Tag: Premium

Going Premium 1: the upgrade

Posted on by Inara Pey

Important update Nov 8th:  Viale Linden dropped me a DM to state a confirmatory e-mail is sent out on upgrading. I’ve again check my spam folders & in-box, and can find no sign of receiving one – but as noted below, I did encounter an issue with Firefox when upgrading, and that could very easily have thrown a spanner in the works. 

Ergo, I’m happy to correct this piece vis-a-vis the fact LL do sent out e-mails.

Once upon a time, I had a Premium account. For various reasons, I ended up at Basic and swore I wouldn’t upgrade again. Period. Never. Nada. Niet. Non. No chance in hell. Forget it.

Yesterday, I re-upped.

Yeah, I know. Some of you are no doubt thinking my middle name might well be “mug” – but if so, it sits alongside “optimist”, and as I’ve noted elsewhere, I’m feeling very optimistic about SL  and LL. Something I’ll return to later :).

…There’s also that blasted Project LR game …

No, seriously. Thought it was time to put money where mouth is and give things a go once more. Call it a frivolous spend of a birthday gift.

So – the upgrade process. Simple enough. Click on an upgrade button on the website, then choose your  payment preference:

Note the VAT… I’ll come back to that.

Choose the option that suits your pocket (annual is obviously the most cost-effective), and click SAVE CHANGES.

Now – I have to admit, I have no idea what happens after you do; I was upgraded, but my web browser (Firefox 7.0.1) locked on me loading the next page (an increasing issue I’m having with it, despite clearing cache, history, etc., routinely); clearing it left me with other issues I’m still trying to sort out.

In my original piece, I failed to receive an e-mail notifcation of the upgrade. Viale – as per the update at the top of this piece has indicated that e-mails are sent out, so I’ve removed my comments, as they don’t reflect what should happen.

Of Rewards and Bits

Once upgraded, I took time out to collect my exclusive gift. Some have mistakenly taken these as being offered monthly, and I’ve heard grumbles in fora about the initial set of furniture “still” being on offer. However, in their original blog post about the launch of the gifts and bits, LL actually said, ““Premium members will regularly receive exclusive virtual items that you won’t find anywhere else.” [My emphasis].

Note the word “regularly” – not “monthly”. This could mean bi-monthly, quarterly, half-yearly… As it is, I rather suspect the next round of gifts will be in the run-up to Christmas, and will be suitably themed.

As to the current offering, the furniture is very nicely styled and presented,but – as an established user, I again stand by what I’ve said previously: furniture and lighting isn’t something many established users are likely to need, as they’ll have an inventory packed with them. It’s also a little discomfiting when one considers balancing such gifts against encouraging people to engage in the SL economy and buy things and also the sticky question of how LL go about selecting merchants, commissioning gifts, etc.

Setpember gift: 47 prims and nicely styled. But…

But still, as pretty as it is, I’ll not be using my little gift.

Stipend is often cited as the major benefit for signing-up to Premium: L$300 a week back in your account, together with a bonus of L$1000 your account is Active for the first 45 days after upgrading. Stipend isn’t what it once was, but so the times change.

Those paying annual membership stand to gain the most (obviously) where the weekly stipend is concerned. Someone joining in the US, for example, sees approximately 62% of a $72 fee coming back to them in-world over the course of a year. Those of us in Europe, however, aren’t so lucky. VAT means this is substantially cut to a return of only 38.6%. Again, this isn’t LL’s fault, but it could be an offsetting factor when considering Premium and the benefits as a whole – particularly as not everyone in Europe is in a position to reclaim VAT paid. But – c’est la vie; what is there is welcomed.

Of the rest of the rewards, the Linden Home interests me the most. When I initially reviewed them. I’m not sure all my concerns have been realised, although the regions devoted to Linden Homes have continued to grow (but not all are fully occupied, LL appear ro keep a “float” of regions) – but it does seem from comments passed at SLCC 2011 that the houses aren’t working as expected. When launched, they were seen as a means of kick-starting people not on the SL property ladder into getting involved, with the hope they’d eventually out-grow their initial house and seek a residence elsewhere. From comments passed by Vogt Linden, this hasn’t really worked out (unsurprisingly), and Linden Homes may be in for a shake-up. Ergo, I shall likely be grabbing one in the near future, just to see what happens (no danger of me abandoning my existing home).

