Back in September, when we first noticed the hiring of Tom Hale (T Linden) as Linden Lab's new Chief Product Officer, we had a little difficulty envisioning quite what Hale's role would even be, given that Linden Lab and Second Life was very platform-oriented and had very little product-focus. Apparently, adding that focus as an extra consideration throughout the business seems to be the thing.
Initially, we were more or less expecting Hale to be more focused on, well, the sort of thing that Rivers Run Red's Immersive Workspaces is providing. Perhaps there's some of that in there too. Right now, Hale's looking at Second Life premium accounts and stipends and how they can be improved; a topic which has been much on the Lab's mind of late.
Non-tier-paying premium accounts are apparently in the majority, which obviously suggests that they represent more value for the user than tier-paying premium accounts. Still and all, premium accounts of either stripe are still on the wane, and it would seem to be to everyone's benefit if premium accounts represented better overall value.
Hale is looking for user feedback on the matter, soliciting suggestions via the Second Life forums, and by golly he's getting some.
Of course there's a trade-off. If the Lab succeeds in making premium accounts attractive to the point that the numbers start to swell considerably, then something will have to be done about stipends.
While the mechanism of Supply Linden acts as a stabilizer that eliminates inflation and deflation more effectively than any extant atomic economic mechanisms or policies, if the total stipends paid were to exceed the growth of goods and services within the Second Life economy, considerable inflation would start to occur as a result.
In essence, it seems, the more successful premium accounts are at providing perceived value, the less likely it is that significant stipends will remain a part of that package.
How to handle premium accounts and stipends is going to be quite a challenge for Hale and the Lab, and we'll be watching with interest to see how it develops.
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