Bring back new account stipends - a practical solution

It's quite clear that the removal of startup money for new accounts was a bad move. It's increased the amount of zombies in camping chairs and dance pads, more beggers, increasing lag and damaging the SL experience for those of us who play properly.

So.... now we have the "hardware hash" system that is supposedly able to track accounts on the same computer and work against griefers coming back as alts to continue their work.

Why not use this hash to a positive advantage? First accounts on a new computer start with the $500 startup and $50 a week stipend, then second, third etc accounts on that same hardware hash get no money unless they go to Premium.

The benefits?

1) New players get their startup money so they can see all of what SL has to offer.
2) It stops account farming.
3) It stops people creating alts just for the money.

The downside?
1) It's not 100% foolproof, but if someone has a way to get round the hardware hash it's more likely they'd be using it for griefing rather than to get a couple of cents of free game money a week.
2) There will be a short delay on new accounts whilst their HH is checked against the database.

Assuming you aren't going back to secure signups, this creates a way that people can get their play money to experiment a little and see what SL offers, whilst preventing abuse.

Lewis

Asking about this...