I’m not going to comment on anything else rewards-wise; my thoughts remain unchanged, and I didn’t upgrade for them (or any of the above, in fact). I am, however, curious as to where the “more privacy” comes from in the add (see above); I don’t see sandbox use quite cutting it here. My reason for upgrading falls into two parts:

  • A genuine renewal of optimism for Second Life and interest in what LL are doing. I think the last 12 months have – whether people are willing to be fair and honest or not – seen some tremendous progress within the Lab and Rod Humble is to be thoroughly congratulated for what (and who!) he’s brought to the company, and the way he has managed much that has happened in a short 11 months. As such, my upgrading is my little way of renewing my commitment to the platform
  • My joking at the top of this piece aside, Project LR does have me intrigued; not so much for the game (tho doubtless I’ll be trying it), but because of the way it’s being offered to premiums first. This leaves me wondering what else will come down the line with a “Premium preview”, and I’d like to be in a position to see for myself

So, the Pey Adventure is Just Beginning (cue fanfare and starships…). I’ll be exploring more on Premium in the near future.

Further Update 9th November

Click to enlarge

Following-on from my DMs with Viale, LL have helped put things right be re-sending my introductory e-mail (twice! :)). It’s well presented and laid out, with a series of useful links – including a major link through to registering for a Linden Home in the top half (also repeated lower down).

Many thanks to Viale, and happy to put this matter to rights.

Looking at Linden Homes

Posted on by Inara Pey

Jack Linden has gleefully announced the preview of the new Linden home scheme. For those not in the know, here’s the detail – but essentially, Linden Home is a kind-of revitalising of the old “First Land” scheme that formed a part of Premium Account “benefits”. Currently Jack’s latest “beta” programme, the idea is that people taking up a Premium Account (or who have a Premium Account) have the option of using their 512 sq m “free” land to grab a “cosy” home in one of (currently) four themes and “break into” land ownership.

The scheme is broadly questionable for a number of reasons – some of which I’ve touched upon elsewhere. However, given that one cannot fairly judge without at least having seen, I thought I’d hop over to Nascera (the “continent” on which these new homes are all gathered) and have a gander.

My initial reaction? If you’re an existing Premium Account holder and have been in SL for more than a couple of weeks – use your “free” 512 tier elsewhere (assuming there WILL be an “elsewhere” in the future, given the state of Mainland).

The four “themes” are broadly: “fantasy” (aka “Lord of the Rings knock-off”); “Tahoe” (A-frame-themed houses), “California” (aka “modern” apartment-style homes), and “Japanese” (pretty self-explanatory).

LL’s take on LoTR “inspired” homes

The “fantasy” theme products a range of houses averaging at the 80-90 prim mark, together with sculpted and other trees and weirdo vegetation (giant mushrooms / toadstools). The houses themselves are of  – frankly – so-so build quality, and have names that could well have JRR Tolkien making around 6,000rpm in his grave (“Shire Hearth”; “Wizards Retreat” and “Elven Treehouse”).

The houses are uniformly ordered into rank and file on their assigned sims in a manner that Saruman most likely would copy if he were ever to get his hands on The Shire again, and given that these homes are supposed to promote a feeling of “neighbourhood” and “community”, there is little overt sign that they will: no charming paths winding between properties, no focal points for community….a total lack of any real landscaping…in short: soul-less.

Welcome to the “hotel California”?

The “California” theme is equally insipid. The “apartment style” houses are essentially boxes again laid out in a grid-like form with little in the way (aka “nothing”) to pull them together into any suggestion of being a “community”. No paths, no gardens, nothing to even break-up the monotony of the land. If California really inspired this style of build, then I can only assume those responsible for it have either gathered their knowledge of California from seedy cop shows…or don’t get out much. I’ve been fortunate to travel California extensively, north-to-south, coast to east, many times. I have friends in Sacramento, LA, Frisco, Carmel, San Diego…and while there are bland and depressing areas in the state, on the whole, it is vibrant and alive.

On the plus side, the houses do slam the “fantasy” themes in that the texturing is somewhat better, and the heavy prim-counts (around 100-118) mean the builds provide much more in the way of space and light.

You’ve been A-framed

The “Tahoe” theme presents the A-framed house. Here is something of a broad improvement in build quality and the houses give the illusion of being roomy.

I say “illusion” as, despite their height, the houses only have ground floor living space, despite the fact that one upper level COULD have been included, and thus allowed for a differentiation between living / sleep areas, should they be preferred by users.

As with the first two themes, the “Tahoe” regions suffer from a uniform blandness and lack of landscaping that leave one feeling, well, bored.

Indeed, if there is one thing that links these three initial “themes” it is an overall lack of imagination. Walking around them, I couldn’t help but feel that all three were indicative of how some in Linden Lab would prefer to have their residents: bland, uniform and ready to be shepherded in whatever direction “the powers that be” choose. Even the “fantasy” themed sims offer little in the way of a break from this: one again feels that someone is saying, “play out your fantasies – but do so on our terms.”

