Which creator would you miss the most?

People should not tell others what they should do with their property or how much to sell it for.

I will agree, that prices for goods in SL are high for some items, seems some vendors think they can slap a price on it and consumers will pay it. If I think 250L for 1 color of shoes is too much, I just won't buy it. Its my choice to not buy it as much as their choice to sell it for large sums of Linden.

As for the individual in the thread that was supposedly done 4 posts ago, give it a rest. Allow others to discuss the issue without coming in acting like everyone but you is a dumbass.

we should just run open sim...
we should just craft all our own objects...
i see a trend!
why are you here?

I dont remember when but does anyone remember the $ scheme AC came up with long ago? Creating a brighter, shinier, new Linden currency.... If I remember right it was dubbed A$$ and yup it fell right on that particular spot.

This 'new' scheme is generating a great deal of commenting however looking at it reasonably it will also fall on that particular anotomical region.

A large percentage, very large percentage, of SL residents arent looking for a SL Walmart. They look for the best possible they can own, and it aint 10$L items.

So this new concept is going to go the way tht other ill concieved concepts (schemes) have went. I dont worry about one insignificant residents schemes, they have no effect on me and never shall.

Think this posts overestimates the edge that "quality" designers will have over people whose RL job it is to produce content to sell in SL. Which will be the situation.

I dont think she will only get the bottom of the barrel. I think she will also get the middle of the road. If she hired some people with talent she might even compete with some of the better stuff. Basically anything that isnt a household name for being "Awesome" is going to be at risk.

Is what she doing illegal? No
Should LL stop it? No.
Are a lot of "GOOD" content creators going to lose sales? I think so.

I agree with this for the short term.

However, I think in the long term, AC is going to fail on this.

1) If she keeps prices at the 10L$ pricetag, I don't think she can make enough to make the venture profitable.
2) If she raises the prices, people will just stop what little buying they will have done and go back to those that are better.
3) Those that spend the most in LL (ie, those that have been here a while) already know of AC and most will be leary of buying here. Like the money scheme. As much as I do trust AC for land sales, there is no way I was going to do RL money transactions with ACS. Personal opinion, but one I think a majority of the community held as well.

Though I don't think LL should stop this, I do not see this as a good thing. It IS going to hurt a lot of the middle-level creators. I hope they can weather the storm and will still be here after the fallout.

I, for one, will not be buying from ACS. I prefer to buy mid-level products from those just starting in SL. It's why I start shopping fromt he bottom of the Search list and work my way up. I spend my L$ on those just getting set up to help them out and have found a lot of true gems in talented individuals along the way.

ACS expanding from land sales to content creation is like Coke expanding from selling soft drinks to selling donuts. Can they do that? Sure. But they will never kill off Dunken Donuts or Krispy Kreame ^.~

AC is showing me she's jsut thinking like any other Corporation that came to SL. Thinking in marketing and finances. And in SL that's a great way to fail. SL has a lot more in it than that, and the intricate mico-economy is something that can not be easily defined. It is ephemeral and transitions from aspect to aspect on a daily basis. The trick is to find that "niche" and grab onto it. AC did that in land sales, and did it very well. I do not think she has the ability to grab onto this niche she's reaching for now. *Shrugs* Again, only my opinion.

~Jessy

Back to the original question, I would say I could not live without the creations of Barnesworth Anubis and any of the designers at Tableau. Oh, and Lovey Darling for her skins.

I don't care how many great items we may end up being able to purchase for 10L - there are some designers in SL whose creativity could NEVER be emulated and whose work I will gladly pay a premium price for.

Such 'schemes' are illegal, at least where i live.
If LL doesn't want to risk that SL economy COULD be destroyed (and probably SL itself through it). Yes.

Why I'm not all that worried.

1) SL is a hobby. Sure, I make enough to afford a sim, but this isn't a second income. I have approximately a year's worth of tier already sitting in my account, if everyone stops buying my products tomorrow then I can still hang out for a year and enjoy SL.

2) The Sky Houses are what support the sim, The Botanical Gardens. My work is very distinctive and I already have plenty of healthy competition. Some is more expensive, some is less, some are freebies -- but NONE of it looks anything like mine. Plenty of people shop at my store and plenty of them end up buying from somebody else because they prefer another style or features that I don't build with. If you don't like my particular style, you aren't going to buy my work no matter if it's $10L or $1000L. People are picky. They want what they want regardless of price and SL is all about style and self expression.

3) This isn't Wal-Mart. People don't fill up their inventory just because prices are low and they can afford more stuff. Well, ok, newbies do that at Yadni's but they regret it later when they have to rez and organize those 8 bazillion boxes of freebies.

