Paying Tier amid Covid19 crisis

[Dreams Riler]

Hi all, normally at Higher Ground Music Magazine, I focus on interviews with musicians/venue owners etc. I plan on speaking to some venue owners and musicians about this as well, but I wanted to find out in general how everyone is feeling and what you believe the outlook is given the coronavirus crisis.

Some countries are already on total lockdown, and it's looking more and more every day like that could happen in the US. I'm curious. When it comes to priorities, how are you dealing with land tier? I pay about $100 a month I guess in tier and then there's $100 a month for musicians as I only have shows once a month. That's roughly $200 a month give or take not including my premium membership and anything I purchase in SL. I don't know about you, but I have to seriously consider that it's possible I may have to give up my land until the crisis is over. If I am forced to shut down my daycare business in RL there won't be any income and certainly nothing extra to spend on a virtual world.

So, I'm curious... in places where lockdown has already occurred. Have you given up your in world land? If it happens where you live, are you prepared to give up your in world land? Will land owners be kind and allow us to keep our land and pay when things get better? Will LL let land owners keep their land free of charge until money is flowing again? These are all things I am very curious about. What say you?

[Alwin Alcott]

36 minutes ago, Dreams Riler said:

 Will land owners be kind and allow us to keep our land and pay when things get better?

who's gonna buy thém food and maintenance fees?
 

37 minutes ago, Dreams Riler said:

 When it comes to priorities, how are you dealing with land tier? I pay about $100 a month I guess in tier and then there's $100 a month for musicians as I only have shows once a month. That's roughly $200 a month give or take not including my premium membership and anything I purchase in SL.

answer in your first 5 words ..priorities and choice ..

100 dollar land and pay 100 dollars for one time shows... i would know what i would do.
 

[Dreams Riler]

Exactly. Same.

[Alwin Alcott]

4 minutes ago, Dreams Riler said:

Exactly. Same.

for me it's of course quite easy to say it that way, but in RL we see these things happening too.
Some banks in a few countries stopped inning mortgage payments, but that are banks.. nobody there is really waiting for the money. In SL it's much more a long chain before you would end at the bank. And for SL they would simply look at you and think....ehm yes.. now pay...
Your business is a different thing, that's directly involving people. Here in the Netherlands all pubs/restaurants/ in short all public venues heared today at 5.15 pm that around 6 pm all had to close their doors till april 6th.
All performing artists are touched by that too.. no income. Those businisses will get hit very hard.

[Chic Aeon]

I only rent now, no tier payments. This morning I checked my plots (four in all) and paid them up for the next three weeks or so.  This mostly iin case I get very sick.  My rent is low on all the plots so it isn't really a big deal for me.  I am under self-quarantine and suspect I will be fine.  

 

As far as I can see, the real world out there (and likely our virtual ones too) will be in turmoil for many months to come.  This isn't a short term thing, more like a watershed event in most of our lives. We will rebuild our real lives when we can -- we will hopefully rebuild our virtual ones too. 

 

My town (Oregon - USA) went into public closure yesterday. Some stores, bars and restaurants are still open but I suspect that they will be mandated closures on those soon as that is starting elsewhere.  Since I had been reading Ryan's blog (Vanity Fair here) my friends and I are all very prepared. I am thankful for that.

Welcome to the New Normal.

 

 

[Dreams Riler]

1 hour ago, Chic Aeon said:

I only rent now, no tier payments. This morning I checked my plots (four in all) and paid them up for the next three weeks or so.  This mostly iin case I get very sick.  My rent is low on all the plots so it isn't really a big deal for me.  I am under self-quarantine and suspect I will be fine.  

 

As far as I can see, the real world out there (and likely our virtual ones too) will be in turmoil for many months to come.  This isn't a short term thing, more like a watershed event in most of our lives. We will rebuild our real lives when we can -- we will hopefully rebuild our virtual ones too. 

 

My town (Oregon - USA) went into public closure yesterday. Some stores, bars and restaurants are still open but I suspect that they will be mandated closures on those soon as that is starting elsewhere.  Since I had been reading Ryan's blog (Vanity Fair here) my friends and I are all very prepared. I am thankful for that.

