Giving Away "Valuable" Items.

Howdy!

The question that follows is *not* a trolling post and I ask it with some trepidation that it will spark controversy. THIS IS NOT MY INTENT. Please respect the vulnerability I'm showing here in asking this. Folks have been so friendly in SL so far-- unusually so-- and I bring this up in light of that spirit.

So I activated my account yesterday and promptly started modeling a fancy three engine jet plane in one of the public sandboxes, Cordova. As I finished it, several folks approached and sait it looked neat, so I gave each of them a copy, equipped with the free plane script that's available on the forums here & in-game. So there's obviously a desire for good-looking, functional vehicles that are, well, free.

Later, as I was flying around and testing the plane, I realized that giving the plane away may not have been a good idea, in-game. The more I read the forums and play around in-game, the more I see everything for sale and people all twisted up about selling things in order to make money.

So my question is, will I get my head shot off if I eventually model something high-quality / cool / gee-whiz and decide to give it away freely to anyone? In theory that's perfectly okay, and I very much support the open software / free documentation / GPL philosophy. At the same time, though, I don't want to be "that guy" that collapses a market by undercutting prices right down to 0Lindens.

Disclaimer: I am NOT giving away anything, including that plane, until I resolve this satisfactorily for myself. Don't ask for it. If you want a good plane, make one.

Disclaimer: Yes, I know the free airplane script is ... well... basic. =) I intend to work up a value-added version much as others have done and are selling now. The difference is that I want to do it free to the public. Herein is the thorn!

Disclaimer: no, this is not a publicity stunt. As I said earlier, I am not providing anything to the market now. I will be doing so in the future, but I WILL NOT advertise my efforts. I am annoyed by adverts just as much as you are.

Respectfully,
Kage Seraph

I make & sell vehicles myself, and I think it's great you're giving away your creation for free. More power to ya.

Just make sure you pay attention to the Next Owner Can... permissions. If you want control over your creations, you may want to turn off Modify. If you don't want someone else to profit off your work, you might want to turn off either Copy or Transfer. Permissions are confusing, so get that straightened out first.

Just because you give away a few free items doesn't mean the bottom is going to fall out of the market. Lots of people do it, you just need to be aware that if you give something away with full permissions, they can sell your item even though you wanted it to be open source / GPL. It's sad really, many people don't give free things away anymore because so many people took their good will and tried to profit off of it.

Bottomline, do what makes you happy....but don't be surprised if people take advantage of your generosity.

I give away valuable things I make all the time... Some things that I make that are valuable, I don't give away at all. If I won't give something away, it's because it can be used for the purpose of evil and I'm not about to let something like that fall into corrupt hands.

But I make tons of other valuable things and give them away... like candy... Noone's bit my head off for it yet...

If anyone DOES bite your head off for making something valuable and giving it away, just ignore them. If they grief you, contact a Linden and fight back if you must.

I'm becoming familiar with permissions, now, yes. Thanks for the pointer!

Kage

Holy smokes! You can get griefed for giving away your own creations...?!

Giving away planes is great! If you want to share your creation with others, and you don't want to take money for it, then I'm sure everyone will very much appreciate it.

To protect yourself, however, you should think about permissions. If you give something away with full permissions, be prepared for someone to come along and claim your work as their own. It's illegal, not to mention immoral, but it will happen eventually. If you want to avoid this, consider giving it away with "no-transfer" permissions, or "no-copy" permissions.

Hey Cubey! You were totally my inspiration for getting into planecraft, and also the reason I stopped giving that plane away-- I wanted to respect your efforts in selling planes.

Your aerodrome *rocks*

K

anyone who wants to bitch about someone giving things away gets a free sample of my middle finger. if you want to give stuff away you're my hero for the day.

I've given away things with full modify on and given people complete resale rights on what I do.

It's called a BSD license.

Thank you very much for the compliment, Kage. There's no reason to hold back giving away your creations, though. SL would be a better place if everyone shared their work.