So, is the final theme – the Japanese theme – any different?

Feudal for the fire

Well, actually, if only to a point, yes.

Here, at least, some effort has been made: the houses are still regimented, but at least there are cobbled footpaths leading around and between them. These alone give the impression of little interlinked neighbourhoods.

The houses, too, are relatively pleasing on the eye and feature nice textures that fully compliment the builds. While there is (again) a lack of imagination terraforming-wise, the trees at least add welcome (and complimentary) colour, giving the sims an autumnal feel.

Indeed, of the four themes, this is the only one that has a feeling of purpose about it; flying over the houses and walking between them, one gets the impression of a 17th century Japanese village, or perhaps the “suburbs” of ancient Tokyo. Indeed, with a tad more imagination in the landscaping and contained within a single sim, or perhaps 4 joined sims, the theme would work admirably as an overall oriental environment that would encourage those so-minded to adopt the lifestyle while in SL.

The overall lack of any attempt to landscape these sims is a shame. While prims are at a premium being allocated on a double prim basis to each lot, thus leaving few prims available for sundries, one cannot help but feel that if those responsible for the scheme had dropped just 3 or 4 houses from the very intensive builds, so much more could have been done to build a sense of the “community” Jack harps on about in his initial post. Indeed, why insist on orderly rows of houses at all? Do people entering SL have to be confronted by the regimental blandness that blights so many housing estates the world over? Cut just a few houses from the equation, stagger the builds into small groups (say 6-8 houses per group) and you have the ability to establish something that does have a sense of community – and you have the prims to add to this feel simply by laying down uncomplicated footpaths, a bench or two. Simply by giving each grouping of houses a focal-point of some kind (a natural water feature here, a little lawned area there, a fountain somewhere else), and you help draw people into identifying with the places in which they live, something to encourage mingling and meeting.

At the very least, everything didn’t really have to be so damned flat. And why the god-awful ground textures? But c’est la deuxième vie, so to speak.

Beyond this, there are many other issues around the concept that, frankly, few seem to be considering. double-prim land hardly reflects the reality of land ownership across the grid as a whole, and so could be setting up new users for something of a disappointment *should* they move on. Many of the houses are so closely packed (some in California actually have adjoining walls!) that privacy outside of IM is going to be impossible. The sheer volume of homes could make these regions a prime target for griefers. these are just some of the more obvious issues.

However, I don’t have an issue with any of them perse. As the saying goes, you gets what you pays for. No, my issue with this idea runs deeper.

When I first read Jack’s whimsical notions that this is a way to stimulate people’s interest in land and home “ownership” in SL, I – like many others – dismissed his comments as wallpaper designed to cover the fact that LL are simply looking at a means to bolster Premium Account numbers.

However, the hole in this theory is that Mark Kingdon is already on record as dismissing Premium Accounts as being “immaterial to [LL’s] business” – in other words they are irrelevant to LL’s turnover or profits. Now, granted, he said that 12 months ago and things may now have changed – or it could have simply been an off-hand comment made at the time to cover the fact that Premium Accounts were (and are) in decline.

BUT….if Kingdon’s comment is true – and lets face it, it has been more than a year since Tom Hale asked what could LL do to make Premium Accounts more attractive and bugger all has been done to “improve” them despite the plethora of constructive comments his posting generated – then the idea that Linden Homes is a sweetner for those considering Premium Accounts doesn’t actually add up.

So I’ve come to believe Jack when he says Linden Homes are (quote) “”to create an on-ramp so new Resident can learn how valuable and simple owning land can be, but then move naturally on to larger parcels elsewhere”. I really think he is telling the truth. My problem with all this is where Jack’s “on ramp” is going to lead people.

In pushing these homes, in driving people into them, LL are (again) funneling new users in a specific direction. Where might this actually be? Where, precisely, do Linden Lab see these user moving on to?

We already know that none other than … Jack Linden … is beavering away on various deals “beta programs” with various major-league land barons both over the discounting (grandfathering) of tier and on bulk sim purchases, and it has been alleged elsewhere that LL are looking into deals that could see some land barons directly involved in Mainland.

Thus, could it be that the real aim in this is to create a market of new users, all nicely tamed and eager through their use of Linden Homes, who can then be funnelled into the waiting hands – err, sorry, lands – of these favoured land barons? Will we see certain organisations given preferential treatment in reaching out to these “new home owners” to encourage them to move onwards to dream(land)y pastures with azure blue skies – much as certain land barons were given “beta program” access to the log-in MOTD several months ago to drum-up trade (in a move that doesn’t appear to have been extended to lesser mortals among the landed, despite assurances from, ummm, Jack Linden that such would be the case).

