Linden Lab Official:What are the different levels of account membership?

This article is part of the Extended Second Life Knowledge Base that includes advanced and specialized information. This information was originally provided by Linden Lab, but is not actively maintained nor guaranteed to be accurate. Linden Lab does not certify nor assume any responsibility for this information.

See the official Second Life Knowledge Base for the most current information.

This article discusses the different levels of account membership possible in Second Life and what some of their basic capabilities are related to land ownership.

The Short Answer

Account types can be broken down into:

• Basic
  • Free
  • Can own Estates or Private Regions
  • Can rent anywhere, depending on the landowner's renting preferences
  • Can have a Covenant Agreement on Private Regions or Estates owned by other Residents
  • Can't own land on the mainland
  • Can't submit support tickets aside from the questions covered in the FAQ
  • No access to Live Chat
• Premium
  • Pay a monthly fee
  • Can own land on the mainland
  • Can submit support tickets
  • Can initiate Live Chat sessions
• Concierge
  • Any account that owns an Estate, pays for an Estate, or pays tier for more than half a region's worth of mainland parcels
  • Has access to a special Live Chat area and phone number here (Residents who don't qualify for Concierge service won't see these things)

The Slightly Longer Answer

There are some nuances to these account types. For instance:

Different Flavors of Basic

There are three kinds of Basic accounts:

• Basic (No Payment Info on File) -- Basic accounts that have no payment information on record with us.
• Basic (Payment Info On File) -- Basic accounts that have payment information on record with us, but haven't bought anything with it.
• Basic (Payment Info Used) -- Basic accounts that have payment information on record with us and have actually used it to buy something (such as Linden Dollars).

These distinctions are useful for land owners, who can use the Deny by Payment Status options in the Ban tab of the About Land window to deny different groups of Residents access to their land based on this criterion.

Basic Concierge Accounts

It's actually possible to have a Basic account and still qualify for Concierge service.

How, you ask?

Basic accounts can own Estates and Private Regions, whose setup and monthly costs are billed separately from land on the mainland (which Basic accounts can't own). A Basic account that satisfies the requirements for Concierge service described above qualifies as a Concierge-level Resident.