Do you consider Second Life an "upscale" or "luxury" form of entertainment?

[JeromFranzic]

2 hours ago, Ceka Cianci said:

Have you seen the price for Taylor Swift tickets?! \o/

hehehe

 

 

Yeah, far cheaper to look like her in SL (or next to nothing in Open Sim lol) than to buy those tickets! 

I cam mimic being upscale more easily in SL than I can in RL, even as I own/rent nothing in world. I spend about $5-$10 USD on average in SL.  

[Sid Nagy]

People who think that they need at least a complete region and at least 10 alts with the latest bodies, heads, skins and clothing. might consider SL luxury entertainment.
I never payed more than 25 dollar a month for SL. . $25 a bit more than a quarter for each hour spend in SL. So not really expensive.

 

Edited January 21 by Sid Nagy

[Gabriele Graves]

I don't consider SL to be any more upscale than any other form of entertainment.  It can be expensive and those costs scale with how you want to use it but I don't consider costs, regardless of whether they are high or not, to be representative of "upscale-ness".

[Krystina Ferraris]

Cheap as chips compared to rodeos 🤣

[PermaRuthed]

Doesn't private estates cost a couple hundred USD per month? If you're maintaining one then I'd say SL could be an expensive luxury in that sense.

[BilliJo Aldrin]

If I was paying for a full sim every month, it would be luxury, but my total cost of $460 a year, ($1.25 a day) is not a luxury item in my budget

[Rolig Loon]

55 minutes ago, PermaRuthed said:

Doesn't private estates cost a couple hundred USD per month? If you're maintaining one then I'd say SL could be an expensive luxury in that sense.

Yes, although even then you could argue about whether that's any more expensive than what lots of people spend a month for RL hobbies, events, or travel.  It also depends on whether that cost is partially offset by rental or sales income.  Once you start talking about land ownership at the scale of regions, it's a business matter for many people, not simply a pastime. 

Edited January 21 by Rolig Loon
typos. as always.

[Arielle Popstar]

27 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

Yes, although even then you could argue about whether that's any more expensive than what lots of people spend a month for RL hobbies, events, or travel.  It also depends on whether that cost is partially offset by rental or sales income.  Once you start talking about land ownership at the scale of regions, it's a business matter for many people, not simply a pastime. 

Pre pandemic I could rent a RL room monthly for the same cost as a sim.

[PermaRuthed]

6 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

Yes, although even then you could argue about whether that's any more expensive than what lots of people spend a month for RL hobbies, events, or travel.  It also depends on whether that cost is partially offset by rental or sales income.  Once you start talking about land ownership at the scale of regions, it's a business matter for many people, not simply a pastime. 

True. Land barons come to mind.

 

[JUSTUS Palianta]

$250 for premium plus
$60 for flickr
$48 for mainland tier

Thats $358 US a year that's without buying L to waste (which I have done sometimes) or having more mainland tier (which I have done sometimes).

I'm trying to keep it down, that's without converting it into your countries currency and it can really add up and it is of course a totally unnecessary expense. 

Edited January 22 by JUSTUS Palianta

[QuietEventide]

9 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Pre pandemic I could rent a RL room monthly for the same cost as a sim.

Exactly this.

Back in 2003 my family rented a 2-bedroom terraced house for £500 per month in the UK.
We stayed there for 19 years but finally gave up last February and left for a cheaper country.

(In 2020, our rent was 1,400 per month but by 2022, we were told it was about to get raised to 1,750.
That's when we packed the bags and said "thank you and goodbye".)

I saw this same terraced house on the "market" again the other week - it's now being rented out to students.
The landlord is now demanding £2,200 per calendar month.
If three students share the house, they would be paying like £750 each per month - for one room (at least one of them must be sleeping in the living room so zero privacy).

Let us eat cake.

Edited January 22 by QuietEventide

[QuietEventide]

The Premium Plus is really quite a good deal considering the stipend and the 2048sqm without land fees.
It's not as expensive as it looks at first.

When I had my land patch I probably spent just as much as a PP account would have cost.

Edited January 22 by QuietEventide

[Prokofy Neva]

On 1/20/2024 at 10:53 PM, Gopi Passiflora said:

I have a feeling I'll be blasted for asking this question, but bear with me.

Just like how there's upscale or luxury restaurants and shops in real life (e.g. Louis Vuitton or whatever) do you think Second Life is "upscale" compared to other forms of entertainment?

I think it can be, especially if you purchase Linden currency and buy Premium and stuff off the marketplace - you end up spending quite a bit. And it's all in the name of making your avatars and land look fashionable.

Recently, a friend and I went to the cheapest diner in my RL neighbourhood and each paid US $30 plus for a simple breakfast and coffee. And that's before we even got to the movie ($17.50 each as seniors) or museum or anything, with $2.90 each way bus fare. Very easily a simple day with a friend in NYC turns into a splash-out of US $100. I don't have that in RL to spend. So SL for me, where I might spend that much in a month, but more likely half that, or US $50, is perfectly great entertainment and artistic outlet, and I have a business inworld to generate that income.

People contrast Second Life with other online things, like MMORPGs or even an online news subscription. But the thing to contrast it with is real life.

[Luna Bliss]

To those who say SL is too expensive I say, get off your butt and create a few things to sell -- contribute to our world.

[Love Zhaoying]

Second Life is the "Hennessy" of luxury goods, not the "Courvoisier".

The "Love Bug" (Herbie), not the "Cadillac".

The langostino, not the lobster.

But I still wuvs it!

