l$ v. $

i think the most annoying thing about the l$ is that it forces many people into being lindex traders.

of course the l$ is going to move around. and i really do think it's going to stabilize a bit below(l$26000/$72 ( l$361/$1), unless ll mucks with the market. and yes that's all very annoying.

but that annoyance would be reduced if people could sell for $ instead of l$.

but instead people have to deal with the vissitudes of the l$<->$ market.

cut out the middle man.

money transfers cost money

gambling is illegal in many states

the cost of things in SL is extremely low in US$ (many time the transfer will cost more than the item)

Keep the Linden Dollar. Solves multiple headaches.

value transfers in l$ still have a cost... the cost is hidden in the lindex transaction fees.i seriously doubt the l$ actually protects ll in this regard. especially since there is an exchange for l$ into $. the transfer of value is the problem in gambling. not the method of transfer of value.well if ll has the foresight to solve the micro payment problem... then wouldn't that give them a leg up on the competition?cut out the middle man.not really.

it doesn't actually solve the transaction fee. and it probably doesn't protect anyone from the gambling laws.

The most significant reason that LL prefers to operate SL on L$ is legal, and not related to the cost of doing business.

This gives them the leeway to do things such as "we're going to take away all your L$ because we feel like it" and then point to the TOS where it explains that the L$ has no intrinsic value.

In short, it's LL's way of protecting themselves legally.

two points:

1) if that's the case, then sl is not very safe (beyond how much you trust ll) as a business platform.

2) i seriously doubt that "the tos sez the l$ has no value" is going to hold up in court in the long term.

Correct. You wouldn't be the first person who gave up on SL because of this.



I'm not sure about that. It may hold up, it might not. I'm not a lawyer.

But I am sure that the lawyer I'd need to hire to prove that point is beyond my means.

nothing prevents players from doing all their transactions in USD.

they can use something like slexchange to sell your goods in USD or use paypal. nobody NEEDS to do business in SL in L$.

true, but ll could make it easier.

and for the moment, i think if that happened, ll would be in trouble for several things like gambling, the pornography, taxes, and other trade&law related issues.

which is why ll seems to have taken a position that discourages the use of usd.

i think the most annoying thing about the us$ is that it forces many people into being forex traders.

of course the us$ is going to move around. and i really do think it's going to stabilize a bit below us$1.75/£1, unless George "Impeach" Bush mucks with the market. and yes that's all very annoying.

but that annoyance would be reduced if people could sell for uk£ instead of us$.

but instead people have to deal with the vissitudes of the us$<->uk£ market.

cut out the middle man.

There are two main advantages to the L$ I've seen: (1) legal and (2) micropayments without fees. The cost of processing micropayments for items like those available in SL is a difficult obstacle to overcome for a small business; and let's face it, in the grand scheme of things, any current SL-based business is tiny. Even Linden Lab is small!

Regards,

-Flip

the legality is primarily that of not having been tested in court.

and the micropayment fees are hidden in the transaction fees of the lindex. (which ll double dips by the way.)one way ll could do this is to set up usd accounts (with the necessary legal paperwork). they already are doing accounting/debits/credits in l$ for free by some people's claims (though i think they are getting the cost of doing those transactions from the lindex). switching the accounting software over to usd is possible (though not trivial). they could do it as a debit and/or credit system. and there are several ways to get people to pay the transaction fees.since there is already a growing business in sl that is making six digits of income... sl isn't so small.

is the goal of sl to become the 3d web? is that the metaverse? if so, then ll needs to think big. otherwise ll should simply state sl is a toy, and that people wanting to do serious business in a 3d virtual environment should go elsewhere.