Why didn't LL leave the buying of currency to GOM/IGE/AC?

From sweatshops to stateside corporations, some people are profiting off of MMO gold.

yeah sweatshops was a bit overstated.. but it still doesn't sit right. I would personally rather have LL take any profits from people who deal like this.

Have we all lost our senses ? So many of you seem to want the ever increasing 20,000 odd residents to be dependent on two other guys in a back room (also residents) who have already told us (almost unbelievably but I believe it) that they have only made US$1200 each off US2.4M trades in (what?) two years. How incompetent and ridiculous is that ? Unless I misremember, didn't they also say that their two partners are getting pissed off at the huge amounts of (so far) unremunerative time they spent on this pretty worthless (to the partners) activity?

What when we reach 100,000 ? 500,000 ?

Should we all just keep relying on these two guys for something this crucial to so many ? Despite the vagaries of their lives and relationships ?

They have US$34,000 of our money right now, I understand, and our credit card details.
Even if they are the most scrupulous guys in the world (and I suspect they may be) what if they received a buyout offer from a third party after they had been made so absolutely central to all our activities ? Big enough to make their partners eyes water ? How could they resist ? How could we know who we were now trusting instead ?

No No No. They can participate of course, they can compete. But monopoly power, or anything effectively close - never. LL owe us better than that - and they know it. Its not just the risk of loss if they terminate. It's the time it would take to scrabble together a relacement. Ideally we need at least two layers of viable backup if it is not to be totally LL run.


Conversely - I am sad GOM haven't made more money for their efforts, and hope they will continue to participate, learn to innovate afresh, and put big smiles on their partners faces. I like their setup. I'm used to it. Though its complex, its elegant. As long as it doesn't carry a heavy penalty, I'm going to keep using GOM, and I guess many others will do the same. Though I may keep my balance with them at any one time pretty low. Thats why I go for instant trades when the price looks right, rather than leave the stuff lying about, in offers that may or may not be met.

How could they innovate ? and leverage that standing balance ?
Mortgage anyone ? Hint hint..........

You gave GOM your credit card details? Why?

Whoops - you're right - they only see my paypal identity. That's no matter for concern at all is it ?

Hold on, I see from my GOM profile that I actually gave them my real name and address. That was the mental picture that made me think they had my credit card info too.

Why did they ask for that ? Why did I give it to them ? They don't need it, and it compromises my SL anonymity. I guess when you start filling in a registration form, you don't know quite where it leads, so its hard to assess whether it actually needs genuine information.

I must be stupid, I should have given them Micky Mouse at Disneyworld. Had I better go back and change it, do you think, or is there something I'm missing ? Have many of us given RL identity info to GOM which they absolutely don't need ?

Advice, please....

We are dealing with potentially large amounts of cash. We like to know that the person with whom we are dealing is an actual person. Registering with garbage personal information immediately raises a red flag for us, and causes correspondingly larger scrutiny on transactions performed on that account. Safety first.

Our track record over the past two years clearly demonstrates there is no reason to distrust us. Us having your RL information in no way compromises your SL anonymity because *nobody* outside of Jamie and myself have any ability to even know if you have a GOM account, much less have any way to link your SL identity to your RL one. You don't seem overly worried that Linden Lab has your RL name, address, credit card number, *and* information about any alts on your account. That potentially compromises your SL anonymity to a much greater exyent. Are you going to change you registration info with them, too?

I appreciate that Ricky, and as it so happens, I do trust the two of you a lot, and I will continue to trade with you in preference to the competition unless there is a big penalty. I find your website a delight, particularly because of the way it so elegantly lays bare the bones of what is really going on.

But it did occur to me that there really is absolutely no need for you to know my real identity, nor any way for you to know whether what I gave you is genuine or not.

If you don't actually need it, why do you want the extra responsibility of holding my real identity in your hand? This would mean that if it gets compromised, you would have to share the finger of suspicion. LL knowing it is unavoidable because of the credit card - but the whole point of and popularity of paypal is that it normally preserves anonymity, unless good evidence of wrongdoing justifies its removal.

In your position, I think I would prefer not to know. Is there some need for it which I am missing ?

Don't be cross with me - my postings re everybody demanding you be compensated are nothing personal. I am concerned with the principle. You tomorrow, Anshe massively next week, who the week after ? Forever? Anyway, I suspect you are smart enough to be very, very far from finished, and will be making really big money by the time we hit 500,000 people. I sincerely hope so.