I would get a premium membership if __________ (not land or L$)

[Qie Niangao]

The Statistics Bar (with all the sim statistics expanded) provides quite a bit of performance detail at the sim-wide level. Maybe it's not always all one might want to inform a buying decision, but it's a lot more than most buyers are savvy enough to use. The problem I see is that it's very difficult for a landowner to tell what to do about performance problems without the kind of detail exposed to Estate owners.

[Whirly Fizzle]

7 hours ago, animats said:

You get to pick the default texture for your prims, instead of the stock plywood. Default to teak or mahogany.

You can already do this on Firestorm 

[steeljane42]

I thought about it for a while and still have no idea what would change my mind. Certain thoughts that I've seen in this thread (like script stalling for non premium users in favor of the premium ones) are not the premium benefits, but more of a basic downgrades and I think that's really awful idea.

There are many people that own a region, buy a lot of L$ to get stuff for that region and other random things on top of it and make LL a lot more money than w/e that premium costs a month. I'd very unhappy to see that my SL experience would become worse in favor of "premium users". And no, few additional bucks a month is not much compared to how much region cost, but I can't stand when I feel forced to get something. Locking out new features/content/performance behind the paywall is among the worst things that happened to online gaming and while SL is quite far from your generic online game, the effect would be the same here.

Maybe I'd get it if there was a permanent upgrade option (I read there was at the start of SL) for, don't know, 300-500$ maybe? Mostly to just have it, than anything else.

[Ethan Paslong]

8 minutes ago, steeljane42 said:

 I'd very unhappy to see that my SL experience would become worse in favor of "premium users".

perhaps give some examples you would give to the premium subscribers for being a paying player ? ..

Edited March 30, 2019 by Ethan Paslong

[Love Zhaoying]

“....” if I didn’t already have one.

[Ceka Cianci]

Paying annually works out for me..

I give them 72.00 a year and get back 400 lindens per week from them for getting in when I did..

The going rate to buy 400 lindens right now is 3.08..

3.08 x 52 =160.16 -72.00 =88.16 per year at the going rate

88.00 > 12 = 7.34 per month at the going rate

ETA: Bleh,forget this bottom part I am taking out..It's way,Waaaaay, too early for me to be doing math without my tea.. hehehehe

 

 

Edited March 30, 2019 by Ceka Cianci

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

A friend and I went premium last summer to buy land for our shops. The things which made it make sense: the increase to 1024 for premium, the increase in LI, and how little it costs for annual given the stipend.

I like the getting into events boost more than I would have thought. I'm usually happy to wait, but it's been useful for popping in and out quickly on short term things where waiting till it quiets down isn't an option. Having extra groups is really nice, plus 3 months access to transactions and the higher IM cap. Each of those things has made my SL a wee bit easier.

Basically though, it all came down to what I was getting land- and impact-wise for the annual fee. Everything else is gravy.

[Fionalein]

26 minutes ago, Bitsy Buccaneer said:

A friend and I went premium last summer to buy land for our shops. The things which made it make sense: the increase to 1024 for premium, the increase in LI, and how little it costs for annual given the stipend.

I like the getting into events boost more than I would have thought. I'm usually happy to wait, but it's been useful for popping in and out quickly on short term things where waiting till it quiets down isn't an option. Having extra groups is really nice, plus 3 months access to transactions and the higher IM cap. Each of those things has made my SL a wee bit easier.

Basically though, it all came down to what I was getting land- and impact-wise for the annual fee. Everything else is gravy.

Wait.... how dare you not appreciate the extra level of the Glytch game and the extra sandboxes? Bad customer! 

[steeljane42]

1 hour ago, Ethan Paslong said:

perhaps give some examples you would give to the premium subscribers for being a paying player ? ..

As you see I didn't find any reason to "upgrade" myself, if I had some kind of example what I would give to premium users I'd probably have said "if there was this, that and this too, I'd subscribe myself".

But I don't need any mainland as I have my own region (and before that I was just renting parcles in private regions, which is what majority people with any interest in having a land do I assume, there's 16k of private regions vs 7k of LL owned), I don't care about 300L$ a week because it's the drop in the ocean compared to the rest, same for premium sandboxes, voice morph etc. So in a way I actually think that whole premium thing is the relic of the past. And LL could easily let people to buy mainland's parcels without it. If this how it works for whole private regions, then no reason it can't work for parcels on the mainland, after all the mainland region is just joined usable parcels plus a few LL owned ones, like roads and protected water. The other benefits (more groups, 2 animesh attachments vs 1 etc) are all in the "locking out content" territory in my opinion and like I already said, it's the path I hate the most for online "games".