Giving stuff away for free is fine. Just be fully prepared to see someone in world selling your object for L$500, unless you set the permissions to no-mod/copy/no-trans.

Great, now I can't catch my breath from laughing so hard.

I think this is a matter of the creator's personal wants. Do what you think is right, it's your creation.

no, I said if anyone griefs you... like i said, i haven't even heard of it... but i was saying IF

Sounds good-- the recurring themes seem to be
-- Give away whatever you want, economy be darned. =)
-- Put copy protection on it so others can't sell my hard work

I can live wih that. Thanks all!

good job giving stuff away! it's perfectly acceptable to play second life totally ignoring the virtual economy. it's just one of a several sideline experiments that we have the option of participating in or not.

i recommend that freebies be notransfer for the simple fact that people can set the item for sale and make money off the very thing that you're trying to make freely available to people. the people that get dupped, after being ignored by the seller, will sometimes demand the money back from you as the creator. they will occasionally even grief you over it.

i also recommend that freebies be nomod primarily because people can grossly alter the shape and appearance to produce a royal pos with your name as the creator. conversely, they can link a small prim into the object and make the whole thing look like they created it. this is all reputation based and you may not care.

if your item is really nice, usable and nomod, you'll often be asked to build customized copies. i don't think people will grief you over it; but they will ask several times and want a detailed explanation of why you are refusing their perfectly reasonable request.

Welcome to SL!

In spite of what you may read here and how crazy these threads get, I am pretty confident in saying that NO ONE is living hand-to-mouth depending upon Second Life to clothe, feed, and shelter them.

Also, realize that most of the SL populous do not read these forums.

Giving away your items is *perfectly* acceptable, and most people do it all the time. I know some people who make awesome stuff and only give it away, never sell. I also know some people who sell some and give some away, but I never met anyone who never gives anything away. Most people I play with like to trade cool stuff with eachother, myself included. I love bartering.

My advice to all players is to explore SL, that way you stand less of a chance of getting ripped off when people try to sell free to copy items. Or go shopping with a more experienced player (believe it or not, some of us actually still like to meet people and make new friends . )

PS some of the stuff I have that I love the BEST in my inventory are free-to-copy items!

That's not true, Bakuzelas. Since SL brought US dollars into the world, many people use it to supplement their income, and have used Linden dollars to bail them out of unexpected RL financial problems. When deciding between living on instant ramen *or* being able to buy fresh veggies b/c SL boosts your income, it's difficult to turn down the opportunity to sell Linden dollars on GOM.

All the same, SL flourishes on the creativity of its residents. That's why it's important to share things freely, at least some of the time.

Giving away your own creations for free is great....

(exept for the free sample of the middle finger then)

Like what, out of curiosity?

Kage

Believe me, I'm a poor guy, too.
But <it's a secret! > every few months isnt going to move me up into another financial bracket; if I need help irl, like medical care, I'll just get state aid.

PS Veggies and ramen are both cheap bananas cost 20 cents each, raamen packets 69 cents each.

I can show you some in game as soon as I can get in

Take a look at the gnu store in davenport 77,77 Kage - been giving away quality items there for quite some time now. To begin with I did get some animosity from other vendors, but nowadays folk have been very supportive.

If you'd like to get involved, and perhaps donate something for the store - let me know inworld.


Jai Nomad

I am appreciative of the GNU Store. I am also appreciative of Jai's help and her and her fellow GNU Wave Architects's generosity in offering these quality items at what even simScrooge would deem a reasonable price.

Curiously, I didn't visit the GNU Store until later in my Second Life. The first time I tried to go when I was totally fresh-off-the-virtual-boat, something sidetracked me and I was unable to make it. However, I have since gone there a number of times. Mostly to browse, believe it or not. It's gonna come in handy.

Thank you.

I won't shoot you even though I sell planes. But you're not really in competition with me yet as your model might be pretty but your script isn't. If you start competing seriously then I'll worry but most likely I'll just have to improve faster than you . If my attitude is common than you have no problem. I wouldn't bet on that though