Featured News

[#1]

We’re Making Premium Better — Starting with Exclusive Gifts & Sandboxes

We’ve been working to bring more value and features to our Second Life Premium Members. Effective immediately, we’re adding new exclusive benefits: Premium-only Gifts and Premium-only Sandboxes — and that’s just the beginning! Keep an eye out for even more surprises in the future as we continue to enhance and expand our Premium Membership offering.

Here’s the scoop on what’s new right now:

Exclusive Virtual Gifts

Premium members will regularly receive exclusive virtual items that you won't find anywhere else. The very first gift is a stylish set of furniture crafted by Colleen Desmoulins of The Loft. The set features a sofa, tables, plants and lamps to enhance your home’s cozy factor. You can change the look of most of the furniture to fit your home’s unique style and decor — whether you live in a Linden Home or elsewhere.

This customizable furniture collection is the first of many Resident-created gifts Premium Members will be receiving regularly. Premium Residents can visit a virtual inworld kiosk to claim their gift now.

Premium-Only Sandboxes

Explore your creative side or just get down to the business of creating without the distractions of a more public space in one of the many Premium-only Sandboxes in Second Life. There are four new, exclusive Premium-only Sandbox Islands you can access right now to give you more room than ever to bring your creations to life. Members can visit right now.

Keep an eye out for even more surprises in the future as we continue to enhance and expand our Premium Membership offering. Of course, Premium Members still get their own Linden Home, weekly currency rewards, Live Chat support and much more.

For more information and details, see Premium membership in the Knowledge Base.

[#2]

The gift doesn't matter much as the Premium Sandboxes, which was about time!

[#3]

Well, this don't sound half bad.  Giftie stuff and hideaway sandboxes on top of tier and stipend.  I ain't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. =^-^=

Though... It'd be fun to see if premiums could get Lab funded access to the new Google translator API. (^_^)y

[#4]

...

[#5]

Nice perks but I hope you're including all concierge level customers in this too being as you don't need to be premium to be an estate owner it would be a tad churlish to exclude them.

[#6]

How do merchants get into the system if they want to provide gifts?

[#7]

Still all junk.  Fix the problems - like we've asked all along.  Make Secondlife WORTH paying for.  As long as we keep crashing, having problems with marketplace and losing inventory, nothing else matters.  Time to get off your can and do something about it.

Oh, that's right - we're just residents, our opinions don't matter.

[#8]

what are the maturity ratings for the sandboxes? Is there an adult one?

[#9]

As far as sandboxes go, you can use the beta ones.  The majority of people are too lazy to join the group required to enter the sim.  All the better for the ones that do join.  Not a soul around.

[#10]

Still no incentive that I need.  The gifts are kinda cool, but lose their value with them being so common.  I don't want the same couch literally a million other users have.  It's not so special when all your neighbors have the same living room. 

An incentive that would get me paying for an account would be something like rebates on purchases or something.  That way, we can still buy what we want, but have an incentive to spend where we want, and buying what we want, keeping our originality.   Rebates, not at the expense of the merchant, but a percentage handed back, say 5-10% of all purchases, up to a capped amount, would keep people dropping money in world, I think. 

Plus, what about furniture designers?  Now millions of people have a free living room.  Why would they go shopping for a living room now?  It's gonna hurt merchants, I'd think.  People who make sofas are probably fuming right now that suddenly millions of users have a free sofa. 

[#11]

wow! what a wonderful idea! Thanks Linden Labs

[#12]

I would say "FINALLY!" something else for Premium Residents!

The special gifts are OK, but i specially like the idea of exclusive sandboxes. After a lot of time is good to see the Lab is doing some movements to give more services to Premium.

[#13]

Prim gifts? Pffft. Sandbox? Okay, fair enough. No different that Linden Home. A nice gesture, yes - but after a week - out of sight, out of mind. Practically useless. (Not really - they ARE useful, just never used).

HOW ABOUT: The full package of VOICE MORPHS for free.

It doesn't require rezzing (like prim gifts), doesn't require me to spend any time there (Linden Home we NEVER visit), doesn't require me to clean up after myself (sandbox).

And since it can be used ANYWHERE I'll always have it available, and since it's fun, I'll ACTUALLY USE IT, and since it's a'ways on and works no matter what viewer others are using inccluding TPV it will create AWARENESS.

Gee... FUN, Works EVERYWHERE is EFFORTLESS and FREE?

Sounds like a win for premiums and even LL (new non-prmium subscribers to voice morphs or stepping up tp premium) if you ask me.

[#14]

Can you please provide a link with more detailed information about Premium membership? If you click on the link you provide at the bottom of the post, you just end up at the "change membership plan" page.

You might have more upgrades if people actually knew how spending $10 a month would really benefit them.

Thank you!

[#15]

Come on! Now you're giving away free furniture? That's really going to help us furniture makers!! Do you really just want to put every business in SL out of business??

And talk about giving The Loft excellent advertising! Why dont you offer that up to all store owners - I'm telling ya - you're definately making it hard to actually make any money what so ever on Second Life.

[#16]

I love the rebate idea. Get people spending money in SL again! Instead of just marketplace. Make it worth it for store owners to own land and have a store again! Do something to help us help make second life awesome.

