DISAPPOINTMENT IN CHARGING TO USE THE EVENTS CALENDAR

[Fauve Aeon]

1 hour ago, Qie Niangao said:

... thus relegating premium subscribers to the role of recurring event scribes in service to their basic account friends. Yay?

For a small fee, ofc.

I’m sure someone with a premium alt already plans to build a business on it, charging less than it costs for free accounts to make their events but enough to make a profit. The SL world revolves on micropayments so why not, I guess? 

[Adam Spark]

4 hours ago, Selene Gregoire said:

I didn't just buy Ls though. I "owned" a homestead for years at $125 US per month. Which adds up to $1500 US annually. That may not seem like much to most but for us, it's a lot of money to shell out every month when your income is below national poverty level. That is why I can never afford to live alone again. 

Oh absolutely. Buying Ls is just one example. I just picked that one because I think it would be the easiest for the lab to measure and equate it to premium, since they handle the purchases of Ls. I wish there was some way LL could track and measure the contribution we make in other indirect ways and reward like they do premium payments.

[Selene Gregoire]

11 minutes ago, Adam Spark said:

Oh absolutely. Buying Ls is just one example. I just picked that one because I think it would be the easiest for the lab to measure and equate it to premium, since they handle the purchases of Ls. I wish there was some way LL could track and measure the contribution we make in other indirect ways and reward like they do premium payments.

I seriously doubt they would even consider the idea. For some unknown reason (excuse), LL doesn't seem to think it would be a good idea to give basics any kind of rewards. To them, we're second class residents and don't deserve anything. They'd be more than happy to take from us though as they attempted fairly recently with announcing they were going to take groups from basics yet increase groups for premiums. Which made no sense at all given the issues with chat lag in groups, among other issues like region crossings. Decreasing the amount for basics and then turning right around and increasing it for premiums wasn't alleviating the problem, it was exacaberating it. Not to mention pissing basics off. There were some people who even went so far as to quit SL because of that. Can't say I blame them.

[Adam Spark]

10 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

I seriously doubt they would even consider the idea. For some unknown reason (excuse), LL doesn't seem to think it would be a good idea to give basics any kind of rewards. To them, we're second class residents and don't deserve anything. They'd be more than happy to take from us though as they attempted fairly recently with announcing they were going to take groups from basics yet increase groups for premiums. Which made no sense at all given the issues with chat lag in groups, among other issues like region crossings. Decreasing the amount for basics and then turning right around and increasing it for premiums wasn't alleviating the problem, it was exacaberating it. Not to mention pissing basics off. There were some people who even went so far as to quit SL because of that. Can't say I blame them.

Yeah, I'm glad they scratched that idea. That upset me too. I'm fine with a few features being optional for a fee or a premium payment. Just a shame when they take from the rest to try and lure them to premium.

[Fauve Aeon]

I’m not in favor of taking working features away from membership tiers, free or premium, without a very good reason and an explanation.  It would create uncertainty and an unreliable vibe...making us feel like we can’t depend on the benefits of our chosen membership tier. But they listened to people over the basic membership groups, none were reduced, and they have never taken away any basic membership benefits, have they? Correct me if I’m wrong, I joined in 2008 so before that time is not really on my radar.

Diminished stipend over time but that was for new sign-ups getting a lower stipend, they did not reduce it on older accounts. 

I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with a for-profit company rewarding their ongoing paying subscribers...adding more value to premium features, making new paid membership tiers. They did raise our premium membership rates. I also don’t think its unreasonable for a company to keep a free membership at a minimum benefit cap, and develop more features for ongoing paid subscribers, especially those who renew annually, sometimes paying several years at once. So the membership sales were good to see, so was the ability to grandfather the regions. Things like that.

