Trebor Warcliffe wrote: This is a considerable savings but it wouldn't be worth it if we all don't agree we could have the sims available for citizens. If not what about a Homestead sim to possibly work into a sandbox with a few commercial or residential parcels?
Sorry to throw cold water here, but this is a typical LL scam.
The "setup fee" cost of owning a sim is quite literally a TINY part of the cost of sim ownership, and LL, knowing this, has frequently made this offer to individual groups of landowners, though not before to the general public. Consider these numbers, using as a basis a full sim:
Reading the fine print, you'll see that you must still pay the first month tier of 295, which is ordinarily included in the 1000. So your savings is really only 705. Then, assuming that you own the sim for ONLY one year, your total cost of ownership of that sim is 295x12= 3540 + 705 = 4245. If you save 705 from the 4245, you are saving 17%. If you own the sim for more than one year (which it is inconceivable that we would not) then the savings drops. Owning the sim for five years cuts that percent of savings down to less than 4%.
This is why LL runs these promotions! For little loss to them, they are adding on-going revenue-generating product. And they are counting on us being fooled that we get some great bargain.
Also consider that on the third party market, full sims are available for considerably less than 705... indeed, its frequent that one sees people willing to give them away for nothing, because otherwise they would be abandoned. Indeed, if the CDS wants them, I am abandoning one full sim and 3 or 4 homesteads within the next few weeks. They're yours... free... no setup charge. Indeed, since we would be transferring them between alts of the same person (me) they might even allow us to retain the grandfathered status.
So... sorry guys, but there is no bargain here. $295/month for a full sim remains the fee, and this outrageous cost is the single most powerful factor driving down the appeal and the participation in our communities. Adding insult to injury, its now clear that LL does in fact discount the tier price to a number of the largest landowners, enabling them offer land at unfairly low prices to consumers. LL's justification, of course, is that these owners drive volume... lowering their tier enables them to expand their number of sims and increase revenue to LL.
So, as in RL, the rich get richer and the poor suffer.
Sudane...................................
