LL Recreating GOM is necessary and good for the community

While I feel very sad that Jamie and Tom did not take the stock options when they could have (this is a stock option business guys. not a cash business) I have to say that I am fundamentally in favor of LL recreating GOM.

They are not doing this for profit. What profit is there to be made? Not much. GOM is a very low margin, low profit business. SL realises this, so why are they doing it? At the risk of pissing off two of their most important customers?

Because they are trying to help the community of content developers.

As content developers we need a solution which allows for 1 click purchasing of our content. We did not have that with GOM.


This is something that will create instant liquidity and increase demand for the content that 1000 of developers create for SL each day.

Content Developers - your revenue will rise because of this

LL realises they have a choice, let the community down or piss off Jamie / Tom. They chose to sacrifice the few for the many - a wise decision.

I disrespectfully disagree.

How did you find out the rate at which LL will be buying and selling L$? At the slim margin of profit that GOM was charging, there wasn't much profit, but I haven't seen any evidence that LL would be so generous. LL will likely buy low and sell high, with a US$.50 profit per $L1000, if not more, like the other exchanges are charging.

I have to give you credit, Blaze - that is a very rational stance to take. I happen to agree with you - though I still do not think they are implementing it in the way it has been alluded.

If that were to happen then people wouldn't buy and sell from LL but still use the cheaper GOM.

It's quite possible that LL will have a zero spread, versus the 3% spread that GOM has.

Wouldn't it be one great idea to sacrifice you for the many? We could test some new medications on you, maybe cut your brain into nice slices and analyze them under one microscope. That way we could gain valuable scientific knowledge that can be used to help millions!

I believe that developer stock options were more than sufficient for Jamie and Tom. It is their fault they did not take the offer. Not LLs.

I happen to know a little bit about developer stock options, btw. I have made a very significant amount of money from them. Sneering at them is a lack of faith and trust that are vital to any business arrangement.

If an offer had *not* been made of that caliber, then I would have had a different opinion, however I feel that was the key to this whole 'fiasco'.

I don't see how it is I keep getting lectured on how WE are supposed to provide everything, and yet this is going to happen?

I thought it was quite neat that the players provided GOM, and provided SLExchange, and all that stuff.

Now what - they are just going to take all this over themselves?

They still haven't answered my questions on the Developer Directory, which is making me think that will be kind of the same thing. They are going to decide who gets the exposure and who doesn't, and they're not even gonna explain about it. I guess you have to know somebody.

They've got Lindens being the DJ for some of us, and Lindens posing for ads for some of us.

There is no way people can compete with the Lindens on stuff.

So this is a platform - only, when the Lindens decide they'd rather do it themselves, then GOM can just go take a hike?

Or they decide they want to do a directory, and you have to get their approval to be in it, but they won't answer your questions? And they will put their stamp of approval on events, or on advertising, by being in some of it? How can anyone the hell get anywhere in this game? When the Lindens are constantly mucking around in it.

That's at least two issues muddled into one there. The second issue being the Lindens thinking they can just be "regular players" and pal around with who they like and promote what they want and everybody else can just shut up about it.

The first issue being GOM - what, they let the players do all the work for something, and show that it can work, then the LINDENS take that experience and info and do it themselves?

Doesn't seem right at all to me. And it sure doesn't seem very platform-y to me, cause it's obviouslly really all their world, and they will promote what they like and take what they like, not ours. To heck with all this nonsense about how we make everything that I'm bombarded with every time I make the most innocuous suggestion for something to be added to the game.

I don't see why anybody would bother to develop or add add anything major, like GOM, if this is the way it's going to be. Right now I'm irritated at the thought that the trouble I've gone to to advertise my stuff on SLExchange and SLBoutique, and thinking that I'm making friends and connections that will serve me well into the future, and that's all getting done and settled, doesn't really mean beans, cause the Lindens might decide to provide those services, too. And all THAT will be out the window.

