More L$ Exchange Information 2013-20A

Gwyneth Llewelyn has published her take on the new More Options announcement by the Lab. See: Financial crisis in Second Life ended? There are some details and gotcha’s worth knowing.

Gwyneth speculates on whether the Lab will turn off the cash out feature of the LindeX. As it is now the More Options change means other exchanges CANNOT convert L$ to RL currencies.

If FinCEN is forcing the Lab to move that direction, it will happen. But, that would be a huge hit for the Lab. There are people making a RL living from their SL businesses. Preventing any outward cash flow would kill those businesses.

For instance the motion capture company just covered in The Drax Files would likely drop their efforts in SL and move on to something else.

Personally I think stopping the outward cash flow will kill Second Life. As things are now SL provides entertainment and income. I’ll have to look to see how many private islands/regions are a shop of some kind. Tier is paid by sales. That tier payment thing could continue. But, some significant portion of those people are taking money out of SL. I suspect that significant portion is likely to give up their land.

Would losing the ability to take RL payment from SL affect you?

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6 thoughts on “More L$ Exchange Information 2013-20A

  1. I would guess a lot of premiums will go basic if cashouts are removed. Removing the ability to cash out would make those accounts more expensive to have overnight.

  2. Without cashing out LL would loose one strong point that sets SL apart from alternatives. There would be no reason for creators to remain in SL, they can spend just so much in-world before they hop out seeing no profit. Creations will be opensource, community will break down and seek their friends in worlds that are closest to them, and cheaper.

    LL already has most in place for registration. Perhaps registration would also mean guarantees for residents! That would be a new. Think positive!

    LL only discovered that third parties could offer something LL can’t offer. Customer Service and Micro deposits. With the (perceived) inability for third parties to payout, LL complies to the rulez.

    I’d love a guarantee form LL. Just one. In a TOS.

  3. Removing cash outs would turn the land market on its head. LL would either be forced to accept tier in L$ or every land owner would have to collect payments in cash via paypal or the like. Regardless, without the ability to swap L$ for cash to pay LL for my regions I doubt I would keep them. I also agree that if L$ were not able to be converted to cash that the majority of designers would slow down dramatically or cease designing entirely. SL has a pretty huge economy though, perhaps alternatives would arise and things would move on…

    • I doubt the ability to cash out is going away. I, like you, think it would be a disaster. But, I understand why GL would so speculate.

  4. I answered “no,” because I don’t personally cash out, but the impact to SL would be enormous. I doubt most of our top-tier content creators would be around if they couldn’t make money on the effort, and the charity events that add so much to SL’s cultural landscape would end.

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