Dumb newbie questions

[Ariel Vuissent]

According to LL, this issue has been fixed - you do not lose your account if you stop paying, but it will be placed on suspension until you pay what you owe. I have no personal experience with this, but from what I've read, it sounds about right.

The supposed draw of a Premium account is the live chat support (available only to Premium members), and to a lesser extent things like being able to own mainland - which some people adore and others don't, the Premium sandboxes that are supposed to have fewer griefers, etc. It's not JUST the free land and the stipend, though many people focus on. Unfortunately, live chat isn't all it's cracked up to be, as the LL team isn't exactly knowledgable half the time and more often than not you just get told to submit a ticket anyway.

Premium isn't bad to start off. After a while, you probably will discover that you want bigger and better, and that might get pretty expensive with a Premium account. There's nothing wrong with starting out with a Linden home - they're small, but not that bad, and great for starting out when you're first learning how to rez things, move things, edit things, etc. Buying, renting and owning land can be pretty confusing when you're brand new, so it can be better to start off with a Linden home and move on once you understand things better. There's also nothing wrong with moving on once Premium no longer suits you, if you reach that point.

I've never had a Premium account, and I don't want one, in particular. Lots of people love their Premium accounts, so it's up to you. It's not a bad idea to hang around for a while first, then decide.