"No payment info on file" account policy encouraging griefers and attackers?

I'm being told by numerous people in SL that, ever since LL allowed members to sign up without requiring that they verify their identity with a credit card, attacks on the grid have increased considerably. Today, I was offered a "Death Ball", which I chose to discard by some avatar named Pua Travanti. This object seems to be a griefer's tool. I reported this user for abuse and also checked his/her/whatever profile. Guess what? Both "no payment info on file" AND no profile info at all. No one knows who that person is. Most likely, LL will not know his/her real name or anything. So, even if his/her account gets suspended, s/he'll start another. And another. And yet another. And there's nothing the Lindens can do to stop the bastard.

I suggest that LL brings back the requirement that someone who signs up verifies his/her identity by means of a credit card. This means the following:

1. Existing "no payment info on file" members stay put. Those who are deleted for violating the TOS or for any other reason will have to enter identity info using a credit card.
2. Loss of anonymity for SL users. This is an anathema for some, but I don't see it this way. Let's face it, this is a corporate network in which we agree to play by the owners' rules. Loss of anonymity here brings RL accountability - i.e., you violate the TOS, your account gets suspended, you can't rejoin using the info from the credit card you used previously and, if what you did was pretty serious, you get sued.
3. Fewer griefers will want to join. When they know that they'll eventually become completely unable to rejoin the system (perhaps by running out of credit cards), they'll be deterred.

I do know that those who are afraid of using credit cards will be deterred as well, but I'm willing to live with this. I'm willing to sacrifice anonymity (i.e. being a NOBODY) for an altogether better SL'ing experience.

What do you think?

You can have your cake and eat it too...

Let people get on with no payment info, but ONLY if they're sponsored by a premium member who takes responsibility for them. That will get a paper trail for LL to use in blocking anonymous griefers without making it "too hard" for people to get on without a credit card.

Existing anonymous accounts would have a grace period to get sponsored.

To encourage people to be sponsors, treat it like a referral... if the sponsored account goes premium the sponsor gets a referral bonus. In fact they can probably use their existng referral code to implement this.

I doubt that LL will change its mind, given that huge protests have happened up till now and they have not budged an inch on the issue.

You're welcome to start a campaign to set parcels/sims to "verified only" if you wish, though. I doubt you'll convince a lot of landowners (most care more about overall traffic than the occasional griefer which they have security to deal with), but I dunno, try it?

The age restriction of SL is 18 anyway so everyone in a "Western" country ought to have that info on hand, I understand that some countries may be more difficult to get a credit card in, but PayPal is very good at allowing bank-account verification in many other places (which is extremely easy to detect, as PayPal makes verified status available).
I understand that some people may still be unable to get in, and perhaps there is another way to verify them, slower perhaps but with some certainty, but I think that the cost of a few users when weighed against the griefer problems SL is often having lately comes up in the favour of being harsher on griefers.

Alternative methods of verification include things like entering a phone number, address and post-code (which can be easy enough to verify). Using this phone number you could then call Linden Labs and receive some verification number, or receive it by mail if it is preferred (though slower!).

I never supported the idea of open registrations, it's hard enough to punish someone for an internet violation, there is zero sense in making it even harder for yourself!

I should also note that griefers are hitting a lot in my own personal experience now, where before they were just someone else's problem, there seems to be one in Furnation nearly every week at least, always no payment info on file, blank profile!

I will not set my land to "verified only" under any circumstances I consider likely to happen in any SL that's still worth playing. I would rather that information was not even available in-game. This has nothing to do with traffic, and everything to do with my disgust with class distinctions... even simulated ones.

All it would do anyway is eliminate many new users who wouldn't be able to visit many places and would see no point to getting premium accounts as a result. How can they know what waits for them if they can't get to it?

Won't happen as long as there is the 1,000,000 User goal set by the VC's.


We can do what they did before and light all our builds on fire and ourselfs then goto the welcome areas and warn new users of joining until they change policy. Worked before.. would it work again? lol


"Alternative methods of verification include things like entering a phone number, address and post-code (which can be easy enough to verify). Using this phone number you could then call Linden Labs and receive some verification number, or receive it by mail if it is preferred (though slower!)."

When I signed up, I was able to get a text message sent to my cellphone that I then verified on the website. Worked well and attaches the account to an actually phone #.

Yep, though if you check your profile you'll find you're an unverified account.
Or rather, if you hadn't added payment info.
*Wishes he could remember which of his friends registered with a cell so he could check their status just to confirm his statement*

Not sure if i was a new player, that id trust LL with my information, seems the breach of security hit all the major news sources, am thinking we will see even more unverified players now...

Um, the security breach didn't get the payment info. Just usernames and passwords. And even if your account gets hacked that way the website doesn't show your payment info EITEHR.

Actually they did get the payment info, just not in an unhashed "unencrypted" form.