Gridwide--A source at Linden Lab confirmed today that complex database issues were the reason for the lockout of several hundred to thousands of Second Life residents yesterday who received the notice that they were being denied entrance because logins were restricted to paying customers only.

"When faced with the sad choice of turning logins off altogether or otherwise restricting them, we restricted them to customers having payment info on file."

Citing a login message that stated, "Login failed. Second Life logins are temporarily restricted in order to make sure that those in-world have the best possible experience...people with free accounts will not be able to access Second Life during this time, to make room for those who have paid for Second Life," locked out residents rushed to the third-party and official forums with their frustration.

Indignation mixed with disbelief were the reactions of the forum regulars at the official Second Life forums. Some cited the message as a fake, while others said they'd been expecting the restriction for months now.

Linden Lab posted a blog announcement last February stating that due to high concurrency rates, there might come a time when logins were restricted during peak usage times.

Posted by Robin Linden on the Second Life Blog on February 12, 2007: "When you open your log-in screen and see in the upper right hand corner Grid Status: Restricted, you’ll know that only those Second Life Residents who have transacted with Linden Lab either by being a premium account holder, owning land, or purchasing currency on the LindeX, will be able to log-in. Residents who are in Second Life when this occurs will only be affected if they log-out and want to return before the grid returns to normal status. At the same time, new account registrations will be closed."