What is the correct "line" for the SL Economy?

Based on some threads I've just seen in the Content Creation groups, I'd like to ask where people thing the correct "line" of value is for the SL economy - what is the balance point between making high value (thus attractive to consumers but hard for creators, especially new ones) and low value (unattractive to consumers, but easier for creators). Note that low value does not mean low quality - it would only mean that quality would be expensive. High value would mean getting high quality at cheap prices.

At first glance it seems high value would be the way to go, but in previous cases of:
- external companies giving away quality items for free because it's all advertising and the cost of a sim is pocket change to them;
- Chinese developers selling reasonable quality items for L$10 because that makes enough for them;
people have complained that these take the value TOO high, because although they're a great deal for consumers, they greatly lower the rewards for being creative.

So what would the balance point be?

Ultimately a product is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. If you spend hours and hours working on the most amazing something or other but nobody wants to buy it then it's value is basically zero.

I often wonder how all these content creators "make money" in SL, because as far as I can see "making money" in SL does not equate to making money in RL - espoecially considering the amount of time and energy that goes into producing stuff. I vote for the make money in RL, buy Lindens and spend money in SL because when you come at it with RL money SL is very cheap. If you are trying to exist in SL using money made in game, unless you are *very* lucky or *very* talented, chances are the time you spend creating stuff would not add up against the amount of money you could have made in RL over the same period.

I'm not dishing business SL at all - I love hanging out and spending money - but I don't think the economics of it add up if you look at time spent vs return and convert that back into real money. Even the pittance you get camping is probably less than the cost of keeping your computer switched on warming up the atmosphere....

So the balance point is arbitrary although from personal observation I would say that the more you spend on something the better quality you get - skins are a good example.

Just my 2L

Ack. I made th same point twice just slightly differently phrased LOL

I don't know what right answer is to this.
I literally spend hours upon hours getting texture, object or clothing item I make
very highest quality I capable of making but I am no professional content maker.
I usually I don't sell items I make because I am perfectionist and I always see flaws in my own work but after much convincing by few friends I am starting
to try again.
Some things I thought would never sell for 25L I put back in inventory only for someone to ask and was willing to pay 500L for it.
I got few hand drawn clothing rack displays, plants and flowers I am selling right now for 100L but who knows who is interested in really buy them.
Some people will pay amazing amounts for one thing and another thing there will be no sell.
Then there are people who make content for fun and sell it some make lots of sales, others very few regardless of prices.
There some designers who are well known I have boughten products and seen flaws in them but they are well known and make interesting products.
Personally I would agonizing over a white line in jacket and not sell it if it but the designer had no issue with selling this and people seem to continue buying their products.
It is all crap shoot it seems sometimes.

Let's not waste any time debating what it "should" be. Let the market decide.

I don't understand the question. These are two business strategies, and sure, there's a continuum between the two extremes. However, that doesn't mean there's a well-defined middle point, at least not without a specific goal. I'd expect the answer to be highly specific to the product line as well, with no general answer.

I also don't understand "these take the value TOO high", perhaps because your usage of the word "value" seems strange to me. I understand how they could be forcing other creators to lower prices; that's competition. But how could that mean they're raising the value?

Yes thats just the way I see it.I have spent ages on stuff that I thought people would have to stand in line for,and it bombed.Then I cobble something in minutes and it sells. Thats the fun

The grid is pretty much what I'd call a 'luxury' economy - few actually need anything here.

So when you are dealing with luxury items or lifestyle stuff, it's more like iPods or cable tv or designer carpeting... that kind of thing.

Meaning that price is pretty much driven by perception, and value is based largely on image.

* * * * *

If all things were equal, there would be no reason to get anything except freebies and stuff from Anshe's $L 10 store.

But that's not how it works. If all things were equal, there's no reason to get an iPod - you can get a far cheaper mp3 player that will let you do scandalously more things than an iPod ever will. What do you mean, you can't copy an mp3 back off it? Ridiculous! But image and 'cool' trumps functionality.

Same with everything from cars to coffee. There's bad, there's adequate, and then there's "why did you spend THAT much???" Yet people do it all the time.

I think the right line for the economy is drawn with a big fat marking pen - a really wide line, that has a bit of everything in it.

In a world where bottled water sells for more than gasoline, and free water is available in your home - it makes sense to believe in the irrationality of human behaviour.

Des, if I didn't need my sig for advertising, this would be it.

You haven't tasted my free water.