Scaring Users Away - Second Life & Billing

So noah has been playing with second life, it seems like a crazy dream like world. So i said, why not, i’ll go try it. Noah said it’s free to signup. But here’s the deal, their signup page and list of options, free trials, asking for credit cards to start charging after 7 days, asking me for my mobile phone (another group of poeple who have perfected unethical billing praticies) has prevented me from signing up.

So i haven’t tried their service. I’m sure i’m not the only one. A service’s billing needs to be simple enough to understand for somebody who HASN’T used it before. I should be able to try it with a simple form, what’s my email and name. No more. If i reach the end of the trial period and want to keep using, then i’ll like the product and be prompted to pay.

It’s part of why services like MetroPCS are so popular, people are less likely to be screwed with a big unexpected bill.