Do We Need a Level Between Basic and Premium?

[JeromFranzic]

I love the $60 price. When divided in 12, that's the same per month as the suggested amount for supporting the OSGrid sims over at Open Simulator.

I am on board also for that one time fee to get rid of the Resident surname. I like my display name in world, and that's what I want to use for my account as well (Jerralyn Franzic).  

[Sid Nagy]

9 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

While I don't really like the price increases that LL has done over the years and I've not always agreed with some of the other things they've done, the Name Change fee is probably the only one where I think they truly did make a HUGE mistake in pricing on. 

I see a lot of new names here on the forum and inworld, so my guess is that they are not losing money over it.

[LittleMe Jewell]

5 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

I see a lot of new names here on the forum and inworld, so my guess is that they are not losing money over it.

Well, I did also make the comment that I can tell that lots of folks are doing it.  I just think they'd rake in a lot more money if it was priced a bit lower.  Tis just my opinion. LL will do what LL will do.

[StarlanderGoods]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_minimum_wage

Alright, how much is too much to pay for a name change? 2% of your monthly wage, 5%.... 10% ?   There is a huge market there, India, most of the middle east, south america, they are all represented in SL with large communities, but the $40 is prohibitive if you are not in the US, Canada and the better off european countries (ok, Australia and Japan can afford it too).

The profit motive is understandable, we all know that SL is not a charity, but the name changes are basically free money for LL, they could probably sell a lot more, if more people could afford them.

[Kathlen Onyx]

I think what will happen is those that are full premium now will downgrade to the economy level and LL will lose money instead of making money with the extra level.  It's inevitable.  

I do think the name change cost should be reduced to $9.99. $39.99 is ridiculous especially if you have to pay for premium as well to be able to do it. $39.99 should be the price if you are not a premium member.

 

[Crim Mip]

I'd be perfectly happy if they'd get rid of the weekly stipend and reduce the yearly cost by the value of that which would mean it would be around $36. Only allow that for paying for a full year though. Other than that, I actually use the rest of the benefits and don't see how they could easily reduce those and still make it worth accounting for a new level.

[Rowan Amore]

26 minutes ago, Crim Mip said:

I'd be perfectly happy if they'd get rid of the weekly stipend and reduce the yearly cost by the value of that which would mean it would be around $36. Only allow that for paying for a full year though. Other than that, I actually use the rest of the benefits and don't see how they could easily reduce those and still make it worth accounting for a new level.

But giving us the stipend costs them nothing.  Reducing the cost of premium and they'll make a.lot less money.  

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Crim Mip said:

I'd be perfectly happy if they'd get rid of the weekly stipend and reduce the yearly cost by the value of that which would mean it would be around $36. Only allow that for paying for a full year though. Other than that, I actually use the rest of the benefits and don't see how they could easily reduce those and still make it worth accounting for a new level.

While it isn't really that much in L$, there are actually people that restrict their L$ spending to that stipend. 

If the stipend goes away, the Resident will have to pay LL a $2.70 fee in order to buy those $36.00 worth of L$.

[Ceka Cianci]

The price of the name change could be that high, so that it's not something that someone will keep wanting to do over and over..

I'm just guessing, but there is still a lot of people in this world and it may not be an automated thing..

Heck I don't know.. hehehe

[Setsuki Takeda]

25 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

The price of the name change could be that high, so that it's not something that someone will keep wanting to do over and over..

I'm just guessing, but there is still a lot of people in this world and it may not be an automated thing..

Heck I don't know.. hehehe

It is automated, instant change and logging back in has your username swapped as soon as you hit the "buy" button. Your display name is still the same, so if you changed it recently you may be stuck until the time delay turns over, but the username change is 100% automated and instant with no interaction from LL unless someone makes a spelling error and needs to file a ticket to have it manually changed for free inside the window after paying.

