How aggressive should Linden Lab be in converting residents to premium?

[kali Wylder]

I don't think our opinions really matter.  LL will do whatever they have to do to keep the money river flowing.  I, for one, hope they continue to succeed  because I really love it here and I would be kinda devastated if it went away.

[Ceka Cianci]

This is one of those time where I would say,If it's not broke,don't fix it.

There is a benefit from premium members as well as basics.. It's been working out just fine,for years..

[KanryDrago]

1 minute ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Actually they dropped from $295 to $249 a year ago.

https://modemworld.me/2018/07/02/looking-at-the-new-private-region-and-l-fees/

You paid your landlord almost $100 more than you thought over the past year without even realizing it. Forgive me if I don't rely on you for financial advice.

shrugs still doesnt change the fact that LL gets a fair chunk of what I pay

[Bree Giffen]

I think both premium and basic make money for SL and trying to convert basics is a double edged sword. If LL can make perks that move basic to premium that's a positive but if they lose basics that's a negative. I think efforts to increase the overall population with new accounts would be less risky and more positive overall. 

[Selene Gregoire]

22 minutes ago, suzyst said:

No cos they dropped the stupid Idea before the implementation date, if they hadn't I would have clicked the basic button the day it came into force. I like having the extra groups but I won't take them if it means basics lose some of theirs.

They dropped it because we basics raised a ruckus about it.

Nice save though!  

[suzyst]

18 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

They dropped it because we basics raised a ruckus about it.

Nice save though!  

I've learned not to react to what linden labs say they are going to do until they actually do it. Some time ago I wondered what name I should use to repace "resident" , still haven't thought of one but there doesn't seem to be any need for the foreseeable future

[Selene Gregoire]

13 minutes ago, suzyst said:

I've learned not to react to what linden labs say they are going to do until they actually do it. Some time ago I wondered what name I should use to repace "resident" , still haven't thought of one but there doesn't seem to be any need for the foreseeable future

Yep. I did the same years ago. 

If it comes about, you'll be choosing a last name from a list. You won't get to come up with one yourself. Which is understandable considering there are those who will go out of their way to use something offensive.

[Nalates Urriah]

At the Meet the Lindens events in SL16B, Ebbe said users took US$64 million out of the 'game' last year, 2018 I think. Maybe he meant the last 12 months. So, it isn't the Lab that is making the most money from SL.

I originally went Premium to save money. I was buying Lindens, the price of them was going up, with transaction fees... At the time it was a good deal to go annual. Now my marketplace sales are up and I'll be adding more stuff. Premium is not the money saver it was then but I like the bennies. So, I'll keep it.

2 hours ago, Fionalein said:

Yeah there are some of those folks around - and gladly no one takes them serious - do you really believe everyone will upgrade? Nope they will leave - then designers will leave as they won't sell enough anymore and finally people will leave as it became another boring virtual world with nothing to do by then.

OpenSim is a good example of that process. Debatably things sort of go the direction of designers leaving first... in OS. Whether users leave or stay doesn't matter much as few are ever actually online. A really good day sees 300 concurrent users.

The name changes... April and Oz were talking about that at SL16B. Seems they WAY underestimated how difficult that would be. With all the other stuff being added or mitigated I am growing doubtful i will happen this year.

I doubt name-change will be an advertising point. They may grant a free name change each year for Premium users and a one time free change for basic users. As they describe it now, all new signups will get the last name Resident by default. There will be no place in the signup process for a last name choice. Testing and stats show having to pick a second name was a major impediment for people completing sign up. The Lab considers that a lesson learned the hard way.

On an aside, in June 345,000+/- people signed up... about 11,500 per day... If that is spread throughout the day that is 480 per hour. As I write this there are currently 43,570 concurrent users with about 60 people a minute signing in. Roughly 8 of those 60 would be first timers. Looked at another way, roughly 1% of concurrent users would be first timers.

I'll suggest getting new users is not the problem. So, providing better reasons to go Premium probably makes more sense.

[SierraStyles]

People have reasons for not going to premium. And this tillia situation makes us less inclined to go premium.  So I would say no to any push for change 

[KanryDrago]

3 minutes ago, Nalates Urriah said:

 

On an aside, in June 345,000+/- people signed up... about 11,500 per day... If that is spread throughout the day that is 480 per hour. As I write this there are currently 43,570 concurrent users with about 60 people a minute signing in. Roughly 8 of those 60 would be first timers. Looked at another way, roughly 1% of concurrent users would be first timers.

I'll suggest getting new users is not the problem. So, providing better reasons to go Premium probably makes more sense.

Getting new people isnt the problem, retaining new people is the problem and thats what they should be concentrating on. When they start growing the population then they can worry about getting them to go premium

[Alwin Alcott]

4 minutes ago, SierraStyles said:

People have reasons for not going to premium. And this tillia situation makes us less inclined to go premium.  So I would say no to any push for change 

perhaps not the first time this is said 🤔... but going premium and the Tilia situation have no connection, the thing people don't like about Tilia is the moment they want to do a process credit. Before that it's nothing more than a formality sign up

Edited July 8, 2019 by Alwin Alcott

[TheaDee]

6 hours ago, Beth Macbain said:

I know I'll get shouted down and/or mocked for this, but I think it's really sad that no one thinks that paying for premium is just a nice way to pay LL for the platform they've provided us. It's all me, me, me.