After all, what better way is there to entice the big players into buying more server space than by showing them a nicely corralled market chomping at the bit for their products…..? It certainly stands to dwarf the penny-ante amounts that will trickle into LL’s coffers as a result of any Premium Account upswing (not that such a trickle wouldn’t be welcomed anyway).

Premium Accounts – why bother?

Posted on by Inara Pey

I wasn’t going to comment… Honest.

But the (relatively) recent blog posting by Tom Hale (another recent Linden joinee demonstrating an unhealthly Bond fetish streak by adopting the sobriquet “T” Linden) raised the question, after a long-winded piece of marketing ploy, “But what could make a premium subscription truly premium?”

On cue, a load of suggestions followed. Some seemed quite reasonable, almost all are well-intentioned.

And all miss the one essential rejoinder Hale’s question actually deserves, which is: “Why bother?”

Leave aside the classic piece of mis-direction inherent in Hale’s blog, which like Katt’s (un)memorable first posting, comes at a time when there is a real crisis within SL (back then it was overall product stability and LL’s unwillingness to provide even the most basic comminications with users; this time it is something more endemic: a systematic loss of trust from users to Linden Lab due to the latter’s recent actions vis-a-vis OpenSpace sims). Back in April, rather than deal proactively with the core concerns of users, Katt elected to put her efforts into….obfusticating what few clear lines of communication were left from users to Lab (the blog and forums).

Similarly, when trust in LL is at an all-time low, and when many are actively engaged in looking elsewhere to continue their virtual lives, Hale’s first act is not to address the loss of trust and faith, but rather to fiddle about with premium subscriptions – the very same thing his boss, the CEO of Linden Lab, dismissed as being “immaterial to [LL’s] business, at the start of the month.

So, if premium subscriptions are “immaterial” to LL’s business – that is, they neither generate quantifiable revenue or advance any of LL’s palns for SL – then it is fair to say LL are hardly likely to devote substantial time, resources and money to “improving” them. This being the case, Hale’s question is perhaps purely rhetorical.

Frankly the best thing that could be done is to disband premium subscriptions completely. They simply are not necessary, given Kingdon’s comment. Yes, it it true that they enable people to “purchase” land from Linden Lab & ostensibly get preferential support for their land holdings (if nothing else) – but this hardly justifies having them. The fact is land holders could still get the preferential support via Concierge, etc., without the need to hold a “premium” account.

And opening out land “purchases” to the entire community could be beneficial in revitalising SL’s ailing economy – particularly after the OpenSpace farago.

Some have suggested that rather than “upping” premium accounts, LL should consider restricting free accounts. While on the surface their ideas seem to have merit, they simply don’t stack up against the facts which (in an abbreviated form) are:

  • Premium subscriptions account for less than 17% of SL’s “resident” community – a figure that is dropping month-on-month
  • The vast majority of “free” account holders are as dedicated to their time in SL as any premium account holder
  • The majority of commerce within SL is driven by non-premium account holders through their “purchase” or “rental” of land, through their consumer buying of other content: skins, shapes, hair, clothes, shoes, attachments, houses, furniture, toys, gifts, equipment, pets, transportation, etc.

Thus, to apply crippling limitations on such accounts, such as 24-hour inventory sweeps, as River Ely suggests would be grossly unfair to the majority of free account holders who use their accounts fairly and wisely – to say nothing of the overwhelming damage it would do to SL’s user base.

Certainly it would do nothing to stem the tide of campers and bots in SL as River naively suggests. Such avatars have no need of inventory, and thus would be unaffected by routine inventory sweeps.

Again, if there was a compelling reason for maintaining premium accounts, such as the income generated helping to support LL’s investment in SL and the grid, then River’s ideas might have some merit – but as we’ve heard from Mark Kingdon himself, this is simply not the case. Premium subscriptions are immaterial to Linden Lab’s business focus and revenue generation.

So it remains that the best thing that could be done with premium susbscriptions is to simply abandon them. At a stroke this would end the artificial view of a “two tier” Second Life while, with the attendant revamp of policy around land “ownership”, could do much to inject new life (and money) into SL as a whole. It would also end the ridiculous tiering of user susport (itself only introduced last year in a lame attempt to “justify” the existence of “premium” accounts).

So Tom, “T” or however you wish to be addressed, if you’re reading this – give us all a break and be the first senior manager in Linden Lab to do something sensible in an awfully long time, and just get rid of them once and for all.