BDSM creators doomed eventually?

Today me and a good friend of mine we're discussing the BDSM market in SL. Both of us being creators of BDSM gear etc etc. The topic that we both sort of got stuck on was a certain company that basically, took over the collar trade. I won't mention this company but any SL BDSM lifestyler would know which company it is.

Here's me and my friends shared thoughts, and also my own.

First, i'm not here to badmouth this company because I need to say for a free collar it's a wonderful one. tons of options, all the bells and whistles, automatic updates and constantly improving it. To be quite honest...for a free collar it rivals, and outdoes most of the collars you see for sale in SL. Even my pets use them and I rather enjoy them because of the ease to use, the features and the constant updates.

Now...being a "free" collar, I believe this is going to impact some of the big players as far as collars and BDSM gear goes. To the point of taking over eventually, which I don't see far away. I myself stay away from collars as far as what I create but as I said, with the advances this company makes I see many commonly used things in the BDSM lifestyle being incorporated into them as we speak, and in the future I'm sure. So in my opinion it is going to affect the trade of the BDSM lifestyle pretty harshly eventually. And no, you can't compete with free things in SL. Especially things that are quality made such as their products.

I fear that eventually most of the big companies and well known companies are gonna go under unless they either cheapen up significantly, or don't mind investing money into a business as opposed to making money. Could higher forces such as the Lindens be a part of this? I'm not dissing them but yes, they have done some shady things in the past and are in the workings of some now.

As far as my business goes, I make it by with a few hundred, maybe a few thousand extra a month which for me, is good. Enough to buy a few toys and new outfits. But as a established and longtime company, or a company wanting to make it. What do you do?

Again this probably isn't to important to non BDSM people but if you are a BDSM company owner, you need to make decisions...we all need to make decisions I think because I see a take over coming.

Comments are welcome ofcourse from everyone

Open Collar?

I don't like the menu interface. I will pay for a scripted system that I like and have.

BDSM is doomed anyway. Haven't you been paying attention to the coming changes in adult content? You can't use the word BDSM in search unless you're on Adult land. People can't FIND the word BDSM in search unless they are "account verified".

Also, OpenCollar can't get close to the quality of Marine Kelley's RR set, or LuLu's cuff set (which is amazing). The Scripting and Animations for both systems are superior to anything I have come across in SL so far.

I have played with OpenCollar, and have no reason to dislike it, but right now, OpenCollar does not offer anything i want in any package i would like. For now, only the commercial collar sellers do.

Despite all of that, OpenCollar will definitely impact sales for everyone else. Free is hard to beat for most people, even if it's only "good enough."

Yes. Most definitely.

Since most of the BDSM people will be over there anyway, I don't see the issue myself. I still view adult continent as a validation of adult activities in a way.

Now I can see the possibility that this isn't the end of LL's changes, and it might yet come to pass.

Isn't "Open Collar" an oxymoron?

To the OP, I think that's the risk all SL business owners face, regardless of genre. You run the risk of somebody building something that directly competes with you, and putting it out for free, for no other reason than a love of SL or building or whatever. LL are not reliable either. They make changes which mess businesses up regularly.

As many have said, do your thing in LL, but don't ever rely on it for RL.

Only until it's locked.

Oh wait, only after it's locked. Yeah, that's it.

Before I discovered SL the term BDSM barely existed and yet in SL it's as common as RL golf. I don't think that's a good thing for Second Life.

SL shouldn't have to be a hangout for sexually related cliches.

Linden Lab is going to put a gimp mask on BDSM and lock it in a box. They'll then push the box into a nice SL 2.0 shadow.

I didn't like it either, for some reason, though that was a long time ago I looked at it.

I'm always, oddly, suspicious of "free" stuff. I prefer to pay for stuff, not just have stuff handed to me.

heh, and whimper. I've verified on several methods. I can't get into age verified parcels. I suspect I will not be able to get onto the adult continent.

I saw BDSM all over the place long before I ever heard of SL.

LOL. Then you WILL see a hurt on the SL concurrency numbers and number of residents joining.

First off, SL IS NOT a hangout for sexually related cliques. Only a very limited perspective could yield such an opinion.

If it was not for sex, SL would not be so damn big in the first place.

BDSM and Sex had a big hand in building this place and in 2004 - LL was not turning away the flood of Goreans that were buying sims and collaring the residents.

I don't see SEX or BDSM in SL going the way of the DoDo anytime soon.

I don't think it's working yet.

I never did.

I've always been sexually deviant.

This is how i view it.

LL will be able to claim, unlike the other grids, that they have an Adult Content Grid, where the adult content is controlled and one does not have to worry about running into obscene scenes when showing SL around to their Boss, or Professor or Parents or Children.

This is not the end to anything. This is just the beginning of a new way XXX and extreme violence content is treated on the grid.

I understand what you mean but in my honest opinion, the sextrade and what have you is what made SL as popular as it is. my opinion ofcourse but I've been here for almost 3 years now and if there's one thing I have seen grow to a enormous rate. It's the sextrade, or better yet the adult oriented things.

I do agree there are much better collars and such out there. I tend to have a brand I rather enjoy alot myself when I do use my collars for my pets. And yes it is a dog eat dog world in SL business. Same as RL basically.

And the Adult content deal, bah. I gave up already on that war, hate to say it. It's a done deal. Sort on interesting though, type in "Ursula" in wikipedia and see some of the things it brings up. Sort of gives you a little wonder.

...says Mistress Love's pet.

and I'm sure David Icke saw reptillian humanoids all over the place.

/envious

Did you perhaps mean, 'barely existed for me'? 'Cause people have used the term for a very long time before SL even came inot existence.

NSFW: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sm2.jpg


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BDSM#Origins

Thing with SL is that it is a microcosm of life in general - so it takes all kinds is quite literal. There are pervs and prudes anywhere u look.

hah but you know deep down inside the boss or parents are going to take a oneway trip to Ursula land when no-ones home :x

An oxymoron is a bleached blonde.