Welcome to the New Normal.

 

 

It's a surreal experience for sure. Life is going to be very different for a long time. As you said, when it's all said and done; we will rebuild our lives. Been thinking about that where my daycare is concerned. If I end up having to close and in that time parents find some other means that just works out for them; I will just start again. 

[Coffee Pancake]

3 hours ago, Dreams Riler said:

Will LL let land owners keep their land free of charge until money is flowing again? These are all things I am very curious about. What say you?

Not a chance.

Nor would I expect private landlords to carry their renters. The whole chain is pretty much hand to mouth.

[Lindal Kidd]

I am a small landlord in SL.  In a good month, I collect enough in rent to cover my tier, plus a little left over to support my shoe habit.  Lately, I have just been breaking even, or even been a little in the red.  It's not yet a huge concern, as I have enough of a cushion to pay tier for about six months.  But if my vacancy rate doesn't get better, or...eek!...gets worse, it won't be too many months before I'd have to think about selling my land.

Bottom line...I'm in a position to cut my tenants some slack, but can't keep it up forever.  I could afford to pay the tier myself, but that would make no sense.  I don't need that much land, just for myself.

I think a lot of people will cut their customers as much slack as they can...I can see banks forgoing interest or allowing some mortgage payments to be late, for a while.  I can see the government giving support in the form of tax relief, debt forgiveness, etc.  But it cannot go on forever; the economy must go on...or we are all in really terrible trouble.  We can all give up a lot of things...but not essentials like food, water, power.

One thing I would really like to see a lot more of: all these schools are closing, and for no one really knows how long.  But most of the kids have internet access.  The schools should be racing to put together remote education curricula.  There is no need to put educating the nation's children completely on hold.  Can't go to school?  Well, guess what, Junior...school's gonna come to YOU.

[Dreams Riler]

I agree. I thought I had heard where some schools do plan to go online. I know some schools are already thinking it's done for the year 😞 Kids see it as a vacation but they don't understand how behind it will make them. Good luck with your land. I'm going to hold onto to mine as long as I can but in the big scope of things... I'm not making money from it so... if it has to go for now, it will have to go. 

[Claireschen Hesten]

23 hours ago, Dreams Riler said:

Will land owners be kind and allow us to keep our land and pay when things get better?

It would be nice if they did but if people like you and i didn't keep up with any rent commitments we may have landlords would have to get rid of land if they can't afford tier. As long as i have enough L$ and the land i rent is being paid for i won't be giving it up

[Fauve Aeon]

I’m probably going to consolidate, stack up some yearly premium accounts in a land group to reap the 10% bonus and throw in whatever extra land their weekly stipend will Support. I think that’s the cheapest way to go if you don’t mind mainland, especially if the lab has another sale on premium memberships, I think you can pay up to three years worth on each account During discount periods?
 

If anyone knows a more economical way, please Chime in?

Edited March 17, 2020 by Fauve Aeon

[Christhiana]

On 3/16/2020 at 6:16 AM, Lindal Kidd said:

One thing I would really like to see a lot more of: all these schools are closing, and for no one really knows how long.  But most of the kids have internet access.  The schools should be racing to put together remote education curricula.  There is no need to put educating the nation's children completely on hold.  Can't go to school?  Well, guess what, Junior...school's gonna come to YOU.

My partner teaches at elementary school in The Netherlands. They are switching to online classes this week. 

[ArgontheDevil Ormega]

I'm fortunate in that my income is not dependant on leaving the house.  I worry about my RL friends, and SL friends who do not have that luxury.  Restaurants and bars run on very thin margins and while restaurants can keep some income with delivery I don't know of many bars that have that service.  It might become a new thing, who knows.

I imagine skype will be overloaded.

[Rabid Cheetah]

One thing I've yet to see folks mention is that so much of the rental process in SL is automated via rental boxes.  This means that, in some cases, landlords can't suspend rental fees even if they wanted to.  Well, I suppose they could de-rez the rental boxes.  I dunno...

[Lindal Kidd]

Those rental boxes are pretty easily reconfigured, Rabid.  With the brand I use, there is a website where you can modify the settings on an individual box, or do them all in a bunch.

