Warning: Copycat !

Unfortunately I can't write names here. But there's a copycat active who is very persistent and has several alts. The male/female looks like a newbie and has various alts.

Designers can recognize him/her:

- looks: male noob/female noob
- behaviour: scanning items (edit-beam) for a very long time and asking various building related questions, first IM always just 'hi'
- excuse: first telling you that he/she is learning to build and then telling you that he/she only has little money and wants to think good about what he/she will buy (was in my shop for two days, but I wanted to be nice, so just let him/her) (naive me)
- has several alts and speaks in various tongues, even Norwegian lol
- solution: ban, just ban for life, stupid non-creative people

I waited too long. I guess I'll see my items anywhere on the market soon....

PM/IM me the known names?






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And interesting you mention the part about the person sending IMs. Ive never seen anyone note that before. Ive had my items stolen and resold and I remember a few cases where the person IMd me previously asking what program I used to make such and such. Or just other rather odd questions that a normal consumer would not be asking.



People who catch my eye are noobie avis who buy skins (or other expensive items) without first trying a demo. Could be an alt but I mark these peoples names down, theres just too much theivery these days to not be assuming the worst IMO

how do you know that this person is a copycat? Have you seen him/her put other people's stuff on the market?

I was kind of confused about this myself.


Is the OP hinting that hes been copied..or is he simply assuming theyre copycats due to the behaviour he noted.

So do most new players.


I always say “Hi “– Also I always scan Items before purchase to check permissions and the actual creator of the parts in the item, not just the Owner selling the item.

Sometimes I go AFK with the edit beam still active, maybe there phone rang..


If I see an interesting item I might ask how it was made, learning all the tips and tricks to build is an ongoing process for most people, and monkey see, monkey do, is how I, and many other people learn to build here in SL

I always think my purchase out clearly, and always check for the original creator before I buy to be sure it’s an original item

In your shop for two days, that’s got to help your traffic count….


Or perhaps its several Different people, instead of one thieving, conniving newbie polyglot.


Those are your best customers; if they could make it themselves they wouldn’t need your store.

Shine up that foil helmet, I find one long foil antenna, instead of two, works best at detecting this sort of thing.

BTW where are they selling all these goods?

Most would just stick to reselling freebies.

You`d be surprised.........

I dont mean to stereotype but it seems every brazilian SIM with malls has stolen goods from the english-speaking designers.

You may not mean to, but you are stereotyping.

Hmm have you looked around everyone copies everyone here. Very rarely you will see a geninue unique product. Anyone who got some skills can reproduce anything they see or want here. They say we have copyright protection but the system can be used to steal too and we have to legal pursue it ourselves to prove it was done before they will enforce it.

hrm i never copy anyones stuff maybe i'm strange, but i make things that i think would be cool. It may not be original but i would not know unless I actually went to look which i dont. I'm not much of a shopper (well not for the type of stuff i make because when i make stuf its because i want it for me too in most cases). I only shop for things I dont create.

On the other hand I"m curious as to what this person copied because the information is kinda sketchy although standing in a store for 2 days is suspicious and likely. I had this happen to me but in my case I logged in saw the person and ignored it came back saw them in the same place twice for 24 hours straight and then chatted them and got no response. Since I wasn't watching closely I had to think if they were even actualy the same person but after noting it the second time with a screeny I was sure the next morning when I logged in. Not sure if they actualy copied anything because my next move was to ban and eject them at the suggestion of a friend who i had come over and prod them a few times as well lol

I truly wasn't sure what to do about them and BOY did my traffic count go up hehe

I don't shop much but I do look around to see what is made and sometimes I see stuff I like and I have friends who can show me how its made.
I don't make things to resell, I make things to study and learn. Like artist who study other people's art and reproduce it to learn. I do that sometimes with old master paintings too. I have reproduced just with a mouse few Cezanne's that way.
Copying isn't a bad thing when you learning, stealing someone else's copyrighted design, textures and turning around selling it as your is is wrong. I see it a whole lot here so even if I like item I have no idea if the stole it or not so I unless I know the personally I won't buy it. Actually there not much here other then textures I would want to buy. The majority of textures here are stolen or borrowed by someone going to commericial sites that state do not sell or use for comericial reasons that turn around and sell here.
I have occasionally asked owner questions and most or all with few exceptions admitted they don't make there own products. If they say that I usualy make note to never shop there again if they do have items I want.

Im basically saying that if i see a foreigner i DO NOT stereotype them. I was simply making comments on the particular sims Ive run into....Yet trying to make it clear that im not prejudice towards everyone who comes from that particular background

(Caps in this post are not shouting, bold doesnt work so..)

Im not talking about that type of "copying" at all.

Im talking about the insanely large problem of people ripping *actual* copies of other peoples work.

ive had my EXACT skins and clothing STOLEN AND RESOLD multiple times. And most of the time it was a foreigner.

Now, im not saying if a foreigner is on my sim i think "zomg a theif!!" im just telling what ive experienced. Anyone can steal though, regardless of race or language.... Im just saying it seems to be taking place largely in lets say..the brazilian communities.

