Knock a zero off land prices

I have a misc. question off to the side because I am curious and wish to learn:

Lotte, what do you mean by "scotch mist"? I've seen you use the term several times now. Thanx.

Its a term that's used to refer to something that doesn't actually exist. Its also a whisky cocktail

I've been told that land at the auctions used to be a lot cheaper a year ago. Someone said they picked up 8192m2 for $22 USD, someone else claimed to pick up $4096m2 for $31 USD. Apparently the Lindens didn't have the same pricing structure back then?

If true, how did they make money in early 2004?

Yannow, Nolan... you gave me an idea. Why doesn't LL give a student discount for tier fees? They work with college classes, after all... why not students?


And I'm shocked no one has said:
SUPPLY AND DEMAND

1. If prices were reduced, the demand would be much greater - everyone would want 10x as much land. Linden Lab would then have to add servers, and somehow recoup the costs.
2. Price reduction of land would lead to a reduction in demand for the L$. This would lead to deflation of the L$. If the L$ is worth less, then people could buy more of it for the same price. This would lead to people charging more money for items and land to compenste, and hence we're back on square one.

Bottom line - price caps are inherently flawed as a way of assisting ownership.

It's an auction. It only goes as high as people are willing to pay. People are more willing to pay big bucks for virtual land now then they were before. I mean imagine the concept when this first came out. "You want me to give you real money for fake land?"

The biggest problem that I see with all of this is, what about the players who already own land? I mean, people paying retail value for land often do so under the assumption that it will retain most if not all of it's value, if and when they're ready to sell it. All other problems aside, how would you propose to explain to the ENTIRE SL WORLD that their land is now worth 90% LESS than it was when they bought it? "Sorry, but like the land traders, you're a fool for owning land. Now you LOSE and ONLY people who buy from this point on WIN." ? The whole thing seems like flawed logic to me, but I would be interested to hear about how your proposal accounts for exsisting end-user land owners.



-Shaun

This is a little like people complaining about the value of L$ at GOM. Come on people the Lindens DO NOT set the price of land just as GOM do not set the value of L$.

Both of these values are a simple supply and demand function. The people setting the actual prices are the ones doing the selling. If you think land is too expensive then DON'T BUY IT. If enough people think land is too expensive and don't buy then there will be a surplus and prices should fall. Alternatively, sellers may just think "oh well, I didn't need to sell it that desperately anyway" and leave the prices the same.


There is one SURE way to lower land price though, buy a few sims at auction, parcel up the land into small, un-usable plots, then sell them off at L$1 for 40 meters. You'd be selling at your prefered price as mentioned at the start of the thread and lot's of people would be able to buy cheap land, so everyone is happy

What's that? You'd loose lots of money by selling cheap? SO? And your point is?

Kill Anche! Kill Kill Kill! Wahoo, get the torches and gather in the streets!

That is incorrect and ignoring the law of Supply and Demand. If LL wants to reduce the value of L$, it can just "print" more money. If it wants to raise it, it can reduce the supply. The same is true with land. If LL wants to reduce land value, it just auctions off more land. If it wants to raise land prices, it cuts off new land supply.

LL is God and they control everything. Either directly or indirectly.

In your attempt to make yourself look smarter, you completely ommited the next paragraph in her post, which talked about Supply and Demand.

...

Bah. Why am I humoring you?

What do you mean "the end?"

If by "the end" devastation and / or subjugation of a culture, then, in fact, "the end" has come to many peoples. There are not many Aztecs around, for instance. I haven't met a ny Algonquins either. Rome had been sacked twice, and Greece at least twice (once by Romans) before 1000 A.D. Each of these was the end of many people, and few (though it must be acknowledged, a few) of the ones who survived subjugation maintained their national heritage.

The Nazi regime in Germany has ended, as has the slavery for which the Confederate States fought. Though some groups maintain a racially hostile stance, their complete philosophies are usually far from Hitler's ideal (which was no ideal worthy of aspiration).

If by "the end" you mean "the goal" or "the perfection to which all humans must aspire" which entails a sound reliance on God, with a heavy dose of intervention by other people who are more advanced in perfection, and by angels, and by saints, then that also has been reached, by our Blessed Mother Mary, who is no goddess, but a human preserved from sin by God. There are many other saints who advanced towards the end of perfection, not on their own powers, but by God's innumerable gifts, love and trust in God.

If by "The End" you mean "THE END", "THE ALPHA AND OMEGA", ie "GOD", He comes every time a priest who is in communion with the Pope and the Catholic Church raises the Host for consecration, and maybe some other times that occur outside of the realm of my tiny knowledge.

i think forum posting should be cut by 90%.