[Marianne Little]

Land owners can not go long without income.

I wonder if this will hurt Second Life itself. On the one side, it is something to do from home, in lock down. On the other side, the very real risk of losing job and income, can make people go back to basic and sell/abandon land. One can always enjoy SL as Basic and without a place to live.

Maybe this would be a good time for LL to offer cheaper Premium. People are more eager to pay if they get a "good deal".

As long as this last, there are no cinemas open, no bars and restaurants... or they close early. Just now, I am barely using money in RL. I am in in quarantine.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Marianne Little
edited bc I changed a word and spelling

[karynmaria]

I own a parcel on mainland and I pay LL direct for it.  I have no plans on getting rid of it yet.  I also own several of the new LH and I pay monthly on all my alts for those.  That way if I need to let go of them I can right away.  Also I am very lucky that I get to work from home.  I do call center work at home and there is no chance at this point of getting laid off or them being out of work.  Everyone still has to call in about their cell phones!

[Pauck]

I was informed I’ll be working from home starting tomorrow, I feel very lucky indeed. One of the effects of the current situation is the drop of our currency value,  that makes any purchase in USD expensive. In my case I have premium until the end of the year. I released my Traditional Linden Home, got a Camper and I’m using the remaining tier to pay my mainland rent. 

[bigmoe Whitfield]

LL is not in a position to let land be free,  server costs in the data center are not cheap, paying employee's is not cheap,  paying fee's associated with running a business is not cheap,  keep another project on life support is not cheap.

 

I know in theory free land for a bit does sound good, but real life costs would 100% prevent this. 

[Marianne Little]

Yes, but US currency drops too. So buying L... maybe it's the same cost as before.

EDIT: I just checked, and it looks like I will pay as much as I did before. My national newspapers are writing about a serious drop in NKR. But still, it looks like we follow USD. We are not below.

It is new people joining SL and people who had a long break, coming back. I read it in an official blog.

Now is the time for Linden Lab to hook them so they don't go. That is why I think a reduction in Premium prices would be good. A year or a quarter Premium, now, before people start to use their savings and cut back leisure money.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Marianne Little

[Elena Blossom]

We are in total lockdown, and it seems we'll be for at least 5 weeks

My plan so far is too keep our 3 premium accounts, since it's been an emotional outlet for me. We've been at home for a week, so at least, I feel I can walk around freely, so it's worth the price. 

[Chic Aeon]

An "aside" for those that may have lost there jobs or had a business that is currently OUT of business (or will be soon) ---  There are LOTS of very inexpensive lots and houses and apartments to rent so even if you feel you cannot pay your tier, you can still enjoy SL.  I have four plots now  -- a 4096 for my shop and three other lots (two with very nice buildings that don't count against my LIs which are plentiful) and one that is a 1024 with 200 li for 50 lindens a week.   

 

I have also seen some posts here lately about free housing for folks --- and of course you don't actually NEED a home in SL as there are plenty of lovely places to hang out.   So folks contemplating or experiencing a downturn in finances might want to start looking at all the possibilities.  I really enjoy  land and rental shopping  and sometimes just do it for fun when I am not even looking to rent. 

[Rabid Cheetah]

On 3/18/2020 at 9:30 AM, Lindal Kidd said:

Those rental boxes are pretty easily reconfigured, Rabid.  With the brand I use, there is a website where you can modify the settings on an individual box, or do them all in a bunch.

So..so...those landlords...lied to me?  Oh, what a shock lol

[Marianne Little]

5 minutes ago, Rabid Cheetah said:

So..so...those landlords...lied to me?  Oh, what a shock lol

Or they did not know.

Or, it is as you say, they used it as an excuse to lower the price.

But who can blame them, I don't give up money easy, either. I am also so jaded that I can suspect people making up sad stories. I mostly trust people... until it comes to money. Then I am very, very suspicious.

[Garnet Psaltery]

For a loyal tenant absolutely I'd defer payment;  in my experience they're a priceless treasure. For those who come and go to please themselves, well, they've already had a good deal so it's pay up or leave.