We were assured eBay would not be involved!

Hey! Back when LL got that $8mill investment from eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, everyone was freaking out, saying "Oh, great, SL's going to become part of eBay now!"

And LL very calmly said "No, don't worry, this was an investment by Pierre Omidyar, not eBay, and eBay will not be involved in SL's development."

Uh...

What -precisely- happened to that promise again?

I agree that bringing Ebay in is a bad move, for the reasons Siobhan pointed out much better than I would.

what -precisely- are you talking about, again?

Any fool who pays to use eBay to advertise an event is letting themselves be mugged and boy if they do it then they deserve it !

Just sit back a laugh at them while silently ignoring the err um is it called "Features" list ?

Perhaps it should be called "I'm the prat who payed eBay money to put my event here" list

i'm crossposting from this thread in the economy forum:

/130/6f/32510/1.html

auctioning featured billboard slots on ebay is not focused on inworld advertising. when was the last time you looked at the top picks? really? what it does is advertise secondlife to millions of ebay users. i worked with a person that owned an online jewelry store. we "auctioned" powerbeads with a link to the store in the listing. we didn't care what people paid for the beads. we cared that thousands of people browsed the ad and the browsed the store site. it is true that the list should be titled something to reflect that these are paid advertisements, not anything reflective of community support. although, how or why are they going to afford the ad if we don't buy their stuff.

You couldn't have gotten your facts more wrong...you might want to actually read about what is going on ....

Current bid:
US $105.00 (Reserve met)



well that looks like a mugs game to me. It really doesnt matter if the money is coming from SL or RL.

Perhaps you could explain why you think it isnt ?

from eBay ....

Questions from other buyers

Q:* Ebay? You have got to be kidding.
answered on: Jan-11-05*

***A:* It's an experiment. Rather than spend a lot of time changing the SL auctions, we'll see if there's any interest.


What I'm saying is ignore it, don't use it, don't go to events that use this system. Let the mugs who want to go down this route spend all their money.

Maybe folks aught to pool their money and buy a spot to advertise their protest of all this.

-Ghoti

why don't you read what this is about

That's a really good idea. Coordinated protest rather than panic and doomcasting.

LL is just using the eBay service for auctions rather than spending more man-hours rebuilding thier own auction system to handle this, as Robin mentioned. I consider it a smart move for a quick ramp up on an experimental program.

Surely, if this program works out well and is eventually accepted by the community, LL will change thier auction system to bring these back in-house.

I have read much and I've seen the comments from LL, the "experiment" is utter bullshit imho. It won't make an atom of difference to the way I come at SL. I hope LL make / save some money from it, but I still think anyone who uses it is a mug.

dude, this isn't about auctioning event spaces ....the ebay thing has nothing to do with events.

money is the only reason any game exists. LL is doing what all the other games do and that is looking to what the future holds in dollar making amounts. If they knew that changing to a totally different game would make them serious fat coin they'd do it no matter what anyone in SL thought about it. Money is the root reason any company makes changes and it's soley the reason they do it..... they don't do it to make it more fun for you and i they make (changes) only to make more money and thats just how games go. Phil linden stated that SL is not a big part of his finances .... so if he loses some accounts ... yes he'll be fine. do they care that we're pissed off ..... nope not at all corperate minded people know the masses will get mad .... still do they care .... no they don't. they care about money plain and simple. 8million $'s always make a companies head reel from the dizzying amount. Will there be more changes .... oh hell yes and it still won't matter if we like it or not. If it makes them (LL) money then yes it makes good sense to them (LL)

mmm, ok "dude" I said "event" i admit it, replace "event" with "pick" and it doesnt change anything, anyone who uses absurd amounts of money ( whether or not the money is game money or RL money ) to pay to advertise "an object, a script, a place or any other creation for a two week period" using this system is a mug. I can see how LL can benefit and some of LLs cost savings may eventually come back to us in some form. But, how are most players, no matter how creative, going to be able to compete with experienced older players and especially those with money to waste in RL ? Perhaps I did miss something, there's so much noise today, but are LL giving this to us as part of the service we pay for ? No I think not. It's simply a method to get more revenue for LL and I don't blame them really for trying . What I don't like and why I urge to ignore it is because there's so much content made by SL artisans that will NEVER be seen on eBay because those same creators won't be able to get a bid in. Also it's bound to abused by those with more money than sense, which could backfire and put people off coming to SL.