Its becoming a huge problem.

GOSH.... i hate them, hope i dont meet one.

yup, sometimes i do feel uneasy talking to a stranger... anyway, take a look at the bright side. cheers

I have a list and it contains the names of 10 communists. I repeat I have a list with the names of 37... no 79 communists.

Sorry I just find the similarities are too great.

Have you no decency? Have you NO decency?

erm. why odnt you simply set your objects to no copy? ??

Okay, in reply to the above postings:

It IS a copycat allright, I'll tell you why.

- First day avatar1 was in my shop the entire day, constantly scanning (edit-beam) every item in one corner of my parcel. He asked me some basic questions about some of my builts. I helped him, thinking he was a newbie just learning like I have. Then I was away but got an IM from customers who said they couldn't try out one of my furniture sets because av1 was busy there and wouldn't respond or move aside. In the meantime they saw him changing his editing to various items of the set, so he was there. I went to my shop and told av1 that I had no prob answering his questions, but that he shouldn't interfere with my business and visitors. I also told him that I (after one day) felt uncomfortable with his constant scanning. He said: I understand. Then he left.

- Next day I again got reports from clients and friends about av1. I went online and saw him scanning again. The scans seemed systematic: he already had two corners covered and was busy scanning everything in corner three. I warned him this time that we agreed he wouldn't scan anymore and wouldn't bother my customers. He didn't reply, but his edit-beam was still there and changed. Then I ejected him. He IM'd me again: why did you eject me? I told him this was a warning and he promised to behave. He asked if he could just sit on my land and wait because he was doing something else on the internet at that time. I still thought he was a newbie and agreed.

- Strange thing was that he told me that his long presence was good for my traffic. I found it remarkable that a newbie knew about traffic, but still was naive to believe he was a genuine newbie.

- Later he was scanning AGAIN to my surprise. This time I ejected and banned him immediately. But because my shop is spread over two adjacent but seperate pieces of land he continued scanning from land 2. I also ejected and banned him from this land. He IM'd why I banned him and I told him. Then he chose position in a small ditch between the two lands (ditch is owned by island owner) and continued scanning. This time he was in corner four. I then called the island owner and asked for av1 to be completely banned from the island. Fortunately the island owner came quick and saw it too. We have a good and trustworthy relationship, so he had no reason to doubt my story. Av1 was banned from the island.

- Between all this he IM'd changing his story. This time he wasn't interested in my items because he wanted to learn to build, but to buy something. 'I don't have much money, so I can only afford one item and want to take time select it carefully', he said. Two days already!

- Ten minutes after that I was working in my shop and noticed some customers on my land (mini-map). One of them stayed in the same corner, corner four. This time it was a female avatar, also newbie appearance, but exactly behaving and scanning like av1. Still I IM'd kindly if I could help. I got an answer in a Scandinavian language which I recognized as I come from Europe too: later it appeared to be Norwegian. I found it again strange that someone would talk to me in such a rare language on sl, but still wasn't convinced of av2's bad intentions. Then, after another 15 minutes and similar behaviour, I knew that this was the alt of av1, because (s)he started scanning at the same point where av1 had left off. I called the sim owner again and he banned av2 also. After that I got many IM's with bad language in Norwegian, something like 'you bastard'.

I haven't seen a third similar av on my land today, so I hope it's the end of it. But in reading this story, I hope everyone is convinced that I didn't name him copycat without reason. Because:

- Any well-willing newbie would have gotten the message, wouldn't have an alt and would not be so persistent.
- I don't think newbies know much about traffic.
- I don't think that a newbie would find or search a safe ditch to continu the activities.

And with saying 'I hate non-creative people' I don't mean buyers. They don't build, but are creative in their own way by choosing products they want to combine in their homes. With 'non-creative people' in this thread I mean copycats that parasite on someone elses ideas. I DO hate that.

I'm wondering what they were possibly scanning for so long. If they wanted to see what type of prims you used and how you fit them together, isn't a few days a bit long? lol. Not that I doubt your story, it does sound suspicious.

McCarthy. LOL. Good semi-quote.

well i actualy belive the game is designed to bae able to get ideas of other poeple. calling it theft is nonsence

Just as there is a lot of derivative art in RL. In Western Music there are only 12 notes (not counting quarter tones). You're gonna repeat a few of them every once in a while. There is a difference between Copying, emulating, and outright theft. Any artist learns by emulating others, and asking questions.He could be just an over eager aspiring creator.

Don't even bother replying to IMs that ask why they were banned, its your land you know. This sounds very suspicious.

As has often been said, there's no copyright on ideas. A number of people have brought out products that are direct imitations of products of mine. But I knew when I released those innovations that it would be a matter of time before copies appeared. It really doesn't bug me too much.

One can only claim violation of copyright if the offender actually got a copy of your prims, textures or scripts. If they started from scratch, then legally they are in the clear.

When I was a noob I bought my skin and hair without trying a demo. Even now I often buy hair without trying a demo. It just means we're impulse buyers, LOL.

Well from your scant description, that just about covers 90% of all newcomers, which is at best misinformation.