The Events Calendar was not working as it was supposed to and I think there was a chance LL might have just ended it completely instead of deciding to keep it going but charge for listings. The new changes can certainly be challenged, commented on or protested but IMO it’s OK for LL to take a service that had basically become useless with spam events and incentivize it to both generate micropayment revenue and to renew the potential for it to become useful to residents again. And I don’t think it’s unfair to give a more generous perk in listing fees to premium members. The basic listing fee of L$50 is still a micropayment, scalable and an opt-in feature, certainly not a requirement to advertise there at all in order to hold your events! If a basic account holder has one event per week, it’s still less than $1USD per MONTH to publish it, and if your events aren’t turning over enough in venue tips to cover that, then it probably needs to be considered a hobby expense that helps you to play out your fantasy of being a club owner, event producer, dj for tips, etc. I’ll wager many club and venue owners don’t break even...just like most dj’s won’t earn a real minimum wage, most SL models don’t get a wage that even covers what they spend on their heads, bodies, hair, skins, makeup, walks etc...live performers are a different story, they usually ARE paid more, and I don’t think it will be much of a hardship for them, $L50 on a L$5000+tips gig will be OK. 

We all know that LL will never please everyone, I don’t really think they intend to, it’s just not going to be profitable enough to serve every niche membership demographic and really, as a privately held company, they are free to define and pursue (and yes, cater more to) their targeted customer... but I also can’t help but feel that part of the reason they aren’t as forthcoming to the general populace with news and development is because of how hard and harshly the criticism often bites them when they do share more. 

[Jaylinbridges]

46 minutes ago, Fauve Aeon said:

The Events Calendar was not working as it was supposed to and I think there was a chance LL might have just ended it completely instead of deciding to keep it going but charge for listings. The new changes can certainly be challenged, commented on or protested but IMO it’s OK for LL to take a service that had basically become useless with spam events and incentivize it to both generate micropayment revenue and to renew the potential for it to become useful to residents again.

The SL Events Calendar has a Search engine.  It works just fine - learn to use it.  The new listing charges have not changed unfiltered SL Events one iota.  Here is tonight's "entertainment" category:

And still 21 pages to page through, mostly sex spam.

Edited January 10, 2020 by Jaylinbridges

[Fauve Aeon]

44 minutes ago, Jaylinbridges said:

The SL Events Calendar has a Search engine.  It works just fine - learn to use it.  The new listing charges have not changed unfiltered SL Events one iota.  Here is tonight's "entertainment" category:

And still 21 pages to page through, mostly sex spam.

I know how to use search. I know how to filter my own maturity ratings to weed out adult content if I don’t wish to see it. I never expected the adult entertainment listings to go away, I’m sure adult events will continue to thrive in adult venues. Yes your screenshot shows maybe 2 spam that break the listing rules. But I don’t see any that break the Community Guidelines except for the 2 venues that repeated (spammed) too frequently. 
I know many people are not agreeing with the Events Calendar changes. I don’t think we’ve seen the full effect of the changes yet, it’s not like they cleared the calendar at any point, I’m sure many of these events were scheduled far in advance, and then as many more as possible were stuffed in hurriedly before the changes to charge for listings took effect too. I rolled my calendar in the ‘list an event’ interface and it looks like events can be scheduled pretty far in advance.
I expect it will take a while for previously scheduled free listings to cycle out but as they do, I’m hoping to see a reduction in repeat-spam of events. 

[Paul Hexem]

12 hours ago, Selene Gregoire said:

I hope LL is ready for the fallout from that. 

Frankly, I'm about at the end of my rope being treated like a second class citizen by LL simply because I don't have the kind of money everyone else seems to have. Really pisses me off too after all the thousands of USD I've thrown at SL over 16 years. They have no appreciation for those who have been here a long time and contributed to their bank accounts, directly of indirectly.

Honestly Linden Lab, you're 20 years old. Grow up!

To be fair, SL is odd in that it doesn't limit basic accounts much.

Every other MMO out there has huge differences between paid and free accounts- if they allow free accounts at all. Imagine if you couldn't use local chat or your inventory was limited or certain UI features were locked... That's the reality of what most MMO's do.

Free accounts have it pretty good in SL, even with these changes.

[Jaylinbridges]

17 minutes ago, Fauve Aeon said:

Yes your screenshot shows maybe 2 spam that break the listing rules. But I don’t see any that break the Community Guidelines except for the 2 venues that repeated (spammed) too frequently. 

