Billboards and Advertising Changes

Is it me or is it really annoying to fly around and see people buying little plots of land all over the place and putting a billboard of their buisness along with a landmark and a vote box? Whats really inconvient is that they place them right near other places of buisness to discourage people to buy. For a lot of us... our stores are a big source of income to keep our places up and running and to lose that would mean us having to downgrade our stores or even move. I have already talked to some Lindens and they also agree that it is a nasty way of playing...and think a law should be made to either not do that, or maybe we should create a place on a Sim where advertising is the norm? But in any case I am not gonna mention any names...He knows who he is... but I think we should lobby and make a law against this to be fair and equal for everyone. That is one of the ideals this game should be about after all.

~Mike Kato

I had an idea for this alhough it may or may not be a great idea. I was thinking somewhere along the lines of allowing people to pay other land owners that have buildings to advertise on the side of their build with one exception. The people that have builds that sells say scripts would not want to allow another scripting business to advertise on their build. ETC. Maybe another type business. It was just a thought not sure how it would work.

What I find annoying about the bill boards, voting stations, and just plain trash in the air, is it is getting hard to just fly from one place to another. I seem to be flying faster than the software can keep up. So as I am zipping aorund, I don't see the giant spinning billboard that I crash into. Can there be areas that are like fly ways? Via the Jetson style highways, where a set path at the higher altitudes, the items can be lined up on the sides, so no one flies into them? Let a lone the huge towers I can't seem to get high enough to reach the top of

It's up to us, if you want highways, build em.

As far as the ads, I tried that once(placing random billboards, not next to other stores though). It lasted about a week. I didnt even like seeing my own signs around and more importantly, traffic did not increase.

Maybe we should have ad area in each welcome area like the kiosks at the Ahern area. I know there is another welcome pad in Ritch.. are there more?

See I agree with that idea. I dont think it is fair to strategically place billboards next to everyones place of buisness to discourage buying from them. I think there should be a designated area for advertising...whether that be for welcome areas or even a sim dedicated for it. I think it would be cool to be able to fly to a Sim and see billboards and landmarks all over the place for peoples stores.

I agree... billboards are just plain ugly. I had a spiniing sign over my house for about the first week and then took it down. However we DO need some way to advertise our wares. It would be nice if there was a section of the SL website where we could post ads, and also more options in game. I'm not sure I understand why the ad boards are located in the welcome areas. Does anyone go there anymore after they've been in SL for a few days?

I think thats a great idea, but it can be done with just creating a forum topic

Oh, i'll do it!

SL Advertising - Post Here!

Just to steer us a little bit back on course, I am not opposed to people putting spinning signs above their home or place of buisness because that is there choice. However I think it is unfair for people to buy little plots of land scattered throughout the SL world and have a billboard, landmark box and vote box right on each little part of land... especially if it is placed right next to other buisnesses. Thats just not cool. That is why I think that a Sim should be dedicated to billboards and advertising

It happens in real life, why can't it happen in SL, too? If you see a competitor advertising next to your store, why not go and advertise next to hers? Competition makes a strong economy.

I agree with Mike on this one. I would help with game loading issues too. Mabye we could have a spot near the welcome area, to put up ads that are in good taste?



I head to the welcome area usually once a session, I like to stop by and chat with the people that are just coming in-world. Mabye answer any questions that they may have, usually they appreciate the help, and I don't mind helping at all. I think that the welcome area is a unutilized tool. Its a great central meeting place and there is not too much around it. Plus it happens to be a short flight from my home, hehe.

- Skippy

Sounds like a wasted Sim to me, would any of you visit a Sim that only had ads?? I wouldn't.

I don't really see why this is 'unfair'. Anyone with the money can afford more advertising space. That's the way it works. Now, ugly? Sure, in some cases. Rude? Sure, in some cases. But unfair? No, I don't think so.
If you want to get people in, I've found the best ways are to talk to people and give them the landmark or to hang around your shop (if you're with a friend, all the better).

I know plenty of people that would go to a welcome area that had advertisements. Or even go to a place where you can find the latest and greatest store. But to place billboards in front of houses, buildings where people are trying to make a SL living I think it is unfair, rude and obnoxious. This is SECOND LIFE not REAL LIFE. We come to SL to escape from real life and while I know problems and issues will always come up (since that is the nature of an evolving online "game" I dont think it makes it right to just say that this is okay. we come here to escape and have fun (at least most of the time) and I think that to have rude people place advertisements all over the land scape...more rudely in front of stores and houses... that isnt fun and its not respectful to the rest of the gaming community. in a game like SL we NEED respect of eachother to coexist peacefully... without it the world becomes unbalanced and quite frankly unfun.

Mike,
Ideally you'd have a world where you have both the fun of competition and encourage playing nice. But. While it is rude, I just don't see how it's UNFAIR. Rate them down. Have your friends rate them down. Hell, tell your friends to tell their friends not to buy from this person because they do things like this. Reputation is a huge part of online games and if someone is doing something that you think most people would dislike, they can judge for themselves and rate them down/not buy from them, whatever. I just don't see why we need to impose laws about this. Well, no, if someone, say, built a blockade so nobody could get in your store, I could see that being harassment. But just a sign? That's rude, yes, but I don't think it's illegal.

That is your opinion which I respect Datura But I still think its wrong. Some may agree others may not but I think there needs to be a little bit better control of the situation. And so i hold my opinion about this issue the same as I have been.

I agree with Datura here. I don't think there's anything fundamentally unfair or wrong about business owners buying plots for advertisements, since it's an option open to everyone; it fosters healthy competition and keeps the economy going. Take it up with specific advertisers, buy up extra land around your shops to keep people from building billboards on it, or maybe counter-advertise if it's affecting business, but moving advertisements to a single area is a bad solution.

Would you watch a television channel that only showed commercials? Or buy a magazine without articles, just 100 pages of advertisements?