instead of becoming indignant i asked myself
if linden labs had a very effective auction software on their own website, why would they take this one to ebay?

i answered to myself
while on LL's auction site the usual few thousand people would see that advertising space in this virtual environment had USD value, ebay actually had millions of subscribers. perhaps this was not only relatively free advertising, but also evidence of the value of this virtual luxury economy.

then i asked myself, how do people who have no experience in designing, implementing, or trouble shooting virtual environments or their economy not only critique LL's deliberated decisions in all regard so harshly and with such contempt but also do so with such self assurance.

i couldn't come up withan answer.

wow.
thats a good point, hadnt look at it that way.

Wonder if we'll end up with all the top picks being filled with ads for \/1/\Gr/\.

-Ghoti

I think so. As Robin has mentioned, they are using eBay so that they don't have to expend thier own internal resources on an *experiment*. So, during the experimental phase, you can only pay on eBay with RL $. Robin also stated that if it proves successful and demand warrants (I'm summarizing), they will re-work thier own internal auction engine to bring the 'Featured' auctions in house, allowing you to pay in RL or SL monies.

Additional in-world advertising is a feature that has been asked for again and again by business owners.

I suggest we all reserve our nay-saying opinions until we actually see it in action.

Fair enough, actually this one issue is the only one out of the recently announced changes that I'm not keen on, and yea I've said too much.

Actually, I'm kind of curious as to why people don't like eBay? I thought everyone loves it. I've never actually bought anything on eBay, so I have no experience with it.

I was afraid when changes in 1.2 were announced.

I am no longer afraid.

Yup I said they would be involved and was told I was a)stupid, b) over reacting or c) full of shit with my "conspiracy theories".

I said this would happen amongst other things that have come to pass in recent weeks, and I for one am sickened and saddened by that fact. I more than anyone wanted to be wrong in my pretictions and thoughts on the patterns that I saw happening. Who is making these decisions at LL? Who ever it is should be fired! Gearing the enconomy twords those who already have the most money and the most power in world is a huge mistake. When you forget about the very basic accounts and those who are in world for entertainment who the hell is going to be buying from the big boys? Noone when they cant (bites toungue) afford it. If this is a playground just for the rich say so and get it over with instead of pushing them out one by one in an attempt to make SL into a business portal. If you dont need those who are creative or those who socialize say so and be done with it. 25L$ per point who's the idoit who thought that was a good idea? Great the rich rate each other and get bigger bonuses. Taking away L$ support from events, great so now the host gets tips, what tips if ppl cant afford to tip them. Host did a great job at the event but regular joe cant afford the L75$ to rate them. I am beside myself on all the changes that have happened who in their right mind would think that taking money from those that can least afford to lose any L$ is a good thing?

The fat cats think its a good idea thats who because they will be affected very little by this right away. The dont look at the long term and how this will eventualy affect them.

If my choice is to a) suffer with less L$ b) buy my L$ on the gom or ige with rl $ or c) just try to get by till I get so fustrated and just quit rather than invest more money. I would have a real hard time choosing. My point being ppl are now being put into a situation where they must make choices. There was no need to put them in that position to begin with.

As for Ebay, screw them I will not sign up with a 3rd party just to pay to have any property listed on the top picks. As a matter of fact I will now avoid the top picks all together because those ppl bought their way in and did not earn the right to be there. The top picks should be chosen by the ppl. Not by the US$. Yeah im pissed I was right.

Talen I think you should re read it, its an advertizement for ebays services. Which are not needed as LL already has a auction site in place that takes us$ Only ppl who place a RL$ bid on ebay will be in the top picks now