Failed attempts, and the SL economy

Yes, I too have thought of the dolls-and-stuffed-toys analogy. Some of us are fixated at the playing-with-blocks phase.

Vaguely related to the thread topic: There's a tough "credit assignment" problem here: If a club isn't popular, for example, it's kinda hard to attribute the blame to the owner's purchased equipment (same for the credit, if successful).

The price of equipment might correlate very highly with likelihood of financial success of the business being equipped, but with causality kind of reversed: if buyers are willing to part with a larger sum, they're probably more driven to financial success.

In a way, some products are already "priced" according to the success of the venture; the free, 5% rental box is an example. Not sure how this generalizes, though.

Yes, these are both SL items.

Why would you need a camera? This is silly...I ask you, why do you need a pair of awesome stilettos?

Photographers love the camera prop. You hold it, and when you take a photograph, it matches the snapshot animation, and has a working dynamic flash...it sells like hotcakes...clearly it's a valid product, and really cool model. Great for role play.

And the same goes for my JVC HD camera...it's a sweet prop.

As far as paying licensing fees for these products...I'm not worried about the companies. The day they send me a cease and desist letter, I can quickly replace the logos with my own logo over-night...they would sell just as well with a GBD logo.

I bought a bunch of slot machines, video poker and blackjack tables and I no longer have a casino. Does that count?

So trademarks and IP rights should only be respected after the owner calls you on it?

If that's the case, why not go ahead and put your own logo on them? Why go the route of trademark infringement?

Depends on how you define failure?

Did the person benefit (profit) from my purchase? (there's some success)

Was I entertained? (more success)

Were others entertained along the way? (even more)

Final outcome? Far more fun per USD than a movie!

(From the creation side, my few clothing items, Aeon Flux-style costume and naga AV tail came about from contest wins, or people literally wanting to buy the outfit off my back, but such things are subjective of course. The referrals and compliments lead me to believe they are appreciated thankfully. No guaranty of a contest win though! LOL)

"Trying is the first step towards failure."
-Homer Simpson, Philosopher