And people just can't compete with the Lindens. Stores can't compete when one store gets a Linden to pose, and events can't compete when one event gets a Linden DJ. The deck is stacked. And now this is happening to GOM? What next? Why bother.

coco

Coco, they are taking it over to HELP the community, not to profit it by it.

Right now, for someone to purchase your goods in world, they have to go through quite a dance in order to get the L$ necessary to buy your products, to the point that they just give up.

LL is trying to remove that requirement. This is to your benefit and you should be in favor of this.

There is no rational reason that 1000s of us should suffer just because Jamie and Tom were too shortsighted to accept stock options.

I realize about the dance and all. Though I have never tried to buy Lindens, I bet I could sure figure it out.

It never makes sense to sacrifice a few for the supposed good of the many. And when the sacrifice represents all this work and experience on someone's part - and the good is just to make something a little easier - it's definitely not worth it.

And when the whole war cry of SL is you get to build the entire world, it's ridiculous.

As for them being too shortsighted to accept stock options - although understand, I know you just say stuff like this to hear other people argue against it, and maybe yourself in another guise argue against it - that's not your decision to make.

From other accounts I've read, the offers weren't good. So it looks like you either take what your offered or not, but in any case you're going to lose a significant portion of your investment in your business.

What's the philosophical approach here - are we supposed to build our world? Or are we building it to save the Lindens the trouble, then they take it over?

coco

Can you hear that sound ? It's the stampeding of hundreds of competitors !

Huh uh.. There is no dance. All you have to do is sign on once a week for a while and you can buy anything - the stipend will accrue if you don't spend it. So, you never have to sell anything to get more money to buy something --- residents have already paid for it whether they are on the Basic account or a Premiium account. There is only a dance if one doesn't want to wait and their current balance is insufficient to satisfy their virtual material desire. Then again, even I can do this dance if I choose.. open browser, point it at GOM, open second browser, point it at Paypal.., transfer funds, buy $L, go to inworld ATM. Wow. I think my 6 year old could do that now that I write it out that way. DOH. Some dance!

There is no benefit to making things more difficult for people who decided to provide the GOM services (something I have never used, for the record).

Who is suffering by the LL/GOM status quo - prior to the situation described by the GOM people themselves? How are/were they suffering? I certainly am not and know of no one who is.

As for whether two people should have accepted specific stock options or not, unless one is privy to exactly what the terms and amounts of those options were, I think anyone who says that the two people should or shouldn't have accepted such an offer is literally talking out his or her respective ass. Without such specific information, any comment is pure speculation.

Ultimately, my position is that LL is out for LL first and foremost - always has been and always will be regardless of PR to the contrary. Coco makes some good points, as have others elsewhere, concerning LL repeatedly stating that they want residents to "provide content" and then taking corporate advantage of that content --- totally within the TOS of course, yet still taking advantage of things they did not make for their own purposes. I happen to believe that there is ample evidence here in the forums of Linden alts, shills and collaborators/suck ups who routinely post in support of LL policies and "vision" --- while simultaneously selectively ignoring actions LL has taken which does end up providing advantage to some, while "enforcing" their own TOS capriciously, while the right hand seemingly doesn't know what the left is doing and while continuing to paint a PR picture for residents and the rest of the world that is Pollyanaish and relatively devoid of concrete evidence of anything..... can you say dot.com era redux?

I am a Basic account holder and intend to remain that way. This situation simply reinforces that decision.

Ok, if that is what needs to be done, then why not just take all of the land owned by Anshe and give it to all the people that don't have it. After all it will help many, and only hurt 1, which is even less then the 2 that were hurt by GOM. Or why not just take all the money from the people on the leader board and give it to the people on the bottom. That will help more then it will hurt too! How about LL take all that you have and gives it to everyone else? Does that sound like a good idea?

LL could have made things "one-click" and still not killed GOM by making a carbon copy of it. All they needed to do was spend their resouces in a different way. Why not just have a menu that lists all the exchanges and have fields in each and the prices in each and let people buy as much L$ as they wanted from whoever they wanted to? I am sure that would not have been that hard. It would have required work, but what about all the lost time making something for SL that already exsited?

