Hello Residents -
Some folks have been asking for more detail on the "Account History" screen explaining their current Linden Dollar balance. Here's some detail - this will also make its way into the Knowledge Base and be updated over time.
*****“ACCOUNT HISTORY” DEMYSTIFIED*****
Okay, while it’s not quite Quicken, your Account History does provide lots of information about your financial Second Life. Here’s how Account History can help you decide whether you should be pricing posh SL real estate or figuring out how to borrow some Linden Dollars from your best friend.
What is Account History? A summary of your financial transactions within Second Life
How can I access my Account History? Go to the “Edit” menu and select “Account History.”
Is my Account History current? The Account History can lag your actual Linden Dollar balance (displayed in the lower left of your screen) by a couple of hours.
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ACCOUNT HISTORY: SUMMARY
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- Account History defaults to show you a summary view of your finances for the current week
Balance: Your total Linden Dollar balance as of the last Account History refresh.
In some cases, taxes can take your balance negative but only as low as ($1000). Then taxes stop being charged in order to give you the chance to catch back up. Having a negative balance is no fun – you can’t create objects, can’t teleport, can’t buy stuff and so on.
Credits: Linden Dollars gained during current week
Debits: Linden Dollars spent (or otherwise paid) during current week
Total Change: Credits + Debits
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The “Estimates for Current” section displays the approximate tax bill you face for the week. Taxes are a function of the objects and land you own in-world.
Object Tax: Estimated object tax for those objects which you currently own in-world. Remember, objects are taxed based upon their size, their elevation, and the number of primitives in their construction (the building blocks – i.e. cubes, spheres, etc). If your objects taxes are too high for your liking, just delete some objects from the world or pull them into your inventory.
Light Tax: Estimated taxation surcharge for objects you currently own in-world which are lights. These objects will be classified as “light” in the object material panel.
Land Tax: Estimated taxation for the land you own in-world. You can release land you own to avoid paying taxes and reclaim the underlying value of the property.
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Stipend + Bonus
Each week you can qualify for a base stipend and then a bonus above and beyond that stipend. These are paid to you by Linden Lab from the central economy of Second Life.
Base Stipend: Every Second Life resident in good standing qualifies to receive a weekly stipend of $1000.
Bonus: Some Second Life residents qualify for a bonus based upon their reputation in-world.
Now, the tricky part. In any given week, neither your stipend or bonus can take your account balance above $3500 after taxes have been paid. So your stipend will pay your taxes, then check if you have more than $3500. To get above $3500, you need to earn money from other sources (voting stations, treasure hunts, buying/selling stuff being some of the popular choices) because that’s what Second Life is all about.
So an example: Beth Sunshine has $3200 and a tax bill of $500. She will receive a stipend of $800 that week ($500 to pay her taxes and $300 to bring her account balance to $3500).
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ACCOUNT HISTORY: DETAILS
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Now that we’ve got the Summary squared away, here’s the scoop on Details (click on the Details tab within Account History window). The “Total” on Details should match “Total Change” on Summary (Debits + Credits). Details provides an itemized breakdown of the transactions which contributed to your Debits and Credits for the current week.
DEBITS
Object Claim: Total of objects created, public objects claimed, objects rezzed into the world (after purchase) and so on. Basically anything which creates a new object or copy of an object in the world charged at $10 per primitive.
Land Claim: Total cost of land claimed.
Land Purchase: Total cost of land bought from other residents.
Teleportation: Total amount spent on teleportation. Teleportation charges are based upon the distance between the two points (hey, it’s expensive to reassemble your molecules).
Texture/Sound Upload: Total amount spent on uploads of new textures or sounds at $10 per texture or sound.
Object Purchase: Total amount spent on buying objects via the “buy” function on the pie menu. Note – there are different transaction types which will lead to an exchange of objects but not recognized as a “buy” within the system. Most of these (the majority involve a “give money” transaction) show up in “Gifts (given).”
Gifts (given): Linden Dollars debited from your account directly to another resident, to a scripted objects owned by another resident (for example, a slot machine) or which you paid out via a script (for example, if you were owner of that slot machine and you needed to pay off a winning bet).
CREDITS
Object Sale: Dollars given to you directly by other residents or via objects you put up for sale.
Gifts (received): Linden Dollars credited to your account directly to another resident, to a scripted objects you own (for example, a slot machine) or which were paid to you via a script (for example, if you won money on a slot machine).
Land Release: Dollars returned to you from owned land you released during the current week.
Land Sold: Dollars earned from the sale of owned land to other residents.
Object Delete: Dollars refunded for deleting (or derezzing) objects. You receive back the full $10/primitive creation cost.
Object Decay Public: Dollars refunded for objects you owned having decayed to public (because they were located on public land) or when you actively released ownership. You receive $4 for each primitive which decays, not the full $10 you would have gotten from deleting the object before it went public.
Object Delete Public: Dollars credited when you deleted public objects from the landscape at the value of $4 per primitive. See, recycling does pay off.
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ACCOUNT HISTORY: SALES/GIFTS
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This tab provides you detail on who gave you money and for what object.
*****OTHER ECONOMY NOTES*****
It’s important to remember that the SL economy is fluid and evolving. When more people come into the world and more land is brought online the “global pool” of available resources increases which impacts factors such as the total amount of money distributed via the voting stations. Also, taxes could possibly fluctuate in the future based upon land scarcity and usage. Our philosophy is not to make changes to the economy “logic” but rather just balance and tweak as SL evolves.