New Account Payment Level: Plus Accounts, Euro Residents No Longer Pay VAT Tax

 

Yesterday in the official Second Life blog, there were two noteable announcements. Linden Lab stated it was introducing a fourth level for accounts, one between basic and Premium: Plus accounts. 

Continuing the theme of giving you more for less: We’re reducing the price of owning your piece of Second Life. We want to put Mainland ownership within reach of many more residents, because we think having land of your own is one of the key parts of Second Life.

This means there are now four account levels, Basic/free, Plus, Premium, and Premium Plus.

What Plus essentially does is allow you to get land in Second Life for a lower price. However, it appears Plus members are limited to owning mainland outside the Linden Home areas. They also get a weekly stipend of 150 Linden dollars, can have up to 512 square meters of mainland without making payments, and can join up to 50 groups (8 more than basic). This for the price of $5.99 USD , or $65.99 per year, (before taxes). This is about half the price of Premium accounts at $11.99 USD a month, or $99.99 a year (before taxes), which give you twice the stipend and free mainland allowance, a larger group capacity, a 1000L signup bonus, a Linden Home, the ability to buy private sims, and more. 

They were also lowering the price of mainland area.

In addition to the free allotment that comes with each membership level, we’re lowering the price at 1/8 region (8,192 m2) and higher by over 10%

 

And there is some good news for European residents. For several years, they have had to pay Vaule Added Tax, or VAT, on payments for Premium memberships. As of now, they no longer need to do so

The issue soon came up in the official forums. On the whole, people were happy with this move, though there were some questions.

To see the forum post in full, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Sunweaver Estates to Lower Rent Thanks to "A Special Coyote"

About ten days after Linden Lab announced their limited time offer to reduce sim tiers for a fee, it seems the Sunweaver and Angel Estates have now been able to take advantage of it, thanks to the generosity of one of the residents.

RECoyote Mindes, whom owns a place in the estates along with his partner Perri Prinz, communicated with Rita Mariner and Nydia Tungsten, and offered to take care of the fees Linden Lab was asking for, Rita announcing the details.

I got confirmation that the tier on Sunweaver Bay and Sunweaver Isle has been successfully reduced.  Thanks to a gift from a special coyote.  As soon as Nydia and I can discuss the level of rent reduction, I will put that immediately into place on my sims. ...

I have discussed it with Nydia, and for the time being the rent reduction I have put in place will stay.  All of you will see a rent reduction of between a couple hundred to several thousand lindens in your rent, depending on the amount of your parcel.  I Hopefully have hit all the affected rent boxes,  If I missed any, please inform me, I'll take care of it.  Enjoy your savings, courtesy of RECoyote.

Chatting about the deal with others, all of the Sunweavers I talked to were very happy with RECoyote, or "Rec" as he's usually called here. The gratitude did not necessarily extend to Linden Lab, the overall  feeling was the Lab offered the deal not out of goodwill to their customers, but was simply a calculated business decision of theirs, a couple reminding me that past experience with the Lindens has cost them what good will they have toward those who run Second Life, saying what kept them here were the friends they made here. One had some doubts the larger land barons would pass their savings onto the customers. Someone else responded there could very well be some increased competition for renters if it was seen some estates weren't lowering their rates or not lowering them much.

This hasn't been the first example of Rec's generosity as he's recently helped a couple neighbors, both of whom have contributed to the community as well, one with a new computer and another a high-end tablet designed for doing artwork. A couple residents mentioned they were planning on giving Rec a small token of their appreciation. The details of which will be revealed once he sees it for himself.

A fine example of a neighbor helping out his virtual community.

Bixyl Shuftan

Linden Lab Offering Lower Tiers, For a Price

For years, residents have asked Linden Lab to lower what it charges for sim tier. Yesterday, in a "limited time offer," the Lab announced a chance for landowners to lower their monthly tiers to "Grandfathered maintenance rates." This means lowering the rate for regular sims from $295 USD a month to $195, and homesteads from $125 USD to $95.

But, there's a catch. First, the offer is only good until October 4. Second, to lower the tiers, one needs to pay a one-time fee, $600 USD for each regular sim, and $180 for each homestead. The deal does not apply to sims receiving the non-profit discount or those under it's "Skill Games" policy.

This move comes several months after the Lab's decision in November to reduce set-up fees for private sims.

Ciaran Laval, after a joke that the Lab was trying to make the "protest gnomes" (pictured above) redundant, called it "a good deal," at least for those who have the money up front. Jo Yardley commented, "This offer comes at an interesting time because by the time it ends, Sansar will have opened to a lot more beta testers and if all goes well, we’ll be months away from it opening to the main public. Who knows how things are going in SL by then?" She called it, "A good deal and another step in the right direction, but still, $600 is a lot of money," suggesting the Lab could have done a little better by allowing landowners the option to pay in installments. Hamlet Au was hopeful the move could help stop the long slow decline of Second Life's sim numbers, which have fallen below the 25,000 Level, less then 17500 of which are privately owned. In the thread on the topic in the official Second Life forums, reactions were somewhat mixed, one calling it a "cash infusion" strategy for the Lab, another commenting "if I were a non-grandfathered land baron right about now, I'd be doing one heck of a happy dance."

Time will tell how the move will affect Second Life.

For the blog post, Click Here. 

Sources: Ciaran Laval, Jo Yardley. Hamlet Au, SL Universe, gridsurvey.com.Second Life Forums,  

Breaking News: Linden Lab Offering 50% Discounts to Limited Number of Nonprofit Groups To Renew Expired Sims.

By Bixyl Shuftan

According to an article by Hamlet Au, Linden Lab spokesman Peter Gray has confirmed that the company has been "quietly contacting a select number of non-profit and educational" groups who have let their sims in Second Life expire in the past few years, offering 50% off land payments if they renew.

Before October 2010, it was standard practice for Linden Lab to offer half tier for nonprofit and educational sims. Then the discount was stopped. Gray's announcement means a partial reversal of this decision.

Gray wouldn't say how many groups would be given the offer, only "that we've extended this special offer to a targeted number." There is no process for nonprofit and educational groups, whether they still have their land or not, to ask for the 50% reduction, "There isn't currently a way to apply for this; it's a special offer … as part of our customer win-back efforts."

Hamlet called this development exciting news, as it could mean the return of some popular places that faded away due in part to the end of the discount. His enthusiasm wasn't shared by those commenting on his article. At best, people called it "a step in the right direction." Some however had some bitter comments, "will Linden Lab also (pay) for our teeth they kicked out, the surgery required to remove the knife from our back, and the trip to the eye doctor for the dirt they kicked in our face?" A thread started in the SL Universe forums, but as of the publishing on this article, there were just a few entries.

So what do you the readers have to say? Please enter comments below.

Source: New World Notes


Bixyl Shuftan