In a bid to add new revenue streams to Second Life that will replace its waning virtual land tier, Linden Lab is now selling Second Life starter packs (Linden Dollars and vehicles) on Amazon, via a clever sales system that links your Amazon account to your SL account. To judge by reviews of this starter pack above, a lot of veteran SLers are buying them. Since it looks like you need an existing SL account to even buy these items from Amazon, it's apparently aimed at the current userbase, and as such, is a pretty good idea for driving new revenue. Speaking of which, I added New World Notes' Amazon Affiliate code to the links in this post, so if you buy an SL Starter Pack, this blog gets a small cut of the proceeds. If you have a blog or an another kind of SL-related site of your own, I'd recommend trying it out as well. Maybe SL bloggers can get a new revenue stream of their own too.
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An interesting development. I'd love to see the Lindens find *some* way to replace tier as the prime-mover of their economy. Then perhaps the world can grow again. It's a sad tale of slow decline in sims presently.
This can't hurt.
Posted by: Iggy | Monday, January 07, 2013 at 01:00 PM
LL was giving a free 1000L to anyone who linked their account to amazon. Some left reviews. They are unrelated to the starter pack itself, which they probably didn't buy... They were just there for the free L.
Posted by: Adeon Writer | Monday, January 07, 2013 at 01:01 PM
"Currently, this item is available only to customers located in the United States and who have a U.S. billing address." Directly from http://www.amazon.com/Second-Life-PC-Game-Connect/dp/B00AM2IOL8/ref=pd_sim_sbs_vg_1
LL shoots self in foot yet again. Global Market = People all over the world, not just USA.
Posted by: WhiteStar Magic | Monday, January 07, 2013 at 01:12 PM
Adeon, that's another starter pack offer -- the one I'm linking and referring to is a different one.
Posted by: Hamlet Au | Monday, January 07, 2013 at 01:43 PM
So the Lab has finally come up with a new way of linking customer data with RL identity, potentially making it possible to monetize info about where avatars go, what they buy, what they have in inventory, etc. And they are in partnership with Amazon, which already tracks pages viewed, purchases, video rentals, Kindle books checked out from libraries ... does a Kindle have a GPS? Anyway, monetizing data would be worth a lot more than they can make selling hoverboards. The big social media players all make it on data collection and targeted ads, right?
Posted by: Kim Anubis | Monday, January 07, 2013 at 02:57 PM
The limited availability probably has to do with payment processing methods hooking up between Amazon and LLs.
Try and order some music from a small independent singer in '3rd-world-istan' sometime. Even one with a website who's sold on Amazon or iTunes...
The tiny divide between the USA and Jamaica has given me no end of troubles...
LLs is not a third world company... but it still not uncommon to find payment processing problems when matching up varying accounting applications.
There might also be the question of 'what do the lawyers have to say' - can they sell it like this in country X or Y? If they do not know... better to error on the side of caution.
Finally, it is likely an experiment. So test the waters in a limited way, before jumping in.
Given how people claim to have jumped at the free one to grab up $1000Ls... I suspect the experiment will need significant revision and safety checks before they expand it further.
Posted by: Pussycat Catnap | Monday, January 07, 2013 at 03:29 PM
Ok this went a bit wrong but the intent was definitely good.
To be fair to LL, some of the issues are due to Amazon's game connect, game downloads are only available to US customers, so those of us outside the US can't link our accounts.
Some people appear to have been able to link several accounts and claim they received several bonus payments, not LL's fault but the offer was pulled early.
I like what they're trying to do and hopefully they can continue exploring avenues like this.
It could have been worse, they could have ended up in the position Adobe have with the rumours about CS2 being free going viral and Adobe having to say "Oh no it's not".
Posted by: Ciaran Laval | Monday, January 07, 2013 at 04:18 PM
LL will get growth again when it stops telling people what they can and can't do with their own property, and lowers the tier by 25%. SL costs too much to buy into, and we don't get to "own" anything anymore. Only a fool would shell out a grand for a mainland sim just so the Lindens can change their minds about what is and isn't acceptable there.
Simply change the TOS to say that people have to follow the laws of their own countries within their parcels, and anything that may bother others to see has to be hidden from view of public or other parcels. Then people can enjoy their purchases again without fretting about GoodTaste Linden everytime they build something. Also change the tier to a flat per-meter model with a 25% lowered price, and people who want to build their fantasy land will be able to do just that.
But nobody will spend kilo bucks on something they don't get to own, and that they aren't permitted to build what they want upon in the first place. You HAD customers pouring in before the Zindra debacle. What you have now is a paltry shadow of that, and it's your own fault.
Posted by: shockwave yareach | Tuesday, January 08, 2013 at 09:30 AM
Linden Lab board really does not know what is SL, period!
Posted by: ZZ Bottom | Tuesday, January 08, 2013 at 10:18 AM
They are attempting to monetize a sinking ship. Good luck with that.
Posted by: coldhardtruth | Tuesday, January 08, 2013 at 01:59 PM