Calm down dude. I was refering to the end of Second Life. Every week someone gets up on their high horse and tells us if the Lindens don't change this or that Second Life will fall.

I'm not a student, so this wouldn't directly affect me one way or the other, but it seems like a basically good idea.

The only problem I see is the difficulty and expense of adminstering the program. Obviously, you have to get proof of enrollment, and you have to keep updating it every term. That's pretty time-intensive for a small company like LL.

I used to work for a company that made an expensive web application that was used by chemical engineers. For a while we had a program that allowed CE students to use it so that they would get a taste of it and hopefully keep using it after they graduated and could pay for it. The program ended up being discontinued because it was too much trouble to keep up with all the accounts every semester.

I appreciate that. But it's not exactly what I meant. I was told that a year ago, the minimum bid per parcel were set much lower than they are today. Auctions started at $1 USD for every parcel in USD, and something like $100L for every parcel in Lindens. This, in turn, may have influenced the stepped bidding of many auctions.

My question was genuine. A year ago, since the pricing structure was different, how did the Lindens make money?

A year ago the Lindens had thousands less customers to take care of and a 100 fewer servers.

"...those without as much money will be able to buy larger amounts of land and be more creative, and it would bring an end to the auctions --> land baron --> markup --> clubmallcrap sprawl process that happens in every single new sim now."...

Sadly.. I do not think it would do that. It will be just as impossible to ensure that only 'creative' people buy land.. and in fact club makers etc will argue they are just as 'creative' as those of who who favor natural sims. Also I fear that many people who bought lots of land so easily and cheaply would really end up either doing the same things, or selling it on to make a profit and so on and so on.. it is what humans do.

Making land cheap ( for a while) won't bring a flood of creative people acting as major land owners making vibrant new stuff.. there will still be clubs malls and stuff you dont like.. in fact look around and the creative vibrant and unusual stuff IS there, not in 'every single new sim' no, but there are many many beautiful and creative items, makers and artists in SL making great things. it's all there anyways.

If you think that lowering the price of land would truly refresh the entire face of SL and make it a different more stunning place thats a great dream... but not that many people really will want that much land or have that many ideas. Sure some can and will. I already have two sims and could probably fill up 10 with what I hope is wonderful content IF land was cheap.. but not everyone would. And who would say whose content is better. Most clubs and Malls are owned by people who think they are good. I do not build them cos I dont want to, but SL is about diverse stuff for all. Land sadly is a thing people see more as money than creativity or things would be different already, despite the prices.

If u take 00s off the price, the man or woman who is rich in land will be the one owning land worth hundreds, or thousands instead of millions. Those who want to be rich badly enough will still get rich compared to others no matter how many 00s or lack of you add to prices.

$50 is rich if everyone else only has $1.

*shakes head. Never mind.

I DEMAND INTERNET DOLLARS FOR FREE!!! EVERYTHING SHOULD MAGICALLY BE CHEAP!!! I DITCHED MY ECON CLASS A LOT!!! HURRRRRRRRRRR

Updating it could be the responsibility of the student... could assume it only lasts 6 months from Jan - Jun or Jul - Dec.

But, yeah, someone in someway would have to verify enrollment.

Maybe a way to start this program would be to extend this offer to members of the college research classes that are in SL after the class ends?

SL would collapse if it buys into your proposed socialism. The economy supports the current land pricing/sales structure. What is next? Once they have their land then the bitching will be about the need to slash furniture prices by 90% because they can't afford furniture. Then transportation. All vehicles need to be slashed by 90% because the poor need helicopters too.

Price controls do nothing to promote creativity. How is someone "more creative" because they own a piece of land? They are either creative or not. Clicking that "Buy Land" button does not inject them with added creativity. I contend that most people under your plan would buy their land and continue to do what they do now, fornicate and play TRINGO.

Or maybe you want them to buy pre-fab home homes. Is that your angle, Charlotte? Corner the pre-fab market? If it is, it's diabolical, I love it!!!

LL has influence over land prices as you mention but so do private investors. If someone like Anshe decided for shits and giggles to lower her land prices by 90% the other land barons would have to follow suit or be stuck with a lot of land that they couldn't move. The same could be applied to GOM onlys subsititute money for land.

LL is God so I guess that could make Anshe, Gabriel is she saw fit to take on the roll. LOL

Respectfully, this is a bad idea. Why give students a break in a venture that supports a free market economy and offers participants rl income potential. I know you didn't propose it and methinks Hiro might have been a tad cynical in his mentioning it but ANYTHING that promotes one group over another is wrong. Land prices shouldn't be fixed; students shouldn't get a subscription break.

You are correct about administration. Imagine the poor sap at LL who would have to track down the dean of admissions at The University of Chechnya. LMAO!!!