Conclusions on the Town Hall

Feel free to disagree, but try to do so with logic

Assumption:

i. The amount paid last week in stipends (base and reputation) was 7.65 million L$

Conclusion:

LL is paying out 7,650,000/1000 * 4 = $30,600 USD per week

or 30,600 / 17000, which is ~$1.8 USD / week / user.



Assumption:

i. this means that, all else being equal, one can increase the money supply by that amount ($7500) for each new user.
ii. we keep the average balance roughly stable,

Conclusion:

Roughly,

i. $7500 is a magic LL constant
ii. Number of users = Total Money Supply / $7500



Assumption:
i. and give the difference between the average and the new user allocation to the overall user base
ii. the L$ are created in excess of sinks in the economy, but in the manner I explained relative to new users.
iii. In a way, this is rewarding everyone for growth, which seems rational.

Conclusion:

Total stipends = sinks + new users * 7500


Assumption

i. I would like to see some sort of user-committee driving this long-term, not us.
ii. There are more people available in SL than at LL, and people who are closer to the issues,
iii. so I can't see how LL's system could beat a good resident system,

Conclusion

Player representation of some kind (read: government) is inevitable ..


Assumption:
i. As to [not knowing about ALTS messing with player governments..], that is a good question.... I don't have a quick answer.

Conclusion:

Not sure. Very very good question, though.



Assumption:
i. We don't have employees enough to continue to parcel that land to small pieces.
ii. So we have two ways to go... hire more people (which means ultimately we have to pass the cost to you somehow for the salaries),
iii. I think the latter is the way to go...
iv. LL should sell really large pieces,

Conclusion:

LL currently has no problem with land resellers.





Assumption:
i. unless of course you are this bush administration, in which case you do the opposite

Conclusion:

Philip voted for John Kerry

No word on sponsored erotic stories though.

I'm very disappointed. At least there was no mention of a chrome tax.

IMHO, last night's headline goes something like this:

"More Large Parcels for Oligarchs, Less Welfare for People, Says Game CEO".

$30,000 sounds like about half of what you would have to pay a junior programmer including payroll tax and benefits (or maybe much less, I don't know these salaries) or what a recent college grad sent out to cover the customer service desk might make (maybe more in California).

Philip Linden said despite the infusion of investment from the ebay guy, he wouldn't staff up (although he's made contradictory statements on this). In the first flush of the investment, he said he would bring on more programmers and sim-makers to roll out sims. Then he started backtracking last night and saying that large sims to wholesalers, rather than more paid LL staff time to make sims for smallholders was the way to go.

Conclusion: Philip needs the $30,000 for real-life LL payroll and he'll have to cut us off the SL dole soon enough. Perhaps he'll try to compensate us with a discounted annual subscription rate?

What did you think of the idea of having a set wholesale price for resellable sims?

Philip admitted that LL really doesn't have the resources to make sure the auction system works fairly, and indeed it has been the playground of a wealthy few for quite a while. On the face of it, this sounds like just giving in to the land barons, but I think it could be of benefit to other groups.

It could be a much-simplified version of something I proposed a long time ago:
Sim Space Reservation

If there is a stable, reasonable initial price for a whole sim (or maybe a half- or quarter-sim), a group of friends could go in on it together and have one person buy the sim, then the rest could reimburse them and get their own parcels out of it. You wouldn't have to worry about fighting off land barons, and could just get a bunch of people together to create a whole neighborhood. You could do it without forcing one person to carry the whole load and play landlord like on the island sims.

I disagree. Philip mentioned the average balance a few times as a number of us have been very interested in finding this number out, but he stressed that the median balance is the more important number, and I agree whole-heartedly on this one. Median balance fluctuation causes more of a noticeable affect on an economy than does average balance. Average balance is really only good for getting a picture of exactly how much money exists, and the difference between average and median allows us to get some idea as to how money is distributed between the poor, middle class, and wealthy among us.


Perhaps he voted for Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian candidate? Or Ralph Nader? There are more than two parties you know.

I could see you and Oz crying your shiny little hearts out if that ever came up. Oh, I'd be there for moral support.

Apotheus,

I believe that $7500 is a magic constant for LL because they said they are trying to keep the average balance pegged at that number. I believe that the have decided that $7500 is the number for them and are using it in all their math.

Therefore, they are adjusting the stipend / dwell pool to ensure that everytime a new user joins into SL, they increase the money supply by $7500 .. a reward for growth, as he put it.

They are not working on a $7500 median.

And perhaps he didn't vote at all! Too busy hanging in SL



That's a per month value. That's about 6 mid level programmers.

Well, now we know for sure that Alby isn't Philip's alt. Still don't know whether blaze is Philip, though..... One of them could be Pierre Omidyar, maybe.....