[Ceka Cianci]

37 minutes ago, NanashiNyx said:

It is automated, instant change and logging back in has your username swapped as soon as you hit the "buy" button. Your display name is still the same, so if you changed it recently you may be stuck until the time delay turns over, but the username change is 100% automated and instant with no interaction from LL unless someone makes a spelling error and needs to file a ticket to have it manually changed for free inside the window after paying.

Yea, I wasn't sure about that.. Thank you.

I was just thinking they may have the price in that range to keep it where someone can have the option, but isn't changing their account name a bunch of times..

The price maybe being kind of a deterrent to where someone really has to want it to get it..

I think Blizzard did something like that years ago.. It might have been with account names or changing servers or something..

it was like 50.00 whatever it was.. It was to make it possible but also high enough to not do it every time the wind blew.. hehehe

[Setsuki Takeda]

21 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

Yea, I wasn't sure about that.. Thank you.

I was just thinking they may have the price in that range to keep it where someone can have the option, but isn't changing their account name a bunch of times..

The price maybe being kind of a deterrent to where someone really has to want it to get it..

I think Blizzard did something like that years ago.. It might have been with account names or changing servers or something..

it was like 50.00 whatever it was.. It was to make it possible but also high enough to not do it every time the wind blew.. hehehe

Yeah, why I think it should allow for a one-time complimentary change, keep it from being excessive but let people get rid of that stupid "Resident" name without creating a new avatar or paying such a high price for something that is included if you are premium at sign-up. I mean, I'd do premium if I made another avatar, but when creating my first avatar I wasn't willing to pay $12 for what I looked at as basically a demo.

[Sid Nagy]

14 hours ago, StarlanderGoods said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_minimum_wage

Alright, how much is too much to pay for a name change? 2% of your monthly wage, 5%.... 10% ?   There is a huge market there, India, most of the middle east, south america, they are all represented in SL with large communities, but the $40 is prohibitive if you are not in the US, Canada and the better off european countries (ok, Australia and Japan can afford it too).

The profit motive is understandable, we all know that SL is not a charity, but the name changes are basically free money for LL, they could probably sell a lot more, if more people could afford them.

LL pays Californian wages to their employees. The Linden Lab minions 'surprisingly' won't accept Indian pay levels.  And Californian profit levels are expected by their overlord investors.
So the lab has to calculate with what the prices are in California.

Not good for our wallets, as the Californian city regions ain't the cheapest places in the world to live, but that is what it is. In the end not everybody in the world can afford to play SL to the fullest, some even can't at all because the lack of good Internet connections or the money to pay for that.

I for instance can't justify financially to hold a full region or a name change. I don't spend that kind of money on a hobby. I don't mourn about that, I accept that parts of SL are simply to pricey for me and miracles (lowering tier and fees) will not happen any time soon.
I can't spend 100,000 L$ as a sugar daddy either although I have the best and a huge payment info on file.

 

Edited March 13, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[StarlanderGoods]

7 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

 

I for instance can't justify financially to hold a full region or a name change

Here is the error, holding a full region has a cost to LL, changing a name is not a financial burden to LL.

And like many have stated before, it´s better to sell 100 units at $10, than selling 10 units at $40.  The same principle applies for sugar babies.

[Sid Nagy]

1 hour ago, StarlanderGoods said:

Here is the error, holding a full region has a cost to LL, changing a name is not a financial burden to LL.

And like many have stated before, it´s better to sell 100 units at $10, than selling 10 units at $40.  The same principle applies for sugar babies.

There are so many people who want a better or another name, LL has decided to use it as a sort of vanity tax or at least as a nice extra income source.
We will have to live with that. 
And I do think that LL did the math before introducing the fee.
They might not always fully understand what their customers are waiting for when it comes to improvements of Second Life, but they know very well how to squeeze out the 'free' platform financially with their tier and fees levels.
And in the end that is LL's main goal (as that is for every commercial company in the world): Profit optimization. Charging as much as enough customers are willing to pay for as little product as possible. It is not their goal to satisfy everyone. That is cheer impossible.

