sourapplepie

I'm jumping back in here - haven't read all the messages since yesterday but 18+ pages have popped up since I last checked and I'm almost out of coffee... [Deleted because I rambled about irrelevent things to this discussion] I do hold some hope that SL gaining some more income from these changes will allow them to invest money into bringing SL into 2019. Not just with new "game play" features such as bento and animesh (altho I love those, don't get me wrong), but with social features, better groups, better events, better ways to connect and meet new people or find new places. Dear Linden Labs, please invest your money and resources into useful features that SL players want and use... Talk to players, be transparent about why you are making these changes rather than glossing over it in a short forum post. Also increasing process credit by 100% is still my least favorite thing you've ever done.

Would it be at all feasible for Premium members to get a discount on the process credit as they'd already be paying a fee? Cause I can se a lot of creators signing up for premium if that was a thing.

Sign me up for the free healthcare too! So far I've not seen anyone saying they'll leave, just a lot of concerned store owners, customers, land owners etc, worrying about how their hoby or income will be affected by these changes. I think this change is quite a bit different to previous ones however as this will affect how people earn money and spend their RL money on premium as such sudden large changes will hit people in the pocket. I know I can't spend $99 off the cuff, I'd been considering the monthly premium but now with the price rise that will be a stretch for me. I do hope that LL will read these threads and listen to what their community is saying because without the community there is no SL - if people feel alienated by the company and are priced out of their hoby or unable to earn their living from it anymore they will find something else to do.

In my country yes but not in my friends, there is a certain limit for how much you can earn before you're not able to get government help and at the moment they're just over that limit. Of course if their SL income drops they'll get help but not currently.

Booooo... Nah, I think your points are valid and definitely agree with groups. Subscribers or other systems are definitely the way forward for stores at least and allow loads more flexibility, and don't get me started on group chats! Complaining or "stomping feet" wont change anything but LL specifically here say they want to hear feedback and hear things from others perspectives so people pitching in and sharing their thoughts is a great way of doing that and it's good that you shared yours.

I believe there already multiple fees like this in SL. Rent costs money, advertising on Seraphim or other news blogs costs money, paying L$10 per image upload and $L20+ per item upload depending on complexity. Not to mention how much programs cost, I've seen people spending $500+ per year on Photoshop, Substance Painter, Maya, etc, just to be able to create. Making stuff for SL isn't free by any means.

The answers to the questions were from my friend. I clearly stated that I am not a creator and all answers were from my friend. I make no money from SL.

Although I in theory disagree with you... if this was the case there should then be a specific "creators premium" at a lower price as many creators use SL primarily for business and have no want or need for the extra things that come with such a high price.

No the 900 is not added to that. In the country my friend lives in if a person is earning more than a certain amount of money per month they do not qualify for government help.

Please don't call creators who have issues with this "whiny". For a lot of people this is their job and they have every right to be upset, confused and concerned about this. Customers complain when prices are "too high" so creators want to keep prices as low as possible or risk alienating customers. If you want to keep track of all the creators who have an issue with this then I hope you have a big piece of paper because I can't image many creators are like "oh good! 5% of my income is being taken away now!"

I personally don't create in SL but a close friend of mine does and I showed them these questions so I hope these answers help you Q) "Do they only care about every cent and not the platform they're on?" A) I care about every cent, yes, and I also care about the platform as it allows me to work from home. It's a difficult balance because I work hard (8+ hours every week day, 4 - 5 hours on weekends) creating items, doing customer service, listing on the marketplace, mainting my store, setting up at events, so it feels like a big kick in the gut having Linden Labs take away even a little bit of the money that I work so hard to earn. Q) "Are they living on the bleeding edge of their income, struggling every day?" A) Yes. With my SL income I make just about minimum wage on a good month and in an EU country living on minium wage is very difficult Q) "Why is SL their only income? Are they unable to find another source of income?" A) I have multiple mental health illnesses which make it very difficult for me to hold down a job, believe me I have tried. Discovering I can just about live off doing something that not only I love but that I am good at while also looking after my mental health, it makes SL basically my dream job. They continue below: "While it's unlikely the majority of creators and people on SL in general it still affects some people and these people are valid and need to be listened to. I will give an example of my cashing out. I made 900 Euro last month, meaning my process credit fee was 22.5 Euro. Going up to 5% credit fee would have meant that last month my process credit fee would have been 45 Euro which is a food shopping bill for me. Granted last month was a rough month for me with cash outs (usually I make around 1,750 Euro which would mean my credit fee would be 85 Euro). It all adds up. Losing another 40 - 50 Euro a month may not seem like a huge amount but when you're just about getting by as it is then that money really matters"

Downsize Sansar - people who already use SL aren't likely to migrate over and lose all their inventories, friends, communitues etc so it was set to fail from the start Add "Tiers" of Premium - a cheap tier for those who want more groups and region access, medium for those who want groups, region access and a home, expensive for those who want it all Advertise better and more thoughtfully - show what SL can truly be and show all the communities of it Make it more user friendly - when I joined there was a HUGE learning curve which took me months to get over and I couldn't find any info, so providing tutorials, help groups, providing useful info for people who want their avatars to look like the ones on the adverts (which brings me to my next point...) Better starting avatars - people join and want to look good. When I joined I was comparing my avatar to people who had accounts 10+ years and felt bad when my avatar looked like a potato next to them. Consider paying established creators to provide outfits, accessories, hair, etc. Perhaps set up a network of stores who give discounts for newbies. Limit the number of alt accounts - I've come across people with 7+ alt accounts. I can't think of many other games that so freely accept alt accounts which take up space, resources, usernames, etc. I saw someone mention Steam and that would be a very good move - I find most of my new games by browsing on Steam and showing SL on there would definitely attract attention Remove the 5% process credit fee plans - this is going to seriously affect creators, land owners, etc. Suddenly losing 5% of your income is a big loss and having to lose that 5% on every withdrawal you make will add up dramatically over time. 2.5% was bad enough but increasing that by 100% is ridiculous.

Increasing the process credit fee to 5% is a 100% increase from 2.5%, that I believe is completely unfair and targeting the main economic source for SecondLife. The majority of creators in SL make things for the soul purpose to make money from it - some people make for fun but most do not. Targeting the people who make clothes, bodies, accessories, buildings, etc... these people are the main back bone for SL and targeting them is wrong and will almost certinaly affect the economy if people are unable to keep their income. One of my good friends is a creator and relies completely on their SL income to pay bills, rent, buy food, etc. As an example say they withdraw $1000 USD - at the moment their fee is around $25 USD, but this will increase to $50 USD each time they withdraw money. That is a food bill for a week just gone, never to be seen again, even though they will continue to earn the same amount of money in SL. Losing an extra $25 USD per month may not seem a huge amount but it very quickly adds up ($300 USD per year to be precise) and losing that amount of money is completely unfair. The increase for Premium is fair in my opinion as prices have gone up in most aspects of the world and increasing Premium while giving people more features is a fair exchange. What is unfair is removing a huge number of groups from Basic members, especially since (from my experience) the majority of members have a Basic membership and removing so many groups from the majority of your shoppers and spenders is another unfair punishment. I can not comment on the land aspect as I do not own land - I rent from a 3rd party - so I won't add my two cents here as I don't have any experience in that field. TL;DR: A 100% incrase in process credit is unfair and targeting the wrong people and will almost certianly affect the SL economy if people are unable to make money from their SL stores anymore and are forced to find different sources of income.