Worried that I may have too many accounts

[Ani Aunerfal]

I'm pretty worried that I have too many accounts. Since I started on SL, i've been carefully trying to search for available information on wether or not there's a limit. In the past, I haven't been able to find a single thing telling me there was a limit, nor was I stopped by an automated proccess from making them, even under the same email. I just now checked today while looking to make a new account, and was startled to see it claims that the limit is five and that linden labs may charge me for having more.

I'm pretty scared that some sort of action is going to be taken against me and would greatly appreciate some help with this. I would never have made more than the limit if I had been aware there was one.

[Rolig Loon]

That limit has been in place at least since 2007, when I joined SL.  You'll find it at http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Alt_Account_FAQ, among other places.

Currently, you can create:

• Up to five accounts per household.
• No more than two accounts in a single 24-hour period.

There has always been some ambiguity about what that means, and about how it is enforced, if it is.  Presumably, a "household" is a single IP address, but what if you live in a college residence hall or share a house with 8 roommates?  Or, as another example, Linden Lab says that "Your first basic account is free, and so are a few alternate accounts. However, if you create an army of alts, Linden Lab may charge a small fee of US$9.95 for the creation of each additional basic account as a way to recoup some of the cost. "  So, how big is an army?  Can you have 25 alts if they aren't all in the same "household", or is 6 an army? And the big question ...... Does Linden Lab really have time to poke around resident accounts to figure out how many alts we have, unless we call attention to oursleves by creating an "army" all at once?

Linden Lab may close accounts if you have too many of them, or prevent you from making others, or -- as it seems -- may ignore you altogether unless you do something nasty like use your "army of alts" to cause trouble in SL.  Frankly, you have been around for over 5 years now and haven't been scolded yet. I don't think I would worry much if I were you.  :smileywink: