What "capital goods" exist in SL?

I think of "consumer goods" as those objects that people buy for ultimate use as clothing, shelter, entertainment and the like, and "capital goods" as those objects that people buy in order to make other things to sell or to provide services to sell.

For example, an article of clothing might qualify as "consumer goods". A loom that can be used to weave clothing might qualify as "capital goods." One characteristic of "capitalists" is that they invest in and use "capital goods" to produce goods and services that are valuable to others.

In SL, clothing can be made with built-in tools, so looms aren't needed for production. But some resident-created capital goods do exist. I've run into a printing press, for example, that enables the owner to quickly produce multiple exact copies of book objects that contain original images and text of an author. I've also run into "Pay-to-Enter" doors that enable the owner to restrict admission to an enclosed space to those who pay so much per minute of access. Both can be bought from the resident who created them, and used to add value.

I'm trying to get an idea of how many and what kinds of other capital goods exist in SL.

What are other examples of capital goods used in SL?
Who makes them and what do they enable the owner of them to do?

Hmmm, Id conside textures, and scripts as capital goods, as both are pretty useless untill one uses them in an object.
To a lesser extent, animations and sounds too, as they can be used in object construstion, but can also be used stand alone.

Well, at one point I might have said anything that generates dwell for the developer incentive, however this may no longer be the case fairly soon.

I don't forsee a lot of payments for events, I'm afraid, but perhaps I am being too cynical. I'll keep my fingers crossed and try to be hopeful, as I know a lot of smart and very creative people would like to continue their builds but can't afford the tier directly.

So where does that leave us?

I suppose gaming equipment where you can pay to play. I sell a bowling alley and I am working on another project as well, which I am hopeful people might dunk a quarter in to play.

Other than that, because of the loss of DI, I'm not entirely sure what could qualify as a capital investment anymore. Without an ROI on the purchase of capital goods, a lot of the demand for content I build may vanish overnight.

This isn't a very big concern on my part, I have other places to build content, however I am a big fan of SecondLife and don't relish decreasing my time investment in this world.

I think this definition just about covers it, except I am not sure the line between capital goods and consumer goods is that razor sharp. n RL also, that loom could also easily be used just as an object for its own sake and need not necessarily be used to produce other things.

I would definately put animations in the capital goods category in that the main reason for the purchase is to insert said animation into a furniture object or attachment. Also, because of the "quaternion situation," one is almost forced to use poseballs, so every animation could be said to be a sub-part of a poseball object rather than a stand alone thing. Rarely does a builder even take an animation out of a poseball let alone run it by itself. I
So I would say:

- textures
- scripts
- animations
- sounds

In terms of value, IMO textures and animations are more difficult to produce than scripts, and textures especially are the "gold" of second life. Good animations are few and far between and highly valued but with motion capture devices, quite easily produced lately. As the RL motion capture industry gets cheaper and cheaper, animations will have less and less value over time. Textures (and by that I mean clothes as well) are the only thing likely to maintain the high value over the long haul IMO. Sounds are not very highly valued, but possibly that is because of the limited sound support in SL?

The closest things that I can think of as capital goods that hasn't already been listed are items that are not really basic building blocks of other things, but that can greatly ease the process.

Such as:

1. Particle script creators - those scripted systems that make particle scripts easy to make
2. Vendors - for helping people put their work out to market
3. Snap-locks - for those large builds that don't all link together, so that you can align easier

I know there are more, but they've flown from my mind.

Oh, another capital good is: freebies.

I don't know how we'd classify them, as there was nothing paid for their use, but they do eventually help the process.

e.g. take the freebie weapon and add your own flair, voila! Custom gun, ready for market.

Land rental boxes.

JEVN.

Web-based 'magic boxes'.

Rez-Foo (the resale-enabled type).

Lots more.

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Some may find it curious that I've get a *lot* of businesses contacting me.

This is what they want:

- Prefab click-to-clear-then-rez sales demonstration technology
(somebody asks every 2-3 days, but it's not really designed/packaged for sale)

- Textures

- Linked touch-to-rotate-prims technology (for their own product lines)

- Linked touch-to-slide-prims technology (for their own product lines)

- Advanced privacy and security technology (the kind where you set a pin code)

- One-prim house-rezzing technology (I send everyone to Crystalshard btw)


Note that all of these things are 'free' if you go ferret the solutions out, but yes, I did spend months doing it on my own.

Vendor devices strike me as capital goods. Devices that provide the owner with information used in running their bussiness also count in my mind.

Norinn Richard

Prefab stores.

i'd say the border is fuzzy, sometimes things can transition from one to the other, our avatars have gotten rather popular over the last year and change, and an 'after market' has sprung up to service demand for them so in a way the avatars have enabled a new 'market' of goods and services that didn't exist before

I create the Lightsaber Construction Kit for one. This can, with some contractural agreements, be taken by another vendor to create and sell complete saber using their own hilt designs.


I create the Beholder public security system for use during classrooms and events to allow trusted non-owners to eject rowdy avs.

I also have, in beta, an event handler. In addition to functioning as a raffle ball, it keeps a tally of all individuals present at the event, handles paying event staff, and sends a report to a real world e-mail address of the handler's owner.

I'm developing a line of pre-fab buildings to be used as stores and public areas.

I'm also currently developing a network vendor system of my own, keeping it streamlined as well as secure.

Thanks for all the specific item information. If I were a business person setting up or improving my operation, and wanted to go shopping for such capital goods, is there a place to go to shop for them and see what's new, or would I have to buzz from one scattered vendor to another?

Let's say I'm ready to spend some serious money on some really useful pieces.

How would I find which vendors offer which capital items, what they do and how much they cost? Is there a paper or catalog or ad sheet for such in SL?

There are a couple in game "junkyards" that offer copy/mod/transfer freebies.. the names escape me right now though..not enough coffee yet... try searching junkyard or freebies under places in game.

Later
O