If SL isn't a game....

See, the logic of all of this escapes me. I have purchased Lindens once, right after joining the game. Since then, even without the stipend, I manage to make and spend _at least_ 2k a week. I have yet to make and sell an item. So to me, it's not a hard thing to do.

OMG Yes! I think that is a brilliant idea, anything that will affect everyone IW should be sent out as a notice to the entire world. They have sent out global messages in the past so there is no reason why they couldn't. More so it would end speculation, and false rumors.

Mar

Thing is, that's not actually the same business plan at all.

The whole basis of the "folkie group" is that the each member of group tolerates buying lower quality products. Not necessarily bad, not necessarily non-enjoyable, but lower quality. That's an essential aspect of it. And why do they tolerate it? So that the quality bar for their own salable products becomes lower.

If you go to a folk group at a pub or somewhere, then many of the singers there will be mediocre or average at best, yet you always applaud them because a) you know they've worked hard, and b) because that way you'll get applauded too when it's your turn to sing. Yes, if they wanted maximum quality they could all put their guitars away and slap on a CD of the latest big thing, but they're all prepared to trade that off against themselves being involved.

SL itself, as a whole, is a bit like this. Everyone knows SL's engine is slow and rather buggy, the sound is limited and the graphics engine just isn't capable of producing things of such great quality. Drop in the CD of a well-produced commercial game and within a few seconds you'll be seeing structures that knock even the mighty Starax Stravinsky into a cocked hat, moving at a perfect solid 60fps. (Small disclaimer: this isn't supposed to be any comment on Starax's skill, as I'm sure his player could produce models just as brilliant outside of the SL editor.) Want to play an FPS? Play Unreal. Want something user created? Play any number of Unreal mods. They'll be better than anything in SL, not because the SL creators are bad, but because they'll be better than anything possible in SL. So why do people play? So that they can get involved, and be "in" with this sort of thing.

But as we see, this is starting to fall apart as the uniquely talented individuals begin to take off seperate from the others. Suddenly there are a bunch of multi-millionaire pop stars coming along to your folk club. Sure, it's cool to listen to them. But though they all promise to clap when you sing, and even to help you out with a few riffs, it'd still feel kinda uncomfortable to put your name down on the performance list.

So one of three things happens, equivalent to what I suggested above. Either a) the folkie group becomes a pop concert by the stars, where the non-stars only contribution is their ticket money; b) the non-stars start finding societal mores that enable them to ignore the stars' existance; or c) the non-stars start another folkie group from scratch, keep it quiet, hope the stars don't show up because they can't possibly justify leaving them out.

Now, one gets the feeling that the way people want to go, in a sense, is c). Thus all the hate for "FICs" (can someone tell me what that stands for, please?) This hate seen on the forums is part of the natural process, because if we're going to form a new group without the stars (and we know that we have to if we want to be able to express ourselves), we have to start by convincing outselves that we're justified in kicking the stars out if they show up with their amps, which is kinda hard to do if we know they're cool guys and gals.

Some Linden changes have actually promoted that. The reduced starting money and stipends, for instance. The result of that is that, although I know they exist, I've never BEEN to any of the alleged "FIC" shops like Preen because I know there's nothing there I'll be able to afford. Then, however, they turn around and try and steer it towards a) again, with things like charging L$250 for an in-game ad.

So what would be the ultimate realisation of c)? Start up "Third Life" with a better engine and an empty grid. Of course, Linden would have to be mad to do that, but that doesn't mean another company won't.

So what job do you have in SL? Inquiring newbies want to know!

Yes, of course one allows freedom of attack and debate. I'm just saying I'm not used to NOT saying exactly what I think, and I'm sometimes surprised when people take it to mean that because I'm being analytical I'm not having fun or something (as you did), or that I should just shut up already (as others say, lol), and I'm definitely not accustomed to the attack part of it (as people sometimes do).

Stipends - I was referring to the regular stipends we have, not the ratings bonuses; sorry for that confusion.

I feel they MUST take the manpower to announce these things. Either that, or get out of the business of asking for and using the things. Yes, they must make the time to consider each entry.

The Developers Directory is, I am guessing, a way to streamline that process. I figure it will work this way: Once accepted into the Developer's Directory (and I assume you could apply more than once, as you make new things), you will have already been cleared and not have to submit an entire completed project "on spec", or "audition," to use another analogy.

