Ebay and Commercialism

The problem is, it's not your private life in question, it's your Second Life, which you have claimed to give up on more than one occasion. If you make those statements in public, then expect to be questioned about them in public. DUH!

I agree, you are looking like nothing but a troll at this point, have fun.

Pffft.

It's worth going to this thread to see the actual bids on this ebay auction -- they aren't over $10 and it's well into the 2nd day. I think few people would pay much more than that for what amounts to a game listing that many players stopped looking at long ago. There are no longer any $100 bids.

/120/c0/32525/3.html#post340439

I agree with Catherine that the Sponsored Links are just a repackaging of the Top Picks. That's been made clear by the Lindens. Before, the Top Pics were not achieved by democratic vote, or even the most dwell. They were simply LL's top picks -- arbitrary, and as their oft-quoted TOS says, "for any reason or for no reason". Hey, it's their game, they can pick what they want *shrugs*. They tended to pick *some* lots that had the most dwell, but actually, quite a few were just what they liked because they liked them -- interesting builds, or social causes or what-have-you. It was decidedly commercial in that it was what they picked to sell their game, to show their game off in its best lights. Reasonable. So it's silly to object to commercialism in general and not see it in the Lindens themselves, which after all is a game company devoted to selling games at a profit.

I share Catherine's concern about big companies invading the space of the game which has been governed by Lindens and by player content. I'd rather look at, say, Fairchang engineering advertisements or things like T&Z Designs or whatever than look at Pepsi Cola. I remember when McDonalds and Microsoft invaded TSO with objects in the game that had those trade-marked "looks". What was hilarious about them was that those objects broke, or had crappy food that didn't fill up your sim, and then actually got a bad name in that game. Some people embraced them for their "RL look". Others shunned and ridiculed them. But they were beyond player's control.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a big company for a moment. Why would you put your brand in here? It's a cumbersome environment, with many quirks and oddities and the servers go down and the new patches/updates often break your scripts. Think of what has happened to just plain big build and big project directors in SL, and think why an ebil capitalist running dog company would want to go through THAT just to place its product.

And where will it place its product? Not on my land or your land, because we won't let them, we will sweep away their prims. So they will have to buy their own land on the LL server and well....they DID say they wanted to make it the WWW of games or take over the Metaverse or whatever....did you think we were going to go traveling in the Metaverse without a six-pack of Diet Coke? I didn't think so...

There's nothing that would have stopped Coke or Pepsi or even just somebody's big texture company from buying lots of land in SL and hawking their wares. But did they do that? I don't see it...it's not expedient for them, the market is too small and the difficulties too great in placement.

Would Pepsi sponsor a link to say....somebody's big build in this game? Well, they might if they bothered to see it on ebay. But it would be no worse or no better than Pepsi sponsoring an ad on those boards surrounding hockey rinks or baseball fields. They help pay for the upkeep of the field. People still enjoy the game and don't get bothered by a few ads around them.

Commercialization is Good. It helps pay the bills to keep SL alive. But a certain segment of the SL population believe that LL is giving away free rides for the benefit of the players. Unless I'm mistaken, LL has bills to pay, investors breathing down their necks, and employees who won't come back to work if they don't get a paycheck every 2 weeks.

Robin will be looking for work elsewhere if she doesn't get paid. And the only way to pay her is for the players in LL to pony over the cash... So if you think SL is free, you've come to the wrong place. Money makes this baby churn.. If you peel back the layers of your land and look deep under the ground, you'll see this powering the game:

New Update from EBAY:
http://search.ebay.com/Featured-position-on-Second-Life_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8




Featured position on Second Life In-world Directory $25.01
3 1d 01h 25m

Featured position on Second Life In-world Directory $22.30
4 1d 21h 58m

Featured position on Second Life In-world Directory $5.50
3 1d 22h 01m

Featured position on Second Life In-world Directory $2.25
2 1d 22h 01m

Featured position on Second Life In-world Directory $1.00
1 1d 22h 02m

Featured position on Second Life In-world Directory $1.00
1 1d 22h 02m

Featured position on Second Life In-world Directory $1.00
1 1d 22h 05m

Featured position on Second Life In-world Directory $1.00
1 1d 22h 06m

Featured position on Second Life In-world Directory $1.25
2 1d 22h 06m

Featured position on Second Life In-world Directory $1.00
1 1d 22h 06m

Damn.. Only 2 weeks slots.. So every 2 weeks ya gotta repurchase a slot... Rock ON..

How so? Again, they are fundamentally different.

You posted the process for how something becomes a Top Pick:


I fail to see how that is simply repackaged and becomes advertising. They are completely different. Even IF LL was picking Top Picks to highlight thier product in the best possible light - they were picking the BEST of what WE offer.

The advertising is not, necessarily, going to highlight the best.. simply the auction winner.

Its a way of buying your name in lights... Global Advertising for Cash...

Does it say in ther that you must be a content provider within SL to buy a spot or simply that it will be billed through your SL account?

Soooo.... $10 for life-time access to in-game advertising. Oh my! That's a HUGE deterrant.

-Ghoti

There is Linden land along every single road in-world. Those would make great places for billboards. Oh, and the fact it blocks your build is no worry... after all, its not like the billboard was placed on your land.

-Ghoti

Probably not a huge deterrant.. but I doubt we'll start seeing the kinds of advertising you're thinking.

It's Linden-owned land for a reason, which is not for billboards.

Linden owned land auto returns objects placed on it. So that shoots that theory. Nice try though.

McW

Sure it's only $10 US for a lifetime account, but then said company has to bid on slots every two weeks, as Alby pointed out. I think that alone will limit some of the junk ads that everyone is so fearful of. Of course, that's just my opinion on the situation, and you know what they say about opinions....

McW

Khamon do you have to be a member of Ebay to see those details on that page? I dont see that. I will however take your word for it If its restricted to just SL residents then yes I feel better about it. I still dont like that a person can buy their way to the top in a virtual on line entertaining space but that does make it harder for commercialism get yet another foot hold. Thanks for the information

Well, I really hope you're right.



It's Linden-owned so that people don't buy it and Return section of road.



It does not return the Linden-owned roads though, eh? Funny that. I wonder how a Linden-owned billboard would fare.

-Ghoti

Do you see Catherine Cotton in world? no

Thank you Prokofy!

SL is not RL.

I guess it's OK to have higher ideals for SL than in RL? You make my brain hurt Cat.

Then why does any of this matter to you? If you're not in world, you have absolutely zero reason to be all worked up about changes that clearly don't affect you. Like I stated before, you're simply trolling. Have fun with that, I am done with you.

McW

It shouldn't by that logic, but we're dealing with Cat.

wasn't Catherine Cotton leaving SL? why is she talking here now anyway?....

Good point, I keep thinking that logic prevails on some level. Nevermind, I will just go back to lurking, as I have done since April. No reasoning with the unreasonable I guess.

McW

Read earlier in the thread, it's semi covered.... or at least as far as Cat is concerned.

McW

Hi Cat, please don't be angry but I didn't read every single post here, as I'm at work, and my time is at a premium.

Although, I did want t make some points about what you have said.

First, you were right. SL said "We won't do X", and turned around and did X. I think this is wrong, and not someting I will try to justify for them.

Second, you gave great examples as to why this whole commercialism thing can become quite ugly. On the other hand, there might be some decent things that can come from this as well. Let's say MUSICMATCH opened a store in SL, and you could buy songs for L$ that would be able to download onto your computer, the pizza idea wasn't all that bad either. The problem is if LL doesn't guard against the first example you gave, then people who make clothing and do it well, could see themselves out of business, and out of the game.

Third, I am sorry that some people on these Forums continue to attack you for your opinions. It's amazing, but some of these people are the same that when they are asked to justify their opinions merely laugh and say they don't have to. It's pretty fun watching these people dance when the shoes get on their feet.

Fourth, I think it is getting very close to a time in SL where LL must begin to form committee's that will be in charge of collecting the opinion's of the masses and reporting them back, so the people can have a say in how their world is being changed. I also would like to see any COMMERCIAL entities entering SL have to fill out a FORM explaining what they will be doing here and what they will be selling. SL is SUPPOSED to be entertainmnet, NOT a mirror of the RL. If we blindly allow commercial enterprises to enter SL, we will be all to wide-eyed when one employable skill after another is taken over by these Commercial enterprises and we are all forced to be merely onlookers. The only saving grace now is that SL is too small for most Commercial Enterprises to make enough profit on. But, what happens on that day when the profit is well worth their time? I would rather the alarm be run early, then late. We at least have time now to bring this up to LL and try and stop it.