Defining the FIC (Seriously)

Cool, that's good to know. I didn't know how visible this page was to outside companies, so it's good that there are companies contacting direct. Anything that limit's Linden involvement has got to be good.

Three in 4 months, altogether, 2 completed and one in production. All of them went extremely smoothly, with LL acting as a conduit between ourselves and the other businesses.

What I've found terribly interesting during my experiences on these projects is that there are a growing number of companies that would love to do projects of every size in SL, but are having real problems finding responsible organizations to handle them. I spoke to one potential client who had already gone through discussions with 3 or 4 inworld businesses to provide them with custom content, but the inworld businesses always fell through on them.

Starting a business in SL for many is a fun hobby, and that's awesome. People pick the level of involvement they wish to have according to the dedication and time they have available to it. But what you get out of it is directly proportional to what you put into it. And when RL companies are ready to part with real money, they want to know that the people they're dealing with take them as seriously as is warrented.

In another year we may very well see 40 businesses on the DD as opposed to 14 - and I hope we do - but at this point I think we're still reaching the tipping point where *in general* people consider SL a platform upon which to base their RL professions.

I am wondering: Who is it that actually said all those things in italics above?

I could write the same sorts of things:

There is no such thing as the FIC.
There are no users feted by the Lindens who have been given any special perks, privileges, projects, and rights, and there have never been.
Anyone with talent will be automatically found and given opportunities by LL without having to have anything as silly as contests or Developer Directories.
Anyone who hasn't been is just untalented and jealous.
If LL keeps giving publicity to the same people in SL, that's because only those same people are actually worth talking about.
Anyone who believes there has been favoritism giving some players advantages is just untalented and jealous.

Etc. See how that works?

I believe there is an FIC, which I define as people who get or have gotten special perks, privileges, projects, and/or rights by virtue of their friendship with the Lindens.

As I wrote in the earlier thread, "Equal Opportunity for All: Where We Are Now," the Lindens have taken steps to correct these problems. We now have the Developer's Directory, we now have the Public Relations Suggestions forum, and I forget what else.

There was nothing whatsoever "tragic" about the Lindens implementing these changes.

(But as we have also seen, the Lindens still have a ways to go.)

Contrary to your theory, I have found success in SL, part of it due to winning Linden contests. I simply want everyone to always have an equal opportunity at success, through transparent and fair processes, like contests, the Developer's Directory, and the PR forum.

coco

The first part of this is definitely true for me, and brings up another aspect that I think some people may overlook when they comment on or complain about the same people getting suggested for jobs multiple times. The desire to get that heavily involved. Not everyone has it, and assuming they do but are getting overlooked, is a mistake.

Just because someone is a talented creator does not mean they're throwing their hat into the ring to work on major, time consuming projects, or even that they're looking for any more work or recognition than they already get. I've been asked why I get overlooked for interviews. I don't. I've been contacted twice, and I've turned them down. I'm simply not interested in doing interviews, or anything of that nature. It's not why I'm in it.

If the same names keep popping up in interviews or on contract bids or credits, it probably has something to do with those names, be they group or individual, having both the talent and the desire to be involved to that level. Not everyone wants to bring stress and deadlines and client demands into their Second Life.

I didn't either, though I asked this very question, in the Hotline, and more than once.

coco

P.S. And what Jonquille said. Not everyone wants to be on the DD list. But at least if you want to, it is there for you to try!

P.S. And Desmond, when I speak of equal opportunity it is for opportunities that come through the Lindens. Obviously, there is much we can and do do for ourselves, as your achievements are a wonderful testimony to. As for myself, I definitely view you as a success, and one I admire.

It's only the Linden opportunities I'm talking about, and for those who might be interested. I'd say probably most of the SL world carries on without giving a fig about the Lindens or what they do, lol.

As for this business about "LL is a company so they can do what they want, without answering to us," because presumably "they are just a business, not a government or country," well, couple of questions then . . .

1. We PAY them. Seems to me that incurs a bit of responsibility on their part toward us right there.

Or are we just backdrop, to be dipped into, selected from, and used whenever it suits their purpose? No explanation required?

2. If they aren't the government, and we aren't the people in their country, then how come they have all the power to ban us, take away our goods, and all that?

If they are just "another company," then they sure do have a lot of power over us for some reason.

coco

Now don't you be so modest! I loved the piece they did on you in Martha Stewart Living showing off the line of ponchoes you did inspired by the prison poncho Martha wore on her way home from the big house. Including the prim ankle monitoring bracelet was also genius, really You are an innovator Jonquille Noir, and a humble one at that.

The DD list is great. No question about that here. If it makes LL aware of creative & professional teams or individuals that are eager to take on work, then it's done its job.

As for LL being just a company, they are. We pay them to use their service. We pay them to be able to log in. If we're actually paying them to network for us and give us connections to make some cash, then they certainly aren't charging us enough. Their responsibility ends at providing us a working platform. Everything else is icing.

You pay your broadband provider for their service, and they can still cut you off at a moment's notice for any reason or no reason. That does not make them a government or ruling body. It makes them a company with a service that you pay for.

I seem to remember you getting a special audience with LL over the MJW fiasco. I don't recall this being posted and available equally to everyone.

Then of course, here you DEMAND special attention about being warned for making personal attacks.

Oh come on, Jonquille, I've never said anything about paying them to network for us and give us connections.

And as much as you want to view LL as being something like AOL - or even more removed than AOL - a platform and nothing else - well, I think that's really quite a stretch.

If they really were just providing a platform, then they should get the hell out of our way, for starters. But they aren't.

coco

Within SL, LL have the role of a government, because they are a body with the ability to pass laws that affect an otherwise-free internal market.

1. We also pay our electric companies, cell phone companies, and all kinds of other businesses. Nowhere does that give us a right to dictate their private business decisions or who they choose to do business with.

2. Companies can refuse service for any reason - LL is not unique in that regard. If Verizon doesn't want you as a customer for whatever reason, they don't have to provide you service. Same goes for any company doing business with you. As for the ability to take away "our goods", the value of virtual items has never been established in US courts, so they are simply taking data stored on their own servers, not physical items.

Given the sheer amount of money that is being paid for items in SL, I don't know how long LL will continue to get away with that though. It's not like World of Warcraft, where Blizzard owns all the content and you are paying a monthly fee and have no right to that content.

You can view it as a stretch as much as you like, but that's the way it is. Nowhere in your service agreement was it mentioned that your name would be passed along to real world businesses looking to hire content creators, or that any kind of social or business engineering was part of LL's service. When they do choose to be go-betweens, it's because it involves something that they see as an asset to their business, not because they're just so fond of us that they want to see us do well.

Just because the Lindens are usually friendly and semi-involved in their world does not mean it is anything less or more than a business. A friendly bartender is still under no obligation to set you up with his cousin the doctor, or even recommend a cheap plumber.

Crap. Now I have to go to "Plan B"

He will set you up with his cheap cousin if you tip him well.

And the cheap cousin may offer to 'check your pipes.'

Or at least to play doctor

Grats on post 3000

Within SL, LL is the company that runs it, and the Lindens are their employees. Ebay has the right to pass rules on their site that affect an otherwise-free internal market, but I don't see people calling them a government. They're a business, with the right to make business decisions as they see fit, within the law, and with absolutely no obligation to answer to their customers, who pay them for their service.

EBay doesn't have goods that exist only within it, nor its own currency.

So?

yet

I'm sorry you didn't appreciate my humor, Moopf. I was in the middle of writing a serious post, struggling with the wording to make it clear that my intentions were good and to try to flameproof it, and it suddenly struck me as funny that I was putting so much time and effort into offering helpful advice to prospective competitors and those who might leap on me and flame me if I got a word out of place. I decided it wasn't worth the hassle and decided to have a laugh instead.

It's too bad that your experience of working on a project with LL didn't go better for you. I found LL staff willing to do what it took to make my client's project work. And I'm amazed at how remarkably cheerful the Lindens remain while working out unforseen and downright frustrating technical challenges.

What a girl!


Hey, I appreciated your humour! Never you mind grumpy Moopf. He can't help it!

I think it's funny how these threads about "does the FIC exist?" always seem to get hijacked by the FIC themselves to talk about ... FIC things.

The original post was that maybe there exists a thing about human nature that allows for some players to have a sort of preferred situation with respect to Linden Labs in terms of merely "having the ear" of the Lindens. A rather modest theory that seems rather true to me.

Yes, ... human nature is that way, and it's hardly unexpected, but so what?

This follows with the person being rather scathingly attacked for this heresy and words of conspiracy are put into their mouth. They are eventually pushed off their own thread, tail between their legs.

Then, the thread devolves (like many other threads of this type), into a thread populated almost entirely by people who would normally be seen as "FIC types" (rightly or wrongly) talking about themselves.

The conversation is *now* about how various people are "friends of Lindens" (but it doesn't matter), how one gets to be a "preferred business partner" of LL (hard work not favoritism), and what kind of contracts this that or the other person has had and so on (they are sooo cool etc.).

It's all very informative (if dull) and I am not disagreeing with these conclusions, I just think it's humorous and highly ironic that a thread about the purported existence of the FIC always becomes dominated by the (purported) FIC talking about themselves and their achievements.

This must be the third or fourth long rambling thread about the exact same thing in the last year.

As the Bard says: Meethinks thou dost protest too much.