But on the low scale and because I remember LL was going to change their premium model I think they should separate perks into 2-3 groups. 2048sqm (or more) free tier and no stipend for those who need more land (maybe for their stores?). No tier option with more L$ a week and no free home, for those who already rent a parcel elsewhere or don't need a home at all (and there's a lot of those people). Maybe another group for bloggers/fashionistas/photographers with free picture uploads or something similar. LL could cooperate with some well known 3rd party creators and increase the number and quality of gifts for that group of premium users, kinda like a LL version of monthly subscribe box with clothes, skins, vehicles, decor etc. All of those groups should also have access to live chat as the main benefit.

And what's up with that "paying player"? Basic doesn't mean "not paying". You don't need premium to buy L$ or to even own a few full private regions and homesteads (yes, I know you need a full region first before you can get a homestead), you only have to add a CC or paypal and have money (duh).

Basic user with one private region pays more each month than "premium user" pays in 3.5 years for the premium status (assuming yearly plan). Now where are my "ultra mega premium" benefits then? Right, nowhere and I'm fine with it. Because It's a dangerous path of making the basic experience worse and adding more perks for different tiers of "elite users". Lots of F2P games do that, they cater to so called "whales" who invest thousands of $ into the game each month, while making normal (often paying too, just in way more reasonable amounts) users experience pretty miserable, pushing them to "buy it, suffer or quit". I don't want that to happen in SL, there's already enough of other issues with "new user experience" as it is, locking features behind the paywall won't help to keep those new users interested, that's for sure. And might piss off the old ones as well.

Edited March 30, 2019 by steeljane42

[Ethan Paslong]

3 minutes ago, steeljane42 said:

As you s.................... for sure.

perhaps make your post a bit more clear, you make "spending" the leading subject, and that''s not what this is about. It's about premium perks.
 

[steeljane42]

2 minutes ago, Ethan Paslong said:

perhaps make your post a bit more clear, you make "spending" the leading subject, and that''s not what this is about. It's about premium perks.
 

I'm pretty clear I believe. The main thing is that the premium and basic users both can be spenders and in many cases basic ones will outspend premium ones by a lot. Therefore I don't see why premium perks should even be a thing, more than they are now or some versions (and I did add a few examples of what could different premium groups have in my last post). Stipend, home, live support and/or little things I did mention earlier, sounds like enough for 6$ a month.

I also was very clear about not seeing anything that would make me do that (aside of expensive permanent subscription option, but mostly because I do have a thing for "lifetime upgrade", than actual need) and the only things that could change that would be ones which would start ruining it for non premium users. Which is what I'm against.

[Gabriele Graves]

@steeljane42 The reason that Premium isn't a relic of the past is because it is direct revenue to LL.  No matter how much a person spends on buying stuff in SL, it is almost always from other residents, not from LL and so from that money you spend, only a small portion at best, comes to LL and indirectly at that.  LL wants to increase direct revenue without it being tied to land purchasing if possible, hence Premium Perks to convince people to give them money directly.

[Pamela Galli]

If we had the merchant tools we were promised ten years ago, that might be worth taking the risk of having my account deleted if I got hit by a bus. 

Edited March 30, 2019 by Pamela Galli

[Ethan Paslong]

4 minutes ago, steeljane42 said:

I'm pretty clear I believe. The main thing is that the premium and basic users both can be spenders and in many cases basic ones will outspend premium ones by a lot. Therefore ...

no not therefore.... it's no point here, spending has nothing to do with being/going premium or not. You create a fog around the subject.
It would be great there was a bigger difference in premium or basic.

just some examples, not really realistic in SL, but would be defendable :

premiums have access to events the first two days, at 3rd the basics can try
premiums have free access to fly and sail the mainland waters, basics have to pay ..lets say 50L a hour
premiums get 100 groupslots, basics 20
premiums get full 24/7 online support and live chat, basics can call a pay number
and so on .... and none of these are basicly making a basic life worse.

 

[Cindy Evanier]

Premiums get extra LI for their parcels/regions

[Rolig Loon]

4 hours ago, Qie Niangao said:

If I could own one or more grid-scope Experiences, I'd pay some Premium fee for that, even if I didn't own land or use any other Premium service features.