Removing roadblocks is different than redistributing wealth.

As for the latter, I believe that's what they're doing.

But you are wrong unless you are practicing your self-admitted trolling. The key to this whole fiasco is that LL asked the GOM folk to tell them how they did it and GOM did because they thought LL was more honorable than they are.

LL's silence on the matter is totally expected by a firm who expects to have action taken against them for misappropriation of other's work which is rather interesting in light of their lofty but vaccuous declaration of "Intellectual Property Rights". Speaking of which, it seems like the Terms of Service in section 5.3 has changed to read "all your base belong to us".

If I put on my hat of prognostication, I see LL covering their collective ass against suit because that is how they expect the world to behave, and I see GOM not bothering, because that is how they expect the world to behave. We often expect from others what we would expect from ourselves.

Yeah, well, GOM should have registered patents. Heck, they probably still could if they hurry.

LL stock options is money on the come - ie. future value + risk. Would make no sense for them to do that if they perceived they were backed against the wall.

Are you in on the beta then? How do you know that the so-called 1 click experience will actually exist? It sounds like you'll still have to purchase currency separately, though probably through the client as opposed to an external website, before you can purchase anything in-world. It does not sound like you can just right click + buy and choose to pay via credit card. That is, there may be 1 click purchasing of L$ but it definitely does not look like there will be 1 click purchasing of content, as you claim.

Exactly!

Especially land around Telehubs!!

Bullshit!

I think I see some inconsistency of viewpoint here.

Practically the entire posting community (except prok and myself) sees nothing wrong with any resident issuing any product free at any time. Anyone who feels this is unfairly undermining their own hard-gained products is castigated and told that this is the nature of competition, and to diversify, improve their products, or die.

Why does this not apply to GOM ?

We don't know if the new LL currency exchange will be free (zero spread) or not. But even if it is, how is this different from the much-applauded process of donating free products for the benefit of the community ?

I don't see why GOM should die. It could go to zero spread too, and create added value services of all sorts to keep itself alive and stay ahead of the competition (LL).

Did GOM really expect to just remain solely a currency exchange for ever ?

Also, if you look at their site, it was clearly envisaged as a multi-game, multi-currency operation. Where are the others ?

I do agree that it is hard luck for the GOM operators, as it has been for other content creators suddenly facing a new freebie. But in principle the same rules apply, and usually no compensation is offered at all.

The only grounds on which LL might be criticised relate to whether, and how much, they did indeed profit from "how to" information provided by GOM, and whether such use betrayed GOM's reasonable trust.

My guess is that LL possesses sufficient expertise that any technical information given told them nothing they wouldn't have worked out for themselves pretty quickly, even if the same methods are indeed to be used.

In short - same rules should apply to freebie services as to freebie products.

This currently means - seller beware - you may be undercut at zero price any time, whether by a wider operation running a loss-leader, by a rich individual for generosity or self-aggrandisement, or (perhaps in this case) by the government as a public service.

Come on GOM, don't whinge, think fast, stay alive, wow us with innovative and lateral-thinking extensions to your service. I'm sure I don't need to suggest ideas.

So Ellie, you think it would be perfectly acceptable for LL to make their own exact copies of all the best content in SL and give it away to everyone for free?

What do you think all the talented designers would think about that? Would be be applauding more free content as they see free versions of their own work given away by the Lindens? I think not.

What about SLExchange and the other 3rd party sites. They have proved a very workable and profitable business. Are they going to be next to be "copied and integrated" by LL?

Hmmm

Come to the metaverse....create unique, needed, well thought out and run services.....spend an inordinate amount of time growing your business....and have LL steal it from you.

Sounds to me like philips metaverse is bullshit...especially when the inhabitants do all the work ....make all the inovations....and take all the risks.

Wonder when LL will see the big picture......the people that inhabit this world are the metaverse and everything stupid they do will encourage more people to develop their own platforms which will one day tower over second life.....its already a fact that scond life residents make their own fixes and workarounds to LL's problems......it can't be too long before people start to come together to build new places outside of this playpen...without the bullshit.