Going premium, your opinion.

Well, I'm not advocating going premium and owning land outright over renting.. I just happen to be premium, and own mainland. I'm assuming you pay about what I do for what you have, and, if that's the case it's cool. As a matter of fact, in another thread, I'm defending basic members over premium. Someone was saying basic members are freeloaders, which they're not. Even if you're renting, the sim owner is turning around and paying tier to Linden Lab anyways. I personally dont think LL is overly concerned weather people go premium or not. They were the ones who dropped the need for a premium membership anyways. I think their thinking was that there would be a huge flood of users joining up (which happened), and the would put money into LL's pocket in other ways.. renting land, which would cause the sim owner to pay tier, texture and sound uploads... Linden dollar purchases, which cost money to buy (aside from the value of the Lindens purchase), and when the receiver of the Lindens spent by the basic member cashes out, LL takes a 3.5 percent cut.. etc. So I think they looked at it, and realized that opening the doors like they did would ultimately bring in more revenue, not less. When you examine it, Linden Lab has many revenue streams. Dropping the requirement for premium accounts drove the other streams up much higher. So.. the point of your thread...

1. Premium accounts allow you to buy/sell land, so if you're thinking about getting into real estate, it's a must.

2. Support and website access. There are a few perks premium members get that basic members dont. So, if one believes they want/need these services, then they would want to go premium.

3. No covenant land. Most rentals have restrictions.. some have harsh restrictions, some are more loose, yet, every rental I've seen has a covenant. So, if you want to avoid having to follow someone's rules, that may cause you to want a premium account.

I'm not advocating one or the other, I think one's personal sistuation would dictate weather or not to go premium. There's no "yeah you should or no you shouldn't". I think the 3 things I mentioned above would cause one to want a premium membership, otherwise, a basic account is just fine.

They should only count premium members in traffic

This would make all those camping places go out of business since premium members are far less likely to camp.

It would still give an accurate reading for the ratio of traffic for all other places as premium members are just as likely to go to other places as non premiums.

Allthough I am premium and own a fair bit of land.... there are little incentives to be so, with the removal of most of the premium bennefits all you really have is the ability to own land and you only get that becasue its one of the main ways that LL have your payment information of file to charge you for owning that land...... so in a nutshell

Becomming premium allows you the ability for LL charge you.

I think the two things that they SHOULD do for premiums is increase stipends to L$500 and allow the land holdings to raise to 1024 before tier kicks in.

I know there are lots of arguments about renting or not.... BUT , somebody has to pay that tier and ultimately LL does get a large income out of premium accounts.

Theres room for free acounts that rent... and premium

Personally I dont think theres room for 1 million alts all camping and taking the money out of the game but the just my opinion

I think that LL intends to keep releasing new sims until land prices fall so far that you don't need a first land program to get cheap or nearly free land. They've pretty much said so when the announcement came that first land was ending.

I guess my answer is that there isn't a huge reason to go premium right now, but in the future when land prices fall further it will be more attractive.

I would like to own land. And a bit more then a single small lot. I've read though what a premium account gets, and with the prim limit, I just don't think it's worth it.
I build, make things. But if I was to buy a piece of land once I had a house furniture and a car, that would be it, no prims left to build with. I know someone that owns land in SL yet rents because of the much higher prim limit.
As in if I buy a piece of land I am limited to 117 prims, yet if I rent that same piece of land my prim limit could be 350. So for me as a builder it is actually better to rent. Yet I agree I don't like landlord restrictions. None the less I would rather put up with the landlords restrictions then give up 230 prims.

When I started this thread it was supposed to be about what it would take to get people to go premium. Yet there have been very few suggestions as to incentives to go premium. It's all about land. Which seems to be the first and only thought on peoples minds when you mention premium accounts. But there are lots of things that could be added to the premium account to increase it's value, like a 10% discount on sales, or a 1% kick back on Ls spent, and so on.
I mean things to make a premium account have more benefits then just owning land.
Because for me, if the only benefit in going premium is to own land; and with the prim limit I would rather rent, then there is no reason, that I can see, for me to go premium.

What I am saying is I think the premium account needs to have value for everyone and not just those whom intend to own land.

I disagree. As soon as they stop releasing land, the prices creep up slowly and steadily. Even with the release of a whole new continent and 50+ sims in the last week alone, mainland is still at a base price of L$9.9 a meter. Unless LL is prepared to keep creating continents indefinitely, the market will correct itself shortly after they take a break from sim releasing.

The other reason this will never happen is LL likes getting US$2000+ per sim like they are now. US$2500 is even better. Release too many sims and they can't get that.

Lastly, no one will buy Islands if the price of mainland goes too low. LL would never allow that to happen.

I have long believed their target number is a base of L$10 a meter for mainland on average with the occasional dips down to L$9.0 but never much lower. I'm holding to this opinion.

This means on average you will have to pay around US$20 to get a 512.

Think of it though: US$20 for your 512 plot instead of US$2 for First Land plots. A difference of US$18. This is not enough real money to keep people from buying land. What really gets you is the tier if you go higher than 1024. Tier is the big cost of land ownership and the biggest consideration factor, not the initial purchase unless you buy a plot that was priced too high.

More good ideas. Forward your resume to LL HR. Or better yet, send a notecard inworld to Jack Linden with all your ideas on it. Worth a shot.

If you travel around the mainland, you will notice that much of the new areas are still empty, and for sale a t a wide range of prices. Some 512's are at around 5200L$, right next to a very similiar plot at 6800L$.

I had some mainland (a1024) I dumped last week. I tried listing at different prices, and got an instant buy (land bot?) at 10,100L$. I really wanted to ditch it before I had to come up with the 5US$ tier for the next month.

remember though ... islands dont have double prims ...... they just have lots of dead space with the prims from that space given to the residents for a price ... over all its not value for money ... but island owners are running a VERY fine margin.

True.... there is nothing as double prims.... just a small trick used by land owners who have more then enough land.

Morwen.

Well sort of but if the land owner is giving you those prims then it's not really a trick. The same trick can be performed on mainland if you're renting.