Not according to the SL Events own rules.  I see four legitimate events listed out of 15 on that page.  "BJs |ALL DAY| Our gems are ready to wrap your lips around you, ***** give them..." is NOT an event in my opinion, OR in SL's opinion.  Read the posting rules below and tell me again how many events are violating SL's rules.  What is apparent is SL is not enforcing their own rules, and the extra charges are just extra pocket change for them, that are doing nothing to stop the spam.

SL Event posting rules quoted exactly:

Community: Events

Event Posting Rules

Please read and agree to these event posting rules before posting an event. Be sure to click the "I Agree" button below to continue.

PLEASE NOTE: Advertisements for commercial products or services will be deleted from the events calendar. Repeated misuse of the event posting system for this purpose may lead to disciplinary action against the poster's account. See more details on this policy below.

You may currently post up to 15 events per day (including event edits). In addition, your friends will now be able to post events on a parcel that you own. However, you must set that parcel to show up in Find Places as a Hangout. If your parcel is not set up as a Hangout, the parcel will not be available to your friends, but will continue to be subject to other availability rules.

To further clarify, you may post an event on a parcel if:

• You personally own the parcel and it is at least 512 square meters in size.
• The parcel is owned by a group that you are an owner of, or that you have the 'host events' ability for, and is at least 512 square meters.
• The parcel is in a private island that you are on the access list of, and is at least 512 square meters.
• The parcel belongs to Governor Linden and is set to show in Search Places as a Hangout.
• The parcel belongs to a friend, it is set to show in Search Places as a Hangout, and is at least 512 square meters.

An event is defined as a special group activity that is led by a host on land owned either by the host or by a group the host belongs to. Examples include discussions, group meetings, hosted dances, classes, tours, and competitions.

An event is framed by a beginning and an end time. Thus '24hr Sales' are not events.

The 'Commercial' category was created for the purpose of grand openings, demonstrations, product launches etc. Each of these types of events should have a clear beginning and end time attached. Otherwise, they belong in the Second Life Classifieds, not the Events calendar. Posting events that are simply advertisements will not be acceptable.

The use of alts to post more than 15 events per day will not be permitted either.

The event descriptions need to conform to General guidelines, consistent with the overall Second Life website policy - so no overt sex descriptions; sex for money, sex chat, simulated sex, strong violence, or anything else broadly offensive.

Moderate events must be listed as Moderate, and held in M-rated sims.

Respect the work of others -- respect copyrights and trademarks! Event hosts are responsible for making sure that all applicable rights and permissions are in order. See Digital Millennium Copyright Act for more information about Copyrights and Second Life.

SPAM (multiple events posted in a single day that do not comply with the rules above) WILL NOT BE TOLERATED and will be SUBJECT TO DISCIPLINARY ACTION. Please do not use the Events calendar in any way which would inhibit its usefulness to the community at large. Failure to follow these guidelines may result in a SUSPENSION OF YOUR ACCOUNT.

By selecting the "I Agree" button, you agree to these rules for posting events to the Second Life event calendar.

 

 

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

35 minutes ago, Gadget Portal said:

To be fair, SL is odd in that it doesn't limit basic accounts much.

Every other MMO out there has huge differences between paid and free accounts- if they allow free accounts at all. Imagine if you couldn't use local chat or your inventory was limited or certain UI features were locked... That's the reality of what most MMO's do.

Free accounts have it pretty good in SL, even with these changes.

that is actually a good idea...or no adult access.  But SL would have to come up with I am just her for the sex membership.. perhaps charge by the hour?

[Selene Gregoire]

57 minutes ago, Gadget Portal said:

To be fair, SL is odd in that it doesn't limit basic accounts much.

Every other MMO out there has huge differences between paid and free accounts- if they allow free accounts at all. Imagine if you couldn't use local chat or your inventory was limited or certain UI features were locked... That's the reality of what most MMO's do.

Free accounts have it pretty good in SL, even with these changes.

