Metaverse SHOCKER!!! — Free SL Accounts Locked Out?
by Alphaville Herald on 13/06/08 at 12:06 am
Why are free accounts sometimes disabled to make room for paying customers?
by Avil Creeggan
Dear Linden Lab,
I am a free account. I have been a free account for the past two years. During that time, I’ve dealt with a lot of stuff that, frankly, shouldn’t be happening; flagrant asset loss and dehabilitation, incompetent customer service representatives, seemingly-random suspensions and bans for which there is no notification, having to provide my identification on multiple occasions… But it’s been pretty much okay.
You see this dialog box?
This changes everything. You know why?
Forget the fact that you didn’t tell me this was coming, at all. Forget the fact that, not only can I not login, neither can my friends. Realize that you consider me to “just” be a free account, now, and nothing else. You are completely wrong.
Step back, and ask yourself:
*How many of your over one million residents don’t pay for premium accounts?
*What happens to the economy when the currency these non-premium accounts hold is effectively frozen?
*How many corporations, content creators, and land barons are paying for simulators and asset hosting for the sole purpose of marketing to these residents?
*Where does your profit go when the grid is composed of premium accounts attempting to sell their content to uninterested premium accounts?
I’ll answer the scenario for you:
Public opinion of Second Life falls from “target of mockery” to “a worthless pit”. Corporations drop their (already worthless and ineffective) simulators due to the reduction of visibility, and reduction of effectiveness, caused by free accounts vacating the grid. New user registration drops to record lows. The emphasis on open source simulator development increases, and open source grids become viable. The Linden Lab grid is outmoded. Linden Labs, lacking additional offerings, fails.
My contribution to Second Life is greater than any hundred premium accounts. Not only do I directly create content (as many Herald readers can attest), I am the reason you can rent your simulators. I am the reason you have a public presence. I am the reason that Linden Labs is a publically traded company. If you’re reading this as a member of Linden Labs, I’m the reason you have a job.
I’m not the reason the grid is less stable than Britney Spears. Your incompetence is.
Fix it, or face the consequences. I am not picking up your tab.
Sincerely,
The Free Account.
Gwendolyn Hancroft
Nov 18th, 2008
Look just because we’re basic account owners does not mean that we don’t deserve respect! Call us parasites if you want to, but that only makes you look bad. Some of you premium accounts own businesses, and we basic accounts work for you losers! If it wasn’t for us you wouldn’t have any income at all from your clubs!
digital_genocyde
Jan 4th, 2009
wow you know lindens lab and the ego of the one agreeing that due to not haveing s pay’d account makes one person better then the other , well its ok i guess but i am not and never will put realy money down to play a lil virtual chat world just to have it taken away cause of some moron reporting you some something stupid “happens alot is that shit hole second life” so realy if you lose you ability to log in or keep your account and you have invested 100$’s of dollars into it , you fail , as a human and a avatar..REAL LIFE habits and SECOND LIFE never will mix and shows how dumb a person realy is …I love the free account and when i cant login , oh well life goes on …. so realy this topic and the people against it are all in the wrong…wow you know haveing a pay’d account is just stupid
Chris
Feb 21st, 2009
I cant even create an account it says: linden lab limits the amount of accounts created by a house hold blahdiblahdiblah… I’ve never made an account before in my life!!! nobody in my home even knows what it is!!! DX<
Dick McMinnar
Mar 8th, 2010
That policy sure had teh stayin’ power huh?
Vince Braver
Mar 15th, 2010
Why do i get the horrible feeling inside that i knew this was coming all along?
Remember those posts on the SLX forums? Where everyone called me a paranoid troll?
I think i get the last laugh.
We
Mar 15th, 2010
@Vince
Or you might notice that this story is almost 2 years old.
Hylee
Mar 16th, 2010
Linden Labs needs to decide who they are as a company and who their customers are, because right now all of their customers feel like they are getting screwed.
It’s such a shame. SL was a really great place!
Vince Braver
Mar 17th, 2010
Oh wow nevermind.
But still, it will happen again. Watch.
We
Mar 17th, 2010
@Vince
“Free Accounts” have existed for around 5 years. In that time, free accounts have been locked out of SL in favor of paying customers once. For about an hour.
My god. It’s the end of the world, to think that a business would ever favor those who actually pay for the service. Free accounts have been treated so well by LL that there’s this huge sense of entitlement.
Vince Braver
Mar 17th, 2010
Damn straight. Give me free lindens and a god damn sim.
kthnx
Darling Brody
Mar 17th, 2010
They announced this back in 2007. At times of high concurancy they will shut down free account logins.
It was anounced in the blog and it was a dam good idea. Those of us who pay should not be locked out by those who do not.
Tux Winkler
Mar 17th, 2010
I totally agree with Darling. The difference between free an premium is so small this sort of thing would ensure you get what you pay for (maybe the next step would be to give premium members more bandwidth so they lag less).
K.T.D.
Mar 17th, 2010
@We:
Exactly. People forget how much… more there was to bitch about Second Life stability just 2 years ago, when friday night meant rolling restarts, logins being disabled, etc.
It might take a lot today for them to actually have to restrict access to paying residents only, thanks to the improvements that have been made.
Shakespears Sister
Mar 25th, 2010
Freetards demand actions!!! – Now!!!
Second Life FIC
Apr 29th, 2010
This was talked About along time ago the fact it was over a year ago is about the speed the lab Acts Now the Real Question is dose it lock out accounts marked as Bots in there system? 4000 Plus Onux Bots
Slash
May 20th, 2010
What the heck is the achient story doing on the front page of an active website that purports to be a major information source?? I use a free account. I have for years and I have never had this happen. I looked at the story for possible coverage on my blog only to discover how old it is. Guys, if it’s a real phenomina write a new story, or an update, or something. Don’t leave it on your front page from 2008! Sloppy sloppy sloppy!
Slash
Holly
Dec 28th, 2010
Look this server cost a lot of money the bigger it is the more it costs. Maybe if those that use sl all the time paid a little into it the problem wouldn’t exist. How can you complain like this when you don’t even buy a membership. I do and if one or the other of us should be able to log in guess who that should be?