Buying land a prem member or not?!?

Hi

I have bought an island inworld, but my question is this: what is the diff between owning land as a premium member, and as an ordinary member, which is what I am. I own a 2048sq m plot on someone elses sim, and its' perfect for me! I pay them a monthly tier via paypal every month, so tell me, why would I want to upgrade to premium, which seems to be a very expensive way to do something I seem to be doing already!

Hope that makes sense

Gracey xx

If you want to own any land on the mainland, you need to be a premium member. If you want to rent anywhere (mainland or island) or own a whole island instead, you may do so as a standard member.

Correction:

If you want to own any land on the mainland, you need to be a premium member. If you want to rent anywhere (mainland or island) or own a whole island instead, you may do so as a TRIAL member.

Premium has always been standard, with Island owners getting conceirge as they own at least a whole sim.

They could cut free accounts off tomorrow - with no legal repercussions or obligations. There is no agreement with the user based on pay.

Premium members also get stipend, and 512 m2 free tier.

If you want to buy land on a mainland sim, you must be Premium. Being Premium gives you free maintenance on the first 512 M2 of mainland that you own. That does not apply to any non-mainland property that you may also own.

If you want to buy land anywhere else, you just need to make your payments on time to whomever owns the sim. As the original posted noted, you don't even need to be Premium to purchase an entire private island.

The Lindens have repeatedly demonstrated that they love the free unverified accounts so much that they won't ever discontinue them, no matter how many complaints or problems they cause. Accounts other than Premium are very unlikely to ever go away. If anything, I would expect them to discontinue Premium. The only advantage Premium offers now is the free tier and being permitted to purchase mainland...

I'm begining to think of Premium membership as a Real Estate broker's license. It allows you to speculate on mainland property purchases and resale, or to buy from speculators.

Actually, the free accounts draw people in. I played on a free account for a while, then got tied of "floating" around. With that in mind, now I have a land and building addiction. Bought 12,000 sq m2 and counting

For some reason being a premium member makes me feel more like a SL citizen. That somehow I've taken the plunge to be here. But the financial arguments against taking out premium membership do make sense so my choice is more an emotional one.

And this is totally conjecture on my part but I think that it is assumed that most griefers have free accounts (if not all) and that having a free account somehow makes one value SL less. However, this isn't really the case since some really great SL citizens don't have premium accounts because they did the numbers/benefits analysis and it didn't add up for them.

I do wish LL would add more value to having a premium account because along with feeling more involved, I also feel a bit like a sucker in that LL doesn't really value people who take that extra step to be part of SL.

I bet they do.

I'll take some of that action.

In all seriousity, my issue isn't with "free" accounts, but with "unverified" ones. All who agree with me, RISE UP! It is time to take back the grid. I proclaim July 4, 2007 to be "Independence From Griefer Day." All landowners, if they are so inclined, should restrict access from "No Payment Info On File" accounts. Let our message be heard, loud and clear! VERIFY!

Thanks for your replies people - some food for thought
Gracey xx