The Proposed Adult Continent Policy Has Resulted in Good Press for Second Life
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Tegg Bode
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03-23-2009 00:45
From: Clarissa Lowell Well that is just it - you imagine. Right now it's all anyone can do, imagine. But it proves nothing, merely saying it. Hey you imagined before I did, your imagined scenerio isn't better than mine. And as far as the numbers go, last office hour I was at, all the people protesting against verification were PIOF verified people. We have people who don't want to use adult content trying to deny others the right to have a seperate grid for that purpose. What we're not hearing hear is the story from those who will come to SL when it's image is cleaned up and people can mix with their kids on the grid. There are a lot of people who seem to think there will be completely seperate 3D internets of the future, Teen, PG and Adult, who is going to buy stuff twice or 3 times so they can use/create/sell content on multiple grids? There aren't any plans yet, but there are ideas. If LL don't do it someone else will. A small drop in population now is peanuts, compared to a potential doubling of population in 12 months time, most of those threatening to leave won't do it anyway. Yeah the current verification system doesn't work but what makes that so impossible to fix before this is implemented?
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Gordon Wendt
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03-23-2009 01:06
From: Dakota Tebaldi So, here you're implicitly accusing Linden Lab of illegally scamming money out of its users by restricting adult content to a specific area. A link to the court ruling invalidating LL's right to do this, please? If you don't mind me fielding this one Amity even though it's addressed as a reply to you... Dakota, look up Marc Brag v. Linden Research Inc., it was the big case against LL for banning a user and confiscating all his assets including land holdings, L$ balance and USD balance. I haven't read the briefs themselves since I'm not a lawyer and have no reason to but notably several parts of LL's TOS were found to be unconscionable and were not enforceable. Bragg ended up winning the case and had everything re-instated including his account status. That's the objective summary, to get a bit off topic for a second, Marc Bragg exploited a bug in the website to unethically get land before it went on public sale and in some cases below value and deserved to be banned although his money (or the monetary value in the case of land he owned) should have been paid to him not including that which he gained through unethical means.
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Clarissa Lowell
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Join date: 10 Apr 2006
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03-23-2009 01:08
From: Tegg Bode Hey you imagined before I did, your imagined scenerio isn't better than mine. Tegg I just said that, and you quoted it.  From: someone And as far as the numbers go, last office hour I was at, all the people protesting against verification were PIOF verified people. The fact that PIOF were protesting this should tell people that it *isn't* only 'pervs' who object then, Tegg, but they might've been protesting due to the bigger concerns, or knowing others who object but who were *afraid* to speak up themselves. From: someone We have people who don't want to use adult content trying to deny others the right to have a seperate grid for that purpose. It isn't a right, it's a privilege taken from others, to live SL their way. Defend forcing people onto a continent and all the rest, due to others having the 'right' to do this to them, please. Love to hear how you justify it. Yes the current status in SL is also a privilege and can obviously be changed at any time per the LL contract of use all agree to in order to play. No one's arguing that it can't be done, only whether it should. But I don't see it as other people's 'right' to force people onto some virtual penal colony so their tender eyes won't have to look. Don't teleport there. Or improve search engine if things are coming up in search that shouldn't. Hire more people to enforce search and profile photos being PG. How about that. But again, explain the logic in stating those who *do not wish to use adult content* having a 'right' to insist upon a separate continent for its use? Don't use it, if you don't wish. Seems simple to me. You already have the 'right' to choose what you do. Mouse click. From: someone What we're not hearing hear is the story from those who will come to SL when it's image is cleaned up and people can mix with their kids on the grid. Yes - where *are* the hordes of people? *waits* And you do realise the parents will not be the only ones 'mixing with their kids on the grid'? Here's an idea. Parents can mix with their kids in real life. Go to a movie, play a table game, TALK. Wow, novel. (How did families ever spend time together before the first home computer?) From: someone There are a lot of people who seem to think there will be completely seperate 3D internets of the future, Teen, PG and Adult, who is going to buy stuff twice or 3 times so they can use/create/sell content on multiple grids? Im sure there will be ways around buying things 'three times' but considering that's totally hypothetical - you do seem to stack hypothetical atop hypothetical though, without proving the core or base assertion first... But that is like saying who's going to play IMVU plus WoW plus SL? Some will, some won't. I'd question why anyone would spend time in both teen and adult worlds though, unless they had family in teen world (and btw, can't families already get into existing teen grid? If not, isn't that safer than bringing teens into existing SL?). From: someone A small drop in population now is peanuts, compared to a potential doubling of population in 12 months time, most of those threatening to leave won't do it anyway. Oh the old "there is the door, you won't leave will you, and if you do, there's more waiting in line" argument. Nice. Lol. (But prove it's gonna double? Who's been clamoring for this change anyway?)
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Qie Niangao
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03-23-2009 01:25
From: Amity Slade If the new adult continent will be a lag nightmare, it seems to me that moving one's adult business to a private estate is a much more attractive option. The alternative of private estates sets a cap on the sell price of adult mainland. That's why I mentioned Estates at all: there will surely be Adult-only Estates set up to capitalize on the same market that Ursula will serve. And yet, while there are plenty of Estates with urban sims, and with ancient nautical fantasy themes, Bay City and Nautilus produced very high auction prices, and resale prices higher still. (I don't think we need to revisit all the reasons some folks buy Mainland when comparable Estate properties are available.) The "lag nightmare" scenario will only occur if the sims are indeed packed with eager Adult content consumers, in which case the foot traffic alone may justify a huge premium. In any case, if success in this business implies lag, then the same would obtain on an Estate. Anyway, my interest in this assumes that LL is willing to follow the stated plan and sacrifice Ursula auction proceeds to move Mainlanders free-of-charge; I'm thinking they could rush through some development that makes such moves unnecessary, for a lot less cost than the auction revenue they'll otherwise be giving away. On second thought, I don't suppose there would be such demand for Ursula if it didn't have the exclusive franchise for Mainland pr0n.
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Pie Psaltery
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03-23-2009 08:29
For what it's worth, I would just like to point out that perhaps Stroker has had enough of LL too, since he seems to be investing in his own virtual world/adult MMORPG. Maybe he's decided doing business with LL isn't all its cracked up to be. Here's the link where he confirms it: http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/other-grids-virtual-worlds/25386-stroker-serpentine-working-new-adult.htmlNow, would you tell Stroker that he is in the "sky is falling group" because he seems to want to take his primary business off this platform to create his own because maybe he feels like there's a train headed directly at his business here? Yes, the thread I am referencing is from before the official "Adult Content Contient" announcement, but maybe Stroker is still FIC enough to know it was coming. I would be sure Strokers products will stay on this grid as long as he makes money from them. But he seems to want to move on to, if the sky is falling or not. Why do you imagine that is?
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Milla Janick
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03-23-2009 09:06
So, did all this good press result in a big spike in new user registrations?
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Clarissa Lowell
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03-23-2009 13:18
From: Tegg Bode Hmm, oops I didn't mean to name someone. I imagine actually a good percentage of males can age verify and will put RL money into SL if the online porn industry is anything to go by, the only reason many don't in SL is because they don't have to  Oh I forgot to say: please, if you quote and excise part of the quote, put a 'snip' in place of the excised portion, please. The "Heh" followed by a smiley as it stands in my reconfigured text makes the tone entirely different. I *try* to speak to or answer the issues raised, rather than go for pure smart aleck-ery. Honest, I do.
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Lindal Kidd
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03-23-2009 13:29
From: Amity Slade ...This is, by the way, why opposing Linden Lab on the basis of some sort of discrimination against adult content, or right to adult content, will fail. The media, and the money that flows from good press, just don't agree.
And that's why I say the real issue is pointing out that Linden Lab happily took money from people investing in adult content, under the rules provided by Linden Lab, and now Linden Lab is re-writing the rules without consent, resulting in signficant financial loss to a lot of people who trusted Linden Lab to deal in good faith and honor its commitments. ... The Residents opposed to LL's insane proposal dam' well SHOULD concern them. Good press is all fine and dandy, but it doesn't affect the bottom line. Larry Flynt and Hustler Magazine knew that. Satisfied, paying customers are FAR more valuable to any business than potential customers. It's said that one satisfied customer is worth ten potential customers...because you have to expend effort and money to turn that potential into a reality. We have proposed SEVERAL alternative suggestions that would both cause less annoyance to the existing residents AND do a better job of filtering out adult content for those who don't want to see it. And any one of them would get LL the exact same good press. In their usual fashion, LL does not appear to be listening.
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Ciaran Laval
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03-23-2009 13:34
From: Pie Psaltery For what it's worth, I would just like to point out that perhaps Stroker has had enough of LL too, since he seems to be investing in his own virtual world/adult MMORPG. I've read quotes from him regarding "Adult Life". I've also read quotes from here where he implies he's been asking for better controls on access to adult content for years and now it's too late. If you look at the mess LL are in with even trying to get this project off the ground I'd have to agree that it's too late.
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Brenda Connolly
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03-23-2009 13:50
From: Lindal Kidd The Residents opposed to LL's insane proposal dam' well SHOULD concern them. Good press is all fine and dandy, but it doesn't affect the bottom line. Larry Flynt and Hustler Magazine knew that. Satisfied, paying customers are FAR more valuable to any business than potential customers. It's said that one satisfied customer is worth ten potential customers...because you have to expend effort and money to turn that potential into a reality.
We have proposed SEVERAL alternative suggestions that would both cause less annoyance to the existing residents AND do a better job of filtering out adult content for those who don't want to see it. And any one of them would get LL the exact same good press. In their usual fashion, LL does not appear to be listening. I think Amity is right. IF everyone peeved by this were to walk awayfrom SL, MAYBE it would have an effect. But most won't. People who are in SL strictly for sexplay will likely go, but most everyone else has other interests to keep them in, especially since there is no place to go yet for the hardcores who can't just find something else to do. Some people will alter their spending, tier down, whatever, but LL is *hoping* that theslack will be picked up by the new arrivals. And they may be right.
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Amity Slade
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03-23-2009 15:26
From: Gordon Wendt If you don't mind me fielding this one Amity even though it's addressed as a reply to you...
Dakota, look up Marc Brag v. Linden Research Inc., it was the big case against LL for banning a user and confiscating all his assets including land holdings, L$ balance and USD balance. I haven't read the briefs themselves since I'm not a lawyer and have no reason to but notably several parts of LL's TOS were found to be unconscionable and were not enforceable. Bragg ended up winning the case and had everything re-instated including his account status.
That's the objective summary, to get a bit off topic for a second, Marc Bragg exploited a bug in the website to unethically get land before it went on public sale and in some cases below value and deserved to be banned although his money (or the monetary value in the case of land he owned) should have been paid to him not including that which he gained through unethical means. You and everyone with a financial interest in Second Life should read the court's opinion in Bragg, regarding the forum selection clause in Linden Lab's TOS. I don't think it's too dense for a non-lawyer to understand. To be accurate, Bragg didn't win the underlying case in court. What Bragg won was having the case heard in his home state's court (Pennslyvania, as I recall) instead of using arbitration and/or California courts as the SL TOS mandates. After Linden Lab lost the battle over which court to use, it settled the case with Bragg. But the principle of the matter is the same. Just because Linden Lab says they can do whatever they want in the TOS, doesn't mean they actually can do whatever they want. It's true that courts will not lightly tear up contracts; they are loathe to do so. But the Bragg opinion will give you an idea of the circumstances under which a court might. When a company tries to use it's superior bargaining position to act in bad faith against a consumer, a court isn't inclined to allow that company's boilerplate contract to shield it from it's bad faith acts. And to add, this doesn't necessarily mean that any part of the TOS is invalid per se. Whether or not it's invalid is based on the specific facts of the case. Which is why I say document heavily what Linden Lab does to you with this adult continent thing. You need to have a good, clear set of facts to make a judge think, "This is just unfair, I'm going to find the legal out to prevent this company from screwing the customers." Here's the link to the decision. The interesting stuff begins on page 22 (under III. Motion to Compel Arbitration). That's where the court refused to enforce the arbitration clause in the TOS in Bragg's specific case. http://pub.bna.com/eclr/064925_053007.pdf
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Opensource Obscure
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03-24-2009 05:07
From: Amity Slade the real issue is pointing out that Linden Lab happily took money from people investing in adult content, under the rules provided by Linden Lab, and now Linden Lab is re-writing the rules without consent We all knew Linden Lab has rights to do that, right? It's written in the ToS. Even if most residents don't read ToS, I'm confident that those people that are seriously investing their money in Second Life read them. Or at least, they should. I guess that more people would invest in Second Life if its ToS were better. Maybe a court won't approve how Linden Lab will change ToS with regard to 'Adult' content management, but we cannot assume it - until a court actually says something about it. I think this is true even if we consider previous cases as Bragg's one. From: Amity Slade resulting in signficant financial loss to a lot of people who trusted Linden Lab to deal in good faith and honor its commitments. I'm a bit lost. Are you stating that "a lot of people had significant financial loss because of the new upcoming 'Adult' policy"? How can you state such a thing? what data are you referring to? How can an honest debate even exist if we mix our fears with our predictions with actual data? (not-english native speaker here, hope I didn't misunderstand)
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Feldspar Millgrove
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03-24-2009 08:14
From: Amity Slade And to add, this doesn't necessarily mean that any part of the TOS is invalid per se. Whether or not it's invalid is based on the specific facts of the case. Note also that as a result of this case, LL revised the TOS and their advertising; they have already taken action to (they hope) prevent those particular arguments in the future.
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Amity Slade
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03-24-2009 11:06
From: Opensource Obscure We all knew Linden Lab has rights to do that, right? It's written in the ToS. Even if most residents don't read ToS, I'm confident that those people that are seriously investing their money in Second Life read them. Or at least, they should. I guess that more people would invest in Second Life if its ToS were better. Maybe a court won't approve how Linden Lab will change ToS with regard to 'Adult' content management, but we cannot assume it - until a court actually says something about it. I think this is true even if we consider previous cases as Bragg's one.
I'm a bit lost. Are you stating that "a lot of people had significant financial loss because of the new upcoming 'Adult' policy"?
How can you state such a thing? what data are you referring to?
How can an honest debate even exist if we mix our fears with our predictions with actual data?
(not-english native speaker here, hope I didn't misunderstand)
First, no, just because Linden Lab claims it has the right to do something without liability to anyone, that doesn't make it so. Second, the point of my post is that people who think they may be affected by the change need to start preserving evidence for the eventual case now. Based on what Linden Lab has stated so far, and based on their past actions, it is a good bet that they are going to cause significant financial losses with a new Adult policy. They haven't actually caused the loss yet. Anyone who isn't taking steps to document their dealings now will find it is too late to do it once the policy change is made and Linden Lab starts forcing moves. If you wait for it to happen, and then start trying to see if you can make a case, it is too late, you're not going to be able to marshal your evidence. It is only even possible to challenge Linden Lab if you are preparing for it. Ask yourself, why is Linden Lab imposing the burden on a lot of residents spending what amounts to high-end hobby income, rather than these corporate entities that actually want the adult policy? Because Linden Lab knows that most residents are not keeping great business and accounting records, are conditioned to thinking they have no legal rights, who individually probably have not spent enough to make fighting worthwhile, and who have trouble getting together collectively. What do you think would happen if Linden Lab told IBM, for example, to move to a PG region to keep away from the adult content? And Linden Lab tells IBM, it's in the Terms of Service, we can do it we want to? IBM would answer that they want a full refund of every cent they ever spent on Second Life, and if they don't get it, they will own Linden Lab after the lawsuit they win against Linden Lab. (Though my best guess is that actually a company like IBM is not bound by the TOS that we mere peasants have. IBM never spends real money on Second Life if that crap in the TOS is what is governing the dealings. IBM I'm sure has their own separate contract with Linden Lab that looks much more like a real contract that the big-boy businesses use.)
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Lindal Kidd
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03-24-2009 13:04
You make some good points, Amity. I've never believed the draconian TOS could withstand a serious legal challenge.
My question is, who is going to make that challenge? Are we going to start a class action suit against LL? It seems the only way, unless one or a small group of residents take it upon themselves to carry the flag for the rest of us. (I'll contribute to the Legal Defense Fund, if they do.)
Besides this being a disorganized, underfunded mob of little guys vs. The Big Company, there's another problem. A whole lot of residents want to preserve their anonymity. That is a lot of what SL and its adult activities are all about. Because people are anonymous, they can behave more like Vegas convention-goers than their normal RL selves. (Not that I think this is a bad thing, necessarily...I've always said SL was for entertainment.)
A legal battle would require that people identify themselves and say, "I want Linden Labs to continue letting me participate in Smut, Porn, and Degeneracy, Your Honor."
The only person I know of with the stones to do that has been Stroker Serpentine.
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Amity Slade
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03-24-2009 13:20
From: Lindal Kidd My question is, who is going to make that challenge? Are we going to start a class action suit against LL? It seems the only way, unless one or a small group of residents take it upon themselves to carry the flag for the rest of us. (I'll contribute to the Legal Defense Fund, if they do.)
Besides this being a disorganized, underfunded mob of little guys vs. The Big Company, there's another problem. A whole lot of residents want to preserve their anonymity. That is a lot of what SL and its adult activities are all about. Because people are anonymous, they can behave more like Vegas convention-goers than their normal RL selves. (Not that I think this is a bad thing, necessarily...I've always said SL was for entertainment.)
A legal battle would require that people identify themselves and say, "I want Linden Labs to continue letting me participate in Smut, Porn, and Degeneracy, Your Honor."
You're right, even with a good case, most people aren't going to want to go through with suing because it isn't worth the time and money. The fact is, for most people, once they've already put their initial investment in Second Life, it's always going to make more financial sense to just take being screwed rather than fighting. In my response posts, I keep mentioning legal action when there are actually less expensive ways of making a difference too. The same evidence that makes your good lawsuit also provides good information for a media story, good documentation of a Better Business Bureau claim, good documentation to send your state's consumer protection agency. In the long run, these ultimate forms of pressure could be more effective than a lawsuit anyway. (That's probably why Bragg got his _confidential_ settlement after winning the procedural issue on arbitration. Pay a little money now to make the case die quickly, minimize both the precedential value of the procedural decision and minimize the publicity. I don't think Linden Lab feared actually losing the lawsuit; they feared media coverage about their Terms of Service not being as iron-clad as they want people to believe.) Even if Linden Lab were just aware that its residents were becoming more serious about documenting and protecting their interests, they might be more careful. One is always more careful about one's actions when they know someone is paying attention. You're right, even if Linden Lab does something legally actionable to a lot of residents, it still may not make financial success to actually sue over it. But if you don't at least prepare for it, you never have the chance to make that decision. And there are alternatives to legal action which could be quite effective at forcing Linden Lab to change its ways.
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Rene Erlanger
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03-24-2009 14:03
From: Lindal Kidd You make some good points, Amity. I've never believed the draconian TOS could withstand a serious legal challenge. My question is, who is going to make that challenge? Are we going to start a class action suit against LL? It seems the only way, unless one or a small group of residents take it upon themselves to carry the flag for the rest of us. (I'll contribute to the Legal Defense Fund, if they do.) Besides this being a disorganized, underfunded mob of little guys vs. The Big Company, there's another problem. A whole lot of residents want to preserve their anonymity. That is a lot of what SL and its adult activities are all about. Because people are anonymous, they can behave more like Vegas convention-goers than their normal RL selves. (Not that I think this is a bad thing, necessarily...I've always said SL was for entertainment.) A legal battle would require that people identify themselves and say, "I want Linden Labs to continue letting me participate in Smut, Porn, and Degeneracy, Your Honor." The only person I know of with the stones to do that has been Stroker Serpentine. Fundraisers all around the grid....if everyone contributed 1 USD each, it would be an a large fund  ...then additional larger amounts from all the businesses involved.