Yes, that would make a difference for me and for a lot of creators.  As a scripter, I can already write Experience-based scripts for Premium members who have their own Experiences, but those applications are all local things.  They only work on the small bit of land where the Experience is enabled. If a Premium member could have a grid-wide Experience, though, it would open up all sorts of possibilities.  Personally, it would let me open a market for devices based on my own Experience, not just on ones that I create for other people. I think most SL residents think about Experiences --- if they think about them at all --- as a way to make teleport portals or other handy gimmicks.  The real value of Experiences, though is in "permanent" data storage --- KVP.  With a grid-wide Experience, vendors wouldn't need to handle remote deliveries and product updates through off-world servers.  People could create hunts that let you accumulate points anywhere in SL, the way that the TCMG glytch game does. Lots of possibilities.

[Lillith Hapmouche]

1 hour ago, Ethan Paslong said:

You create a fog around the subject.

Vice versa, there seems to be a subliminal tone of "you are less worthy if you aren't premium" in your posts.

In the past month alone, I've spilled out about three times the annual premium fee of 80something EURO for L$ purchases, because L$ do get me the stuff that I really want. Good to know that plain basic me should suck up less groups or limited travel capabilities for leeching on the system.

[Selene Gregoire]

13 hours ago, CoffeeDujour said:

What would it take for you to get/keep a premium membership?

A free life time account. Otherwise, it's just not affordable for me and considering the state of things in this country, I don't see that changing for the better any time soon, if ever.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[Qie Niangao]

3 hours ago, Pamela Galli said:

If we had the merchant tools we were promised ten years ago, that might be worth taking the risk of having my account deleted if I got hit by a bus. 

Does this risk apply simply by being Premium, or is it only Mainland owners with tier to pay whose accounts are at risk?

[Ethan Paslong]

2 hours ago, Lillith Hapmouche said:

Vice versa, there seems to be a subliminal tone of "you are less worthy if you aren't premium" in your posts.

i said: just some examples, not really realistic in SL  but would be defendable : 
that last because there are several games/worlds/virtual environments that DO have such perks

and to your last remark, read my subtitle ... i can't change the things hów you take things, thats on your own account.
And it's about being premium here, whatever my opinion is about premium, non premium, or with or without payment info, is allowed to be said here.
As far i'm aware, i'm responding the same way to everybody here.

[Pamela Galli]

14 minutes ago, Qie Niangao said:

Does this risk apply simply by being Premium, or is it only Mainland owners with tier to pay whose accounts are at risk?

I only know about Premium.  

[Marianne Little]

4 hours ago, Cindy Evanier said:

Premiums get extra LI for their parcels/regions

It is simply the only thing that matter for me. Land and §L.

Gifts? Haha. No, seriously.... the gifts....

More groups are nice, but I can live without.TP in to packed events? Nice, can live without. Premium sandboxes? Nice, but I know where to find good ones without premium.

[Lillith Hapmouche]

1 hour ago, Ethan Paslong said:

As far i'm aware, i'm responding the same way to everybody here.

And yet it seemed as if steeljane42's posts meant nothing but "spending", at least in your perception. Perhaps re-read them, there is certainly more, especially the part of offering numerous premium perks instead of "the whole bunch fits all".

1 hour ago, Ethan Paslong said:

it's about being premium here

Actually, it's about "what would inspire me to go premium", but close enough, I guess.

 

1 hour ago, Ethan Paslong said:

several games/worlds/virtual environments that DO have such perks

Like?

[LittleMe Jewell]

2 hours ago, Qie Niangao said:

Does this risk apply simply by being Premium, or is it only Mainland owners with tier to pay whose accounts are at risk?

Even if you don't own any land, if you are Premium and your membership comes up for renewal but the payment method fails, then after a month (or 2 or 3), your account can get locked until you pay up.

[Qie Niangao]

3 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Even if you don't own any land, if you are Premium and your membership comes up for renewal but the payment method fails, then after a month (or 2 or 3), your account can get locked until you pay up.

Ah, I think I get it. I knew that Mainland tier is paid in arrears, so by the time the payment method failed, the landowner was already a month behind, so to speak. But I guess auto-renewal Premium fees are sorta similar. It's bad business in either case, but I could kinda understand that the Lab would be reluctant to force-abandon land for non-payment any sooner than absolutely necessary, by which time the account would be deeply in the red.