4) A virtual world full of cheap content is meaningless if people can't log in, can't stay logged in, can't TP, can't move, can't figure out the user interface, can't get off orientation island, can't get into a sim because it's full of camp chairs occupied by other people earning the next $10L for a shopping spree. Content prices in SL are not its barrier to growth.

if people can emulate picasso, rembrandt, and da vinci, i reckon people can mimic anyone on sl as well. i havent seen anyone THAT creative on the grid, ever.

My Business skill is at least questionable... if someone could sell stuff i make for ten lindens a piece in quantity and i made say four Lindens a sale,suddenly i would make money.. i couldnt complain about that. and provided the "contract" wasnt limiting, in that i could still choose to offer products i made myself , for a price i decided.. at some external outlet.. then certainly i would be a happy chappy.

Right now i dont sell anything..but pay for a quarter sim sitting empty..i can afford to.. i wouldnt be here if i couldnt. It is my choice to stay or go, i stay..

"As a friend and neighbour of Anshe´s in RL I am amazed at the level of negative criticism of Anshe in the forums. She is one of the nicest persons you would ever want to meet in RL, has created work for a great many people, both in SL and in RL (and she has a strong presence now in other virtual worlds too), and has gone from being an English teacher in a foreign country, earning very little, to being a very successful businesswoman, in a relatively short space of time, through sheer hard work, but while being as lovely natured as ever."

A personal opinion is just that.. i dont know her.. but hey Anshe i make stuff, could you sell it?

My local supermarket is the source of a multitude of products where i live, from fuel to food to hardware.. it is probably the biggest and best and very often, but not always, the cheapest. A consequence is that local,individual producers and sellers have had to adapt or close..i used to have a local shop.. it closed long ago.. so with it went the post office.

But still i can find local suppliers of products, home grown, home made.. that are cheaper than the supermarket.
The supermarket offers convenience.. everything in one place.. after a sixty hour working week, to get that convenience and go home easily and quickly is worth it.. even though i might pay more for some items.

When real competition hits SL from the virtual online world makers, i will look. i might go..i might not.. The whim and personal opinion of users, is seldom decided on price alone. I pass no judgement on Anshe.. neither will i decry her.. i might well be gratefull of her interest... just as much as i have been glad of sourcing products from others..

Personally, i dont care where the variety comes from.. its the spice of life, someone working their butts off for a pittance is trying the best they can to survive... most of us are.

Define your market... dont just decry someone elses, thats envy.

The few people who were that "creative" got hit with IP theft notices. The case of Sexgen bed knock offs is headed to court in RL.

There is no content creator that I'd miss, because my favorites (many who have already been mentioned) will most likely not be put out of business from L$10 items. Newbies can already find tons of freebies in world. This new line of L$10 items is probably targeting that niche market. Those who can afford better will probably continue to pay more. Those with little or no money will hit the freebie shops. One should also consider that if a newbie REALLY wants that L$1000 skin, he or she will buy lindens and get it. AC is getting lots of free publicity from threads like this one, but I don't see this latest scheme taking off.

Me.

ROFL *ahem*

First, imo, my cat makes better "art" than Picasso when she uses the litter box. *smirks* Sorry, but I hate his paintings. Rembrandt I adore, and Whorl as well.

As for the bed being "creative" *shrugs* Perhaps, but I've seen much better in SL. I have seen creativity in SL on par with Rembrandt paintings. Works so well crafted, with such imagination and soul as to take your breath away.

The RL economy is replacing mom&pop stores with the walmart brand of stores. And if you notice, the quality has gone south from that. Not just in walmart, but in car manufactures, furnature, etc, etc. The "big" buisnesses make crap for cheep. It hurts the smaller buisnesses, but those smaller buisnesses still make a better product.

I really would hate to see SL go the same route as RL in this. THAT is why I will not buy from ACS. Not because I hate AC, but because I think she's wrong.

I wish her all the best, and I hope I'm wrong, and she is right and that her ideal will stregthen the SL economy. Nothing else I can do, because I won't stand in her way. That's not the ideal of SL. Creativity and Imagination are.

~Jessy

If I was God, I would cast thee out from this thread.

Have you ever been told to "make a better mouse trap" and then be forced to sell it for four cents to be competitive? Another words (sic) that's what this thread is about: asking people to promote the creators they care about and appreciate. It was not about slamming your heroine.

LOL .. thats kinda what im worried about too.

going outta biz

me 2

For wonderful artistic quality, innovative design, customer service beyond compare:

Creative Fantasy Home & Garden


Also:

RAC skins
Blaze
Details by Nonna Hedges
Elements in Design
Bits & Bobs

I sell some things for 10 linden - I consider it almost free stuff which I use to decorate the floors of my shop, things I had given away in other games and so I stick to the tradition of keeping them inexpensive in here. I also have a totally free Minoan octopus vase which I could sell for quite a bit, and don't because it was originally a texture to a poser freebie I made. So again... it was free before, stays free in here.

