[A brief note on pricing changes, which ran long.]

1 minute ago, Fyrebird Courier said:

okay.  I spent 1/2 hour writing this up...but instead of it posting, i got the LL "login screen", so I want to try again, and hopefully I get as nicely written as i feel i did before.

 

#1 - Groups --

I personally like the addition of groups to premium.  Some people say that you don't need that many...Sadly, they can truly add up.  As a creator of children's clothing, i have texture groups and mesh creator groups.  Yes, to get the discount and/or gifts, but some require you to be part of it to get their items.  Then of course, you have advertising (I push some of it off to alts, but i need to do some of it on my creator alt).  And my store group.  I sell gachas, so...again, stores, advertising.  Some groups have the main group, and management groups, and then land/shop rental groups.  I have heard of situations like say you rent a parcel in a community sim, you need that group.  Want to RP on that sim? you need the RP group.  Do you moderate that RP?  Another group.  Do you do a "job" on that? (i.e. fireman, policeman, etc)....another group.  Or stores that use bloggers, a lot require another group.  So, for some, having a need for groups is beyond "hey, i want 10 groups just for the free hair, and another 10 for the free clothes".  

 

Anyway, I realize that there are reasons for the backend "cost" of groups, as far as setup and ...for lack of a better word... memory that it takes to maintain.  I would like to suggest some possibilities of different types of groups, that could help reduce some of the backend, but still allowing for the needs of people.

----Notice Only.  This would be a good type of group for stores and clubs.  Allows for the store to set MM boards/group gifts to group only, as well as send out the information that is needed about their store.  Could have a small set amount of allowed managers.  Perhaps a second level Notice Only, also, for event-type groups, where the store owners (DJ's, whatever) can send out their store notices.

----Limited People.  I feel that there are a LOT of groups out there, that are limited in people, as they are not needed.  So perhaps a Limited People group, of 10-20.  should be good for management type groups, and families (I know there are families out there that have more, of course).

----Event/Rental Time-Limited.  This could be a group, that is owned by the event/market/mall owner, and management (to me, 3-4 would seem appropriate, for invite and other management, but, i dont run events).  A non-notice, non-chat group (these all can be taken care of by regular groups, discord, or forum threads), that a person joins and doesn't actually count against their groups, and is only active in it for 24 hours, or 2 hours after the active group is changed.  Most events, you only need one setup.  And mall/market owners, you don't need it EVERY day, if it's a secondary store, so the management staff can re-invite as needed).

----Large Population Groups.  Perhaps in the circles I am in, but I do not know of many groups, who are more than, say, 1000 people, or 5000 people.  Active people.  I would think that a large group, of say 10,000 or more, could incur a monthly fee (even a dollar).  It could encourage people to go through their groups, and remove those who have not logged on for x time.  Of course, there could be some exceptions, for example (I am guessing!!!), firestorm support, caspervend support, education groups, new avatar education groups.

 

I also feel that there should/could be an alternative to taking away from the non-premium, and offering everyone a chance to get what they need.  I think perhaps an "a la carte" add-on of groups could be an option.  To me, I feel that it should be perhaps $1/month for 10 groups, for premium, and perhaps $3/month for 10 groups, for non-premium.  If this fee is not paid/deactivated, then the last 10 groups joined (no matter how many they have open) should be removed, unless they had brought their groups under the amount needed before deactivating that payment need.

 

#2 - Estate Land

I truly feel that giving discounts to the estate owners are good...however, a lot of us do feel blocked out.  I would love to own an estate land, but the setup fee and all the other fees make it very prohibitive.  I think that there are incentives that could be given to premium members, again, to help us acquire land.  One, to me, would be once per annual premium payment, the chance to purchase the land, without the setup fee, should be an allowed item.  I would think ONLY one estate land, per premium membership, per annual payment.  Or, slightly alternative, is to charge the setup fee, but absorb a one-month payment into it.  This second alternative, I feel may bring in more income, if it was a 2 times a year 1 day/1 weekend event, maybe.  You may not get that initial month, but more people would be able to get estate land.  

 

#3 - Mainland

Not QUITE related to the issues at hand, but may be a "perk" to offer to premium account holders, are possible "changes" to Mainland.  There is a lot of abandoned land, and it's just very...broken.  Some is very ugly, because it is so broken.  I would propose that for those premium members that own land on a sim, that has abandoned land, that people can request it (under the same regulations as the past), for free, up to the next tier level.  I.e. you own 2048, you could get 2048 for free, to bring you up to 4096.  Obviously you have to pay the tier, and you have to have pre-existing land (perhaps you have to own it for 6 months or so, not just move in, and try to get the other free land).