Never said we didn't have it decent. I've been in games like that. Needless to say I never paid for an account much less continued to play the game because I simple did not and do not have that kind of money. There's $7 in my bank account right now to last me the rest of the month. I may lose my SNAP benefits and my Medicaid because certain people think I deserve to starve and die a horrible, painful death because I won't be able to get the life saving treatment I need.

It's not like I expect to get everything for nothing, but nickel and diming me to death isn't going to cut it and it damn sure isn't going to keep me as a customer. I had enough of staring at the 4 walls because I couldn't afford a tv much less cable in my younger days. I have no desire to go back to that but the way things are going, I might as well find a frikkin cave to live in for what little time I'll have left. Didn't do me a damn bit of good to start working at age 14.

Edited January 10, 2020 by Selene Gregoire

[Jaylinbridges]

For the skimmers who skip the fine print, I made it larger!

An event is defined as a special group activity that is led by a host on land owned either by the host or by a group the host belongs to. Examples include discussions, group meetings, hosted dances, classes, tours, and competitions.

An event is framed by a beginning and an end time. Thus '24hr Sales' are not events.

The 'Commercial' category was created for the purpose of grand openings, demonstrations, product launches etc. Each of these types of events should have a clear beginning and end time attached. Otherwise, they belong in the Second Life Classifieds, not the Events calendar. Posting events that are simply advertisements will not be acceptable.

The use of alts to post more than 15 events per day will not be permitted either.

The event descriptions need to conform to General guidelines, consistent with the overall Second Life website policy - so no overt sex descriptions; sex for money, sex chat, simulated sex, strong violence, or anything else broadly offensive.

Moderate events must be listed as Moderate, and held in M-rated sims.

SPAM (multiple events posted in a single day that do not comply with the rules above) WILL NOT BE TOLERATED and will be SUBJECT TO DISCIPLINARY ACTION. Please do not use the Events calendar in any way which would inhibit its usefulness to the community at large. Failure to follow these guidelines may result in a SUSPENSION OF YOUR ACCOUNT.

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by Jaylinbridges

[Fauve Aeon]

3 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

nickel and diming me to death isn't going to cut it and it damn sure isn't going to keep me as a customer. 

A big part of what is the public, visible and known part of the LL business model is that SL actually IS built on micropayments, though, thousands and thousands of micro transactions, mostly small fees and payments...and it was designed that way from the ground up, right? Everything from the small rent on each 512 of server space ‘land’ to the MP commissions to the cash-out fees and in particular the Linden Dollar buying fees (which have steadily risen). Why would this be any different? 
 

I think I understand that this topic is probably very loaded, may be about more than the L$50, and is likely about feeling as if it’s the straw breaking the camel’s back...but on the other hand, I’m also seeing that L$50 is literally twenty cents USD. 

[Fauve Aeon]

Regarding the search and filters: I do not see any of the adult events unless I am logged in and have my filters set to show me adult content. This is what it looks like with maturity ratings on general. 

From the maturity ratings page, a paste:

Classifieds and Events Tabs

New classifieds and events are filtered for maturity content. If you attempt to create a classified or event using adult terms on non-adult land, you will receive an error message. If you find a classified or event listing in an inappropriate maturity category through search, please file an abuse report.

 

edit...and here’s with both general and moderate checked...I’m not seeing any adult events 

Edited January 10, 2020 by Fauve Aeon

[Jaylinbridges]

The Adult listings for sex for sale do not follow the SL Event listing rules. You seem to be avoiding that issue. 

I have suggested people looking for real events, not 24/7 escort, Cam/phone sex and 24/7 BJ's only check off the G and M ratings,  about a dozen times already in the past month. That is using the filters.  Most here don't agree with that, claiming their music club on an Adult sim would be missed.  And again, most of the Adult listings are not SL Events - as defined by Linden Lab.  They belong in Classified Ads.

So why is LL refusing to enforce their own rules, which would basically eliminate the SL Event spam?  The reason seems obvious - they can now charge $50/event for the non-events - more income, so ignore their own rules.  If 75% of all event listings are really non-events, well that's a tidy amount of income for someone, about $2500 USD/mo.  Enough to cover 1/2 the cost of a San Francisco 1 bedroom flat.

