old topics is devaluing the usefulness of the L&E forum.

FYI, USD's buy approximately 130% as many L$ as they did a year ago. Maybe when USD's buy 2x or 3x as many L$'s in a year's time I'll agree that it's hyperinflation... but a 30% increase? Come on.

Furthermore, 'radical' action is more likely to damage the value of the L$ further.

This is a young and dynamic currency which, yes, does have problems... these problems are currently part of the "money game" aspect of SecondLife. Rather than complaining about the rules, learn how to play and win with rules as they are. Plan for how those rules might change and be prepared for them.

Screamng about some arbitrary number on the exchange rate is not a winning strategy.

Join the "burn your stipend" champaign if you're serious about this issue.

If you're enjoying SL, why are you here trolling? I mean seriously, "go rape some other game". If that's not inflammatory, I don't know what is.

Unless, that is, you're talking about the BDSM furry scene. With the decline of The Forest, can you recommend any SL game preserves where one could find a pheasant to bugger?

I'm quite sure that a lot of people would be just like me, and continue to create stuff for other people just for fun. Sure, we might lose a few big names, but nobody in this world is irreplaceable. Not one.



I happen to think otherwise. One-track advertising ("make money" is drawing people with just that aim in mind, rather than the many other possibilities that SL offers.

Second Life has so much potential, but with the emphasis on making money, and the prevalence of creators and users of sex related objects, it's going to go nowhere rapidly. That's why accounts opened have increased but concurrent in-world players remains pretty static.

Lewis

I wasn't aware that holding a contrary-to-popular opinion was trolling, my apologies. Sometimes people with nothing but profit on their mind need a dose of reality, and occasionally harsh words are required to get the point across.



As I don't mix in those circles, I am unable to assist you with your search.

Lewis

tell this person in 5/hrs after they win that their land will be taken in a communist redistribution of wealth.

http://secondlife.com/auctions/detail.php?id=0026198615

Of course, that's true. However the quality of items would most likely decline if users were unable to extract value from their creation.

"Hmmmm....I could go have some fun doing X, or I could spend another four hours getting this build/skin/script *just* right." If the incentive to push the limits is removed (and, yes, for most people financial remuneration *is* a good incentive), then fewer people will go the extra mile to produce high-quality content rather than "good enough" content.

You don't think that some will still strive to sell the best "whatever" in-world? I believe there will be plenty of competition amongst those who would still create. If you found out that someone had made a better equivalent to your best seller, and you were losing out, would you just accept it, or work on a new version that had all the features of their product and more?

It's what people have been doing all along - only in this case the driving force is the prestige rather than the profit.

Lewis

But it won't be - there's not going to be land reform in SL in five hours, unless somebody's not told me. Hold on, do you know something you should share with the forums?

That bid is currently $1601 why bid that on something you can buy for $1280?

"Losing out" on what? "Oh no, the pixellated representation of some arbitrary number that means nothing isn't going up as quickly! Whatever will I do? Spend 10 hours tweaking my best seller, or 10 hours making half a dozen other new things? I'll make a few more things because it's fun to make new stuff."

Seriously, prestige in a virtual world is cool and all, but it won't push people to excel. Never mind the PITA of dealing with difficult customers. If you have trouble getting creators to support their content *now*, imagine the problems when they're not getting *anything* for their headaches other than the personal satisfaction of getting griped at by a horde of people who want something for nothing. Let the good times roll.

Come the revolution, you'll be one of the first up against the wall lady!

Well, to be honest, you could buy it for $1000. That's the opening bid for a mainland sim.
All you need do is keep opening sim auctions with a $1000 bid until, due to LL's well thought out land auction plan, there are no other bidders bidding (bear in mind LL has stated they will keep adding land so there are always sims on the block).
That way you'll get an entire sim that you won't be able to sell or rent because of the state of the market, all for yourself, for ONLY $1000!

$1601? *shakes head*

Looking at the blocks and objects on the map, my VERY uneducated guess is that unlike a blank piece of new land, this one might possibly already have renters, and thus a tiny revenue stream? *shrug*

*ARed for subversion*

Sims don't get auctioned when there are already people there... that's new land I believe.

I've not been following southern continent land prices but perhaps the coastal element is a factor. Or perhaps it's just irrational.

Quite the reverse I'd say. Pretty much every creator I've met takes far more pleasure in making one very detailed, very good thing than half a dozen pretty crappy things. In fact it would make more commercial sense to do the latter, as broadening your product line means more potential sales, and there's a practical limit on the amount you can charge for even the best product before you reach a point of diminishing returns for sales.