[Love Zhaoying]

I suppose that I may be misinterpreting @Gopi Passiflora's OP (intentionally or unintentionally).  This is pointed out well by Prok's post.

1. Whereas, "luxury" means to many people, "an item or service that is fancy, highest-quality, aspirational", etc...

2. To others, "luxury" means "non-essential", something that is considered "nice to have", but not everyone can afford (based on income, lifestyle, cost of living, etc.).

So @Gopi Passiflora - which did you intend by "Luxury"?  "Fancy and high quality", or "non-essential and expensive"?

ETA: I initially posted this in the wrong thread!

Edited January 22 by Love Zhaoying

[Rat Luv]

On 1/21/2024 at 4:20 PM, Ceka Cianci said:

Have you seen the price for Taylor Swift tickets?! \o/

Yes...£12,990 for a ticket at the front at Wembley in August 

If my crypto moons and I become a millionaire this year, I think I will treat myself to a mesh head...or maybe a box of Ferrero Rocher 🤩

[Raspberry Crystal]

17 hours ago, Prokofy Neva said:

Recently, a friend and I went to the cheapest diner in my RL neighbourhood and each paid US $30 plus for a simple breakfast and coffee. And that's before we even got to the movie ($17.50 each as seniors) or museum or anything, with $2.90 each way bus fare. Very easily a simple day with a friend in NYC turns into a splash-out of US $100. I don't have that in RL to spend. So SL for me, where I might spend that much in a month, but more likely half that, or US $50, is perfectly great entertainment and artistic outlet, and I have a business inworld to generate that income.

People contrast Second Life with other online things, like MMORPGs or even an online news subscription. But the thing to contrast it with is real life.

It totally sucks the fun out of leisure time if the costs are stressful. We take home made cake in plastic boxes and find free stuff to do, though to be fair our museums tend not to charge for entry so it makes things easier.

[QuietEventide]

Sometimes I get the feeling that RL has become the "luxury" (as in "unattainably expensive", "would be nice but..." etc.).
Something like SL might then become the "necessity".

[Silent Mistwalker]

I haven't been to a movie theater in more than 30 years because it became too expensive. Everything I ever enjoyed doing 40 years ago has become way too expensive.

For me, SL has always been a luxury I can't afford. If it hadn't been for the trial accounts in the beginning, I would never have been in SL and never gotten hooked on it. 

These days, nearly all forms of entertainment are a luxury.

[SodaGnome]

On 1/22/2024 at 12:38 AM, QuietEventide said:

Exactly this.

Back in 2003 my family rented a 2-bedroom terraced house for £500 per month in the UK.
We stayed there for 19 years but finally gave up last February and left for a cheaper country.

(In 2020, our rent was 1,400 per month but by 2022, we were told it was about to get raised to 1,750.
That's when we packed the bags and said "thank you and goodbye".)

I saw this same terraced house on the "market" again the other week - it's now being rented out to students.
The landlord is now demanding £2,200 per calendar month.

Houses that sold for 60k years ago are now selling for 1.7 million. (california)

I was renting a condo and its value went from 180k to 600k in the 6 years I rented it. Rent went from 1600 to 3000

Some get rich others can't find a house to buy or a place to live or rent. One problem I think is real estate is allowed to be used like the stock market.

I see people buy a house for 300k and a week later list it for 600k. In the place I live, investment firms have bought over 3000 houses and condos and doubled the prices and rents.

Edited January 23 by SodaGnome

[Sid Nagy]

1 hour ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

I haven't been to a movie theater in more than 30 years because it became too expensive. Everything I ever enjoyed doing 40 years ago has become way too expensive.

For me, SL has always been a luxury I can't afford. If it hadn't been for the trial accounts in the beginning, I would never have been in SL and never gotten hooked on it. 

These days, nearly all forms of entertainment are a luxury.

Yup, RL finds always new ways to squeeze a few extra coins out of us. 

I always wonder how it can be possible that a kilo grapes from Brazil (from almost halfway across the world) can be sold cheaper in our supermarkets than a kilo apples from the Netherlands.

Edited January 23 by Sid Nagy

[Love Zhaoying]

Why do we go downtown for upscale things, and a high-rise for low rent, and a skybox for ground (starter-level) land?

 

[Rolig Loon]

11 minutes ago, SodaGnome said:

Houses that sold for 60k years ago are now selling for 1.7 million. (california)

I was renting a condo and its value went from 180k to 600k in the 6 years I rented it. Rent went from 1600 to 3000

Some get rich others can't find a house to buy or a place to live or rent. One problem I think is real estate is allowed to be used like the stock market.

I see people buy a house for 300k and a week later list it for 600k. In the place I live, investment firms have bought over 3000 houses and condos and doubled the prices and rents.

The trend has been going on since WWII. The first house I remember living in was a two-story wood frame home on a 1/2 acre lot that my parents bought in 1949 for under $5,000. Dad was earning slightly more than $2,000 a year at that point. They sold that house in 1952 for a little over $12,000 and bought a larger farmhouse (in rotten condition) with a barn and 3 acres of land for $17,000.  In 1963, they sold it for $53,000.   By that time, Dad was finally earning $30,000 a year.  The rates of increase for real estate and salaries have increased since then, but I remember reflecting on all of this in 2006, when I bought the small house in live in now (on 1/5 of an acre) for about twice what I was earning that year  -- roughly comparable to the ratio that my parents paid when I was young.  The big difference is that I am living in a much smaller place than I ever lived in as a child.

[Love Zhaoying]

It may be Luxury, and "fun", but is it fungible?