Alternatively, another idea.  I own parcels on a sim, that has ended up looking like a pixel snake, some wider, some smaller.  weaving in and out of current participants.  I would love the ability, to consolidate it, and either move to a square/rectangular parcel on that sim, or another sim.  (equivalent type, no matter that i would love to move to a beachfront parcel.  *giggles*).  I think this could open up some larger parcels, that people could purchase, or could work to help make some parcels look "neater", if there aren't small parcels all over one, instead of buying a lot of small parcels on a sim "just for prims", you can decorate larger areas.  

The other option I would love, kindof combined with the above, is combining land from different sims into one.  for example, there is a full sim near me for sale. I would love to be able to take my land from the 2 sims that i own, have it on there, then pay the difference for that land.  Not quite the right example, as this mainland sim is owned by another person, but if he abandoned it, i would love that possibility.  Again, in my mind, possible prettier sim, more land opened in others, and possibly more people purchasing mainland, if they could have a possibility of making it a little more of what they want, instead of small/tiny parcels.

 

KK, after typing this all out for the 2d time, i am hoping this posts...a little long winded, but i hope these are ideas that might be viable.  Or...at least let me vent in a semi-productive way.  *smiles*

Ok, thanks for letting us know.

[A brief note on pricing changes, which ran long.]

7 minutes ago, Grumpity Linden said:

Hi Jo! You can do that today by creating Roles which cannot receive messages or participate in group chat.

That does LESS than what they wanted. That's removing features from users not adding more.

[A brief note on pricing changes, which ran long.]

Just now, Kyrah Abattoir said:

Freedom of speech isnt freedom of consequences.

this is a private companies forum, there is no free speech here.

[A brief note on pricing changes, which ran long.]

2 minutes ago, NonVoxSedVotum said:

If you mean baby boomer, I am not one of those. I like to think of myself as mid-stride millennial. (34)

So they do exist... the mythical 30 year old boomer.....🤯
Please tell me more about how I'm entitled while I continue to get screwed. It really makes you look like you know what you're talking about! I swear! 😏

[A brief note on pricing changes, which ran long.]

1 minute ago, Prokofy Neva said:

BTW, it's interesting in light of the professed need to move away from land as a basis of company revenue, and move to currency and content -- hence more premium account fees and more cashout fees and less land fees -- that in Sansar, LL is doing the opposite -- removing transaction fees:

 

https://help.sansar.com/hc/en-us/articles/360028978371-The-Give-More-Get-More-Release-May-30-2019?utm_source=R33&utm_campaign=MC&tag_type=em

oh cool that failed linden labs project that we have to pay extra fees to fund instead of fixing the game we actually play? fantastic!

[A brief note on pricing changes, which ran long.]

1 minute ago, NonVoxSedVotum said:

I've been reading through this thread and the overall sense I get : entitlement. You all know that LL is a business first and foremost, but consider this : SL is NOT a necessity for you to exist in the world. If your biggest gripe is group slots and stipend amount or SL fees you live a pretty cushy life, even if you don't' believe so.  You either pay up or you move along, this is how life works-virtual or otherwise. No one is forced to make a living in SL or even use it, it's all a choice. You (we) are not entitled to anything. Your RL budget and financial limits are of no concern to anyone but you.

It does not matter if you are on a fixed income or you have a zillion dollars in the bank, things cost money. When you can't afford the things, you do without them until you can.  You really think whinging on this forum is going to change any of that? I don't care if you've been in SL since they opened the doors or 5 minutes, you pay or you move along. End of.

And yes this is a new account I made because I would rather not make myself a target by posting with my years old account, because people can be really extra like that.

ok boomer

[A brief note on pricing changes, which ran long.]

Cool now I have to pay more for premium even though my IMs never get capped and I actually clean my groups out. I've yet to even get a new linden home.
Looks like I'll be paying out of pocket for other people's enjoyment.

On another note, region pricing is still ridiculous. When I saw there was a price drop I was expecting 50%+, not a few dollars. Linden Labs makes a huge profit margin just to give us slow updates with their spaghetti code. Still no name changes. Still no decade old features. I'm assuming all this money gets blown on sanfran rent and coke.

If you actually cared about your user base, move your headquarters somewhere that doesn't bleed your wallet dry just so you can step off the curb onto someone's fecal matter, and quit charging us artificially inflated prices for artificial content that's all just gonna disappear in a few years anyway.