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by Jaylinbridges

[Selene Gregoire]

49 minutes ago, Fauve Aeon said:

A big part of what is the public, visible and known part of the LL business model is that SL actually IS built on micropayments, though, thousands and thousands of micro transactions, mostly small fees and payments...and it was designed that way from the ground up, right? Everything from the small rent on each 512 of server space ‘land’ to the MP commissions to the cash-out fees and in particular the Linden Dollar buying fees (which have steadily risen). Why would this be any different? 
 

I think I understand that this topic is probably very loaded, may be about more than the L$50, and is likely about feeling as if it’s the straw breaking the camel’s back...but on the other hand, I’m also seeing that L$50 is literally twenty cents USD. 

I'm not allowed more than $1300 US gross income a month if I want to keep eating. Can you pay your rent/mortgage and all your bills on that? I can't. I also live in one of the cheapest places possible in this state. My rent goes up every freakin year and I can't afford to move this hunk of junk I live in. A minimum of $10,000 is what it would take after finding either another park that has space or buying land to put it on, none of which I have the money to do. If I sell it I become homeless in short order. 1980 models don't bring near the amount of money you might think. I can't work until I get treatment and I have no idea when that will be because I have other health issues that have to be taken care of first.

Some of you just don't have any idea just how good you really have it. 

JFC on a broken pogo stick what do you want from me? My freakin life history? Screw you and the horse you rode in on, the horse you ride out on and any horse you ever freakin ride.

Edited January 10, 2020 by Selene Gregoire

[Fauve Aeon]

6 minutes ago, Jaylinbridges said:

The Adult listings for sex for sale do not follow the SL Event listing rules. You seem to be avoiding that issue. 

I have suggested people looking for real events, not 24/7 escort, Cam/phone sex and 24/7 BJ's only check off the G and M ratings.  About a dozen times already in the past month. That is using the filters.  Most here don't agree with that, claiming their music club on an Adult sim would be missed.  And again, most of the Adult listings are not SL Events - as defined by Linden Lab.  They belong in Classified Ads.

 

I’m not avoiding any issue, if you think something is not correct, file an abuse report on it or go clarify it once and for all with LL. If these are events where it’s tips only, and most are, I’m assuming...then nothing is officially ‘for sale’. you don’t have to LIKE that at all, but it’s an important piece of information. could it be a technicality? Maybe. Is it sound enough to allow the events on those grounds? Probably. 

But tell me, which do you think is more likely.....that ALL these adult events are not following the rules? Yet just somehow they are magically allowed to be there....or...that you might, just maybe, be mis-interpreting the rules? 

 Once again...
Classifieds and Events Tabs

New classifieds and events are filtered for maturity content. If you attempt to create a classified or event using adult terms on non-adult land, you will receive an error message. If you find a classified or event listing in an inappropriate maturity category through search, please file an abuse report.

so...adult terms in the adult category in events listings for events that are held on adult land *seem* to be ok. Please check. I think you will find you are mistaken and only the multiple postings and possibly a very small number of event listings will be rule-breaking. Only LL can tell you for sure. 

I don’t participate in or attend sex events so I don’t really have that dog in this Particular fight to stump for but I think you are operating on a mistaken premise. 

[Fauve Aeon]

18 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

JFC on a broken pogo stick what do you want from me? My freakin life history? Screw you and the horse you rode in on, the horse you ride out on and any horse you ever freakin ride.

Respectfully ma’am, I do not want anything from you, now or ever. I’m very sorry you are in a bad situation. None of us caused that, so venting on me in a thread where I’m discussing (in an appropriate place for it) a 20 cent optional transaction fee in a cartoon online game that no one is required to even play, isn’t quite right. I’m not some heartless git, but I think with what you described, you too have bigger fish to fry than this as well. I wish you the best and I won’t be replying to you any further. 