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Brenda Connolly
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03-24-2009 15:50
One thing I have been wondering about. This whole deal is in part to open SL up to a wider audience, besides making us all Corporte Marketing Targets. LL is looking for the everyman user, as I see it, Joe McWhitebread and his wife Frigid. Thing is, a lot of those people are sort of like me. Using middle of the road or even outdated machines, not into buying new ones every 2 years, or buying hardware every few months, ot tinkering with the computer or the programs.
SL is a pretty heavy program to run, and even though many complain that it is not moving ahead fast enough, it is moving and some people/won't can't keep up. How is LL going to deal with a whole influx of people who IF they do come, won't be gamers or computer hobbyists? Some will get hooked enough I guess and will upgrade, but what about all the rest? Wil they al become just more empty numbers, people who tried Sl and gave up. Already the Techno Elitists are screaming at LL to leave the Luddites behind. Will they be able to find the balance, or will their push for growth actually hold SL back?
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Rene Erlanger
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03-24-2009 15:59
From: Brenda Connolly One thing I have been wondering about. This whole deal is in part to open SL up to a wider audience, besides making us all Corporte Marketing Targets. LL is looking for the everyman user, as I see it, Joe McWhitebread and his wife Frigid. Thing is, a lot of those people are sort of like me. Using middle of the road or even outdated machines, not into buying new ones every 2 years, or buying hardware every few months, ot tinkering with the computer or the programs. SL is a pretty heavy program to run, and even though many complain that it is not moving ahead fast enough, it is moving and some people/won't can't keep up. How is LL going to deal with a whole influx of people who IF they do come, won't be gamers or computer hobbyists? Some will get hooked enough I guess and will upgrade, but what about all the rest? Wil they al become just more empty numbers, people who tried Sl and gave up. Already the Techno Elitists are screaming at LL to leave the Luddites behind. Will they be able to find the balance, or will their push for growth actually hold SL back? Maybe they should offer 2 different types of viewers at any given time.....a Lite version minus all the bells & whistles and the full version. You are right about being a hefty load on machines....I have come across many people with older machines that are struggling with SL.
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Qie Niangao
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03-24-2009 15:59
From: Rene Erlanger Fundraisers all around the grid....if everyone contributed 1 USD each, it would be an a large fund  ...then additional larger amounts from all the businesses involved. All this talk of class action lawsuits reminds me of the more recent promised mustering of lawyers in response to the OpenSpace mess. One of the "capital exchange" characters was supposedly taking contributions for a legal offense fund or something, but it all had the usual air of role-played con-artistry about it. Do we know if anything ever became of that? (On a legal tangent: During the IDV debacle, LL's policy was worded as if they hoped to transfer to "landowners" all liability for inappropriate access to mature content. I haven't heard quite the same language this time. Not sure if their counsel gave up that ruse, or if they just forgot about it.)
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Rene Erlanger
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03-24-2009 16:00
From: Qie Niangao All this talk of class action lawsuits reminds me of the more recent promised mustering of lawyers in response to the OpenSpace mess. One of the "capital exchange" characters was supposedly taking contributions for a legal offense fund or something, but it all had the usual air of role-played con-artistry about it. Do we know if anything ever became of that? (On a legal tangent: During the IDV debacle, LL's policy was worded as if they hoped to transfer to "landowners" all liability for inappropriate access to mature content. I haven't heard quite the same language this time. Not sure if their counsel gave up that ruse, or if they just forgot about it.) You're correct.....it's mostly hot air regarding legal threats.....and LL probably know this! The 2 main drivers of that fund are resident in the Conciege Info Group in world, they both have been very quiet about it since their initial posturing. They use to fill Group chat with all those threats....and asking those effected by the tier hikes to join in their proposed action. As far as i'm aware it came to nothing for all the hot air that was blown off into those Group chats.