Oddly enough... they're the worst performing sellers. There's really such a mindset that if something is too cheap, it must not be worth anything, and therefore, it doesn't sell. If you don't value your work at what it costs to create it - and I guarantee you that salaries will be more than 10 lindens even in China, neither will your buyers value it either.

By the way, there's a LOT of great artists out here in SL who don't charge an arm and a leg for their work - get out there and discover them.

What she is doing would be illegal in RL.

She is taking profit made in one market, land and using it to fund a money losing project in another field to dominate that field and drive out competition. If she succeeds SL will be doomed. Much of the funds needed by LL to run SL come from the tier and Lindex fees paid by content creators. When you factor in the fees paid by people buying Lindens to buy from the content creators that will be vastly reduced due to people spending less inworld LL will suffer a huge reduction in working capital.

It's not illegal. But I think she undervalues the skills, and the cost of those skills, it takes to do quality 3d work. As SL becomes forced to compete with next-generation platforms (and they are coming into the game eventually, mark my words) and these things will arrive in SL as well, once Windlight comes in, and if Qarl Linden gets his materials system he's proposed. (Qarl is freaking amazing, btw... yah I am such a fangirl ) the skillsets it will require to do good work in SL will become an even higher and higher bar to cross. I think she doesn't realise that budgets to create the next generation video games are Hollywood style, in the millions of dollars.

Sculpties already bar a lot of people right now. I've done what I can to lower that bar for those with talent, but I myself know that quality 3d art is well above the abilities of a lot of people. I have seen it in the Poser communities for years. And no, the 5 dollar crap stuff on Renderosity hasn't killed the 3d market on Daz3d either. Even though Daz itself has inexpensive 3d work for sale - you have to pay a site membership to get access to those low prices.



I'm really not worried. For the reasons above. She'll have to raise prices to make the rent, or risk her business. There are others in this 3d biz far longer than her, and know the truth of it already.

huh? Sorry I am not a fan of Anshe nor of gossip, publicity and the works... so wth is going on?
I am totally lost LOL
a link?

AC: "In IMVU the average margin of content creators for items they sell is about 10-15 L$, while in Second Life content prices are still at almost the same levels as 3 years ago when the population was only a fraction of what it is now. We think this is one reason why IMVU is growing much faster than Second Life now. Therefore we decided to make Second Life more competitive and more accessible to players by providing high quality products at prices that allow Second Life to remain competitive in the long run. Our plan for the end of this year is to have between 50 and 100 internal designers and scripters working on 10 LINDENS, plus a network of local partners we are currently training here. We plan to create a full range catalog of decent SL content.
I think this is definitely good news for the content creator community of SL, much the same way ACS entering the IMVU content market helped the content creator community as a whole to grow their business. In IMVU, the increased internal competition and improved quality of the product catalog greatly accelerated growth of the platform and market as whole. Many content creators reacted by strengthening their brand's focus and focusing on more complex / high end products, actually increasing their sales in the long run. I hope we can recreate part of this success in Second Life in the coming months and all benefit from economic growth again, after the stagnation of the economy here in August."

Hum.

Let me list some of my software, and its costs.

cost of Modo - 895 dollars
cost of Zbrush - 595 dollars
cost of Poser - 249 dollars
cost of Carrara Pro - 549 (regular price) on sale currently via platinum club for 192 dollars.

And this is for the "cheep stuff"

Expensive industry standard game development software, like Max or Maya - are in the thousands of dollars. Some little content creator might get it off Bittorrent and nobody will care - but if you're a serious company and want to play in the big time, you better have licenses for your software or they will be knocking on your door one day with the lawsuit. And yes, it's happened to other companies. Seem to remember Crytek getting nailed not too long back.

Then you have to factor in salaries - people with next gen 3d skills usually want to be paid for their work, insurance, and the like. The rent of your building, the cost of advertising, and then you need to turn a profit...

If anyone thinks there's enough people in SL right now to pay for all that and turn a profit at ten lindens a product sale, they're smoking something.

Reading her release though - she's saying she will be looking at margins of 10-15 linden - which means her prices will actually be well higher than that. I doubt she will be lower priced than most of the good content creators, and she sure will have far more overhead than someone doing this as a hobby for a little spending cash, with a RL job doing something else.

Umm not going to happen...
50-100 designers? I'd love to see these designers working for L$10 LOL not going to happen...
I consider myself a good designer, not the best by any means... but it takes me anywhere from 8 hrs to 2 weeks to make an outfit, and to sell them at L$10 each, would not only make me feel pretty worthless, but it most certainly would not be worth my time and efforts.
If Anshe does release a whole bunch of products at L10 each, I highly doubt they will be near the quality of half ways decent designer.
eh.. anyways... not going to worry about it