Why don't you all strike?

Seriously. You can start all the voting polls and bitch on the Answers forum all you want about the new accounts problem -- you know it won't do anything.

But what would do something is if you boarded up your stores and left for a week. Yeah you'd loose the sales. But it would definitely get the point across.

I just started thinking today about what it would be like if Pixel Dolls, Doc's place, ETD, etc etc closed for a week. I mean you'd really have to get a huge buy-in to make it worthwhile. If like, five of you closed up for a week it wouldn't do any good. But, say, 100 of you -- all with big name stores -- closed up for a week - - and I mean put up plywood around your store so no one could get in or just took your islands off the grid for a week... damn...

that would show some sort of message. course i don't think there's all that much solidarity among you but I could be wrong.

You answered your own question.

Because if they're loosing money, they don't want to loose more money. The only effective method to strike would be to pull your tier completely, if not your account. And then you'd be giving up everything you've built.

If LL is going to come to their senses, instead of showing classic signs of a downward spiral, it will not be from all the top-tier players holding their breath til their skin turns blue.

I thought about that already. But I figured it'd be more profitable (and interesting) to work on active solutions... and continue to bitch and moan.

It doesn't hurt that much - honest...

*perk*

Did somebody say Content Creator Union?

I think someone did, but was promptly sacked.

Because it would be a failure. Humorous and entertaining for those watching, but a failure nonetheless.

You'd have better luck herding cats.

How would that be fair to the customers who haven't made this lame decision of no acct verification? The only people it would effect is the loyal people who buy from them. I'm not understanding how this would bother LL...

I actually do that for a living, in a sense.

I <3 that phrase

Zsu is dead on, at least so far as my reasoning.
It penalizes our customers, who haven't made this mess, and who do still want to shop there. Why spank them, they haven't done a thing wrong.

I dont think LL (or anybody) would really give a crap if we did a strike. In fact, it could well blow up in our faces, as I am sure they would all be quite charmed at how cute all the little virtual business people picketing with thier little virtual signs are.
:|

HEY.......we need TEA CRATES......again?

I expect it will happen some time between when the Gorean sims turn furry, and when Havok 2 arrives.

If such a thing was done by all the vocal forum regulars who have popular product lines I'd think it would be more like slitting their own throats than sending any kind of message. SL has lots of inworld/non-forum going content creators ready to fill the void, even if it's only a week or two, of missing content.

The more sensible response being that there is no overall solidarity at all. For every retailer who is being conned, every club griefed, there will be a dozen more who say "well it's not my problem, I'm okay, and I can make a quick buck". In fact the majority of people will never hear about it at all. Try combining that with the effort of actually shutting down all of a largish business' vendors etc (and the effort of bringing them back up).

Across industry sectors it doesn't even bear thinking about. There's active disdain. Look at the reaction to event organisers complaining about loss of dwell by content creators, "you just want handouts you lazy bums", with the same people turning round and whinging mightily at every fluctuation of the L$.

I'd try civil disobedience if I were you.

Cats are the front line in the host of hell, you know that, right?

Tis true.

Yup! You got it in one.

Headline one: Content creators go on strike!
Headline two: Freebie sales skyrocket!
Headline three: Texture thieves hold rally in support of content creators strike.

How about Protest Porn?

You know...a sexy avie...devoid of clothes...in an inviting position...

"Second Life: You thought we were easy before?"

well...they WERE...but then some of them started staring into an empty corner of hell, some others started playing with bits of lint that were blowing around, and the rest laid down to take a nap. except for the one that is sitting on my keyboard, blocking the monitor, and he definitely ain't going anywhere.

A half a year ago when GOM was shut down, Mulch Ennui made a comment about LL "jumping the shark". He attended the Town Hall with a shark on his back. Philip commented on Mulch's comment in his blog. (unfortunately I can't find the particular blog where Philip wrote about it, not a Typepad customer).

A couple months ago Mulch again made the comment, this time about the ResMod program. Not sure if the shark is copyable or trans, but if someone made a shark and sent it out to everyone they knew, who could then send the shark on to Philip, Robin, and every Linden in the Find menu, etc...it's a message that LL has TRULY JUMPED THE SHARK!!! I can make a notecard to send along with the shark as a form a civil disobedience, if anyone is interested IM me in world. If anyone who is a better builder than me (everyone ) could send a shark along with the notecard that would be helpful.

The point is that at some point, Philip was listening/reading and felt compelled to comment on that post, so the shark has some history here with a clear meaning behind it.

Anyone want to join me in this act of rebellion?

edit to add: "Jumping the Shark" refers to an episode of Happy Days when Fonzie went waterskiing and jumped over a shark in the water, a clear moment when everyone knew the show had gone beyond entertainment into the quick downhill slide toward chaotic ratings groveling. "Jumping the Shark" is a pop culture term that has come to mean the moment when a television show has lost its appeal to its viewers. See Jumping the Shark at wikipedia

Not a good idea. It would give new entrants a chance to gain a foothold in the market. Honestly, there is no product in SL that can't be copied, mass produced, and sold.

As I view this as a minor irritation and not "jumping the shark", no I won't be joining you. But have fun.

And that's a bad idea because....?

Because the only voice the major merchants have that LL cares about is their tier payments. Stop paying your tier and LL wipes your years of work, easy for them, no backup for you. Your content, their servers.

Sure, they like to advertise that you can make a buck playing a game - which is patently false as anyone who is making a buck is working their ass off for it. But they don't care about your profits, nor theirs it seems. They are currently playing a game and its name is "You". They want subscriber numbers, all else be damned.

At this point I think they are trying just to get a feather in their cap "yeah, we had almost 1/10th the 'population' of a real MMPORG" before they hit the big red switch on the way out. No other conjecture makes sense to me.

Of course it doesn't.