Could the Lindens block SL from stabilising as a goldrush economy?

Fixed it for ya!

Pep (Assuming you *weren't* talking about me?)

I was following your mode of speech, so, fixed for you:

The only problem is that, by doing this, you are also risking being banned from the land.



The read meaning of "your world, your imagination" is that you'll be able to make real the things you imagine; not that you will be provided with stimuli based on which you can imagine things. The latter would promise nothing more than a blank screen!



The promise of being able to "live your dreams on SL". Which _is_ said often by Mentors but often by other residents too. The problem with saying that is, you never know what the other person's dreams are; they might include being a rock star..



Ah, but if you'll recall, the original question was - how much of the economy consists of purchases made by people who haven't realised that no matter how much they buy they won't get their way? And can be protect against that amount increasing?



Exactly. If it's not exclusive then humans don't rate it. So any world that wants to give people abilities they can't have in real ilfe, can't be a social game, or other people will just devalue those abilities.



That's true, but the pattern I've tended to wind up following - and others have reported this too - is:

1) Tp to themed place which looks ideal for what you want to do;
2) Find it empty but for a camper or two;
3) Repeat steps 1-2 ten or twenty times;
4) Give up and just go where there are people, which overwhelming means a club.

This means either that a) clubbing IS the choice of activity for the majority of people in SL (and thus should be reflected in the content market - making huge amounts of content for activities that people will never get to do is IMHO just dishonest) or b) others in the club are there as the result of following these steps too. Probably it's a combination of the two.

Plus, of course, there's the issue that if you are a ferret, you don't want necessarily to just hang out with other ferrets - you might want an environment where being a ferret can be distinctive.

Hey, don't blame me for all the tangents on which you've taken this thread!

That is a legitimate part of the ferret experience. Ask anyone who's had one.
You have the opportunity to do these things. Whether you have the ability is beyond the scope of Second Life. Anyone can become president, but that doesn't mean you will.
I'll go out on a limb and say "10%".
Opportunities, Yumi. Opportunities.
Ahern has often been a prime hunting ground. One has to have patience, and ferrets have... oooh... shiny!

I don't think you could argue that harassing other people and getting banned for it is a legitimate part of _any_ experience. Weren't you arguing against the sale of griefer tools?



1) It's certainly within the scope of Second Life, because Second Life defines the whole universe, and defines what abilities are needed within it. When SL says you can become president, it's saying that as the entity which controls the election system, controls the voters, controls the powers the president has, controls how many presidents there can be, even controls what people see as they walk down the street. Opportunities also have a psychological aspect which Second Life does not consider, but could (No one is forcing SL to offer the same world to every user, that's a choice the Lindens make)

2) If other people just don't want to do something, then there's no level of ability that can make them. Marketing is about changing something to appeal to people - there's only a limited extent to which you can change people so that something you like appeals ot them.

3) If this is true it's all the more reason to allow people to get refunds on their content in order that the market can adapt to ability levels the same way the real market does. If you buy a guitar IRL but turn out just not to be good at it, you can sell it second-hand; that fact affects the pricing of beginner's guitars, and also gives an incentive to guitar shops to offer music lessons. That adjustment should exist in SL too, because it has a good effect; just letting the guitar shops blank it out by setting the guitars no-transfer is not in the public interest.



Prove it.

Seriously, prove it. It's easy to say "you had the opportunities but failed" but anyone can say that about anything. It's very hard to prove false.. but that means you have to prove it true.



You mean the practice of hanging out at Welcome Areas because it's easy to be distinctive amongst newbies who by definition haven't explored anything yet? That's a workable method, certainly, but it's not necessarily the friendliest way to introduce people to the world!

Your post was ambiguous; mine wasn't.

Pep (Master of Ambiguity)

Only if you're slow.

No. If you are slow it is probably unambiguous.

Pep (Probably because I wouldn't know)

Who said anything about harassing people? You can be banned from a sim simply for being the wrong combination of one or more of race, gender, species, dress, and even NAME... let alone acting out of theme whether the people you're directly interacting with are enjoying the act (and accompanying badinage) or not.
SL doesn't say you can become president, not even metaphorically, not by analogy nor simile nor implication nor synecdoche. You have inferred that metaphorical promise, but your inference is not shared by the people you're engaged in conversation with.
In other words, yout goal is impossible to achieve.
Markets, to quote Christopher Locke (and as recently noted by T Linden) are conversations. Those conversations happen all the time, whether or not you see them, and despite P T Barnum's notable achievements he didn't make his money by selling chopped paper to a sucker a minute, he did it by creating the greatest show on Earth. Word gets around, both inside and outside Second Life, because Second Life is part of the real world and the conversation extends into the real world. People recommend creators who provide a positive experience, and recommendations add up.

The market is not so fragile as you believe.
What, since I refuse to accept it guarantees outcomes, you want me to prove that SL provides *opportunities*? Are you serious?
If the target of a ferret-biting experience does not enjoy it, then the ferret experiences a substandard experience and is clearly doing it wrong, and needs to learn how to improve the experience all round. If they do, then how is a playful and enjoyable experience NOT the best way to introduce them to the world?

No. If you're slow (or more likely insecure) you use language as a means to try to make yourself look superior. But it doesn't work.

Starting a sentence with "But"?

Pep (Apparently it does)

I hope I wasn't being ambiguous this time.

Erroneous.

Pep (More available)

One Pep is plenty.

I meant words.

Pep (But you are right; one is more than enough; I wouldn't want to spoil you, would I, Charly?)

I guess you were ambiguous?

Intentionally so.

Pep (Why don't you ask Hate to explain?)

Oh, stop being so emotional!

Damn - you guessed I have "Love" and "Hate" tattooed on my knuckles in rl, didn't you!

Pep (Emotion? Pah! I leave that to girls)

The first step is admitting it.

Well, since this is turning into a pep cascade, I'll unsubscribe again.

Sorry, the AA meeting is in the next thread along.

Pep (Been to a few of those too)

Fixed it for ya!

Pep (Nearly time for the footie anyway)

Oops! Sorry, I was toying with his compulsion to get the last word in.