From: bladyblue Bommerang
I formed the Second Life Content Providers Association. Unlike the FFRC, SLCPA believes that Linden Labs continues to have some responsibilities to provide financial support to their Content Providers.
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I don't understand this point of view. And I don't mean that snarkily. I really don't understand it.
We pay (or don't pay) LL for the use of the SL platform. It is up to us, collectively, to leverage that platform to meet one or all of the following goals:
1) Having a good time
2) Providing a good time to others
3) Making money
For me, having a good time entails building truly fantastic, high-quality, themed venues. Providing a good time to others means hosting fully themed events at these venues. I make money doing this. I am completely willing to give away my trade secret for accomplishing these goals and not even thinking about looking to LL for support.
Land rental + Charging for Events - Ongoing Overheads = Profit
Last night I hosted a Black Tie Valentine's Ball. 47 guests bought tickets. I rented the required land/prim allotment for 24 hours. We built the venue. We TPd people to the location at the right time. Everyone had a fabulous time for 4 hours and went home. We pulled the venue back into inventory and hey, event done. Enjoyment had. Money made.
The thing is, there is a ton of empty land going in SL. There is no need I can see for me to carry the ongoing cost of owning land in order to host events. I rent what I need for 24 hours and my profit margin goes way up. I have yet to find a land owner who wasn't willing to rent me large parcel lots for 24 hours on a pro-rata basis. Money is money.
I do this on a large scale once every 3 months with elaborate events for which I charge compartively high ticket prices. But my friend does it weekly for games. She rents the land (anywhere really), places the ad, rezzes her venue, and charges people on the spot to buy an item they need to play the game.
I need 6500m2. She needs 512m2. I charge $250L; she charges $10L. My builds are unique to each event; hers is the same every week. Fewer people are willing to part with $250L for a few hours of entertainment; many more are willing to part with $10L. I make more at one go but less often; she makes less money but more regularly.
The point is that this model can work at both ends of the spectrum; your ticket price just needs to be balanced against your land requirement/cost.
Maybe I'm missing a huge point here; maybe people want to hold events on land they own because their primary goal is to support the cost of the land or of a permenant build situated on it, not to actually hold events. But if what you want is hold events and the specifics of the land is irrelevent, then I think renting is a really good solution.
Or hey, why not club together? If someone owns land and has a weekly X event on Tuesdays, couldn't someone else use it for Y every wednesday and a 3rd person use it for Z on Saturday, sharing the cost of the land between them? The venues specific to X Y and Z can be rezzed and killed as required, right?