 

I completely agree with this!!  I pay premium for this reason.  The offerings for premium membership are a bonus to me.  

When I joined SL 8.5 years ago, I was really surprised (happily) that SL didn't require some kind of payment/subscription to have an account.  I hope it stays that way.

[TheaDee]

Deleted because I should read all the replies before I post.  WHY ISN'T THERE AN OPTION TO DELETE MY POST?!?!

Edited July 8, 2019 by TheaDee
my reply has been stated already.

[Coffee Pancake]

Been premium for years, mainly because land. Although I did spin up a second initially just for priority teleports as I was sick of not being able to get into events.

More people should be premium, but for that to happen the offer has to be irresistible, not mandatory and not more expensive .. which it just got.

[Parhelion Palou]

7 hours ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

And before someone come screaming, I know that basic accounts contribute to Linden Lab indirectly. But that's through buying things and services other residents are making.

People keep forgetting ... estate owners have little reason to be premium and they're the ones providing most of LL's income. Therefore basic accounts *do* provide most of LL's direct income.

[Qie Niangao]

24 minutes ago, Parhelion Palou said:

People keep forgetting ... estate owners have little reason to be premium and they're the ones providing most of LL's income. Therefore basic accounts *do* provide most of LL's direct income.

Yeah, and even on Mainland, look around the map: a lot of regions that are rented mostly to basic members. In those cases the Premium subscription buys a license to act as collection agent and Land channel partner for the Lab.

[Caerolle Llewellyn]

9 hours ago, Jermanbite said:

Yes, here are some ideas which might work

* Non-premium users should not be allowed to rename themselves inworld

* Make "Basic Resident" the default surname for new basic accounts

* Make Basics pay to TP

* Remove Basics' ability to fly and/or script

* Restrict all Basics' draw distance automatically

* Tax Basics 15% of all transactions (inworld tips, gifted money, etc)

* Add a floating tag to all Basics, saying "Saving to be a Premium!" or "One day, I'll make it!"

* Log out all Basics after 2 hours inworld

* Charge Basics 50L for a photo or 100L for an upload

* Remove Basics' ability to file ARs

* Restrict Basics to only 100 items in inventory

* Restrict Basics from posting in the forums

Is that you, President Trump?

[Coffee Pancake]

Just now, Caerolle Llewellyn said:

Is that you, President Trump?

It appears to be a complex list of multisyllabic words, I have my doubts.

[DarkRavenWolfie]

22 hours ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

Title pretty much sums it up, how do you feel about the whole basic vs premium thing?

Should Linden Lab be more aggressive in getting basic users to upgrade?

they can be as agressive as they want to, they aint gonna get me to pay up more if they do so however

[Kyrah Abattoir]

1 minute ago, DarkRavenWolfie said:

they can be as agressive as they want to, they aint gonna get me to pay up more if they do so however

Allright, so what would make you?

[DarkRavenWolfie]

Just now, Kyrah Abattoir said:

Allright, so what would make you?

fixing up client performance to begin with, making the interface more user friendly, having sales on linden cash top up bought directly from LL and whatsnot

 

also giving discounts on yearly premium subscriptions

 

Im occasionally topping up Linden dollars every now and then

[Kyrah Abattoir]

1 minute ago, DarkRavenWolfie said:

fixing up client performance to begin with, making the interface more user friendly, having sales on linden cash top up bought directly from LL and whatsnot
also giving discounts on yearly premium subscriptions

So what you are saying is that they should pay you to be premium?

[DarkRavenWolfie]

11 hours ago, Beth Macbain said:

I know I'll get shouted down and/or mocked for this, but I think it's really sad that no one thinks that paying for premium is just a nice way to pay LL for the platform they've provided us. It's all me, me, me.

LL is a business, and it would hurt me, and a lot of other people, greatly if they went out of business. Right now, I'm paying 27 cents a day for my premium account. They could quadruple it and I'd be pretty chill about it. Whatever the super premium costs, I'm already planning on upgrading not matter what the benefits are. That's not what it's about for me. It's about keeping one of my favorite businesses from shutting their doors.

#unapologeticpollyanna4lyfe

I think of it but i cannot afford it

 

i occasionally top up Linden Dollars so thats that

[Yhishara Cerise]

On ‎7‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 2:16 AM, KanryDrago said:

Good idea and us freeloading basics will listen to glee to the whine of the creators who want to sell things incorporating this new killer feature and realise they are fighting over about 10%* or so of SL's population as customers.

I am sure the Lab will also welcome the drop in income from freeloading basics who can't match the premiums if the feature is that killer. For example if they had gated mesh to premium and we had to use standard avi's how many do you think would still be hanging around.

We may not be predictable income but we are income for the lab and I wouldnt be surprised if over half the lab income is derived from basic players via rental payments

*figure is anecdotal but probably reasonably close based on people I have met over the years and how many are premium

Agreed.   For something as prevalent as mesh is they can't "gate' it from anyone no matter what subscription model they are under. 

[Kyrah Abattoir]

11 minutes ago, Yhishara Cerise said:

Agreed.   For something as prevalent as mesh is they can't "gate' it from anyone no matter what subscription model they are under. 

I don't think it's unreasonable to require creators (and why not sellers?) to be premium.

Edited July 9, 2019 by Kyrah Abattoir