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

[Yhishara Cerise]

21 hours ago, Mollymews said:

this is the thing.  I don't think there is a feature that would be universally desired to the point where it would prompt a huge number of people to buy a premium account

there are different things that some people would pay for without wanting or paying for the other things.  It might be that the sum of the different things could add up to a huge number of people.  What those things are would I think be more achievable.  Things like Merchant benefit, Builder benefit, Full Region benefit, Homestead benefit, Last Name benefit, Linden Home benefit. Old Mainland Tier benefit, etc etc. and similar which could be purchased independently

a radical change could be to downgrade the Premium account - to 300L stipend and that's all, for a significantly reduced price  Then only this new Premium account can purchase the added benefits

 

edit add. The thing with this, is that it reduces the current Basic vs Premium account debate to one about L$ being the base on which SL rests

edit more:  The question then becomes: Why would you not upgrade from Basic to Premium when you get 300L$ cheaper than you would buying it on the Lindex ?

I like this idea of having a menu of perks you can choose from to customize your subscription model, that way you can build it to suit your needs / wants in Second Life.  For that Linden Lab would only need to think of things people do in Second Life and create the list based on those.

[Kyrah Abattoir]

4 minutes ago, Yhishara Cerise said:

I like this idea of having a menu of perks you can choose from to customize your subscription model, that way you can build it to suit your needs / wants in Second Life.  For that Linden Lab would only need to think of things people do in Second Life and create the list based on those.

This is not how subscription models work, It's a package deal, otherwise it ends up being abused.

[Mollymews]

36 minutes ago, Yhishara Cerise said:

I like this idea of having a menu of perks you can choose from to customize your subscription model, that way you can build it to suit your needs / wants in Second Life.  For that Linden Lab would only need to think of things people do in Second Life and create the list based on those.

Grumpity Linden said a while ago that they will probably not do this, in the context of the new Super Premium package that LL is working on to be available soon

the thought here is more if LL were to make it simple for Basic to upgrade to Premium, then what is the lowest common denominator that Basic and Premium accounts have in common that costs real money ?  Then that common thing is pretty much L$.  And on this line of thought, if the Basic Premium was a L$ allowance cheaper than could be got on the Lindex, then how would the other things that could be sold for real money be offered

 

[Mollymews]

39 minutes ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

This is not how subscription models work, It's a package deal, otherwise it ends up being abused.

i am not sure how a list of pre-pay offers could be abused. There might be but I can't think of any ways to abuse this

[Yhishara Cerise]

20 hours ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

I was only talking about the upload of mesh not their use, THAT would be truly ridiculous.

Thank you for explaining.   That is how I initially read it that you were talking about it's use.

[Kyrah Abattoir]

1 hour ago, Mollymews said:

i am not sure how a list of pre-pay offers could be abused. There might be but I can't think of any ways to abuse this

Well I can.

[Mollymews]

2 minutes ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

Well I can.

go on then :😻

[Kyrah Abattoir]

8 minutes ago, Mollymews said:

go on then :😻

I'll paraphrase it:

"Hey I saw that you got a 'buy 1 donut get 1 free' offer, can i just have the free one?"

[Mollymews]

3 minutes ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

I'll paraphrase it:

"Hey I saw that you got a 'buy 1 donut get 1 free' offer, can i just have the free one?"

yes you can have the free.  Don't upgrade to the basic Premium offer

Edited July 9, 2019 by Mollymews
the free

[Mollymews]

basic account = free donut

want more than a free donut then prepay for it

the point of subscriptions is to get people to prepay

[Mollymews]

😺

[Beth Macbain]

10 minutes ago, Mollymews said:

basic account = free donut

want more than a free donut then prepay for it

the point of subscriptions is to get people to prepay

Wait... y'all got donuts?!

@Ebbe Linden, I demand fair distribution of donuts for ALL! This donut inequality will not stand, man. 

GIVE ME MY DONUT!

[Love Zhaoying]

11 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

Wait... y'all got donuts?!

@Ebbe Linden, I demand fair distribution of donuts for ALL! This donut inequality will not stand, man. 

GIVE ME MY DONUT!

*makes a torus-shaped prim and gives it*

[CharmingLittleDevil]

Honestly, premium has little to no appeal. The perks are lacking and any "social superiority" it has, is almost nonexistent as I haven't seen a way to tell basic users from premium users unless they bring it up themselves. Although that may just be that I'm not observant enough haha. 

With the amount I put into SL, I pondered getting premium but it just didn't seem worth it. I can get twice the amount of L's with the money I put into premium and the only other feature that interest me is the home but I was not impressed by viewing a few friend's home that have premium and would prefer the rental I have now. 

Even for someone like me, who invests a lot of time and money into second life (which seems funny to say but I just enjoy doing it and have tons of fun on SL.) Premium is lacking and even if they were more aggressive with advertising it to me, I would continue to pass until the perks were more interesting.

[Ted McGregor]

32 minutes ago, CharmingLittleDevil said:

Honestly, premium has little to no appeal.

Premium is lacking and even if they were more aggressive with advertising it to me, I would continue to pass until the perks were more interesting.

Although I went premium now and only for just one month, I concur.

[Mahala Roviana]

I think it's worth mentioning that all those basic accounts are what keep rentals in business. In that way, they contribute to the SL economy in a way that is equal to having a premium account.

