Second Accounts and Ethics

A resident is person, not an account

I just asked the local magistrate if there were any laws on the books that forbid me to cut in line at the bank.

He said no such laws existed.

I then asked him if it was against the law to push the "Close Door" button in the elevator as someone was approaching it to get on.

That was a negative.

"Wait, I got one," I said, and asked if the law prohibited me being silent instead of saying "pardon me" if I bump into someone at the grocery store.

Again, no law.

At this point, I decided to get to the heart of the matter:

"So, I can be a complete asshat and it's not against the law?"

"More or less," said the bemused magistrate, wishing, at this point, to get on with whatever business of eating I was likely delaying.

I nodded and shoved past him into an elevator, swiftly dialing my intended floor and closing the door, preventing the poor man's use of the lift for at least several minutes.

I called out just as the doors shut, "Hey, dickhead. You said it wasn't against the law!"

That was nicely done. A good illustration of the difference between rule and ethic. Unfortunate that your target audience is likely to evade the intended message.

Yuh totally - Like selling freebies - theres no law against it so pony up!

It's what I like to summarize as the 'Horray for me - Fuck you' attitude.

But as I interpreted it, "you" means "that account." As it does in all other games.

And Cristiano, if you have gotta call my refering to my alt as "her" as "creepy," then you are digging the bottom of the barrel to find something personally derogatory to say.

coco

It's what I like to summarize as the 'Horray for me - Fuck you' attitude.

Out of curiosity, is resident == person actually defined anywhere?

Meh, I'm not even sure this discussion is worth discussing in terms of ethics. Cocoanut framing it as an ethical discussion is the height of self-aggrandizement -- which should surprise no one.

It's a simple matter of courtesy and politeness.

Quite so.

This is a great point. Obviously a resident is just an account.

This is great, because now, I can make 15 alts and leave nice big signs in Siggy's property that malign the great nation of Australia. And instead of having all 15 alts banned, Linden Lab will obviously have to do it one at a time, for each series of three major violations. By my math, I get to grief Siggy at least 45 times!

Yeah. A resident is the person on the other end of the computer and all the alts he controls. Not the alts themselves. It's defined in the great tome of common sense.

No, it is not my first plot. I bought my first 512 with Cocoanut. Then, when the girl next door moved, she offered me hers, which she had bought as first land, and I bought it from her.

Then, when the First Land next to me turned into Garnet's property for sale, I bought a large plot with that 1012 or something, with Lindens, from her.

Which kinds of brings up - how did she get it?

Frankly I can't see a problem with creating an alt to do just what you did, and since you're paying for it in real money why not make some lindens with it as well?

So if I have 20 credit cards, I can make 20 accounts?

Let's see... and for each, it costs $72 per year for 500 L$ a week * 52 weeks = 26000 L$ sold at $3.50 = $91 ie a profit of $19 each.

PLUS I'll get to buy First Land -- 512 m2 for each account at $L1 per meter and sell it for lets say $4 per meter.


No wonder there's an assload of Lindens floating around wrecking the economy!

And yes... I say unethical.

It all depends on the motive someone has whether an action is unethical or not. Buying first land with an alt with the intent to make a fast profit can be considered unethical. Buying first land with an alt because you really intent to use that land with your alt hardly classifies as unethical I should think.

Why is making a profit unethical? I am confused.

Nobody is being hurt by buying First Land.

If SL runs out of First Land then it will be the Lindens job to provide new land ... they get the money from the premium account owners for that.

Mel

I have not said making a profit is unethical. I have said that if alts are used to get land far below the market price to sell it for the running rates, it might be considered unethical.

But you pay for that alt. Why should you not use the options that you buy? This is pure business IMHO.

BTW the prices for First Land are fixed and not far below any market price, because you cannot buy it on the market.

Mel

Having options do not neccessarily mean that using them is ethical.

The purpose of First Land is to give new residents (whether they are really new or alts) a headstart in SL-life. An alt made exclusively with the intention to cash in on First Land is acting against the spirit of why the Lindens have created the concept of First Land. Therefore it can be called unethical.

True.



Well, maybe we should not speak for the Lindens but better wait until one of them tells us his opinion.

On the other hand it is really hard for me to *know* what is considered to be unethical although it is possible and allowed in SL.

I don´t believe that it is worth to discuss this in this deep. As I said before, nobody is really hurt, so why should we get upset when somebody uses an alt just to buy cheap land? To be honest, I don´t care, I even don´t notice it at all. That does not necessarily mean that I would do it, but anyway, who should care?

Mel

I for one do not really understand why so many people jump the "unethical-bandwagon".