While that concept is fine, the problem now is not elucidating the Directory itself, or answering my questions about it or others' questions. It won't do just to imply, "Well, we have this thing, but if you have to ask questions, then obviously we don't mean you." For very, very obvious reasons you can't do that. It's like saying, "Well, if you need to ask the price, you can't afford it anyway." I need to know, and not just to keep guessing at it.

But done right (and with the ability to re-apply at intervals), such a directory will save steps and manpower on everyone's part, both the Lindens' and ours.

How much is enough publicity?

I maintain that it is no more necessary to announce these things in game as it is to put ALL of the announcements in game. Nor is it practical. If you really want to know all the announcements, not just the most vital ones, you come to the forums and read the Announcements forum.

Likewise, if you are really interested in having your good or services or picture or whatever considered by the Lindens, you come to the forum and look in Announcements for announcements thereof.

The onus of learning about the opportunity begins with us, at some point, and that point is somewhere between the Lindens not announcing it at all, and sending a Linden to the home of each and every resident to rouse them out of bed each morning and read them a list of everything they need to know that day.

Equal opportunity to all will have been provided whenever that opportunity is announced in the forums. Equal opportunity isn't offered whenever there is no announcement of the opportunity.

If there should ever be an intervening step of being listed first in the Developer's Directory, then that should also be at all times clear and posted as a sticky.

coco

OK, I think I get you, Yumi.

But I would look at it another way, because there is always room for all - stars and non-stars (unless the Lindens make it a whole lot harder to get a foothold as a producer of any caliber) in every society. Even in the folk-singing coffee bar, there are ALWAYS people in the audience who themselves don't sing.

Since there is always room for all, we have first the known names and their high prices. (Though that itself is a false thing to say, because not all the known names charge high prices.) Those are the designer bags.

Then we have the middle names and the middle prices. Those are the regular purses. And there are just a WHOLE LOT of those people, and they DO make money! You just don't hear as much about them. And their quality is GOOD.

The folkie group you speak of, where people sell lower quality things to each other - well, I don't think that really happens all that much or to any great degree, unless you consider the middle names and prices to be them. In which case, there is really no danger of them going anywhere.

The problem, though, remains the same: If there are too many changes that make it hard for middle people to function, or for new people to even begin functioning, for that matter, the whole structure starts to wobble.

And the more things go in the direction of a few producers and a bunch of people expected to do nothing but consume, the less reason there will be for any but those few producers to log in, and they will be left selling to each other. (That's one reason why we need stipends.)

coco

I host events three nights a week, for 5.5 hours each night. In return I make both my wages from the club owner as well as any tips people are nice enough to throw my way! It's fun, though can sometimes come with it's own type of burnout.

Cripes! And that's "not hard" for you?

Anyway, the point still stands, since the number of posts of that type is strictly limited. (The population can only take so many events.)

That's a terrible wage if you're only making back 2k a week. Sell siegeBots for me and I'll give you 1k for every five referralls.

No, sometimes a bit burnoutey...but not hard. I used to just dance and usually made at least 1k a week off that too. If you're social, doing a club job isn't that hard. If you have an awesome music collection and talk to a dj already IW, they can hook you up with SAM and off you go djing, which in terms of club jobs is where the $ is really lol.

Anyway, actually, most of the people that I either referred to be hired in the past or that I see hired are ones who come in and ask if the place is hiring *shrugs*.

and I said on average 2k lol. But, 1k for every five referrals *considers* do they have to BUY the robots? or just come to your store? LMAO



My original point though, was that to shop in SL, I make plenty. I mean, yah, it's a cruddy wage if I was hoping to turn it into RL bucks, but as I am not expecting to do that and have fun doing what I'm doing well.....my point was that a person can subsist within SL and still be able to buy things they want to buy and do things that they want to do without having to purchase Lindens.

You can. The problem is that all the methods that would let a person do this are limited in scope of how many people they will tolerate.

This puts an upper bound on the size of userbase that can be reached if people aren't prepared to purchase Lindens. In the case of events it's not so bad, because more users means more events and thus more scope for people to be hosts, but they can't all be hosts. (Content is much worse because one person can sell an infinite number of the same thing.)