[Janet Voxel]

Well, when you think about it. The popular trend in gaming (I know, I know it’s nert a gaem!) has been free to play with micro transactions. So maybe, trying to get more premium subs isn’t necessarily the answer. 

The model of opt in premium or ftp(with micro transactions) seems to be working. 

[Kyrah Abattoir]

25 minutes ago, janetosilio said:

The model of opt in premium or ftp(with micro transactions) seems to be working. 

It works if you need a large playerbase for your game to even function, but income typically doesn't follow and is basically resting on the back of a minority of "whales" (players who will spend hundred of dollars yearly).

It is a model that has been devaluating the work of game developers and attracting people who literally expect videogames to be free and who have no intention to ever give you a dime for your work.

(this is NOT related to SL but the game dev in me had to correct that statement)

 

In this regard SL is a lot more nuanced.

Edited July 9, 2019 by Kyrah Abattoir

[Parhelion Palou]

3 hours ago, Mahala Roviana said:

I think it's worth mentioning that all those basic accounts are what keep rentals in business. In that way, they contribute to the SL economy in a way that is equal to having a premium account.

Those basic accounts also own the regions being rented. Those are worth a lot more than a premium account.

[Janet Voxel]

3 hours ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

It works if you need a large playerbase for your game to even function, but income typically doesn't follow and is basically resting on the back of a minority of "whales" (players who will spend hundred of dollars yearly).

It is a model that has been devaluating the work of game developers and attracting people who literally expect videogames to be free and who have no intention to ever give you a dime for your work.

(this is NOT related to SL but the game dev in me had to correct that statement)

 

In this regard SL is a lot more nuanced.

Yes, but the opt in premium or free to play with micro transactions (mp, rent from landlords, etc) has already been in place in SL for years and is working is what I’m saying.

 

[Kyrah Abattoir]

56 minutes ago, janetosilio said:

Yes, but the opt in premium or free to play with micro transactions (mp, rent from landlords, etc) has already been in place in SL for years and is working is what I’m saying.

It does, but you can't argue that the whole rental business pretty much exists to circumvent the normal land ownership system.

[Fionalein]

27 minutes ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

It does, but you can't argue that the whole rental business pretty much exists to circumvent the normal land ownership system.

That and inexistant mainland covenants... if money were no issue I'd always prefer a well managed private cluster.

[Orwar]

5 minutes ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

It does, but you can't argue that the whole rental business pretty much exists to circumvent the normal land ownership system.

   But is it a good circumvention for the end-consumer?

   If you want to rent a region, the pricing for one of the larger land barons is L$17,299/week. If you want to rent a region through LL, it's a $349 setup fee and $229/month for the maintenance - if you rent the equivalent of a full region on the mainland, it's $175/month in tier. To buy L$17,299 (right now) is $69.72.

   If we break that down:

• Renting a region through a land baron is L$2,471/day, or $9.96 per day (assuming you buy the L$ for a week's tier at the current rate).
• If we assume a month is 30 days, the fee is $7.63 per day, meaning you would earn back the setup fee in 150 days compared to renting the land through a third party.
• Again, going with a month of 30 days, tier for the equivalent of a full region is $5.83 per day.

   The prices will vary with the exchange rate of both L$ and (for us foreigners at least) the USD, and depending on where you live, VAT may apply. Either way, even with a 25% VAT and with bank fees for currency exchange, if you're determined to own land in Second Life in the long term, going through LL is cheaper. As for whether you want a premium account or if you want to pay for land tier only is up to how much land you want and whether the other premium benefits are useful to you.

[KanryDrago]

36 minutes ago, Orwar said:

   But is it a good circumvention for the end-consumer?

   If you want to rent a region, the pricing for one of the larger land barons is L$17,299/week. If you want to rent a region through LL, it's a $349 setup fee and $229/month for the maintenance - if you rent the equivalent of a full region on the mainland, it's $175/month in tier. To buy L$17,299 (right now) is $69.72.

   If we break that down:

• Renting a region through a land baron is L$2,471/day, or $9.96 per day (assuming you buy the L$ for a week's tier at the current rate).
• If we assume a month is 30 days, the fee is $7.63 per day, meaning you would earn back the setup fee in 150 days compared to renting the land through a third party.
• Again, going with a month of 30 days, tier for the equivalent of a full region is $5.83 per day.

   The prices will vary with the exchange rate of both L$ and (for us foreigners at least) the USD, and depending on where you live, VAT may apply. Either way, even with a 25% VAT and with bank fees for currency exchange, if you're determined to own land in Second Life in the long term, going through LL is cheaper. As for whether you want a premium account or if you want to pay for land tier only is up to how much land you want and whether the other premium benefits are useful to you.

Its also down to whether you want mainland. Frankly don't want to ever have land there

[Kyrah Abattoir]

Yeah but mainland doesn't have setup fees. Setup fees on islands exist to discourage people from spawning regions "by the month" given that there is some grid-wide overhead to regions going in and out of existence.

3 minutes ago, KanryDrago said:

Its also down to whether you want mainland. Frankly don't want to ever have land there

Tt wasn't always a choice you know. It's not that bad nowadays.

Edited July 9, 2019 by Kyrah Abattoir