What if... (L$ thread)

Yep, I admit it, it's my godlike coding powers that lift me above the swamp of angst and ennui that is everyone else's experience of Second Life.

Possibly, but more likely having made the right thing, been in the right place, met the right people at the right times. Social chaos, in other words.

Yumi, my first popular product was released in direct competition to one that was (a) given away free, (b) already used all over the grid, (c) had more features than mine, and (d) being given away by Lindens on Help Island.

Surely social chaos, then. What other explanation is there?

It was absolutely my god-like coding powers. The same ones that make me an exception to all the rest of your rules.

You said the other item had more features - or was yours less laggy, or more user friendly, or something similar?

Seriously, if my rules are wrong, that's fine, but argue against them with a _new rule_. Given a new rule, I can use it to shape my actions too. If you just give me a data point, I can't.

Doc Ferret says: there are no rules.

Of course there have to be rules, or you would have no way of working out what to do next. Human nature is to spot patterns and respond to them.

Patterns aren't rules. Patterns are patterns.

A combination of "here is how I spot this pattern, here is what I do about it" is a rule though.

Should I recapitulate the expert-system vs neural-network learning models debate in AI.

Nah, I'm not up to it.

Psssttt...you haven't learned to quit arguing with Yumi yet *grins*

I'd moan; but companies go bankrupt all the time. I lost count of how many I held gift cards to that folded, absconding with the value.

If they hadn't gone bankrupt I might take part in a class action suit if one arose. Because to simply take someone's money without recompense isn't cool.

When he'd rather debate about AI in philosophy than accept I'm asking for rules because they're things I can apply to myself... then I'm kinda stuck!

People make this mistake frequently. The ToS say that LL has no obligation to redeem them for money. That doesn't mean that other people won't give them monetary value.

Consider currency issued by the Confederacy. Absolutely no monetary value as legal tender, but lots of value to collectors.


The same is true of stocks, bonds, gift cards, and various other item. Perhaps the best example are Disney Dollars - not very useful away from Disney sites, totally subject to Disney's whim and survival, they look more like Monopoly money than US currency, but they have real value.

i'm curious ..can you turn disney money back in for rl money? i've never been there before..

or are they like tickets to some event where you buy them and if you don't use them you have wasted your money or have to save them till the next time you go there??

To my knowledge, Disney Dollars (at least that's what they used to be called) are like purchasing gift certificates - they can only be redeemed for Disney merchandise...and I *think* only within the parks, not their satellite stores. (I live in Orlando.)

That's how it used to be - I received some as a gift long ago.

I don't know if it's still possible, but I believe that Disney stores have, in the past, accepted Disney Dollars.

And if you brought some back and your neighbors are going to a Disney resort next month, it's perfectly reasonable to sell them your Disney Dollars at face value.

As a practical matter, it's similar to any foreign currency. You can't spend a 1000 Yen note at your local US store, you might be able to sell it to a friend or neighbor as a curiosity, a local bank is unlikely to help you with it, but you could find a currency exchange somewhere that would give exchange it for USD for a fee. There are legal differences, but there have been cases where currencies issued by a real government have become worthless.

Ah but I think that most of the merchants aren't just "in it for the money" (Well, I would hope not, given the fact that unless you are a top merchant, what you get out of SL is a pittance compared to the time you have to put in!)

I think that there are a lot of merchants who just need to find a way to break even in SL. They love being in SL but, for one reason or another, can't afford the regular cost of having a business (tier, ads, etc) if they don't make enough to cover their costs. Since LL insist on us paying in RL money for tier, then it stands to reason that if there were no way to convert L$ to RL$ most of those businesses would go away. You would lose a LOT more than those just "in it for the money".

You can sell Linden dollars for "real dollars" here at the secondlife.com website.

Or did I misunderstand your statement?

Clarissa, the premise of this thread would be what would happen if there were no way to exchange Lindens for dollars, so I think you misunderstood me, yes.