[Jaylinbridges]

20 minutes ago, Fauve Aeon said:

But tell me, which do you think is more likely.....that ALL these adult events are not following the rules? Yet just somehow they are magically allowed to be there....or...that you might, just maybe, be mis-interpreting the rules? 

Here are the rules, for the third time tonight.  They are not events. There is no start and end time. There is no hostess or entertainer, just some on-call escort. Escorts and 24/7 BJ's are not events, well maybe for the recipient, but not events as defined by LL.  If you can't figure this out, I give up -  We should not be the ones that enforce LL's specific rules.  They don't care because it's more money for them.

An event is defined as a special group activity that is led by a host on land owned either by the host or by a group the host belongs to. Examples include discussions, group meetings, hosted dances, classes, tours, and competitions.

An event is framed by a beginning and an end time. Thus '24hr Sales' are not events.

The 'Commercial' category was created for the purpose of grand openings, demonstrations, product launches etc. Each of these types of events should have a clear beginning and end time attached. Otherwise, they belong in the Second Life Classifieds, not the Events calendar. Posting events that are simply advertisements will not be acceptable.

The use of alts to post more than 15 events per day will not be permitted either.

The event descriptions need to conform to General guidelines, consistent with the overall Second Life website policy - so no overt sex descriptions; sex for money, sex chat, simulated sex, strong violence, or anything else broadly offensive.

Moderate events must be listed as Moderate, and held in M-rated sims.

Edited January 10, 2020 by Jaylinbridges

[Alwin Alcott]

58 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

 My freakin life history? Screw you and the horse you rode in on, the horse you ride out on and any horse you ever freakin ride.

calm down? ... you never had any problem to write your drives and reasons here for everybody to read.

[Fauve Aeon]

4 hours ago, Jaylinbridges said:

The SL Events Calendar has a Search engine.  It works just fine - learn to use it.  The new listing charges have not changed unfiltered SL Events one iota.  Here is tonight's "entertainment" category:

And still 21 pages to page through, mostly sex spam.

Look at the highlighted event in your own screenshot. 
‘I see a 12 hour time frame. That means they put in a start time and an end time
there is a hostess listed, there is no mention of anything for sale. Cover charge? FREE. It’s on an Adult region. There is no sex mentioned. No ‘bits’ in the photo. 
‘so....? How exactly does it break the event listing rules? 

 

[Alwin Alcott]

2 minutes ago, Fauve Aeon said:

How exactly does it break the event listing rules?

a normal business routine in a whore house is not a event, unless sitting on a bar stool till a madam is free is a event

[Fauve Aeon]

9 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

a normal business routine in a whore house is not a event, unless sitting on a bar stool till a madam is free is a event

I don’t have interest in the adult listings, but do you know that in many places where selling sex is illegal...that they only define ‘sex’  as ‘opposite sex, phallus in v@g!nal opening activity’? And that most anything else is fair game?

Is it more likely that LL is just turning a complete blind eye to hundreds of monthly event listings, or more likely that they put enough rules in place that cover the legal aspect for their company and then let the rest be up to the residents? 

Edited January 10, 2020 by Fauve Aeon

[Drayke Newall]

 

6 hours ago, Fauve Aeon said:

I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with a for-profit company rewarding their ongoing paying subscribers...adding more value to premium features, making new paid membership tiers. They did raise our premium membership rates. I also don’t think its unreasonable for a company to keep a free membership at a minimum benefit cap, and develop more features for ongoing paid subscribers, especially those who renew annually, sometimes paying several years at once. So the membership sales were good to see, so was the ability to grandfather the regions. Things like that.

Probably going to regret posting this... but let me preface this firstly with I am in no way trying to be patronising or mean or those sort of things of which I am more than likely going to be blamed for from this reply, however this whole premium 'fanboyism' of late is getting a little on my nerves. This, with the whole premium deserve better rewards or LL should support premium members more, or its good basic users need to pay more lindens in fees etc., because they don't pay a yearly subscription and we do. This same rhetoric is evident in LL announcements of late diminishing basic users as well as their insistence in putting basic members behind premium members as far as accessibility in SL goes. I also have no clue how much you have spent on SL and whilst I quoted you this below response isn't directed at you.

