It has been a rollercoaster of emotions since Patch Linden announced the availability of SecondLifetime Premium! You can read all of the details here. It’s not cheap, whether you get a regular Premium account or a Plus account, so I’m not sure why Linden Lab felt it necessary to limit it to only 20 (Plus) accounts and 200 (Premium) accounts.
SecondLifetime Premium Plus sold out very quickly, even though the announcement occurred during working hours for most residents in North America, and during sleeping hours for residents in Europe, Asia, Australia, etc. Almost everyone had no chance at getting Plus, except for the people that were live-watching Lab Gab and fast. My friend Sparkle scored one of twenty coveted lifetimes… so congratulations to everyone that got one! We’re all in the same boat now, waiting to see if Second Life will still be here in 7 years.
Even though I’m showing love to Second Life by investing in a lifetime account, Second Life did not show me any love back. I was already Premium Plus, so going to SecondLifetime Premium is a downgrade. I had to get rid of my grandfathered homestead, leave a few groups in-world, and resigned myself to the fact that I can’t ever get a 2048 Linden home on me (my main account). For the 200 people that signed up for the SecondLifetimePremium accounts, we are limited in a big way unless Second Life gives us the option to pay the difference to upgrade or expand the benefits for Premium users to include holding a standalone homestead region and pay the difference to own a larger Linden home.
There’s still a chance for Second Life to make this right – by allowing everyone who submitted a ticket to buy SecondLifetime Plus during SL20B to buy one. How many people have the money to pay a lump sum of $1749 at once with very little notice? I don’t think there are more than a few dozen people – so why not show us some love?
Here I am standing in front of my Linden Home, a 1024 Traditional. This is actually my favorite house, so even though I can’t move to a shiny new 2048 Linden Home, I love my little home on the beach. I bought a lifetime as a gift to Gogo, my avatar. It’s nice to know that if Second Life outlives me, I’ll always have a home in this virtual world.
Were you able to get a SecondLifetime Premium or Premium Plus account? Let me know in the comments!
What I’m Wearing:
Truth Collective – Fanciful
Cheezu – Jiwon Dress
Dust Bunny – Bunny Day Treats (Headband) Pink
Lyrium – Foxy Hot Chocolate Mug (I’m holding the cookie that comes with it)
I’ve been a premium member since 2009 and pay annually ($99 formerly $79). I was very interested when I saw your earlier blog post announcing this until I saw the price. Seven and a half years before you even have paid for the original cost? I’ve been in SL 16 of those 20 years. I don’t know if SL will still be here in seven and a half years, hopefully so, but more likely I will not! Well, maybe I’ll win one for a year in the raffle.
Crossing my fingers for you!
I hope your blog post touches the hearts of the powers that be, as much as it has touched mine. You are a true SL Rockstar <3!
♥
Okay, so this blog post is rather old now, at least in the eyes of SoMe, but anyway…
I stopped “visiting” SecondLife regularly about 10-11 years ago. My friends (in-world and “real-world”) did also stop using it regularly at the same time period. I signed up to SL almost 16 years ago and I loved the creativity, the feeling of freedom and it was a great place to hang out and socialise at.
But we grew tired of it. There were still great content creators and probably still a lot of cool people around the grid to befriend but we kind of grew tired because we felt Linden Lab lacked engagement. When they finally added new updates it was often not something users had asked for. Sometimes rather the opposite. User wishes were always ignored and it felt like SL became stagnant.
I still follow what happens in SL and I do log in once in a while but I am surprised that not much more has happened in all those years since I stopped visiting regularly.
I’m baffled reading about the LL default mesh avatars. I mean…. It’s 2023. I expected much better. This just still shows lack of true engagement from LL in my opinion. They could have hired someone to do a better job…
Reading about how much lifetime Plus and Preminum costs… Uhm… I just feel like they are trying to milk the cow as much as they can before it d*es. SL may still exist in 7 years time but the community will be even smaller. When that happens it will just barely be alive and survive, but it won’t truly live.
(I could have paid that money IF I trusted LL making good decisions and if it felt like SL mostly likely would make positive progress and have a big community).