Question of generally accepted Value of a Creation within SL

When you create a building or an object, which single factor do you consider to be the primary value of that creation?

i.e. Would you consider a single texture to be the main value? or Would you consider the time you spend building the main value? or perhaps the skill that it take to make the shapes? etc..


I am curious what the general consensus on that is?


For me, I consider the time to produce a build the main asset.

I ask myself what I'd be happy to spend on it.

ONE BILLION DOLLARS!

I don't think there will be any general concensus. Some of us develop products. For us, the value of the product is it's "lifetime revenue potential" in Lindens or dollars. Others create things as a contribution to the community and measure value in hugs and kisses. Others develop things for their own personal satisfaction as measured by who knows what.

It's apples to oranges all the way around.

Yeah..... What she said.

There are so many factors.

The time to produce should be the main factor if you are talking contract work and setting a proper hourly rate is what i think you are looking for. I personally would not quibble with paying $20 usd/hour depending on the level of quality of the work. Before I captured a scripting monster catgirl name Crystalshard i paid $20/hr for scripting work.

And also, as I have been told by more than one person, it is really hard to price texture work since the time that goes into the final product far surpasses what most people are willing to pay on an hourly rate and a fixed price often does not pay the artist fairly according to the amount of labor they put to produce the works. With that said - Bless all you texture makers producing high quality work with full perms, you all rock.

No skill and a lot of time = rubbish.
It's all about quality. The best artists get the best payback although a well scripted object does too.

I sell hours, not prims. Saves me the headache of caring what people do with it when I'm done working on it.

wow . my english must suck bad.. or its a full moon

If Train A leaves station A at 10:20 and Train B leaves Station B at 11:35 and they both arrive at Staion C at the same time? How fas wast train B travelling when it met up with Train A?



The question was.. if you make a building that you sell, which component of that building holds the primary value?

Is your time and skill worth more than the cost of the texture?

I base my pricing on the complexity of the project, and the quality/detail level required. If the client is satisfied with the typical level of detail (or lack thereof) found in most SL builds, the price for that will be less than for a build where every window pane, light switch and wall socket has to be in precisely the right spot, and detailed with prims so it looks perfect when you zoom in at an insanely close point of view.

I could easily make two buildings that both represent a realistic schoolhouse: One built based on exact floor plans and thousands of reference photos, with highly detailed custom textures that even included the graffitti on the walls; and another that captures the general appearance and spirit of the structure, but uses low-prim building techniques, reusable textures, and stock components to make a much simpler structure, in far less time. Both would be functional, and both quite recognizable as the building they were patterened after. But the former would be one you could compare to photos or to your memories of having been there, and be amazed at the degree of detail and similarity; while the latter would just be "Yeah, that looks like the old place, all right.". The detailed one would cost a lot more.

As i said, usually texture work has a higher price that most people are willing to pay so other factors have to be used for consideration.

Hours of high quality texture work time can rarely be recouped unless you are in the skin trade and damn good.

Pile em high and sell em cheap, or put a REAL value on your time and sell three !

Personally I always love the former in RL and SL

Spend a shed load of time (not really money) in SL making something fantastic, and then selling it at a supprisingly good value price, and encourage a LOT of trade and popularity.

People will come back for more of your work again and again, and recommend others to go look also.

I've seen some really nice cheap stuff and spoken to the makers and they say this is how they see it. I've also been with people and seen nice things at silly money and have heard others say, wow that's nice but I'm not spening THAT MUCH on just one of those.

Not that any of this answers the original question... Sorry

The crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe.

Zero. They have met up at Station C so are both stationary because they've stopped to pick up passengers?

ding ding ding ding ding... you are the winner..

The original question never specified that they stopped at the station. Nor did it specify a perfectly spherical train with zero length. Plus it falls afoul of Zeno's paradox.

Ok.. getting closer to an actual answer


which has more value ..your time to manipulate, upload, and apply a texture to a creation or 50 cents to purchase a texture?

M time to manipulate, upload, and apply the texture.

But remember, the time you spend making the texture (if you do that) is not often recouped using an hourly rate.

As with any creation of real value, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. But I would say that the single factor that represents the primary value of the work is what differentiates it and gives it specific value in the marketplace. That factor is going to vary depending on what the product is and what market it is sold in.

For example, I can build two versions of a robot. The first could be unscripted beautifully textured, with custom textures applied carefully to detailed primwork. The second would be a plain box, but one that was scripted with ingenious and unique features. Obviously the "value" in each of these objects is completely different, because they are in fact very different products.

So there is no way to categorically say that any one part of the creation process makes up the " primary " value then, because it varies from creation to creation and for someone to make a claim saying that a texture is the primary value of any object in SL could be disputed.

Would you agree?

Absolutely, Heather. I have made some items that are "beautiful" to me primarily because I have taken the time to create a lovely texture and others that I think are terrific because they contain a script that I have spent days writing and debugging. I suspect that many of the people who end up with something I made will never appreciate the creative energy that I pour into my work, so "value" really only makes sense to me, personally. I can't think of a rational way to express that to another person. The whole exercise seems like one of those "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" discussions.

its actually not an excersise its a potential superstorm that is brewing and where this is going, Angels are not allowed.


If you buy a texture at a texture store for a few cents and make an object that uses it, and upon seeing the object the seller tells you that he wants a piece of the action, because the texture is the main value of that object, and because of that he is entitled to additional compensation. What would you say?

The main asset of stuff is that its serves the purpose for which its made.

A painting. If the artist can get me to get what it is that the painting is about then it has served its purpose.

A car. If the maker can get me to where I want to go and back safely then it has served its purpose.

A story. If the storyteller can immerse me in the story then ...

A bed. If I have a good nights sleep then ...

The components of stuff are less important I think.

I'd say "show me where it says that in the Terms of Use" If he could show me I would kick myself for buying a texture with that restriction on it. If he couldn't show me I would tell him to go away. Either way it's the last texture I would buy from him.

Is there something more to this question? Has this happened to you?

That has to be the best answer yet... no offense to the other contributionists...



also well said