Well, actually, thousands and thousands (and more thousands) of people pay $1,000 USD up front then $295/mo USD forever after for each 16-acre-square portion of virtual "land."

Now, personally, I think that's a tad steep, but it's how capitalism works. If you don't have competition you get to charge what the traffic will allow, and the idea is to make a profit. I'm all for profit because if they can make one so can I (or so can you) if I work hard at it.

Anyway, all these thousands of people continue to pay. So either they (we) are all certifiably insane in relation to someone who would never pay (such as yourself), or we all see value in it that you don't. We want to be in a creative and imaginative "place," not log into a "game" and kill, crash into, and explode things.

You, and many others who read Massively, would perhaps gain some enlightenment into "getting it" by reading this particular blog post.

http://www.cuppycake.org/?p=758

Linden Lab's business model is pretty similar to that of a web host.

You want to own more land ? You pay for the storage & network requirements involved.

@Caliburn Susanto:
That 'cuppycake' post is something I can very much relate to, and pretty much explains my experience with SL over the past 3 days down to a tee.

I never 'got it' a few years back either, like many others I'd wager.

However having recently reached the point of pointlessness in all my usual MMO's, and unsubbing from them all over a course of a couple of months, I've discovered an incredible, fun, stimulating and utterly addictive world that I had clearly misjudged.

I attended my first live concert the other night.
I've attended classes with other newbies (@Tateru - Seshat Czeret is a great tutor!)
I've spent hours and hours (and more hours) having an absolute ball with one of my favorite pastimes: SHOPPING :D
I've made SL friends with a group of the most hilarious folk I've come across online since.. well since I can remember tbh.
I've discovered some incredible spaces and environments that I didn't think were possible outside of a commercial MMO
I've discovered Animation Overrides - little did I know that you could get rid of those god-awful default animations
Same with hair - I had much fun getting new hair!
And importantly - I didn't know that your 'av' (avatar) can pretty much be *anything* you want it to be - I had no idea I could be a car, or a Neko, or an eagle, or an incredibly-modeled Bumblebee from Transformers (that transforms into the car, and can take passengers..), etc etc

I've found it a breeze to explore and discover thanks to the ingame Search plus a couple of great links given to me by other residents.

AND, I found my haven - a place I like to call home now in SL. It's my dreams come true. Check it out for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU35StGqxN4

Seriously? If you're anything like me and didnt 'get' SL, give it another go.
I'm having major difficulty signing out :-o

Oh and one more thing - guess how much money I've spent?
Not a single dime.

Look me up if you like - Amana Correia. More than happy to help out.

EEEEEE!!!!!!

Thank you Amana.