Survey on Premium SL Accounts: Significant Minority Interested in Subscribing to Get More Virtual Land

Here's the results of my survey on the new Premium subscription enhancement for SL users. 49% of those surveyed are already Premium, so looking at those who are not, most non-Premium users say the massive increase in virtual land allotments does not make them more likely to subscribe.

However, a significant minority (roughly 1 in 3) say the expansion of land offering does increase their increase in upgrading their Second Life account to Premium. And any significant increase in Premium accounts, which didn't grow last year, would be good news for Linden Lab. (And indirectly, the SL user community.)

To be sure, this is a small data set (just 49 votes) and the survey was confined just to Twitter users, so I wouldn't suggest these results are conclusive. If readers are interested -- are you? -- I may run a larger one in Google Docs.

Comments

[AlexBrangwin]

I rent my sim and as such have no use for the mainland.
My refusal to go premium again has deeper issues.
The heavy handed approach to my marketplace listings & Flickr ban from the official SL group meant I refuse to pay Linden labs for their product until it's fairer with actual due process regarding rules & regulations.
(My inworld job pays well enough to cover my expenses without paying for Linden Dollars so please don't anyone point that out to me)

[Jane]

Should "does increase their increase in upgrading" be "increase their interest"?

[Pussycat Catnap]

I think a lot of this has to do with convincing people to move off of linden homes.

It is also great for helping fill out mainland again. I'm seeing any reasonably parcel around me where I have land in SL get snatched up. Several plots around me have sold. One to a land baron that doubled it's price... but the rest, and that doubled plot, have all since sold to people that have moved in.

There's much less reason to own mainland now for a shop - MP does the job. I am of the opinion that a small 512m shop is a good idea - but only if you have the skills to design a unique branding experience there. You don't even need to have working vendors in it... you can just put in demo vendors and a redelivery terminal that can redeliver things that were bought on Marketplace (casper can do this).
- In fact it's a better experience if your 512m shop specifically CAN'T be used to buy... It's just there to showcase and brand.

But that means that all this remaining land... what purpose?

And I think this is what they're looking at. Get people to put up residential builds. All the plots I've seen sell recently were spots people put up houses or house like builds. The other purpose would be social venues.

But today's SL is not the sandbox of yesteryear... We're gone from being residents to being shoppers. Today is all about going to the 'event' and getting the it-things this month... then going somewhere to show off and hang out.
- In that dynamic though, many people still want a private home. Others want to be the place people go to to show off...

And this move seems tailored towards that, to me. Then again that is how I use my SL land... so I am perhaps selectively seeing my own interests being addressed more than seeing anything else.