We can complain here until the sky falls down, LL is at the wheel of SL and operates as a commercial company.
As I said in my post above already, miracles will not happen any time soon.

Am I happy with the price level of things? Nope, not at all, but there is very little we can do or we have to talk with our feet and take out business elsewhere, but as there still isn't a real alternative for SL ...  we grumble and stay.

Edited March 13, 2022 by Sid Nagy
Non natives find always reasons to edit.

[purrrkitten]

12 hours ago, Ceka Cianci said:

The price of the name change could be that high, so that it's not something that someone will keep wanting to do over and over..

I'm just guessing, but there is still a lot of people in this world and it may not be an automated thing..

Heck I don't know.. hehehe

That's an easy solution. Limit the number of times you can change it in a 6 month period or something.

The name change is the one thing I don't like about sl. They could at least give everyone with a username who signed up between 2011 and 2019 or whatever one free name change where you can add a last name. 

[Sid Nagy]

38 minutes ago, purrrkitten said:

The name change is the one thing I don't like about sl. They could at least give everyone with a username who signed up between 2011 and 2019 or whatever one free name change where you can add a last name. 

I like this part of your idea.
And simultaneously start giving every new signup a choice of a last name again at sign up.

2022 roadmap: Restore what was good but disappeared and fix what is broken. It could be that simple.

[Ceka Cianci]

2 hours ago, purrrkitten said:

That's an easy solution. Limit the number of times you can change it in a 6 month period or something.

The name change is the one thing I don't like about sl. They could at least give everyone with a username who signed up between 2011 and 2019 or whatever one free name change where you can add a last name. 

If i remember right, one of the main reasons why they did the change from last names was because of running out of last names.

It was something like that. It was a long time ago so i may be off a bit. But i remember something like that being said.

Edited March 13, 2022 by Ceka Cianci

[Kathlen Onyx]

21 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

If i remember right, one of the main reasons why they did the change from last names was because of running out of last names.

It was something like that. It was a long time ago so i may be off a bit. But i remember something like that being said.

Silly question but....how do you "run out" of last names?

[LittleMe Jewell]

15 minutes ago, Sam1 Bellisserian said:

Silly question but....how do you "run out" of last names?

Probably more like someone was getting tired of researching names and creating lists.

[purrrkitten]

1 hour ago, Sam1 Bellisserian said:

Silly question but....how do you "run out" of last names?

You don't

[cunomar]

If i could go to a shop and buy a gift card for cash which i could exchange for linden inworld then i might have spent a thousand times more on sl than i actually have .

I subscribe to nothing , never have and never will .

[missyrideout]

10 hours ago, StarlanderGoods said:

And like many have stated before, it´s better to sell 100 units at $10, than selling 10 units at $40.

Except its clear that they are selling 100 units at $40, so I don't expect the price to change.

[Ceka Cianci]

2 hours ago, Sam1 Bellisserian said:

Silly question but....how do you "run out" of last names?

The lists were much larger than they are now. They also were for a limited time. It probably became a real pain in the butt to make the lists.

You'd have to ask them.

Eta..Also that may have not been the main reason.

I just remember hearing something like that back then.

It was a long time ago when they stopped doing last names.

Edited March 14, 2022 by Ceka Cianci

[Mollymews]

 

 

2 hours ago, Ceka Cianci said:

Eta..Also that may have not been the main reason

as I remember, the idea was that Displayname would be our inworld name and our key (uuid) would continue to be our unique identifier

that our Username would, going forward, be our signin name and no longer be accessible to others in the viewer or from LSL

that our Displayname would default to our signin name until we changed our Displayname to whichever we wanted

it was intended that DIsplayname would be non-unique, there could be more than one Jane Doe for example

quite a few people made a fuss about this (impostering) so Linden left in the viewer and LSL, the ability to obtain/display Username. Which pretty much turned Displayname into a vanity plate