Content creators are what make this place, now you've made it not worth it to own land, just pop things up on marketplace. Give us some incentives here to own land and have a store and create more.

This program you just did, puts one of my competitors into everyones mind and homes, why do something like that?

[#17]

My premium is about to expire.

I rent land on an estate because most of mainland is an eyesore or outrageously priced (sorry, I'm not gonna buy your 2048sqm plot for 384 USD kthxbai) so free tier is pretty 'meh'. I don't use voice so morphing is irrelevant to me, I have tons of furniture in my inventory already and using opensim I have as many sandboxes as I want.

The stipend is nice, at least, the cost of lindens has increased, it might be nice to nudge up the stipend a touch.

OTOH, I buy lindens enough that the stipend really doesn't add that much value.

So ...why should I renew? What am I gonna get?

[#18]

Feel sorry for the sofa manufacturers. LL seems to make a habit of killing businesses. I used to have 4 islands renting out cheap small homes in a nice medieval setting, along comes LL with Linden homes and business gone overnight. Result I don't do business in SL any more and 4 islands were abandonned, over 1,000 US Dollars lost a month in tier  LL!!!!!.I agree with the post that says stop tinkering and let the residents make the businesses, and LL go on improving the platform and fixing the problems.

[#19]

I'm a basic member but this sounds like a good idea.

The plan appears to be to make SL more like The Sims every day so that even the thickest newbies can cope with it.  Free avatar, clothes & accessories for all, free home and furniture only for premium.  Since only the thickest will want SL to be like The Sims they're likely to be stupid enough to pay for this starter stuff by going premium too.  If that helps pay for the world to exist it suits me!

The only drawback I can see is that it's not really likely to bring more people into SL unless there's a thick interface for the think crowd that find dressing up and decorating a challenging reward, without all the complication of a virtual world.  Basic Mode in the viewer isn't an easier interface, it just eliminates most of the functionality, making it more frustrating for newbies as 'nothing works'.

[#20]

Premium sandboxes are an epic addition! How about an instanced, low-prim allowance, multi-theme skybox for Preemies to go with their Linden Home? Hey, might as well be greedy > 

[#21]

This is good and all, but to some of us who have been here for a very long time and have been premium members from the get go, this isn't much of an incentive.

I own land, so don't need sandboxes. I also create , so don't need freebie furniture, so where is my incentive to stay premium?

 Need to step out of the box here and come up with some better incentives, maybe up the Linden stipend per week would be one I can think of, give back the free 512 plot of land to premium members, not just the Linden housing which I gave back a long time ago due to so much lag. 

Giving the free furniture and then saying it's made from the Loft is like free advertising for them. If that is the case , then all merchants should be able to participate and you have a list as to where people can go to get things and the advertising is free for them also.

[#22]

Well I would like to add that the Lindens aren't mind readers.  They don't know what everybody wants, so setting back complaining isn't really doing anything.  Take a step forward with a polite manner and make a suggestions.

That's what I did myself on Rodviks online profile feed.  I had an idea, sandboxes set for premium users only, and I made my idea known to him.  Rodvik replied that the thought it was a good idea.  Then a few weeks later here they are. 

So instead of everybody complaining about what they should have done why don't a few of you get together, hash out some ideas that wouldn't be deal breakers and then suggest them.

[#23]

verry nice

[#24]

Meh.

Maybe they think because it is only premium members who will use the sand boxes that they won't need policing.

And giving away cute little prim gifts, another 'meh.'

While in the meantime the Welcome Areas are the bane of SL.

And many tier paying land lords and ladies are having to abandon SIMS that the Linden Homes are robbing their customers from.

I have over thirty years experience in Retail Sales and Management and all I can say is that if this is the best you can come up with to promote and improve Second Life, this is really, really, really sad. 

As best as I can see, this kind of marketing management is based on Dilbert's World, Dilbert's Imagination.

[#25]

Sandboxes: Excellent..

...though I do echo the sentiments of others who have asked "Are there going to be adult sandboxes?" Some of us would like to work on things that aren't totally G-Rated now and again. It would be nice if there were places to do that without breaking the community standards.

Freebies: Okay. Pretty Nice!

.. Speaking as someone who sells furniture (among other things) there are literally millions of competing products on the market, of all different styles, qualities, and price ranges, and one more widely distributed freebie isn't going to destroy the entire market for furniture, or for anything. And honestly, I kind of need some new furniture for my own house. I will check this out and see if it suits my needs. It WOULD be great to know how we (as content creators) can also get this kind of awesome advertising opportunity, by making freebies for LL to hand out.

Edit: It's a pretty nice couch actually, and it's nice that it seats two. The whole set's really pretty decent, but I think only the couch really suits my living space. Shame about it all being no-modify though.

[#26]

This is a joke right ??? Premium membership new features ?A few baubles ?? Access to a sandbox when Im paying a tier for a full region to build in reduction in tier fee instead please....

When the CEO said he was improving the premium membership I expected greater land allowances tier changes... and what do we get dross, dross, baubles and dross.

I cant believe long term members of Second life are supposed to take this seriously.