Hopefully this post will also help LL and perhaps others to see WHY they cannot remove their reliance on land ownership and basic users and replace it with generic premium memberships of little offerings in comparison to what a basic user needs or can obtain without premium.

I am also sure I am not the average basic user and know many just go by playing dress up and socialising and spending a little here and there, however also keep in mind many basic users are known to be big store owners, big creators and big land owners all without paying for premium. I am also not trying to brag or flash about, but just simply do a comparison the best I can based on me.

I have been in second life since before the 2006 hype, with this account now my main. So with that said, if I was paying for premium yearly for 14 years I would have spent approx. $1188 USD for that premium (note I am using the increased premium rates for the whole 14 years that you pay for premium now) and lets chuck in $5000 USD for spending money over those 14 years. That means over 14 years the 'average' (loosely implied) premium user has 'supported' LL and their SL venture with a total of $6188 USD. Cool, thanks, glad you can enjoy second life and am also glad you have supported it with premium so that you, I and others can benefit from a great system/platform.

Now lets however look at how much I have provided to LL, as a basic user, to fund premium users experience.

Over those years here and there on different accounts I have owned 2 full regions and 3 homesteads of which the last I stopped paying for about 4 years ago. For the 2 full regions (at different times) I had those over 4 years which means I have paid approx. a total of $14,160 (old monthly price amount) and the 3 homesteads (at different times) over the course of 3 years totalling approx. $7020. On top of that around $3800 in region set up fees and then probably around $20k USD in linden purchases for furnishing those sims, upload fees, general SL fees and general spending etc. That means I have paid over $44,900 USD over approximately 14 years. I do it for fun because I can, budgeted for it and never wanted anything in return other than to have fun and be allowed to have fun without to much restriction.

Now using the above figures, the above hypothetical premium members spending money pays for approximately 4 premium user accounts yet the amount I as a basic member have spent over the years (without including the few years I was premium and owned a few 1/4 sims) pays for the equivalent of 37 premium member accounts.

I get that premium needs to offer incentives to make people buy it, you can just read my post history on my feelings towards premium and how I agree it should be tiered etc to make SL better, however placing restrictions or annoyances in areas which directly impact basic users and their ability to conduct business, earn money or have fun such as this random unannounced recurring event system is not the way to do it.

That said, it is also the greed LL have been showing as of late that shows through more than ever. Since when is a "method to reduce event calendar spam" the equivalent worth of L$50 for basic or L$10 for premium. If this was to stop event spam as they announced it to be they would have placed the same fee for everyone not make it a marketing strategy to get people on premium. When most clubs that do spam the event calendar are located on mainland or zadrina where you are required to have a premium subscription to be there it certainly shows LL's true intentions behind this move.

Edited January 10, 2020 by Drayke Newall

[Qie Niangao]

To make explicit what I think most have tacitly intuited: If Linden Lab is taking an action with the intent of raising revenue, you can be pretty sure the charge will be in US$s. If the action is intended to shape behavior, it will be denominated in L$s. That's why upload fees, for example, are in L$s and tier is in US$s. They can book the US$ income directly, but the L$ charges are only realized as income when additional new L$s are sold on the LindeX to meet demand indirectly created by the charge.

It's a little complicated in this "recurring event" situation where the L$ fee is different for "Premium" and "Basic" users: the Premium subscription fee is charged in US$s, so the behavior being shaped by the L$ charge is to encourage more US$ subscriptions. Premium revenue itself is complex because it includes that L$-denominated stipend -- competing directly with those new L$s sold on the LindeX as a source of money supply. Put another way, the Premium subscription is mostly a way to monetize the game currency. Everything else about it is essentially marketing; businesswise the stipend is what Premium is for.

There's certainly room to debate whether a particular L$ fee is effective in shaping the behavior it's intended to affect, including in some cases whether it really encourages Premium subscriptions. I'm just saying that this is the machinery they're tweaking; there's no conspiracy to make lives miserable for Basic members, even if that's the outcome.