Is the Payment for Picks info unfair?

[Victoria Paule]

Re the new PPRS system( whereby you get paid regularly for having the school in your picks): We have chosen to use the option that requires 'payment on file' before an avatar is accepted. I have been told by some that this is a dreadful thing, that we should be asking for this information etc. I wanted some feedback on what others think. 'Payment on file' means that you have lodged your Paypal or other credit card details with Second Life - as you do in order to purchase lindens or take lindens back to RL. This system connects to the SL server and, simply put, gets a 'yes' or 'no' and absolutely no confidential information is passed on (of course!). By verifying an avatar this way, we can try to avoid the 'pros', who know how to work this kind of system to their benefit, and could come in a wipe out the account, thus denying the students of the school we aimed it for, from getting their payment.

What's your general opinion? Should we not ask for this? If we dont, we're open to 'attack', but if we do I seem to be some kind of monster trying to deny people their right to receive payment for putting the school in their Picks.

[Ghosthunter]

Re the new PPRS system( whereby you get paid regularly for having the school in your picks): We have chosen to use the option that requires 'payment on file' before an avatar is accepted. I have been told by some that this is a dreadful thing, that we should be asking for this information etc. I wanted some feedback on what others think. 'Payment on file' means that you have lodged your Paypal or other credit card details with Second Life - as you do in order to purchase lindens or take lindens back to RL. This system connects to the SL server and, simply put, gets a 'yes' or 'no' and absolutely no confidential information is passed on (of course!). By verifying an avatar this way, we can try to avoid the 'pros', who know how to work this kind of system to their benefit, and could come in a wipe out the account, thus denying the students of the school we aimed it for, from getting their payment.

What's your general opinion? Should we not ask for this? If we dont, we're open to 'attack', but if we do I seem to be some kind of monster trying to deny people their right to receive payment for putting the school in their Picks.

Hello Victoria,

I believe ... this to be a fine approach in keeping the so called pro's out of harming the school, and keeping the school in turn out of harm's way.


Ghost

[YukiEiri Males]

Hmm...

From what I'm interpreting here, some people are upset they will have to have payment on file before getting payment for having HH in their Picks. As my own experiences in SL are all I can make comparisions with, here is some of my backstory and why I think some people are reacting this way:

It took at least six months of serious SL in-world time before my mentor convinced me it was time for me to get away from freebies and invest some money on my avatar's look. I was running around in a V1 skin/shape and all mesh clothing/hair and this was before Linden upgraded the default avies. I still balked at declaring my payment on file until he took me around and actually PAID for my new look. Yes, my currently studly self was given to me by my sugar mentor. This experience made me realize I needed to stop being cheap, so I took the plunge and hooked up my payment on file. This freed me up to tap into money to do lots of things: get nice clothes, rent my first home, hunt and pay for cool furniture, fail at building until I started taking classes (where I could generously tip my helpful teachers) and gave me freedom to do whatever I wanted to do because I didn't have to hunt down camping chairs and spend hours sitting around or dancing for just a few Lindens.

I am going to guess the people protesting are those, who like me in the beginning, want to enjoy SL for free. Some may not have a credit card or a Paypal account. I know quite a few people (young college students) whose parents don't want them to post any personal information online, let alone post anything dealing with money. Others want this to be a totally FREE experience. These SL residents get money by camping and by having places that pay for having them in Picks. That's the only way they get their SL money to pay for items they want for their avatars. I know Merrie Zwanger sat and danced for hours over weeks and weeks of RL time to get enough money to get her first purchased (95L) skin (this was also prior to the upgraded default avies).

So I can see how these folks would get riled about having 'payment on file' as a requirement. It doesn't help matters that SL wants everyone to have 'payment on file'; many people don't want to do it.

Hope that's helpful, Victoria.

~YukiEiri Males, the antisocial novelist and all-around grump

[mitch zanzibar]

Re the new PPRS system( whereby you get paid regularly for having the school in your picks): We have chosen to use the option that requires 'payment on file' before an avatar is accepted. I have been told by some that this is a dreadful thing, that we should be asking for this information etc. I wanted some feedback on what others think. 'Payment on file' means that you have lodged your Paypal or other credit card details with Second Life - as you do in order to purchase lindens or take lindens back to RL. This system connects to the SL server and, simply put, gets a 'yes' or 'no' and absolutely no confidential information is passed on (of course!). By verifying an avatar this way, we can try to avoid the 'pros', who know how to work this kind of system to their benefit, and could come in a wipe out the account, thus denying the students of the school we aimed it for, from getting their payment.

What's your general opinion? Should we not ask for this? If we dont, we're open to 'attack', but if we do I seem to be some kind of monster trying to deny people their right to receive payment for putting the school in their Picks.

While,I can see the lets call them ``free users`` concerns I can also see the Operators of the school `s concerns i think that most of the people who refuse to have cc or pp on file are either underage ,or they are poor and dont have money to throw around,or also they could just think that spending real money on fake things is just not their cup of tea ,personally,I fit into some of these categories but, that`s just my two-bits

[professor viper]

The school is not doing anything to block those avs wanting to do it totally for free. Almost all classes are free to take, and we just ask that you evaluate what the knowledge you got was worth to you, and tip accordingly. I remember the days of getting Lindens from money trees and camping, and if someone like that tips L$1I know what they had to do to get it. I am also aware that you can get L$2,000 for about USD$8, and that you can buy prepaid debit cards or give a friend some cash and get them to buy Lindens for you. I have a friend that does not have a credit card, and I buy things for him from Ebay or Amazon

The reason for Payment for Picks is advertising. A search listing floats to the top if it is from a school with a number of avs that list it in their picks. But a listing is only counted if it comes from an av that has payment on file. And Linden Labs does that to prevent people from creating hundreds of alts, putting a store or school in their picks and never using it again. So if a pick in an av that does not have payment on file is not going to count in increasing the school's position in search, why should the school spend advertising money paying foor that pick? It would be better to spend it renting a plot to put up a sign or something.