What is Your Favorite Thing About SL Capitalism?

Mine is that its an almost unregulated free market.

Kudos to Phil and LL for that!

Mine is that the fluctuations of SL cause people to run to the Land & Economy forums, where no matter how much one person tries to explain something to the other, that other person will usually either don't get it, or wouldn't want to, instead repeating the same thing over and over again, which IN TURN leads to a never-ending source of entertainment

Your's wqould be that considerring the type of business it is. Why don't you learn to honestly create content instead of panics?

The women..... When you start tossing out the dollars,
they ladies line up around the block.... Capitalism is Cool..

Its better to "Own" the market than create something and try to
sell it in the market.

Novice Create. Masters Own.

I like how it makes me feel funny down there.

Plus, I like how everyone is an expert and There Can Be Only One answer.

1- Reselling Freebees because of lack of respect for IP rights.
2- Blocking people from their property from all sides.
3- Covering signs to prevent freedom of speech
4- Ending taxation

Oh wait!, That's not capitalism. The OP is a communist.

Port Neualtenburg

Burn.

Great Gorean Auction!

Communism.

it allows some people to be very rich,
and rich people are so smart and loveable

My favourite thing about SL capitalism?

The fact that it's by far the minority outlook in SL, and that most people treat SL as it should be - entertainment - and are here for fun, without thinking of how they can screw someone else over to make a quick bit of cash.

Lewis

I can try new business ideas and concepts using what basically amount to micropayments without the bricks and mortar and bureaucracy of RL. Risk is substantially reduced, because I can start on a very small scale with low barriers to entry.

It's wonderful!

Having Jamie as my favorite forum troll <3

You could say the same about movies and television. (vs. watchers)

or Sports. (vs. fans)

or RL casinos. (vs. guests)

or bars. (vs patrons)

or music concerts. (vs attendees)

or publishers. (readers)

or, perhaps, even governments. (citizens)

or...

or...

or...

This is SecondLIFE!

It is human nature to see something that's wanted, try to provide something to fill that want... and to try to make a living wage or better off of providing that good or service so that the future of providing it is secure.

I'm all for it!

--
Altruism is not a surivival trait.

Translation, it's a con artist's paradise. What you practice is NOT capitolism. It's fleecing.

I must admit that I am still fairly new to the game, but...

I don't get a lot of the negativity towards people making a bit of money for their efforts. I mean, I am quite the anti-corporatist in RL, but I don't see corporatism as much of an issue in SL. The vast majority of people selling things are just that... people selling things. They are by no means monopolists, and they don't prevent anyone from clicking "Create" on the ground and start to make something. They don't seem to get into back-alley deals with the Lindens (though it may be just enough underground where I wouldn't see it; admittedly, it is possible). However, I and all of the other wonderful folks I have met are not deterred in our efforts to create things and make a few Lindens for our efforts.

I've yet to set up my shop in-world yet, since I have mainly been learning and doing individual consulting projects for others, but I think it is a great platform for anyone who wants to put in the time and effort to learn how to create and sell things.

Then again, maybe I am just naive and too much of a newb to have the worldly experiences of the more veteran players, but I have been around the block a few (hundred) times, so I would hope I wasn't that blind.

Talarus, noones saying you can't make money. What we are saying is:


1. reselling freebies is BAD
2. The customers set the value - if you price an item 'to get fair value' but noone wants to pay that much - then obviously theres no demand.

Customers simply won't pay more than they see as fair.

what books have you read on this topic?

Not for long unfortunately. Take a look at the latest spam every new user gets:

It's now all about the money apparently.

The do manage to mention "hanging out with friends" and something about 'building," but this email is all about the money. The only surprise is that the pull-quote is not from Business Week.

Technically?

This is not "spam" by many definitions of the term.

"Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited, bulk messages. --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_%28electronic%29

By registering for an SL account and providing your email address you're tacitly giving permission to Linden Lab to contact you with regards to that service. It may be strictly 'marketing' material... but in this case it's neither 'unsolicited' nor 'spam'.

Actually, the message I am getting here from several people is that if you sell enough and get to the point where you are successful enough to end up on the "elite capitalist" list of said persons, that makes you a bad person or something.



Why? No one forces anyone to buy anything in the game. It is a 100% FREE market. Who cares if someone takes a true freebie (I mean something that is 100% public domain, as declared by the creator) and sells it? They can't stop the freebie itself from being given away for free elsewhere, can they? It sounds like a classic case of Caveat Emptor to me.

Now, if the issue is someone selling someone else's creations without permission, I see the problem with that, and it should be stopped. However, that is not the same issue as simply "selling freebies", but a highly-specific instance which has nothing to do with the subject as I see it.

The only caveat is that, if you gave something to someone with full perms, you tacitly give them permission to do whatever they want with them, including resell them. That is, unless you negotiated a viable agreement with the person beforehand; something which would stand up either in court, or in the eyes of the Lindens as something otherwise enforceable.



Aye, that's how free enterprise works. You have to set your prices to what the market will bear. No one (with any sense, anyway) is going to pay L$100,000 for a wooden box that simply repeats everything anyone says in chat. Likewise, if you make your "uber widget", spending weeks/months of design/development time to bring it to fruition, and want to sell it for L$5,000, you'll only get sales from those people who want it badly enough to pay your price (or have more disposable income than normal). If someone else makes a similar "uber widget" and prices it at L$1,000, then you have to do what every other business on the planet does: adapt or die. Either lower your prices, offer something that your competition doesn't (like service, customization, etc), or just try to shoot for the "name brand" angle, where people don't mind spending the extra money to own something of yours specifically.



Aye, that's the way it is supposed to work. Absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Sorry, SL isn't capitalist. You'd think that the capitalists would realize that, but somehow it always seems to escape them. SL is a primitive, currency based economy. Capitalism requires capital. Capital requires a stock market. Calling SL capitalist is as silly as calling it socialist.

Technically, I disagree.

The "bulk" part is not a necessary part of the description of spam. Since I did not agree to any mail from LL advertising their services, this is by definition an unwanted and unasked for electronic advertisement or message. Spam.