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Milla Janick
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03-24-2009 16:03
From: Brenda Connolly Already the Techno Elitists are screaming at LL to leave the Luddites behind. Will they be able to find the balance, or will their push for growth actually hold SL back? We're screaming at the luddites to catch up.
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Brenda Connolly
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03-24-2009 16:22
From: Rene Erlanger Maybe they should offer 2 different types of viewers at any given time.....a Lite version minus all the bells & whistles and the full version. You are right about being a hefty load on machines....I have come across many people with older machines that are struggling with SL. If it wasn't for 3rd party viewers, I'd have been out a long time ago. I'm not saying LL has to slow development, I can see them wanting to keep SL cutting edge, but if so, then they have to forget about being "The Next Internet" and accept that SL will be somewhat of a niche product.
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Clarissa Lowell
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03-24-2009 18:22
From: Brenda Connolly SL is a pretty heavy program to run, and even though many complain that it is not moving ahead fast enough, it is moving and some people/won't can't keep up. How is LL going to deal with a whole influx of people who IF they do come, won't be gamers or computer hobbyists? Some will get hooked enough I guess and will upgrade, but what about all the rest? My bet is they will be like some I've met who have old or slower machines and play SL. They will treat it like a "3d chat program" as some have described their view of SL, to me. They will mostly find one or two places in SL to hang out and chat with their friends on voice. They will clothe their av mostly in freebies and cheapies. That is how people with slow machines, who are not really 'gamers' and do not wish to learn to create/build, who I've met and hung with, approach SL now. But who knows?
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Liralyn Lyle
Registered User
Join date: 5 May 2008
Posts: 99
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03-24-2009 23:12
From: Clarissa Lowell Supply follows demand - if there is a market for it, it would already be obvious. No one is stopping 'sheep' as you put it, from playing SL or shopping in SL.
You missed my point, no doubt because I didn't express it clearly, so I'll try again, with a lot more detail. There is no doubt that sex sells and is profitable, regardless of the medium. I am doubting that Linden Labs itself gains enough profit from sexual content to justify loss of customers who are offended by sexual content. With respect to sexual content, LL only gets money from the land sales to those who provide the sexual content. There is no doubt that profits are made by those who sell sex, but as it is now, it's not LL who profits. LL loses money if people reject SL because of objectionable content. So LL has an incentive to try to capture some of the sex profits AND try to gain business from people who object to some content. I can attest that when I first started to play SL, I left for the following reasons (but return from time to time because of Number 5, and each time, things seem better): 1. There is no advantage to having a paid account. Free mainland plots were only available to bots, estate lands were a much a better deal, but were pretty much "buyer beware" and require me to log on periodically to pay rent. I have, and will continue to pay subscription fees to games that I don't play for a year or more just to preserve whatever I have there just in case I want to come back. Not so in SL, because there is no advantage to owning Mainland (which I would pay for with my credit card, and not worry about logging on if I was playing something else) so I rent from estates instead (who I can't trust with automatic payment mediums or paying them in advance) and because of the following. 2. Sleazy content made me question whether I should support SL in any fashion. The fact that LL is trying to clean it up makes me more inclined to give them money. 3. Too many people view SL as a business or are only interested in sex. I have nothing in common with them, and generally find it unpleasant to be around either type. I am primarily an MMO game player, and this is troubling - I pretty much avoid contact with strangers in SL. 4. Technical issues, from lag to being plagued by an item that spammed in game as well as via e-mail. "Buyer beware" issues to the point that I can lose items I paid for without compensation, because I trusted the seller and didn't do out-of-game research to check up on him/her, despite the fact that this forum prohibits conveying that type of information. 5. Not being aware of how much fun it is to build things, and since I enjoy building landscapes (as opposed to say, jewelry or shoes), that brings me around full circle to Number 1. Yes, there's no one stopping us sheep from playing SL or shopping. But there are a lot of reasons why we don't want to. What I don't know is if the wolves (the people from Number 3 above) are more profitable to LL than us sheep types. I'm guessing that LL might be thinking that we are, which might explain their recent actions.
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